ماسک روح زده فصل 16

The Haunted Mask - Chapter 16

Sabrina uttered a shocked cry and staggered back, pulling herself from Carly Beth’s grip. “C-Carly Beth!” she sputtered.

What is happening to me? Carly Beth wondered, gaping in horror at her friend. Why did I do that?

“Uh… gotcha!” Carly Beth exclaimed. She laughed. “You should have seen the look on your face, Sabrina. Did you think I was really choking you?”

Sabrina rubbed her neck with one silver-gloved hand. She frowned at her friend. “That was a joke? You scared me to death!”

Carly Beth laughed again. “Just keeping in character,” she said lightly, pointing to her mask. “You know. Trying to get in the right mood. Ha-ha. I like scaring people. You know. Usually I’m the one who’s trembling in fright.”

She picked up the bag and broomstick, fixing the plaster of Paris head on the top. Then she hurried up the nearest driveway toward a well-lighted house with a HAPPY HALLOWEEN banner in the front window.

Does Sabrina believe it was just a joke? Carly Beth asked herself as she raised her shopping bag and rang the doorbell. What on earth was I doing?

Why did I suddenly get so angry? Why did I attack my best friend like that?

Sabrina stepped up beside her as the front door was pulled open. Two little blonde kids, a boy and a girl, appeared in the doorway. Their mother stepped up behind them.

“Trick or Treat!” Carly Beth and Sabrina called out in unison.

“Ooh, that’s a scary mask!” the woman said to her two children, grinning at Carly Beth.

“What are you supposed to be? A cat?” the little boy asked Sabrina.

Sabrina meowed at him. “I’m Cat Woman,” she told him.

“I don’t like the other one!” the little girl exclaimed to her mother. “It’s too scary.”

“It’s just a funny mask,” the mother assured her daughter.

“Too scary. It’s scaring me!” the little girl insisted.

Carly Beth leaned into the entryway of the house, bringing her grotesque face up close to the little girl. “I’ll eat you up!” she growled nastily.

The little girl screamed and disappeared into the house. Her brother stared wide-eyed at Carly Beth. The mother quickly dropped candy bars into the girls’ bags. “You shouldn’t have scared her,” she said softly. “She has nightmares.”

Instead of apologizing, Carly Beth turned to the little boy. “I’ll eat you up too!” she snarled.

“Hey—stop!” the woman protested.

Carly Beth laughed a deep-throated laugh, jumped off the porch, and took off across the front lawn.

“Why’d you do that?” Sabrina asked as they made their way across the street. “Why’d you scare those kids like that?”

“The mask made me do it,” Carly Beth replied. She meant it as a joke. But the thought troubled her mind.

At the next few houses, Carly Beth hung back and let Sabrina do the talking. At one house, a middle-aged man in a torn blue sweater pretended to be scared of Carly Beth’s mask. His wife insisted that the girls come inside so that they could show their elderly mother the great costumes.

Carly Beth groaned loudly, but followed Sabrina into the house. The old woman gazed at them blankly from her wheelchair. Carly Beth growled at her, but it didn’t appear to make any impression.

On their way out the door, the man in the torn sweater handed each girl a green apple. Carly Beth waited till they were down on the sidewalk. Then she turned, pulled back her arm, and heaved the apple at the man’s house with all her might.

It made a loud thunk as it smacked against the shingled front wall near the front door.

“I really hate getting apples on Halloween!” Carly Beth declared. “Especially green ones!”

“Carly Beth—I’m worried about you!” Sabrina cried, eyeing her friend with concern. “You’re not acting like you at all.”

No. I’m not a pitiful, frightened little mouse tonight, Carly Beth thought bitterly.

“Give me that,” she ordered Sabrina, and grabbed Sabrina’s apple from her bag.

“Hey—stop!” Sabrina protested.

But Carly Beth arched her arm and tossed Sabrina’s apple at the house. It clanged noisily as it hit the aluminum gutter.

The man in the torn sweater poked his head out the door. “Hey—what’s the big idea?”

“Run!” Carly Beth screamed.

The two girls took off, running at full speed down the block. They didn’t stop until the house was out of sight.

Sabrina grabbed Carly Beth’s shoulders and held on, struggling to catch her breath. “You’re crazy!” she gasped. “You’re really crazy!”

“It takes one to know one,” Carly Beth said playfully.

They both laughed.

Carly Beth searched the block, looking for Chuck and Steve. She saw a small group of costumed kids huddled together at the corner. But no sign of the two boys.

Smaller houses, jammed closer together, lined the two sides of this block. “Let’s split up,” Carly Beth suggested, leaning against the broomstick. “We’ll get more candy that way.”

Sabrina frowned at her friend, eyeing her suspiciously. “Carly Beth, you don’t even like candy!” she exclaimed.

But Carly Beth was already running up the driveway to the first house, her sculpted head bobbing wildly above her on its broomstick.

This is my night, Carly Beth thought, accepting a candy bar from the smiling woman who answered the door. My night!

She felt a tingle of excitement she’d never felt before. And a strange feeling she couldn’t describe. A hunger…

A few minutes later, her shopping bag starting to feel heavy, she came to the end of the block. She hesitated on the corner, trying to decide whether to do the other side of the street or go on to the next block.

It was very dark there, she realized. The moon had once again disappeared behind dark clouds. The corner streetlight was out, probably burned out.

Across the street, four very young trick or treaters were giggling as they approached a house with a jack-o’-lantern on the porch.

Carly Beth sank back into the darkness. She heard voices, boys’ voices.

Chuck and Steve?

No. The voices were unfamiliar. They were arguing about where to trick-or-treat next. One of them wanted to go home and call a friend.

How about a little scare for you guys? Carly Beth thought, a smile spreading across her face. How about something to remember this Halloween night?

She waited, listening, until they were a few feet away. She could see them now. Two mummies, their faces wrapped in gauze.

Closer, closer. She waited for the perfect moment.

Then she burst from the shadows, uttering an angry animal howl that shattered the air.

The two boys gasped and jumped back.

“Hey—!” One of them tried to shout, but his voice caught in his throat.

The other one dropped his bag of candy.

As he started to pick it up, Carly Beth moved quickly. She grabbed the bag from his hand, jerked it away from him, and started to run.

“Come back!”

“That’s mine!”

“Hey—”

Their voices were high and shrill, filled with fear and surprise. As she ran across the street, Carly Beth glanced back to see if they were following her.

No. They were too frightened. They stood huddled together on the corner, shouting after her.

Holding the stolen candy bag tightly in her free hand, Carly Beth tossed back her head and laughed. A cruel laugh, a triumphant laugh. A laugh she had never heard before.

She emptied the boy’s candy into her own bag, then tossed his bag onto the ground.

She felt good, really good. Really strong. And ready for more fun.

Come on, Chuck and Steve, she thought. It’s YOUR turn next!