The Curse of the Creeping Coffin

by RL Stine

  But she pulls the pillow over her face. This isn’t going to be easy. She’s one sleepy ghost.

  Then you have an idea. You flick on the light again. Elvira sits straight up and lets out a piercing wail.

  “Elvira,” you say, “I’ll turn off the light if you’ll answer one teeny question. Then you can sleep as long as you want. I promise.”

  Her eyes begin to glow green again. But she looks very sleepy. Maybe she’ll be too tired to hurt you.

  “Who’s the most powerful ghost in the graveyard?” you blurt out.

  Elvira blinks a bit. “Hmmm,” she says. “I’d say Melvin Estep’s boy. He does tend to rule us with an iron hand.”

  “The Estep boy?” you mutter. “But there are two of them. Melvin II, and Brandon. Which one?”

  But Elvira doesn’t answer. She’s fast asleep.

  And you promised you wouldn’t wake her up again!

  You always keep a promise. Hurry to PAGE 43.

  A ghost-hunter. That is exactly what you need!

  But how are you going to find this MacFarling guy?

  You dash out of your room and run downstairs as fast as you can. You rush back into the kitchen.

  “Grandma,” you gasp, almost out of breath. “Do you know someone named MacFarling?”

  “Oh, don’t go talking to me about Mac MacFarling,” she says. “That loon. He came around here last month. Told me he thought my house would be haunted soon. Said something about a curse, too. Can you imagine that? I don’t want you going anywhere near that man.”

  Uh, let’s face it. Granny’s not going to be much help.

  So you race to the computer. On a hunch, you search for “Ghost Exterminators.”

  Bingo! There he is.”

  Mac MacFarling. Ghost-hunter. There may be hope after all.

  As long as you can get out of the house before Elvira finds out what you’re doing!

  Shhhh. Tiptoe out the door on PAGE 33.

  “Aaaahhhh!” you scream as you feel yourself being pulled into the ground.

  You can’t believe it, but it’s true. Somehow, magically, you are being pulled underground, as if your own body were made of filmy air, like the ghost’s.

  It hurts. In fact, your whole body aches as it is dragged right into the ground. But only for an instant. Then you feel nothing.

  You close your eyes. When you open them, you’re lying in a coffin — on top of a pile of old rotted clothes and bones!

  Your heart starts pounding wildly. You want to scream, but you don’t dare. You can already sense that the coffin has very little air.

  And you don’t dare use it up. Not when you know that you’re in an old coffin … six feet underground … with no way out.

  You’re buried alive!

  Go on to PAGE 40.

  “Uh, I’m g-going out-outside,” you stutter.

  “That’s nice,” your grandmother says, returning to her baking. “And when you come back in, I hope you’ll stop being so silly.”

  She still doesn’t notice the ghost in the doorway.

  You back up toward the door to the porch. You keep your eye on the ghost the whole time. And she keeps her glowing eyes on you. As soon as your hand reaches the doorknob behind you, you turn, fling open the door, and bolt.

  But just as you start down the back porch steps, two hands grab your ankle.

  “Aaaahhhh!” you cry as you trip. You sprawl headfirst down the stairs.

  Land on PAGE 39.

  It’s pitch-black in the house. But you’re okay. You’re not totally freaked out by the dark. Not yet, anyway.

  “I mean it!” Lark yells. “You two are going to get it if you don’t turn those lights back on. And I mean now!”

  You and Robin stand frozen in the kitchen. But before you can even move toward the circuit breaker box, the lights pop back on.

  “Whoa! Oh, man!” you hear Lark and his friends yelling.

  You hurry to the family room. That’s where Lark and his buddies were watching a movie on TV. You peek in the door.

  What a sight! Popcorn all over the floor. Drinks spilled on the rug. Couch cushions tossed all over the room.

  Lark spots you in the doorway. He glares at you and Robin — then lunges toward you. His hands reach straight for your throat.

  You’d better run — quick! — to PAGE 6.

  “Help!” you cry. “Let me out!”

  You turn to see if there’s another way out of the basement. Gross! Those disgusting crickets are hopping everywhere. There must be hundreds of them! The chirping is enough to make you crazy.

  They hop from the window sills. They jump up and down the stairs. They pounce from the sink to the floor. From the floor to a chair. Jump! Jump! Jump!

  Ack! One lands on your head!

  “Yuck!” you scream. You swipe at your head. “Get off me!” More greenish-brown crickets hop around your feet.

  You bang on the basement door. “Let me out of here!”

  “Heh, heh,” you hear John snickering on the other side.

  What a creep, you think.

  Then it dawns on you.

  “Hey, John,” you call through the door. “What’s your last name?”

  “Luckmeyer,” the ghost answers.

  Figures! Mac MacFarling was right.

  “Uh-oh,” John Luckmeyer mumbles on the other side of the basement door. “Here comes trouble!”

  What now? You have enough trouble already — in the form of a teenage ghoul.

  Go to PAGE 68.

  You try to grab at her sword. But you get a handful of nothing. The sword has no substance. It isn’t solid. It’s just air!

  The woman laughs. How can she do that without a head? “My sword is nothing without me,” she says mysteriously. “And I am nothing without my head. If you want the sword, you must find my head.”

  You heard the woman.

  Well, what are you waiting for?

  Go find her head.

  Now!

  Turn to PAGE 62.

  The ghost floats toward you and sneers in your face.

  “Do I take it that you’re finally ready to make a deal?” the ghost asks.

  Robin stares, openmouthed at the ghost. This is the first time he’s actually seen the ghost in the flesh. Or rather, almost flesh.

  For a moment, Robin can’t speak. He just watches the airy creature floating around under the streetlamp light. Then Robin starts to smile. “Cool!” Robin says. “Totally cool!”

  “You want my services,” the ghost goes on, “to scare those guys. And in exchange, I want your promise. You must agree to do anything I ask of you tomorrow.”

  “Deal!” Robin says.

  “Uh, I don’t know,” you reply. “What if he asks us to do something wrong? Something illegal or something?”

  Robin shakes his head and leans over to you. “Then we just won’t do it,” he whispers. “Come on. Don’t you want to get back at Lark?”

  Well? Don’t you?

  If you make the deal with the ghost, turn to PAGE 81.

  If you still refuse, turn to PAGE 63.

  Good work! You added right. The numbers in the date of Sarah Grayson’s death add up to 23.

  But there’s just one problem. A big one. You’ve got the wrong Sarah!

  Figure it out. Sarah Grayson was born in 1820. She died in 1895. That made her seventy-five years old when she died.

  But the ghost you saw — the fencing woman — was young. Remember? Long black hair. Ruby lips.

  Not an old lady. A young one.

  Which means, the Most Powerful Ghost has you in his powerful iron grip. And you’ve got no magical number to get out of it!

  Uh-oh.

  Okay. You’ll get a break this time.

  Go back to the graveyard and pick again. Choose the younger Sarah this time. Add up the digits in the year of her death. Then turn to that page.

  Revisit the graveyard on PAGE 96.

  The Civil War soldier raises his huge sword. You q
uickly roll out of the way. The sword plunges into the ground. You scramble to your feet and run as the soldier wrestles the blade out of the dirt.

  Where can you go? What can you do? Your heart pounds as you race down the road toward town. Maybe you can get help. Maybe the police will drive by. Maybe someone besides you will see this Civil War soldier and do something to save you!

  Maybe not.

  You see two choices up ahead. There’s a small bridge that crosses a narrow river. If you run to the bridge, maybe you can hide under it.

  You also see a small red barn across the street. It’s behind the farmhouse across from your grandmother’s house.

  Another good hiding place.

  Which is it? The bridge or the barn?

  If you run to the bridge, turn to PAGE 32.

  If you hide in the barn, turn to PAGE 55.

  “Why are you here?” you ask the ghost.

  But your grandmother thinks you are talking to her.

  “You know why I’m here,” your grandmother answers. “I live here. Don’t be such a goose!”

  For some reason, your grandmother can’t see Elvira.

  You’ve always wanted to have a special skill. But ghost-spotting wasn’t what you had in mind!

  You try to think of a way to ask Elvira a question without having your grandmother think you’re completely crazy. But you can’t. So you keep staring at the ghost.

  She glares at you a moment, then motions for you to follow her. You watch as she floats into the hall and up the stairs toward your room.

  Follow a ghost? you think. Are you nuts?

  Just the idea gives you a chill.

  If you follow the ghost, turn to PAGE 49.

  If you race out of this house fast — and GO HOME! — turn to PAGE 30.

  You’re going to trust a ghost? No way! Who knows what he’s got up his ruffled sleeve? If this ghost doesn’t want you to see what’s in the closet, you bet it’s something that can help you un-haunt your grandmother’s house.

  You peer into the dark closet. You don’t see anything.

  You glance back at the ghost. He seems nervous. Good.

  So you walk right into the closet.

  AAAAAAhhhhhh!!!!!

  There is nothing under your feet but air! You desperately try to grab hold of something — anything! — but it’s no use. You’re falling down, down, down into the darkness.

  See, your grandmother has turned this closet into a clothes chute. She opens the door and tosses her dirty laundry in. The clothes fall straight down to the basement. That’s where the washer is.

  And it’s two-story drop.

  Get the picture?

  Now — how would you like to be washed? Hot water or cold? With or without bleach? Because it’s time to clean up your act, kid. You’re all washed up in the ghost-hunting business!

  THE END

  You plunge your sword into Melvin Estep II’s grave.

  The moment the foil pierces the ground, Melvin Estep II rises up out of the earth.

  Oooooohh … really bad choice!

  He’s not the MPG — he’s the MHG! The Most Horrible Ghost!

  As the stinking mist that surrounds him begins to clear, you can see he has no face. There is just a skull — filled with rats! The squealing rodents pop out of his eye sockets. They run up and down his cheek bones, and in through his grinning mouth.

  He rises up, up, up, towering over you. He’s huge! You sink to your knees in terror. “N-n-nooooo,” you whimper.

  He is covered in shredded rags, teeming with bugs. Strips of rotting flesh fall from his skeletal body. He lifts his horrible skull head to the sky and lets out an unearthly moan. Then he fixes his rat-filled eye sockets on you!

  And then … and then … his bloody hands reach for your throat!

  Face it. What happens next is too gross, even for you!

  You’d better close the book for now, and open it again when you think you can survive all the way to

  THE END.

  You decide to play it safe — by asking Elvira for help.

  You turn and race into the house. Your grandmother is watching TV in the den. You dash past her. She doesn’t even look up from her program. The eerie light from the television is the only light in the whole house.

  You hurry up the back stairs to your room. You’ve got to find the MPG. And there’s only one person — or ghost — who might be able to help you.

  You flip on a light in your small guest bedroom.

  A piercing shriek shatters the night!

  Now what? Cover your ears and turn to PAGE 15.

  As soon as Digger hears that the ghost may be nearby, he panics.

  He grabs a rope that’s tied around a big tree limb, runs to the edge of the platform, and jumps. He swings down to the ground in a speedy escape.

  Then he runs into his house and locks the door.

  Locks the door? Against a ghost?

  How silly.

  You’d laugh — if you weren’t still all sticky from the egg-yuck he poured on you.

  Oh, well. Like most bullies, Digger turned out to be a coward.

  So much for asking your worst enemy for help.

  Stick to your best friend from now on.

  Your best friend is waiting for you on PAGE 73.

  You decide to get out of your grandmother’s house. On the double.

  “Uh, Grandma,” you say. “I don’t feel well. In fact, I think I’m getting really sick. I think I should go home.”

  “But dear,” your grandmother says. “You can’t go home. Not with your parents away on vacation.”

  Well, it was worth a shot.

  You swallow hard and glance over to where the ghost was standing. She’s gone.

  Maybe you were imagining things. Maybe the gravestones aren’t moving. Maybe you really are sick!

  The best thing to do is go up to your room and lie down. You climb the stairs to the second floor. But as you reach the door to your room, you freeze.

  There in the doorway is a terrifying sight!

  Hurry to PAGE 42.

  Your throat tightens in terror. Your heart pounds wildly. Both you and your grandmother are cursed, now!

  Your granny can’t even see the ghosts! She won’t be able to save herself. It’s all up to you.

  You grip the sword so hard your hand cramps. You’ve got to stop the coffins from moving again. And you’ve got to do it now, before the final coffin moves into place and the curse is complete!

  But who is the Most Powerful Ghost?

  “One more letter,” you mutter. Only one more letter is needed to spell out the message. The last letter in the word DIE — the letter E.

  Then it hits you. The Most Powerful Ghost must be someone whose last name starts with an E!

  That’s it! You may live after all! You run through the graveyard, looking at the tombstones, searching for E’s.

  You find three. Melvin Estep. Melvin Estep II. And Brandon Estep.

  But which one is the MPG?

  You could guess. Or you could go in the house and ask Elvira for help.

  If you guess — take a stab at it on PAGE 48.

  If you ask Elvira for help, turn to PAGE 28.

  The bridge looks good to you. You can slip down the bank to the river and hide under it. You might be able to sneak around and change directions. Maybe you’ll lose the soldier after all.

  But before you even reach the riverbank, you feel a heavy hand on your shoulder.

  “Halt, traitor!” the soldier cries.

  “No!” you scream, twisting away. You stumble a bit and lurch forward, out of his grasp. You keep running.

  Finally you reach the bridge. But the soldier is right behind you. He swings his sword wildly at you — as if to cut off your head!

  “No!” you cry again, jumping backward.

  Uh-oh. Backward wasn’t a good idea. You’ve just leaped off the bridge!

  And it’s a long way down. Oooh. That hurt.

  You ha
ve a fifty-fifty chance of surviving that fall.

  Remember what page you’re on — PAGE 32. Then toss this book up in the air.

  If it lands with the front cover facing up, turn to PAGE 105.

  If it lands with the cover face down, turn to PAGE 69.

  Luckily, everything in your grandma’s small town is within biking distance. Twenty minutes later, you’ve biked over to Mac MacFarling’s office. Which happens to be located in his garage.

  You knock on the side door of the garage.

  “Come in!” a voice calls. You yank open the door.

  Wow! you think when you see him.

  Mac MacFarling has frizzy, kinky blond hair sticking out all over his head. He’s wearing six earrings, a nose ring, and a pair of heavy black-framed glasses with blue lenses in them. He’s about 20 years old.

  So that’s why your grandma didn’t like him.

  He’s cool!

  “What’s up?” MacFarling asks. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” He laughs. “Sorry. Just a little ghost-hunting humor.”

  You explain about Elvira, and that she told you the ghosts are going to take over your grandmother’s house.

  “I’ve been expecting this,” MacFarling says, shaking his head. “I tried to warn your grandmother.”

  “Can you help us?” you plead. His eyes are hidden behind the blue lenses. You can’t tell what he’s thinking.

  Will Mac MacFarling help you?

  Find out on PAGE 37.

  You run over to Melvin Estep’s grave and plunge your sword into the ground.

  And wait.

  Nothing happens.

  Does that mean you’ve actually done it? Did you put an end to the curse of the creeping coffins?

  You step back from the grave, leaving the sword standing straight up from the dirt. You take a deep breath. Could it really all be over?