Sarah wasn't a girl who trusted strangers easily, so it was always something of a mystery to everyone why she seemed to get along with you so well. Around any other strangers she'd hide herself away, and it was generally assumed she suffered from some severe form of social anxiety. From a young age however, she was always showing her toys to you and asking her mom if "that boy from next door" could come to visit.
Of course this was always just a chore for you, because of course, as an older teenage guy, you had much better things to be doing on a Friday night than hanging out with the annoying little 8-year-old who lived in the house next to yours. Apparently Sarah's mother did too, as she called you in to babysit Sarah at the last minute on some urgent business. She was paying you - that wasn't too bad - but it did mean that you couldn't go to the party that you wanted to go to with your friends from school.
Her mother had left behind some food that you just needed to heat up, and as she wouldn't be back until the morning, you'd set up your sleeping bag in the living room in front of the TV. You hoped there would be something good on that evening at least.
For the while your task was to watch Sarah as she did her homework, and help her out if she needed any help. Sarah sat in the dining room, writing something in her book. At first you just sat nearby as well, listening to the ticking of a clock on the wall, but when that got too tedious, you found yourself your own book from one of Sarah's mother's bookshelves.
As you retrieved the book, you noticed Sarah kept glancing up at you with her big blue eyes, brushing her long, soft blonde hair out of the way and giving you a hopeful smile.
"Are you ok? Do you need any help?" you asked politely.
Sarah shook her head and returned to her writing.
You shrugged and started to read your book, occasionally glancing to check that Sarah was alright. She didn't usually so much ask for help, as be too shy to ask anything and just look at her page confused. On this day she seemed to be doing alright though. The only strange thing was how she kept looking up at you every so often, presumably to amuse herself and distract herself from her homework. You had no doubt she would rather be playing with her dolls.
"Are you getting a bit bored or something?" you asked, after catching her peeking at you for about the 7th time.
Suddenly, just as Sarah started to shake her head, something happened that caught both of you off-guard.
Sarah grew. Right in front of your eyes, in the space of about a second, the usually short Sarah suddenly shot up an inch or two higher (sitting down) than she had been before. It was like somebody had lifted her up or something, as her head was seemingly yanked upwards by her growing body.
It took you both a moment to register what had just happened. If her growth hadn't jolted so suddenly you doubted that either of you would have noticed - she certainly still looked like a charming 8-year-old girl - just now more like normal size, instead of small like Sarah typically was - but given the sudden nature of the change, it gave you an immediate cause for alarm. For a moment you thought Sarah was playing some prank on you, which would have been highly unusual for her, or else that she was getting up. What gave it away as undeniable growth even to your sceptical mind were her clothes, which now seemed almost imperceptibly tighter against her skin.
Sarah's reaction was as priceless as it was predictable. With a short shriek of terror, she immediately hopped under the table in fright.
"Hey, don't worry, you look fine to me" you said "Honestly, it's probably just a very sudden growth spurt. Nothing to worry about!"
Sarah crawled over to you under the table and looked up to you. You did your best to return a reassuring smile.
"Have you finished your homework?" you said, trying to keep calm.
Sarah nodded weakly.
"Alright. You can go to your room and play then. I'll call you when dinner's ready."
The now-slightly larger Sarah stood up again next to you and smiled. "Thanks" she said simply. You had always thought she had a nice voice, and you didnt understand why she was always so afraid of talking. Somehow, she was close enough that you could smell her breath, which smelt like she'd had a particularly nice breath mint or something recently.
Sarah packed up her homework neatly and made for her room, glancing back at you with a worried look one last time before she closed her door. You gave her the same smile, trying to seem friendly.
The moment she was out of sight, you totally panicked.
"Shit" you muttered under your breath, pacing up and down. Your first thought was to get help - what you'd just seen was not normal, and you wanted to be sure it wasn't anything serious. With that in mind, you quickly decided that your first port of call ought to be her mother.
After fumbling through your bag in the living room for a while looking for your cellphone - and a tense moment where you thought you'd lost it - you called up Sarah's mother to no response. Frantically, you were about to leave a message on her answer-phone when you were interrupted.
"Who are you calling?" asked Sarah from out of the blue, who had just reappeared, flicking some loose hair aside from her face.
You didn't want to freak her out. "Oh, just your mommy" you said "Just letting her know you're ok... and that you even had a growth spurt... I'm sure she'd love to see it for herself... doesn't she keep a growth chart somewhere?"
Sarah nodded quietly, and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. Although you didn't mean to, you could tell by her expression that she didn't know what was happening, and was really afraid of what it might mean.
After leaving a polite request to Sarah's mom to come home, you decided to take a look around to see if you could find any sort of indication as to who Sarah's doctor might be. Once again, you find nothing, and realize that your only hope is that Sarah's mom hears your voicemail message.
It was probably a harmless growth spurt that was just a bit faster than normal, you told yourself... totally harmless... but as a responsible babysitter, you didn't want to take any chances.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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