ماسک روح زده فصل 14

The Haunted Mask - Chapter 14

Carly Beth peered over the top of the shrub. The two boys were halfway up the drive.

It was too dark to get a good look at their costumes. One of them wore a long overcoat and a wide-brimmed, Indiana Jones fedora. She couldn’t really see the other one.

Carly Beth took a deep breath and prepared to leap out at them. She gripped the broomstick tightly.

My whole body is trembling, she realized. The mask suddenly felt hot, as if her excitement had heated it up. Her breath rattled noisily in the flat nose.

Walking slowly, playfully blocking each other with their shoulders like football linemen, the boys made their way up the driveway. One of them said something Carly Beth couldn’t hear. The other one laughed loudly, a high-pitched giggle.

Peering into the darkness, Carly Beth watched them until they were nearly right in front of the shrub.

Okay—now! she declared silently.

Raising the broomstick with its staring head on the top, she leapt out.

The boys shrieked, startled.

She could see their dark eyes go wide as they gaped at her mask.

A ferocious roar escaped her throat. A deep, rumbling howl that frightened even her.

At the terrifying sound, both boys cried out again. One of them actually dropped to his knees on the driveway.

They both stared up at the head, bobbing on the broomstick. It seemed to glare down at them.

Another howl escaped Carly Beth’s throat. It started low, as if coming from far away, and then pierced the air, raspy and deep, like the roar of an angry creature.

“Noooo!” one of the boys cried.

“Who are you?” the other cried. “Leave us alone!”

Carly Beth heard rapid footsteps crunching over the dead leaves on the driveway. Looking up, she saw a woman in a bulky down coat running up the drive.

“Hey—what are you doing?” the woman demanded, her voice shrill and angry. “Are you scaring my kids?”

“Huh?” Carly Beth swallowed hard. She turned her eyes back to the two frightened boys.

“Wait!” she cried, realizing they weren’t Chuck and Steve.

“What are you doing?” the woman repeated breathlessly. She stepped up to the two boys and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah. We’re okay, Mom,” the one in the overcoat and fedora replied.

The other boy wore white makeup and a red clown nose. “She—she jumped out at us,” he told his mother, avoiding Carly Beth’s stare. “She kind of scared us.”

The woman turned angrily to Carly Beth and shook her finger at her accusingly. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to scare two young boys? Why don’t you pick on someone your own age?”

Normally Carly Beth would have apologized. She would have explained to the woman that she made a mistake, that she meant to scare two different boys.

But hidden behind the ugly mask, still hearing the strange howl that had burst so unexpectedly from her throat, she didn’t feel like apologizing.

She felt… anger. And she wasn’t sure why.

“Go away!” she rasped, waving the broomstick menacingly. The head—her head—stared down at the two startled boys.

“What did you say?” their mother demanded, her voice tight with growing outrage. “What did you say?”

“I said go away!” Carly Beth snarled in a voice so deep, so terrifying, that it frightened even her.

The woman crossed her arms in front of the heavy, down coat. Her eyes narrowed on Carly Beth. “Who are you? What is your name?” she demanded. “Do you live around here?”

“Mom—let’s just go,” the boy with the clown face urged, tugging at her coat sleeve.

“Yeah. Come on,” his brother pleaded.

“Go away. I’m WARNING you!” Carly Beth growled.

The woman stood her ground, her arms tightly crossed, her eyes narrowed at Carly Beth. “Just because it’s Halloween doesn’t give you the right—”

“Mom, we want to get some candy!” the clown pleaded, tugging his mother’s sleeve harder. “Come on!”

“We’re wasting the whole night!” his brother complained.

Carly Beth was breathing hard, her breath escaping the mask in low, noisy grunts. I sound like an animal, she thought, puzzled. What is happening to me?

She could feel her anger growing. Her breathing rattled noisily in the tight mask. Her face felt burning hot.

Her anger raged through her chest. Her entire body was trembling. She felt about to burst.

I’m going to tear this woman apart! Carly Beth decided.