Mr. Pool Floaty

This is a story that has bothered me ever since it happened several years ago. I’m hoping to get some clarity and maybe some peace by sharing it with you all. One thing you should know about this story is that I don’t swim. Having said that, let’s start from the beginning...<br><br>My senior year of high school I babysat quite a bit. I had a regular family that I worked for, and basically I would spend Friday nights at their house while the parents went out. I loved this gig because it paid well, I got to watch cable TV, the food was always delicious and the kids were well behaved. I got a call from the mom one evening asking me if I would be willing to go on a family vacation with them this upcoming summer. I’d never gone on a trip with a family before so I thought nothing of it initially. I said yes, thinking it would be a fun adventure and rewards for my hard work. <br><br>Fast forward, that time rolls around. We’re flying across the country. First class first, then the kids and I in coach. We land, get our bags and take a taxi to a lake. I had no idea that this trip involved a lake, so of course by this point I’m panicking. The parents quickly admitted that they thought the trip would be a great opportunity to get out of their comfort zones, but I’m starting to get a little angry. When we get to the house, I’m shown my room and am immediately told to get my bathing suit on and change. <br><br>This is when I blurt out that I don’t swim. The parents admit they know, and quickly go on to tell me about all the other activities I can do while we are there, go hiking! Take a walk around the neighborhood, go get lunch, whatever! Just don’t ruin the family fun. I’m this young girl being paid $$$, so I suck it up and go with it. Wasn’t so bad, I sat on the beach and read a book while the kids played in the water. They even let me borrow some floating raft thing that had holes drilled into it, so I could sit in the water and chill. The parents even let me drink while I was sitting there, so that was a plus. <br><br>So, for some background, the rewards for this job were great because the parents are wealthy and know how to pay their employees by the books. I get to the beach, and it’s even better than I expected. I start wondering if I’m being a little too hard on them, maybe I haven’t given them a fair chance. At this point I’ve even gone swimming with the kids for a little while, and they’ve even convinced me to join them on the paddle boat. (Not the row boat, but the one that you sit and pedal) So I’m out there for about an hour when the dad yells out to me that I should probably come back because some weird guy is trying to come over. <br><br>I pedal back to the shore, and can see some guy standing in the water near the kids. The parents wave at him, but I can tell they’re a little annoyed by the stranger. I make it back to the shore, and the parents ask me if I could get the kids ready for bed. The kids have been exhausted since this morning, so they’re pretty cooperative. I take them inside and start running them a bath, while the parents sit and finish their drinks. <br><br>I hear the front door open and it’s the dad telling me to get the kids ready to go. This is a weird request because they’ve expressed no plans on going out this evening. I stand there confused while the mom comes in and gets the kids suited up. We’re all finishing getting ready and the parents have me take the kids out the front door while they lock up the house. It’s dark outside at this point, and the parents have me carry them down the street and into a neighborhood restaurant. We sit down at a table, and the dad immediately gets up to take a call. <br><br>The mom leads me outside to the parking lot and explains that the lake house is actually in a very bad area. The neighborhood is known for a lot of crime, and they hadn’t realized how bad this area was when they bought the home. She goes on to tell me that the neighbors had warned them of this guy that was a little creepy. The police have never been able to catch him in the act, but there have been multiple reports of him sneaking into homes and peeking through the windows. She tells me that she wants to take the kids on a walk, and go back to the house to get our stuff. I agreed, but I’m starting to freak out inside. <br><br>Once we’re back at the house, we’re packing everything up and the dad is checking all the windows and doors. He thanks me and tells me that this is above and beyond. The whole drive back home I’m freaking out about this whole lake house situation. The parents are grateful and don’t even ask me to babysit that many more times. <br><br>Years went by and I had almost forgotten about the whole thing. It was some years later that I’m scrolling through Facebook and the mom’s profile pops up. I’m thinking of reaching out to her, and then I see a photo of the kids swimming in the lake. Same lake. The parents are in the background with these huge smiles on their faces. I think, wow. I misunderstood them. They’re great people. <br><br>Then a few more years pass and I’m on Reddit. I’m reading one of these stories, similar to this one. When it occurs to me that the whole lake house thing was such a weird experience. So I Google the lake house and the first thing that pops up is a missing person’s report. It was a very similar story to this one. The parents and kids went to this house that their uncle owned, and this whole trip sounded like my trip. The parents said that they had gotten to the house and were swimming in the late afternoon. The kids had gone inside to get something to eat, and when they came back out their mom was gone. <br><br>The dad admitted that they had been searching the neighborhood and couldn’t find her. He said that he was worried about the kids so he called his brother and took them to his house. The police have searched the house and found no sign of her. They did find a security camera that had footage of a man looking into the house. They never found a body, and this case remains unsolved. <br><br>So I’m not sure what I’m trying to say here, but I don’t think it was a coincidence. I don’t know if the parents were just digging themselves into a whole with the “lake monster” thing. I don’t know if they were trying to get me more involved. I don’t even know for sure if this is connected to the lake house they stayed at. I do know that they never contacted me about it, and it scares me to think that I may have crossed paths with this guy. It still bothers me to this day. <br><br>Mr. Pool Floaty, this is your story now.