The Secret Bedroom by R.L. Stine, Bill Schmidt Page A
Authors: R.L. Stine, Bill Schmidt
Tags: SOC035000
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her hand went back to the doorknob and, ignoring the searing heat, turned it and pushed the door open.
Lea peered into a small room. The light inside wasblindingly bright. Someone was in the room. But Lea couldnât see who. It was too bright. She had to shield her eyes.
Someone stepped forward, out of the light, a dark, faceless figure.
âWho are you?â Lea cried.
Without looking, she knew it was someoneâor somethingâhorrifying. Something hideous. Some creature bringing evil that was waiting to be unleashed.
âWho are you?â she repeated, raising her hands up as if to shield herself.
And the bright light faded. And the dark figure moved closer, came into focus.
âNo!â Lea shrieked as she recognized the smiling figure looming before her.
It was Marci. Marci Hendryx.
Lea woke up. She sat straight up in bed, shaken, uncertain, bathed in cold perspiration.
She couldnât decide whether to laugh or cry.
This, her third week at Shadyside High, turned out to be a long week, a lonely week. Her parents busied themselves with fixing up the house and had little time for her. Deena had a new boyfriend, a tall, blond, skinny basketball player named Luke Appleman, and was spending all her time with him.
Lea had tried being friendly with Deenaâs friend Jade. But Jade was very popular and very busy, involved in a million clubs and with a million kids, and didnât seem to have much time for Lea.
Lea tried not to think about how lonely she was. But that was just about as easy as not thinking about Don Jacobs.
She had seen Don a couple of times during the week. Both times he was with Marci. Both times he gave Lea shy, apologetic glances before quickly turning back to Marci. Marci, of course, deliberately cut Lea both times, looking sharply away, an unpleasant scowl on her face.
Saturday night found Lea home alone again, her mom and dad at another party. She and Deena had plans to go to the movies at the Division Street Mall. But Luke called Deena at the last minute with two tickets to a rock concert at the big auditorium in Waynesbridge, and Deena, apologizing again and again, begged Lea to understand and went off to the concert.
Lea watched TV for a while, clicking the remote control, watching ten seconds of this and ten seconds of that, not really paying attention to any of it. She thought of doing homework, but decided that would be just too pitiful. She thought of going to the movie at the mall by herself, but that would be too embarrassing, especially since a lot of kids from Shadyside High were bound to be there.
Maybe Iâll go rent a movie, she decided, clicking off the TV and pacing back and forth over the threadbare living-room carpet her parents hadnât replaced yet. She decided against it. By that time on a Saturday night all the good films would be rented.
Eventually, at a little after nine, she went up to herroom, planning to lie in bed and start the new historical novel her mother had taken out of the Shadyside library.
âJust what I need. An escape back to another century,â she told herself.
She had read only a few pages when the sounds began above her head.
Tap tap. Tap tap.
Thump thump scrape thump.
Trying to ignore them, she turned the page and kept reading.
But the sounds grew louder, more insistent, as if urging her to listen, forcing her to pay attention.
Again, she thought she heard a voice up there. Or voices. Talking quietly, languidly, as soft as a rush of wind.
But not the wind.
Definitely not the wind.
Lea put the book down and got to her feet, her eyes on the ceiling. The locked room, she realized, must be right above her room, right above her head.
Thump scrape thump.
The voices up there rose and then faded.
This is driving me crazy, Lea thought, her heart pounding.
She remembered her dream. So silly. Marci Hendryx trapped in the boarded-up room.
And the other dream, the dream with the blood pouring down the door,
Lea peered into a small room. The light inside wasblindingly bright. Someone was in the room. But Lea couldnât see who. It was too bright. She had to shield her eyes.
Someone stepped forward, out of the light, a dark, faceless figure.
âWho are you?â Lea cried.
Without looking, she knew it was someoneâor somethingâhorrifying. Something hideous. Some creature bringing evil that was waiting to be unleashed.
âWho are you?â she repeated, raising her hands up as if to shield herself.
And the bright light faded. And the dark figure moved closer, came into focus.
âNo!â Lea shrieked as she recognized the smiling figure looming before her.
It was Marci. Marci Hendryx.
Lea woke up. She sat straight up in bed, shaken, uncertain, bathed in cold perspiration.
She couldnât decide whether to laugh or cry.
This, her third week at Shadyside High, turned out to be a long week, a lonely week. Her parents busied themselves with fixing up the house and had little time for her. Deena had a new boyfriend, a tall, blond, skinny basketball player named Luke Appleman, and was spending all her time with him.
Lea had tried being friendly with Deenaâs friend Jade. But Jade was very popular and very busy, involved in a million clubs and with a million kids, and didnât seem to have much time for Lea.
Lea tried not to think about how lonely she was. But that was just about as easy as not thinking about Don Jacobs.
She had seen Don a couple of times during the week. Both times he was with Marci. Both times he gave Lea shy, apologetic glances before quickly turning back to Marci. Marci, of course, deliberately cut Lea both times, looking sharply away, an unpleasant scowl on her face.
Saturday night found Lea home alone again, her mom and dad at another party. She and Deena had plans to go to the movies at the Division Street Mall. But Luke called Deena at the last minute with two tickets to a rock concert at the big auditorium in Waynesbridge, and Deena, apologizing again and again, begged Lea to understand and went off to the concert.
Lea watched TV for a while, clicking the remote control, watching ten seconds of this and ten seconds of that, not really paying attention to any of it. She thought of doing homework, but decided that would be just too pitiful. She thought of going to the movie at the mall by herself, but that would be too embarrassing, especially since a lot of kids from Shadyside High were bound to be there.
Maybe Iâll go rent a movie, she decided, clicking off the TV and pacing back and forth over the threadbare living-room carpet her parents hadnât replaced yet. She decided against it. By that time on a Saturday night all the good films would be rented.
Eventually, at a little after nine, she went up to herroom, planning to lie in bed and start the new historical novel her mother had taken out of the Shadyside library.
âJust what I need. An escape back to another century,â she told herself.
She had read only a few pages when the sounds began above her head.
Tap tap. Tap tap.
Thump thump scrape thump.
Trying to ignore them, she turned the page and kept reading.
But the sounds grew louder, more insistent, as if urging her to listen, forcing her to pay attention.
Again, she thought she heard a voice up there. Or voices. Talking quietly, languidly, as soft as a rush of wind.
But not the wind.
Definitely not the wind.
Lea put the book down and got to her feet, her eyes on the ceiling. The locked room, she realized, must be right above her room, right above her head.
Thump scrape thump.
The voices up there rose and then faded.
This is driving me crazy, Lea thought, her heart pounding.
She remembered her dream. So silly. Marci Hendryx trapped in the boarded-up room.
And the other dream, the dream with the blood pouring down the door,
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