دوستام منو هیولا صدا می زنند فصل 12

My Friends Call Me Monster - Chapter 12

Caught.

There was no way she didn’t hear that.

It wasn’t a quiet sneeze. I never learned how to sneeze quietly.

I swallowed hard and held my breath. I stood there with one foot on one step, the other beneath it on a lower step.

I froze there — every muscle tensed — and shut my eyes. And waited for her to call me down there.

But no.

I heard her gooey-sweet voice. “Does one of my babies have a cold?”

I let my breath out slowly. She thought one of the monsters had sneezed!

I turned back to the room. Through the open door, I saw Mrs. Hardesty walk to a refrigerator against the back wall. “Are my babies hungry? Are you ready for din-din?” This got them all excited. They began huffing and puffing and jumping up and down. Two of them got into a head-butting contest. Each time their heads collided, it made a wet smack.

Mrs. Hardesty pulled open the fridge door and leaned inside. She came out with big hunks of red, raw meat.

She tossed the meat chunks high in the air. They landed on the floor. The excited monsters dove headfirst for them.

They scrambled for the meat. Head-butted and shoved and tackled each other out of the way.

The smack of their bodies rang out over the sick gobbling and slurping. They sucked the meat chunks into their open mouths and swallowed them whole. Then they tossed back their heads, opened their mouths wide, and let out deafening, two- and three-minute burps.

As the monsters devoured the meat, Mrs. Hardesty stepped to the side. She crossed her arms in front of her and watched. She had an adoring smile pasted on her face. She actually thought these slobbering, burping beasts were cute!

A few minutes later, the meat was gone. The last monster finished his roaring burp. The basement room grew quiet.

Mrs. Hardesty stepped forward. “Okay, my babies,” she said. “Listen up now. I want you to lay more eggs.” The creatures stood at attention, their eyes locked on her. A short chubby one made a gurgling noise and vomited up his meat onto the floor. He bent down and quickly ate it a second time.

“Lay more eggs!” Mrs. H told them. “We will use some of them to hatch more babies. And I will feed some of the eggs to the kids at my school. Then to the whole town! And then — monsters rule! Monsters rule! Monsters rule!” Her chant got the monsters all psyched. They nodded their heads up and down. They danced as if getting ready for battle. A few of them did some more head-butting.

“The Commander will be proud!” Mrs. Hardesty shouted, pumping a fist in the air. “We will take over this puny planet — or my name isn’t Hyborg-Xrxuz!” The monsters were pumped. They roared and hopped up and down.

“Oh, wow,” I murmured. “Oh, wow.”

Mrs. Hardesty wasn’t really Mrs. Hardesty. She had a weird alien name — because she was an alien!

An alien who came to Earth to get rid of humans and make a home for these ugly monsters.

I spun around and ran up the basement stairs as fast as I could. The monsters were making such a racket down there, I knew Mrs. H couldn’t hear me.

My legs felt rubbery and weak. My heart was thumping in my chest.

But I ran out the back door and kept running.

I had to tell everyone. I had to warn everyone. We were all in danger.

A horn honked and tires squealed as I ran across the street. I hadn’t even looked to see if anyone was coming. I heard the driver shout at me from his open window. But I didn’t stop.

The houses and yards were a blur. I ran all the way home. Mrs. Hardesty’s cheer rang in my ears: “Monsters rule! Monsters rule!” I saw her pumping her fist in the air as the monsters bounced up and down. “Monsters rule! Monsters rule!” No way! I told myself.

I burst in through the back door. Mom and Dad were standing in the kitchen. Dad was chopping onions at the table. His face was red, and tears rolled down his cheeks. Mom was stirring a pot on the stove.

They turned when I came roaring in.

“Michael, where have you been?” Dad asked through his tears.

I struggled to catch my breath. “I was at Mrs. Hardesty’s,” I choked out. “Mom! Dad! She’s hatching big green monsters. She keeps them in her basement. She’s going to turn everyone in town into monsters!” Dad set down the onions. He blinked at me. “That’s pretty serious, Michael,” he said. “Let’s get the police over there and put an end to this!”