Chapter 6: Ghouls And Sadler Ghosts
Entering into the graveyard, I couldn't help but feel like we are being watched. Each step I took sent a chill down my spine, and my mind kept going back and forth, thinking that these three kids of my age are only pretending to be my friends... Just like the voice is telling me. However, something else came into my mind, too. The one where Zach asked, 'How come I never seen you smile?'
I sighed to myself, where no one else can see it as I walked next to Stine with Champ on the other side, kicking a rock out of my way. And when I asked Stine if they are my friends, he actually gave me a shocked look on his face, and when he asked me why I think they are not my friends, all I gave him was 'I don't know'. Maybe... Maybe I am being crazy. Only... how can I tell if these people are my friends? I've been through a lot growing up.
I kicked another rock, shoving my hands deep into my pocket, thinking, my mind racing over to the evil, wooden puppet that wants me, making my arm do a slight jerk.
"Oh, God, this a bad idea..." Champ looked around nervously, and jumped when he heard a snap sound. "What was that?" he yelped, his eyes darting back and forth, until he tripped and fell.
"Are you okay?" Stine asked, helping the boy back on his feet as I watched.
"Yeah, yeah. Yeah." He brushed himself off. "Yeah. Just a root. Nothing scary here."
"So how did you get the nickname 'Champ'?" Stine questioned.
"It's not a nickname," Champ told him.
I gave him a surprised look. "Wait, that's your real name?" I replied.
"My full name is Champion," he explained, and Stine started snickering.
"Your actual name is Champion..." He looked over at the boy who gave him a hurt look. "Sorry," he apologized.
"My dad won a bronze back in the '92 Olympics," Champ began telling his story of how he got his name.
"Really?" By the tone of his voice, I can tell that Stine was interested by the story, and so was I... It was like how I got the name of 'Hazel' cause of my eye color. Even though people had already noticed, and I don't need to actually tell them.
"My mom..." Champ continued tell his story. "...she was an all-American sprinter and a two-time world debate champion. So..." He shrugged his shoulders, smiling. "They named me 'Champ'." He kicked a rock out of his way, watching it bounce off a gravestone. "Only... I'm not the best at everything..." He sighed, kicking another one out of the way. "I'm... basically afraid of everything." He then turned to me. "I'm not sure if I asked you this, but, um... How did you got your name?"
"Hmm?" I returned, snapping out of my thoughts.
"How did you got the name 'Hazel?" he repeated.
I breathed out of my nose. "From the eye color..." I merely answered. I sighed, slightly louder this time, and looked over at Stine. "Can I say something to you?" I asked.
"Sure, go ahead," he responded, waiting for what I have to say.
"Well, this isn't going to be easy for me to say, but..." I rubbed the back of my head. "Were you..." I struggled to get the words out of my mouth.
"Go on..." Stine waited patiently.
"All I'm trying to ask is... were you... beating your own...daughter...?" I flinched by the time the words came out of my mouth. I turned my head, seeing a surprised look on his face.
Stine adjusted his glasses for like the hundredth time that night. "Why would you think I was hurting my own daughter...?"
I bit my bottom lip. "I don't know... It just came to me when I was doing my final walk before I hit for bed until now. I heard you and Hannah arguing, and right before I knew it, she was screaming bloody murder when I heard a crash in your house, and the lights going out," I explained. "And also..." I added. "Why did you lie to the cops, saying that she moved to London?"
Stine sighed heavily. "I just don't want them to know about my secret," he answered.
"The one about the monsters that are now reeking havoc around town?" I replied. He did a small nod. I sighed. "You know... I didn't want to tell you or anyone about my past childhood, but... maybe I'm ready."
"Oh?" He looked at me. "What was your childhood like? I know you told me you don't have real parents anymore... So did you have foster parents?"
I opened my mouth. "Well, actually..."
"RUN!" I heard a cry from behind us.
We all turned to see Zach and Hannah running towards us with zombie creatures chasing them. Zach shoved one onto the ground. Stine recognized what they are. "Ghouls. Go, go." He gave Champ a quick shove, getting him to run, while I stood there for a small second. "Hazel, run!" Stine cried out, grabbing my sleeve of my shirt. "Go!" He pulled me in front of him, and I ran with him right behind me, the others right ahead of us as we caught up with them at the gates.
"Oh, they're getting closer," Champ manage to say once we got to the gates, and Stine held it open for us, since there was a chain that kept the gates from fully opening.
"Go. Here. Go. Go." Stine waved his hand for us to get through between the gates, and we did.
"Come on. Come on. Go, go, go," Zach urged Stine as he began to go through between the gates. "Hurry. Quick, quick, quick."
But Stine can only get halfway out of the gates. "I'm stuck," he told us. "Go on without me. Save yourself," he said in a slight dramatic way.
"Okay, good luck." Champ turned and started running down the path.
Stine's mouth dropped open. "No, I didn't mean it, Champion!" he yelled out, but the teen kept on going. "What kind of monster would take me up for that offer?" He looked at the ghouls that were grabbing him. "Get away from me," he commanded, then turned to us. "Pull. Everybody pull." Zach and Hannah grabbed him, while I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him out between the gates, and we all fell on the dirt ground. "I'll kill him." Stine stood up as we did the same. "Where is that little imbecile?" He started running with us right behind him. "Wait for us, you coward!" he hollered.
Slappy
I slammed my wooden fist on the desk, glaring at Dr. Maniac and Purple Rage. "You don't have her?!" I cried in an angry voice. "I told you to get that girl before I get rid of papa!" My eyes glared at them through the sunglasses that I was wearing. "Why don't you have her!?" I demanded, my voice doing a high raspy sound in my throat.
"We thought it would be a good idea for you to wait for awhile..."
"Why?!" I contorted, cutting Purple Rage off his words.
"Let's just say she got a bit, no, very... sick when I mentioned you," Maniac grinned, showing his straight row of upper and bottom teeth.
"I don't care!" I got up from the chair, standing on the desk, grabbing him by the hair. "I've already noticed back at papa's study room," I hissed, pulling him close to my face. "I want her... to freak her out even more..." I seized, gripping his hair tightly.
"Can you at least wait for the right timing?" he asked, pulling his hair out of my hand. "You know... when nobody else is watching?"
"I-" I stopped yelling, a grin spreading all over my face. "You know... that's not a bad idea," I said, thinking. "When nobody is watching, use anything to get her to you guys, then bring her to me."
"What about Stine Boy?" Maniac questioned, fixing his hair.
"I'll deal with him, then! Now go!" I pointed out the door. Once they left, I sat back down on the chair, putting my wooden hands on my face. "Monsters," I muttered, shaking my head. "You can live with them, you can't live without them."
I then heard the door open. "Hello?" a voice spoke, which sounded like a lady. "Is anyone in here?" I then heard her speak into the microphone that was at the front desk. "Calling all cops, calling all the cops. Head to the high school. My nephew's in trouble. He's with R.L. Stine. They think they know how to stop all this." She stopped speaking into the microphone, pressing the button. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
"I can hear you." I lifted the blinds up, revealing myself to the lady, who now has a shocked look on her face. "Sergeant Slappy, ready to protect and serve," I stated.
The startled look didn't leave her face and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my goodness. You're..." she began.
"Don't do it..." I warned.
"...a talking..." she added.
"Don't say it..." I kept on warning.
"...dummy," she finished.
"You said it." The two Bug-Eyed Aliens walked into the room, freezing the woman who let out a terrified yell once she got frozen. "You have the right to remain..." I paused. "...silence." I looked at the Bug-Eyed Aliens. "Thank you, boys." I let out a laugh. "Now... before I get to the high school, I just need that girl, then... I'll get rid of you, papa!" I opened my mouth, letting out an evil laugh.
Hazel
By the time we caught up to Champ, Stine gave him an angry look. "Why did you run off like that!?" he roared.
"You said to save to yourself," Champ answered.
"I was being dramatic, I didn't really mean it," Stine told him.
Champ looked down. "Oh... Sorry," he murmured.
"Come on, we should get going before more monsters come at us," I advised. "Plus, I don't want to get captured by Maniac and Purple Rage, and be taken to Slappy." I shuddered.
"Yeah, we should-" A twig snapped, cutting Stine off.
"What was that?" Hannah scooted closer to her father, and Zach picked up a very thick stick that was half his size. Another snap, and Champ let out a yelp, going behind Zach.
Three figures appeared from the trees, walking towards us. Two boys and one girl. The one boy seemed to be about twelve, tall and thin with short brown hair, and some freckles across his nose. The girl looks about to eleven years old, with short brown hair. The other boy, who seems a lot younger, which looks about five, with large ears that poked through his light blonde hair, and blue eyes, while the other two have hazel eyes like mine, their skin tone is the color of Caucasian like Zach's. The girl and the younger boy also have freckles on their noses, too.
The older boy wore a black-sleeved baseball shirt, and grey cargo shorts and shoes. The girl wore a violet headband on her head, a sleeveless pink T-shirt, dark purple cropped trousers and purple shoes, while the younger boy wore a red and yellow striped shirt and black shorts, along with dark, blue sneakers.
"The Sadlers," Stine gasped once they stopped in front of us.
"That's right..." The older boy stepped forward. "...dad."
The girl giggled. "I can't believe you even remember us," she mused, giving a smirk. "Even after you created us back in August of nineteen nighty-four." She looked over at Hannah. "Hey there, Hannah," she tried to say in a friendly way, but it came out wickedly. "I bet you don't even remember me or my brothers." She let out another giggle.
"Of course I do," Hannah spoke, going over to them. Stine grabbed her, pulling her behind him.
I, however, blinked. "Who are you...?" I manage to ask.
The older boy cast a glare at me. "Hello? We're the Sadlers, you worthless girl," he snapped. "Just like our dad mentioned." He pointed at Stine.
"I am not your dad!" Stine clenched his hands into fists. "And you don't call Hazel worthless," he added.
"Hazel?" The girl let out a scornful laugh. "That's the most ridiculous name I ever heard!" She pointed at me, laughing. "How did you get that name, loser?"
"Don't call me that..." I tried to say, tears brimming in my eyes. "You can clearly tell how I got my name..."
But her laughing made it even worse for me to try to explain to these three kids. Even though they're younger then us, those words sank into my skin.
"Oh, right." The girl took a deep breath, calming herself down. "It's because of your eyes. I get it." She shrugged. "Still, it's the most ridiculous name I and my brothers ever heard."
"Oh yeah?" Zach stepped forward, the stick in his hands. "Then who are you?" he challenged.
"You want to know our names?" the older boy smirked, not scared at all by Zach nor his weapon. "Well, let me introduce myself and my siblings. I'm Sam Sadler..." He pointed at himself. "This is Louisa Sadler..." He pointed at the girl, then the smaller boy. "And this is Nat Sadler. We're from the book Ghost Beach," he told us.
"What do you want?" Stine demanded.
"Oh... nothing," Nat finally spoke up, grinning an evil grin. "Just... wanted to, let's just say... do destruction on this town..." He giggled.
"You're ghosts?" Champ squealed from behind Zach.
"Of course we are!" Louisa seethed. "We are ghosts."
"What gave it away? The title that I mentioned?" Sam questioned in an irritated voice. "It's a good thing that Slappy let us out. We missed being out of our book, scaring the daylights out of people..." He snickered.
"All of you monsters are going to be gone for good," Stine vowed from earlier. "Every single one of you." He pointed at each ghost, eyes narrowing at each of them.
"Oooh, I'm so scared," Louisa mocked sarcastically. "No way, you'll stop us."
"Yes, he will!" I took the stick out of Zach's hand. "Stine will stop you and all the monsters that he has ever created!"
Sam grabbed the stick from the other end. "Our own dad wouldn't do that to us... right?" He glanced at Stine.
"Yes, he will," I said, yanking the stick away from him as he kept his smirk on his face. That smirk which brought me back when I was younger... "Get lost... or else."
"Or else, what?" Sam crossed his arms, coming closer to me. "What are you going to do?"
"This!" I swung the stick, hitting him right at the side of his head, knocking him onto the ground.
"Sam!" his two siblings shrieked.
"Go! Run!" I yelled, dropping the stick.
We all ran, and we heard Sam yelling out behind us. "You can run, but you can't hide!" His words echoed around us.
By the time we made it out of the woods, we stopped, and Hannah turned to me. "Why'd you do that?" she asked me, catching her breath.
"Hey, I just did it," I answered.
"At least you didn't let those hurtful words get to you." Champ pat me on the shoulder, and I flinched. "Sorry," he said. "Forgot that you don't like to be touched."
"It's fine. The words did got me under my skin, but I shook it off." I frowned. "They did remind me of everything back when I was a kid."
"Speaking of your childhood," Stine brought up. "Mind telling us about it since Zach cut you off."
"Um..." I stepped back. "Even though I said I was ready, let's stop these evil things first. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll tell you."
"She's right." Zach nodded. "First the monsters, then you can tell us about your childhood. Only when you're ready." He did a quick grin, and I didn't grin back. "Friends 'til the end, right?" he asked.
"What does that mean?" Champ responded.
"It's just a saying," he explained.
"So... we aren't friends?"
"Yes, Champ, we are." Zach rolled his eyes. "It means that... Ugh, nevermind. Let's just get to the high school and warn everybody." He started jogging down the path to the high school with the others following.
Friends 'til the end... Are they really my friends? I wish I can just ask them, but... I sighed. I still think they are just pretending.
And if they are, will I feel happy again?
Sighing again, I ran to catch up with them.
Again, only time will tell me.
Slappy
I walked out of the police station when the lawn gnomes came up to me. "I was wondering when you little things will come back," I said. They started talking in their small voices. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. They broke you into pieces, whatever." Just then Maniac and Purple Rage came back. "Ugh! I told you to get that girl!" I was getting really frustrated with these two.
"Yeah, about that..." Maniac spoke. "Where should we get her?"
"They're going to the high school." All of us turned to see Sam and his two siblings right behind him, running up to us. They stopped, panting. "We saw them going down the path to the high school," he repeated, catching his breath.
"What happened to you?" I asked, noticing a bruise on the side of his head.
"Some girl called Hazel hit me with a stick," he quickly explained.
"Hazel... I'm surprised that she did that. So you said that she and the others are heading to the high school, am I right?"
Louisa nodded. "That's right," she panted.
I clapped my hands together. "We're going to high school," I declared. I got in the car, rolling down the window, looking at Dr. Maniac and Purple Rage. "You remember what to do, right?"
"Use anything to get her to us when no one is looking," Purple Rage remembered.
"Good... when no one is watching." I pointed a finger at them. "But if you fail... you'll pay the consequences. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," they both saluted.
"Let's go." The Haunted Car started up, and we all headed to the high school.
Hazel
When we reached the school, we entered the building, walking around. "Where did they put my typewriter?" Stine asked out loud. "I know it was this way. It might be the other way. We should split up," he suggested, but Champ didn't think so.
"What? No. We should never split up. Have you read one of your books?" he responded.
"Come on. How many display cases could there be?" Hannah grabbed Champ. "Come on, Hazel."
"Coming," I replied, and followed them.
We began looking for the typewriter.
I didn't see anyone else, besides the people I'm with, looking at all the posters on the walls of the hallways, until I spotted something in one of the display cases. "Hey guys, I found the typewriter," I exclaimed, going over to it.
"Awesome," Hannah declared. "Good eye, Hazel."
"...thanks..."
"Let's go tell dad." Hannah jogged down the hallway. "Dad! Zach!" She kept on hollering, her voice echoing. We didn't find them until we got to one of the classrooms that we entered. "There you are." She stopped, noticing the looks on their faces. "Are you okay?" she asked, walking towards Zach. "You look like you just saw a ghost," she said in a joking manner, but Zach didn't laugh, and she took notice to that. "Okay. Well, come on. Thanks to Hazel, we found the typewriter."
As she, Champ, and Stine left the room, I stared at Zach, noticing something is up. "...are you okay?" I asked.
"Huh?" He shook his head. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine."
"...Alright." I wasn't too convinced on what he just told me. We ran out of the room, catching up with the others at the display case where I saw the typewriter.
"Oh, my sweet darling, I've missed you so much. Mwah." Stine gave the typewriter a kiss, before closing typewriter case, then took it out of the display case. He held the handle of his typewriter case that the typewriter was in.
"Alright, so start writing," Zach urged.
"Yes, but what's the story?" Stine began thinking.
"What do you mean? Monsters lose, good guys win, the end," Zach kept on urging him to write.
However, Stine shook his head. "No, no, no," he said. "It doesn't work unless it's a real Goosebumps story, with twists and turns and frights," he explained, then smiled at Zach. "Not to mention some personal growth for our hero."
Zach blinked. "...what?"
"Go to the gym. Warn everyone," Stine ignored his question, walking away with the typewriter in his hand. "Tell them to barricade the doors."
"Where are you going?" Hannah called out, having Stine stop when she and the two boys got to the doors, leading to the gym.
"To find someplace to write," he answered. "Slappy's going to come after me. I have a deadline." He looked at his watch, then back at us. "Literally. Now go," he urged. "Hazel, come with me," he gestured. "It'll be easier to keep you safe from him if you're with me."
I nodded. "Got it."
Just as I was about to follow Stine to wherever he was going, I felt something hit me from behind. "Ow." I looked down to see something on the floor, making me tilt my head to one side. A penny? Who in the world would throw a penny at me?
Another one hit the floor, further this time. Then another. I didn't pick them up, I just followed each time another one hit the tile floor, leading me out the front door.
By the time I stepped out of the school, I heard laughing. "Hey, coins do work," a voice exclaimed with insane laughter, making my heart go up in my throat. "Great idea, Purple Rage. Coins make great bait."
I turned to see Dr. Maniac and Purple Rage walking up to me. Maniac grinned.
"Hello, girly..."