Read Online The Secret Bedroom by R.L. Stine, Bill Schmidt - Free Book Online

familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
    â€œYes,” she replied breathlessly. “Who is this?”
    â€œThis is Don. Don Jacobs.” The voice sounded tinny, far away. Lea could hear a car honking in the background, traffic sounds.
    She started to talk, but no voice came out. Got to calm down, she told herself. Calm.
Calm.
She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hi, Don.”
    â€œListen, Lea—uh, would you like to come meet me? I’m at the mall on Division Street.”
    â€œMeet you?” If only she could clear the roar from her ears. Did he say he wanted her to meet him?
    Calm.
Calm.
    â€œYeah. Can you?” Don asked. “I really would like to make it up to you. You know, for breaking that date last Saturday and everything.”
    Don’t do it, a voice told her.

    But Lea had to get out of the house, away from the roar, away from the noises and the room in the attic.
    â€œSure. I’ll meet you,” she said gratefully.
    Yes! I’m getting
out
of here! Away from this creepy old house!
    Again she saw the spikes, felt the imagined pain of them shooting into her body. Just a few minutes before.
    â€œWhere are you?” she asked eagerly, reaching up to push her hair into place, to straighten her bangs.
    â€œWhat? I’m at a pay phone. It’s very noisy here,” he said, over a honking car horn.
    â€œWhere shall I meet you?” she asked, shouting into her phone.
    â€œHow about at Pete’s Pizza? Do you know where it is?”
    â€œI’m not sure. But I’ll find it.”
    â€œGreat, Lea. Great. Hurry, okay? Maybe we can still catch a movie. It’s not too late.”
    â€œOkay. Bye, Don. I’m on my way.”
    Lea hung up and started to her closet, then back to the phone, then to the closet, then she finally stopped in the middle of her room.
    Is the room spinning, or am I? she wondered.
    She slid down onto the edge of her bed, breathing hard, and closed her eyes. She felt queasy. The roaring in her ears continued, just loud enough to be unsettling.
    I’ve got to get out of here, she thought.
    I can’t believe he called. What good timing!

    She jumped up, feeling quivery all over, still unable to shake away the fear.
    Somehow she managed to pull some clothes from the closet, a clean pair of tan corduroy slacks and a new yellow Benetton sweater. Somehow she managed to get dressed and find the car keys and pull on her down jacket and lock the front door and back the car down the drive, the little ten-year-old Honda Civic that had become mostly her car. And somehow she had driven through the dark, unfamiliar streets to the mall.
    It began to rain as she pulled into the nearly vacant parking lot. Most stores closed at nine. Several rows were still filled at one end of the lot—most likely they were near the movie theater, she figured.
    The windshield wipers scraped noisily, smearing the glass, making it even harder for Lea to see as the rain battered down, attacking the little car.
    What am I doing here? Lea thought.
    Going to meet Don, she answered.
    The thought cheered her. The sound of the rain made the roaring in her head finally disappear. She pulled into a spot at the end of the first row, cut the engine and the headlights, the wipers sliding noisily into place. Then holding her jacket over her head as a rain hood, she ran across the puddled asphalt to the nearest entrance.
    The glass door was locked. Keeping the coat above her head, Lea checked in both directions and saw the signs for the movie theater to her left. As she jogged in that direction, the wind blowing a spray of cold rain onto her face, her sneakers splashed into a deeppuddle. She felt cold water soak into the cuffs of her corduroy pants.
    I’m going to look great when I finally get there, she thought miserably.
    The rain let up a bit. The double-doored entrance beside the sixplex theater was open, and Lea eagerly stepped inside. She lowered