Chapter 3: R.L. Stine
All of us got to the car. And Shivers gave each of them an angry look towards them except for me. "In," he ordered them. "Now." All of them got in the car; Zach and Champ in the back, while Hannah got in the passenger seat, putting on their seatbelts. Shivers then turned to me, his angry eyes turning into calm ones. I wanted to hesitate and refused at first, but... since he didn't yell at others, I did so, getting in the back, sitting next to Champ, who scooted over to the middle of the back seat. I shut the door and, making sure it was shut tight, I rested the side of my head on my hand, thinking... Just...thinking.
My mind went back to my childhood as I heard Hannah's dad get in the car, igniting it, starting the engine after he set the book between him and Hannah. The memories of my childhood seem to flood in, and I had to use my hand to cover my eyes, as my other one twitched and shook. No one seemed to notice, though... But it quickly went away. Just like that. This happens every time when my mind goes back to my childhood. And it's even worse when someone ask me to tell them my story, and that's the reason I'll tell it someday. If I do... I sighed quietly for no can hear. A tear started to force its way out of the corner of my eye. I quickly blinked it away, not wanting to start crying, my depression coming.
I'll never be happy again... Never. I'm going to be... worthless. I'm worthless because, well, I am. However, my depression faded away, like it always does. I held no smile, just... a frown on my face. I kept gazing out the window as we passed buildings and houses, until Champ broke the silence.
"What are you going to do to us?" he asked with a nervous tone in his voice.
"Silence..." Shivers hissed back as he continued driving, eyes locked on the road.
"We can't ask questions...?" he said, looking over at Zach then me. "I just wanted to know what will hap-"
"Shut up!" Shivers yelled out, getting the teen to stop talking, glancing away from the road for a quick moment, then faced it again, gripping tightly on the wheel.
"Dad... they were only trying to help," Hannah said, looking towards her father.
"I told you to stay away from us or something bad will happen," he began, looking towards us, mainly at Zach. "But that's the problem with kids today," he complained, putting his hand up and then back on the steering wheel. "They don't listen." He sighed with a small shake of his head. "You had to pick The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena," he said, like he knew about the books. "You couldn't have picked Little Shop Of Hamsters..."
Zach tilted his head to the side. "You're him, aren't you?" he said, raising a brow.
"Hm?" Shivers glanced at the rearview mirror.
"You're R.L. Stine," Zach smirked a sly grin. "The writer of all the Goosebumps books." Wait... Shivers is R.L. Stine? That can't be. I asked him who Stine could be, only for him to kind of shoo me out of his home, not answering my question. But... I let that go for now.
"R.L. who?" Shivers adjusted his glasses. "I don't know who that is..." he replied, not wanting to reveal by pretending not knowing who the writer is, like himself.
"Oh, really?" Zach quipped, crossing his arms, the smirk disappearing from his face. "Well, just as well, because his books suck," he offended a little, leaning against the seat. Hannah turned to him.
"What are you doing?"
"I can't decide... which I hate more," Zach started to interrogate him, ignoring Hannah. "Monster Blood or Go Eat Worms!"
"I'm so confused..." Champ let out as I just sat there.
"You see the endings coming from a mile away..." he continued, moving his hand around in a schematic manner as he kept on going. "...it's like... stop trying to be Stephen King, man." That's when Shivers slammed on the breaks, stopping the car, as all of us flung forward then back. He set the car, putting the shift on break, casting a glare at the boy.
"Let me tell you something about Steve King," he pointed out, squinting through his glasses. "Steve King wishes he could write like me, and I've sold way more books then him but nobody ever talks about THAT!" he declared, his eyes going wide.
Zach, now starting to regret what he had said, leaned away from him. "Okay." He nodded, getting what he meant.
"Way more books!" Shivers repeated, before turning away, letting out an aggravated grunt.
"Dad..." Hannah rubbed his shoulder soothingly. "...your face is doing the red thing again."
Champ then grinned. "Wait, you're R.L. Stine?" He began to get excited, the grin getting wider, as Shivers, who is known as Stine, gave the other boy raised eyebrows, while Hannah had her hand on the side of her head, shaking it a bit. "That's you?" His excitement grew. "Really?" Stine then looked away from him, also putting his hand on the side of his head. "Really?" He looked at Zach then me, acting like a four year old who wanted to see someone for a long time. "Hey, can I take a quick picture?" he asked, getting his phone out of his pocket.
"No. No," Stine simply answered.
"Come on." Champ set the phone on camera mode. "Come on. The answer is 'yes'." He brought the phone in front of him and Stine as he smiled.
"I said no..." The light of his phone flashed, taking a picture. "What? I- No!" Stine waved him back. "Get that thing out of here!" he cried as Champ slowly took the phone away from the writer. "I said no. Why can't you get that?" he scolded, giving the now cowering teen an angry look. "I didn't want to have selfie with you!"
"Sorry..." Champ began to apologize, feeling bad for what he did. "I just want a photo for my Instagram page," he explained, going to put his phone away.
"Oh, is that all?" His mood quickly changed into a relaxed one. "Let me see." He held his hand out behind him. Champ put on a smile.
"Yeah, here you go." He gave his phone to Stine.
"Thank you." Stine then threw the phone out the window with grunt. I saw it land on the road next to us with Champ smiling behind Stine, who had a frustrated look, his mouth wide open as well as his eyes.
Stine then started the car, driving away. Champ looked back, hurt, knowing that he won't get his phone back as he crossed his arms, almost in tears.
"He did tell you no," I said to him, the picture still in my mind. That one picture with him being... happy.
By the time we got to Stine's house, he pulled up onto the driveway, parking the car. We all got out of the car, slamming the doors shut. Zach closed door on Champ, who opened it again, getting out as well before closing it.
"Hey, hey." Zach went up to him. "What happens now?" he asked.
"You go home, put on your p.j.'s, get your blankie, and go nap-nap," Stine responded in slight, baby talk voice as he made the sign for sleep, then went back to his regular voice. "In the morning, this will all feel like a bad dream," he said, then started walking towards the house.
"Dad, wait," Hannah started to protest.
"There's no time, start packing, we're moving again," he told her, making his way inside the house, his daughter right behind him.
The three of us stood there, until Champ spoke up. "So... what do you want to do now?" Ignoring him, Zach went towards the house. "Zach," he said. "Dude." He went with Zach. I was about to go with them when I stopped all of a sudden. Slowly, I lifted my hand, my right hand, and saw it shake. No...not again... It kept on shaking, getting more violent than ever. A wave of anxiety came to me, my pulse getting higher. But... why? Why do I feel so anxious all of a sudden? The violent shaking turned more aggressive from my hand to my arm. I leaned against the fence, waiting for it to stop.
Once it did, I let out a relieved breath, calming myself down.
Why did that happen? I wish I knew. It only twitches or shakes when I'm only nervous or thinking back from my childhood, but... now, it's getting worse. It's like... I sensed someone, or something, in the house, like, in the study room.
When I was finally relaxed, I headed into the house.
A loud thud sound came from the living room when I entered the house. I made my way towards the living room entrance to see Zach and Champ there, standing by the doorway.
"I could've killed you!" Stine let out. Both boys gave out false compliments.
"That was a terrible throw."
"How?"
"What are you doing here? Go home," he ordered, turning away from the boys.
"No," Zach refused, walking into the room with his friend by his side. "Not until you explain what is going on."
Stine shook his head. "No, no, no. I can't explain it."
"We were almost just eaten by Frosty the Snowman, which should be impossible if Hazel hadn't sucked it back in the book to save us, so try!" Zach demanded, and I was surprised when he said the word 'saved' when he was talking about me.
"Okay," Stine gave in. "Look..." He pinched his nose. "Where do I begin...?" He then started tell his story. "When I was younger, I suffered from terrible allergies that kept me indoors. And all the kids threw rocks at my windows and called me names..." I blinked. He was... picked on? For not being able to go outside? "...So I made my own friends: Monsters, ghouls, demons to terrorize the neighbors and all of the kids who made fun of me," he expressed out. "...And they became real to me..." He squinted his eyes through his glasses again. "And then one day, they actually... became... real... My monsters literally jumped off the page..." He motioned his hand as if he remembered how it happened. Stine then held the book in his hands. "As long as the books remain locked, we're safe, but when they're opened..." He shook his head. "...well, you've just seen what happened," he referred to what happened earlier.
It was silence for a moment. "I'm allergic to dust mites," Champ suddenly brought up.
"What's your point?" Stine replied.
"I have allergies, too, so... I feel your pain," he said, being very sympathetic.
Stine squinted his eyes for the third time that night when Hannah came into the room. "Why am I talking to you? Hannah, let's go," he commanded, going up the stairs. She was about to say something to us when he shouted for her. "Hannah!"
"I'm sorry..." she said, going up the steps.
"Let's go," her father ordered slightly as we followed her up the steps. Only I stopped again, feeling my arm jerk forcefully, sensing something up there. I closed my eyes, clenching them tight, gritting my teeth tightly. Something's in that room up there... Something... evil.
I kept on clashing my teeth together. The jerking seemed to take longer then before. I cracked open one eye, watching my arm as it did a final jerk, doing a quick twitch once it finished. My anxious feeling went away, and so did my anxiety. I then proceeded up the steps.
"Hannah, you grab A to M," I heard Stine instruct his daughter, making my way behind the boys. "I'll get M to Z. And keep the man-eating plant away from the bug-eyed alien..." His voice trailed off. "Oh, no... not him..."
"Hello, papa..." It was a creepy raspy voice. Zach, Champ, and I entered the study room. I almost gasped to what I was sensing. It was a ventriloquist dummy, sitting on a leather chair that was next to Stine's desk. It wore a gray tux with a red bow tie and a red, ruffled flower. His shoes are brown, matching its eyes and hair. Its hair is painted on its head, looking like Stine's hair. He didn't have a shirt, but its chest was painted white. It even had chip marks on its nose and chin. "How long has it been...?" it asked in a creepy, frightening voice. My arm started shaking... No... It then saw us. "Who are your new friends?" It raised its brows in interest.
"We're not friends."
"Barely know him."
I leaned against the wall with my back when Zach and Champ responded to its words. The wooden puppet's eyes gazed at me. It kept looking at me... mocking me... giving me its eerier smile...
"Slappy, it's so nice to see you again..." Stine made his way towards it. Well, I should say him, since the puppet has a name. "We haven't seen each other in a long time..." He inched his way closer. And my arm kept on shaking.
"Did you miss me?" Slappy grinned.
"Of course I missed you..." He reached down to grab him when the lights flickered off, along with lightning from outside. When they came back on, he was gone; vanished. Hannah let out a gasp, and Stine looked around frantically.
"So what's the plan, friend?" We all saw Slappy standing by the large hole that the Abominable Snowman made. He held up a key by the string that he somehow got, holding it between his wooden fingers. "You must've brought me out for something fun," he said, putting the key down. "Terrorize the locals? Destroy the down? Let's get silly," he declared, moving his head around.
"You guessed it, Slappy..." Stine looked down, spotting the book in front of him, which I believed it's Slappy's manuscript, as he made his way towards it. "I was going to destroy Madison and I..." His eyes flickered up, then to the book. "...And I couldn't do it without you," he kept on stalling, distracting the puppet.
As if the air was getting sucked out of the room, I began having trouble breathing; hyperventilating. I shut my eyes tight, sliding down towards the floor, sitting down, as my arm continued to shake and jerk and twitch. When will it stop...?
"Aw shucks..." Slappy bashfully replied. "You've given me... oh, what's the word?" he thought. "Goosebumps." He laughed at his own joke.
"Oh, my God. He's so creepy," Champ whispered. You got that right...
"Oh, he's such a crack-up." I opened my eyes, making quick gasping breaths, seeing Stine getting closer to the book. "Such a clever dummy..." He reached down towards the book.
Slappy's eyebrows quickly went down. "Who are you calling dummy? Dummy." He then looked down and saw Stine about to reach his book, and gave him an angry look. "You're trying to put me back in?!" he snared out, glaring at him.
Stine stopped, giving Slappy a sheepish smile. "No, no, no, no, no, no," he quickly answered, raising his hand. "Don't be silly."
"I know when you're lying to me, papa," the puppet exclaimed. Stine went to reach for the book, and lightning flashed again, flickering the lights, and book that was laying on the floor was now in Slappy's hand, a match in the other, fire dancing around on it. "You've made Slappy very unhappy..." he rasped. "He's not going back on the shelf... ever... again..." He brought the lit match towards the manuscript.
"Slappy, no wait!" But it was too late. Slappy set the book on fire, ignoring Stine's protest, tossing it aside.
"I think it's time that I started pulling the strings in this relationship..." He waved the match for the fire to go out. "Tonight is gonna be the best story you've ever written..." he sneered. "All of your children are coming out to play..." Lightning flashed as Slappy's laugh echoed away, and I stopped shaking, regaining my normal breathing, and began to stand up. Good thing no one saw that... I don't want to freak them out or anything. And I believe it's best for them not to know.
"Oh, thank God, he's gone," Champ relieved, raising his head slightly, looking at the ceiling, then back down at the floor.
"Oh God. He's gone..." Stine turned around, seeing the broken bookcase, before going back over to us. "And he's taken all the books."
My eyes slowly went over the bookcase. He was right... The books are gone...
And so is Slappy.
Stine immediately ran out of the room with us close behind. And I could still hear Slappy's laugh... his creepy laugh in my head, and I quickly shook it away as we ran down the steps, us following Stine. "Congratulations. You've just released a demon. A ventriloquist dummy with a serious Napoleonic complex," he announced sarcastically, continuing his way down the steps.
"For the record, I only opened one book, and now I see that was a mistake," Zach countered back once we got to the door.
"The snowman must've knock Slappy's book down," Hannah theorized, defending her friend that she likes.
"I still blame him." Stine pointed at Zach. "I don't like you boy." He kept pointing at him while I tried to get the door open, but it wouldn't.
"I can't get the door open." I jiggled the knob.
"Let me see." I stepped out of the way so Stine can get the door open, but no, it wouldn't. "It's locked from the outside," he told us. Then we heard something knock down to the floor, bringing our attention to it. "Out the kitchen door. Go now," he urged, waving his hands forward. We ran to the kitchen, and stopped to see something on the other side of the doggy door. Some sort of small figure.
"Why is that here?" Champ whispered to me.
"I don't know..." I answered. Another one popped out in some kind of jar, making Champ flinch as it cracked its neck. Hannah and Stine let out a yelp when they saw another one in one of the cabinets. Then the dishwasher opened revealing thee more; one holding a shovel, the other holding a pickaxe, while the other doesn't have anything. They jerked their heads towards us. The one from the doggy door swung into the kitchen with its pickaxe. Then more, then more, then more, all coming out of the top and bottom cabinets. A lot of them were on the floor, some were on the counters, and four of the figures were holding a silver ladle, and a lot of them either had a shovel or a pick axe, while the others had nothing. A few were holding lamps.
"Gnomes?" I questioned, seeing what they are now.
Zach raised a brow, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe they're friendly..." Suddenly, a knife was thrown, embedding into the cabinet, inches away from Zach's head, who turned to glance at the knife, stunned. "Not friendly." He turned to us. "Definitely not friendly," he declared. And all the gnomes charged at us. Some gnomes from the top cabinets used some rags that are tied together, pulling it up onto Zach's throat. One got on the ladle, while the other jumped on it. The gnome connected its pick axe to the other gnome's pickaxe, and swung forward.
"Ooh." Stine grunted when the gnome landed on his face, hitting him with its pickaxe. "He's stuck to my face," he muffled, trying to pull it off his face. "Definitely not friendly."
"Dad!" Hannah went over to help him. "Ah!" But a gnome was on her head, pulling on her ponytail, yanking her back.
"Don't worry, I'll save you." Champ went over to the stove, grabbed the frying pan and, with a yell, he pried the gnome off of Stine's face by hitting it, making it break into millions of pieces, and Stine fell face first onto the floor. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" he asked. Zach yanked down the tied up rags, throwing the gnomes down on the floor, smashing them into pieces. I grabbed a gnome that started to pinch me, flinching at the feeling of being touched. Quickly, I dropped kicked it towards Champ, who caught it in his hands. It squirmed around, and Champ went over to the sink, forcing the gnome upside down into the drain, switching the garbage disposal, grinding up the little bastard.
"Ready." I looked down to see some gnomes tying Stine's first wrist, then the other one, with electric cords. "Set." They tied his ankles together. "Go." They got him up all hogtied. My attention then switched when I heard a smash on a wall, and Hannah ducked her head, avoiding the gnome that Zach had thrown. She gave him a stunned look, her mouth agape.
"I'm sorry," he apologized.
"Help me." My attention flickered back towards Stine. My mouth dropped open when I saw the gnomes pulling him towards the oven that they had opened, flames dancing around inside from the high temperature. "Help me." Stine then looked over his shoulder, seeing where he was heading to. "Oh, no, no, no. Help. Someone."
I spotted a mop against the wall, grabbing it in my hands. "Get back. Get back." I waved Hannah, Zach, and Champ out of the way. "Get back!" I yelled. I swung the mop, hitting the gnomes off of Stine, who tried to put the fire out by blowing at it, but with no use.
"Heave-ho. Heave-ho. Heave-ho," they kept on chanting as I continued to smash them. I dropped the mop when I smashed up most of the gnomes.
"Help me. Help me. Get them off," I said, gesturing my hand for them to help me.
"Okay, okay." Hannah began grabbing gnomes, helping me, while the boys did the same, throwing them into the oven.
"Heave-ho. Heave-ho," the gnomes continued to chant as we kept throwing them into the oven.
"Quickly," Stine declared, and I threw the last gnome into the oven.
"Shut it. Shut it," Hannah exclaimed, and we quickly shut the oven door on them, their fists hitting the door on the other side.
"Heave-ho. Heave-ho..." They melted inside the oven.
"Untie me," Stine said.
"You know, I imagined something different..." Champ started to complain as we began to untie Stine, getting him free. "...'Come over to my house. They will be girls. I'm your wingman'." Once Stine was free, we slowly stood up as the gnomes... put themselves together. "Oh, no, no, no..." Champ slightly wailed as the gnomes kept putting themselves back together.
"We got to get out of here," Zach said. "We need to get the basement."
"It's locked," Stine told him.
"He picked it," I quickly explained, and we all started running to the basement.
"That's breaking and entering," he hollered behind us as we proceeded down the stairs, the gnomes chasing us. "Watch out for the bear traps."
"Why'd it have to be bear traps?" Champ declared as we avoided them, hearing them snap shut on the gnomes.
"And another thing," I added over my shoulder, "why do you have bear traps in your basement?"
"I was preparing something like this," Stine answered. Prepared for what? A robbery?
"Alright, come on." Zach waved his hand, ushering us out of the basement, the gnomes at our heels. "Hurry." We made it out of the basement, and Stine slammed the door shut, as the gnomes tried to get out.
"Lock it! Lock it!" he ordered, holding onto the door.
"Okay." I locked up the door, and Stine planted his back on the door, panting.
"Why couldn't of you have written stories about rainbows and unicorns?" Zach exclaimed, referring to what happened in there.
"Because that doesn't sell four hundred million copies," Stine gasped once he caught his breath.
"Whoa, domestic?" Champ replied, smiling a bit.
Stine shook his head. "No, worldwide. It's still very impressive. Shut up," he responded. That's when we saw something red falling down, flying down in front of us, and there were even more.
"What is that?" I asked. We followed the red stuff that led us to something on the ground in front of us that is all charred up and black, and it was lit on fire.
"He's burning the books..." Hannah realized once we saw what it was.
"Why is he doing that?" Zach questioned.
"So there's no way to put the monsters back inside... It's Slappy's revenge..." Stine tilted his head in thought. "Slappy's Revenge... that's a good title."
Are you kidding me...?