R. Stine - The Barking Ghost

Fergie shrugged, but didn't answer. I could tell she was as scared as I was. She stuck close by my side.

The beam of my flashlight fell on the jungle gym. As I stared down at the ground ahead of me, something suddenly grabbed my ankle.

"Hey!" I yelled, tumbling in the dirt.

I twisted and squirmed, trying to break free. "Help!"

Fergie rushed over to help. Why was she laughing?

"What a klutz! You're all tangled up in the lawn sprinkler!" she exclaimed.

"It's not funny," I insisted. I was glad she couldn't see me blush in the darkness. "I could have broken my leg or something!"

Fergie bent down to help free me. Then she stopped. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?"

"Listen."

We waited silently in the dark. Hardly breathing.

Then I heard it, too. A soft creaking coming from the house. It sounded like an old door swinging open and shut.

We carefully made our way toward the sound. To my surprise, we found a small window low to the ground. I'd never noticed it before.

The window was open, swinging back and forth, making the creaking noise.

"It leads to the basement," I said, poking my head in. "Do you think this is how the dogs get into the house?"

Fergie didn't answer me.

"Fergie?" I called.

No reply.

A chill of fear shot down my back.

I spun around.

In time to see a dark form come charging at me.

Startled, I stumbled. The back of my head hit the house with a hard thwack.

The dark creature leaped on top of me.

Pinned me to the ground.

A sour smell filled my nostrils as I struggled to get up.

But I couldn't move.

The creature panted. Its jaws opened wide. Hot saliva dripped on to my face.

The big dog held me prisoner.

What did it plan to do next?

"Get off me!" I choked out.

I reached up both hands — and shoved with all my might.

To my surprise, the big dog toppled off.

I jumped to my feet, my heart pounding. Spinning around, I saw Fergie. Trapped. Backed up against the house by the other dog.

"Go home!" she cried meekly to the dog. "Go home!"

The dog didn't budge.

I picked up a stick. I waved it furiously in front of me to keep the dogs a good distance away.

As I approached the animals, Fergie shook her arms wildly at them.

They lowered their heads and growled softly.

Then, one of them came running at me. The stick didn't seem to bother him at all.

I lost my balance and crashed into Fergie.

Both dogs curled their lips into fierce, ugly snarls.

My legs were shaking so hard, I could barely stand.

Growling and snapping their jaws, the dogs backed Fergie and me against the house.

"Now what?" Fergie cried, grabbing my arm.

"G-good question," I stammered as the dogs lowered their heads and moved closer.

I shut my eyes.

I had this crazy idea that if I made them disappear, I'd disappear, too.

Guess what? It didn't work.

I felt a sudden burst of hot, sour dog breath on my face.

Then I felt tugging. On my sweatpants.

I opened my eyes. The dog pulled furiously at my sweats. Not biting. Tugging.

Fergie appeared as confused as I was. The other dog tugged at the hem of her T-shirt.

"What do they want?" Fergie whispered.

"I… I… I don't know," I answered. "They — they're not biting or attacking!"

"Cooper, I think they want us to go with them," Fergie said.

"That's crazy!" I cried. The dog tugged harder on my sweatpants. "I saw this on a Lassie show once!"

"I don't think it's crazy, Cooper," Fergie said. "Watch." She stepped forward slowly, and the dog's tail began to wag. "See? They want us to go with them!"

I hesitated. It seemed ridiculous.

But when I edged forward, the dog that had been tugging on my pants began wagging his tail, too.

"See?" Fergie whispered.

Sorry, but I wasn't buying it. I turned and started to run.

"Cooper, don't!" Fergie cried.

Too late.

The big creature took off after me. Leaped high. And knocked me to the ground.

When I climbed to my feet, he started tugging again.

"Come on. Let's see what they want," Fergie pleaded with me. "We don't have much of a choice, anyway. They're not going to leave us alone."

We followed the dogs through the woods. They stayed close by, never getting too far ahead. And always glancing back.

I pointed my flashlight along the path. The dim light didn't help very much at all. I had no idea where we were going. All I knew was that it was very dark out — and we were headed deeper and deeper into the woods.

"I hope we can find our way back," I muttered to myself.

Then, without warning, the dogs sped up. Their big paws trod heavily on the soft ground.

A few seconds later, they began barking and scratching wildly at something between the trees.

I lifted my flashlight and aimed it in their direction.

In the center of a small clearing stood a broken-down wooden shack. The dogs clawed at the door. When they had pushed it open, they came back for us. They began tugging again, pulling us toward the shack.

"Wha — what is this place?" I cried. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Fergie whispered. "I've never seen this shack before."

The dogs tugged — furiously now. They really wanted us to go in there.

"What can be inside?" I whispered to Fergie.

Fergie swallowed hard. "I don't know," she whispered back. "But I think we're going to find out!"

"Fergie, I don't like this," I whispered. "Let's get away from here — fast!"

I felt the dog clamp its jaw tighter on my ankle.

Had he understood what I'd said?

"They're not going to let us get away," Fergie said softly.

Snarling and growling, the dogs backed us up against the door to the shack.

"Whoa!" I cried out as the dogs leaped at the side of the shack.

"I don't believe it!" Fergie screamed.

The dogs jumped right through the wooden wall. They disappeared inside.

"That's impossible!" Fergie cried.

"Tell that to the dogs," I murmured.

I had seen them do it before — in my own kitchen.

"They're ghosts or something!" Fergie cried.

I grabbed her arm. "Let's get out of here! Whatever happens… we can't go in that shack!"

We'd taken only a few steps when the dogs came tearing out through the shack wall.

They edged in close, pressing us up against the shack again. Before we could struggle or try to get away, the dogs rose up on their hind legs.

Standing up, they were taller than us! Fergie and I exchanged terrified glances.

The dogs staggered forward. Pressed their front paws against our chests. And shoved us backwards into the shack.

We screamed as we started to fall.

The shack had no floor.

We fell, hurtling down. Tumbling as we fell.

Down, down, down.

Into a deep, black hole.

A deep, black hole that didn't seem to end.

I landed softly on my feet. I didn't even feel it.

Had we fallen into some kind of well? Or a tunnel dug deep under the shack?

I couldn't tell.

I took a deep breath and gazed around the heavy blackness. "Fergie — are you okay?" I called. My voice came out tiny and shrill.

"I — I guess," she replied after a few seconds. "Cooper — look!"

I started to reply that it was too dark to see anything. But then I glimpsed the two pairs of red eyes, glaring at us through the darkness.

I gasped.

"Don't move!" instructed a dry whisper of a voice.

"Who are you?" I managed to choke out. "What do you want?"

"Why did you dogs bring us here?" Fergie demanded.

"We are not dogs," the voice growled. "We are people."