Babysitter’s horror story

 

 

Babysitter’s horror story

 

There was a girl who was a babysitter. She was in this really big old house in Oxford. She put the baby to bed and the baby began to sleep. So she put on some music and began to read some magazines. Then the phone rang. She picked it up and she heard this heavy breathing, but nobody spoke. It was really scary. She put the phone down and she tried to read the magazines but she couldn’t, she was really upset. Then the phone rang again and she picked it up and there was this heavy breathing and then a man’s voice. He said, “I’m coming to get you! I’m going to kill you…slowly!” Then she put the phone down.

She was terrified. So she phoned the police and told them what had happened. They said, if he phones again try to keep him talking and we will try to locate him.

Then she put a chair against the door of the room with her and the baby in. Then she turned the music off and she listened. She was terrified. She thought she heard some noises in the house and then the phone went again. It was the man. She asked him questions like, “Why are you phoning me? Why do you want to kill me?” He talked to her for a bit and said he knew where she was and he described the room, perfectly, then he put the phone down. Then the phone rang again, it was the police. They said, lock your door! We have found him! He’s in your house! He’s using the second phone. We’ll be there in a few minutes. A few minutes later she heard these feet on the stairs and then a lot of shouting. A few minutes later a policewoman knocked on her door and she opened it. They had got him. He was a murderer.

 

Comment on the language

‘really’ is a very common way of emphasizing an idea, ‘really scary’.

‘scary’ is a common alternative word for ‘frightening’.

‘locate’ is a rather formal word and is used by the storyteller to convey that it was authentic police language.

‘heavy breathing’ is a collocation…’heavy’ in this context means, loud and slow.