Is She for Real? Page 9

  Yes, it was!

  There was a person sitting in there with his back to her and a hooded sweatshirt pulled down low over his head. It was a boy. At least she thought so, but she wasn’t completely sure.…

  That is until he pulled the sweatshirt back and slowly turned.

  His face was pale and boyishly handsome, but it was his eyes—or lack of them, really—that Jennifer saw first. Where his eyes should have been, there were laser-like beams of greenish light. They shot straight through her and she shrank back. She tried to scream but nothing came out. Her blood, her lungs, her whole body felt numb.

  Run! she tried to tell herself.

  But she was too terrified to move.

  Finally she managed to scramble away from the window, not knowing or caring which way she went. It didn’t matter to her anymore what might be lurking out in the dark woods. She needed to get out of that clearing, she knew, as fast as she possibly could. But she’d barely run ten yards when she felt a sharp tug on the back of her shirt.

  She stumbled back, afraid to turn, but she could feel a laser-like burn on the back of her head.

  “Don’t ever come back,” said a low, haunting voice in her ear.

  And that’s when the scream finally spilled out of her throat.

  Bethany’s friends search everywhere for her after she disappears from the beach, but she is never found. Can YOU find these hidden words? Words can appear up, down, backward, forward, or diagonally.

  BEACH

  BURIED

  CEMETARY

  CREEPOVER

  CURSED

  DREAM

  EMPTY

  ETCHING

  LADY

  LEGEND

  LIGHTNING

  LIPGLOSS

  LORD

  NEW YORK CITY

  PIZZA

  RUBY

  RING

  SANDY LADY

  SCARED

  SCHOOL SLEEPOVER

  SLEEPWALKING

  SPAGHETTI

  TAPPING

  TOMBSTONE

  TWINS

  VOYAGE

  WARWICK

  WIND

  Create your own spooky characters!

  One of the most fun things about writing scary stories is thinking up spooky characters. And just like people, characters need NAMES! Below is a list of spooky characters P. J. Night is working on for future stories. What would you name them? Write your answers on the lines beneath the descriptions.

  Character #1: An old man who lives in a small shack near a haunted lake … who only comes out at night … when the moon is full!

  Character #2: A woman who can change her appearance at will. But no matter what she alters, she always has a small telltale mole on her cheek!

  Character #3: This character is a girl who is totally normal … except lately she’s having a lot of nightmares. Then one day she dreams about a book. She goes to the library to find the book she dreamed of, and instead finds a book written by someone with her very same name … more than fifty years ago! And the author photo looks JUST like her! The book tells the story of a girl who is totally normal … but then starts having a lot of nightmares. Then one day she dreams about a book.…

  Character #4: This character found a coin on the street and picked it up thinking it might be lucky. But not long after finding it, very strange things start happening. She decides to dispose of the coin … but the next day, it’s back in her pocket!

  Characters #5 and #6: A brother and sister duo who are very mysterious indeed. Each night they go to sleep in their beds … but wake up every morning in a clearing in the woods behind their house!

  A lifelong night owl, P. J. NIGHT often works furiously into the wee hours of the morning, writing down spooky tales and dreaming up new stories of the supernatural and otherworldly. Although P. J.’s whereabouts are unknown at this time, we suspect the author lives in a drafty, old mansion where the floorboards creak when no one is there and the flickering candlelight creates shadows that creep along the walls. We truly wish we could tell you more, but we’ve been sworn to keep P. J.’s identity a secret … and it’s a secret we will take to our graves!

  What’s better than reading a really spooky story?

  Writing your own!

  You just read a great book. It gave you ideas, didn’t it? Ideas for your next story: characters…plot…setting… You can’t wait to grab a notebook and a pen and start writing it all down.

  It happens a lot. Ideas just pop into your head. In between classes entire story lines take shape in your imagination. And when you start writing, the words flow, and you end up with notebooks crammed with your creativity.

  It’s okay, you aren’t alone. Come to KidPub, the web’s largest gathering of kids just like you. Share your stories with thousands of people from all over the world. Meet new friends and see what they’re writing. Test your skills in one of our writing contests. See what other kids think about your stories.

  And above all, come to write!

  www.KidPub.com