The Haunting by Rodman Philbrick

Author:Rodman Philbrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497685352
Publisher: Open Road Media

17

The aliens came bursting out of their hiding places in the hills, about to swarm down on the unsuspecting town and take over the minds of the townspeople. Thrilling and exciting and all that stuff—but I couldn’t concentrate.

I turned a page and realized I’d read through half the battle without understanding a word. Something else was clamoring for attention.

I put the book down. What was it?

Sally. Her voice was drifting faintly down the hallway. She should be asleep by now. But she sounded as if she was comforting someone.

I strained my ears but I couldn’t make out any words. Just the tone. A calming, soothing tone, as she sometimes used with her dolls.

Nothing weird about that, right? But my heart was starting to beat faster.

Then Sally’s voice rose. “Nooo,” she said.

I sat up and swung my feet to the floor. I didn’t want to go down the hall. No way.

But I had to check on my kid sister.

She was probably having a bad dream, I told myself. I’d look in on her and then come back and finish my book.

I cracked open my bedroom door and shivered in the suddenly cold air.

I started to go through the door and something bounced me right back. I landed on my butt and stared up at the doorway in disbelief.

There was nothing there. Nothing to stop me from leaving. And yet it had.

I got up and slowly walked forward again.

SLAP! I was sproinged back into the room. This time I managed to keep my balance and not fall down. I approached the doorway more slowly, reaching out. My hand came up against an icy-cold barrier. It felt rubbery, like some kind of weird, invisible Jell-O. It yielded a little but I couldn’t push through. And it felt completely creepy—clammy and slippery and unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Just touching it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

“Jay-son!”

That was Sally, calling me. And I couldn’t get out of my own bedroom. Something wanted to keep me from helping Sally!

I couldn’t let that happen. I was getting through that icky stuff one way or another.

I got down in a three-point stance, tensed myself, and then charged full blast at the door. I sank to my waist in the invisible, icy goo. I started punching at it as hard as I could, desperate to get through.

The slimy, Jell-O-like stuff tightened around my head, slowed my fists until I couldn’t move at all, forward or backwards. It seeped into my ears and nose, squeezing my head.

The invisible stuff was sucking me in, digesting me slowly, cell by cell. It felt as if my skin was dissolving.

It was eating me!

I opened my mouth to scream and the gelatinous mass swam over my tongue and flowed down my throat. I was suffocating.

I struggled and wriggled, pulled with all my might. My chest was burning with effort and lack of air. I heard pounding footsteps on the stairs—somebody was coming, but who?

Suddenly there was a loud sucking noise and the goo let go.

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