Part 1 ...WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE Goosebumps - 01 R.L. Stine (An Undead Scan v1.5

1

Goosebumps

Josh and I hated our new house.
Sure, it was big. It looked like a mansion compared to our old
house. It was a tall redbrick house with a sloping black roof and rows of
windows framed by black shutters.
It’s so dark, I thought, studying it from the street. The whole house
was covered in darkness, as if it were hiding in the shadows of the
gnarled, old trees that bent over it.
It was the middle of July, but dead brown leaves blanketed the front
yard. Our sneakers crunched over them as we trudged up the gravel
driveway.
Tall weeds poked up everywhere through the dead leaves. Thick
clumps of weeds had completely overgrown an old flower bed beside the
front porch.
This house is creepy, I thought unhappily.
Josh must have been thinking the same thing. Looking up at the old
house, we both groaned loudly.
Mr. Dawes, the friendly young man from the local real estate office,
stopped near the front walk and turned around.
“Everything okay?” he asked, staring first at Josh, then at me, with
his crinkly blue eyes.
“Josh and Amanda aren’t happy about moving,” Dad explained,
tucking his shirttail in. Dad is a little overweight, and his shirts always
seem to be coming untucked.
“It’s hard for kids,” my mother added, smiling at Mr. Dawes, her
hands shoved into her jeans pockets as she continued up to the front
door. “You know. Leaving all of their friends behind. Moving to a
strange new place.”
“Strange is right,” Josh said, shaking his head. “This house is
gross.”
Mr. Dawes chuckled. “It’s an old house, that’s for sure,” he said,
patting Josh on the shoulder.
“It just needs some work, Josh,” Dad said, smiling at Mr. Dawes.
“No one has lived in it for a while, so it’ll take some fixing up.”
“Look how big it is,” Mom added, smoothing back her straight
black hair and smiling at Josh. “We’ll have room for a den and maybe arec room, too. You’d like that—wouldn’t you, Amanda?”
I shrugged. A cold breeze made me shiver. It was actually a
beautiful, hot summer day. But the closer we got to the house, the colder
I felt.
I guessed it was because of all the tall, old trees.
I was wearing white tennis shorts and a sleeveless blue T-shirt. It
had been hot in the car. But now I was freezing. Maybe it’ll be warmer in
the house, I thought.
“How old are they?” Mr. Dawes asked Mom, stepping onto the
front porch.
“Amanda is twelve,” Mom answered. “And Josh turned eleven last
month.”
“They look so much alike,” Mr. Dawes told Mom.
I couldn’t decide if that was a compliment or not. I guess it’s true.
Josh and I are both tall and thin and have curly brown hair like Dad’s,
and dark brown eyes. Everyone says we have “serious” faces.
“I really want to go home,” Josh said, his voice cracking. “I hate
this place.”
My brother is the most impatient kid in the world. And when he
makes up his mind about something, that’s it. He’s a little spoiled. At
least, I think so. Whenever he makes a big fuss about something, he
usually gets his way.
We may look alike, but we’re really not that similar. I’m a lot more
patient than Josh is. A lot more sensible. Probably because I’m older and
because I’m a girl.
Josh had hold of Dad’s hand and was trying to pull him back to the
car. “Let’s go. Come on, Dad. Let’s go.”
I knew this was one time Josh wouldn’t get his way. We were
moving to this house. No doubt about it. After all, the house was
absolutely free. A great-uncle of Dad’s, a man we didn’t even know, had
died and left the house to Dad in his will.
I’ll never forget the look on Dad’s face when he got the letter from
the lawyer. He let out a loud whoop and began dancing around the living
room. Josh and I thought he’d flipped or something.
“My Great-Uncle Charles has left us a house in his will,” Dad
explained, reading and rereading the letter. “It’s in a town called Dark
Falls.”
“Huh?” Josh and I cried. “Where’s Dark Falls?”
Dad shrugged.“I don’t remember your Uncle Charles,” Mom said, moving behind
Dad to read the letter over his shoulder.
“Neither do I,” admitted Dad. “But he must’ve been a great guy!
Wow! This sounds like an incredible house!” He grabbed Mom’s hands
and began dancing happily with her across the living room.
Dad sure was excited. He’d been looking for an excuse to quit his
boring office job and devote all of his time to his writing career. This
house—absolutely free—would be just the excuse he needed.
And now, a week later, here we were in Dark Falls, a four-hour
drive from our home, seeing our new house for the first time. We hadn’t
even gone inside, and Josh was trying to drag Dad back to the car.
“Josh—stop pulling me,” Dad snapped impatiently, trying to tug his
hand out of Josh’s grasp.
Dad glanced helplessly at Mr. Dawes. I could see that he was
embarrassed by how Josh was carrying on. I decided maybe I could help.
“Let go, Josh,” I said quietly, grabbing Josh by the shoulder. “We
promised we’d give Dark Falls a chance—remember?”
“I already gave it a chance,” Josh whined, not letting go of Dad’s
hand. “This house is old and ugly and I hate it.”
“You haven’t even gone inside,” Dad said angrily.
“Yes. Let’s go in,” Mr. Dawes urged, staring at Josh.
“I’m staying outside,” Josh insisted.
He can be really stubborn sometimes. I felt just as unhappy as Josh
looking at this dark, old house. But I’d never carry on the way Josh was.
“Josh, don’t you want to pick out your own room?” Mom asked.
“No,” Josh muttered.
He and I both glanced up to the second floor. There were two large
bay windows side by side up there. They looked like two dark eyes
staring back at us.
“How long have you lived in your present house?” Mr. Dawes
asked Dad.
Dad had to think for a second. “About fourteen years,” he
answered. “The kids have lived there for their whole lives.”
“Moving is always hard,” Mr. Dawes said sympathetically, turning
his gaze on me. “You know, Amanda, I moved here to Dark Falls just a
few months ago. I didn’t like it much either, at first. But now I wouldn’t
live anywhere else.” He winked at me. He had a cute dimple in his chin
when he smiled. “Let’s go inside. It’s really quite nice. You’ll be
surprised.”All of us followed Mr. Dawes, except Josh. “Are there other kids on
this block?” Josh demanded. He made it sound more like a challenge
than a question.
Mr. Dawes nodded. “The school’s just two blocks away,” he said,
pointing up the street.
“See?” Mom quickly cut in. “A short walk to school. No more long
bus rides every morning.”
“I liked the bus,” Josh insisted.
His mind was made up. He wasn’t going to give my parents a break,
even though we’d both promised to be open-minded about this move.
I don’t know what Josh thought he had to gain by being such a pain.
I mean, Dad already had plenty to worry about. For one thing, he hadn’t
been able to sell our old house yet.
I didn’t like the idea of moving. But I knew that inheriting this big
house was a great opportunity for us. We were so cramped in our little
house.
And once Dad managed to sell the old place, we wouldn’t have to
worry at all about money anymore.
Josh should at least give it a chance. That’s what I thought.
Suddenly, from our car at the foot of the driveway, we heard Petey
barking and howling and making a fuss.
Petey is our dog, a white, curly-haired terrier, cute as a button, and
usually well-behaved. He never minded being left in the car. But now he
was yowling and yapping at full volume and scratching at the car
window, desperate to get out.
“Petey—quiet! Quiet!” I shouted. Petey usually listened to me.
But not this time.
“I’m going to let him out!” Josh declared, and took off down the
driveway toward the car.
“No. Wait—” Dad called.
But I don’t think Josh could hear him over Petey’s wails.
“Might as well let the dog explore,” Mr. Dawes said. “It’s going to
be his house, too.”
A few seconds later, Petey came charging across the lawn, kicking
up brown leaves, yipping excitedly as he ran up to us. He jumped on all
of us as if he hadn’t seen us in weeks and then, to our surprise, he started
growling menacingly and barking at Mr. Dawes.
“Petey—stop!” Mom yelled.
“He’s never done this,” Dad said apologetically. “Really. He’susually very friendly.”
“He probably smells something on me. Another dog, maybe,” Mr.
Dawes said, loosening his striped tie, looking warily at our growling
dog.
Finally, Josh grabbed Petey around the middle and lifted him away
from Mr. Dawes. “Stop it, Petey,” Josh scolded, holding the dog up close
to his face so that they were nose-to-nose. “Mr. Dawes is our friend.”
Petey whimpered and licked Josh’s face. After a short while, Josh
set him back down on the ground. Petey looked up at Mr. Dawes, then at
me, then decided to go sniffing around the yard, letting his nose lead the
way.
“Let’s go inside,” Mr. Dawes urged, moving a hand through his
short blond hair. He unlocked the front door and pushed it open.
Mr. Dawes held the screen door open for us. I started to follow my
parents into the house.
“I’ll stay out here with Petey,” Josh insisted from the walk.
Dad started to protest, but changed his mind. “Okay. Fine,” he said,
sighing and shaking his head. “I’m not going to argue with you. Don’t
come in. You can live outside if you want.” He sounded really
exasperated.
“I want to stay with Petey,” Josh said again, watching Petey nose
his way through the dead flower bed.
Mr. Dawes followed us into the hallway, gently closing the screen
door behind him, giving Josh a final glance. “He’ll be fine,” he said
softly, smiling at Mom.
“He can be so stubborn sometimes,” Mom said apologetically. She
peeked into the living room. “I’m really sorry about Petey. I don’t know
what got into that dog.”
“No problem. Let’s start in the living room,” Mr. Dawes said,
leading the way. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how spacious
it is. Of course, it needs work.”
He took us on a tour of every room in the house. I was beginning to
get excited. The house was really kind of neat. There were so many
rooms and so many closets. And my room was huge and had its own
bathroom and an old-fashioned window seat where I could sit at the
window and look down at the street.
I wished Josh had come inside with us. If he could see how great
the house was inside, I knew he’d start to cheer up.
I couldn’t believe how many rooms there were. Even a finishedattic filled with old furniture and stacks of old, mysterious cartons we
could explore.
We must have been inside for at least half an hour. I didn’t really
keep track of the time. I think all three of us were feeling cheered up.
“Well, I think I’ve shown you everything,” Mr. Dawes said,
glancing at his watch. He led the way to the front door.
“Wait—I want to take one more look at my room,” I told them
excitedly. I started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “I’ll be down
in a second.”
“Hurry, dear. I’m sure Mr. Dawes has other appointments,” Mom
called after me.
I reached the second-floor landing and hurried down the narrow
hallway and into my new room. “Wow!” I said aloud, and the word
echoed faintly against the empty walls.
It was so big. And I loved the bay window with the window seat. I
walked over to it and peered out. Through the trees, I could see our car in
the driveway and, beyond it, a house that looked a lot like ours across the
street.
I’m going to put my bed against that wall across from the window, I
thought happily. And my desk can go over there. I’ll have room for a
computer now!
I took one more look at my closet, a long, walk-in closet with a
light in the ceiling, and wide shelves against the back wall.
I was heading to the door, thinking about which of my posters I
wanted to bring with me, when I saw the boy.
He stood in the doorway for just a second. And then he turned and
disappeared down the hall.
“Josh?” I cried. “Hey—come look!”
With a shock, I realized it wasn’t Josh.
For one thing, the boy had blond hair.
“Hey!” I called and ran to the hallway, stopping just outside my
bedroom door, looking both ways. “Who’s here?”
But the long hall was empty. All of the doors were closed.
“Whoa, Amanda,” I said aloud.
Was I seeing things?
Mom and Dad were calling from downstairs. I took one last look
down the dark corridor, then hurried to rejoin them.
“Hey, Mr. Dawes,” I called as I ran down the stairs, “is this house
haunted?”He chuckled. The question seemed to strike him funny. “No. Sorry,”
he said, looking at me with those crinkly blue eyes. “No ghost included.
A lot of old houses around here are said to be haunted. But I’m afraid
this isn’t one of them.”
“I—I thought I saw something,” I said, feeling a little foolish.
“Probably just shadows,” Mom said. “With all the trees, this house
is so dark.”
“Why don’t you run outside and tell Josh about the house,” Dad
suggested, tucking in the front of his shirt. “Your Mom and I have some
things to talk over with Mr. Dawes.”
“Yes, master,” I said with a little bow, and obediently ran out to tell
Josh all about what he had missed. “Hey, Josh,” I called, eagerly
searching the yard. “Josh?”
My heart sank.
Josh and Petey were gone......