Sunny Sweet Is So Not Scary Read Online Free Page B

me.
    Just as we were about to take another step toward the front door, we heard them . . . the
clomp
,
clomp
,
clomp
of the footsteps.
    We grabbed onto each other and dropped to the ground. The footsteps stopped. We could hear Junchao and Alice breathing from the couch. Or at least I hoped that it was Junchao and Alice.
    Then came that terrible howl.
    Wooo. Wooo. Wooooo.
    â€œSunny!” I whispered. “Let’s get those braces and crutches.”
    I wasn’t sure if I actually said the words or just thought them—but I felt Sunny move forward. And I moved forward with her. We clung to each other so tightly that we were basically one person, half-crawling toward the front door. I didn’t see Alice’s stuff before I stumbled over it. I grabbed her leg braces, and Sunny picked up her crutches. We turned around, and Sunny bumped Alice’s crutches into the wall. The loud thump made us freeze in place. I peeked back toward the closet door.
    Was it a tiny bit open?
    It was a tiny bit open!
    My heart started banging in my chest.
    There are no such things as ghosts
.
    My heart thumped away.
    There is no such thing as little men that live under couches that grab your feet and pull you under
.
    My heart was obviously not listening to me at all.
    Only mice live in attics . . . or in closets.
    I looked closer into the darkness of the closet. I thought I saw the shining of two eyes.
    â€œSunny,” I whispered.
    â€œI hear it,” she said.
    â€œWhat? What do you hear?” I whisper-screeched.
    â€œYour heart,” she said. “It’s tachycardic. That means that it’s beating really fast. But don’t worry, you can’t explode your heart. It can actually beat up to two hundred times a minute for a long time and still be fine.”
    My heart felt like it was now beating five hundred times a minute, and I was sure that it would explode.
    â€œSunny,” I said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI think the ghost is in the coat closet.”
    I don’t know who leaped first, but we were both back on the couch with Alice’s stuff in less time than ittook Junchao and Alice to yell when we crashed into them.
    The four of us sat clinging to each other with Alice’s braces and crutches jabbing each of us in different places. All I could think was that we had made it! Sunny and I were back on the couch alive!
    Although I totally wished I hadn’t thrown the blanket away.
    Â 
    So You Think You Have a Ghost?
    Alice managed to get her braces on even with the three of us squished up next to her. I kept my eyes locked on the closet door. I couldn’t totally tell, but it looked like it had opened just a tiny bit more.
    We had to get to the kitchen.
    â€œReady?” I asked. The only response I got was Junchao’s nails digging into my arm. “Maybe we should line up and—”
    Before I could finish, Sunny hopped from the couch and took off.
    Junchao, Alice, and I didn’t even blink—we just ran—in a big ball of arms and legs and the metal of Alice’s crutches. It was only about twenty feet to the kitchen, but I was panting like a dog stuck in a hot car when I got there. So were Alice and Junchao.
    â€œSunny!” I hissed, stopping in the center of our kitchen to breathe some more. “You could have waited.”
    â€œSorry, I was scared,” she said, turning her back to rummage around in the kitchen drawer for the flashlight.
    â€œYou don’t sound scared.”
    She turned around with the flashlight on and shined it right in our eyes.
    Junchao, Alice, and I moaned and ducked.
    â€œGive that to me,” I said, taking it from her.
    I scanned the kitchen with the light. Everything looked normal. The big spaghetti pot was on the back burner of the stove, where my mom liked to keep it. The salt and pepper shakers with the big
S
and big
P
sat on the kitchen counter next to the cutting board. Theyellow clock ticked on the wall over