50 - Calling All Creeps! by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

I
thought…”
    Mom and Dad exchanged glances. Dad opened his mouth to say something—then
changed his mind.
    “They came here with a mission,” I told them. “They want to turn all the kids
in school into Creeps. They have these Identity Seeds, a big bag of them.
They’re going to feed the seeds to all the kids.”
    I ran out of air. I hadn’t taken a breath. I took a long one now, and
continued my story.
    “They think I’m a Creep, too. They think I’m their Commander. Because of a
message I typed on the bottom of the school newspaper. They want me to help them
turn all the kids into Creeps. Horrible monsters!”
    I took another breath. I was so excited, so nervous, I felt as if my heart
had jumped to my throat.
    I leaned across the table and stared first at Mom, then at Dad. “We have to
stop them!” I cried. “You have to help me. We can’t let them turn everyone into
Creeps. But what can we do? How can we let people know that they’re not really
kids? How can we stop them? You’ve got to help me. You’ve got to!”
    I let out a long whoosh of air and dropped against the back of the chair. I
struggled to slow down my racing heart.
    My parents glanced at each other again. I could see the troubled expressions
on their faces.
    Dad was the first to speak. “Ricky,” he said softly, “your mom and I are
Creeps too.”

 
 
21
     
     
    I gasped and nearly tumbled off my chair.
    Mom and Dad burst out laughing.
    “No. Actually we’re Martians!” Dad declared.
    “No way. We’re not Martians,” Mom argued. “We’re werewolves!” She picked up a
chicken bone and pretended to chomp on it like a wolf.
    “We’re Martian werewolves!” Dad cried. He tossed back his head and howled
like a wolf.
    Then they both laughed loudly again. They really thought they were a riot.
    “You’ve got to take me seriously!” I pleaded.
    For some reason, that made them laugh even harder. Dad actually had tears in
his eyes from laughing so hard. He raised his napkin and dabbed at his eyes.
    “Ricky, sometimes you come up with the greatest things,” he said. He reached
over and slapped my shoulder.
    “What an imagination,” Mom commented. She shook her head. “You really should write that story down, Ricky. It could win
a prize.”
    “But it isn’t a story!” I cried. I jumped to my feet and angrily tossed my
napkin onto my plate. “Why don’t you believe me?”
    “Oh, we believe you—Commander!” Dad exclaimed. “Commander of the Creeps!”
    They both burst out laughing again.
    I uttered an angry cry, turned, and stomped out of the dining room. I could
still hear them laughing as I stormed up the stairs to my bedroom.
    I slammed the door behind me. And shook my fists in the air.
    I had to find some help. I had to make someone believe me.
    I slumped onto my bed and just sat there for a long while, staring at the
darkness outside the window. I waited for my heart to stop racing, for my mind
to calm down.
    But I couldn’t get calm. My whole body tingled. My brain spun.
    I grabbed the phone off my bedtable and punched in Iris’ number. Iris will
listen to me, I told myself. Iris will know I’m not making up a wild story.
    The phone rang three times. Four. Five.
    No one home?
    “Come on, Iris!” I begged into the ringing receiver. “Be there!”
    I let it ring twelve times before I hung up.
    I slammed the phone back onto the bed table. After I calmed down a little, I
sat down at my desk and tried to do my homework.
    But I couldn’t keep my mind on it.
    At least the phone isn’t ringing and ringing tonight, I told myself. The
Creeps weren’t calling me tonight.
    They were waiting to hear from me. They were waiting to hear if I okayed
Wart’s plan to go to school early and plant the seeds in the lunchroom food.
    I slammed my science textbook shut.
    “I will go to school early,” I said out loud.
    But not to meet the four Creeps. Not to drop Identity Seeds into everyone’s
lunch.
    I’ll go to