Half-Minute Horrors. Литагент HarperCollins USD

      HALF-MINUTE

       HORRORS

      EDITED BY

       SUSAN RICH

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Something You Ought to Know by Lemony Snicket

      The Chicken or the Egg by Jerry Spinelli

      In Hiding by Kenneth Oppel

      The Old Man in the Picture by Richard Sala

      The Babysitter by Erin Hunter

      Grand Entrance by James Patterson

      Halloween Mask by Sonya Sones

      Tenton by Tom Genrich & Michèle Perry

      Nanny by Angela Johnson

      The Legend of Alexandra & Rose by Jon Klassen

      What’s Coming by Arthur Slade

      An Easy Gig by M. T. Anderson

      Mr. Black by Yvonne Prinz

      The Foot Dragger by M. E. Kerr

      Trick by Adam Rex

      Hank by Dean Lorey

      One of a Kind by Sarah Weeks

      A Walk Too Far by Gloria Whelan

      A Very Short Story by Holly Black

      Deep Six by Faye Kellerman

      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, A Novel as Told by Lisa Brown in Fewer than 30 Seconds

      The Attack of the Flying Mustaches by Pseudonymous Bosch

      Takowanda by Nadia Aguiar

      Heart Stopper by Sienna Mercer

      Up to My Elbow by Jack Gantos

      Four Gleams in the Moonlight by Stephen Marche

      The Goblin Book by Brad Meltzer

      Worms by Lane Smith

      The Dare by Carol Gorman

      The Ballad of John Grepsy by David Rich

      Soup by Jenny Nimmo

      The Creeping Hand by Margaret Atwood

      Wet Sand, Little Teeth by Mariko Tamaki

      A Thousand Faces by Brian Selznick

      Chocolate Cake by Francine Prose

      At the Water’s Edge by Ayelet Waldman

      My Worst Nightmare by R.L. Stine

      The Beast Outside by Adele Griffin

      Unannounced by Aliza Kellerman

      Krüger’s Sausage Haus by Mark Crilley

      There’s Something Under the Bed by Allan Stratton

      Cat’s Paw by Sarah L. Thomson

      Horrorku by Katherine Applegate

      The Itch by Avi

      The New Me: A Pantoum by Gail Carson Levine

      Always Eleven by David Stahler Jr.

      Aloft by Carson Ellis

      Skittering by Tui T. Sutherland

      Stuck in the Middle by Abi Slone

      All Fingers and Thumbs! by Joseph Delaney

      Don’t Wet the Bed by Alan Gratz

      The Final Word illustrated by Brett Helquist, story by Josh Greenhut

      The Shadow by Neil Gaiman

      A Day at the Lake by Lesley Livingston

      Whispered by Jon Scieszka

      A Disturbing Limerick found & envisioned by Vladimir Radunsky

      Through the Veil by Alison McGhee

      The Rash by Daniel Ehrenhaft

      Where Nightmares Walk by Melissa Marr

      On a Tuesday During That Time of Year by Chris Raschka

      Death Rides a Pink Bicycle by Stacey Godenir

      I’m Not Afraid by Dan Gutman

      The Doll by Alice Kuipers

      Easy Over by Frank Viva

      Them by Libba Bray

      Tiger Kitty by Joyce Carol Oates

      Inventory by Jonathan Lethem

      Shortcut by Michael Connelly

      Strawberry Bubbles by Lauren Myracle

      We Think You Do by Barry Yourgrau

      The Prisoner of Eternia by Aaron Renier

      In Conclusion by Gregory Maguire

      Index

      About the Author

      Copyright

       About the Publisher

      LEMONY SNICKET

       Something You Ought to Know

      “The right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing” is a phrase that refers to times when people ought to know, but don’t know, about something that is happening very close to them. For instance, you ought to know about the man who watches you when you sleep.

      He is a quiet man, which is why you don’t know about him.

      You don’t know how he gets into your home, or how he finds his way to the room in which you sleep. You don’t know how he can stare at you so long without blinking, and you don’t know how he manages to be gone by morning, without a trace, and you don’t know where he purchased the long, sharp knife, curved like a crescent moon, that he holds in his left hand, sometimes just millimeters from your eyes, which are closed and flickering in dreams.

      There are, of course, things he does not know about you, either. He does not know what you are dreaming about, but then it may be that he does not care. His clothes are rumpled and have odd rips in them here and there. One of his coat sleeves is longer than the other, and this may be to cover his right hand. The sleeve is long enough that if you were to wake up and see him, which you never do, you might not see that his right hand is strange and crooked. It would take a while, in the darkness of the room, to notice that it is missing three fingers.

      He comes every night. His right hand does not know what the left is doing.

      JERRY SPINELLI

       The Chicken or the Egg

      “I was first,” said Egg.

      “I was first,” said Chicken.

      “I was,” said Egg.

      “I was,” said Chicken.

      “I was!”