The Secret Bedroom by R.L. Stine, Bill Schmidt Read Free Book Online Page B

lot.”
    He reached up and touched the brim of his cap, a real movie-cop gesture. Lea and Deena watched him walk down the drive to his black-and-white patrol car. Then Lea closed the door and started to lock it.
    â€œNo. Don’t close it. I’ve got to go,” Deena said, checking her watch. “Are you going to be okay?”
    â€œYeah. Fine,” Lea said, yawning. “Now that I know it was all a dream.”
    â€œJade and I went to this horror movie once,” Deena said, “where this girl kept having bad dreams, and the dreams started getting more and more horrible, and she couldn’t wake up, and she knew if she didn’t wake up, she’d be trapped in a dream forever, and the dream would become her life and her life would become a dream. Jade thoughtit was really neat, but it gave me nightmares for a month.”
    â€œGee, thanks for sharing that with me,” Lea said dryly.
    They both laughed.
    â€œI’ll be okay,” Lea said. “Thanks for coming.” She hugged Deena. “You’re a real friend.”
    â€œGo to sleep. And let’s forget about tennis tomorrow—you look a wreck,” Deena said, pulling on her poncho and heading out the door.
    â€œThanks, friend.”
    A few minutes later Lea was tucked into her bed, the covers pulled up to her chin. The heavy cloud cover had parted, and pale silver moonlight floated in through the twin windows. Lea saw the glare of headlights and thought she heard her parents’ car pull up the drive, but it was some other car, turning around.
    It must be quite a party, she thought. Mom and Dad don’t usually stay out this late.
    She had just about drifted off to sleep when she heard sounds above her head. Dull thuds. First in one direction, then back in the other.
    The thud of shoes against the wooden floor?
    No, no, no.
    The sounds, this time like fingers on a drum, grew louder.
    Lying on her back, Lea reached up and pulled the sides of the pillow up over her ears. Holding tightly to the pillow, which muffled the sounds above her head, she fell asleep.
    *  *  *

    â€œYou sure it wasn’t just the natural creaking of the house?” her father asked at breakfast, drops of milk from his cereal catching in his mustache.
    Lea shook her head and handed her dad a paper napkin from the plastic dispenser on the table. They were sitting in the small breakfast nook, sharp blades of morning sunlight jabbing through the dust-covered windows. “No, I know those sounds already,” Lea said, resting her chin on one hand, shielding her eyes from the invading sunlight with the other.
    â€œWe’ve got to get curtains up in here,” her mother said, squinting. “Lea, you want to trade places with me? You’re looking right into the sun.”
    â€œMaybe there’s a squirrel or two up there,” her father suggested, lifting the cereal bowl to his mouth and tipping it to drink the remaining milk.
    â€œYou must’ve been so scared,” her mother said, struggling to remove a section from her grapefruit. “I mean, to have called the police.”
    â€œYeah, it was scary,” Lea said thoughtfully.
    She had decided not to tell them about the blood pouring down the door. Mainly since there
was
no blood pouring down the door. Bad enough that Deena thought she was cracking up. She didn’t want to get her parents all worried too.
    â€œCould be squirrels. Or even a raccoon,” her father said, sipping his coffee. When he pulled the cup away, his mustache was soaked from it.
    How can he stand that mustache? Lea wondered, watching him dab at it with the paper napkin.
    â€œHow could a raccoon get in there?” Lea asked.

    â€œThey’re crafty,” her father replied. “They can get in anywhere they want. You ever look carefully at a raccoon’s paws?”
    â€œNo,” Lea said, laughing.
    â€œThey’re unbelievably dexterous.” He