Read Online The Haunted Igloo by Bonnie Turner - Free Book Online

Suppose
I just drop down and down and ... all the way through the earth ...
to the South Pole !
    At that moment, something
touched his foot. He drew it up sharply. Then came a whine. Of
course, it was Sasha, following him into the tunnel. He could feel
the walls of the tunnel. There wasn’t enough room to turn around.
If something came out of the igloo after him, he would have to back
out. There was no way both Jean-Paul and Sasha could back out fast
enough before something grabbed them.
    Then, the tunnel walls fell
away. Jean-Paul’s heart thumped hard as he realized he was inside
the big, round room. He knew there should be a smoke hole in the
top of the igloo, but it probably hadn’t been used in a long time.
Maybe it was even frozen shut. He felt a cold nose on his cheek.
His heart hammered at his chest. He walked his hands across the
snow-packed floor, feeling his way inch by inch. “I guess we’re in
here, Sasha!” His voice sounded hollow as it bounced off the
igloo’s wall.
    Someone called from
outside, but he could not tell who. “You in there, Jean-Paul? See
any spirits yet? How about wolves?”
    Muffled laughter seeped
through the thick wall. Jean-Paul grabbed for Sasha and clung to
her neck. “I wish I was home. Oh, Sasha, I wish I was back home!
Why did I listen to them?”
    A soft scuffling sound came
from behind. Jean-Paul turned his head to hear—to see . But there was nothing
to see. There was only the complete blackness. He hugged Sasha
tightly and buried his face in her furry neck. “Listen,” he
whispered. “ Something’s here ...
something’s in here .”
    The sounds went on for a
few more minutes, like something slithering across the ground. Then
they stopped. A voice called again from outside. This time
Jean-Paul could barely hear it. Faint laughter sent chills down his
back. It had sounded like: “ Have fun,
Jean-Paul !” A very faraway voice.
“ When your two hours are up, you can come
out .” Maybe the words were in his own
mind—he couldn’t really tell. It was the darkness, of course.
Darkness always did strange things to Jean-Paul’s mind.
    A thick, spooky silence
came. Jean-Paul was determined to stay the full two hours. But how
would he know when the time was up? He turned loose of Sasha’s
neck. “Might as well explore,” he whispered, as if someone were
listening.
    He crept forward a little
more, felt something soft and squishy beneath his mittened hands.
He jumped. Turning away from whatever it was, he crawled in the
other direction. Then he stood up, feeling his way with his hands
in front of him. The igloo was larger than it had seemed from
outside. There was no wall to be felt, so he knew he must be in the
center. A sliver of cold air streamed down from the top of the
igloo. The smoke hole was open. If only I
had brought something to build a fire. How will I keep warm for two
hours ?
    Jean-Paul knew igloos were
built to keep out the cold—snow contains many air pockets for
insulation. And several persons inside an igloo, with a small fire,
threw off enough heat to warm the air. Jean-Paul was warmly dressed
and would probably be all right until Chinook and the other two
returned. But now he stood silently, wondering what to do. It was
the darkness he hated. The inside of the igloo was absolutely the
blackest black Jean-Paul had ever seen, even darker than his own
bedroom on the darkest night. There was almost always some sort of
light reflecting from somewhere—the snow, the stars, or the moon.
Even so, he had always wanted a lamp burning. He thought of his
warm bed, wishing he were in it, safe inside his sleeping bag. Only
his parents knew how deathly afraid he was of the dark.
    Suddenly, Jean-Paul wanted
more than anything to go home. “ I’m coming
out now !” he shouted. His voice boomed back
to him. Sasha whimpered. “ Do you guys hear
me ? I’m not staying
in here ! You know
what you can do with your old club !”
    Tears rolled down
Jean-Paul’s cheeks