by R. L. Stine
Silence. No crunching. No slithering.
A direct hit. Great!
I stood and leaned carefully out the window. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. After all, I had just saved my family from a deadly —
— garden hose!
I let out a disappointed sigh and shook my head. Get a grip, Cooper.
If Gary and Todd were here, they would never let me hear the end of this. They’d be laughing their heads off.
“Nice going, Coop!” Gary would say. “Saved your family from a poisonous garden hose!”
“Yeah. Super Cooper strikes again!” Todd would say. Back in bed again, I fluffed up my pillows one more time. Then I closed my eyes as tightly as I could.
That’s it, I said to myself. I am not getting up again. I don’t care what I hear next.
I will not get up from this bed again. No matter what.
And then I heard another noise. A different kind of noise. A sound that made my heart pound right through my chest.
Breathing.
Deep, heavy breathing.
In my room.
Under my bed!
R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.
Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.
Copyright © 1994 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, GOOSEBUMPS, GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, November 1994
e-ISBN 978-0-545-91041-5
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