دوستام منو هیولا صدا می زنند فصل 01

My Friends Call Me Monster - Chapter 1

“Michael, this is crazy,” my friend Daisy Edwards whispered. “We shouldn’t be here.” “Too late,” I whispered back. “We’re already here.”

Daisy was right. Sneaking into our teacher’s house was probably a bad idea.

But there we were, the three of us — me, Daisy, and our friend DeWayne Walker — standing in Mrs. Hardesty’s kitchen. My eyes darted around, trying to see in the dim light. All the shades were pulled.

“Weird. She keeps her house as dark as our classroom,” DeWayne said.

The kitchen smelled of cinnamon. Mrs. Hardesty had a lot of snapshots on her fridge door. I glanced at them quickly. The faces all seemed blurry. An empty egg carton stood open on the sink.

I led the way into the front room. The shades were down there, too.

The couch and four chairs all matched. They were black leather. I saw knitting needles sticking out of a ball of wool on a table beside the couch. A tall wooden clock on the mantel ticked loudly.

“I’m not happy about this,” Daisy whispered. “What if she comes home and finds us? We’re dead!” “No worries,” I said. “She’s still at school.”

“Let’s dump the cat and get out of here,” DeWayne said. He raised the carrier in front of him. I could see the black cat’s blue eyes peering out at me.

You’re probably wondering why we sneaked into Mrs. Hardesty’s house with a black cat. Well, our plan was simple.

Mrs. H is very superstitious. So … she comes home. She looks down and sees this black cat rubbing against her ankles … and it totally freaks her mind!

I wished I could be there when she went nuts. But I planned to be far, far away.

The cat pawed the front of the carrier and meowed. I think it wanted out.

“Monster, just open the carrier,” DeWayne said. “Let it go, and we’re outta here.” My friends call me Monster.

It’s kind of a cool nickname. You see, I’m a big dude. I’m twelve, but I look like a high school guy. I’m pretty strong, too.

That’s a good thing.

But I guess kids also call me Monster because of my temper. That’s a bad thing.

My parents say I have a short fuse. That means I explode a lot. But, hey, I’m not angry all the time. Just when someone pushes my buttons.

Which is why my two friends and I were in Mrs. Hardesty’s house. Our teacher had been pushing my buttons ever since she arrived at Adams Middle School.

“Let the cat out,” DeWayne said, holding the carrier up to my face.

“Not here,” I said. “Mrs. H will see it too soon. That’s no fun.”

“How about the basement?” Daisy said. “Mrs. Hardesty opens the basement door, and there’s a black cat at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at her. Can you picture it?” “Awesome!” I said. I jabbed my finger into Daisy’s forehead. “I like the way you think.” We searched the hall till we found the basement door. I pulled it open, and we stared down into the darkness. I fumbled for the light switch, and a bulb flashed on overhead.

I led the way down the creaky wooden steps. The cat meowed again. “Be patient,” I said. “You’ll have a nice, new basement to explore. And Mrs. H will take good care of you.” We stepped into a short hallway. The air grew cold and damp. The basement was divided into two rooms. Both doors were shut.

DeWayne set the carrier down on the floor. He bent to open its door.

That’s when we heard the sound. A heavy thump. From one of the rooms.

We all froze. DeWayne’s hands shot up, away from the carrier. He stared at me, his mouth open. Daisy took a step back.

I heard a groan. Another thump.

My heart did a flip-flop in my chest. “There’s someone down here!” I whispered.

We didn’t say another word. DeWayne grabbed the carrier by the handle, we spun away from the doors, and took off.

We scrambled up the stairs. Our sneakers thudded loudly all the way up.

I was nearly at the top when I heard a metal chiiing. Something hit a stair and bounced down.

“Something fell out of my pocket!” I cried.

Was it my cell phone?

I couldn’t go back for it. We had to get out of there.

Someone — or something — was coming after us!