Episode notes
Every Friday night in 1985, a fourteen-year-old babysat for a family four blocks down, and every Friday the kids' father came home around eleven and drove her home. He was polite and quiet, and he always waited until she got inside.
In this original horror story, a woman looks back on the year she spent babysitting for a nurse who worked the overnight shift. The key was kept under a flowerpot, the kids were asleep by nine, and the house was all hers until the storm door opened. It became routine, eleven rides home in all. Only much later does she notice the small things: the long way around the school, the questions about her family, the porch light, the back door left open.
A slow-burn, unsettling tale of small-town 1980s nostalgia, a babysitting job, and how comfortable a routine can make you. No gore, no jump scares, just quiet dread that stays with you.
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All Harrowing Tales stories are original works of fiction.