The Evil Hairdo Read Online Free PDF Page A

me away.
    Then I saw why Mum was screaming. There was a stream of rats rushing into the kitchen through the back door. They spread out through the house, but most of them started to scamper up the stairs. Wayne shrieked and ran into Mum and Dad’s room. I followed him in and slammed the door behind us. We both leaned against the door and listened to the little monsters scratching at the other side.

    â€˜What do they want? What are they doing here?’ Wayne sobbed.
    I was going to say I didn’t know, but I did.
    â€˜My hair,’ I said. ‘It’s my hair, I think it has … like, a mind of its own and it’s using the smell to call them. It wants to keep me for itself. It wants to get rid of the rest of you.’
    â€˜What do you mean … you … you mean it’s alive?’ He stared at me. ‘And what do you mean get rid of us? How?’

    I bit my lip and nodded towards the scratching. Wayne went very pale.
    â€˜I’m going to get eaten alive by rats, because your hair wants you all to itself? How is that fair? I’m telling Mum and Dad. You’re going to get in so much trouble!’
    â€˜Why don’t we worry about the rats chewing through the door first?’ I snapped at him. ‘Then you can tell Mum and Dad. If the rats haven’t got them already.’
    Wayne started to cry. I put my arm around him, but he slid away, holding his nose. I wasn’t sure what to do next. How were we supposed to stop the rats? The scratching and gnawing was getting louder. They were almost through the bottom of the door. Then I saw something silver shining under Mum and Dad’s bed. I leaned over slightly and there, under the edge of the duvet, were the scissors I had thrown away last night. Keeping my weight against the door, I nudged Wayne and pointed towards the scissors.
    â€˜I’ll hold the door,’ I whispered. ‘You go and get them.’
    He dived over to the bed and grabbed the scissors.
    â€˜I can’t stop all the rats with this,’ he complained.
    â€˜It’s not for the rats , stupid,’ I growled. ‘I need you to fixmy hair !’
    At that, the evil hairdo started to fight back. It stood out straight from my head as Wayne came at me. He raised the scissors to make a cut, but the greeny-black hair jabbed him in the hand and he dropped the scissors with a yelp.
    â€˜It’s as sharp as needles!’ he gasped.
    And it was only getting started. As we both watched in horror, the hair started to grow. In weaving strands, it stretched, and swelled, and slithered down my head on all sides. If somebody could make hair extensions like that they’d make a fortune. But for me it was terrifying. The hair stood out from my head, and in seconds it was so long it had reached the floor. My wild new locks braced themselves, and I felt myself lifted off the floor, soI was dangling by my hair roots.
    I screamed my lungs out at it, but it was turning towards Wayne. The hair let out a cry like a strong wind through a thousand combs and lurched towards my brother. It was as if I was hanging by my hair from some giant spider’s belly, and I had to hang on to it, or have my head pulled off. I screamed again as it tramped clumsily towards Wayne.
    That little brother of mine had more guts than I thought. Snipping with the scissors, he tried to reach me, but the hair stabbed his shoulder, and this time he shrieked as it drew blood. I tried to fight the stinking, living hair, but it wouldn’t hold still. It pinned Wayne to the floor, knocking the scissors from his hand. Raising its points like spears, it was about to plunge them into his chest. I let out another scream. 

7
Really, My Dad Is So Cool
    ‘M elanie! Wayne!’ It was Dad, outside on the landing, among the rats. ‘Get away from my children, you … you … you rats!’
    And I know it’s not cool to say it. But as the rats were eating through the door, and my hairdo