by R. L. Stine
“Let’s just go,” Nicole replied, giving me a push. “Let’s get this over with.”
Leaning into the wind, we made our way down to the street. I heard thunder in the distance, and the streetlamps flickered.
We started to trot side by side. Above us, old tree limbs creaked and groaned and appeared to be waving us back.
The TV studio was three blocks from Nicole’s house. I kept gazing up at the black sky, hoping the rain would hold off. “Maybe we can throw the stuff down a sewer,” I said. “Or find a dumpster we can toss it in.”
Nicole slipped on the wet grass but caught her balance. “We could leave the tote bag in front of the toy store,” she said.
“If we could only find the toy store,” I said, then pointed. “I could swear it was on that corner.”
Nicole shook her head. “So weird. How could it just disappear?”
I wiped some raindrops off my forehead. The only other sounds were the cracking of tree branches and the thud of our shoes on the ground as we jogged.
The TV studio building came into view on the next block. Thin lines of lightning crackled high in the sky. A low explosion of thunder nearby made me jump.
“Hope we can find a way in,” I said, my voice muffled by the thunder. I slowed down and pressed a hand against my throbbing side.
We both stopped in front of the entrance, struggling to catch our breath. A chill rolled down my back. I wiped sweat off my forehead with the sleeve of my jacket.
The big front window was completely dark. I tried the front door.
Locked.
I pulled it, then pushed it. But it wouldn’t budge.
“Locked,” I said. “I told you. Can we go home now?”
“Ring the bell,” Nicole said. She pointed to an intercom on the wall beside the door. “Maybe there’s a night security guard or something.”
I hesitated. “If there’s a security guard, what do we tell him?”
Nicole shrugged. “That we forgot something in the studio. That’s all.”
I pressed a few buttons on the intercom. We waited. No one came to the door.
I pressed them again. “No one here,” I murmured. “Let’s go home.”
Nicole shivered. “Stop giving up. Maybe there’s another door.”
The rain pattered down a little harder. We ducked our heads and made our way around the side of the building.
We both stopped when we saw the half-open window. It was about shoulder high. A window shade flapped inside, tossed by the wind.
“I don’t believe it,” I said. “An open window. Okay. Maybe we can do this. Give me a boost. Then I’ll pull you in.”
I scraped both arms against the bricks reaching for the windowsill. Nicole held me up while I pushed the window open higher. Then she boosted me, and I slid headfirst into the building.
A few seconds later, Nicole and I stood in the hallway outside the studio. A fuzzy yellow light glowed in the studio. And through the glass entrance doors, we could see the three kitchen areas and the judges’ table. The video cameras were tilted down, as if sleeping.
I pressed my face against the glass and peered into the dim light. “I don’t see any Monster Blood, Nicole,” I said. “I think we’re okay. It didn’t get out of the bag.”
“Let’s make sure,” she said. She pushed open one of the studio doors.
“Wait!” I grabbed her shoulder and held her back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought I heard something,” I whispered. “Footsteps maybe.”
She gasped. We both froze. And listened.
My heart pounded so loud, I couldn’t hear anything else.
Silence.
“False alarm,” I said.
I followed her into the studio. Some of the food smells from the show lingered. The air felt warm and dry. The clock on the wall read 10:40.
I glanced around the floor. No sign of green gunk oozing anywhere. “The Monster Blood didn’t get out,” I told Nicole. “You can relax.”
“Well, we’re here,” she said. “We have to take it and dump it somewhere.”
I led the way to our kitchen space. Everything appeared just as we’d left it.
I’d stuffed the tote bag with the Monster Blood under the kitchen counter. We both leaned down to get it.
I gasped. My mouth dropped open.
“It’s GONE!” Nicole cried.
“N-no way!” I stammered. I squinted in the dim light. I ducked under the counter and searched all around.
“Gone,” Nicole said. “How can this be?”
“I know!” I said. “The cleaning crew. They must have come in to clean. And maybe they threw it out.”
Nicole squinted at me. “Do you think?”
I frowned. “It’s possible. That stuff couldn’t walk out by itself. Besides, the tote bag was shut tight.”
“You’re wrong, Sascha. That’s not what happened. The cleaners wouldn’t throw out a perfectly good tote bag.”
I sighed. “Maybe you’re right.”
Nicole grabbed my wrist. “What if Ashli and Nathan took it?”
“They couldn’t,” I said. “They left the studio before we did. The tote bag was here when we left.”
Nicole locked her eyes on mine. “Well … what are we going to do?”
I shrugged. “Wait till tomorrow, I guess.”
* * *
It took me hours to get to sleep. It was Nicole’s fault. Every time I shut my eyes, I’d see that bubbling green goo oozing out of the tote bag and rising up like a living monster to the ceiling of the TV studio.
I finally had a few hours’ sleep. I woke up late. It was almost eleven thirty. I heard voices and laughter and squealing downstairs. It took me a short while to realize that Toby’s birthday party was already under way.
I squinted at the clock on my bed table and groaned. I had less than an hour to eat something, get dressed, and get to the TV studio.
I rushed into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I squeezed the toothpaste onto my toothbrush—and stopped. Dad had bought me green toothpaste! Did it remind me of Monster Blood? Three guesses.
Oh, wow. As I stared at it in horror, it began to bubble and bounce.
No. No way. Just my imagination.
I dropped the toothbrush into the sink and brushed my hair instead.
I heard a crash and then screams downstairs at the party. My brother began yelling, “Get off me! Get off me!” And I guessed the party was off to a lively start.
I was so glad I was going to miss it.
I grabbed a protein bar for breakfast. Waved to my parents, who were opening pizza boxes in the dining room while ten eight- and nine-year-olds were practicing karate moves on one another in the den. And I trotted to the door, ready to make my escape.
As I reached for the doorknob, Toby jumped in front of me. He had chocolate smeared on his chin. I hoped he hadn’t sampled the icing on his birthday cake already.
A sly grin spread above the chocolate. “Sascha, I have a secret,” he said.
I rubbed a hand through his hair. “Happy birthday, fella,” I said. (I do like the kid, after all.) “Have an awesome party. I’m outta here.”
He brushed my hand off his head. “I have a secret, and I’m not telling you,” he said.
I brought my face down close to his. “What’s your secret?” I whispered.
“I’m not telling. I told you. It’s a secret.”
“Well, thanks for telling me,” I said. “Aren’t you even going to give me a hint?”
But he spun away and ran back to his screaming, laughing friends.
I stepped outside and closed the front door behind me. The silence felt so good!
I walked to the studio and waved to Nicole as I stepped through the glass doors. “You beat me here,” I said as I entered our kitchen. “I had to make my way through an obstacle course—Toby’s party.”
Nicole motioned to the judges’ table with her head. “Something going on over there,
” she said. “Some kind of problem.”
I turned and saw the three judges huddled behind their table. Larry was scratching his head and frowning. Mary and Jake were both talking at once.
The crew had grown silent. Everyone was turned toward the judges.
Hess lifted one of their wooden chairs off the floor and examined it. He set it back on the floor and motioned for Larry to sit down in it.
I let out a sharp cry as I saw what the problem was.
Larry was too large. The judges had all grown too large.
They didn’t fit in their chairs!
Major panic. Everyone started shouting and talking at once.
All three judges were yelling at Hess. Courtney and Morgan, the two assistants, hurried over and quickly got into the shouting match.
“Is this some kind of practical joke?” Larry cried. He had to be at least seven feet tall now. “Did you bring out smaller chairs to make us look stupid?”
“This is ridiculous!” Jake picked up his chair and heaved it across the studio.
“I don’t understand this,” Mary said, scowling at Hess. Her face darkened to red. “I was perfectly normal when I drove over here. Am I really bigger? How did this happen?”
Beside us, Sunday and Jackson stared in disbelief. Ashli and Nathan stepped out of their kitchen and began snapping photos with their phones.
Crew members pointed, shaking their heads, wide-eyed.
Nicole and I stood watching the whole scene with our mouths hanging open. We were the only two people in the room who knew the truth. The only ones who knew why the judges had started bulging and stretching.
The Monster Blood they had eaten took its time. But it was making them grow now.
“It … it’s all our fault,” Nicole stammered.
I swallowed. My mouth was suddenly dry as cotton. “Maybe they won’t find out,” I whispered.
“But look what we did to them!” Nicole exclaimed. “If they do find out it was our fault …” Her voice trailed off.
I felt sick. Had we really ruined the judges’ lives?
“We have to finish!” Hess was screaming. “We have no choice. We have to finish the show today!”
“No way!” Mary screamed. “I can’t go on TV looking like this! I’m eight feet tall and I’m bursting out of my dress.”
“Look at me!” Jake cried. “I … I can’t believe this. My clothes are ripping! They don’t fit at all!”
“People? People?” the deep voice on the loudspeaker broke in. “People? Can we have quiet, please?”
Everyone kept shouting, heads shaking, hands flying in the air.
“I’m sure we can figure this out,” the voice said. “But we need quiet.”
“It’s not our fault!” Hess screamed. “I don’t know how this happened to you three. But it isn’t our fault. We do not have a stretching machine to make our judges suddenly bigger!”
“Haha. Funny,” Jake snapped sarcastically. “Do you think this is a joke? You won’t think it’s funny when we all sue you!”
“People, people …” The voice on the loudspeaker returned. “We can talk about all this later. We only have the studio for two hours. We must finish the show. Then—”
“How can you finish the show?” Jake cried. “We have to see doctors. We have to be examined. Something gave us these growth spurts. Are we going to keep growing and growing?”
“Was it something we ate here?” Mary demanded.
My whole body shuddered. Nicole and I … We’re going to get caught. Our parents will be sued. Our lives are ruined!
“Wait! Hold on, everyone!” Hess cried, waving his hands above his head. “Everyone—listen. I have an idea.”
It took a while to get everyone quiet. Then Hess frantically pointed to the wall across the studio. “In the supply closet … ,” he said. “We have bigger chairs … in that closet over there.”
“So what?” Jake demanded.
All three judges were glaring angrily at Hess.
“We’ll put you in the bigger chairs,” Hess told them. “And you’ll look normal. We can finish the show and—”
“But we’re not normal!” Mary cried.
Hess raised both hands in front of him. “I know. I know. But let’s just finish the show in the bigger chairs. And then we’ll get you the help you need. I promise.”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned to his two assistants and told them to bring the bigger chairs from the closet.
They hurried across the studio.
Pulled open the closet door.
My scream of horror echoed off the studio ceiling. I screamed so loud, I started to choke. Shrill shrieks and terrified cries rang out all around.
An ENORMOUS blob of Monster Blood exploded from the closet. Bigger and taller than a bear, glowing in the bright lights, it rolled over the two assistants. Their squeals were cut short. They didn’t stand a chance. It was like they were swallowed up.
Nicole and I huddled against each other behind our counter as the monstrous ball of gunk bounced over the floor. We could see Morgan and Courtney glued to one side, struggling and squirming, unable to unstick themselves.
“It … it’s gigantic!” I cried.
“Who put it in that closet?” Nicole asked in a trembling voice. “The cleaning crew?”
I shrugged. “Beats me.”
“I knew we needed to get it last night,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “Now … it’s too late.”
The enormous ball of Monster Blood rolled over one of the camera guys. He uttered a scream as he stuck to its slimy, shimmering surface.
And then, as if alive, the Monster Blood took a big bounce. It sailed over the judges’ table—and swallowed all three judges.
I covered my ears to try to block out the roar of screams all around me. My heart beat so hard, I thought I might explode.
I held on to Nicole’s hand as the big, quivering ball rolled across the studio floor. Six people rolled with it, bouncing on it, screaming their heads off, and squirming, twisting to free themselves.
Hess dodged to one side as the blob came rolling toward him. He landed on the floor, and the Monster Blood rolled over him. Trapping him, too.
“Nicole—why are we standing here?” I cried.
Most everyone had run from the studio.
“Let’s go!” I gave her a hard tug. She seemed frozen, unable to move.
“Wh-what are we going to do?” she stammered. Her whole body trembled.
“We’re going to RUN!” I said. I pulled her again, and we took off.
We joined the frantic stampede out the glass doors and down the long hall. We were almost outside when someone screamed, “It’s coming after us!”
Nicole and I bolted through the front door. We didn’t slow down. We kept running along the small patch of grass in front of the building.
When I turned around, I saw Ashli and Nathan stuck to the Monster Blood. It swept over the grass like a giant tidal wave—a tsunami of green gunk. Carrying its screaming, twisting prisoners.
I stopped and watched. It was like a horror movie come to life.
And it was all my fault. All my brilliant idea.
That thought made it almost impossible for me to move.
But then I had another thought.
“Run, Sascha! Keep going!” Nicole cried. She reached out to pull me across the street. But I swung away from her.
“Run! Why aren’t you running?” she cried. “It’s going to swallow us, too!”
I grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her. “Wait,” I said. “Stop running. Hold on. I think I know what’s going on here. I think I know how to stop it.”
Nicole tugged me again. “Let’s go!”
“No. Wait.” I pulled back.
I wanted to cover my ears from the screams of terror behind us. I saw the huge blob of Monster Blood bounce over more people, trapping them against it.
“We don’t need to run,” I told Nicole. “This isn’t really ha
ppening.”
She gasped. “Huh? Not happening? Are you okay?”
“Listen to me,” I said. “It’s all a nightmare I’m having.”
Nicole squinted at me. I could see I was totally confusing her.
I grabbed her shoulders. “Remember when that car roared around the corner and knocked me to the sidewalk?”
She nodded. “Yes. But—”
“I hit my head, remember,” I continued.
More shrill screams behind us, coming closer.
“It must have knocked me out, Nicole,” I said. “Don’t you see? This isn’t real. You’re not really here. We’re not having this conversation.”
I squeezed her shoulders tighter. “This is all a dream I’m having. A terrible nightmare.”
She pulled away from me. “Sascha, let’s talk about it later. Let’s run now!”
“No. We don’t have to run. All I have to do is wake myself up.”
“Let’s wake you up later,” she demanded, her voice trembling with fear. “Let’s get away from this thing and then wake up.”
“But it’s not real, Nicole,” I said. “I just have to pull myself out of this nightmare—and everything will be fine again.”
Her whole body shuddered. Screams rang out as the Monster Blood bounced and rolled, carrying its victims.
Okay. I’m going to try this. I’m going to end this nightmare. I gritted my teeth hard and shut my eyes tight.
Wake up, Sascha, I told myself. Wake up. Come on—wake up!
Was it happening? Was I waking myself up?
I opened my eyes. I blinked several times. “I’m awake,” I whispered.
But then I saw Nicole’s terrified face. And the gigantic tidal wave of Monster Blood rolling toward us, so fast … so fast.
It shimmered in the afternoon light. And the thrashing arms and legs of the people stuck to its surface made it look like a humongous insect, swallowing everything in its path.
I uttered a sigh. My legs trembled. I thought I might collapse to the ground. “It … didn’t work,” I murmured. “It isn’t a dream.”
We didn’t say another word. We spun to the street and took off running. We ran through a vacant lot and, breathing hard, started to cross someone’s front yard.