ماسک روح زده فصل 09

The Haunted Mask - Chapter 9

“Ohh!”

Carly Beth shrieked and jerked back her hand.

The mask grinned at her. Its orange eyes glowed brightly. The lips appeared to curl back over the fangs.

She suddenly felt dizzy. What is going on here?

As she staggered back, away from the shelves, she realized that the angry cry hadn’t come from the mask.

It had come from behind her.

Carly Beth spun around to see the black-caped store owner glaring at her from the doorway. His dark eyes flashed. His mouth was turned down into a menacing frown.

“Oh. I thought—” Carly Beth started, glancing back at the mask. She still felt confused. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest.

“I am sorry you saw these,” the man said in a low, threatening voice. He took a step toward her, his cape brushing the doorway.

What is he going to do? Carly Beth wondered, uttering a horrified gasp. Why is he coming at me like that?

What is he going to do to me?

“I am so sorry,” he repeated, his small, dark eyes burning into hers. He took another step closer.

Carly Beth backed away from him. Then she uttered a startled cry as she backed into the display shelves.

The hideous masks jiggled and quaked, as if alive.

“What—what do you mean?” she managed to choke out. “I—I was just—”

“I am sorry you saw these because they are not for sale,” the man said softly.

He stepped past her and straightened one of the masks on its stand.

Carly Beth breathed a loud sigh of relief. He didn’t mean to scare me, she told herself. I am scaring myself.

She crossed her arms in front of her coat and tried to force her heartbeat to return to normal. She stepped to the side as the store owner continued to arrange the masks, handling them carefully, brushing their hair with one hand, tenderly dusting off their bulging, blood-covered foreheads.

“Not for sale? Why not?” Carly Beth demanded. Her voice came out tiny and shrill.

“Too scary,” the man replied. He turned to smile at her.

“But I want a really scary one,” Carly Beth told him. “I want that one.” She pointed to the mask she had touched, the mask with the open mouth and its terrifying, jagged fangs.

“Too scary,” the man repeated, pushing his cape behind his shoulder.

“But it’s Halloween!” Carly Beth protested.

“I have a really scary gorilla mask,” the man said, motioning for Carly Beth to go back to the front room. “Very scary. Looks like it’s growling. I will give you a good price on it since it’s so late.”

Carly Beth shook her head, her arms crossed defiantly in front of her. “A gorilla mask won’t scare Steve and Chuck,” she said.

The man’s expression changed. “Who?”

“My friends,” she told him. “I have to have that one,” she insisted. “It’s so scary, I’m almost afraid to touch it. It’s perfect.”

“It’s too scary,” the man repeated, lowering his eyes to it. He ran his hand over the green forehead. “I can’t take the responsibility.”

“It’s so real looking!” Carly Beth gushed. “They’ll both faint. I know they will. Then they’ll never try to scare me again.”

“Young lady—” the store owner started, glancing impatiently at his watch. “I really must insist that you make up your mind. I am a patient man, but—”

“Please!” Carly Beth begged. “Please sell it to me! Here. Look.” She dug into her jeans pocket and pulled out the money she had brought.

“Young lady, I—”

“Thirty dollars,” Carly Beth said, shoving the wadded-up bills into the man’s hand. “I’ll give you thirty dollars for it. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a matter of money,” he told her. “These masks are not for sale.” With an exasperated sigh, he started toward the doorway that led to the front of the store.

“Please! I need it. I really need it!” Carly Beth begged, chasing after him.

“These masks are too real,” he insisted, gesturing to the shelves. “I’m warning you—”

“Please? Please?”

He shut his eyes. “You will be sorry.”

“No, I won’t. I won’t. I know I won’t!” Carly Beth exclaimed gleefully, seeing that he was about to give in.

He opened his eyes. He shook his head. She could see that he was debating with himself.

With a sigh, he tucked the money into his coat pocket. Then he carefully lifted the mask from the shelf, straightening the pointed ears, and started to hand it to her.

“Thanks!” she cried, eagerly snatching the mask from his hands. “It’s perfect! Perfect!”

She held the mask by the flat nose. It felt soft and surprisingly warm. “Thanks again!” she cried, hurrying to the front, the mask gripped tightly in her hand.

“Can I give you a bag for it?” the man called after her.

But Carly Beth was already out of the store.

She crossed the street and started to run toward home. The sky was black. No stars poked through. The street still glistened wetly from the afternoon’s rain.

This is going to be the best trick-or-treat night ever, Carly Beth thought happily. Because this is the night I get my revenge.

She couldn’t wait to spring out at Steve and Chuck. She wondered what their costumes would be. They had both talked about painting their faces blue and dyeing their hair blue and being Smurfs.

Lame. Really lame.

Carly Beth stopped under a streetlight and held up the mask, gripping it with both hands by its pointed ears. It grinned up at her, the two crooked rows of fangs hanging over its thick, rubbery lips.

Then, tucking it carefully under one arm, she ran the rest of the way home.

Stopping at the bottom of the driveway, she gazed up at her house, the front windows all glowing brightly, the porchlight sending white light over the lawn.

I’ve got to try this mask out on someone, she thought eagerly. I’ve got to see just how good it is.

Her brother’s grinning face popped into her mind.

“Noah. Of course,” she said aloud. “Noah has really been asking for it.”

Grinning gleefully, Carly Beth hurried up the drive, eager to make Noah her first victim.