ماسک روح زده فصل 07

The Haunted Mask - Chapter 7

Carly Beth sighed and peered in through the glass. The walls of the tiny store were covered with masks. The masks seemed to stare back at her.

They’re laughing at me, she thought unhappily. Laughing at me because I’m too late. Because the store is closed, and I’m going to have to be a stupid duck for Halloween.

Suddenly, a dark shadow moved over the glass, blocking Carly Beth’s view. She gasped and took a step back.

It took her a moment to realize that the shadow was a man. A man in a black suit, staring out at her, a look of surprise on his face.

“Are you—are you closed?” Carly Beth shouted through the glass.

The man gestured that he couldn’t hear her. He turned the lock and pulled the door open an inch. “Can I help you?” he asked curtly. He had shiny black hair, parted in the middle and slicked down on his head, and a pencil-thin black mustache.

“Are you open?” Carly Beth asked timidly. “I need a Halloween mask.”

“It’s very late,” the man replied, not answering her question. He pulled the door open another few inches. “We normally close at five.”

“I really would like to buy a mask,” Carly Beth told him in her most determined voice.

The man’s tiny, black eyes peered into hers. His expression remained blank. “Come in,” he said quietly.

As Carly Beth stepped past him into the store, she saw that he wore a black cape. It must be a Halloween costume, she told herself. I’m sure he doesn’t wear that all the time.

She turned her attention to the masks on the two walls.

“What kind of mask are you looking for?” the man asked, closing the door behind him.

Carly Beth felt a stab of fear. His black eyes glowed like two burning coals. He seemed so strange. And here she was, locked in this closed store with him.

“A s-scary one,” she stammered.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He pointed to the wall. “The gorilla mask has been very popular. It has real hair. I believe I may have one left in stock.”

Carly Beth stared up at the gorilla mask. She didn’t really want to be a gorilla. It was too ordinary. It wasn’t scary enough. “Hmmm… do you have anything scarier?” she asked.

He flipped his cape back over the shoulder of his black suit. “How about that yellowish one with the pointy ears?” he suggested, pointing. “I believe it’s some sort of Star Trek character. I still have a few of them, I believe.”

“No.” Carly Beth shook her head. “I need something really scary.”

A strange smile formed under the man’s thin mustache. His eyes burned into hers, as if trying to read her thoughts. “Look around,” he said, with a sweep of his hand. “Everything I have left in stock is up on the walls.”

Carly Beth turned her gaze to the masks. A pig mask with long, ugly tusks and blood trickling from the snout caught her eye. Pretty good, she thought. But not quite right.

A hairy werewolf mask with white, pointy fangs was hung beside it. Again, too ordinary, Carly Beth decided.

Her eyes glanced over a green Frankenstein mask, a Freddy Krueger mask that came with Freddy’s hand—complete with long, silvery blades for fingers—and an E.T. mask.

Just not scary enough, Carly Beth thought, starting to feel a little desperate. I need something that will really make Steve and Chuck die of fright!

“Young lady, I am afraid I must ask you to make your choice,” the man in the cape said softly. He had moved behind the narrow counter at the front and was turning a key in the cash register. “We really are closed, after all.”

“I’m sorry,” Carly Beth started. “It’s just that—”

The phone rang before she could finish explaining.

The man picked it up quickly and began talking in a low voice, turning his back to Carly Beth.

She wandered toward the back of the store, studying the masks as she walked. She passed a black cat mask with long, ugly yellow fangs. A vampire mask with bright red blood trickling down its lips was hung next to a grinning, bald mask of Uncle Fester from The Addams Family.

Not right, not right, not right, Carly Beth thought, frowning.

She hesitated when she spotted a narrow door slightly opened at the back of the store. Was there another room? Were there more masks back there?

She glanced to the front. The man, hidden behind his cape, still had his back to her as he talked on the phone.

Carly Beth gave the door a hesitant push to peek inside. The door creaked open. Pale orange light washed over the small, shadowy back room.

Carly Beth stepped inside—and gasped in amazement.