It had been a minute or so since the lights went out. The girls stayed in a huddle on the floor. Coupled with the creepy book, the sudden storm scared everyone.
"Now isnt it a good thing we have these candles now?" Nancy said. "And you all thought I wanted that nice Halloween ambience, but no. I'm practical."
Dsey aimed a "shut up" look at her friend. "Who are you Martha Stewart?" She asked. "You better watch out or she will have us cutting potato paint stamps for the walls."
The phone rang startling everyone. Rosie placed a hand over her heart. Harley looked around in the darkness.
"Who gets the phone?" Jean asked.
"I vote for everyone but me." Harley said.
"I'll go." Desy said. "Wheres the phone?"
"Follow the ringing sound." Nancy said.
"Thanks." Desy said taking a pumpkin shaped candle.
"We'll wait for you, ok?" Rosie said. "We can chat."
"You can chat." Jean said. "I can't get this song out of my head."
"What is it?" Harley said. "Perhaps we can take our minds off the spookiness of this situation."
"Okay its from a movie." Jean said working her hand in a circle.
"A movie? Looks like a pepper grinder." Nancy mused. "Red hot chilli peppers!"
"Its not that." Jean said. "It's a musical."
"Newsies!" They all cried.
"You guessed." Jean sighed.
"Hello?" Desy said into the phone as she placed the candle on the stand.
""ello luv." Davy said.
"Davy!" She said. She called out into the living room. "It's the guys!" She turned back to the phone. "Whats up? Did you lose power there too?"
"Yeah, we thought we would make it to the end of the gig but no one likes dancing in the dark." Davy said. "We might come back soon. If we leave now we lose our pay so we're hoping the lights come back on. We got our fingers crossed."
"We'll pray for you too." Desy said. She knew the guys could get whatever pay they could get.
"Anything can help right now." Davy said. "I gotta go. Micky needs saving from some overneedy girls!"
"All right, see you later!" Desy said hanging up the phone. She picked the candle up and returned to the living room. Nancy seemed to be in the midst of telling a joke.
"And she turns to him and she says....Desy your back!" Nancy said.
"Thats what the guy said?" Harley asked. "I'm afraid I dont get that one."
"She means Desys back." Rosie said.
"The guys lost power too." Desy said. "They're gonna stick it out. Till then its just the five of us."
"Great." Nancy said. "The five of us, a black out and the scariest night of the year."
"I'm sure nothing else will go wrong." Jean said with mock confidence.
"Famous last words mate." Harley said.
"Whos turn is it to read the book?" Nancy asked.
Desy picked up the book and looked at it.
"Why read it? We can like burn it and get ice cream." Rosie said. "In fact we got some in the freezer and it could all melt."
"Its only been a few minutes." Jean said.
"Okay but I tried to warn you." Rosie shrugged.
"Tough luck Rosie, it looks like this next story is yours." Desy said handing the book over to her.
"Desy is lucky. I didnt almost get felt up in my story, course we havent even gotten to that yet." Nancy said. Desy laughed remembering with Davy said about helpless Micky and the girls. Maybe he should be more afraid of being alone with Nancy.
"Okay fine, I will read my story." Rosie said. "What else..."
"Dont say it!" The girls shouted at her. A crack of thunder broke through the air. Harley nearly scooted under a chair. They looked at her.
"What? I found a dime." She said defensively.
Rosie looked at the page and read the title. "The Babysitter. Doesnt sound so scary."
"You should see the brats ive baby sat for. They make Damian from the Omen movie look like a pure saint." Nancy informed them.
"Rosie arrived at the Bakers house right on time, 8:30. Davy, her boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Desy raised her eyebrow.
"I'm sure there is no makeout scene in here, Desy." Rosie said. "Im not sure whoever wrote these stories know who is really with who here."
"The Bakers had a one and a half year old son and they were leaving him for the first time since his birth. Rosie assured the couple he was in good hands. The Bakers left feeling sure in their babysitter.
"Rosie got a little help from Davy, with the feeding of the tot. He couldnt stay long, he worked at night at a small store.
"Will you be all right by yourself?" Davy asked.
"I'm fine. Once the tot goes to sleep I got the run of the house so to speak." Rosie said. "I even got a video."
"Great." Davy said. He gave her a hug and a light kiss on the cheek. "I will see you later."
"Rosie waved goodbye to Davy at the front door. She watched him till he drove down the street and around the corner. She smiled, walked in and closed the door."
"About a few minutes later she was making microwave popcorn for the movie when the phone rang. Rosie picked it up as she pulled the bag from the microwave.
"Hello?" Rosie sang.
"Hello!" Davy said.
"Hey you arent supposed to call me." Rosie said. "How are things."
"Slow and boring so I thought I would check up on you." Davy said.
"Wait an hour or two." She laughed. "Then call back when you are really bored." Rosie smiled. "Bye!" She hung up the phone. It rang again. "Davy?"
"Yep, just checking your reflexes." Davy said. "I'm going again."
"Bye." Rosie said as she poured her bag of popcorn into a plastic bowl. The phone rang a third time. "Davy cut it out!" Rosie said in into the phone. There was no answer. "Davy?"
"I'm not Davy." The voice said in a dark husky tone. Rosie dropped the bowl on the floor.
"Davy, you need a lozenge or something. I just dropped a bowl. Call me back." Rosie said hanging up the phone. She kept whatever popcorn she could save. The five second rule wasnt in effect. Who knows what was on the floor here. The phone rang as Rosie finished scooping up the popcorn. She picked the reciever up. "Thanks a lot, Davy I wasted my one good snack on ya."
"I'm not Davy." The voice repeated. "Are you there alone?"
Rosie paused. "Who is this?"
"Its dangerous to be by yourself with nobody there but the baby." The voice intoned. "Want some company?" With that Rosie slammed the reciever down. She sat there for a minute on the phone. The phone let out a ring. It sounded like someone moaning. "Leave me alone. Its not funny anymore!" She picked up the phone. "Leave me alone!" She almost screamed. "Oh hi Mrs Baker. I'm fine, I'm just getting these mondo creepy calls. Oh you'll be home early? Thank god." Rosie said doing a sign of the cross over her. "See you soon." She put the phone back in the cradle. She cleaned up the kitchen and threw the popcorn away. She went into the living room. As she sat down she heard a creaking above her. She stopped dead in the middle of the floor.
"Hello?" She called out. "Oh thats great, now I'm talking to myself." The phone suddenly rang, startling Rosie. She went over to the phone. "Hello?"
"I'm coming to visit ya!" The voice intoned. Rosie slammed the phone on the cradle. Thinking for a second she called the cops.
"Police?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"I been getting these creepy calls." Rosie said. "Can you help me."
"Well maybe we can trace the call and get them to stop." The officer said. "Will they call back?"
"Oh yeah." Rosie muttered.
"Ok hang up and wait. We'll let you know." The officer said.
Rosie hung up the phone. Almost immediately it rang again. Rosie puased a second before picking it up. If she can get him to stay on long enough, they can get his number.
"Hello?" She said trying to appear brave.
"Are you gonna hang up again?" They asked.
"I dont know. If you're gonna show up here, then we have to get off the phone sometime." She laughed. "You sound cute do you have a brother?" She said nervously.
"I'll be there soon." He cackled. He then hung up. Rosie hung up the phone and looked around. Feeling a sudden need to defend herself, she grabbed a vase. The phone rang.
"Its the police!" The man yelled. "THE MAN IS INSIDE YOUR HOUSE!!!" He yelled. "Get out of there!"
"What about the baby?" Rosie yelled.
"Forget him for now." The man responded. "Its too dangerous to go for him now. Leave the house!"
Rosie, feeling a surge of energy, hung up the phone. Rather than go outside, she decided to chance going for the kid. She ran upstairs and around the corner to the bedroom. She scooped the kid up in her arms and headed for the stairs. As she headed down them she could feel hot breath on her neck. She kept running, knowing that if she stopped now it would be a mistake. She pulled open the door and ran into the polices waiting arms. She turned to see the police arresting the man who she felt following her. She saw his face briefly as they cuffed him. It was Davy!
"Davy!" Rosie whispered. "But how..."
"There have been a number of mysterious babysitter disapearances. I think now that we have Mr Jones, we may be able to solve this case. Rosie nodded in shock.
Rosie picked up the book. She ran into the kitchen and put the book in the microwave. She turned it on.
"Ok that was weird. Why would Davy kill anyone?" Nancy said.
"Its not Davy." Desy said. "Its this book. Its freaking us out. If Micky had been on the phone, the next story would have had him in it." The bell rang on the microwave. Rosie took the book out. It was warm but barely touched.
"I dont think that book can be destroyed. It didnt even melt a little bit." Jean said.
"Even weirder, the power is out, and the microwave was working..." Nancy demurred.
The gang looked at each other as another clap of thunder sounded. Harley yelled from the living room. "You guys are planning on coming back, right? Right?"
