31 - Night of the Living Dummy II by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

middle.
    I watched the evil face crack apart. The wide, shocked eyes slid in different
directions. The red lips cracked and fell away.
    The head dropped to the floor in two pieces. And then the body collapsed in a
heap beside them.
    My hands still pressed against my face, my heart pounding, I took a few steps
into the room.
    Dennis ran past me, out to the hall.
    But my eyes were locked on the two pieces of Slappy’s head. I stared in
horror as an enormous white worm crawled out of one of the pieces. The fat worm
slithered and curled to the wall—and vanished into a crack in the molding.
    Sara climbed out of bed, breathing hard, her face bright red from the
excitement.
    The closet door swung open. Mom and Dad came bursting out.
    “Girls—are you okay?” Dad cried.
    We nodded.
    “We saw the whole thing!” Mom exclaimed. She threw her arms around me. “Amy,
I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. We should have believed you. I’m so sorry we didn’t
believe you.”
    “We believe you now!” Dad declared, staring down at Slappy’s broken head, his
crumpled body. “We saw everything!”
    It was all planned. Sara and I had worked it out before dinner.
    Sara convinced Mom and Dad to hide in the closet. Mom and Dad were really
creeped out by the way I was acting. They were willing to do anything.
    So Sara pretended to go to sleep. Mom and Dad hid in the closet.
    I left the closet door unlocked to make it easier for Slappy to get out.
    I knew Slappy would creep into Sara’s room. I knew Mom and Dad would finally
see that I’m not crazy.
    And then Jed burst out dressed as Dennis, with Dennis’ head propped up on
top of his turtleneck sweater.
    We knew that would shock Slappy. We knew it would give us a chance to grab
him.
    We didn’t know what a great job Jed would do. We didn’t know that Jed would
actually destroy the evil dummy. We didn’t know that Slappy’s head would crack
apart. That was just good luck.
    “Hey—where is Jed?” I asked, my eyes searching the room.
    “Jed? Jed?” Mom called. “Where are you? You did a great job!”
    No reply.
    No sign of my brother.
    “Weird,” Sara muttered, shaking her head.
    We all trooped down the hall into Jed’s room.
    We found him in bed, sound asleep. He groggily raised his head from the
pillow and squinted at us. “What time is it?” he asked sleepily.
    “It’s nearly eleven,” Dad replied.
    “Oh, no!” Jed cried, sitting up. “I’m sorry! I forgot to wake up! I forgot I
was supposed to dress up like Dennis!”
    I felt a shiver run down my back. I turned to my parents. “Then who fought
Slappy?” I asked. “Who fought Slappy?”
     
     
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