by R. L. Stine
THWACK! Something stung me on the back of the neck.
I whirled around. Greg grinned at me. He held a straw in one hand.
“What happens if you shoot a paper wad at the geek? How does he respond?”
“I bet he cries like a baby,” Pam said.
I shrugged and went back to my cereal. “You can’t bother me,” I said. “I’m too happy.”
Pam and Greg exchanged glances. Pam twirled one finger at the side of her head. It was the international signal for “He’s nuts.”
“Something has happened to the geek,” Greg announced.
“Yeah,” Pam agreed. “The geek has changed.”
School was so much fun that day. It was great to be in seventh grade again. So much easier than high school.
We played soccer in gym. I even scored a goal.
But on my way to my last class, I saw something that made my heart stop.
A girl walking down the hall. About my age. Long, thick blond hair in a ponytail.
Oh, no.
Lacie!
I froze. What should I do?
Were the Reality Police still after me? I had fixed everything! They didn’t need to put me to sleep anymore!
I’ve got to get out of here, I decided. I got ready to run.
Then the girl turned around. She grinned at me.
It wasn’t Lacie. Just some girl with long blond hair.
I took a deep breath. I need to relax, I thought.
It’s over now. It was all a bad dream. Sort of.
The girl walked away. I went to my last class. No sign of Lacie, Bruce, or Wayne anywhere.
I whistled all the way home, thinking about how easy my homework was going to be.
I walked into the house. “Hi, Matt!” Mom called.
“Mom?” I was surprised to see her. She was usually at work when I got home. “What are you doing home so early?”
She smiled at me. “I took the day off,” she explained. “I had a few things to do around the house.”
“Oh.” I shrugged and turned on the TV.
Mom switched it off. “Matt—aren’t you curious?”
“Curious? About what?”
“About what I’ve been doing all day?”
I glanced around the living room. Everything looked the same.
“I don’t know,” I said. “What have you been doing?”
She smiled again. She looked excited about something.
“Have you forgotten?” she said. “It’s your birthday this week!”
Actually, I had forgotten. So much weird stuff had been going on.
When you’re running for your life, you don’t think much about your birthday.
“I have a special surprise for you,” Mom said. “Come upstairs and I’ll show you.”
I followed her upstairs. I started getting excited. What could the surprise be?
It wasn’t like Mom to make such a big deal about my birthday. The surprise must be something really great, I decided.
She stopped in front of my bedroom door.
“Is the surprise in my room?” I asked.
“Look.” She pushed open the door.
I peered inside. My room was filled with cartons. Big boxes from floor to ceiling.
Wow!
“Are all those presents for me?” I asked.
Mom laughed. “Presents? All those boxes? Of course not!” She cracked up.
I knew it had to be too good to be true.
“Well—what’s the surprise, then?” I asked.
“Matt,” she began, “I’ve been thinking about what you said the other day. And I decided you were right. Your room is too small for you. So I’ve turned it into a storage closet.”
“You—you what?”
“That’s right.” She walked across the hall.
She threw open the guest room door. “Ta-da!”
No. Oh, no.
It can’t be. Not that.
“Happy Birthday, Matt!” Mom shouted. “Welcome to your new room!”
“Uh … uh … uh …” I couldn’t say a word.
My bed, my dresser, all my posters and books—they were all set up in the guest room.
“Matt? What’s the matter?” Mom cried. “This is what you said you wanted!”
My mouth fell open. I started to scream.
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 RLStine.com.
GOOSEBUMPS®
HALL OF HORRORS
#1 CLAWS!
#2 NIGHT OF THE GIANT EVERYTHING
#3 SPECIAL EDITION: THE FIVE MASKS OF DR. SCREEM
#4 WHY I QUIT ZOMBIE SCHOOL
#5 DON’T SCREAM!
#6 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY OF NO RETURN
GOOSEBUMPS®
MOST WANTED
#1 PLANET OF THE LAWN GNOMES
#2 SON OF SLAPPY
#3 HOW I MET MY MONSTER
#4 FRANKENSTEIN’S DOG
#5 DR. MANIAC WILL SEE YOU NOW
#6 CREATURE TEACHER: THE FINAL EXAM
#7 A NIGHTMARE ON CLOWN STREET
#8 NIGHT OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE
#9 HERE COMES THE SHAGGEDY
#10 THE LIZARD OF OZ
SPECIAL EDITION #1 ZOMBIE HALLOWEEN
SPECIAL EDITION #2 THE 12 SCREAMS OF CHRISTMAS
SPECIAL EDITION #3 TRICK OR TRAP
SPECIAL EDITION #4 THE HAUNTER
GOOSEBUMPS®
SLAPPYWORLD
#1 SLAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
#2 ATTACK OF THE JACK!
#3 I AM SLAPPY’S EVIL TWIN
#4 PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WEIRDO
#5 ESCAPE FROM SHUDDER MANSION
#6 THE GHOST OF SLAPPY
GOOSEBUMPS®
Also available as ebooks
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DUMMY
DEEP TROUBLE
MONSTER BLOOD
THE HAUNTED MASK
ONE DAY AT HORRORLAND
THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
SAY CHEESE AND DIE!
THE HORROR AT CAMP JELLYJAM
HOW I GOT MY SHRUNKEN HEAD
THE WEREWOLF OF FEVER SWAMP
A NIGHT IN TERROR TOWER
WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE
WELCOME TO CAMP NIGHTMARE
GHOST BEACH
THE SCARECROW WALKS AT MIDNIGHT
YOU CAN’T SCARE ME!
RETURN OF THE MUMMY
REVENGE OF THE LAWN GNOMES
PHANTOM OF THE AUDITORIUM
VAMPIRE BREATH
STAY OUT OF THE BASEMENT
A SHOCKER ON SHOCK STREET
LET’S GET INVISIBLE!
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DUMMY 2
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DUMMY 3
THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF PASADENA
THE BLOB THAT ATE EVERYONE
THE GHOST NEXT DOOR
THE HAUNTED CAR
ATTACK OF THE GRAVEYARD GHOULS
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE VAMPIRE!
THE HEADLESS GHOST
THE HAUNTED MASK 2
BRIDE OF THE LIVING DUMMY
ATTACK OF THE JACK-O’-LANTERNS
ALSO AVAILABLE:
IT CAME FROM OHIO!: MY LIFE AS A WRITER by R.L. Stine
Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 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.
The publisher does not have any control
over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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 printing, April 1997
e-ISBN 978-1-338-34035-8
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
