The pounding wouldn’t stop
When I was in high school, I spent about a week babysitting two kids in their house while their parents were away on business. Although I lived in a fairly rural area, the family lived within ten minutes of my house and I knew the neighborhood pretty well as I had babysat for the family before.
It was late October, Halloween weekend, and as a typical 17 year old I was disappointed I was not out with my friends and instead stuck inside babysitting. It was just about bedtime for the kids, so it was pitch black outside and silent (again, very rural area. This makes this encounter that much creepier). The house I was sitting had a large backyard and a sort of garage that had been converted to an apartment. A young man lived in the apartment, but the family was insistent that he never comes to the house and would not bother me.
As I am putting the kids to bed, the doorbell rings. Since I knew my family and friends were out for Halloween, I opened the front door without thinking. It was my best friend, who also lived nearby so she knew the house I was staying at. She had a couple of our guy friends with her. She explained that they were on their way to the corn mazes and wanted to stop by. Grateful to see them before they went, we hung out in the kitchen for probably around twenty minutes before they went on their way. By that time, the kids were asleep upstairs so I went around the house and locked all of the doors and closed all of the blinds. It was a pretty modern style home, so an entire side of the house was just straight windows.
After I get the house ready, I settle down in the living room to watch TV. Probably around thirty minutes or so pass, when I hear a knock at the front door. It was faint, so I turned off the TV to hear it better. Hearing the knock again, I could feel the hairs on my arm stand up. It was pretty late and I had no idea who would be coming to the house at this hour.
Suddenly, the faint knock turns into a violent, loud banging. Running on adrenaline, I sprint upstairs into the master bedroom. I didn’t have a cell phone at the time, and knowing there was a phone in the room I figured it would be safer to be near a phone and the kids. Now not only is the door being pounded on but the doorbell is being rung over and over again, insistently. I pound my house number into the phone, and my mom picks up. I panickedly told her what was going on downstairs. She gives the phone to my dad, and he says he will be right there. Relieved, I clutch the phone in my hand and go out to the landing to check on the kids.
The oldest was standing outside her door, confused and afraid. I quickly told her it was just my dad coming to check on us and to go back in her room and go back to bed. After she goes back in her room, I rush downstairs to make sure the doors are still locked. Running past the wall of windows to get to the door, suddenly all of the windows start shaking violently. I’m absolutely terrified at this point, so I run to the TV room and look for something I could use as a weapon.
Suddenly, the ringing and pounding just stops. I sit there, stunned, in absolute silence. Then, a single doorbell ring shatters the silence and makes me practically jump out of my skin. Feeling a rush of relief upon realizing it was my dad, I rush to open the door. There was nobody there. I slam the door shut and run to grab the phone. I call my house again. “Mom,” I whisper, “Is dad here?” She tells me he can’t find the car keys and hasn’t even left yet. I felt the blood run out of my face.I’m crying hysterically at this point, so my mom stays on the phone with me and tells me when my dad finally leaves. I see a pair of headlights come tearing through the dark. The sheer speed of the car told me it was my dad. I throw open the front door and run out.
Suddenly, from around the corner three shadows come out. My dad, wielding a baseball bat at this point, runs towards the shadowy figures, screaming and waving his arms. The closer they get, I realize it was my friends. Instead of going to the corn maze, they decided it would be fun to scare me on Halloween.
I felt a rush of relief and anger. My dad bitched them out and although I did not get a lot of sleep that night, I was happy to know it was just my friends.
I know this story has a kind of lame ending, but it was honestly the scariest moment of my life.
