The House Sitter
Copyright 2011 Dan Absalonson
The House Sitter
Tammy thought she had heard and seen things all night, but this time it wasn't her imagination. It was Halloween night and she had agreed a while back to spend it house sitting for her mom's boss. Although, in this case, house sitting wouldn't be an appropriate term. The Deet's home was not a house, but an enormous mansion. Tammy had been over there several times and found it to be beautiful. That is when it was full of life, with the hustle and bustle of all their kids running around. Now she sat alone in the family room watching TV.
It felt like the house was closing in around her, and that every dark place inside held someone or something out to get her. She'd had enough of sitting in the dark house alone when she heard strange sounds and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. There was a small part of her brain that knew it was all just her imagination, but she was still terrified. So, she had called her friend Ellen to come over and spend the night with her in the house. Ellen was excited. Even though they were in college now, Ellen was still pretty into Halloween. She was at the only party with a costume contest, and had spent some time making her own. Tammy wasn't sure she would come over, but an invite to a scary mansion on Halloween night was enough for her friend.
Tammy wished Ellen was there, because now she thought someone else was. The house had an alarm system, she had punched in the code herself to get in, so it should have gone off if someone had really broken in. Then she saw a flashlight beam punch through a dark room down the hall. She put her hand over her mouth, stifling a scream, grabbed her phone, and ran into the kitchen pantry. She closed the door without a sound and dialed 911.
"Nine one one, what's your emergency?"
"Someone has broken in where I'm house sitting."
"Okay, what's the address?"
"Eighteen forty two west forest glen."
"Okay we're sending policeman up right now. Where are you in the house?"
"I'm hiding in the kitchen pantry."
"Okay, just stay where you are. I'll stay on the line with you. Try to remain calm. Police will be there soon."
"Okay."
Remain calm, like I can do that. She took a deep breath and let it out. Whoever's in here didn't come for a snack; they'll never come into the pantry. I'll be okay. I just need to hide in here until the police get here, and then everything will be okay, Tammy thought.
Then she heard footsteps on the slate tiled kitchen floor. She felt like all of her insides had been filled with ice water, and she started to shake. The footsteps were coming towards the pantry. Somehow Tammy thought to hang up her cell phone and put it in her pocket. She didn't want them to know the police were on their way. The pantry door opened. A tall muscular man dressed in dark clothes stood before her. His eyes tracked down to her, and he jumped back.
"What the!" he yelled, and then reached to his side and pulled out a pistol. He trained it on Tammy. She screamed.
"What are you doing here?"
Tammy was too scared to speak. All she could do is shake and cower. The man nudged her with his boot. She screamed again.
"I said what are you doing here?"
She managed two words.
"House sitting."
"What? They've never had a house sitter. I've been scoping this place out for months, and they leave on weekends all the time. Whatever. Stand up and get out of my way."
She jumped up and flew past him into the kitchen. His gun followed her.
"Now just stay there and you won't get hurt. Got it?"
She nodded.
"You ain't gonna run off and call the cops?"
She shook her head. He pointed the gun at her head.
"You better not."
He turned and walked into the pantry. He pulled a bag off his back and threw it on the ground. Then he got down on his knees and leaned forward, pulling off a vent from the part of wall under the bottom shelf of the pantry. Then he reached through the hole where the vent was and pulled the wall away. It wasn't a wall, but a panel. With the panel laid aside, a silver safe gleamed in the moonlight. He pulled a large mechanism from his pack and stuck it on top of what must have been a fingerprint scanner. A small led light on the device began blinking in yellow bursts. Then the light held a constant green glow.
He pulled it off and stuck his finger inside. The light changed back to blinking yellow, and it looked like it was hurting his thumb. The light turned green. He pulled his thumb out, and placed it onto a small panel on the safe. The safe beeped and clicked open. He grabbed things from inside and stuffed them into his pack. Tammy saw stacks of cash, jewelry, and documents. When he'd had his fill he stood and walked passed her. She remained frozen trying to blend into the counter top behind her, hoping he would just leave. He kept walking towards the hallway he had come from, when he saw blue and red lights flashing outside the windows. He turned back to Tammy and trained his gun on her once again.
"You're coming with me," he said.
"No!" she said.
He raised his hand and slammed his palm into her shoulder spinning her around. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and locked her against him. He started walking to the front door at a sideways angle, pulling her along with him with the gun trained on her head, and his large pack swing behind him.
"Where are you car keys?" he asked.
"In my purse," she said, pointing to a sofa table nearby. He shoved her towards it, keeping the gun on her.
"Get them," he said.
Once they were in her hand he grabbed her again and continued to the door.
"Open it," he said, pressing the gun against her temple. As they stepped onto the porch, a flashlight flew into their faces.
"Let the girl go, and no one gets hurt," a policeman said from behind his car. Tammy felt her captor take in a breath before shouting back at them.
"Let us go or I will shoot her."
"We both know you don't want to do that, now let her go."
She felt his chest rise as he filled his lungs with air again.
"I am not playing games here. We're leaving. If I hear a gun go off, she's dead!"
With that he started walking to the silver sedan parked in the driveway. He unlocked it, and sat in the driver's seat, pulling Tammy next to him on the seat. He slid over the middle console into the passenger seat, and jammed the keys into the ignition.
"Drive!"
Tammy reached for her seat belt out of habit. He slammed a fist onto her dashboard.
"Do that later, now go!"
"Okay," she said, and put it in reverse.
The two policemen didn't want to take a chance and have Tammy get hurt, so they took down the license plate and jumped in their car to pursue.
"Go faster!" he said.
She eased the pedal down farther, cringing as she careened across the gravel road's curves. The screaming sirens and bright flashing lights of cop cars danced off the tall swaying trees behind them. Once they started to fade, new lights lit up in the distance.
"Turn your lights off!"
Tammy obeyed.
"Slow down," he said.
"Take this turn coming up. Right here."
They turned off onto one of the many narrow dirt roads that lead to houses.
"Just keep going," he said.
They drove for about a minute.
"Alright now stop and turn the car off."
As Tammy's engine puttered off, a wall of siren filled the night air behind them, and then faded out.
"Alright, now turn this thing around and get us on the freeway."
Her hands shot to the keys. She started the car, threw it in reverse, cranked the wheel, and stomped on the pedal. Their bodies both flew forwa
rd as the car lurched back. Without a seat belt he slammed into the dash, his head smacking the windshield. She slammed on the brakes, pushing both of their bodies back into their seats.
"Watch it!"
"Sorry."
"What are you waiting for, go!"
They flew back to the gravel road and were soon to the freeway. As they merged on, blue and red lights trailed close behind.
"You need to go faster."
Tammy put it to the floor and watched her speedometer wind past 130 for the first and last time. As the straight road stretched out before her, and her car shook from being pressed past it's designed limits, she reached over and put her seat belt on. He reached for his.
"Sorry, that seat belt doesn't work."
"Whatever, just drive as fast as you can."
"Okay."
This is not happening to me, I don't want to die. I can't die, Tammy thought. Then she had an idea. She knew a bridge was coming up with a guard rail that jutted out a bit into the shoulder of the freeway. As the bridge drew near, her whole body became taught, and the ice water filled her insides again, but she did it. She veered off the road into the guard rail. She gripped her wheel and closed her eyes. The crash was so loud it hurt her ears, and her seat belt felt like a sledge hammer to the chest. Her car launched into the air, spinning as it flew in a slow arc. The air bag smashed into her face and her stomach felt like she was on a roller coaster. It landed on the passenger side, then flipped onto the roof and slid halfway across the bridge. When the sound and motion stopped, Tammy let out her breathe and started to breathe again.
Before she opened her eyes, she could see him somehow still right there next to her, with his great gray gun raised at her head. She could see the look on his face as he pulled the trigger. She looked over to see nothing but shattered glass. Even after the crash, and after seeing that he was gone, she still felt his gun to her head. He has to be hurt too bad to come and get me, Tammy thought. Then her door flew open. She screamed and thrashed, but the hand that reached for her was not holding a gun. It was a police officer.
"Miss, it's going to be okay. He's not going anywhere, if he's still alive. My partner is going to secure him right now. It's over."
She stopped thrashing and started to cry.
"It's over?"
"It's over."
THE END
About the Author
Dan first started writing stories in elementary school, where he and a friend would skip lunch and recess once a month to eat in the library while hearing all about the new books on the shelves. His love for reading, as with visual art and music, has now extended into creating his own fiction. He is also a huge fan of podcasting, and all of his stories are available for free in audio. He works as a digital artist and lives in Washington State with his beautiful family of five.
Thank you for reading my short story The House Sitter. For more about me check out my website where I blog about my writing journey, write and podcast book reviews, and have links to many more free stories both in eBook and audio book formats: www.DanDanTheArtMan.com
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