Goosebumps: An Unnatural Curiosity Chapter 2 Knock On Wood
POV: Josh
After Mr. Dawes left, I went back to check on my sister. I found Amanda slumped over with her head leaning up against the railing. She was breathing softly with a long string of saliva dripping onto her jeans.
That explains a few things. The poor girl.
The dark worn wood creaked as I came down the steps. I looked at her sleeping figure. She seemed almost peaceful. Part of me didn't want to wake her but I didn't want to leave her out here, in case things went sour. I grabbed her arm gently.
"Amanda, wake up." I said, shaking her lightly. No effect.
"Amanda, wake up!" I insisted, gritting my teeth to soften some of the sound.
"Just a few more minutes." She groaned sleepily.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, sleeping beauty." I grabbed her back with my left hand and her legs with my right, and lifted her up bridle style.
I carried her to the living room and laid her down vertically on the shredded, torn and disgusting couch that seemed to have been left behind by the previous owners. We've been through a lot but with any luck, we can at the very least stay here.
I put down our bags, sat at an adjacent chair, and studied my sister's movements. She used to have nightmares about this place, the kind that kept you up at night and had you jumping at shadows. I did, too but not for as long as her. I mentioned Dark Falls once, her face turned pale and she started crying in the fetal position. It took hours just to get her to calm down.
I wonder how she feels about it now.
"I miss them SO much." A voice croaked. It was Amanda and there were tears in her eyes.
I let out a heavy sigh. "I know you do." I said softly, getting out of my chair.
She sat up and scooted over to give me some space. I sat next to her and embraced her in a comforting hug.
She returned the favor and after a few minutes, we broke it. "Josh?" She asked weakly, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Yeah?"
She rested her head on my shoulder, barely able to keep awake. "Don't leave me."
"I won't." I whispered, but she had already fallen asleep. I kissed her forehead and got some well earned rest.
*Click*
I awoke to a strange clicking sound, it sounded familiar. Amanda was still resting her head on my shoulder and breathing softly. I smiled at the sight. I slowly slipped my body away and carefully laid her head down on the couch.
Now, it was time to investigate that odd noise. It seemed to be coming from upstairs. On my way to the stairwell, I found something alarming. My backpack was tipped over with its contents strung out all over the floor.
I don't remember placing it there. Uh oh.
I anxiously gather all the items and returned them to their proper dwelling. Although, as I was doing a headcount, I had this vague feeling that something was missing. Then it hit me like a freight truck.
Fuck! Son of a bitch! Who could've-why would they-
*Click*
Another noise and...whispering voices? I scrambled up the stairs onto the second floor landing, nearly tripping over my own two feet in the process.
*Clunk*
I heard the sound again, and managed to find the source. It was Amanda's old room.
I tried the knob but it wouldn't budge. The hinges must've rusted shut. I started bashing the door with my shoulder in rapid succession, putting more strength into it each time.
Finally, after about the fifth try, the door swung open. The room was poorly lit, half of the it was illuminated by light coming in from the window while the other half was pitch black. Despite this, I still could make out two figures in the corner, one was staring at me in shock, and the other was holding something up.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" I cried but it was too late.
"Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano?"
"You idiots!" I exclaimed, lunging for the box as a large cloud of green gas gather over it.
The cloud descended like a whirlwind into the gaping mouth of the monster that haunts my nightmares. Green light glowed like radiation from the box as I swiftly shut it and held it down.
"What the hell was-"
Suddenly, a wooden fist burst from the box, uppercutting my lower jaw and sending me flying across the room until I hit the wall. With nothing to hold it shut, the box flew open without any resistance and something emerged from its casing.
A figure around half my size stood up and rotated it's head until it's gaze landed on me. It's painted green eyes burned into mine as if looking into my soul and a demonic smile graced it's wooden lips.
It wore a black tuxedo with polished black shoes, a red bow tie and a fake red flower poking out of it's front pocket.
"Who's the dummy now?" It asked mockingly, with a child like glee and a menacing tone. "AHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What's wrong, Joshy? You look like you've seen a ghost." He said in a smug manner, his shoes hitting the floor.
Slappy took a few steps forward and then lunged at me with his fist raised. I was still dazed from the last attack, and from fear but I managed to regain my senses and roll out of the way of Slappy's strike.
I sat up and looked back to find Slappy having a hard time pulling his hand out from the wall. I saw my chance and grabbed him by the legs, slammed him on the ground and pinned him with my arm. Only to receive a good kick to the stomach and a backhanded slap to the face.
"Nice try." He said waving his pointer finger at me. "But you'll have to do better than that." He lunged at me again but I managed to catch him by the waist, still he was wriggling his way out of my grip.
"A little help?!" I exclaimed, pulling Slappy back as his hands reached for my eyes.
"What can we do?" A boy's voice asked.
"Find a way to pin him down and I'll do the rest!" I threw Slappy against the wall and took the rings out of my pocket.
It wasn't long before the dummy was back on his feet again. He looked even more pissed off than before. His green eyes glowed with hatred and malintent.
"Hey, dummy! Take this." As I slipped the rings on, I saw the boy hit Slappy over the head with a wooden baseball bat and upon impact it split in half. "My mom's going to kill me."
It worked! Slappy was stunned and before he could recover, they had him.
"Let go of me!" Slappy growled, his arms and legs being restrained.
"We can't hold him for much longer!" A girl's voice exclaimed, desperately.
"You don't have to." I said in a low voice.
I felt the power surge through me. My blood boiled, my eyes burned with great intensity and my hands trembled with anticipation. I let the words to the spell fall out of my mouth.
"Um ma rak sha boon she ma na eel sha moo marook!" Slappy's body began to spasm as green gas seeped out of every crack and crevice in his body.
"You can't get rid of me, Joshy. Enjoy your little reunion while you can. It won't last."
"AHHAHAHA!" He cackled before going limp and falling silent.
The dummy flopped lifelessly to the floor with a loud *Clunk*. With the nightmare over, I took a second to catch my breath and slipped the rings back into my pocket.
That could've been worse. A lot worse. Luckily, my injuries were minor. Bruising on my stomach, my jaw was nearly broken and the slap mark was still burned onto my cheek. Not bad. Still I'm going hate what comes next.
"That was...AMAZING!" The girl exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"That was terrifying." The boy muttered.
"It's good to know at least one of us had fun today." I said bitterly.
"Don't be like that. Nothing exciting ever happens in Dark Falls." The girl said with infectious exuberance.
"You two haven't changed a bit." I said smiling warmly.
"That's...debatable." Ray said coming into the light.
I roll my eyes. "I meant personality wise." I said with my hand on my hip.
Before I could even blink, Karen jumped out of the shadows, wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tightly. A little too tightly.
"Karen...can't...breathe." I managed to get out.
"Oops, sorry." She apologized, letting me go and smiling brightly.
They had certainly changed a bit. Both of them looked around my age and their skin looked less pale than before. Ray's blue eyes lacked the coldness and tension from before. Now, he seemed normal. He wore a light gray hoodie with black sneakers and blue jeans.
As for Karen, she wore a 90s sunflower hat with pink polka dotted shoes and a pink turtleneck sweater. She was still a bit taller than Ray and I but she seemed a bit skinnier than before.
"Not to be rude, but what are you two doing here?" I asked, ignoring the burning sensation in my hands.
"We were going to play some baseball when all the adults were called in for a town meeting. We ran into Mr. Dawes and he told us that you two were staying here for the night. We came to say hello, but you both were asleep and we didn't want to disturb you. We got bored and decided to look for something interesting in your bag. We found this box, picked the lock and here we are." Ray blurted out giving me an awkward smile.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a heavy sigh. "Look, I'll forgive you this one time because I was the only one to get hurt. Just promise me that you'll never take anything else from my bag EVER again."
I stared down at the lifeless piece of wood and my fist clenched unconsciously. "Slappy's caused enough pain." I muttered to myself.
"Slappy? That's it's name?!" Karen exclaimed.
"Promise me." I growled, gritting me teeth.
They raised their hands in the air as if to take an oath. "We promise."
"Good."
"What's with all the noise?" A voice asked from the doorway.
"Amanda, your awake." I said, smiling once again.
"Of course, I'm awake. You were making a lot of noise." She said, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry about that." I said in a low voice. "I was just talking to Karen and Ray."
I could see her eyes sparkle as soon as the words left my mouth."Karen? RAY?!"
She ran as fast as a bullet and tackled them to the floor. "It's SO good to see you again." She said hugging them both.
"We missed you, too!" Karen said excitedly.
As Amanda broke the hug, she noticed the dummy lying on the floor. "Josh, is that who I think it is?" She asked almost panicked. "You didn't use them, did you?"
Suddenly, my nose started to bleed and I felt nauseous. My ears rang, my blood turned cold, and my head felt like it was burning up.
I looked at my arms, they were saturated of all color, my veins turned purple and were visible. I felt dizzy, disoriented, and feverish. Amanda was saying something but her voice felt so far away. I gave her a delirious smile and then fell to the floor unconscious.