Goosebumps 2

Chapter 3

Katie's jaw dropped. "Y-you're lying to me Mr. Stine. You have to be lying. No way Slappy got out..." She paused, then began to chuckle; which soon turned in to a laughing fit. "Oh my gosh, Mr. Stine! You really got me there for a second! That was really funny, you're a great actor!" Katie clutched her stomach, still laughing.

R.L. Stine just simply shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Katie, I'm not-" he couldn't finish the sentence before Katie began to pipe up.

"Hey, Hannah! Guys, guess what!?" She grinned, thinking it was all a big joke. "Your dad over here thinks that Slappy got out of the book, and is still roaming around!" She grinned and began to start laughing all over again. This sudden outburst caused Zach and Champ to crack up along with her. Though, oddly, Hannah remained silent. 

"Dad?" Hannah whimpered. "I-is that true? Did S-S-Slappy get out?" She shivered and her lower lip began to tremble.

Zach smiled and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. "Hannah, don't worry. He's only joking. Right, Mr. Stine?" Zach eyed Stine suspiciously, warning him to say the right thing, or else.

Mr. Stine hesitated, rubbed his hands together nervously, then replied. "...right. Zach is right, Hannah; don't worry." Hannah visibly sighed, her shoulders slumping down into Zach's chest.

"OK, Dad. I'll trust you just this once." She smiled at her father, then continued to watch the movie. 

"Zach..." Stine warned. "Go get Katie," (who had wandered off into the guest room) "and the both of you come into my office. I need to have a word with you." He narrowed his eyes directly at Zach, then added, "...quickly please."

Zach nodded slightly at Mr. Stine, then gave Hannah's shoulders a quick squeeze. "Hey Hannah, I need to go really quick, I'll be back." He smiled, pecked a kiss on Hannahs cheek, and stood up.

He walked gingerly to the guest room, softly calling out Katie's name along the way. "Katie? Katie, you need to get out here right now, Stine's sort of pissed off, and he wants to talk with us really quick." He paused and waited for a reply, but none came. Zach groaned and stomped over to the door of Katie's room, and swung the door open. "Katie! Get. Out. Here. Now!"

A surprised Katie looked up from a book, a large green headset covering her ears, with loud music blaring out. "Hm? One second Zach, let me get this thing off first!" She shouted over the music. Zach rolled his eyes and bobbed his head to the side. "Katie! Hurry up, I don't have all day here!" He was getting impatient, and was thinking about just leaving her.

Katie snapped her book shut, and reached up to her head and yanked the headset off. "Aha! There you go...Now, what do you need that is so important?" She glared at her rooms intruder, who sunk back into the doorway.

"Well...Mr. Stine got sorta mad, and he wants us to go up to his office to have a talk..." He shied away from Katie's ice-cold glare.

"About what? What's he so mad about?" She stopped and thought about this for a while. "...Wait, was it about that thing that I said? He was joking! No way  Slappy is out..." She added nervously. Katie shook the disturbing thought from her mind. "Whatever...we better just get up there now, before he gets really mad..."

Zach nodded in agreement. "Yeah, good idea. Lets go." He waved her over, and turned and headed towards the stairs. Katie jumped up from the side of her bed, tossed the headset on the floor, and leapt after her friend.

The two of them galloped up the wooden stairs, taking two or three at a time. "Zach! Hurry up!" Katie yelled over her shoulder at him. He just grinned and jumped up the last stair.

"Mr. Stine! We're here!" Zach said, as he pushed open the door to R.L. Stine's office. "Mr.-" Zach stopped in his tracks, and his face paled. "Oh...oh no..." He groaned.

Laying on Mr. Stine's polished, wood desk, was Night Of The Living Dummy; and its cover was opened up wide, displaying only empty pages.

"Ah!" Katie yelped, and tripped backwards out of the room. "Y-you weren't joking...you really were telling the truth..." She whined. Mr. Stine opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when all of a sudden, all the lights went out. Katie screamed, but her voice was drowned out by a continuous stream of evil laughter.

Stine then whispered under his breath, though Katie heard, "Slappy..."