R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 03 Read Online Free Page A

hallway!
    “Hey, Aaron, check this out.” I kept the light down on the floor ahead of us as we crept into this new hallway. There were no lights or windows. It was like a low, narrow tunnel.
    I held back. It reminded me of the creepy tunnel I’d found behind my bedroom wall. The tunnel that led from the living … to the world of ghosts.
    I’d gone into that terrifying tunnel once. I never wanted to go in there again.
    I shivered. This is a different tunnel, I told myself. It's not even a tunnel. It's just a hallway in an empty old house.
    “Let's go,” I said.
    Our footsteps echoed loudly as we hurriedthrough it, keeping close together. The hall ended at a small alcove with three doors side by side.
    “This is excellent!” Aaron said. He was videoing the whole thing. “Hidden rooms at the end of a hidden hallway. Awesome.”
    The first door seemed to be locked from the inside. Aaron couldn’t get the door to budge, so he tried the middle door, and it opened easily.
    We stepped into a huge room cluttered with cartons, stacks of old children's books, a beat-up wooden baby crib, an old-fashioned bike, and piles of old clothes. “Check it out!” Aaron exclaimed. He bent to search through a stack of old comic books.
    A long time ago, this must have been a children's room. I saw a pile of board games against the wall. The boxes were faded and torn. I started to pick up the game on top—Parcheesi.
    But a sound behind me made me drop it and spin around. “Aaron, did you hear that? Like a howling sound?”
    I listened hard and heard it again. A long, low howl, like a dog in pain. And then I heard a sharp tapping on the door.
    Had we closed the door? I thought we’d left it open.
    Another tap on the door. And then knocking sounds
coming from the wall
!
    My fear tightened every muscle in my body. Iforced myself to breathe. “Aaron—what's up with that?” I turned back to him. “Hey—Aaron? Do you hear it?”
    I didn’t see him.
    The howl rose, louder now, as if it was right behind me in the room. And now the tapping came from all four walls.
Taptap taptaptap
—surrounding me!
    “Hey, I don’t like this,” I said. I ran over to the stack of old comics. “Aaron? Where are you?”
    I swept my light around the cartons and piles of old clothes. “Aaron? Come on—answer me! Is this a joke or something? It isn’t funny.”
    I couldn’t find him. Why didn’t he answer?
    “Hey, Aaron? Aaron?”

8
    PANIC WASHED OVER ME. I swept the light rapidly around the room. “Aaron! Aaron!” No answer. No sign of him.
    Howl after howl rang in my ears. The pounding on the walls grew louder and louder, as if a hundred people were banging on the other side, banging to be let in.
    I turned to run—and stumbled over a wooden dollhouse. I tumbled to my knees. Trembling, I started to stand up. “Ohh.” I let out a cry as I felt something brush my cheek. Something cold and soft.
    “No, please—” Something cold touched the back of my neck. Icy fingers. Invisible. “Please—”
    The room grew colder. The howls rose and fell. I felt something warm plop onto my shoulder.
    “Ohh.” I glanced down. It was a glob of green goo.
    I raised my eyes. Thick green goo dripped from the ceiling and slid down the walls. As it dripped, it hissed with steam, hot against the cold air.
    “Aaron—where are you?” I screamed over the steady drumming on the walls.
    And then floating above me, I saw a face. A woman's face, long white hair trailing from her head. Her eyes shut tight. The face flickered above me. Whoa. Wait. Her eyes weren’t shut. They were missing! I gasped in horror—and she faded away.
    I spun to the door. I knew I had to get out of there.
    I tried to run. But icy hands tightened around my shoulders and held me in place.
    The hissing green goo pooled around me on the floor. And an arm floated just over my head. A pale skinny arm without a body.
    It vanished and was replaced by two bare legs and a foot. Floating …