بگو سیب و بمیر فصل 31

Say Cheese and Die! - Chapter 31

The basement became a whirring blur of grays and blacks as Greg hurtled himself toward the stairs.

He and Shari ran side by side, slipping over the food cartons, jumping over tin cans and empty bottles.

Rain thundered against the windows. The wind howled, pushing against the glass. They could hear Dr. Fredericks’ anguished screams behind them.

“Did it take our picture or his?” Shari asked.

“I don’t know. Just hurry !” Greg screamed.

The old man was howling like a wounded animal, his cries competing with the rain and wind pushing at the windows.

The stairs weren’t that far away. But it seemed to take forever to reach them.

Forever.

Forever, Greg thought. Dr. Fredericks wanted to keep Shari and me down there forever.

Panting loudly, they both reached the dark stairway. A deafening clap of thunder made them stop and turn around.

“Huh?” Greg cried aloud.

To his shock, Dr. Fredericks hadn’t chased after them.

And his anguished cries had stopped.

The basement was silent.

“What’s going on?” Shari cried breathlessly.

Squinting back into the darkness, it took Greg a while to realize that the dark, rumpled form lying on the floor in front of the worktable was Dr. Fredericks.

“What happened?” Shari cried, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. Still clinging to the camera strap, she gaped in surprise at the old man’s still body, sprawled on its back on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Greg replied in a breathless whisper.

Reluctantly, Greg started back toward Dr. Fredericks. Following close behind, Shari uttered a low cry of horror when she clearly saw the fallen man’s face.

Eyes bulged out, the mouth open in a twisted O of terror, the face stared up at them. Frozen. Dead.

Dr. Fredericks was dead.

“What— happened ?” Shari finally managed to say, swallowing hard, forcing herself to turn away from the ghastly, tortured face.

“I think he died of fright,” Greg replied, squeezing her shoulder and not even realizing it.

“Huh? Fright?”

“He knew better than anyone what the camera could do,” Greg said. “When you snapped his picture, I think… I think it scared him to death !”

“I only wanted to throw him off guard,” Shari cried. “I only wanted to give us a chance to escape. I didn’t think—”

“The picture,” Greg interrupted. “Let’s see the picture.”

Shari raised the camera. The photo was still half inside the camera. Greg pulled it out with a trembling hand. He held it up so they could both see it.

“Wow,” he exclaimed quietly. “Wow.”

The photo showed Dr. Fredericks lying on the floor, his eyes bulging, his mouth frozen open in horror.

Dr. Fredericks’ fright, Greg realized—the fright that had killed him—was there, frozen on film, frozen on his face.

The camera had claimed another victim. This time forever.

“What do we do now?” Shari asked, staring down at the figure sprawled at their feet.

“First, I’m putting this camera back,” Greg said, taking it from her and shoving it back on its shelf. He turned the vise handle, and the door to the secret compartment closed.

Greg breathed a sigh of relief. Hiding the dreadful camera away made him feel so much better.

“Now, let’s go home and call the police,” he said.

Two days later, a cool, bright day with a gentle breeze rustling the trees, the four friends stopped at the curb, leaning on their bikes, and stared up at the Coffman house. Even in bright sunlight, the old trees that surrounded the house covered it in shade.

“So you didn’t tell the police about the camera?” Bird asked, staring up at the dark, empty front window.

“No. They wouldn’t believe it,” Greg told him. “Besides, the camera should stay locked up forever. Forever! I hope no one ever finds out about it.”

“We told the police we ran into the house to get out of the rain,” Shari added. “And we said we started to explore while we waited for the storm to blow over. And we found the body in the basement.”

“What did Spidey die of?” Michael asked, gazing up at the house.

“The police said it was heart failure,” Greg told him. “But we know the truth.”

“Wow. I can’t believe one old camera could do so much evil,” Bird said.

“I believe it,” Greg said quietly.

“Let’s get out of here,” Michael urged. He raised his sneakers to the pedals and started to roll away. “This place really creeps me out.”

The other three followed, pedaling away in thoughtful silence.

They had turned the corner and were heading up the next block when two figures emerged from the back door of the Coffman house. Joey Ferris and Mickey Ward stepped over the weed-choked lawn onto the driveway.

“Those jerks aren’t too bright,” Joey told his companion. “They never even saw us the other day. Never saw us watching them through the basement window.”

Mickey laughed. “Yeah. They’re jerks.”

“They couldn’t hide this camera from us. No way, man,” Joey said. He raised the camera and examined it.

“Take my picture,” Mickey demanded. “Come on. Let’s try it out.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Joey raised the viewfinder to his eye. “Say cheese.”

A click. A flash. A whirring sound.

Joey pulled the snapshot from the camera, and both boys eagerly huddled around it, waiting to see what developed.