The Stolen Voice

Julie’s mom pulled up to the Weston house at a quarter till six in the evening.  The Westons, Angela and Keith, were going out to dinner and a movie.  Their regular babysitter was visiting with her grandparents that week but highly recommended her best friend, Julie.  At fourteen years old, Julie was anxious to get into babysitting but was pretty shy and hadn’t really gotten her name out there yet.  Her best friend assured her that these kids were well behaved and fun to hang out with so Julie nervously decided to get out of her comfort zone and take the job.  How hard could babysitting a four and six year old be, anyway?

“Remember, if you get overwhelmed you can call me.  I’ll either talk you through it or just come over and sit with you until you feel better.” Julie’s mom reassured.  

“I know.  I’ll be okay.” Julie answered.  She opened the car door and slowly exited, questioning her choice to do this with every step.  What was she supposed to say to these people?  She didn’t even know them.  She paused at the porch steps.  For a moment, she thought she would turn around and run back to the car but she held her ground.  Shakeily, she took the two steps up to the porch and knocked on the door.  Then, she saw the doorbell and thought ‘Oh no!  Now they think I’m an idiot because I didn’t ring the bell!’  Just then, the door opened and a kind looking woman in a pretty blue dress smiled at her.

“Hi there!  You must be Julie.  We’re so thankful that you could fill in for Jessica tonight.” Angela Weston said as she motioned for Julie to enter.  Mrs. Weston gave a wave to Julie’s mom and shut the door.  No turning back now, Julie thought.  

“Come on in.  There are plenty of snacks in the kitchen if you get hungry.  The kids have already eaten dinner.” Mrs. Weston began, then suddenly yelled up to the second floor of the home.  

“Kids!  Come downstairs and meet Julie!”  What sounded like a stampede of elephants began on one side of the house and then bounded down the stairs towards them.  A very cute little girl with pigtails and a boy with a shy smile on his face appeared from the stairway to the left of the house.  

“This is Anna and Jack.” Mrs. Weston said.  Anna hugged her stuffed unicorn tight and said an enthusiastic hello while Jack’s eyes shyly darted to the floor.  Julie knew exactly how he felt.  She could feel her face flushing but said a quiet hi back to Anna.

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where the emergency contact list is.  The kids go to bed at eight o’clock and we should be home before midnight.  Here’s the name of the restaurant and the movie theater we’ll be at.  I know your mom has our cell numbers.  Did she give them to you?” Mrs. Weston asks.

Julie almost startles with the question she wasn’t expecting.  She nods and says “Yes, it’s in my phone.” as she gestures to her smart phone in her pocket.  

“Great!  If you need a charger, there’s one on the kitchen counter.” Mrs. Weston replies.  “Seems like everything is settled then.” she says and then yells up to the second floor again.  She’s obviously been told how shy Julie is because she doesn’t seem bothered by her lack of engagement.  If anything, she seems to be trying to keep everything light and cheery in an effort to ease the tension.  Julie appreciates that greatly.  She’ll warm up to the kids much quicker than to the parents.  She’s anxious for them to go.  As Mr. Weston comes down the stairs and puts his shoes on, Mrs. Weston gives a few more instructions while opening the front door.

“I don’t know if you noticed but we live right up next to the forest.  It gets pretty noisy here at night and it’s very dark.  Best to keep the curtains closed so no animal tries to run towards the light of the house and breaks through the window.  If you hear any weird noises, it’s the wildlife.  Just ignore it.” she said.  “Thanks again for babysitting!”

Mr. Weston smiled and yelled a quick ‘thanks’ as he held the door for his wife.  They looked like a cute couple.  Both were friendly and looked very nice in their date night outfits.  Julie was still glad they were gone, though.  The pressure felt way less with the parents gone.  She looked over at the kids.  Anna giggled and jumped up and down with excitement.

“Come see my room!” she yelled, grabbing Julie’s hand and pulling her towards the stairs.

“Mine next.” were the first words she’d heard from Jack and even then, they were quiet and reserved.  Julie wondered if he noticed that she’s just as shy as he is?

Anna’s room was the epitome of a four year old girl’s room.  There were rainbows and unicorns everywhere.  The carpet was a light cream color and the walls were pastel pink with white puffy clouds painted randomly around the room and on the ceiling.  Anna began excitedly showing Julie all of her favorite possessions as Jack peeked into the room while he waited for his turn.  After several minutes of Anna parading toys past her, Julie gave Jack a quick look and stood up from the pink and purple bed.

“You have a lot of pretty things!  I think it’s Jack’s turn to show me his room, though.” Julie said.  Anna wrinkled her nose in frustration but allowed her to leave the room.  Her older brother’s face lit up a bit when he realized it was his turn.  Jumping to attention in the doorway, he quickly turned to lead their new babysitter to his room.

“Do you like Hot Wheels?” he asked.  “Because I have a lot of those.”  His voice was quiet but his tone gave away the excitement he felt.  At first, he just stood in the corner while Julie walked slowly around the room examining each item displayed on shelves or tables.  He didn’t really start showing her things until she finally asked about a model car on one of the shelves.

“Did you build this?” Julie asked, pointing to an impressive model of a Porsche of some kind.  

“Yeah!  My dad helped me build it.  We painted it and everything.  It took a long time.  That’s why it’s in a case.  So it doesn’t get messed up.  These are my Hot Wheels.” Jack said as he pulled out a bin of little cars from under the shelf.  “They fit on my race tracks.  They’re in that box over there.”  He pointed excitedly to a container full of disassembled plastic tracks.  Julie and Jack went through his room, looking at all the dump trucks and sports cars he could find for her.  Anna was also going through his toys, handing him things and telling him to show them to Julie.  These kids were, indeed, very cute and happy kids.

After a while of looking at a variety of pink stuffed animals and race cars, Julie suggested they play a game.  Anna was all about that idea and immediately ran to get Chutes and Ladders, her favorite game.  She liked being the character with the pink dress on, which Jack must’ve been used to because he handed it to her before she could even choose it.  He didn’t seem to care, though.  As far as big brothers went, he seemed a pretty good one.  He definitely went with the flow.  

After two rounds of Chutes and Ladders followed by an intense battle of Kerplunk, the three of them settled in to watch a little TV before bed.  Anna chose an episode of Sophia The First, which Jack politely declined and played in his room during, and Jack picked Blaze and the Monster Machines.  Anna elected to bring one of her dolls in the room and get it ready for bed while Jack and Julie watched the monster truck cartoon.

Once the shows were over, Julie guided the kids through their night time routine.  With teeth brushed, water sipped, and stories read, she finally whispered goodnight to each of them and closed their doors.  She hadn’t realized just how dark it had become outside until she got back downstairs and went into the kitchen to get a soda.  The kitchen window curtain was open and the light from inside the house traveled through the glass and onto the ground like a spotlight into the unknown.  Everything else was veiled in darkness but that strip of light cast on the grass in the backyard.  As she gazed out the window, something ran past with great speed.  It darted past the strip of light in the shadows just enough that she registered the movement but didn’t know what caused it.  This jolted her back from her thoughts quite abruptly.  She remembered Mrs. Weston saying there were wild animals out at night and the windows should be kept closed.  Her eyes widened at the idea that a deer or wild cat might come crashing through the window and she pulled the curtains closed immediately.  Just for good measure, she turned off the kitchen light when she went back into the living room.

Julie’s mom called a little after eight o’clock to check on how things were going.  Julie said everything was fine and ended the call after a couple of minutes.  Some teens might not like their mom checking up on them but Julie actually preferred it.  Talking with her mom calmed her and eased the anxiety she suffered from.  After ending the call, she was happy to find this family had YouTube TV and looked up her favorite show, My Lottery Dream Home.  It was she and her mom’s favorite show to watch together.  Sinking into the couch with her soda and a blanket, Julie soon forgot about the animal that had run through the backyard and was focused on an older couple who’d won a substantial lottery drawing and were looking at mansions.

A scratching sound drew her away from her show.  It was not very loud and coming from a window behind her in the living room.  Turning slowly, she stared at the curtains.  Hearing nothing, she turned back to look at the TV.  Faintly, she heard Jack call her name.  

“Yes?” she called to him.  “Come here.” she said.  When he didn’t come downstairs or answer her call, she assumed he was having trouble falling asleep.  She went upstairs to check on him.  To her surprise, his door was still closed.  She gently cracked it open only to see that he was fast asleep in his bed.  Still not quite alarmed yet, Julie closed the door and headed back downstairs.  Maybe it was a sound effect of the show that she’d mistaken for Jack’s voice?  

That explanation was acceptable enough for her to resume watching TV until she heard Jack calling her again, only this time, it sounded like it was coming from the front door.  Julie’s head whipped towards the door.  She was about to mute the TV when her name was called again, even louder.  No need to mute anything to hear it.  Julie bolted up the stairs to Jack’s room and yanked open the door.  The action of doing this woke him.  He slowly sat up in bed and asked what was wrong.

“Were you just downstairs?” Julie asked.

“No.  Why?” the six year old asked.  He rubbed his eyes, which looked wider now that he was registering the panic in her voice.

“I thought I heard you call me.” she said.  After doing so, she realized she might be scaring him.  Maybe she should tone it down but she needed to figure out what was happening.

“Mom says it’s the animals outside.  She says to ignore it.” Jack said.

“Animals?  Someone said my name and it sounded just like you.  Are you sure you didn’t call me?” Julie asked.

“They do that sometimes if we look out the window too long.  Did you look out the window?” he asks.  She was completely confused.  How on earth could an animal speak like a human.  Not to mention that it sounded just like him.  Then, Jack asked a terrifying question that she wasn’t expecting.  “Did you make sure all the doors and windows are locked?  That’s what mom does when the animals are noisy.”

With a look of pure terror, Julie ran downstairs to check the locks.  What kind of crazy household is this?  The front door was still secure.  She dared not part the curtains to check those locks for fear of seeing something staring back at her.  She was starting to feel a little silly for believing a six year old’s story of talking animals when she walked through the dining room.  Everything seemed closed up tight.  However, entering the kitchen rattled her to the core.

The kitchen window, the same one that she had seen movement through an hour ago, appeared to be open.  The curtains covering it were flowing as if the outside breeze was moving them.  There were muddy prints on the lip of the kitchen sink beneath the window and on the floor leading into a side room.  The door was cracked open, only a sliver.  Searching her memory, she wasn’t sure if it was like that before or if it was closed all the way.  Backing out of the room, she was about to run back upstairs when she remembered her phone.  She’d left it on the couch after talking to her mom.  Panic caused her to fumble as she yanked up pillows and the blanket looking for it.  What if whatever was in the house took it?  This possibility sent another wave of panic through her.  As she looked through the couch for her phone, Jack’s voice pierced the quiet.  It came from the kitchen and was quite loud now.  Julie jerked up from the couch and ran for the stairs on the other side of the house.  In doing so, she had to run past the kitchen entrance.  Her name rang out again, still in Jack’s sweet little boy voice.

“Julie.  Come here.” it called.  “Julie?  Where are you?”

She was bounding up the stairs by the time the question was asked.  Jack was out of his bed and standing in the open doorway of his sister’s room.  He stepped aside to let Julie in and slammed the door as soon as she cleared it.

“Why did you let it in?” he yelled, eyes wide with panic.

“I didn’t!  What is it?  It climbed in the kitchen window!” Julie yelled back.  Anna was quietly crying in her bed, no doubt startled by all the commotion and terribly confused.

“Mom says they can’t come in unless you tell them they can.” he answers.  Julie sat for a moment, thinking hard about the events leading up to this moment.

“I thought it was you.  I told you to come to me.  I thought you were having trouble sleeping.” Even Julie was beginning to cry a little.  A tear ran down her cheek.  “I can’t find my phone.  It was on the couch but I couldn’t find it.  I had to run.”

A soft scratching noise came from down the hall.  Whatever was in the house was scratching at Jack’s bedroom door.  Julie began to scream but Jack put his little hand over her mouth.  They all heard the creature call for Julie again using Jack’s stolen voice.  Jack hurried to his sister’s bedroom door and locked it.  It was then that Julie noticed scratch marks on her door around the door knob.

“What are those from?” she asked as she pointed to the door.

“Mom forgot the window open in here one time.” was Jack’s simple response.  Then the thing called out to Julie again, this time from right outside Anna’s bedroom door.  The scratching quickly followed.  Julie scooped Anna up and sat on the bed with the two kids.  Scratching transitioned into knocking which eventually changed into banging as the voice continued to ask Julie to open the door.  And so it continued for the next two hours until Mr. and Mrs. Weston returned home.  

Entering the house, they immediately knew something was wrong when they saw the condition the couch was in. Mr. Weston motioned for his wife to stay quiet while he retrieved a baseball bat from the front coat closet.  Following the sound of Jack calling to Julie, the couple walked as softly as possible up the stairs toward the bedrooms.  As they turned the corner at the top of the stairs, they were met with a disturbing sight.  Jack, or what appeared to be little Jack, was at his sister’s bedroom door.  He was calling Julie’s name and asking to be let in but his mouth wasn’t moving at all.  His lips were slightly parted but never articulated the words.  They just seemed to come from within his throat somewhere.  He was an exact copy of Jack except for one troubling difference.  His hands and feet were not correctly formed.  The fingers and toes were long and spindly and brown with mud from outside.  Because of this, he couldn’t turn the doorknob.  Instead, he was scratching with his long nails at the door around the knob and banging on the door, begging to be let in.  

His head twisted awkwardly toward them as they entered the hallway.  With one swift movement, Mr. Weston swung the bat at the creature’s head, making contact and accidentally taking several pictures off the wall in the process.  Mrs. Weston screamed at the sight of it.  Even though she knew it wasn’t her son, seeing him be struck down like this was beyond disturbing.  As soon as it hit the floor, its body began to shift back to its actual form.  Long arms and legs formed from the little boy that lay unconscious on the floor.  Pale skin and misshapen limbs became visible as what had looked like clothing melted back into the thing sprawling before them.  

“Don’t open the door yet, kids!” Mrs. Weston called to them through tears.  “Let us get it out of here, first.”  The couple knew it wasn’t dead.  Its chest still moved with each shallow breath as they dragged it down the stairs, through the house, and out the back door of the kitchen.  Leaving it in the middle of the backyard, they hurried back inside and locked the door.  They also closed and locked the kitchen window.

Julie and both children cowered in the bedroom closet while the parents hurried to unlock the bedroom door.  They didn’t blame them for not unlocking it.  The trio had been enduring begging and banging at that door for hours.  They had no idea what was real and what wasn’t.  After finding Julie’s phone on the floor under the coffee table of the living room, she made the call to her mom to pick her up.  There was much explaining and crying over the next hour as the Westons educated Julie and her mom about Mimics and how to avoid them.  

Julie’s mom agreed not to call authorities once the couple showed her the unconscious Mimic being dragged back into the woods by others of its kind.  They offered to let Julie and her mom stay the night in their guest room so they wouldn’t have to go back outside and drive home.  They accepted but left promptly the next morning, having barely slept.  Julie never babysat again and lived in fear of wooded areas for the rest of her days.