Turning Pages

Chapter Ten

TEN 

I don't know why I let Melanie talk me into it. She always makes me do things I don't really want to do. I tossed the library's copy of Stephen King's IT onto the nightstand and pulled my blankets up over my head. I wasn't sure if I would turn off the light. 

I lay there for a few minutes, thinking it over. If I did turn off the light, that would be setting a good example for Jenni. I was always on her case about wasting electricity, and then I stayed up even later than she did with my nose in some book or another. Turning the light off would be a very appropriate big-sisterly thing to do. On the other hand, if I turned off the light, I would be alone in the dark. With a scary book in my room. A book my so-called best friend had told me to read. A best friend who would no longer be my best friend come morning, because I was going to throw a certain book at her and not care if it left a bruise. 

I sighed and threw back the blankets. My common sense was winning out, as it usually did whenever I had a long conversation with myself. I sat up and turned off the bedside lamp, then gave myself a minute to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. It wasn't so bad-the light from the streetlamp on the corner kept it from being pitch black, and I found the shadow cast by the tree outside comforting. Not creepy, like fingers reaching out to grab me from my bed and drag me out the window into the cold of night . . . 

I shook my head. It was a tree. It was a shadow. It was just a book. I slid down and covered myself up. It was silly to get so freaked out. 

Just as I started to doze off, pushing all thoughts of creepy clowns out of my mind, I felt something, something with claws, run across my legs. At first, I couldn't make any sound at all. My breath had caught in my throat as the terror froze my lungs. Once I pulled in some air, I screamed, jerking my legs up and out of the covers and diving for the door of my bedroom. 

Benji came running first, followed by Mom, then Jenni. 

"What's the matter?" my brother asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He was carrying a baseball bat, which I found comforting in a strange, clunking-people-over-the-head sort of way. 

"Something-something-in my bed." I reached out and put my hand on the wall, hoping it would hold me up if I fainted. 

Benji held the bat high and walked over to the bed, approaching it with trepidation. He reached out and grabbed the edge of the blankets, then threw them back. A snake-like tail slithered down off the other side, and I jumped. 

"Scampers!" Jenni cried out. She ran around the bed. "Here, boy." 

"Scampers?" I tried to relax, but my muscles were so tight, they felt like wood. "That was Scampers?" 

"He must have gotten out of his cage. But where is he?" Jenni looked under the bed, then straightened again. "I don't see him." 

Mom wrapped her arms around me. "Are you okay, Addie? You're shaking."  

"I guess so." I laughed a little bit, realizing how silly I was being, but dang it, that was a scary book, and I'd just had a rat run all over me, in the darkness, dragging his wormy tail and digging with his beasty claws. I shuddered, and Mom squeezed me tighter. 

"Got him!" Jenni held her furry demon aloft, showing him off like some kind of trophy. "He says he's sorry, Addie." 

"Um, whatever. Just put him in his cage and see if you can figure out how he escaped, okay?" 

"Okay." 

I backed way up and gave her-and him-plenty of room to get past me in the doorway. 

Benji picked up his bat and started to leave too. I reached out and ruffled his hair. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, dude."