Myles and the Monster Outside (2 page)

GO HOME HIGHWAY

I
t
's a bit of a problem, being stuck in the bottom of a ferry in a car that won't start. Every other car was stuck behind Myles and his family. People were frowning and pointing.

Myles dug down into his seat as far as he could.

The ferry man came with wires called “booster cables,” and after what seemed like forever (but was probably only a few minutes), Victor roared back to life. The car wasn't dead anymore, but
everyone
on the ferry was looking at them. A girl in the next car stuck her tongue out at Myles.

Great, someone here hates me already.

At last, they left the ferry and joined a long line of cars turning onto the highway. Bea sat reading in the front seat, Norman sang to his teddy bear, a quieter song this time. Their mother drove and watched the road. It was all pretty normal. Myles was suddenly a little mad at himself for being scared by nothing.

Like a little kid.

The … thing … on the island was probably nothing.

It was misty out there … and cold. You were seeing things.

Myles looked out into the twilight. The fields were getting dark, and it looked like rain was coming. There were farmhouses dotting the highway, some with kitchen lights on. Some of them had children's swings outside or bikes propped against the kitchen door.

The car was almost peaceful for a while. It started to rain, and the windshield wipers clunked away.

Thunk-thunk, thunk-thunk.

Norman fell asleep and Myles reached across to tuck him under his Spiderman sleeping bag. His little brother looked so sweet: a four-year-old tyrant who also happened to look like an angel.

Myles looked out the window and his dad's voice popped into his head. Last night, when he spoke to his dad on his mother's cellphone, his dad said, “I can't wait to see you, and I have a surprise for you, Myles.” But he wouldn't say what it was.

Myles hated surprises. Had his dad already forgotten that? What else had he forgotten about him? Myles frowned.

Then … it happened so suddenly.

A sign popped up beside the road. It said,
Go Home Highway
, and Myles's mother veered toward it. She turned the car and they zoomed off the main highway, practically into a farmer's field. The car bumped along a rough dirt road.

“Mom! What are you doing?” Bea shouted. Their mom never turned sharp corners and they had driven halfway across the country without getting lost. No one wanted to get lost now.

What was she doing?

“Mom! This isn't the highway! The highway is over there, where all the other cars are!” Bea pointed at the line of red lights disappearing into the distance. The other cars from the ferry were moving away fast.

“Goodness!” their mother answered. “I must be getting sleepy. You're right, Bea. I have no idea why I turned off here. Just not paying attention, I guess.”

“This isn't even a highway,” Bea argued, sounding mad. She had done most of the map-reading so far, and they hadn't been lost once, a fact she mentioned constantly.

Until now.

Bea was right.

This was no highway. It was just a dirt road with trees hanging overhead. It was an abandoned dirt road too, judging by the potholes and bumps. Myles felt his stomach clench again.

He didn't want to be lost.

The sun was going down behind the rolling hills. The rain was falling a little harder.

Myles looked along the dirt road. Down at the end of the road he could see an old farmhouse. It looked abandoned and forgotten, and a light mist swirled around it in the coming dark. A huge black crow flew off the roof with a loud “CAW! CAW!” Myles got the feeling it didn't like to be disturbed. The whole place seemed like it didn't want to be disturbed.

Then …
something
ran across the road between Myles and the farmhouse.

Something with RED EYES!

CAW! CAW! CAUGHT!

M
yles
jumped. “What was
that
?” he yelled, pointing out the back window.

“What was what?” his mother asked, not looking. Myles peered again but there was nothing in the bushes. Nothing on the road.

“I … I think there's …
something
down there,” Myles gulped. He couldn't bring himself to say
what
.

Myles's mother pulled over to the side of the dirt road. Victor roared and chugged like a dragon. She looked to where Myles had pointed, and squinted. “Where, Myles? I don't see anything. It's getting dark, though. Bea, please hand me the map.” Bea reached into the glove box and handed her mother the old map. Once again, Myles wished they had one of those built-in computers that told you where you were and how to get where you wanted to go. He thought it might be called a GPS. Only
his
family would drive halfway across the country without one.

Maybe with his dad's new job, they could finally afford a new car. With a GPS.

While his mother tried to find “Go Home Highway” on the map, Myles struggled not to look down the dirt road again. He didn't want to see what was down at the end of the creepy road, but he couldn't help it. His imagination was running wild, which was much worse than not looking. He finally peeked.

No red eyes.

But the end of the road was swirling with mist, and the farmhouse looked really spooky and abandoned. The windows were all broken, and the front door swung and creaked in the rain.

Go Home Highway, what a joke!
Myles thought.
More like Go
Away
Highway.
Who would live here? Or ever want to?

Suddenly he wondered what his old house looked like, now that no one lived in it. The house still wasn't sold when they left. Did it already look like this place, deserted and forgotten? How long did it take for a house to look unloved and unlived in, anyway?

And more than a little creepy?

And what was their new house like? What if it was terrible and lonesome, like this place?

Myles shuddered and peeked again at the abandoned farmhouse. The bushes along the dirt road definitely moved this time.

S
omething
ran back across the road, closer to the car.

It looked right at Myles. RED EYES peered at him from the bushes!

He gulped.

“Mom! Get us out of here!” Myles whispered.

“What's gotten into you, Myles? Okay, you're right, ‘Go Home Highway' was just a joke. It's not on the map. A big joke on me. I must want to get to Nobleville so badly that I wasn't paying attention.” Myles's mother pulled the car around. Turning Victor-the-Volvo around wasn't easy. Victor was heavy and didn't exactly turn on a dime.

Myles's mother slowly turned the car, backed up, pulled forward, tried to miss the bushes at either side of the road …

… then disaster. Victor-the-enormous got stuck in the mud!

“Great,” their mother sighed. She got out of the car and looked at the back wheel. She whistled. Myles peeked over the back seat at her.

Please, please don't ask us to …

“Get out of the car, you two! We aren't too stuck, I think we can get out of this mud with a little push.”

Myles gulped. His heart started to pound.
The thing with red eyes
was out there!

Myles started to shake his head, but Bea teased him.

“Geesh, Myles, you look scared! Come on, the scariest thing out here is that crow, see?” She pointed at a giant crow above them in the trees. It was staring at them.

Myles dropped his gaze since he had the strangest feeling the crow wanted him to go away.

Nothing scared Bea, though. She pushed her glasses up her nose, put her precious book on the front seat, and left the car. Myles took a deep breath, opened his door, and stepped onto the pebbly, muddy dirt road. Light rain spattered down onto his head. It smelled like spring fields outside the car. The air was fresh and clean, a nice change from the inside of Victor.

But still. Myles's heart was pounding so hard, it hurt. He willed himself not to look down the road. At the farmhouse. Or at the bushes.

Stare at your feet! There's nothing out there!

He didn't want to see the door hanging on its hinges. The broken windows.

The
thing
from the island.

The huge black crow sat in the tree overhead, staring at them. Every now and then it ruffled its feathers.

“You both push hard, when I say. Okay?” His mother sounded so normal that Myles squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

Bea put her back against the car and dug her feet into the dirt road. Myles put his hands on Victor's bumper, ready to push. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

“Ready?” their mother called from inside the car.

“Yes!” Bea shouted back, but Myles was mute.

“NOW!” their mother yelled. Victor roared. The back tire spun in the mud.

Bea and Myles pushed as hard as they could. Myles was SO glad his sister was there with him. There was no way he would be brave enough to stand in that creepy dirt road by himself. When Victor roared, the old crow in the tree let out a huge CAW! CAW!

It sounded like “Caught! Caught!” to Myles.

Bea and Myles pushed. The back tire spun, mud flew up at them, pebbles whipped past.

They pushed … and pushed … until Myles thought his arms were going to break. But suddenly the old car swerved back onto the gravel and out of the mud.

“Did it!” Bea said proudly.

But Myles couldn't rejoice. He couldn't speak. Behind her a pair of RED EYES stared out of the bushes.

A long, misty finger reached across the pebbly ground.

Myles tore into the car.

“Lock the doors! Come on, Mom! Let's go!”

“What's the matter with you, Myles? Would you mind if we wait until your sister gets into the car before we drive away?” she said calmly.

Bea strolled to the car. Slowly, far, far too slowly.

Myles couldn't yell at her to run. He was frozen. He wanted to scream at her to hurry up, but instead he squeezed his eyes shut and tucked his head into his collar.

Bea would have run if she'd seen the thing floating silently behind her along the road.

Long, misty grey arms reached out for her. A wispy grey face with a round, dark mouth opened wide. Red eyes danced and burned. The monster from the island drifted just behind her, sniffing the air and catching her scent.

Myles squeezed into a ball in the back seat beside sleeping Norman.

Bea settled into the front seat and shut the door. As his mother drove Victor-the-Volvo carefully down the lane back toward the highway, Myles had to look. It was much better to look than not to know. He peeked in the rear-view mirror, just for a second.

A sleek fox appeared in the lane behind the car. It stopped and stared at Myles in the gloom.

It has red eyes!
Myles thought.
It was just a fox!

“Hey, there's a fox!” he called, but it darted away into the ditch.

“Where? Where?” Bea asked, turning to see. “Sure … a fox, right, Myles. Good one,” she said, settling back into her seat, annoyed.

Myles was going to say,
No! It was really there!
but the words died in his throat. The fox was gone.

But it hardly mattered.

Because the monster from the island stood at the end of the road. It rose taller than the abandoned farmhouse. Two long grey arms stretched along the laneway toward Myles and the escaping car. The monster sniffed the air and two bright red eyes stared out of the gloom.

A dark, twisted mouth opened in the mist, and a whispery voice filled the air:

… I see you, Myles….

DOG GONE WEIRD

M
yles
stared straight ahead.

That wasn't a fox!

It was the THING, and I heard it! It spoke to me!

Myles watched the back of his mother's head as she drove. He saw the little light shining on Bea's open book. He heard rain on the car roof and the heavy wipers
thunk-thunking
across the windshield. Norman snored gently in his car seat.

Inside the car everything seemed normal.

But
outside
?

Myles gulped and stayed low in his seat. They were completely alone on the highway; all the other cars from the ferry were long gone. And it was raining harder now. They were going the right way again, but Myles had a terrible knot in his stomach.

The monster
followed
him from the ferry. It
hitched a ride
.

It
spoke
to him
!

… I see you, Myles….

Myles could hear the horrible whispery voice perfectly. There was no doubt about it: the monster was outside the car. It had their scent. It was following them through the rainy fields.

Myles took four deep breaths, then two short breaths, then four deep ones again. He counted to ten, forward and backward. It helped, a little. But not enough. Not nearly enough.

He should tell someone.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Myles?” He bit his lip and looked outside. The fields were getting darker and darker. He wished he were brave.

Life would be so easy if he were brave. Like Bea. Or even Norman. He sighed.

“Mom? It's almost midnight. When are we going to get there?” The rain
splutted
against the windshield then fell just a little harder.

“Just go to sleep, Myles. Look, Norman's asleep. Bea is quietly reading. If you go to sleep, we'll be at our new house when you wake up. Dad will make us pancakes for breakfast. He can't wait to see us. And he's got a surprise for you, remember? Shhh.”

But he should know I hate surprises!

Myles fidgeted and stared out the front window. He didn't want to turn his head a fraction. The white line of the highway darted past in the headlights, slick with rain. He needed to talk.

“When was the last time
you
slept, Mom? Like for real, a whole night, not just sitting upright on the ferry?”

His mother sighed. “I slept okay last night in the hotel.”

Myles knew that was a lie. His mom had hardly slept at all since they left home. But he stayed silent. He thought about his dad making them pancakes, and about surprises. He thought about their new house.

What if our new house has broken windows and the front door is hanging off the hinges?

Myles scowled.

Bea sighed and said, “Look, Myles, just don't worry. I know you're worrying. Just relax.”

Myles didn't answer them. They didn't know.

There was a monster outside.

Shapes moved along beside the car, the bushes and long grass beside the highway rustled with the wind. The rain made everything blurry. Myles closed his eyes. He tried to let the
thunk-thunk
of the wipers calm him. He talked to himself, trying to be brave.

There's nothing out there. You are too scared of everything. Mom is braver than you. Your sister is braver than you. Even your little brother is braver than you. Can't you be brave for once, too?

He took a deep breath and looked out the window.

And somehow didn't scream.

A huge grey figure strode across the muddy wet field. It loomed in the night sky, darker than the fields, drier than the rain. A creature of fog and air, mist and fear. Monster feet stomped across the cold April mud, keeping stride with the car. Blazing red eyes burned out of the darkness. Long, wispy arms reached out.…

… I see you, Myles....

Myles gasped and clenched his eyes shut.

You're not there! You're not there!

“What's wrong?” his mother asked.

“Uh … uh … n … nothing.” He squeezed his eyes tighter.

There's nothing out there!

“Mom, could you lock the doors?” he whispered.

Click. Click. Click. Click
. The automatic “click” of four doors locking did nothing to calm him.

“You're awfully jumpy, Myles. You haven't been yourself since we left the ferry. What's wrong?” his mother asked quietly.

There's nothing out there.

Myles opened his eyes. He turned his head a fraction. Be brave, Myles! The field was empty.

See, nothing there. Maybe I should just tell her?
he thought. His mother was always good at helping him feel calmer. But what would he say?
I saw a monster, Mom!
He was struggling to decide if he should tell her …

… when something jumped out of the ditch!

“MOM, WATCH OUT!” Myles shouted. It was a
dog
!

“There's a dog back there!”

Myles's mother slowed the car. “A dog? Where? Where, Myles?” she asked, slowing the car.

A large golden dog ran to Myles's side of the car. It might have been the reflection of the headlights, but the dog had a gentle glow about it. It looked at him then wagged its tail. It sniffed the air. The dog pricked up its ears at something in the field. Then it looked at Myles one last time and ran off into the darkness.

Myles turned in his seat to watch the dog through the rain. It was gone as quickly as it had arrived.

“I don't see a dog! Is this like the fox back there that no one else could see, Myles?” Bea snorted, twisting in her seat.

“I don't see it either, Myles, sorry,” his mother said. “Are you sure you saw it? Are you sure it was a dog?”

“Yes, Mom. It was a big golden dog,” Myles said, a little mad. Why hadn't his mother and sister seen the dog, too?

“Are you sure you didn't see it, Mom? It was right there!”

“No, I really didn't see it, Myles.”

“There was no dog, was there, Myles?” Bea said flatly. She never had much patience for Myles's imagination. Or his worries.

“But it really was there, I didn't make it up!” Myles was getting upset. The dog was real. It sure
seemed
real. It had wagged its tail and pricked up its ears. It looked right at him then out into the field. But what if … what if it wasn't really there?

No one saw the … thing … or the fox either. And now an invisible dog? Great, what if I'm cracking up?

Myles bit his lip. He didn't like the way this night was going at all. He closed his eyes and leaned back.

“Mom, can you please lock the doors?”

“They're locked, Myles.”

“Can you please unlock them, and lock them again?”

Click. Click. Click. Click.

They were in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in the pitch black in the pouring rain.

Where had the dog come from? It had really seemed like it was trying to tell Myles something. It ran toward him and stared straight at him. Then it wagged its tail, sniffed the air. Then it ran away. He wished his mother and Bea had seen it, too. That would definitely make him feel just a little better.

If you see that monster with the red eyes out there, dog, I hope you're braver than me!