By: Tara Mladenovic
View all Tara Mladenovic's works
“Brandon, it’s bedtime,” I said to the 6-year-old boy.
He let out a sigh of exasperation. “Can I please just watch one more episode?”
“You can watch Bugs Bunny tomorrow,” I replied. “It’s already 9:00 p.m and we don’t want your parents to get mad.”
“Fine…but don’t blame me when Bugs Bunny tries to come in the middle of the night and sticks a carrot up your ass,” said Brandon angrily while walking up the stairs to his room.
“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” I said as I started walking towards the curtains to close them. I quickly noticed a man in black just standing out there on the sidewalk, but it did not seem like he noticed me. I felt goosebumps all over my arms and closed the curtains quickly. I soon realized that this wasn’t the movies and I shouldn’t be worried; for all I knew the man could have been waiting for his Uber driver to pick him up. I mean it was only 9:00 pm after all.
“AISHA! Are you going to come tuck me in or am I going to do it myself!” screamed Brandon in a high pitched voice.
I rolled my eyes, “I’m coming!” I remembered when this kid was just a baby, he was so cute and innocent, and now it’s like he has the devil in him. In front of his parents, he is a sweet angel, but when they’re gone he is someone else.
As I walked up the marble staircase and entered the royal blue bedroom, I saw Brandon reading a book, his emerald green eyes clearly following it word for word. Now I must admit the boy was an avid reader, he read a variety of books way above my level. I walked over towards him and tucked him in bed. While doing so, I said “You have 30 more minutes before it is time to turn off the nightlight and put the book down, ok?” I got no response and I wasn’t surprised. While saying goodnight I walked out the room and turned off the light. I soon found myself wandering to the spacious living room and turning on the TV. Soon I heard my phone buzzing and saw that Brandon’s mother, Mrs. Meyers, was calling me.
“Hey, Mrs. Meyers, how is it going?” I said happily.
“Everything is going great here, I just wanted to let you know we’ll be coming home early due to a situation.”
“What is the situation,” I asked nervously.
“Well…Aisha, it’s nothing to be worried about, I assure you, it’s…. The home security system is down due to technical difficulties, but don’t be worried we are on our way home right now… Aisha?”
So a lot of you are probably wondering, why does it seem like a big deal that the home security system was down? Well, let me tell you when the kid you babysit lives in a multi-million dollar mansion, and when any person sees that their car has left their house, and now that the home security system is down, they will think no one is home and would try to enter. Well, now my chances of death at a young age just rose up to 70% if someone does try to break in, and the chance for someone to break in makes me want to faint.
“Mrs. Myers, we will be ok, just please come back as quickly as possible since I’m sure Brandon will want you.” Or so I can get the hell out of there ASAP, I thought.
“Yes, of course,” she responded. “I will be there soon. Also you should both hide somewhere, I suggest the bathroom, just in case, because you never know. Well then goodbye.”
“Bye,” I quickly said and hung up the phone. I laid down on the couch and breathed slowly. Then I got up and walked over to all the doors and windows to make sure they were locked. As I went up to a window – let me be more specific, the window I mentioned in the beginning of this story, the one where I had to close the curtains, yes, that window – as I went up to the window to check if it was locked, I looked outside and I saw that man in black again, across the street, but this time I could tell he was looking exactly at me. I locked the window as quickly as I could and closed the curtains.
My heart beat at a rapid pace. My feet moved quickly up the staircase, the sound of my footsteps traveling throughout the entire mansion. Now I viewed Brandon’s white bedroom door, I entered quickly. His eyes looked up from a book, and they met mine. As he was about to speak, the sound of my voice quickly cut him off.
“Brandon we don’t have time to talk. The home security system is down, and I believe an intruder is outside. I locked all the windows and doors. Now let’s go hide and wait in the bathroom until your parents are home.”
Brandon’s eyes widened as if he had just witnessed a murder. He hopped out of his sky blue bed and took quick steps to me. My hand grabbed his as we made our way out of the bedroom. Then we froze, both of us standing there, as we could hear the sound of glass shattering from downstairs. My heart began to accelerate fast. I felt Brandon’s hand tightening around mine. I saw his eyes look into mine. As if he could read my mind, and I could read his, we both ran towards the bathroom across the hall.
15 minutes later
The room was silent. There was a good possibility that the intruder was nowhere near our area. So I bent over towards the floor and looked through a small space between the door and floor. Luckily there were no feet in sight, making the uneasiness in my stomach vanish. I wondered why the intruder didn’t try to come into the bathroom though. I mean it has lots of makeup and other valuables around, but who am I to question an intruder’s actions? My hand grabbed the doorknob, not making a sound, I carefully twisted the knob to open the door. While doing so, a small hand was tugging at the back of my shirt. I turned around and noticed Brandon with questions in his eyes. A single finger came up to my mouth, letting him know that he needed to stay quiet. I mouthed to him that I would be back soon and to lock the door, while moving my hands to express what I meant. He only gave me a simple nod. As soon as I stepped out and closed the white door silently behind me, I hear a lock click. I knew I had to be quick. All I had to do was grab my phone and race back to the bathroom without being caught.
I tiptoed towards Brandon’s room, hoping not to make a sound. I peeked down the staircase to make sure the intruder was not anywhere near. Once I saw the coast was clear, I made my way down the stairs, till I heard a click. I froze. Meanwhile thoughts rambled through my head.
Then a dead voice, as if they felt nothing, spoke. I could tell it was a woman’s and as much as she was trying to change her tone of voice I knew exactly who it was.
“Now what are you trying to do…?” she said.
No response came out of my mouth. I just turned around, her emerald green eyes staring me down.
“I can’t believe it is you,” I said. “I mean, it all makes sense now. You were the one who told me and Brandon to hide in the bathroom, it’s so we wouldn’t see you and risk recognizing you. So that’s why you didn’t come into the bathroom, because you knew we would be in there. Those emerald green eyes, who could miss them. I mean they are exactly like Brandon’s afterall. The only thing I want to know right now is why.” My body was still in shock, not believing that it was true, that she could be the intruder.
“Aisha,” Mrs.Meyers said while slowly lowering the gun, “I could never shoot you or anybody. It’s hard to say this, but I must face the truth….. My husband had an affair. Not only that, it was with my twin sister.” Her voice started cracking, tears slowly running down her cheeks. “I was going to take everything and sell it. Then file a divorce and get full custody of Brandon. So in the end we would have enough money to survive and I could spend time with a man who truly loves me, just as much as I love him. Am I crazy? Yes, but he is crazy for getting my sister pregnant. He was telling me how he wanted me out of the house, to leave and let my sister take my place. Since we looked exactly alike, you thought that I was leaving with him to this dinner, but no. I was out on the streets waiting for the right time, which was when they left. He wanted to take Brandon away from me. He wanted to let Brandon think that his aunt was his mom. I just had to do this… and for that reason I’m sorry for everything. Tell Brandon that I love him.” As she finished speaking, I saw the gun slowly rise to her head, her eyes shut tight. All I could hear were her loud sobbings, until I screamed NO, but it was too late. My body flew back as I saw her body drop to the floor. My ears were ringing from the loud bullet that was shot near me. My vision was a little blurry, but I was able to make out the men in uniforms. They grabbed Mrs. Meyers body and I could hear one of them faintly say, “I got a pulse.” Then it just went completely black.