The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

1)The Job

"People are strange" by The Doors
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A livid feeling crept into Sophia Summers the very moment her father informed her of the plans he accepted on her behalf.

Babysitting the kids next door? Sophia was mortified at the very thought! Her family only moved to Schaumburg, Illinois a few weeks previously. It wasn't as though they were on friendly terms with the neighbors; the mother next door never smiled while the father wore a smile on his face that looked as fake as his hair piece.
"I'm not doing it," the teenage girl declared, her pale face holding a heavy pout. There was no way her father could force her to spend her Friday night babysitting the two children of their neighbors. Richard Summers himself barely knew the people they lived next to; how could he expect his sixteen-year-old daughter to give up her one free night off of work to help strangers? Still, Sophia knew when her father set his mind on something, he always followed through with it. No matter what it was or how minor, the man always held this character trait. This, however, did not stop Sophia from attempting to talk him out of this madness. "DAD!" she pushed angrily. "We don't know anything about them; how can you send me over there to watch their kids??"

"Sophie, everyone around the neighborhood now knows you're the ideal candidate for babysitting jobs," her mother interrupted, fixing the final detail on her earring before sticking it through her delicate lobe. The cheap gem had broken off and she had spent a great deal of time trying to hot glue it. "Were you not just complaining that you need only a little bit more to afford that car you were eying??"
Sophia's mind briefly drifted back to remembering she was nine-hundred dollars short to buy a rather nice used car she was thinking about purchasing. Having her own vehicle would mean not sharing two cars with her large family or having to rely on her parents or older siblings to take her to school or dance.
Still, the idea of going to a strangers house to babysit was not appealing in the slightest. As far as Sophia and her siblings could tell, the next-door neighbors had three children. A college age boy, a middle school-aged boy, and an elementary school-age boy. The college-aged one didn't live at home. The job should be pretty simple as far as babysitting gigs go. All Sophia would really have to do is make sure the boys did their homework and went to bed by curfew. Still, Sophia didn't like the second oldest. There was something about the kid that gave her the heebie jeebies. He had beady bug eyes that were enhanced by oversized glasses. Even still, Sophia knew her parents were speaking as though there was finality to their words. There would be no getting out of this gig.
"There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there?" said Sophia, sensing no loophole out of this.
Her mother gently rolled her coffee-brown eyes. "Sweetheart, it's only one night. Look at the bright side, you're just going to be right next door."