Read Online The Haunted Mask II by R. L. Stine - Free Book Online Page B

me!” I cried weakly. “I—”
    “Are you the man who tried to call me earlier?” she demanded coldly.
    “Well… yes,” I croaked. “You see, I need—”
    “Well, leave me alone!” Carly Beth screamed. “Why are you following me? Leave
me alone, or I’ll get my father!”
    “But—but—but—” I sputtered helplessly.
    The two girls spun away and began jogging to the house.
    Leaving me standing there in the driveway.
    Leaving me all alone.
    Leaving me doomed.

 
 
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    I let out a bitter wail. “Carly Beth—it’s me! It’s me! Steve!” I cried.
“Steve Boswell!”
    Did she hear me?
    Yes.
    She and Sabrina had stepped onto the stone walk that led to the front porch.
In the square of yellow light from the porch, I saw them both turn around.
    “It’s Steve! It’s Steve!” I repeated, my throat aching from my desperate
cries.
    Slowly, cautiously, both girls made their way back to me.
    “Steve?” Carly Beth stared hard at me, her mouth falling open.
    “Is that a mask?” Sabrina demanded, keeping close to Carly Beth.
    “Yes, it’s a mask,” I croaked.
    “Yuck. It’s disgusting!” Sabrina declared. She pulled off her silver mask to
see better. “Are those spiders? Yuck!”
    “I need help,” I confessed. “This mask—”
    “You went to the party store!” Carly Beth cried. The duck mask fell to the
ground. She raised both hands to the sides of her face. “Oh, no! No! Steve, I
warned you!”
    “Yes. That’s where I got it,” I said, pointing to my hideous face. “I didn’t
listen to you. I didn’t know.”
    “Steve, I told you not to go there,” Carly Beth said, her expression still
tight with horror. Hands still pressed against her cheeks.
    “Now the mask won’t come off,” I wailed. “It’s stuck to me. It’s part of me.
And it’s—it’s turning me into an old, old man. A feeble old man.”
    Carly Beth shook her head sadly. She stared at my ugly face, but didn’t say a
word.
    “You’ve got to help me,” I pleaded. “You’ve got to help me get this mask
off.”
    Carly Beth let out a frightened sigh. “Steve—I don’t think I can.”

 
 
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    I grabbed her duck feathers and held on. “You’ve got to help me, Carly Beth,”
I begged. “Why won’t you help me?”
    “I want to help you,” she explained. “But I’m not sure I can.”
    “But you had a mask from the same store last Halloween,” I protested. “You
pulled the mask off. You escaped from it—right?”
    “It can’t be pulled off,” Carly Beth said. “There’s no way to pull it off.”
    Over her shoulder, I saw three kids in costumes at the next house. A woman
appeared in the doorway. I saw her dropping candy bars into the three
trick-or-treat bags.
    Some kids are having fun tonight, I thought bitterly.
    I am not having fun tonight.
    I may never have fun again.
    “Come into the house,” Carly Beth suggested. “It’s cold out here. I’ll try to
explain.”
    I tried to follow them up the driveway. But my legs wobbled like rubber.
Carly Beth and Sabrina practically had to carry me into her house. They dropped
me down on the green leather couch in the living room.
    On a table across the room, a carved jack-o’-lantern grinned at me. The
pumpkin had more teeth than I did!
    Carly Beth dropped down on the couch arm. Sabrina sat on the edge of the
armchair beside it. She leaned over and sifted through her trick-or-treat bag.
How could she think of candy at a time like this?
    I turned to Carly Beth. “How do I get the mask off?” I croaked.
    Carly Beth chewed her bottom lip. She raised her eyes to me, her expression
grim. “It isn’t a mask,” she said softly.
    “Excuse me?” I cried.
    “It isn’t a mask,” she explained. “It’s a real face. A living face. Did you
meet the man in the black cape?”
    I nodded.
    “He’s some kind of weird scientist, I think. He made the faces. In his lab.”
    “He—he made them?” I stammered.
    Carly Beth nodded solemnly.