Welcome to Dead House by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online

of the girls stood out because she had long, straight blond hair and was wearing green spandex tights.
    “Hey, look!” a tall boy with slicked-back black hair cried, pointing at us.
    Seeing Ray, Josh, and me, they grew quiet but didn’t stop moving toward us. A few of them giggled, as if they were enjoying some kind of private joke.
    The three of us stopped and watched them approach. I smiled and waited to say hi. Petey was pulling at his leash and barking his head off.
    “Hi, guys,” the tall boy with the black hair said, grinning. The others thought this was very funny for some reason. They laughed. The girl in the green tights gave a short red-haired boy a shove that almost sent him sprawling into me.
    “How’s it going, Ray?” a girl with short black hair asked, smiling at Ray.
    “Not bad. Hi, guys,” Ray answered. He turned to Josh and me. “These are some of my friends. They’re all from the neighborhood.”
    “Hi,” I said, feeling awkward. I wished Petey would stop barking and pulling at his leash like that. Poor Josh was having a terrible time holding on to him.
    “This is George Carpenter,” Ray said, pointing to the short red-haired boy, who nodded. “And Jerry Franklin, Karen Somerset, Bill Gregory …” He went around the circle, naming each kid. I tried to remember all the names but, of course, it was impossible.
    “How do you like Dark Falls?” one of the girls asked me.
    “I don’t really know,” I told her. “It’s my first day here. It seems nice.”
    Some of the kids laughed at my answer, for some reason.
    “What kind of dog is that?” George Carpenter asked Josh.
    Josh, holding tight to the leash handle, told him. George stared hard at Petey, studyinghim, as if he had never seen a dog like Petey before.
    Karen Somerset, a tall, pretty girl with short blond hair, came up to me while some of the other kids were admiring Petey. “You know, I used to live in your house,” she said softly.
    “What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly.
    “Let’s go to the playground,” Ray said, interrupting.
    No one responded to Ray’s suggestion.
    They grew quiet. Even Petey stopped barking.
    Had Karen really said that she used to live in our house? I wanted to ask her, but she had stepped back into the circle of kids.
    The circle.
    My mouth dropped open as I realized they had formed a circle around Josh and me.
    I felt a stab of fear. Was I imagining it? Was something going on?
    They all suddenly looked different to me. They were smiling, but their faces were tense, watchful, as if they expected trouble.
    Two of them, I noticed, were carrying baseball bats. The girl with the green tights stared at me, looking me up and down, checking me out.
    No one said a word. The street was silent except for Petey, who was now whimpering softly.
    I suddenly felt very afraid.
    Why were they staring at us like that?
    Or was my imagination running away with me again?
    I turned to Ray, who was still beside me. He didn’t seem at all troubled. But he didn’t return my gaze.
    “Hey, guys —” I said. “What’s going on?” I tried to keep it light, but my voice was a little shaky.
    I looked over at Josh. He was busy soothing Petey and hadn’t noticed that things had changed.
    The two boys with baseball bats held them up waist high and moved forward.
    I glanced around the circle, feeling the fear tighten my chest.
    The circle tightened. The kids were closing in on us.

10
    The black clouds overhead seemed to lower. The air felt heavy and damp.
    Josh was fussing with Petey’s collar and still didn’t see what was happening. I wondered if Ray was going to say anything, if he was going to do anything to stop them. But he stayed frozen and expressionless beside me.
    The circle grew smaller as the kids closed in.
    I realized I’d been holding my breath. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to cry out.
    “Hey, kids — what’s going on?”
    It was a man’s voice, calling from outside the