Curiosity Killed the Cat by Sierra Harimann Read Free Book Online Page A

few nights she hadn’t slept well, and her tiredness was catching up to her. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to stretch out on the stone bench for a quick catnap.
    A second later, she was sitting in her dad’s backyard on a lounge chair on a sunny afternoon with Icky in her lap. He was purring loudly as she pet his soft, black head.
    Scratch, scratch, scratch.
    Icky’s ears pricked up as he heard the scratching sound, and he jumped out of Hannah’s lap and dashed into the cemetery.
    “No, Icky!” Hannah cried. “Wait for me!”
    Suddenly, it was nighttime. Hannah ran into the cemetery after Icky, tripping over tombstones and pushing aside dangling vines and cobwebs that kept falling in front of her face or brushing against herbare legs. She stopped running in front of an enormous old mausoleum. It looked like it was made of stone, but when Hannah reached out to touch it, the stone crumbled underneath her fingers as though it was made of sand.
    Scratch, scratch, scratch.
    The scratching was coming from inside the mausoleum!
    Hannah watched in horror as the door began to open slowly. She tried to run, but she looked down to see that vines had wound their way around her ankles and legs, rooting her in place. A spider began climbing up one of the vines and jumped onto her arm.
    Hannah screamed.
    She gasped as she sat up on the bench, her heart pounding wildly. The nightmare had felt so real Hannah could still feel the spider crawling up her arm. She glanced down and was relieved to see there were no vines or cobwebs wrapped around her legs — it really had been just a dream.
    Shaken by the nightmare, Hannah decided it was time to brave a return to the noisy house. But when she entered the kitchen, every thing was eerily quiet. Hannah could no longer hear the thumping ofMadison’s music through the ceiling, and the hammering and drilling had stopped as well. There were a few brown paper bags full of groceries on the counter and one bag lying on the floor.
    “Hello?” Hannah called. “Anyone home?”
    She bent down to pick up the paper bag when it suddenly shifted with a soft crinkling sound.
    Scratch, scratch, scratch.
    The sound had come from behind her, and Hannah whipped around, forgetting about the paper bag. Was someone — or something — at the back door?
    She looked out into the backyard but saw nothing. Her pulse was racing as she closed the door and turned back to the paper bag on the floor. It was completely still. Hannah stared at it for a good ten seconds while she gathered up her courage. Finally, she leaned down to try to pick it up again. As soon as she did, the bag skittered across the room.
    “Ahhhh!” Hannah yelped, glancing around the kitchen, desperately looking for an open window to explain why the bag had moved. But all of the windows were closed, and Hannah had just closed the back door herself.
    Could there be something inside the bag, like a mouse? Allison and her dad
were
doing construction, and Paisley’s family had had a mouse in their basement when they re-carpeted, so Hannah knew it was possible. Still, she shuddered at the thought.
    At that moment, her dad entered the kitchen.
    “Hi, Hannah,” he said.
    “Shh!” Hannah squeaked, pointing to the paper bag. “I think there’s something
in
there! The bag just moved across the floor
by itself
!”
    “Okay, relax,” Mr. Malloy said calmly. “It’s probably just a cricket. I find them around here all the time. That’s what happens in an older house.” He looked around the kitchen for something to use as a weapon and settled on a large wooden spoon.
    Hannah raised her eyebrows skeptically at his choice. “What if it’s a mouse, Dad?” she asked, her voice trembling.
    He smiled and shrugged. Then he leaned over, reached out slowly, and grabbed the bag at the open end.
    Hannah held her breath as she waited to see what was inside.
    Her dad held up the bag. It was empty.
    Mr. Malloy looked puzzled. “There’s nothing in here