Hide and Seek

“Alright, now let’s get ready for bed.” Jenna told Charlie as she walked him into his room. She babysat him in the past, but never overnight. His parents were paying her two hundred dollars, and she didn’t really need to do anything. All she had to do was give him dinner, let him watch TV for an hour, give him a bath, and put him to bed. Once he fell asleep, the rest of the night was hers. She flicked on the light to Charlie’s bedroom.  

Charlie’s tiny bare feet plap-plap-plapped on the hardwood floor as he ran across his bedroom. He turned and looked at Jenna. “Jenna, look!” He called to her. 

“What?” 

“NAKEY BOY!” Charlie yelled, throwing his towel wide open. 

Jenna gasped and hid her face. 

Charlie laughed as he covered himself and when Jenna looked back, he threw his towel open again. “NAKEY BOY!” 

“Charlie!” Jenna laughed, hiding her face again. 

Charlie covered himself again. “I’m not Charlie.” He said as Jenna looked back at him. “I-I-I-I-I’m......NAKEY BOOOOYYYYYY!” He screamed, throwing his towel open a third time. 

“Okay, Nakey Boy, let’s get your PJs on.” Jenna said, shielding her eyes with her hands, trying not to look at the naked two-year old in front of her. She walked over to his dresser. “Now which PJs do you want to wear tonight?” 

“Thomas the Tank!”  

“Thomas the Tank? Yeah? Okay, let’s see if we can find Thomas....Oh, Thomas, where are you?” She looked at Charlie who, thankfully, had covered himself. “Which drawer is he in?” 

“That one.” He said, pointing to the second drawer on his dresser. 

Jenna opened the drawer and found his Thomas the Tank PJs and his Thomas the Tank underwear. She helped him get dressed and laid him in his bed and kissed him on the forehead. 

“Now, you be a good boy and go to sleep, okay?”  

“Nye-Nye, Jenna.” 

“Nite, Nite. Do you want the door open or shut?” 

“Open.” 

Jenna left the door open and went down the stairs. It was better that way anyway. It let her keep an ear out for him in case he didn’t go to sleep. She went into the living room and took out her copy of “Great Expectations” and laid down on the couch to read.  

Twenty minutes later, she heard tiny footsteps running across the upstairs landing. She got up from the couch and walked to the bottom of the stairs. “Charlie!” 

“What?” came Charlie’s reply; his tiny head peeked out at the top of the stairs. 

“Why are you out of bed?” 

“I have to pee-pee.” 

“Okay, but after that you have to go back to bed. You promise?” 

“I pwomise.” 

Jenna walked back to the couch and picked up her book again. She didn’t want to turn the TV on so that she could keep an ear out for him. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed, and she realized that she hadn’t heard the toilet flush, nor had she heard him go back to his room. She put the book down, got off the couch, and walked to the bottom of the stairs. 

"Charlie, are you in bed?" She called up to him.  

No response. 

"Charlie?" Jenna crept up the stairs. She peered into his room and saw that his bed was empty. "Charlie." 

She turned and walked down the hall to the bathroom and flicked on the lights. The floor was still wet from Charlie's bath, and the curtain was drawn.  

"Chaaar-lie.... are you hiding from me?" Jenna asked, smiling. "Hmm...where could Charlie be?" She put a finger on her chin as if she was thinking deeply.  

"AH-HA!" She cried as she bent forward and pulled back the curtain. 

No Charlie. 

"Charlie?" Jenna called again.  

Before she could straighten back up, Charlie burst out of the cabinet under the sink and shoved Jenna from behind. She slipped on the wet floor and went headlong into the bathtub, hitting her head on the side and accidentally turning on the faucet in the process. Charlie laughed and clapped his hands as Jenna struggled to get up. Her vision was blurry and there was a ringing in her ears.  

"Charlie, that's not funny; that really hurt." 

Charlie ran from the bathroom and down the stairs. 

"Charlie, no!" Jenna called after him. She turned off the faucet and got up.  

"Damn it." She whispered.  

She staggered down the stairs, still holding her head. Her vision cleared up and the ringing stopped. She heard Charlie's laughter coming from the kitchen. Jenna looked at the kitchen table and realized her knife that she used with dinner was missing from her plate. She walked over to the kitchen sink and looked in it. No knife. 

"Charlie!" 

Charlie ran out from under the table, kitchen knife in hand and stabbed her in the back of the knee. Jenna cried out in pain and fell to the floor. She clasped her hand to where she had just been stabbed her fingers immediately became wet and sticky. Charlie stood over her laughing.  

Jenna tried to grab the knife and take it out of his hand, but he pulled his hand away.  

"Charlie, give me the knife." 

"I'm not Charlie......I-I-I'm CHUCKY!" 

"Charlie, this isn't funny!" Jenna pleaded still laying on the floor and still bleeding out. Her pleas only made Chucky laugh harder.  

"I'm not Charlie, I'm Chucky!" Chucky insisted.  

"I don't like Chucky; I like Charlie better." 

"Charlie is dead and Chucky doesn't like you either."  

Jenna tried to grab the knife from his hand again, but he pulled back again and this time he swung the knife at her and cut her hand and ran out of the kitchen. 

Jenna felt weak and she realized she was still spurting blood from the back of her knee. If she didn't stop the bleeding soon, she would die. She shakily got to her feet and staggered toward the cabinet over the stove where she knew the first aid kit was stored. Jenna reached up with her free hand, but she couldn't reach the cabinet without letting go of her bleeding leg. Instead, she pulled herself on top of the counter. She could feel the blood spurting from her leg, soaking her hand each time as the blood tried to escape her body. She reached up and opened the cabinet over the stove and grabbed the first aid kit. As she was climbing down from the counter, Chucky came running back into the kitchen and lashed out with the knife. This time he cut her hip and she fell to the floor clutching the first aid kit. 

"You're funny!" Chucky laughed. 

"Charlie, why are you acting like this?" Jenna begged from the floor she looked around and saw the massive pool of blood. Chucky didn't answer. Instead, he just ran out of the kitchen again. 

"You can't catch me." He called from the living room. 

Jenna opened the first aid kit and took out a roll of gauze. She wrapped it tight around her knee, making sure to make it tight where Chucky had stabbed her. She slowly climbed to her feet cautious that Chucky would come running out again. Her phone was in the living room, if she could make it there she could call Charlie's parents, or even the police. She limped over to the couch where she left it.  

Chucky laughed from somewhere on the other side of the living room. 

"Ready ah not, I come now!" Came his squeaky little voice. Jenna turned and saw Chucky running towards her with the knife raised above his head, ready to strike again. This time, Jenna was ready for him. She swung her leg out and kicked Chucky dead in the face causing him to fall to the floor and the knife to fly out of his hand. 

Charlie sat up and looked up at Jenna with eyes wide and pleading. His face distorted as he began to cry. "Why....you....kick me?" He sobbed loudly. 

"Are you fucking kidding me? You fucking stabbed me, twice." 

"No, I didn't." 

"Oh, you didn't? Then who did then?" 

"I don't know." He said still trying to play the innocent, but it wasn't working with her.  

"Then why was the knife in your hand?" 

"No, it wasn't." Charlie cried. 

"Then where is it then?" 

Charlie just pointed at Jenna. She looked at her hand and realized that she was holding the knife. She looked down at her leg; there was no gauze. 

"What the ...?" 

Jenna dropped the knife and walked over to Charlie.  

"Are you okay?" She asked gently. Charlie withdrew from her. "No, it's okay baby. It's okay. Here, let's get some ice cream, okay?"  

Charlie nodded and let Jenna pick him up.  

She carried him into the kitchen. She turned on the light and saw that the kitchen was still splattered in her blood. 

Chucky laughed in her arms.  

"Charlie?"  

Chucky opened his mouth wide and bit her in the neck. Blood started spurting from her neck. She dropped Chucky and clasped a hand to the spot where he bit her and tried to stop the bleeding. Chucky ran into the living room, grabbed the knife and came back to the kitchen. 

"CHARLIE!" 

"I told you, I'm not Charlie, I'M CHUCKY!"  

Chucky charged at Jenna. She tried to back away but she slipped in her blood and fell to the floor again. Chucky brought the knife down one last time. 

An hour later, a police officer walked Jenna out of the house in handcuffs. "Jenna Florence, you're under arrest for the murder of Charlie Winthrop. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you...." 

A local camera crew was standing outside the house reporting about Jenna being arrested for murdering the four-year-old boy that she was hired to babysit while he was asleep in his own bed.  

The End.