54 - Don't Go To Sleep by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

normal again!”
    “Don’t worry,” Wayne murmured. “We’re going to stop it.”
    “We’re the Reality Police,” Lacie told me. “Our job is to keep reality under
control. We’ve been trying to keep up with you, Matt. It hasn’t been easy, with
all the changes you’ve made.”
    “But why?” I asked. “What are you going to do?”
    “We had to capture you,” Lacie said. “We can’t allow you to break the reality
laws.”
    I thought quickly. “It’s the guest room, right? This all happened because I
slept in the guest room?”
    “Well—”
    “I’ll never sleep in the guest room again!” I promised. “I don’t mind if I
don’t change back to my old self. This skinny fourteen-year-old body is not so
bad.”
    Lacie shook her head. “It’s too late for that, Matt. You’re trapped in the
hole. It doesn’t matter whether you sleep in the guest room or not. Every time
you go to sleep—and wake up—you change reality. No matter
where you are.”
    “You mean—I can never fall asleep again?”
    “That’s not quite it.” Lacie glanced at the two guys. Then she trained her
blue eyes on me.
    “I’m sorry, Matt. I really am. You seem like a nice guy.”
    An icy chill slithered down my spine. “What—what are you talking about?”
    She patted my hand. “We have no choice, Matt. We have to put you to sleep—forever.”

 
 
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    I stared at her in horror.
    “You—you can’t do that!” I stammered.
    “Oh, yes, we can,” Wayne said.
    “And we will,” Bruce added.
    “No!” I shouted. I leaped to my feet and dove for the door. But Bruce and
Wayne were ready for me. They grabbed me and held my arms behind my back.
    “You’re not going anywhere, kid,” Wayne said.
    “Let go of me!” I screamed.
    I struggled and squirmed. But I wasn’t a gigantic monster anymore. I was a
scrawny kid—no match for Bruce and Wayne. Even Lacie probably could have
beaten me up if she wanted to.
    The guys tossed me against the back wall of the room.
    “We’ll be back later,” Lacie promised. “Try not to worry about it too much,
Matt. It won’t hurt.”
    They left the room. I heard the key turn in the lock.
    I was trapped again.
    I searched the room for a way to escape. It was completely empty—no
furniture at all, not even a chair. Just four bare walls, a locked door, and a
small window with metal bars.
    I opened the window and rattled the bars. I hoped they might be loose or
something. But they didn’t budge.
    It was like being in jail. Jailed by the Reality Police.
    I put my ear to the door, listening. I could hear Lacie, Bruce, and Wayne
talking in the other room.
    “He’ll have to drink the sleeping potion,” Wayne said. “Make sure he drinks
the whole cup—or he might wake up.”
    “But what if he spits it out?” Lacie asked. “What if he doesn’t swallow it?”
    “I’ll make him swallow it,” Bruce vowed.
    Yikes! I couldn’t listen anymore. I frantically paced the room.
    They were going to feed me a sleeping potion! To make me sleep forever!
    I’d been in trouble before. My day in high school had seemed scary at the
time. Being a monster was scary too. But, now—now I was really done for.
    I’ve got to find a way out of this mess! I told myself. But how? How?
    Then it dawned on me. How did I get out of trouble before?
    I fell asleep. And the problem went away.
    True, I always woke up with new, worse problems. But nothing could be worse
than this!
    Maybe, I hoped, if I fall asleep, I’ll wake up somewhere else. And that’s how
I can escape!
    I paced some more.
    The only trouble was—how could I fall asleep? I was so terrified!
    I knew I had to try, anyway. So I lay down on the floor. There was no bed, no
pillow, no blanket. Daylight streamed in through the barred window.
    Falling asleep wasn’t going to be easy.
    You can do it, I told myself. I remembered how my mom—my real mom—used to
say I could fall asleep in a hurricane. I’m a good sleeper, it’s