Goosebumps Most Wanted #5: Dr. Maniac Will See You Now by R.L. Stine Page B

someone else shouted.
    I turned to see two yellow-costumed superheroes with their longbows raised, firing flaming arrows at each other.
    I realized I was holding my breath. I let it out in a long whoosh.
    I blinked. Then I rubbed my eyes. Am I imagining all this?
    “What happened ?” I cried.
    “We all came back,” said a voice beside me. I turned to see the pulsing red face of the Caped Corpuscle. “We couldn’t stand it out there.”
    “Huh?” I gasped. “You all came back? Why?”
    His face pulsed and throbbed. Under his red costume, I could see the blood racing through his whole body.
    “The real world is too boring,” the Corpuscle said. “Too quiet. No fun at all. Why would anyone want to live in the real world? They don’t let you fly or fight or do anything up there.”
    “Uh … I need to get back to the real world,” I said.
    He squinted at me. “Seriously?”
    “Seriously,” I said. “I think my brother and my friend have already returned. I don’t see them anywhere. And now, I have to return to the real world, too.”
    “That’s a shame,” the Corpuscle said, shaking his bloodred head.
    “A sh-shame?” I stammered. “Why is it a shame?”
    “Because the door is closed. Closed forever.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You mean … I’m stuck here?”
    The Caped Corpuscle nodded. “Yes. The trapdoor is closed. Sealed tight.”
    “No, it isn’t, you liar!” a gruff voice shouted.
    It was the Mighty Hairball. He came bouncing up to us and bumped the Corpuscle off the sidewalk with his hairy brown chest.
    “Get away from me, Hairball!” the Corpuscle warned. “I’ll bleed on you. It won’t be pretty.”
    “The trapdoor is still open a tiny bit,” Hairball said to me. “But it’s closing fast. You’d better hurry, kid.” He pointed to a concrete stairway across the street. “Take those stairs. The trap door is at the top.”
    “But … but … where’s the water? Where’s the beach?” I stammered.
    “This is Comic Book World,” Hairball replied. “Things change all the time. Better hurry.”
    Corpuscle stepped up to Hairball. “You’ll never forget the day you called me a liar!” he screamed. “My blood is boiling now!”
    Hairball bounced onto him, knocking him over. Blood puddled all over the street. The two weird superheroes started to fight, wrestling, punching each other.
    I took off, running to the stairs.
    “Trapdoor, please be open,” I murmured as I took the steps two at a time.
    I climbed higher. And now I could see the trapdoor above me.
    Yes! It was still open a bit. Open just enough for me to squeeze through.
    “I’m coming!” I shouted. “I’m almost there!”
    I reached a small landing. I stopped to catch my breath.
    “I’m coming!” I shouted up to the trapdoor. I could see it slowly closing. I started running again.
    And something big fell on me. Like a big sack of potatoes. It landed on my head and shoulders and drove me to the landing floor.
    I groaned with pain and struggled to squirm out from under it.
    A big, heavy, hairy body. It held me down. It sat on my chest. It wouldn’t budge.
    Over its hairy shoulder, I saw the trapdoor slowly closing.
    The creature on top of me raised his face.
    I stared at his mask. I knew it. I knew that mask.
    The Masked Monkey!
    “Let me go!” I cried.
    I could see the trapdoor creaking shut overhead.
    “Let go! Let go of me!”

The Monkey pressed his heavy body down on me. I couldn’t move.
    I knew I had only one chance. One way to defeat him.
    I tried to take a deep breath. I opened my mouth wide, and tried to sneeze.
    No. Not happening.
    Come on. Come on! I needed a super-sneeze to blast the hulking creature off me.
    I sucked in another breath. Opened my mouth. And —
    No.
    I groaned as the the big monkey leaned forward, pressing his paws over my shoulders. He pushed his chest into my face. The fur … the thick fur tickled my nose. The fur made my whole face tingle.
    I tilted my head back — and