Page 13 (1/2)

Soainst the door

Tick sat up, suddenly very, very awake

Chapter

9

The Gnat Rat

Tick’s first instinct was to run and get his dad again, the creepy chills of the night he’d first heard the noises returning in full force But he steeled hiain until he kneas all for real Whatever was , and it had to have a reasonable explanation Maybe it was just a squirrel that had chewed a hole through the wall--too sht when he and his dad had searched the rooht He told himself that maybe the little squirrel had accidentally eaten his dad’s electric shaver, but then realized he was probably one step away fro to hio check it out, he told hi his eyes riveted on the closet, and flicked on the la fully the door with its many posters and sports banners taped haphazardly across it Encouraged and braver with the light on, Tick swung his legs around and stood up fro the closet door didn’t burst open when he did so Nothing ined it I haven’t heard it since it woke

me up

Think it all he wanted, he couldn’t convince hi it pound even harder, sending a pulse of heat through his veins His hands were sweaty and his shoulders and back tingled, host he’d seen in the alley The Tingle Wraith But its sound had been totally different, and Tick didn’t really expect to see one in his closet

No, this was so at all

He crept over to the door with ginger steps, staring at the thin sliver of space between the floor and the botto shot out from that crack, Tick knew he’d die of a heart attack on the spot He stopped a couple of feet away and paused, clenching and unclenching his fists

Just open it, you sissy

He reached forward and twisted the handle, knowing his dad had done the exact sa that there had been nothing there then

He pulled the door open and stepped back

So very odd rested on top of a pile of dirty clothes

Soinbotto woke hi When his kids had been babies, Edgar had woken up the instant any of theainst all hope that Lorena would so on theot up after a few seconds, feeling guilty for being so selfish after all his wife had gone through to bring those kids into the world in the first place

This tiht that snapped hi in the house He pushed himself up onto one elbow and looked at the door to his roole of the shadows caused by the light, and the direction frootten out of bed for soar looked at his clock--three in the ?