A Dangerous Game

Part 1: It

Heath and Gregory have decided not to go to the school dance tonight, instead, they go to visit their friend Caitlyn who got sick and cannot go to the party. They promised to her that they will keep her company until she's gets better. When everything goes well as they stroll towards her house at night, a black car appeared from the road with loud engines roaring.

"Drag racing in Madison?" Heath covered his ears.

"I don't think that's drag racing." Gregory said. "It looked like a chase."

As they watched the fast car drive by, the driver yelled at them. "I hope you have level up!" The driver made a creepy and sinister laugh as he threw a hard object to Gregory's face.

"Gregory!" Heath checked his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Is my nose bleeding?"

"No. It's still fine."

"Oh god, what is that?" Gregory looked down and saw a closed book burning. "Who throws a book to strangers?"

"That guy." Heath pointed at the driver that drove to the corner of the street and disappeared from their sights. But still they heard his maniacal laugh echoing.

Gregory stamped the fire out and saved the mysterious black book. After it goes out, he picked it up to see the title. He froze as he read it. "Oh, no."

"What is it, man?" Heath took a look and saw the book's cover. "Is that a Goosebumps book?"

"It is." Gregory said. "This book gives me nightmares, man. I mean, this is the reason why I hate camping. This is the scariest book ever."

"Seriously?" Heath commented. "I say Night of the Living Dummy is creepy. That dummy Slappy is a real menace and a true Goosebumps villain."

"Well, I have not read that. I only read The Girl Who Cried Monster, Monster Blood 3, Cuckoo Clock of Doom and Attack of the Mutant. That's all I can remember. But this one... it still terrifies me."

"Hey! I have an idea. Why not we bring this to Caitlyn? She loves Goosebumps." Heath suggested.

"Great idea." Gregory said. "But I don't think this book is ours."

"The guy threw it away. I don't think he will mind. We should take it." Heath grabbed the book from his friend's hands. "Now, let's see how creepy this book is."

"Real creepy. I kinda hate the ending."

Without knowing what kind of book that is, Heath opened it and flipped the pages. In a second, a powerful blast of smoke and light burst out from the pages of the book and repelled the two boys away. The book fell from Heath's grip and the words on those pages turned into black liquid joined together, forming a silhouette of a large creature.

The boys moved back as they watched a large monster popped out from the book. Gregory gasped in fright as he saw the furry monster. He heard the loud growl. He saw the large claws and sharp teeth. The boy froze in fear as he watched the creature looked around, wondering where it was.

"What is that?" Heath yelled in terror.

The monster heard Heath and turned its face to them. The large creature approached them and raised its large claws at them. Heath shut his eyes quickly before the monster do something horrible.

Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, the creature slaps Heath's shoulder and spoke in English. "Tag. You're It." Then the creature ran away and into the woods.

Heath was speechless after what the creature did. Confused, he turned to Gregory and saw him sweating like an athlete in a summer race. He knows that Gregory was terrified to see the big blue monster. "So... this is the monster that frightens you, right? What monster is that, man?"

Gregory answered. "The Beast From the East. And I really, really hate this damn game."