54 - Don't Go To Sleep (7 page)

I’ve got to find a way out of this mess! I told myself. But how? How?

Then it dawned on me. How did I get out of trouble before?

I fell asleep. And the problem went away.

True, I always woke up with new, worse problems. But nothing could be worse
than this!

Maybe, I hoped, if I fall asleep, I’ll wake up somewhere else. And that’s how
I can escape!

I paced some more.

The only trouble was—how could I fall asleep? I was so terrified!

I knew I had to try, anyway. So I lay down on the floor. There was no bed, no
pillow, no blanket. Daylight streamed in through the barred window.

Falling asleep wasn’t going to be easy.

You can do it, I told myself. I remembered how my mom—my real mom—used to
say I could fall asleep in a hurricane. I’m a good sleeper, it’s true.

I missed my mom. It seemed like I hadn’t seen her in a long, long time.

If only there were some way I could bring her back, I thought as I closed my
eyes.

When I was very little, she used to sing me to sleep. I remembered the
lullaby she sang. It was all about pretty ponies….

I hummed the song to myself. Before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep.

I opened my eyes. I rubbed them. Had I fallen asleep?

Yes.

Where was I?

I looked up. Plain ceiling.

I looked around. Bare walls.

A door.

A window. With bars on it.

“No!” I cried, furious. “No!”

I was still in the same room, in the same house in the woods.

I was still a prisoner.

My plan didn’t work.

Now what could I do?

“Nooooooo!”

I was so angry, so frustrated, so scared, I jumped up and down in a rage.

My plan hadn’t worked. I had no more ideas. I didn’t know what to do.

Now I knew for sure there was no escape for me.

I was doomed.

I heard Lacie and the two guys in the other room. They were getting the
sleeping potion ready.

They’d put me to sleep forever. I’d never see my mother, or Greg, or Pam
again.

How could they do this to me? It wasn’t fair!

I didn’t do anything wrong. Not on purpose, anyway!

Thinking about all this made me angrier and angrier. I screamed,
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

And it sounded strange to me.

I screamed again, not so loud this time.

“Nooooo!”

I thought I was saying, “No.” But that’s not what I heard.

I heard a squeak.

“No!” I said again.

“
Eee!
” I heard.

It was my voice. But it wasn’t a human voice.

I looked at myself. I’d forgotten to do that. I’d been so terrified to find
myself still trapped—I didn’t think that maybe I had changed.

But I
had
changed.

I was small. About eight inches tall.

I had tiny little paws. Gray fur. A big bushy tail.

I was a squirrel!

My eyes went to the window. I could easily squeeze through the bars now.

I didn’t waste a second. I scampered up the wall and wriggled through the
bars.

I was free!

Yippee! I did a little squirrel somersault to celebrate.

Then I ran through the woods as fast as I could. I found the path to town.

I scurried through town on my little squirrel feet. It seemed to take a long
time. Short distances felt longer to me.

All was quiet in town. Normal. No sign that a monster had ever stomped
through, chomping on cars.

I guess that reality disappeared, I thought.

This is the new reality. I’m a squirrel.

But at least I’m an
awake
squirrel. It’s better than being a boy who
has to sleep forever.

I sniffed the air. I had an amazing sense of smell. I thought I could smell
my house from the middle of town.

I raced across the street. But I forgot what my mother always told me.

Look both ways before you cross.

A car peeled around the corner. The driver couldn’t see me.

Huge black tires bore down on me. I tried to scurry out of the way.

But I didn’t have time.

I shut my eyes. Is this how I’ll end up? I wondered.

As roadkill?

SCREECH!

The driver slammed on the brakes. The car squealed to a stop.

Then everything was quiet.

I opened my eyes. One tire came so close, it touched my ear.

I zipped out from under the tire and across the street. The car sped away.

I reached the sidewalk. A dog stood guard in a yard. He barked at me.

Whoops! I dodged him and ran up a tree. The dog chased me, barking furiously.

I camped out in that tree until the dog got bored. His owner called him. He
trotted away.

I sneaked out of the tree and dashed through the yard.

The rest of the way home I dodged cars, bikes, people, dogs, cats…

Then, at last, I found myself staring up at my house. It was nothing special, my house. Just a white square house with
peeling paint.

But it looked beautiful to me.

I had a new plan. An idea that would stop this craziness once and for all.

I hoped.

My whole problem had started when I slept in the guest room, I knew. That’s
where the hole in reality was—Lacie had said so.

But ever since then—ever since I slept in the guest room—I hadn’t slept
in my own room. Not once.

Something always stopped me. Either someone else was sleeping there, or it
was being used for something else.

My own room was where I slept when my life was normal. My tiny old room. I
never thought I’d miss it.

I decided I
had
to sleep in my old room again. Maybe that way, I could
turn everything back to normal. The way it used to be.

I knew it sounded stupid. But it was worth a try.

And, anyway, I didn’t have any other ideas.

I scampered up the rain gutter to the second floor. I peeked through my old
bedroom window.

There it was! My old room. With my bed in it and everything!

But the window was closed. I tried to push it with my tiny squirrel paws. No
luck.

I checked the other windows in the house. They were all shut.

There had to be another way to get in. Maybe I could sneak through the door
somehow.

Was anyone home? I peered through the living room window.

Mom! And Pam and Greg!

They were back!

I got so excited, I hopped up and down. I chirruped and chittered.

Then Biggie waddled into the room.

Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten about Biggie. I wasn’t too glad to see him right
then.

Biggie loved to chase squirrels.

He saw me right away and started barking.

Pam looked up. She smiled and pointed at me.

Yes! I thought. Come and get me, Pam. Open the window and let me in!

She gently opened the window. “Here, little squirrel,” she cooed. “You’re so
cute!”

I hesitated. I wanted to go inside. But Biggie was barking like crazy.

“Put Biggie in the basement!” Pam told Greg. “He’s scaring the squirrel.”

She was being nicer to me as a squirrel than she ever was to her little
brother. But I let that slide for now.

Greg led Biggie to the basement and shut the door.

“Come on, squirrel,” Pam chirped. “It’s safe now.”

I hopped into the house.

“Look!” Pam cried. “He wants to come in! It’s almost like he’s tame!”

“Don’t let him in here!” Mom warned. “Those animals have rabies! Or bugs, at
the very least.”

I tried not to listen. It’s hard to hear your own mother insult you that way.

I focused on getting upstairs. If I could only get up to my room and fall
asleep, just for a few minutes….

“He’s getting away!” Greg shouted. “Catch him!”

Pam pounced at me. I skittered away.

“If that squirrel gets lost in this house, Pamela,” Mom warned, “you’re going
to be in big, big trouble.”

“I’ll catch him,” Pam promised.

Not if I can help it, I silently vowed.

Pam cut me off at the stairs. I darted into the kitchen.

Pam followed. She closed the kitchen door behind her.

I was trapped.

“Here, little squirrel,” she called. “Here, boy.”

I twitched my tail. I searched the room for a way out.

Pam inched her way toward me. She was trying not to scare me away.

I scurried under the table. She dove for me. Missed.

But when I scampered away, she cornered me.

And snatched me up.

I never knew she was so speedy.

She grabbed me by the neck and held my feet together. “I got him!” she
shouted.

Greg threw open the kitchen door. Mom stood behind him.

“Take him outside—quick!” Mom ordered.

“Can’t I keep him, Mom?” Pam begged. “He’d be such a cute pet!”

I shuddered. Me, as Pam’s pet! What a nightmare!

But it might be my best chance to get back to my room.

“No!” Mom insisted. “You absolutely cannot keep him. Put him outside—now.”

Pam’s mouth drooped. “Okay, Mom,” she said sadly. “Whatever you say.”

She carried me out of the kitchen. “Mom is so mean,” she said loudly so Mom
could hear her. “All I wanted to do was pet you and cuddle you for a while.
What’s wrong with that?”

A lot, I thought. Pam was the last person I wanted petting and cuddling me.
Except for Greg.

She opened the front door. “Bye, you cute little squirrel,” she said.

Then she slammed the door shut.

But she didn’t let me go. She held me tightly in her arms.

Then she slipped upstairs to her room.

“Don’t worry, squirrel,” she whispered. “I won’t keep you very long. Just a
little while.”

She pulled something out from under her bed. Her old hamster cage.

She opened the door of the cage. She shoved me inside.

“No!” I protested. But all I could do was squeak.

She locked the latch.

I was a prisoner again!

Now
what am I going to do? I thought frantically. I’m stuck in this
stupid cage. I can’t talk.

How will I ever get to my old room?

Another bad thought came to me.

If I fell asleep in this tiny hamster cage—what would happen when I woke
up?

Pam’s big face loomed over the cage. “Are you hungry, squirrely-kins? I’ll go
get you some nuts or something.”

She left the room for a minute. I paced the cage, thinking hard. The next
thing I knew, I was running on the hamster wheel.

Stop it! I told myself. I made myself get off the wheel. I didn’t want to get
used to being a rodent.

“Here you go, squirrel.” Pam had returned to the room with a handful of nuts.
She opened the door to the cage and sprinkled the nuts inside.

“Yum yum!” she squealed.

Oh, brother.

I ate the nuts. I was very hungry after all my adventures. But I would have enjoyed them more if Pam hadn’t watched me the
whole time.

The phone rang. A moment later I heard Greg call, “Pam! Telephone!”

“Excellent!” Pam cried. She jumped up and ran out of the room.

Like a moron, I sat there gobbling nuts. It took me five minutes to notice
that Pam had left the cage door unlatched.

“Yes!” I squeaked. For once I was glad that Pam was no genius.

I pushed the door open with my paws. I crept toward the bedroom door,
listening for footsteps.

The coast was clear. Now was my chance!

I dashed out the door. Down the hall. To my room.

The door was shut. I threw my tiny squirrel body against it, trying to open
it.

No way. It was closed tight.

Rats!

I heard footsteps down the hall. Pam was coming back!

I knew I had to get out of there before Pam put me back in that cage.

Or before my mother swatted me with a broom.

I scurried down the steps and into the living room.

Was the window still open? Yes.

I ran behind the couch, along the wall, under a chair…

Then I leaped up to the windowsill and out into the yard.

I climbed a tree and curled up on a branch to rest.

I couldn’t get into my old room as a squirrel. There was only one thing I
could do.

I had to go to sleep again. And this time, I’d better wake up as a human.

Because I had to get to my old room. If I didn’t, I’d be in trouble.

Big trouble.

The Reality Police were on my trail. It was only a matter of time before
they’d find me.

If they did, nothing could save me.

CRASH! THUD!

OOF!

I landed hard on the ground. What a way to wake up.

Who was I this time?

What a relief. I was a twelve-year-old boy again.

But I still wasn’t my old self.

I was a very, very chubby boy. A real blimp. No wonder the tree branch didn’t
hold me.

But that didn’t matter. I was a human again. I could talk.

And maybe now I could get to my old room at last.

I marched straight up to the front door and tried the knob.

Locked.

So I knocked.

I had no idea who would answer. I hoped it wasn’t a monster family.

The door opened.

“Mom!” I cried. I was so glad to see her. “Mom—it’s me! Matt!”

Mom stared at me. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Matt! Matt, Mom! Your son!”

She squinted at me. “Matt? I don’t know anyone named Matt,” she said.

“Sure you do, Mom! Don’t you remember me? Remember that lullaby you used to
sing to me when I was a baby?”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Greg and Pam appeared behind her. “Who is it, Mom?” Pam asked.

“Greg!” I shouted. “Pam! It’s me, Matt! I’m back!”

“Who is this kid?” Greg asked.

“I don’t know him,” Pam said.

Oh, no, I thought. Please don’t let this be happening. I’m so close….