We all know Slappy the dummy from Goosebumps. But Slappy has a twin, named Snappy with green eyes. (Y/n) is 18 and goes to visits her younger brother, Luke Harrison, who's dad makes horror movies. It is a lot of fun being around such scary stuff-esp...
My father used one hand to brush his beard. Dad's face is covered by a short salt-and-pepper beard. His thick forehead is covered by a straight-back sweep of black hair. His light blue eyes appear to be blazing directly into you and appear to be examining you all the time. He is exceedingly trim and appears to be forty years younger than he actually is. He too has a youthful appearance. Every day, he dresses the same, donning a black rock band T-shirt over straight-leg jeans.
"(Y/n), check out the dummies," Dad said. "They're not remote controlled. They're not robots or anything. They're just dummies." Dad says. I walked over and picked one up. I picked up the green eyed one. Its arms and legs hung limply. Its head tilted back. "It's heavier than I thought," I said. I squeezed the dummy's middle. "No controls." I mutter. "But, Dad" Kelly started. "They walked into the garage," Luke said, "and they talked to us. You did hear their voices right?" Jamal asks. Dad shook his head.
"I wasn't out here, I was driving home and (Y/n) called me saying she would be coming over. I was also bringing groceries into the house." His blue eyes locked onto Luke. "Oh. I get it you're writing your own horror script. A new idea for one of your plays? Sounds like you're off to a good start." Dad says. "Dad, you've got to believe us," Kelly said. I could tell by her voice that she was upset and a little frightened.
"We're not making up a story." I state. Dad laughed. "Don't kid a kidder." Dad said, as he took the green eyed dummy from me. "I hope you kids have been practicing your screams of terror," he said. Kelly opened her mouth wide and let out a shrill howl. I covered my ears. "Awesome," Dad said. "You're going to be a star!" Dad says. "I can't believe we're going to be in your new film, Mr. Harrison," Jamal said.
"I need a lot of extras for the crowd scenes," Dad replied. "You know. People to scream and run down the street in a panic." He lifted the other dummy onto his shoulder. "These two dudes are the stars, of course." Dad says. "What's the film called?" Kelly asked. "I Married a Dummy. We tested the title and it got a ninety-eight- percent approval rating." Dad says, I laugh, it sounded funny. "Is that good?" I asked. I was making a joke, but Dad didn't get it. He shoved one of the dummies into my arms.
"(Y/n), help me carry this one up to the attic." Dad says. I took the brown eyed dummy and swung it onto my shoulder. I began to follow Dad to the house. As I walked, the wooden hand bounced against my arm. I stopped when I felt hard wooden fingers wrap around my wrist. "Whoa." The fingers tightened... tightened... tightened till they were digging into my skin. I then body slammed the doll into the grass! "(Y/n)!" Dad cried in shock.
The dummy's arm drooped limply now. The wooden hand hung lifelessly on the grass. Nowhere near my wrist. "It-it grabbed my wrist," I stammered. The pain was still shooting down my arm. Dad rolled his eyes. "(Y/n), give me a break. You can carry a joke too far, you know?" Dad asks. "Dad, it's not a joke, I'm 18 now, I don't joke about this" I said. I held up my wrist. "Look. It's red." I state. "I don't see it," Dad replied. "Colorblind" I muttered, he didn't hear it.
"Why are you doing this, (Y/n)? If you don't want to be in the movie, just tell me." He rubbed his beard. "Are you really afraid of these two old puppets?" I state. "No. No way," I said. I could see that Dad wasn't going to believe me. I was afraid...So I shut up and followed him up the steep attic stairs to the horror museum.
Kelly, Luke and Jamal trailed after us. The attic is long and wide with a low ceiling and twin windows at both ends. Gray evening light washed down from the skylight above us. The dark floorboards are old and loose. They creak and groan when you walk on them. Perfect for a horror museum. Dad clicked on the ceiling lights, and the glass display cases all lit up. The cases are filled with shelf after shelf of treasures from old horror movies. I glanced at the mummy hand from the original Mummy movie.
Huge shoes worn by Frankenstein in the original Frankenstein movie. a jaw from a shark in the film Jaws. We moved along a wall that was covered in vintage movie posters. The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Monster from the Black Lagoon, etc. Jamal reclined. I observed that he maintained a forward-facing gaze. He paid little attention to any of the exhibits or posters. He's never enjoyed coming up here. He maintained that he wasn't scared. He claimed he simply wasn't a huge admirer of horror. I prefer science fiction films, he declared. "The ones where they demonstrate incredible robots, virtual reality, and futuristic machinery." Typical Jamal.
Dad led the way to an empty glass display case. He set his dummy down on top of it and took the other dummy from my arms. I rubbed my wrist. It still ached. "Why are we locking them up in the attic if you need them for the movie?" I asked. "They're very valuable," Dad said. "I need to keep them safe and sound." Dad says. "And when the movie is over?" Luke asks. "Are you going to keep them up here?" Luke asks. Dad shook his head.
"No. I'm going to sell them. I have two collectors who are dying to get their hands on them. One in Pasadena and one in Beijing, China. Do you believe that? Selling these dummies will pay for your college education." Dad says, to Luke, I was a little jealous, but whatever. "Wow," Kelly said. "They're totally valuable." Kelly says. "You mean you're going to split them up?" Jamal asked, his eyes on the dummies. "Aren't they, like, brothers?" Jamal asks. "Yeah. They're identical twins," I said. Dad laughed.
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"Dummies can't be brothers. They're dummies. What's wrong with you kids? They're not alive. They only come to life in movies" Dad states.
