Read Full Moon Halloween Online

Authors: R. L. Stine

Full Moon Halloween (2 page)

BOOK: Full Moon Halloween
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Tristan’s heart pounded as he watched the black smoke curl up from the torn envelope. After a few seconds, it faded away.

Rosa laughed. “Whoa. Someone really wants to get your attention!”

Tristan’s mom came running into the kitchen. “What was that explosion? What happened? I smell smoke!” Her eyes were wide with panic.

“Just a trick envelope,” Tristan said. He picked it up carefully.

Would it explode again?

No. He pulled out a black-and-orange card.
“Come to the scariest Halloween party ever!”
he read. “You were right, Rosa. It’s a party invitation.”

“Who sent it?” Rosa asked.

Tristan gazed down to the bottom of the card. “I don’t believe this. It’s from Mr. Moon.”

“You’re kidding!” Rosa exclaimed.

“Let me see that,” Tristan’s mom said. She took the card from him and read it carefully. “Well, isn’t that nice? Your teacher is having a Halloween party.”

“Nice?” Tristan asked weakly. “What’s nice about it?”

“It’s horrible,” Rosa groaned. “We don’t want to spend Halloween with a teacher. We want to have fun and hang out with our friends.”

“He’s a new teacher,” Mrs. Gottschalk said. “He wants to get to know you kids.”

Rosa groaned. “I wonder if I got invited, too.”

She picked up the phone and punched in her number. “Mom, hi. It’s me…. Yeah, I’m at Tristan’s. Did I get a black envelope in the mail?”

Rosa groaned again. “I did? Oh. No—don’t open it. Mom, really. Don’t open it. I’ll be home in a few minutes.” She clicked off the phone.

“Mr. Moon probably invited
all
of his students,” Tristan’s mom said. “So it’ll be fun.”

“Thrills and chills,” Tristan said, rolling his eyes.

Rosa shook her head sadly. “Halloween with a teacher,” she said. “This is
so
not fair. And it’s our last year to trick-or-treat.”

“We’ll probably sit around drinking apple juice
and telling really dumb ghost stories,” Tristan said, sighing. “Bor-ring.”

“And we’ll play some babyish games,” Rosa said. “You know. Pin the Tail on the Pumpkin or something.”

Tristan laughed. She always made him laugh.

“You don’t have to stay the whole time,” his mother said.

Tristan turned to her. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Just stay for a little while. Stay for an hour. You know. To be polite. Then go trick-or-treating with your friends.”

“Cool!” Tristan said.

“Totally cool,” Rosa agreed. “But do you think it’ll be easy to leave the party?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Tristan’s mom replied. “Why would it be a problem?”

 

Across town, Mr. Moon and his wife, Angela, were preparing their house for the Halloween party.

Mr. Moon wore baggy khakis and a maroon sweatshirt torn at the neck.

His wife was a large woman, with a round pink face surrounded by frizzy blond hair that stuck out in all directions. She wore thick square-shaped glasses that made her gray eyes look as big as silver dollars.

“This is a shabby old house,” Angela said, stretching a streamer of black crepe paper across the
living room wall. “What a shame we haven’t had time to fix it up.”

A thin smile spread over Mr. Moon’s face. “It’s perfect for our party,” he said. “It’s cold and drafty. The wallpaper is torn. The rugs are stained. Very creepy.”

“I think our next house should be brand new,” Angela replied. “And I think we should paint the walls white and yellow. I’d like to live in a bright, shiny house.”

“Maybe,” Mr. Moon muttered. He was arranging plastic skulls in a row on the mantelpiece.

“I agree with Mom,” Michael Moon said, stepping into the room. He wore a black T-shirt with a photo of Jimi Hendrix over the front, pulled down over black jeans.

He was chewing an apple, turning it as if he were eating an ear of corn. Juice ran down his narrow, pointed chin.

“I’m tired of living in these creepy old barns,” he said.

Mr. Moon’s heavy black eyebrows shot up. “Did we ask for your opinion?” he snapped.

“Why do we have to have this party?” Michael asked.

“You’ll have fun,” his mother replied. “You know our parties are always exciting. And you’ll get to spend time with your new friends.”

“I don’t have any new friends,” Michael said,
scowling. “How can I make friends when I have to change schools every year?”

“Help your mom with the crepe paper,” Mr. Moon ordered.

“Listen to me,” Michael insisted. “Don’t have this party. Please. I’m begging you.”

Angela turned and studied him. “Michael, you know we
have
to have the Halloween party. We
always
have the party, don’t we?”

Mr. Moon stepped between them. “Michael, stop arguing,” he said sternly. “This is going to be the best party yet. Put on your coat and run down to the corner. We need more black streamers.”

“Buy as many as you can,” Angela said.

“But—why won’t you listen to me?” Michael whined.

“Buy more orange streamers, too,” Angela said. “This party has to be special.”

Grumbling to himself, Michael grabbed his coat from the closet. Then he stomped angrily out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.

“He used to be fun,” Mr. Moon said, shaking his head. “When he was little, we always had a good time together. But now…”

“He’s just going through a phase,” Angela said.

“I hope so.” Mr. Moon sighed. He swept a hand back through his straight black hair. “Let’s check the windows,” he said. “Try the control.”

Angela moved to the bookshelves on the back wall. She lifted away a stack of books.

She pulled out a square black metal box and opened it with a key. Inside were three red buttons. Angela pushed the top button.

Clang. Clang clang. Clang
.

They both watched as steel bars slammed down over all of the windows.

Smiling, Mr. Moon walked over to the front window. He wrapped his hands around two of the bars and tugged.

“Solid,” he said. “Very good.”

“I tested the doors,” Angela told him. “They all lock automatically when I push the middle button.”

“Excellent,” Mr. Moon said, his smile growing wider. “Excellent. Doors locked. Windows barred. That will keep them in. I don’t want any of these kids to escape.”

The next morning, Tristan made his way down the aisle of the school bus to his usual seat in the back row.

“Hey, Tristan—”

“Yo—what’s up?”

“How ya doin’?”

Tristan slapped hands as he walked to the back. He was one of the most popular kids at Wordsworth Middle School. He had a lot of friends because he was smart and funny, quiet, and easy to get along with.

The next stop was in front of Ray’s house. Ray came running down the driveway, struggling into his jacket. Late as usual.

“Stone Cold Ray is in the house!” he shouted, climbing aboard.

“Give me a break,” the bus driver muttered.

“Hey, Ray—stand up!” a kid shouted from the aisle.

Lots of kids laughed. Everyone knew Ray hated being so short.

“You got a problem with that? You got a problem with that?” Ray shook his fists and acted tough as he made his way to the back.

“Hey!” Ray cried out as someone bounced a milk carton off his head.

More laughter.

“You got a problem with that?” Ray screamed. “Anybody want a piece of me? You want a piece of me?”

“Everybody settle down,” the driver shouted, turning in his seat. “That means you, Stone Cold. Or you can be stone cold outside as you walk to school!”

Ray dropped into the space between Tristan and Rosa. “Look at them shaking,” he said. “I’ve got them all scared.”

Rosa shook her head. “They don’t know you’re joking. One of these days you’re going to get pounded.”

Ray stared at her. “Joking?”

“Hey, Ray—did you get a party invitation in the mail yesterday—from Mr. Moon?” Tristan asked. He was eager to change the subject.

Ray nodded. “Yeah. It blew up in my face. Pretty cool.”

Bella’s house was the last stop on the bus route. She climbed on and waved to them as she dropped into the last empty seat near the front.

“We’re not going to Moon’s party, are we?” Ray asked.

“I don’t want to,” Tristan answered. “But my mom says I have to.”

“We won’t stay long,” Rosa added. “Maybe just an hour.”

Ray made a face. “Hey, Kimball!” he called to a kid near the front. “Did you get Moon’s party invitation yesterday?”

“Huh? From Michael Moon?” the kid asked. “Is he having a party?”

“No—from his father,” Ray answered.

“Is it a costume party?” another boy shouted. “Is Michael going to come as a human?”

A few kids laughed.

“I didn’t get any invitation,” Kimball said.

“Did
anybody
get an invitation to Moon’s party?” Ray shouted.

Silence. A lot of kids shook their heads
no
.

Only one hand went up. “I got one,” Bella called.

“Weird,” Rosa murmured. “Just the four of us? Are we the only ones invited to the party?”

 

Later, in the lunchroom, they asked more kids if they’d received invitations.

But no one they asked had gotten one. No one seemed to know that Mr. Moon was having a Halloween party.

“Weird. Totally weird,” Bella said, finishing her fried chicken. She took a long sip from her orange juice carton.

“Yes, you
are
weird,” Ray said, staring at Bella’s lunch plate. “Do you always eat the chicken bones, too?”

“I don’t eat them. I just chew on them,” Bella replied. She raised two fists. “
You
got a problem with that?”

Rosa stared at Bella’s gnawed chicken bones. “That’s gross,” she said. “My dog eats bones. But I really don’t know any people who eat—”

“OWOOOOOOOOO!” Ray tossed back his head and let out a long wolf-howl. “I eat bones!” Ray snapped his teeth at Rosa. “Stone Cold Ray eats
human
bones! OWWOOOOOOOOO!”

Rosa shoved him so hard, he nearly fell off his chair.

“Time to go,” Tristan said, climbing to his feet. “Before we get
thrown
out.”

The four of them made their way out to the hall.

Tristan glanced up and down the hall to make sure Mr. Moon wasn’t nearby. “Do you realize we
haven’t found anyone else who has been invited to Moon’s party?” he asked.

“We can’t be the only ones—can we?” Rosa said.

“I’ll bet he invited a bunch of kids from his old school,” Bella said.

Ray pounded lockers with his fist as he followed them down the long hall. “Yeah. You’re right. Probably a bunch of kids we don’t know.”

Tristan turned—and once again saw someone watching them.

Michael Moon. Huddled in a classroom doorway. Half-hidden from view.

Is he following us? Tristan wondered.

What does he want? Why is he watching us like that? What’s going on?

“Some of you may wonder about my name,” Mr. Moon said. He carried a long pointer and paced back and forth in front of his desk.

Tristan sat next to Ray in the front row of the classroom. Sunlight washed over them from the window. Heat coming up from the radiator against the wall made it rattle.

Mr. Moon wore a loose red sweater over baggy gray pants. When he stepped into the sunlight, his pale face appeared to glow.

“Some of you may already know that there will be a full moon this Halloween,” he said. He tapped the desktop with the end of the pointer.

Why does he keep staring at Ray and me? Tristan wondered.

He paces back and forth. But every time he turns our way, he keeps his eyes on the two of us.

What is his problem?


Luna
means moon,” the teacher continued. “Can you think of words that come from
luna
?”

“Looney Tunes?” Ray called out.

Kids laughed.

“It isn’t funny. Ray is right,” Mr. Moon said, nodding at Ray.

The laughter stopped instantly.

Ray flashed Tristan a thumbs-up. “Tell the truth. Am I a genius, or what?”

“The words
lunacy
and
lunatic
come from
luna
,” the teacher continued, ignoring Ray.

“So that means we should call him
Mr. Lunatic
,” Ray whispered to Tristan.

Tristan struggled not to burst out laughing.

“Something funny?” Mr. Moon asked. He leaned over Tristan, the pointer raised.

“Not really,” Tristan replied. “Just Ray’s face.”

That got a big laugh from everyone but Ray.

“Let’s try to keep on the subject,” Mr. Moon said softly. He kept his gaze on Tristan. “We were talking about the word
lunatic
.”

He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at Tristan. “People who howled at the moon were called
lunatics
. As the years passed by, lots of other legends grew about the full moon.”

He turned to the rest of the class. “Do you know any legends about the full moon?”

A girl named Kim-Lee raised her hand.

“Don’t they say that more crimes happen on the nights of the full moon?” she asked. “You know. Robberies and murders and everything?”

Mr. Moon nodded. “Yes. Police report that their busiest nights are full-moon nights. Many more crimes are committed. Any others?”

Silence.

Then Kim-Lee raised her hand again. “And doesn’t the moon control the ocean waves?”

“Well, the pull of the moon is said to affect the ocean tides,” Mr. Moon replied.

Tristan raised his hand. “What about werewolves?” he asked. “Some people think that werewolves come out when the full moon is at its highest, right?”

“Yes.” Mr. Moon shook his head and
tsk-tsked
.

“I’m sure that all of you have seen the frightening reports on the news about the recent animal attacks,” he said. “Some people are blaming the attacks on werewolves.”

He paused.

“Werewolf attacks. Right here in our town. It’s hard to believe. Do werewolves exist or not?” he muttered. “Perhaps we’ll find out during the full moon on Halloween night.”

Suddenly Ray jumped to his feet. His eyes bulged in horror.

“My hands!” he screamed. “Oh, no! My hands! They’re growing fur!”

BOOK: Full Moon Halloween
5.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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