Don't Scream! Read Online Free PDF Page B

Coke. The ice cubes rattled in her glass.
    She narrowed her eyes at the blob of black plastic in Eli’s hand. “It’s definitely burned,” she said. “That’s very bad. That could have started a fire.”
    â€œLet me see it.” Dad took it from Eli’s hand. He rolled it around. He shook it hard. Then he held it up to his ear. “Anyone in there?” he called.
    Silence.
    Dad shook the thing again. “Anyone in there? Speak up. Jack says you’re hiding in the game-player. Are you there?”
    Mom laughed. Eli and I stared hard at the player.
    Come on. Talk to him
, I begged silently.
Let them know I was telling the truth
.

15
    Dad smacked the game-player against his open palm. “Speak up,” he said. “We can’t hear you.” SMACK. SMACK.
    And then a deafening roar screeched from the player — a wail — higher and shriller than an ambulance siren. It didn’t stop. Rising … rising …
    Dad dropped the player onto the table. We all pressed our hands over our ears.
    I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth from the pain shooting through my head. “It … hurts …” I choked out.
    We were all screaming.
    My head throbbed. It felt as if my skull was bursting apart.
    The shrill siren wail cut off suddenly.
    I gasped at the silence. We all stared at the melted game-player on the table.
    My ears rang. I still had my hands pressed over them tightly.
    Slowly, I lowered my hands to the table. Eli shook his head hard, as if trying to shake off the pain.
    Mom squinted at the game-player, her mouth hanging open. She was breathing hard.
    Dad was the first to speak. “That player is defective,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”
    He pressed his ears with his pointer fingers, trying to clear them. Then he swallowed a few times.
    â€œIt hurts. It hurts real bad,” Rachel wailed. She still had her hands over her ears.
    â€œWe could have gone deaf,” Mom said. “My ears are still whistling. That was horrible.”
    Dad picked up the game-player and shook it. “Eli, you bought this at Volt City, right? Well, come with Jack and me after dinner. I’m taking this back. I’m going to show it to the manager. He has to give you a new one.”
    Eli didn’t reply to Dad. He was staring at me.
    We both knew what caused the deafening noise. It wasn’t the game-player. It was the girl.
    She had shocked me from the cell phone. Now she had hurt us all from Eli’s game-player. What would she do if we took the game-player to the store? Something even more horrible?
    I could tell Eli and I were having the same frightening thoughts.
    â€œI … don’t think I can go to the store,” Eli told my dad. “My parents probably won’t —”
    â€œI’ll call them right now,” Dad said. He jumped to his feet and headed to the kitchen phone. “I don’t want you walking around with that dangerous game-player. The store needs to see it. Maybe the player needs to be recalled.”
    â€œNo. I —” Eli started to protest, but gave up. He knew my dad couldn’t be stopped once he had something in his head.
    Dad started to talk to Eli’s mother. I dragged Eli into the hall. “Maybe this is a good thing,” I whispered.
    He squinted at me from behind his glasses. “Like how?”
    â€œLike we leave the game-player at the store, and the girl stays there with it,” I said.
    He blinked. “You think?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I said. “But if she’s trapped inside there or something, and we drive it to the store and give it to the store manager … Then it’s
his
problem — right?”
    â€œMaybe,” Eli said.
    â€œIt’s worth a try,” I told him. “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?”
    â€œShe could blow up the car,” Eli said.

16
    We had a tense ride to the Volt