"Martin, Ann M - Baby-sitters Club 009 - The Ghost at Dawn's House" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

Rap, rap, rap, rap, thud.
We all looked at each other.
"Did you hear that?" I whispered.
It was a definite hollow sound.
I was standing by my bed, next to the wall that separates my room from Mom's room. There was all this fancy molding on the wall Ч one of my favorite things about the room Ч and Claudia immediately began running her fingers over it.
The three of us were expecting something to spring open or fly out at any moment, but not a thing happened.
"False alarm," said Claudia at last.
I knew she and Kristy felt as disappointed as I did.
"Hey, you guys," said Kristy, forcing a smile. "Let's show those two cowards downstairs how brave we are. Let's explore the attic."
"The attic?" I squeaked.
KER-RASH. A clap of thunder shook the house.
. "I think that was a sign," I said. "A sign saying we'd be stupid to go in the attic."
"Oh, come on," said Kristy. "It's all this ghost stuff that's stupid."
Maybe to her. I couldn't stop thinking about "Things Unseen." Or another story I read where a man picks up a woman he finds hitchhiking one night. He decides to take her home, but when he gets to her house, she's disappeared Ч and the couple in the house say the woman was their daughter and had died ten years earlier.
Kristy grabbed my arm. "Come on."
I must have been crazy. I opened the door to the attic. We were greeted by stale, musty air, and the sound of the rain on the roof. We
started to tiptoe up the stairs. The light switch was at the top. Halfway up, the door slammed shut.
"Yikes!" I cried.
The three of us piled back down the steps.
"I hope the door didn't lock behind us!" I whispered. We were closed into total darkness.
I was reaching for the handle when the door began to open slowly, all by itself. We heard a low moan.
"Oh, no," I whimpered.
Then we heard a growl.
"You didn't get a dog, did you," said Kristy. It was a statement, not a question.
I shook my head, and looked at Kristy and Claudia with wide, terrified eyes.
Then the three of us let out eardrum-shattering screams.
"Gotcha!" Stacey and Mary Anne jumped out from behind the door. "Who are the scaredy-cats now?" asked Stacey.
"You guys nearly gave us heart attacks!" gasped Kristy.
Mary Anne and Stacey laughed hysterically. The three of us had to sit down to recover. We didn't think it was funny at all.
"Did you find anything?" I asked them, when I was able to speak.
They shook their heads. "But we haven't looked in the den yet/' said Mary Anne.
We split up again. As soon as Stacey and Mary Anne were gone, I turned to the others and said, "This is war. We've got to get back at them."
"How?" asked Claudia.
"There's a heating vent in Mom's room that goes down to the den. I have an idea."
The three of us sat on the floor and crowded around the vent.
"Ow-oooh," I moaned into it.
Kristy and Claudia caught on immediately.
"Heeeelp meeee," wailed Kristy.
"Wheeeere aaaaaaam IIIIIII?" whispered Claudia.
Then we moaned some more. The howling wind helped us along.
"Shhh," I said. "Listen."
Downstairs we could hear Stacey and Mary Anne shrieking.
I looked at Kristy and Claudia. We began to giggle. Then we took up the moaning again.
"Woooo. . . . Ow-ow-ooooh. . . . Oooooo-eeeeee. ..."
And then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I dared to look around. The hand was green.
"Kristy," I whispered. "Claudia."
We all looked up.
We were gazing into the green face of a deformed, one-eyed monster.
"BOO! Scared you!"
It was Jeff in a Hallo ween costume.