Goosebumps Most Wanted - 02 - Son of Slappy (12 page)

“I had the dream again,” I said.

Mom poured a pile of Wheaties into my bowl. She shook her head and tsk-tsked. “Again?” She tilted the milk carton over the cereal.

“I can pour my own milk,” I said. “I’m not a baby.”

“I like to pour it,” she said. “Makes me feel like a real mom, you know. Like in the TV commercials.”

Mom and Dad aren’t like TV parents. Mom is a rocket scientist. Really. She’s always flying off to some desert to work on a new kind of space rocket. Dad manages a pet shop at the mall. He’s always bringing strange birds home to show off to me.

“Why do I have to have nonfat milk?” I grumbled. “It tastes like water. Why can’t I have
real
milk?”

She squinted at me. “Because you’re a chub?”

“I’m
not
a chub.” I slammed my spoon on the
tabletop. “I’m not even the biggest kid in my class. Not even close. Why do you always have to say I’m a chub?”

“Sorry,” she said. “Look. Don’t take it out on me. Okay? You’re upset because of the dream.”

“Yeah. Why do I have so many horrible nightmares about being chased by monsters? You’re a scientist. Tell me, why do I keep having this underwater dream?”

Mom dropped into the chair across the table and took a long sip of coffee. “Because you’re nervous.”

“Huh? Nervous about drowning?”

“No, Bean. You’re nervous about the swim team tryouts. You’re not sure you’re good enough to make the team. So you keep having nightmares about swimming.”

I stared hard at her. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m a scientist.”

“But … why do the dreams seem so
real?
”

She took another sip of coffee. It must have been really hot. The heat made her glasses steam up. “Because you have a really powerful imagination, I guess.”

I liked that answer. I
do
have a good imagination. I think it’s because I spend a lot of time by myself thinking up things.

I don’t have a ton of friends. I don’t talk a lot in school, and it’s hard for me to hang out with other kids. I can never think of anything to say.

I think it’s because I’m kind of shy. And that makes life a little tough. And a little lonely.

My best friend is Lissa Gardener. She’s in my class, and she lives upstairs from me at Sternom House, our apartment building.

Lissa and I look like we come from different planets. I’m short and a little chubby. I have curly black hair and dark eyes and wear glasses like my mom and dad. Lissa is tall and thin, with straight blond hair and blue eyes.

She is trying out for the girls’ swim team. But she doesn’t have nightmares about it because she knows she’s really good at sports. She has other friends, too. But since we live in the same apartment building, we end up spending a lot of time together.

I went to my room and got dressed for school. I expected to find puddles of water on my floor. You know. From my dream.

Bright sunlight filled my bedroom window. But I still saw that terrifying shadow, the shadow of the monster rolling over me deep under the water.

I shivered. I couldn’t shake the dream from my mind.

I knew Mom was right. I was just stressed about the swim team tryouts.

I didn’t really want to try out. But Lissa said I had to get into some activities at school. She said it would help me make more friends.

I shouted good-bye to Mom. Then I swung my backpack onto my shoulders and headed out the door.

We live on the fourth floor. I never take the elevator. I always go down the stairs. My sneakers clanged on the metal steps as I ran down, my hand sliding down the narrow railing.

I pushed open the door and stepped outside. It was a sunny spring day with puffy white clouds high overhead. The air was warm and smelled of flowers.

I stopped when I saw a red-and-white moving van parked at the curb. A family was watching as movers started to unload their furniture and cartons from the back of the big truck.

A new family moving into the building.

I saw three kids. Two of them were little. But one could be about my age. He turned as I started to walk past. He had brown hair down over his forehead to his eyes. He didn’t smile. He turned back to the truck before I could say hi or anything.

Sternom House is very big. Families move in and out of our building all the time. But I always hoped a boy my age would move in, and we could be friends.

I heard a heavy thud as one of the workers dropped a carton off the truck. I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I turned the corner and trotted down Elm toward school.

I was halfway down the block, past another apartment house and then a row of little houses. I heard footsteps. Coming on fast.

I didn’t have time to turn around. Icy fingers wrapped around the back of my neck.

I screamed. I couldn’t help myself. Suddenly, I was back in my dream.

R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller
Dangerous Girls.
R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at
www.RLStine.com
.