The friendly neighbour who offered to babysit my kids but then...

This happened 14 years ago. I was 19 and my boyfriend was 23. We had an 8 month old baby and a three year old that we were struggling to afford to feed and house, but we were doing our best and had moved into a 2 roomed flat. We didn't know anyone in the area.<br><br>There was an older lady who lived in the next block over (we were council houses) who would often wave at us when she saw us. We'd chat in the street when we bumped into her and she offered to babysit the kids for free one night a week so we could have a date night. We refused, but she insisted, saying she had no family of her own and would love some company.<br><br>She reminded me of my nan so I trusted her, and my boyfriend trusted her too (she had babysat for him and his then-girlfriend before he met me). We agreed that the kids would visit her every Thursday night from 6pm until 10pm. She would make them dinner, and she said she had DVDs and games and things for them to do while they were there. She had a big teddy dog and my youngest would hug it whenever we visited. <br><br>On the first night we drop off the kids, I notice she hadn't showered in a while and the house didn't smell amazing. She promised to shower while we were out and said it was just because she was old and didn't need to wash much, but would for the kids. I didn't think much of it and just took the kids and went. We didn't have to pay her so we didn't want to be picky.<br><br>We picked up the kids at 10pm and they seemed happy enough. They said they'd had fun. The next week we drop them off and her house is disgusting. She reeks of pee, and the place is just full of grime and dust. I reminded her she said she'd shower but she said she didn't feel like it. I reminded her we'd told her we didn't want the kids left alone and she said that was just in case of a fire, but she'd be home. I felt bad leaving the kids but didn't want to be rude.<br><br>We pick them up at 10pm and my boyfriend comments on how dirty the house is and we both agree we won't be leaving the kids there again. We tell her the next day that we're going to look after the kids ourselves and that we're sorry, but she insists. We say no. She insists. We say no again and she claims we're calling her dirty and lazy, but we say it's not that we're calling her anything, we just don't want to dump the kids on her when she's clearly got a lot on her hands and we don't want to intrude.<br><br>A couple of days later it's around 10pm and my boyfriend is out getting some food. It's dark and I have no electric lights because I've not paid the bills in a while and they shut them off. I have a couple of candles lit but that's it. I'm sitting on the bed with the kids when there is a tap on the door. It's the lady. I didn't hear her come up the stairs because she was being quiet, and I can smell the urine again. I tell her we're in bed and can we talk in the morning, but she wants to talk now. <br><br>She's got a bottle in her hand and I ask her what she's drinking but she says it's wine and I can smell it's not. I didn't care much at the time, she was old, if she wanted to drink weird stuff that was up to her. I tell her to go home and I'll speak to her in the morning and she says no. I tell her to please go home, I'm not comfortable with her there and the kids are asleep. At this point I'm shaking a little. <br><br>She says she wants to talk to me about something else. I say OK, but I'm not letting her in the house. She says fine and I shut the door and go into the kitchen, leaving the kids in the bedroom. I'm a little worried now because my boyfriend is out and she's being strange.<br><br>I sit down at the table and she starts to talk. She tells me she's not who I think she is. She says she's actually an old friend of my boyfriend's mum. My boyfriend's mum died in 2003 and his dad remarried in 2004. He was pretty secretive about his family, and I didn't know much about them but I knew his dad was in jail. <br><br>She starts talking about my boyfriend and I interrupt and say I need to call him. She says no. She wants to tell me something. She says she's trying to warn me. At this point the kids are screaming and I tell her I have to go to them, but she grabs me and says she needs to tell me. I push her away and she falls to the floor. I run into the bedroom and look around frantically but there's no one there.<br><br>I think the kids have been taken but then I see my youngest is hiding in the wardrobe. I go in and ask what's wrong and he tells me there is a monster in the house. I look under the bed and there's a bunch of cardboard boxes but there's also something else. It's a cuddly dog, but it's covered in hair and twigs and it's soaked in something red that looks like blood. There's something on the other side of the bed too, but I didn't look. My son sees me looking and asks me what it is, but I tell him it's nothing.<br><br>I get him out and he asks where his brother is. I don't see him at first but eventually I find him in the bathroom. He's terrified to talk to me and keeps trying to hide behind the shower curtain. Eventually he tells me that a man came into the house while I was talking to the friendly neighbour. He said the man was dressed in a dog costume. He said the man was holding the teddy from the neighbour's house and was covered in blood. He said the man didn't seem to notice him, he just went into the bedroom.<br><br>I call 999 because I'm not sure what else to do. I don't know if I can safely go outside, I don't know if the kids are safe, but I need help. I sit down on the floor and hold both kids until the police arrive. The lady is gone by the time they get there. I tell them what happened and they say it sounds like someone has been in the house, because there are scratches on the window sill. They take me and the kids down to the police station and they call my boyfriend to come and get us.<br><br>My boyfriend says that when he left to get food, the lady stopped him in the street. She told him she'd already gone to my house and I'd called the police on her. She said the police were looking for her. He said she stunk of urine and she was acting strange. He said she told him not to go home because something would happen to him if he did. He said he tried to walk away but she pulled out a kitchen knife and threatened him. <br><br>They never caught her. I never saw her again. I don't know what she wanted with my kids.