Check the Children
By: Ashley Johnson
Nick's older sister, Jenny, smiled as she poked a long stick into the
smoldering campfire.
"The story that I'm going to tell you
tonight happened to a girl that went to the same school that Kathy and
I go to. She was two grades above us, but we used to see her in gym
class sometimes. Her name was Karen Maples. After this happened to her
she had to be taken out of school. We heard that she was locked up in
an institution because she was so disturbed," Jenny began.
Elizabeth leaned forward, her elbows
resting on her knees. She wasn't quite sure if she was ready to hear
this story, but instead of leaving and heading for the safety of her
camper, she gazed into the fire and waited.
"Karen had a done quite a lot of
babysitting. So much to the point that moms would refer her to their
friends and coworkers. Karen loved children and so whenever she
received an offer to babysit for a new family, the McClains, Karen was
more than willing to accept...."
Karen rang the
doorbell of the large
mansion in front of her with a sense of accomplishment. It had taken
her over thirty minutes to find the secluded residence.
Mrs. McClain
answered the door and
led her inside. After a quick (and incomplete) tour of the mansion and
a review of the emergency contact numbers posted on the refrigerator,
Mrs. McClain informed Karen that the two children were already asleep
upstairs.
"Don't worry
about them, dear. They
are heavy sleepers, so just make yourself at home!" Mrs. McClain
explained before she and her husband left for the evening.
An hour had
passed since Karen had
arrived at the McClain residence when the phone rang for the first
time.
"Hello?"
Karen could hear
faint breathing on
the other end.
"Hello? Is anyone
there?"
".....Check the
children....."
The dial tone
sounded as Karen hung
up the phone. "What a strange prank call," Karen thought and returned
to
her television show.
Exactly half an
hour later, the phone
rang again.
"Hello?"
Karen could hear
the same faint
breathing.
"Check the
children," the same low
and raspy voice requested and then hung up.
Karen hung up the
phone and a small
shiver ran down her spine. Should she really go upstairs and check the
children? Was this Mr. McClain calling? No, what a stupid thought. Mr.
McClain wouldn't place an eerie call like that.
Pushing her
intruding thoughts away,
Karen once again turned to the television.
Exactly twenty
minutes later, the
phone rang.
Karen felt her
stomach flip flop as
she reached for the phone.
"Hello?"
"Check the
children. Now," the voice
demanded, then hung up.
Karen replaced
the phone on the
receiver with a shaky hand. This wasn't funny anymore. Something was
really wrong. She picked up the phone again and dialed the operator.
The operator
advised Karen to try and
keep the caller on the line the next time, so that he
could trace the call's location and send the police out to put a stop
to the
calls.
Karen felt a
since of relief and
normalcy as she turned back on the television and waited for the phone
to ring.
Exactly ten
minutes later, the phone
rang.
Karen picked it
up,
then paused to
waste some time.
"..........Hello?"
The raspy
breathing had grown louder
this time. She envisioned a man with his chest heaving up and down, up
and down, up and down.
"Hello?" she
demanded. "Stop calling
this number! If you don't stop calling me, then I'll MAKE you
stop!"
"......Check.....the....children....NOW,"
shouted the raspy voice (up and down, up and down, up and down).
Karen slammed
down the phone, shaken,
yet confident that the operator would call her any minute letting her
know that the police were going to take care of the creep once and for
all. However, despite her confidence, Karen could not shake the image
of the breathing man (up and down, up and down, up and down).
Not more than
thirty seconds later,
the phone rang. Karen grabbed it, eager for the good news.
"Hello?"
"Lady!" the
operator shrieked. "GET
OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW! The call was traced to the upstairs
line! THE CALLER IS INSIDE THE HOUSE! GET OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!"
Karen's whole
body went numb and
cold. She felt as if she couldn't move. She dropped the phone onto the
floor and could still hear the operator's muffled shrieks.
She slowly looked
to the stairs. Why
wouldn't her body move?
She could hear
faint footsteps moving
above her towards the staircase opening. She knew she was going to die.
She was just going to sit here and let the man murder her (up and down,
up and down)...........
Karen's legs
miraculously sprang to
life! She ran from the living room towards the entry way as she heard a
heavy foot step land on the first step. (Up and down, up and down....)
She skidded to a stop in front of the door and began hastily undoing
the deadbolt and chained lock; she didn't dare look behind her.
She threw open
the door with a scream
and ran right into a police officer. She could see a blur of red and
blue lights lighting up the driveway and the sounds of shouting
and scuffling as the officers moved her down the driveway and
away from the mansion.
Karen later found
out that the man had
entered the mansion from an upstairs window and had waited in the
children's closet all afternoon until the McClains had left for
the night. Both children had been brutally murdered in their beds, each
stabbed sixteen times. The same fate awaited Karen if she had in fact
gone upstairs to "check the children" like the man so desperately
wanted her to do.
Elizabeth got even less sleep than
she had the two nights before, as the image of a man, his chest
heaving, seemed to haunt her every time she closed her eyes.
(Up and down, up and down, up and
down..............)
Author's
Note:
I know that this story
has been told and retold time and again. I even debated about including
this story because it is so overdone. I guess I finally decided to
include it in my storybook because I thought that it may be overdone
for a reason. You can't deny that this urban legend is a one of a kind
horror story that gets to even those with the thickest of skin. This
urban legend preys on a teenage girl's fears. Everyone who has babysat
has experienced an unfounded fear of some type. This urban legend takes
that ordinary fear and brings it to another level. This is what makes
this urban legend so timeless and commonplace.
Bibliography:
"The Babysitter and the Man
Upstairs"
Urban
Legends Reference Pages: Murdering Madmen (Horror)
Snopes.com:
Rumor has it (No Author Provided)
Weblink
Image
Info: "Telephone"
GettyImages
(Search: "Phone" & "Lamp")
back.