"17 - The Thing in the Closet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

Too fast asleep to see the faint face form in the middle of the glow.
A face that was definitely not human.


Two

The next morning, Saturday, Cindy sat with her friends in their favourite doughnut shop. It was their custom, now that term had started again, to eat breakfast together each Saturday and Sunday morning. Adam and Sally were there, and so were Watch and Bryce Pool. Adam was the shortest one in the group, as well as their leader. He was very smart and full of good ideas. Sally was practically as tall as the other guys, and was always talking. Her wit was biting. Watch was perhaps the quietest He was called Watch because he always wore four watches at the same time. No one knew his real name. Bryce was the most dynamic one in the group, or maybe just the most arrogant. Cindy loved them all very much.
Plus they had a newcomer at breakfast, Tira Jones. They had only met her when the No Ones had tried to invade Spooksville. The No Ones had actually been ancient souls from a distant planet who had got trapped on earth. They had floated around like huge balls of light. They had been wiped out in an electric storm the gang had helped create with a magic potion from the town witch.
One of these No Ones had possessed Tira's body two hundred years ago. As a result, she had not aged in all that time. Together they had managed to drive the invading soul from her body, but to this day Tira had no memory of every being fused with the No Ones. For her, it seemed as if two hundred years had passed in a moment. She was still adjusting to life in modern-day Spooksville. She lived with a foster family that Watch had found for her. Because this couple didn't have children, they had been overjoyed to meet Tira. She seemed to like them as well. Besides being incredibly beautiful, with long dark hair and deep blue eyes, Tira was very sweet. She was so kind that even Sally had to like her, and Sally did not readily warm to pretty girls.
Cindy was trying to explain to all of them the green glow.
'It seemed to come from the back of the closet,' she said. 'It was unlike any light I have seen before. The green was like something an alien ship might give off. It wasn't even that bright, but it seemed to sink into all my clothes.'
'What do you mean sink into them?' Adam asked, chewing on a doughnut.
'The light seemed to stain the clothes is what I mean,' Cindy said.
'But were they stained?' Watch asked, sipping a carton of milk.
'No,' Cindy said. 'When I stepped to the closet door and opened it all the way, the light went off. Then everything was as it had always been. But I couldn't find a source for the light.'
'You might have just been dreaming,' Sally said.
'I know the difference between a dream and reality,' Cindy said.
'In this town there often isn't much difference,' Sally said.
Cindy shook her head. 'This was real. I saw it with my own eyes. What do you guys think it could have been?'
'I have never heard of anything like this before,' Watch said.
'Perhaps there is an interdimensionai portal in your bedroom closet,' Bryce suggested. 'There's one in the cemetery.'
'And Cindy's bedroom is like a morgue,' Sally added.
'This was not like the Secret Path,' Cindy said, referring to the magical portal that they had used before to travel in time and other dimensions.
'How can you be sure?' Bruce asked. 'You say the light had no obvious source. Maybe its source was another dimension, that for some reason closed when you opened the door.'
Cindy was thoughtful. 'I suppose that is possible.'
'How did this green light feel?' Tira asked. Because she was still getting used to the modern world, she spent more time watching and listening than giving suggestions. But they had all learned from experience that Tira was intuitive. She often knew things she had no way of knowing. The others suspected this ability was a lingering effect of her having been with a No One for two hundred years. They didn't say that to her, however, since she seemed reluctant to talk about the No Ones at all.
'What do you mean?' Cindy asked.
'Did the light feel good?' Tira asked.
Cindy hesitated. 'No. It felt cold. It felt . . . evil.'
Tira nodded. 'I thought so.'
'Wait a second,' Sally said. 'How can a light feel evil?'
Cindy shrugged. 'Maybe evil is too strong a word. But it definitely didn't feel like a good thing. I was glad when it vanished.' She paused and glanced at Tira. 'Why did you think it was evil?'
Tira's eyes were far away, as they often were.
'I just felt it was not good,' she said quietly.
Cindy smiled nervously. 'Now you're scaring me.'
'Maybe a little fear is good,' Adam said. 'Maybe Tira or Sally should sleep over with you tonight.'
'I don't want to sleep over at her house,' Sally said. 'Not if she has green goo dripping out of her closet.'
'I told you, it was green light,' Cindy said. 'Anyway, I don't want you to sleep over.' She paused, and added, 'I'll be all right.'
'Are you sure?' Tira asked. 'I don't mind staying with you.'
Cindy forced a smile. 'I'm not afraid of a little green glow.'
'But it is possible this glow is the tip of the iceberg,' Watch said. 'A radioactive nuclear bomb can give off a faint green glow. It can also wipe out an entire city. I would like to examine your closet, Cindy, right now.'
Cindy stood up. 'That's fine. I think my mother and brother are out shopping. Now is a good time.'

The gang gathered around the closet, as if peering into a strange realm, and yet they saw nothing unusual. The rear of the closet seemed as substantial as ever and none of the clothes showed any lingering effect of the glow. Sally picked up one of Cindy's woollen hats and tried it on.
'How do I look?' she asked, posing for the others.
'Go for the whole effect and pull it down over your face,' Bryce suggested.
Sally made a face. 'Very funny. Cindy, I didn't know you had so many hats.'
'It is a hobby of mine to collect them,' Cindy admitted.
'I like to collect watches,' Watch said.
'Who would have guessed?' Sally said.