“This is Grendel and Draven here.” The high-pitched perky mother introduced her sons to the eighth babysitter. “Say hello to Katherine, boys.” She chided lightly.

Grendel cowered behind his mother’s leg, gripping her pant leg with white death grip hands. You wouldn’t think he was the oldest child of ten years old considering he was the shyest of the children. His hair was a pale cinnamon brown with a reddish tone while facing the sunlight. He had eyes that matched his fearful shyness and quiet nature.

On the contrary to his older brother, Draven was a sullen, dark eyed eight year old boy with black hair to match his melancholy appearance. He barely acknowledged the babysitter with a flash of hostility and the slightest nod of a cold greeting.

“And this sweetheart here is Lillith. Can you wave hi, sweetie?” The mother bounced her baby girl in her arms, making the child wave at the teenage girl like a puppeteer. “Well, I believe that’s everything. I did tell you their daily schedule for the weekend, yes?”

Katherine nodded and smiled kindly at the woman. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Just have fun on your trip.” In her mind, she hoped this would be a fast weekend. She didn’t really want to be here, but to miss the opportunity being paid hundred fifty dollars just to watch a few brats for one weekend? Definitely taking that chance.

The mother of the three children sighed regretfully. “Well, I guess I’ll leave everything up to you then.” After handing over Lillith to the babysitter, she turned to her sons with a perky smile to her lips, patting each of their heads. “Mommy will be back soon, okay? Listen to Katherine. She’s in charge for these two days.” With that concluding statement, the woman drove off through the midmorning air of winter.

The babysitter took her last few examinations of the children with a hint of dread in her eyes. She could tell this wasn’t going to be a very glamorous weekend, but that was fine enough for her. Her preference for the next two days was to be as smooth and easy as possible. She held the baby more securely in her arms. “Come on. Back inside you two. The cold is already biting.”

As they were heading back inside, Draven muttered under his breath something inaudible. This made Katherine look at him. “What was that?”

The dark boy stared up at her with intense eyes. “What’s wrong with the cold?” He asked so seriously that it could have been a question meant to scold a child of a wrong-doing.

She stiffened at his harsh tone. “Nothing unless you stay out too long and get frostbite. Come on, I can make hot chocolate if you want.” Weird kid. She thought to herself.

Draven didn’t answer, but he did follow inside. Once they were all inside, Katherine glanced around with squinted eyes. The rooms were all surrounded with a dull blackness. Not much light shown through. All the windows were covered by the blinds. “Shouldn’t we turn on some lights?” She was about to flip a light switch, but suddenly a small hand grasped her wrist roughly.

The eight year old boy stared at her coldly. “The lights don’t work.” He said simply.

Katherine swallowed and tried the switch anyway. No light. “Well, that’s…odd.” She mused out loud. “Has it been like this for a while?”

Draven shrugged carelessly, not bothering to give an answer, and left the room. Katherine sighed, suddenly already exhausted. This was going to be a long weekend.

Later that night, Katherine had noticed peculiar things about the house. For the most part it seemed to have an abandoned appearance and atmosphere to it with its withered, untidy aspects that should have been tended to. The cracked wooden floors creaked so much that it was impossible to not hear if anyone had intruded no matter how quiet they attempted to be. There were many ways to get a splinter stuck in your foot so Katherine always had her shoes on her feet. Each room never looked more used than another. They all had the feel of never been touched or lived in. Everywhere she looked there seemed to be dust or stained curtains. What kind of stains she couldn’t tell since they were so old and wrinkled. She had checked every light switch and had finally agreed to the conclusion that none of the lights worked. Cracked plates and chipped glasses filled the kitchen cabinets and sink. The plentiful of food in the refrigerator conflicted with the melancholy state of things.

Even more peculiar, the children didn’t have many toys to play with. Grendel owned a broken robotic dinosaur while the daughter only kept a washed-out stuffed doll with a loose button eye unwinding from the string attached. Draven had a small notebook he drew in with his one red colored pencil. Why their mother skimped on the amount of things to do for her kids, Katherine was dumbfounded even if she was given an answer. The woman had a high enough paying job as a nurse she was told over the phone and she couldn’t be with her kids as often as she’d like. The strange departures for vacations without her children was even more unusual.

Outside it was just as depressing as it could be for young children. There was so little space to play on the yard and the rest of the surroundings around the house was forest and closed-in trees. Earlier that day, Katherine had managed to deal with the brutal winter long enough for Grendel and Draven to make a decent sized snowman. More like Grendel was pleased to have something to do with his hands while Draven watched to the side, criticizing every once in a while on the craftsmanship of a ten year old boy.

It wasn’t until she had put the kids to bed that night when it began to get really weird. Every time she closed her eyes she heard a loud thump and every time she would go downstairs to look for a cause, but she always found nothing. There was always a tapping on the window, but she ignored it, assuming it was a tree branch.  Every noise she heard at night while it was always too silent during the day.

None of these strange observations really frightened her though. It was the eight year old boy. Every glance towards him seemed to give her a sharp, cold stare in return. Almost every few hours he would come up to her and ask what her opinion was of specific things like harsh weather, spiders, darkness, and even death.

“How do you want to die, Miss Katherine?” Draven had asked, pausing from writing in his notebook. He always called her “Miss Katherine” and stared at her eyes intently as if searching for lies. Or a twitch of fear.

Katherine had given him a wary look. “Why would you ask such a question?”

The dark boy shrugged, indifferent. “Just curious. Doesn’t everyone think about it?”

She rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Not particularly.” She tilted her head in concern for the boy. “What about you? How do you want to die?”

The slightest of smiles touched his stiff lips. “You first.” A spark of interest flashed through his dark unreadable eyes.

“Well, I hope of old age, you know? Live a long life.”

Draven snorted in disgust at the answer he was given. “Boring. Everyone wants to live a long, uneventful life.” His eyes had hardened in irritation.

The babysitter was a little startled by his reaction. “Alright, then how do you want to die?

That same disturbing smile lifted his lips. “That’s a secret.” He said and walked away.

Grendel was a little strange as well, but in a different way. Instead he’d cry all of a sudden every time he heard the clock on the living room wall tick for the next hour and never really explained why. Katherine didn’t know what to do about him.

Lillith was just as normal as her brothers. She would giggle and point at the empty wall of her bedroom and Katherine would just hush the child, rocking her in her arms as if the odd baby needed comfort.

The teenager couldn’t wait to leave. The kids scared the hell out of her.

In the early hours of the morning, about 2:47, Katherine heard a scream. She threw off her covers and ran to the boys’ room. Grendel was sobbing and screaming his head off, huddled in the far corner of the room. Away from his younger brother who was only sitting up in the blankets with an annoyed scowl on his face.

“What happened?” Katherine asked a little harshly, assuming Draven had scared his brother.

Draven shrugged, unconcerned for his brother. “I don’t know. He just had a nightmare I guess.” At that a flicker of amusement flashed through his eyes.

Grendel had stopped screaming, but his sobs didn’t dwindle any. “Mommy died. She’s dead. Mommy…” His sobs grew louder again.

Katherine picked up the ten year old off the ground and placed him on her lap on his bed. “Shh…it was just a nightmare, hon. It wasn’t real. She’ll be back soon.” She rocked him back and forth, trying to console the boy.

The distressed child cried louder. “Dead. Mommy’s dead!” He insisted the horrible conclusion over and over until finally he tired out and fell asleep. Katherine put him to bed gently to not disturb him.

Draven was still sitting up in his bed, watching the babysitter. “Nightmares are real.” He stated simply, but there was a warning in his challenging tone.

Katherine sighed tiredly and gave him a hard stare. “No they aren’t. Just bad dreams.”

“But what if they come true? Is it simply just a bad dream?” Draven persisted with a higher intensity.

“That’s just coincidence.” She replied calmly. “Now go back to sleep. It’s too early to get up yet.” With that, she was just about to leave, but not without giving one glance back at the dark boy who was still sitting up in bed. His eyes were staring out the window where it had begun to snow. A small sneer had crossed his impassive expression.

The next morning was mostly eerie and depressing. Lillith stared blankly at the food as if trying to comprehend its purpose. Her older brother, Grendel, was numb with dried out tears and a fearful look in his eyes as he gave his breakfast a similar blank stare. Draven, on the other hand, seemed to be in a good mood, eating a little more than usual. Katherine wasn’t sure that was a good thing that the dark boy was smirking some.

She spoke up to break the awkward silence. “I’ll be leaving today soon once your mom gets back. Don’t worry though. I’ll stay until she comes back even though she did tell me I would be able to leave around lunch time.” She glanced at their expressions for any signs of a reaction.

Draven didn’t look over, keeping his attention on finishing his meal. Grendel mumbled a quiet reply that Katherine’s ears didn’t pick up.

“What was that, Grendel?” Katherine prompted kindly for him to speak louder.

He finally met her eyes, but his were dull from the numbness after crying earlier. “You won’t be able to leave then. Mommy isn’t coming back.”

I sighed in irritation at his insistence of his mother’s death. “Yes, she is. She’s not dead.”

“Mommy’s dead!” Grendel’s voice became a higher pitched shrill. “She died last night!” His bottom lip trembled, his eyes wide. He was clearly not going to give in to her reasoning.

“Stop it.” She scolded a little harshly. “You’ll soon understand once she comes back. That was just a nightmare you had last night, Grendel. Do you understand?”

He shook his head furiously, but didn’t speak again about the subject.

Uncharacteristically, Draven spoke up for the first time during breakfast. “We’ll be surrounded by snow by then. You won’t be able to leave.” He said calmly, taking another bite of his eggs.

The babysitter looked at the boy strangely. “How do you know that?” It’s not like there was a TV anywhere in the house.

He pointed toward an old radio that still collected cobwebs. Katherine stared at it dully as if she was just now realizing its existence.

“Well, they’re usually wrong anyways. Weather’s too unpredictable.” Although when she said this it was more of a comfort for herself. She wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Draven didn’t answer, but he seemed to be somewhat amused by her hopeful conclusion.

Later that day the woman still didn’t come back after lunch and Katherine was becoming anxious. She’d make excuses in her head like “just traffic” or “lost track of time,” but even then she knew it was probably unlikely.

It was around the time she was starting to consider leaving anyway when she heard an agonizing cry. She ran up the stairs in a panic, but the scream had ended quickly. When she reached Lillith’s room she wished she could scratch her eyes out to remove the gruesome image. The baby girl’s neck was twisted and caught in the rainbow colored mobile. Blood ran down her neck from the slash through her throat and spilled out all over the crib. On the wall was a note written in red colored pencil. It said: “Nightmares are real.”

Her eyes widened in horror and her throat had dried and closed up, preventing her from screaming. When she looked at the horrible scene again after blinking once, it changed. Lillith was perfectly fine in her crib asleep. There was no blood or red writing on the wall.

Katherine caressed the child’s head to make sure it was real. Apparently she had been seeing things. Right? But even so…why would she have pictured such an atrocious image?

She checked the sleeping child once more before leaving the room. When she stepped out, Grendel stood there crying red tears. Blood. He was crying tears of blood. But when Katherine eyes widened, taking a closer look, he wasn’t crying. There was a slit of skin torn under each eye, making it look like he was crying bloody tears. She gasped, disgusted and horrified. “Grendel! Why would you cut yourself?”

Grendel gave her a funny look and tilted his head slightly. “What do you mean?” He was confused and bewildered by her accusation.

She was just as confused. It was her imagination. There was no blood. No gashes under Grendel’s eyes. She ruffled his hair, smiling weakly. “I must seem like I’m becoming a little delusional, huh? I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

The boy nodded, still giving her that puzzled, wary look, and walked away.

Even after that Katherine kept seeing bloody, ghastly images everywhere she went. Chunks of human organs in the refrigerator, dead birds caught in the windows, the feeling of flesh brushing her skin through the darkness. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and ran outside in the cold. She really did hate winter, but she would rather keep the dark images out of her head.

The snow was piling up fast, but somehow once she came out it was coming down too fast to be natural. With a cry of terror and a hard thump against her head, Katherine fell unconscious.

When her eyes opened she found herself surrounded by dirt and snow. She looked up fearfully and realized she was underground. What the hell happened?

A small hole still shown through at the top, but even after attempting to climb up and reach towards it, she couldn’t. She was far too deep.

Suddenly a face appeared near the small, unreachable hole. It was Draven. His eyes were lit up with a scary excitement and a cruel smile playing on his lips. “I told you before that nightmares are real. Guess you should’ve listened to me.” His smile widened slightly in amusement.

“Wait. Draven? Are you saying you did all this? How?” Katherine’s head was spinning. Now she was seriously delusional right? Draven was just a creepy kid. Nothing more. Right?

He shrugged carelessly. “So what if I did? Can you do anything about it?” His dark eyes were now shining as if anticipating her frightened reaction a little too much. “Believe it or not, but I have the ability to make you face all your worst nightmares. Making them terribly real to you.” He actually laughed. Katherine had never heard him laugh, but this one was creepy and made her shudder. The laugh of a maniac.

Oddly enough, she did believe him. It would explain everything she had been seeing. All those horrific images.

Draven finally stopped laughing and sneered at his eighth victim. “See you later. Much later.” He was about to officially close the hole, but Katherine’s voice forced his hands to a halt.

“Why are you doing this? Why Draven?” She cried out painfully.

He gave her a challenging look. “Well, now. Maybe you should think twice about what you say. Otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.” With that, he closed the hole.

Katherine screamed, but it was no use. She was going to die here. Underground. Buried alive. She laid down and closed her eyes. Once she did though, she quickly felt a shiver up her spine. Something was crawling across her skin.

This time she screamed louder than ever. Tons and tons of spiders were crawling over her body. Inside her belly button. Inside her ears. Inside her mouth.

The woman had finally come back from her trip later that day. She smiled at her precious children waiting patiently on the porch. “Did you have fun?”

Draven was the one who spoke, holding Lillith in his arms. “The babysitter left so suddenly. She wasn’t a very good babysitter.” He said simply.

His mother sighed and patted her son’s head. “I’m sorry. I guess I’ll need to find another that would be more considerate.” She smiled brightly, but the smile faded as she heard a tormenting scream. “What was that?”

The dark boy shrugged, unconcerned. “Who knows?” His expression was unreadable and impassive as usual.

When the screaming stopped, the woman just left the strange occurrence alone and gently pushed her kids inside. “Come now, boys. It’s almost time for dinner.”