ماسک روح زده فصل 06

The Haunted Mask - Chapter 6

“Okay. What time should I meet you?” Carly Beth asked, cradling the phone between her chin and shoulder.

On the other end of the line, Sabrina considered for a moment. “How about seven-thirty?”

It was Halloween. The plan was to meet at Sabrina’s house, then go trick-or-treating through the entire neighborhood.

“The earlier the better. We’ll get more candy,” Sabrina said. “Did Steve call you?”

“Yeah. He called,” Carly Beth replied bitterly.

“Did he apologize?”

“Yeah, he apologized,” Carly Beth muttered, rolling her eyes. “Big deal. I mean, he already made me look like a jerk in front of the entire school. What good is an apology?”

“I think he felt bad,” Sabrina replied.

“I hope he felt bad!” Carly Beth exclaimed. “It was so mean!”

“It was a dirty trick,” Sabrina agreed. And then she added, “But you’ll have to admit it was kind of funny.”

“I don’t have to admit anything!” Carly Beth snapped.

“Has it stopped raining?” Sabrina asked, changing the subject.

Carly Beth pulled back the curtain to glance out her bedroom window. The evening sky was charcoal-gray. Dark clouds hovered low. But the rain had stopped. The street glistened wetly under the light of a streetlamp.

“No rain. I’ve got to go. See you at seven-thirty,” Carly Beth said, speaking rapidly.

“Hey, wait. What’s your costume?” Sabrina demanded.

“It’s a surprise,” Carly Beth told her, and hung up.

It’ll be a surprise to me, too, she told herself, glancing unhappily at the feathery duck costume, rolled up on the chair in the corner.

Carly Beth’s plan had been to go to the new party store after school and pick out the ugliest, most disgusting, scariest mask they had. But her mother had picked her up after school and insisted that she stay home and watch Noah for a couple of hours.

Mrs. Caldwell hadn’t returned home until five-fifteen. Now it was nearly a quarter till six. There was no way the party store would still be open, Carly Beth thought, frowning at the duck costume.

“Quack quack,” she said miserably.

She walked to the mirror and ran a hairbrush through her hair. Maybe it’s worth a try, she thought. Maybe that store stays open late on Halloween.

She pulled open her top dresser drawer and took out her wallet. Did she have enough money for a good, scary mask?

Thirty dollars. Her life savings.

She wadded up the bills and stuffed them back into the wallet. Then, jamming the wallet into her jeans pocket, she grabbed her coat and hurried downstairs and out the front door.

The evening air was cold and damp. Carly Beth struggled to zip her coat as she jogged toward the party store. The house next door had a glowing jack-o’-lantern in the front window. The house on the corner had paper skeletons strung up across the front porch.

The wind howled through the bare trees. The branches above her head shook and rattled like bony arms.

What a creepy night, Carly Beth thought.

She started running a little faster. A car rolled silently by, sending harsh white light floating across the sidewalk like a bright ghost.

Glancing across the street, Carly Beth saw the old Carpenter mansion looming over its dark, weed-choked lawn. Everyone said the ramshackle old house was haunted by people who had been murdered inside it a hundred years ago.

Once, Carly Beth had heard frightening howls coming from the old mansion. When she was Noah’s age, Steve and Chuck and some other kids had dared each other to go up to the house and knock on the door. Carly Beth had run home instead. She never did find out if the other kids were brave enough to do it.

Now Carly Beth felt a chill of fear as she hurried past the old house. She knew this neighborhood really well. She had lived in it her entire life. But tonight it looked different to her.

Was it just the wet glow left by the rain?

No. It was a heavy feeling in the air. A heavier darkness. The eerie orange glow of grinning pumpkins in windows. The silent cries of ghouls and monsters waiting to float free on their night to celebrate. Halloween.

Trying to force all the scary thoughts from her mind, Carly Beth turned the corner. The little party store came into view. The window was lighted, revealing two rows of Halloween masks, staring out at the street.

But was the store still open?

Crossing her fingers, Carly Beth waited for a truck to rumble past, then eagerly jogged across the street. She stopped for a second to examine the masks in the window. There were gorilla masks, monster masks, some sort of blue-haired alien mask.

Pretty good, she thought. These are pretty ugly. But they probably have even scarier ones inside.

The lights were on in the store. She peered through the glass door. Then she tried turning the knob.

It didn’t move.

She tried again. She tried pulling the door open. Then she tried pushing.

No. No way.

She was too late. The store was closed.