21 - Go Eat Worms! Read Online Free Page A

Glancing down, Todd saw that the sink was caked
with thick dirt.
    “Weird,” Danny muttered.
    The two boys made their way through a short hallway to the dining room.
    “Where’s the furniture?” Danny asked, gazing in all directions.
    The room was empty.
    “Maybe they’re redecorating or something,” Todd guessed.
    “This doesn’t make sense. Patrick’s family is rich,” Danny said, shaking his
head. “You know how neat Patrick is. He gets upset if his shirt comes untucked.”
    “I don’t get it,” Todd replied. “Where do you think he has his worm project?”
    The two boys made their way toward the living room. Their sneakers scraped
over the dusty, bare floor.
    “Something is weird here,” Danny murmured. “Something is very weird.”
    They both gasped as they stepped into the living room—and saw the figure
hunched at the window.
    Saw the decayed green flesh of his face.
    Saw the bones of his jaw, open in a hideous toothless grin.
    Saw his evil, sunken eyes staring across the room at them.

 
 
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    The heavy silence was broken by the shrill screams of the two boys.
    “Go! Go!” Todd cried. He shoved Danny toward the door and stumbled along
behind him, keeping his hands on Danny’s shoulders.
    “Go! Go! Go!”
    Through the bare dining room. Across the dust-covered kitchen.
    “Go! Go!”
    Todd grabbed the doorknob, pulled open the door, and they both burst out of
the house.
    Had the dog left?
    Yes!
    “Let’s move!” Todd cried.
    But Danny needed no encouragement. He was already halfway down the driveway,
his chubby legs pumping hard, his hands stretched out in front of him as if
trying to pull himself to safety.
    Out the gate. Onto their bikes.
    They pedaled furiously. Faster. Faster. Until their legs ached and they could
barely breathe. And they never looked back.
     
    Who was that hideous, decayed figure in Patrick’s house?
    And why was the house so dusty, so totally bare?
    Todd spent most of the night lying awake in his bed, thinking about it.
    But the mystery wasn’t cleared up until the next morning.
    Yawning sleepily, Todd pulled on the same clothes he had worn the day before.
Then he made his way down the hall to go to breakfast.
    He stopped outside Regina’s bedroom door when he heard her laughing. At
first, he thought she was talking to herself.
    But then he realized that Regina was on the phone.
    So early?
    He pressed his ear to the door and listened.
    “Isn’t it a riot, Beth?” Regina was saying. “I sent them to the wrong
address.” Regina laughed again. Gleeful laughter.
    Todd suddenly snapped wide awake. He pressed his ear tighter against the
bedroom door.
    “Todd was so desperate, I couldn’t resist,” Regina was saying. “Know where I
sent them?”
    There was a short pause. Todd realized he was holding his breath. He let it
out silently and took another one, listening hard.
    “I sent them to the old Fosgate mansion,” Regina told Beth. She laughed.
“Yeah. Right. That old deserted mansion where those kids had that Halloween
party. Yeah. You know. They left that dummy with the weird mask in the window.”
    Another pause.
    Todd gritted his teeth as he listened to his sister’s triumphant laughter. He
could feel every muscle in his body tightening in anger.
    “I don’t know, Beth. I haven’t talked to him yet,” Regina was saying. “I
heard Todd come in last night. He ran straight to his room and shut the door. He
was probably too scared to talk!”
    More laughter.
    Balling and unballing his fists, Todd stepped away from his sister’s door. He
stopped at the stairs, feeling his face grow red-hot. He was thinking hard.
    So Reggie played a little joke on Danny and me, he thought bitterly. So she
gave me the wrong address and sent us to that old haunted house.
    Ha-ha. Good joke.
    Todd felt so angry, he wanted to scream.
    Now Regina will be laughing at me about this forever, he realized. She will
make fun of me for the rest of my life.
    Her