شبی با عروسک زنده 2 فصل 03

Night of the Living Dummy 2 - Chapter 3

The curtains flapped again.

The face didn’t move.

“Who—?” I choked out, squeezing the sheet up to my chin.

The eyes stared in at me. Cold, unblinking eyes.

Dummy eyes.

Dennis.

Dennis stared blankly at me, his white eye catching the glow of the moonlight.

I let out an angry roar, tossed off the sheet, and bolted out of bed. To the window.

I pushed away the billowing curtains and grabbed Dennis’ head off the window ledge. “Who put you there?” I demanded, holding the head between my hands. “Who did it, Dennis?” I heard soft laughter behind me. From the hallway.

I flew across the room, the head still in my hands. I pulled open my bedroom door.

Jed held his hand over his mouth, muffling his laughter. “Gotcha!” he whispered gleefully.

“Jed—you creep!” I cried. I let the dummy head drop to the floor. Then I grabbed Jed’s pajama pants with both hands and jerked them up as high as I could—nearly to his chin!

He let out a gasp of pain and stumbled back against the wall.

“Why did you do that?” I demanded in an angry whisper. “Why did you put the dummy head on my window ledge?” Jed tugged his pajama pants back into place. “To pay you back,” he muttered.

“Huh? Me?” I shrieked. “I didn’t do anything to you. What did I do?”

“You didn’t stick up for me,” he grumbled, scratching his red curly hair. His eyes narrowed at me. “You didn’t say anything to help me out. You know. About Sara’s painting.” “Excuse me?” I cried. “How could I help you out? What could I say?”

“You could have said it was no big deal,” Jed replied.

“But it was a big deal!” I told him. “You know how seriously Sara takes her paintings.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Jed. But you deserve to be punished. You really do.” He stared at me across the dim hallway, thinking about what I’d said. Then an evil smile spread slowly over his freckled face. “Hope I didn’t scare you too much, Amy.” He snickered. Then he picked Dennis’ head up off the carpet and tossed it at me.

I caught it in one hand. “Go to sleep, Jed,” I told him. “And don’t mess with Dennis again!” I stepped back into my room and closed the door. I tossed Dennis’ head onto a pile of clothes on my desk chair. Then I climbed wearily back into bed.

So much trouble around here tonight, I thought, shutting my eyes, trying to relax.

So much trouble…

Two days later, Dad brought home a present for me. A new ventriloquist’s dummy. That’s when the real trouble began.