The Man in the TV

Rachel didn’t want to babysit, but as of lately, she was in desperate need of money. Working as a waitress wasn’t going to pay all the bills, so she had no choice but to go straight to the Rawlins home after her shift was over. Once she arrived, the Rawlins greeted her with smiles.

Their genuine reactions to seeing her made her own lips form a smile. They had been nothing but good to her. They had been overpaying her as a babysitter, but it was all done out of the goodness of their hearts. These were not your stereotypical rich family assholes.

They were good folks who actually cared about people.

Mrs. Rawlin hugged her before they left together to their party. Rachel was envious of the expensive attire they were wearing as she watched them go, but she instantly felt guilty when she reached up to touch the necklace they had given her for one of her birthdays. That gift meant everything to her, and it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her.

Her family wasn’t exactly in the picture, so the Rawlins were almost like a replacement for her. Rachel shoved her envious thoughts to the back of her head, and focused her attention on their children. Ethan and Jake ran up to her, jumping up and down.

“Rachel! Do you want to watch our favorite cartoon with us? It’s so cool, and the guy in the cartoon even talks to us!”

“Yeah, he even knows our names!,” Jake chimed in.

Rachel chuckled. Ethan and Jake were wonderful kids. She had been their babysitter for a couple of years, and she hoped to one day have to kids like them. “Alright, alright. Let’s go watch your show.”

The boys cheered and led Rachel by her hands to the living room, where the television was already on. Rachel and the boys sat on the carpet, facing the screen. She was in the middle, and both boys were on either side of her, their arms linked with hers. Ethan put a finger to his lips.

“Shh! It’s starting now!”

Curtains opened up, to reveal a cartoon character sliding across the marble floor of a stage. The man came to a stop, and he was waving his arms for a little bit, like he was about to lose his balance. The kids were laughing at that, before he regained his posture.

The man had short purple hair, and he wore a blue, glittery suit with a blue top hat. He removed his top hat, and he started tap dancing, his black and white shoes making clicking sounds on stage. The colors to the cartoon were old school, reminding Rachel of the old Looney Tunes cartoons she used to watch as a kid.

It was definitely original, and it made Rachel want to pay attention to the show as well. She found herself leaning forward with Ethan and Jake, waiting for the man to stop dancing. He eventually did, and the invisible audience that no one could see was laughing at him.

The man bowed, and he placed his top hat back on his head. The audience started to cheer, and there were several whistles echoing from the audience.

“Hey, hey, hey, folks! I’m your TV host, Rhys Vandal! Welcome to my show!”

Women were screeching from the audience this time, along with several whistles echoing from the audience. Rhys waved his hands, acting bashful.

“Aw shucks. Ladies, ladies, ladies! Don’t worry, there is plenty of me to go around!”

The cartoon zoomed onto his face, and he winked. The women started to cheer again, and Rhys smiled.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

Are these the cartoons that kids watch nowadays? Whatever happened to cartoons like Sesame Street?

Rhys clapped his hands together. “Now, now, now. What game should we play today? My favorite kind of games are the ones that our parents don’t know about! Like trying to kick the neighbor's dog! Just don’t try it out when your neighbors are home, folks! You don’t want the police to get involved, do you?”

Rhys threw his head back and laughed. The audience laughed along with him. So did the kids. Rachel stared at the screen, trying to contemplate what she just heard. That last statement bothered her, but she resisted the urge to turn off the TV.

Rhys stopped laughing, and looked straight ahead. His smile was gone, and he remained stock still for a couple of seconds. Then he regained his energy again, smiling at the audience. Rachel shifted uncomfortably. Surely it was her imagination, but she thought it was strange how Rhys acted like he had read her mind.

Rhys clapped his hands together again, his grin growing wider.

“You want to know my favorite kind of game? Mine was trying to sneak out of the house. But it didn’t go well one time when my pa caught me. Oh boy, was he mad! He smashed my hand with a hammer, and did it hurt! Oh yes, yes, yes, it hurt!”

Rhys laughed again, and so did the audience along with him. Rachel played with her necklace, feeling a chill go down her back as the kids were enjoying the show. She started to feel a mix of emotions, wondering why the parents would allow their kids to watch this kind of show.

Rhys clapped his hands again. “But I think we should play a different kind of game today. Have you ever tried to steal something from your parents before? Something that means the world to them? And I’m not talking about taking a cookie from the cookie jar.”

Rhys waggled his finger back and forth as the audience was dying of laughter.

“It should be meaningful. Something to really, really, really get your folks riled up! Like…trying to figure out the code to the gun safe in your parents bedroom -’’

Rachel picked up the remote and shut off the TV. The kids protested in unison.

“Why did you do that, Rachel? We were watching that!”

“Yeah, why did you shut if off?”

Both of the boys were pouting as Rachel stood up, remote in hand.

“Why are you two watching that kind of show? How would your parents feel if they caught you guys watching that?”

“Our mommy once watched the show with us, and she thought it was so funny!,” Jake said.

“Yeah, she told us it was alright for us to watch it!,” Ethan replied.

Rachel placed a hand on her temple. It was worse than she thought. The Rawlins did let their kids watch it. She released a heavy sigh, and checked her watch.

“Are you guys hungry?”

The boys both started talking at once in excitement, cartoon forgotten. Rachel eagerly made a call to the pizza place, and a pepperoni pizza was delivered to the residence. Rachel and the boys ate their dinner, as she asked them questions about school, and the boys told her why they liked or didn’t like their teachers.

Despite the nice conservation she was having with them, the show wouldn’t leave Rachel’s mind. It bothered her so much why their parents let them watch a show with disturbing themes. Hints of abuse or harming someone should never be introduced to kids at a young age, so why were the parents alright with that?

Rachel knew it wasn’t her business, but she found it extremely hard to believe that the Rawlins would allow the boys to watch that show. She remembered one time that Mrs. Rawlins almost threw a fit in front of her when she learned that the boys had watched The Thing by John Carpenter with a friend during a sleepover.

Rachel decided that she wasn’t going to say anything to the Rawlins. Perhaps they had seen another episode that was more kid friendly, so they truly had no idea how some of the other episodes were like? If it happened again with Rachel present, maybe she will say something, but hopefully the parents will notice before she does.

After dinner, Rachel and the boys played several board games. Rachel lost track of time, and she was glad to see that it was already time for bed. She adored the kids, but their energy level could sometimes be a lot for her. Especially after coming back from a long shift waitressing.

“Come on kids! Time for bed! And if you get ready in fifteen minutes, I’ll read you a bedtime story!”

Ethan and Jake ran up the stairs, as Rachel began to put away the board games. By the time she made it upstairs, the boys were already in bed. They had selected a book for Rachel to read to them, and it was waiting on top of a stool, that was located right between the boys’ beds.

They shared a room for now, and sometimes the parents would pop on by and sit on that stool, taking turns reading books to them. Rachel picked up the book, and was relieved to see that it was definitely a kid’s story. Rachel read a tale that the boys had heard about twenty times, but they never grew tired of it.

By the time she reached the part where the knight had proclaimed his love for the princess after killing the dragon, the boys were already asleep. Rachel blew a kiss to both of them, and put the book back in its place on the bookshelf. Rachel tip toed out of the room, and closed the door softly behind her.

Rachel let out a yawn, and was about to start heading downstairs to take a nap on the sofa, until she saw something that made her heart stop. One of the bedroom doors was wide open.

Rachel touched her chest, feeling panic start to kick in. She could have sworn that the doors to the hallway were closed, and she had no idea how someone could have gotten in so fast, without her and the kids knowing.

She slowly made her way to the bedroom door, her mind screaming at her to turn back, to get the kids out of the house immediately, but curiosity got the better of her. She peeked inside, expecting the worst, but the bedroom looked the same. The closet door was open, exposing the fancy clothes the Rawlins loved to wear. No one was inside.

She peeked under the bed. No mystery robber was waiting for her. She got back on her feet, confusion flowing through her head, until she object next to the bed.

It was a safe. A gun safe.

And it was wide open, with nothing inside.

Rachel bit her tongue to keep from screaming when she heard the television turn on downstairs. She scrambled for her pockets, and let out a curse when she realized she had left her phone inside of her purse on the sofa. She picked up a random object that could be used as a weapon.

A shoe with the heel at the end of it. Rachel almost let out a hysterical giggle; when she wondered how Mrs. Rawlins would feel if she discovered a dead robber with her heel plunged into his brain. She took a deep breathe, her other hand holding tightly to the necklace.

She walked down the hallway, willing herself to not freak the boys out. She hoped that whatever happened, they would remain asleep. The last thing she needed was the boys to witness something horrible, and she would never forgive herself for that. Rachel made a silent prayer, hoping that no harm would come to the boys.

Rachel was surprised to hear the familiar voice of Rhys Vandal, coming from the television downstairs. She looked around the lit up living room and kitchen, but no one was there.

“What the fuck? How -’’

“Hello, Rachel.”

Rachel jumped, the shoe falling out of her hand. She turned around, and saw Rhys Vandal, his hands behind his back, smiling.

At her.

“Oh please, please, please, don’t scream. It won’t do you any good, waking up Ethan and Jake. You wouldn’t want them to see something so horrible, right?”

Rhys waggled a finger at Rachel, the audience laughing.

“Wh — what do you mean?,” Rachel whispered.

“You know that I mean, Rachel. Like for example, you brought a shoe to a gunfight.”

Rhys took out something silver from his pocket, and he pointed it straight ahead. A shot rang out, and an ugly pain pierced Rachel’s stomach. She collapsed, feeling wetness pool beneath her. She bit down on her tongue upon hitting the ground, and she could taste blood flowing out of her mouth. She lifted up one of her hands to find her hand covered in red.

A black and white shoe stomped on top of Rachel’s other hand. She gasped, but no sound would come out. The pain was excruciating. Her eyes were starting to close, her vision becoming blurry.

“Smarts, doesn’t it?”

Rachel looked up through her blurry vision, finding a man looking down at her. He was an actual person this time, and he wore the same top hat with the blue, glittery suit. His face had no emotion. His eyes were a blank pool of darkness. But there was something there.

It was madness. With a touch of glee.

“I didn’t want to kill you, Rachel. I really didn’t. Those boys love, love, love you! But once you shut off my show…well, that was a bit rude.”

Rhys pulled out the gun from his pocket, cocking back the hammer.

“Don’t worry, Rachel. The boys won’t be the ones to find you. It will the Rawlins. They are going to have a fright, fright, fright, but they will get over you. Eventually. Because that is life, Rachel. Everyone dies, and we just have to move on. You’ll be a forgotten memory by the time the boys will reach their early teens.”

Rhys pointed the gun at Rachel’s head. She raised her hand, the same one that Rhys had crushed with his shoe. The other one held onto the necklace, a gift that meant everything to her.

“Please -’’

Another shot echoed in the house, but this time, it was fatal.

The Rawlins were the ones to find Rachel’s body. They both went into hysterics, but luckily, the boys never woke up. They remained asleep through it all. An investigation was conducted, and it puzzled authorities how the mystery robber was able to break into the house.

The gun from the safe was still missing, and the police promised the Rawlins they would catch her killer. The Rawlins decided to that they were going to stay with the boys’ grandma for the time being, until they found a new place of their own.

Mrs. Rawlins cried to her mother, telling her that she can’t believe that Rachel is gone. Her husband held onto her hand, holding back his own tears. Ethan and Jake were completely oblivious to the dreadful conversation taking place in the kitchen with their parents and their grandma.

They were glued to the television in the living room. Their noses were almost touching the screen, as they watched Rhys Vandal do his dancing routine before the show started. The boys were laughing at his tap dancing, as he waved his top hat to the audience.

He came to a stop, and rested his top hat back on his head. The audience was cheering and whistling.

Rhys clapped his hands together.

“Hey, hey, hey, folks! I’m your TV host, Rhys Vandal! Welcome to my show!”

The boys leaned closer, anticipating the next game that Rhys would announce. He always came up with best games.

If the boys had been paying close attention, they would have seen Rachel’s necklace around the neck of their favorite TV show host.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn