My Name Is Evil Read Online Free PDF Page A

for the soft whisper of the trees.
    That was so horrifying! I thought. The cat always sat in my lap before. Why did it decide to attack me tonight?
    â€œBecause you’re EVIL!” Jackie had said.
    It wasn’t funny. It was so totally insane.
    I’m not evil. I’ve never done anything evil. In fact, I’m the least evil person I know!
    Jackie is more evil than I am, I told myself. She is. She definitely has a mean sense of humor.
    Rigging Glen’s Tarzan costume like that. Embarrassing him in front of the whole school. Pretending she was going to force me to get a tattoo tonight.
    That’s really evil.
    Well … no.
    I changed my mind. It’s not evil. It’s … mischievous, that’s all.
    Was tonight another one of Jackie’s “mischievous” jokes? I wondered. Did she pay Miss Elizabeth to say those things about me? Jackie swore she didn’t.
    I thought about the fortune-teller. Pictured her solemn face again, leaning into the red glow of her crystal ball.
    Why did she say I was evil? Why did she say that about me?
    Why did she pick me?
    Ask her, I thought. Just ask her, Maggie.
    Make her explain. Then you’ll never have to think about it again.
    I stopped at the corner. A car rolled past, music blaring from the open window. I waited for it to pass, then took a few more steps—and stopped in the middle of the street.
    My house was one block away. The carnival at the pier was four blocks in the other direction.
    Go ahead, I urged myself. Go to the carnival. Get it out of your mind for good.
    â€œOkay, I’m going,” I whispered. I turned and started toward the pier.
    I’m going to tell Miss Elizabeth how cruel that was, I decided. I’m going to tell her that she ruined my birthday with that lame act.
    Another car rolled past, this one filled with teenagers. A boy yelled something out the window. I ignored him and kept walking.
    I stopped under a streetlamp to check my watch. A little before midnight. My mom would probably kill me if she knew I was walking around by myself this late.
    â€œHey, I’m thirteen now,” I said out loud. “I’m not a kid.”
    The carnival was probably closing down. I hoped Miss Elizabeth was still there. I began to feel angrier and angrier. People go to a carnival for fun—not to be frightened or insulted.
    A strong wind came up, blowing against me, pushing me back. I leaned into it and kept going.
    I reached the pier. It was nearly deserted. A few couples were leaving the carnival, carrying armloads of stuffed-animal prizes. The ticket booth stood empty. The entrance gate was open.
    As I stepped through it, all of the lights dimmed. I blinked in the sudden darkness.
    An empty Pepsi can rattled over the ground in a gust of wind. It rolled at my feet and I jumped over it.
    The carnival music had been turned off, but the loudspeakers crackled with static. And over the sound of the static, I could hear the steady slap of water against the pier.
    Workers closed up the game booths. Most of the booths were already dark and deserted. A young man was pulling a wooden gate over the front of his booth. He looked up when he saw me walk past. “Hey—we’re closed,” he called.
    â€œI know,” I called back. “I’m … uh … looking for somebody.”
    The crackling static in the loudspeakers grew louder as I made my way to the end of the pier. From nearby I heard a low howl.
    An animal howl?
    The wind through the pier planks?
    More lights flickered out. Darkness washed over me. Someone in the distance laughed, a high, cold laugh.
    I shivered. Maybe this was a mistake.
    I heard scraping footsteps behind me.
    I spun around. Just dead brown leaves, scuttling on the pier in a swirl of wind.
    The empty cars on the roller-coaster track gleamed dully in the dim light. I heard a squeaking sound. The tracks rattled as if being shaken.
    Finally the fortune-teller’s tent came