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Don't Go Out On Halloween

I knew I was stupid for being afraid of babysitting on Halloween but with all of the recent news and knowing that a scary holiday calls for stupid teenagers playing pranks and trying to freak people out by any means necessary who could blame me. The thing that scared me most was that I couldn't just look out for myself tonight I was responsible for Sophie, the precious four year old I've been babysitting every week for her whole life. I put my fears aside and grabbed my keys wished my sisters a happy Halloween and began the drive down the long winding road to tonight's adventure. I knew Sophie was sick and really upset about not going trick or treating so I stopped at the grocery store by her house to pick up some candy to hide around the house and let her find. At the checkout line the woman at the register had a stern look rush over her pale face. In all sincerity she tells me to be safe, naturally her words linger with me and I ask her why. She grabs my hand and tells me that the Springdale Mental Hospital had two patients escape due to lack of security and they were reported to be very dangerous and have currently unknown whereabouts. I throw down the little cash I have grab the candy and leave as fast as I can. I sit in the car and think about how horribly cliche this night has become, still I'm not stupid enough to believe that any of what she said was true and I chalked it up to another person trying to play into the holiday and scare me. When I finally arrived I was greeted by a sleeping Sophie on the couch with cartoons blaring from the T.V. I sat down next to her and combed my hand through her fine blonde hair until she woke up. She wore the biggest sleepiest smile when she awoke and wrapped her arms around me, I picked her up and carried her to her room. As I sat her in her bed she looked at me with fear in her eyes and told me to tell the man outside to go away. Knowing it was probably a lingering dream I agreed, tucked her in and turned on the monitor in her room. When I sat down downstairs I heard rustling through the monitor and went upstairs to see if Sophie was okay when I got up there I saw her small tear stained face looking up at me she was scared like I had never seen before. She couldn't say or do anything but point to her 5 foot pile of stuffed animals and chillingly whisper the word "clown." I walked over to the pile and rustled the hair of the toy slow and reassured her " see its just a toy" I said to her tucking her back in and kissing her forehead before I left again. I get the door almost shut right as my phone started ringing. I see that its Sophie's mom and reluctantly answer, running downstairs where I don't disturb Sophie. "Is everything going alright?" She questions, "Yeah she's great, she just got a little freaked out by her clown doll but I think thats..." I don't get to finish my sentence before Sophie's mom cuts me off "What clown doll, Sophie doesn't have a clown doll?'' As soon as she said those words I heard the door to Sophie's room slam shut. I drop my phone and run upstairs pulling the door as hard as I can every move my body makes is pleading with the stuck door to open. Eventually I know Im not getting anywhere by this method and run downstairs to call the police. As I start to run down the stairs I hear the man inside say in a chilling tone "Its okay Sophie I just want to play a game." I go back up and yell with every ounce of pent up rage I have "Don't you dare touch her!" I go downstairs dialing 911 and run outside not knowing what would be waiting for me inside. I back out of the house   not looking away from Sophie's window for a second. I turn for merely a second to see my phone enough to dial. I look up and see a man feet away from me dressed exactly like the man upstairs. I stop dead in my tracks too scared to even breathe. He looked up slowly tilted his head to the side while the eeriest grin came over his face. He slowly lifted his arm pointing to the window. I looked up to see the man in the clown costume upstairs wave and loom over Sophie's bed as the lights cut out and I heard a blood curdling scream.