When I woke up this morning, I just knew that today was going to be fantastic. The sun was shining brightly and I could hear a bird singing a lovely tune outside of my window. When I went downstairs to get breakfast, my wife had already made it. And my favorite meal it was too! She had cooked me up some of her wonderful buttermilk pancakes and some tasty bacon. It was delicious. I was sure that today was going to be one of those extra special days, or at the least it would be a day full of fun.
But of course I was wrong. The breakfast that my wife had made for me was merely to butter me up for what she wanted to ask me. My wife doesn't usually ask me to do favors but today was different. She wanted me to take care of the baby.
"Daniel." She said to me when I was done eating. "Would you by any chance be a sweetheart for me and do me a tiny little favor?"
I looked at her, and saw her beautiful smile. Of course I would do something for her after the wonderful breakfast she had made me.
"Of course, what is it you want me to do?"
"Would you mind looking after the baby for a couple of hours while I go out shopping please?" She batted her eyelashes at me. How could I resist?
"Yeah. Sure I'll do it honey." I said.
"Great." She said. "I'll go get dressed right now, Shirley wants to meet me in an hour."
"Alright babe." I replied. Looking after the baby wouldn't be so bad would it? How could it be? It was only a baby, that wouldn't spoil the day. The day was going to be wonderful.
Then I realized something. I didn't have a baby, and to my knowledge my wife didn't have one either. Did she have one without my knowledge? Was I daddy? And if so, for how long? What was the kids name? Was it a boy or a girl? I ran upstairs to question her.
I went inside our bedroom and looked around. I couldn't see my wife. I could hear water running in the bathroom though, she must be having a shower. I crept up to the door and tapped lightly.
"Honey." I called. "Oh honey."
"What do you want Daniel?" I'm trying to take a shower.
"I'm just wondering. Since when do we have a baby?"
"What?" She called out.
"Since when do we have a baby?"
"What do you mean?" She said.
"You know what I mean." I called back. It was just like Mary to hide something like a baby from me. She was just like a little kid at heart, always playing practical jokes.
"You mean, I never told you?" She called.
"Nope." I replied. "When did you have it? And how did you keep it a secret from me all this time?"
I heard laughter coming from the bathroom, and I saw my wife come out wrapped in a big fluffy towel.
"It's not our baby silly. I've been babysitting the Worthingtons baby for the last month or so, while you've been at work. It's a little extra spending money for me."
"The Worthingtons?" I asked. "Who are the Worthingtons?"
"Oh," My wife replied nonchalantly. "They're just a very nice couple who live down the road. Don't worry about them. The rumors aren't true you know."
"Rumors? What rumors."
Jessie came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and looked at me for a moment, she looked like she was trying to decide wether she should tell me something.
"Honey." I frowned at her. "What rumors?"
"Well," She said. "There is a little tiny rumor going around that they're Devil worshipers and that their baby is the anti-Christ. It's nothing big. It's just a rumor."
"Oh." I replied. "The baby doesn't..."
"Have horns?" She said. "Oh no! That's why I don't believe it. He's so cute and his parents are so nice. I swear the only reason that rumor is going around is because his parents decided to name him Damien. But they really are nice people."
I didn't say anything for a while
"What?" She said.
"Nothing." I replied. "They just seem like sort of a weird family."
"Well they're not." She said. "Anyway's are you going to babysit him or not?"
"Well," I said, wondering if I would regret this later. "I guess I could."
A couple of hours later Damien's parents arrived and dropped him off with me. Jessie was right, they were nice people. They were a bit weird though like I had thought. The mother wore a long flowing black dress and the father wore a cape with a hood on it. I thought that was odd because it was such a hot day. I figured that they must have been boiling, but neither one of them was sweating. Plus their skin was so white!
After they left I pulled a crib up next to the couch and put little Damien in it. I didn't want to miss the baseball game on t.v. He didn't cry at all during the whole time, but weird little things kept happening. Like whenever I'd yell at my team when they were losing, they would mysteriously end up tying the game. Also, when I tried to feed Damien his eyes would flash bright red. Another funny thing was that there was a funny sulfur like smell in the house while he was there.
His parents came by within about two hours to pick him up and asked me if he had been any trouble.
"No." I replied. "He was no trouble at all."
His mother looked saddened by my reply, but then she brightened up. "He's going to become the leader of the world in the future, did you know that?"
"I hope so." I replied. "He seems like a great kid."
"Oh, he is." His father replied.
Then they left and a short time later my wife came home with carrying a big bag. "What's in the bag?" I asked her.
"Oh, just something I picked up today." She said, and then went into the washroom.
I walked over to where she had set down the bag and looked into it. Inside there was a book and some clothes. I pulled out the book first. It had a strange title: THE ANTI-CHRIST is here, was it's title. Strange stuff, I thought, must be the new Stephen King book.
Then I looked at the clothes, and I noticed they were the same type of things that Damien's mother had been wearing. I heard my wife gasp and I quickly turned around.
"What are you doing?" She said.
"Just looking at the things you bought." I replied. "You've got a kooky taste in book hon."
She laughed nervously. "I know, it looked interesting though."
I nodded my head. "So do you want to go out for dinner tonight? Maybe go see a movie? I hear there's a great one playing at the theater."
"Thanks." She said. "But I've already got plans. I'm going over to see Damien's parents tonight. They're going to show me and a couple of other people around their house."
"Great." I said. "Can I come."
"Well..." Her voice trailed off.
"I guess that means no." I said.
She nodded her head slowly. "I'm sorry."
"That's O.K." I said.
She apologized to me and then she explained that she had to rush and get changed quickly before she left. I went and sat in front of the television and turned it on. There was a newscast about a bunch of people in town saying that there was a group of devil worshipers going around trying to convert people into their cult. These same people believed that the cult was responsible for the many dead animals that had been found mutilated on the sides of the road. Another person who was interviewed believed that it was the work of aliens from another planet. The newscaster went on to say that people should beware of family members joining the group.
My wife passed by at that moment in a mad rush. She was dressed in a long black dress and wore white face makeup and black eye shadow. She went over to a kitchen drawer and started rummaging around in it.
"Honey." I said.
"Yes?" She replied hurriedly.
"I'm glad you're not in that cult that they were talking about on t.v."
She smiled back at me, and laughed nervously. "Oh I would never do something like that." She said as she pulled out a butcher's knife from the drawer and slid it into her dress pocket. Then she went over to the counter and picked up her pentagram necklace and put it on.
"Yeah." I said. "I'm glad I never married a psycho.
Email:dewar@vip.net
I have previously had fiction published in the Ather Sanctum, Spine Chiller, Creative Ooze, Jackhammer and Stump. I also have fiction that will appear in 69 Flavors of Paranoia and Mandrake Fiction Journal.
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