Don't Close Your Eyes! by R.L. Stine Page A

been awake for forty-eight hours?
    And why will I maybe have to stay awake for the
rest of my life?
    Well, it's a long, frightening story. It all started two days before, with Tara innocently reading a book….

2
    TWODAYSAGO , I was sitting in front of my computer. It was after dinner and I was messaging my friend Aaron.
    We're best friends, but we don't see each other very much. That's because Aaron is grounded for life. Actually, he's grounded for
three
lifetimes. And he had just IM'd me that he was grounded again.
    BRAINIMON1: Why are U grounded?
    AARONDOG: For doing a simple magic trick.
    BRAINIMON1: Since when r u into magic? I'm the 1 who does magic tricks!
    AARONDOG: It was an ez trick I showed my sister.
    BRAINIMON1: What trick?
    AARONDOG: I showed her how to turn her
homework into confetti.
    BRAINIMON1: Nice trick.
    AARONDOG: She's still crying. And I'm grounded again.
    BRAINIMON1: So we can't have our Stargate SG-1 club meeting again?
    AARONDOG: We can have it in about 10 years.
    I started to reply to Aaron. But I stopped when Nicky and Tara flashed into my room.
    They appear and disappear without warning. Sometimes they fade away slowly and disappear for days at a time. They can't control it. Nicky says that's one of the hardest parts about being a ghost.
    Tara says the
hardest
part is having to talk to
me
all the time!
    I think she meant that as a joke.
    They are both tall and thin. Serious-looking kids. Nicky is eleven, and Tara is nine. She has dark eyes and straight dark hair down to her shoulders. Nicky's hair and eyes are dark too. Tara always wears dangling plastic earrings, and she usually has a floppy red hat on her head.
    Nicky dropped down onto the edge of my bed, his hands in his pockets. Tara carried an enormous book in both hands. It was opened to somewhere in the middle. She read it as she walked across the room.
    “Is that a dictionary?” I asked.
    She shook her head and stood in front of me, reading silently.
    “It's another ghost book,” Nicky said. “Another book about the supernatural world. Tara won't give up.”
    I turned my desk chair to face him. “Give up?”
    “She keeps reading these ancient books,” Nicky said. “She thinks maybe she'll find a clue that will help us return to life.”
    Tara raised her eyes. “Nicky and I don't want to be ghosts for the rest of our lives,” she said. She shuddered. “Just reading about these old ghosts gives me the creeps. I don't want to turn into some evil
thing.”
    “Too late. You already are!” Nicky said.
    Tara stuck her tongue out at him and made a loud spitting noise.
    He spit back at her.
    She spit even louder and longer.
    Gross! I had to stop it. Sometimes their spitting contests went on for an hour!
    “Where did you get that huge book?” I asked Tara.
    “I borrowed it from some library,” Tara replied.
    “You mean you
stole
it?” I asked.
    “Well, I can't exactly get a library card, can I?” Tara snapped. “When is the last time an invisible person got a library card?”
    “You don't have to bite my head off,” I said. “I only asked a question.”
    “See? She
has
become an evil thing!” Nicky said.
    Tara sighed. “I'm just worried, that's all. I keep reading book after book. But none of them has anything that might help Nicky and me. They're just filled with evil ghosts and horrible spells and … no clue. Just no clue about how a ghost can come back to life for real.”
    She turned the page. “It's all so awful and frightening,” she said. “Look at this one. A ghost called Inkweed. Wow. He was totally evil.”
    “Let me see it,” Nicky said. He made a grab for the book.
    Tara swung it away from him. “Hey—I'm reading it!”
    Nicky grabbed again, and the big book fell out of Tara's hands.
    It hit the floor with a hard
thud
.
    Tara bent to pick it up—then stopped. “Oh no,” she murmured. She stumbled back.
    “What's your problem?” Nicky asked.
    I stared down at the open pages. It took a few seconds