The Babysitter and The Man Upstairs (Urban Legend)

Book excerpt: Jamie was thumbing through the newspaper in search of a weekend job for the summer. She was sixteen years old and needed the extra money to help save for textbooks when she started college in the fall. She tossed the newspaper on the floor frustrated with no results. Then one of the newspaper pages flipped over to the last page of the classifieds and there it was in small print, "babysitter needed for the summer." She said, "How did I miss this, maybe, I passed over it because it didn't say weekends only." Jamie called the number, and a middle-aged woman answered, and said, "May I help you?" "Yes, you can. I am interested in a babysitting job, but wasn't sure if this was an everyday thing or just weekends only," asked Jamie. "I'm sorry, but I meant to put weekends only, but I was in a hurry," explained the woman. "If you're looking to babysit every day, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you," said the woman. "No, this is exactly what I wanted. When can I start?" asked Jamie. "Well, can you start next weekend around five p.m.?" said the woman. "That sounds perfect! I'll see you then," replied Jamie. Jamie hung up the phone and was excited about having a job. That would ease her mind about how she was going to be able to pay for her textbooks. The week passed by like a rocket, and it was Saturday, and Jamie showed up to her babysitting job right on time. Jamie knocked on the woman’s front door, and the woman opened the door, and said "You must be Jamie, so nice to see you." The woman introduced her children to Jamie and told her she would be back by six p.m. Sunday night. The woman said bye to Jamie, and her kids, then got in her car, and drove to her business trip. Jamie played some games with the children then the phone rang. Jamie picked up the phone and said, "Who's there?" all she heard was heavy breathing, and she hung up the phone and went back to playing games with the children. Jamie checked her watch and said "Oh my! It's eight p.m., how time flies when you're having fun. Well children it's time for bed." Jamie escorted the children upstairs to the bedroom that they shared. She read them a story then a few minutes later the children fell fast asleep. Jamie got out of bed with them and turned the light out, then went downstairs to watch TV before going to sleep. As Jamie was eating popcorn and watching a movie called Halloween it started storming outside. Scary movies scare the willies out of her, but she still liked watching them anyway. Then the phone started ringing, and she picked it up, and said, Hello!" Then an eerie voice said, "Have you checked on the children lately."