Read The Haunted Mask II for Free Online Page B

couldn’t get that creepy mask out of my mind.
    I’m not going to tell anyone about it, I decided. I’m going to scare
everyone I know.
    I’m not even going to tell Chuck. After all, he ran away and left me down in
that dark basement.
    Look out, Chuckie Boy! I told myself, grinning so hard some noodles slipped
out of my mouth. I’m going to get you too!

 
 
13
     
     
    I had soccer practice for my first graders after school the next day. It was
a sunny, cold October afternoon. The sunlight made the yellow and brown falling
leaves glitter like gold. Puffs of white cloud floated like soft cotton across
the blue sky.
    Everything looked beautiful to me. Because Halloween was only one day away.
    I was staring up at the clouds when Marnie Rosen drop-kicked the soccer ball
into my stomach.
    I grabbed my stomach and doubled over in pain. Duck Benton and two other kids
jumped on my back and drove me facedown into the mud.
    I didn’t care.
    In fact, I laughed.
    Because I knew that I had only one day to wait.
    I tried to show them how to pass. As I ran along the sidelines, Andrew Foster
stuck out his foot. I tripped and went sailing into the bike rack. A handlebar caught me under the chin as I fell, and I actually saw stars.
    But I didn’t care.
    I picked myself up with a grin on my face.
    Because I knew a secret. I knew an evil secret that the kids didn’t know. I
knew that trick-or-treat night was going to be a special treat for me!
    At four o’clock, I called an end to practice. I was too weak to blow the
whistle. My clothes were soaked with mud, I walked with a limp, and I had cuts
and bruises in twenty different places.
    A typical practice with the Horrible Hogs.
    But did I care?
    You know the answer.
    I gathered them in a circle around me. They were shoving each other, and
pulling hair, and calling each other horrible names. I told you—they’re total
animals.
    I raised my hands to quiet them down. “Let’s have a special Hogs’ Halloween
party tomorrow,” I suggested.
    “YAAAY!” they cheered.
    “We’ll meet in our costumes after practice,” I continued. “The whole team.
And we’ll all go trick-or-treating together. I’ll take you.”
    “YAAY!” they cheered again.
    “So tell your parents to drop you off,” I told them. “This is going to be our
special party. We’ll meet in front of the old Carpenter mansion.”
    Silence. This time they didn’t cheer.
    “Why do we have to meet there?” Andrew asked.
    “Isn’t that old house supposed to be haunted?” Marnie asked softly.
    “That place is too creepy,” Duck added.
    I narrowed my eyes at them, challenging them. “You guys aren’t scared —are you?” I demanded.
    Silence. They exchanged nervous glances.
    “Well? Are you all too wimpy to meet me there?” I asked.
    “No way!” Marnie insisted.
    “No way! We’re not scared of a stupid old house!”
    They all began to tell me how brave they were. They all said they would meet
me there.
    “I saw a ghost once,” Johnny Myers bragged. “Behind my garage. I shouted
‘Boo!’ and it floated away.”
    These kids are animals, but they have great imaginations.
    The other kids all started teasing Johnny. He stuck to his story. He insisted
he saw a ghost. So they pushed him to the ground and got his jacket all muddy.
    “Hey, Steve—what are you going to be for Halloween?” Marnie asked.
    “Yeah. What’s your costume?” Andrew demanded.
    “He’s going to be a pile of toxic waste!” someone joked.
    “No. He’s going to be a ballerina!” someone else declared.
    They all hooted and jeered.
    Go ahead and laugh, guys, I thought. Have a good laugh now. Because when you
see me on Halloween, I’ll be the only one laughing.
    “Uh… I’m going to be a hobo,” I told them. “You’ll recognize me. I’ll be
wearing a tattered old suit. And my face will be all dirty. I’ll be dressed like
a bum.”
    “You are a bum!” one of my loyal team members shouted.
    More wild laughing