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

for my eyes to focus. Then I gasped when I saw what had frightened Tara.
    The letters on the pages—the ancient black type, the words—they were all
moving!
Sliding over the yellowed pages, moving into the center of the book.

3
    ALLTHREEOFUS stared down at the open book on the floor, frozen in shock.
    The words written about the evil ghost Inkweed slid quickly to the middle and formed a black puddle of ink. The puddle spread silently over the book, growing wider and deeper.
    “This is
crazy!”
I cried.
    All three of us gasped as the ink puddle began to rise off the book. It lifted itself up as if it was alive! A living ink creature.
    “Inkweed is alive!” Tara screamed. Then she and Nicky flickered and faded. The shock was taking away their energy force.
    But I could see the horror on their faces as the ink blob floated up into the air. It made a wet slapping sound as it settled against the bedroom wall. Then it began to shift and spread.
    “Stop it! We have to
stop
it!” Tara screamed.
    Nicky flickered in and out like a firefly. “H-how?” he stammered.
    I jumped up from my desk chair and startedbacking up, moving away from the shadowy ink blob as it spread over my wall.
    It continued to spread, and then it pulled itself into a new shape. Slowly, slowly, it started to form a black, inky figure—the silhouette of a man!
    “Is it… is it
Inkweed?”
Tara choked out.
    Before anyone could answer, the inky shadow pulled off the wall—and floated over my head.
    I ducked.
    I tried to dodge it.
    But it settled over me. Hot and wet. Like someone dropping a heavy wet bath towel over me.
    I couldn't move. I couldn't see.
    The dark shadow held me in place. It wrapped around me. My skin prickled under the hot wetness of it. Shiver after shiver rolled down my body.
    I tried to cry out, but my voice was muffled under the thick, black shadow.
    The shadow grew heavier. I bent over. Dropped to my knees under its weight.
    I tried to scream. I tried to thrash my arms and duck my head to escape the terrifying blanket.
    But I was frozen beneath it.
    And then I felt it shift and start to settle. It was settling over me. No. Not settling.
    Sinking
.
    Sinking into me!
    Sinking into my skin. Into my
brain!
    My arms jerked. My head was flung back as if someone had slugged me.
    I toppled over. My head hit the floor.
    I felt as if I was swimming in blackness. Deep underwater in a freezing black pond. I felt the wet currents splashing inside me, one after the other.
    And then I was back on my feet. Still squinting through a thick curtain of gray. Still shivering. Shaking my head, trying to shake the dark clouds away.
    “Max!” Tara cried. Her shout sounded very far away. “Max! Are you okay?”
    “Oh, wow.” I heard Nicky's voice somewhere on the other side of the black curtain. “Max, you're covered in black ink. You're dripping!”
    “Never mind that!” I shouted, surprised to hear my normal voice. “It's
inside
me! I can feel it!”
    “Inkweed?” Nicky asked. “Is it Inkweed?”
    The dark curtain lifted a little. I could see the two ghosts gaping at me in horror.
    “I don't know what it is,” I said. “But I can feel it inside my body! Inside my
head!”
    “Oh no. Oh no,” Tara moaned, tugging her hat down over her ears.
    “Do
something!” I screamed. “Pick up the book! Hurry! You've got to help me. What does it say to do?”

4
    THEYBOTHSTAREDAT me. I could feel the ink running down my face. I used my T-shirt sleeve to wipe it away from my eyes.
    “The book,” I said, pointing. “Hurry. Please.”
    Nicky reached down and hoisted the huge book up in both hands. “It's … it's blank,” he said. “All the ink is gone.”
    Tara took the book from him. She started flipping rapidly through the pages. “Gone,” she muttered. “The words … they're all gone.”
    I felt Inkweed shift inside my head. It felt like a beanbag rolling around up there.
    “Give that book to me!”
I screamed. Tara gasped as I jerked the