Goosebumps Most Wanted #5: Dr. Maniac Will See You Now (9 page)

The woman behind the desk wore a red costume. Her face was half-hidden under a red mask. Her red cape was draped behind her chair.

Of course I recognized her. The Scarlet Starlet.

In her comic book series, she was a Hollywood star. When she wasn’t in front of the cameras, she was a superhero. What was she doing in this doctor’s office? Was she playing a part in some movie?

I gazed around. No movie cameras.

She glanced up from the papers on her desk. “Can I help you? Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” I said. “We just —”

“The doctor is very busy,” she said. “If you don’t have an appointment, scram.” She motioned to the door.

“But there’s no one else here!” I said.

“And I think my leg might be broken,” Bree chimed in.

The Scarlet Starlet squinted at Bree. “Interesting. The doctor has never treated a broken leg before. You’d be the first.”

Bree’s eyes went wide. “The doctor doesn’t treat legs?”

“He doesn’t treat patients,” Starlet replied. “Sick people make him nervous. He only sees people who have no problems.”

“That’s crazy,” Bree said. “What kind of a doctor doesn’t treat sick people?”

“He’s a very good doctor,” the Starlet said. “He just isn’t interested in your health. He —”

She stopped. A shrill scream from the back office interrupted her. The door was closed. But I heard the scream clearly. And then more shouts, sounds of a scuffle, and another scream.

“What’s going on back there?” I asked.

The Starlet didn’t answer. She stood up and walked to the office door. She pulled it open, then turned back to us. “Dr. Maniac will see you now,” she said.

Huh? Dr. Maniac?

Yes. He stood grinning at us in front of an examination table. Dr. Maniac, wearing a white lab coat under his leopard-skin cape, with a stethoscope around his neck.

“You — you’re not a real doctor,” I blurted out.

“I’m not a doctor — I’m a MANIAC!” he cried.

Bree narrowed her eyes at him. “What were those screams we heard?”

“That was me,” Maniac said. “Just doing my morning exercises.”

He took a deep breath, then let out a long, high scream. Panting, he took the stethoscope and listened to his own chest. “Hey, I’m not breathing!” he cried. “Somebody call a doctor!”

“
You’re
the doctor,” Starlet said from the doorway. “Go to the phone and call yourself.”

“But today is my day off!” Maniac cried.

I’d had enough of his comedy act. I stepped up close to him, my hands balled into fists. “Where is my brother?” I demanded. “We saw you take him. What have you done to him?”

“Your brother?” Dr. Maniac shook his head. His expression turned serious. “I’m soooo sorry,” he said in a whisper. “Your brother didn’t make it. Squeezer and Squisher, the Squid Twins, got him. It … it was very messy.”

A stab of horror made me gasp. “That’s not true!” I screamed.

Maniac nodded. “You’re right. It’s not true. I lied.” He shook his head. “It’s such a bad habit. Why do I lie all the time? Is it because I had an unhappy childhood?”

“I don’t care,” I said, my voice trembling. “I just want to see my brother. Where is he?
Where?
”

Maniac rubbed his chin. “Come to think of it, I had a very
happy
childhood. So why am I such a terrible liar? Is it because I’m a maniac?”

“I don’t care!” I screamed again. I picked up the stethoscope from the front of his lab coat and shouted into it, “Where is my brother?”

Maniac shrieked and jerked the stethoscope from his ears. “Ouch. I’m deaf now. I’m totally deaf. Call a doctor!”

“
You’re
a doctor,” the Scarlet Starlet called from the front room.

“But I can’t see myself!” he cried. “I don’t have an appointment.”

I raised my fists. I was about to lose it. “Ernie!” I shouted. “Are you here somewhere? Ernie? Can you hear me?”

I heard a bang. A hard thud. The door to the supply cabinet against the wall burst open. And Ernie came toppling out.

He landed on his side and quickly scrambled to his feet.

“You’re here!” I cried happily. “You’re okay!”

He rolled his eyes. “What took you so long?”

“Give us a break,” Bree said. “We had to leave the real world behind to come here and rescue you.”

“Well, get me out of here!” Ernie shouted.

“Not so fast,” Dr. Maniac said, stepping to block the door. “I think you’ll learn to like it here.”

“Like it here?” Bree cried. “Seriously?”

“We’re going home,” I said. I took Ernie’s hand and started to pull him out of the office.

Dr. Maniac spread his arms to keep us back. “Richard, I knew if I brought your brother here, you would come down to rescue him. And now I have all three of you as my guests. My guests — forever.”

“Guests? You mean
prisoners
?” I asked. My heart started to pound in my chest.

“That’s such a harsh word,” Maniac said. “Why don’t we say
friends
. You are my new best friends. And best friends stick together, right?”

“I don’t want to be your friend,” Ernie said. “I want to go home. Why don’t you keep Richard? He’s really into comic books. Why don’t you keep him and let me go home?”

Nice kid, huh?

Glad I risked my life to save him.

Dr. Maniac’s smile faded. His voice turned cold. “Forget about going home,” he growled. “
This
is your home now. Deal with it.”

“Why?” I cried. “Why do you want to keep the three of us here?”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “There will be more of you. There will be hundreds of you.”

Bree plopped down on the chair behind the desk. “This isn’t happening,” she murmured to herself. “I know this isn’t happening.” She tore at her blond hair with both hands.

“Everyone left Comic Book World,” Maniac said. “All of my comic book friends. They all escaped to the real world. I need people
here
. I need people to live in
this
world.”

“You’re a maniac!” I cried.

He smiled. “So what else is new?”

“But — but we can’t —” I sputtered.

“Listen to me,” he said. “Comic book characters all want to live in the real world. So I’m going to bring
real people
to live in Comic Book World.”

“But you can’t do that to us. We don’t belong here!” I cried.

He raised a gloved hand to silence me. “Real people,” he repeated. “Real people. Real people to obey my every command. Real people to be my slaves.” He giggled. “Won’t that be fun?”

“No way!” Ernie cried. He dove across the room and tried to kick Maniac in the leg.

But the supervillain dodged to the side, and Ernie ran headfirst into his cape.

Shouting angrily, Ernie got all tangled, and Maniac had to pull him out.

“Don’t you realize how lucky you are?” Maniac asked. “People never age in comic books. That means you’ll stay young for the rest of your lives!”

“We — we’ll be kids forever?” I stammered.

“Oh, thrills,” Bree muttered.

I edged over to where she was sitting. I leaned forward to whisper to her. “If we all make a run for it at once, he won’t be able to stop us.”

She turned and stared at the door. “Maybe …” she whispered back.

But Maniac must have overheard us. Or maybe he was a mind reader. Because he swung quickly to the office door — and clicked the lock.

“Okay, slaves,” he said. He clapped his hands together. “Let’s talk about all the wonderful things you’re going to do for me.”

“I’m hungry,” Ernie said. “It’s dinnertime back home. What do you have to eat?”

Dr. Maniac narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re joking, right? There’s no real food in Comic Book World. Comic characters don’t eat real food.”

“We’re going to
starve
?” Ernie cried.

Maniac never had a chance to answer.

A deafening roar shook the room. I was slammed against the wall as a sharp blast shattered the windows.

I ducked. Jagged shards of glass flew across the office.

A shadow fell over us as someone leaped onto the window ledge. He jumped into the room, his purple cape flying behind him. His boots crunched the glass shards beneath him.

The Purple Rage!

He took a few steps toward Maniac, hands on the waist of his purple tights, his biceps bulging. Then he saw Ernie, Bree, and me.

“How can you be here? You — you exploded!” I cried.

“I pulled myself together,” he said.

“Get us out of here!” Ernie said.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” I said. “You can free us from this maniac.”

The Rage stared hard at me. “You’re kidding, right? Help you? Did you forget I’m a villain?” He put his arm around Maniac’s shoulders. “I’m on
his
side now.”

Maniac and the Rage both laughed evil laughs. They bumped knuckles and laughed some more.

Bree sat behind the desk, shaking her head sadly. Ernie had a droopy look on his face. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets and lowered his head.

I have to admit I felt pretty defeated, too. This was definitely looking bad for us.

I had my eyes on the locked office door. My brain spun. I tried frantically to think of a way to escape.

I thought of the Scarlet Starlet. She was seated at the desk on the other side of the door. If I called her, would she open the door and let us out?

No way.

I gazed at the smashed window. It was wide open now. Could the three of us get to the window before Maniac and the Rage hauled us back?

No way.

“Know what PINCHES my PIGGYBANK?” the Purple Rage boomed. “Everything!” He pulled back his fist and with a powerful swing, punched it into the wall.

His fist cracked the plaster and shot deep into the wall. The Rage let out a howl of pain.

“Why did I just do that?” he cried.

“Because you’re a maniac?” Dr. Maniac suggested.

“No,” the Rage growled, pulling his fist from the wall. “Sometimes I just get so angry, I want to punch my fist into a wall.”

He turned to me. “You ever punch your fist through a wall just because you felt like it?”

“No,” I said. “Never.”

“You should try it,” he said. “Now that you’re in
our
world, you should try to develop some bad habits, kid.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

And that made an idea flash into my head.

Yes. Yes. Ernie, Bree, and I weren’t in our own world. We were in
their
world. The superhero supervillain comic book world.

So … maybe that meant I had superpowers, too.

Anything is possible here — right?
I mean, Bree’s leg was halfway down the beach. And I fixed it just by pushing it back on.
So I could have superpowers in this world. Powers I can use to get the three of us out of here.

Maniac and the Rage weren’t expecting me to try anything. I had surprise on my side.

I tried to signal to Bree and Ernie that I was about to try something. But they were both staring down glumly at the floor.

Quickly, I made a plan. I decided to tackle Dr. Maniac, send him tumbling into the Purple Rage. Then get the others moving — and fly out the window.

Could we fly? Why not? This was Comic Book World.
Of course
we could fly.

My chest felt all fluttery. My hands were ice cold. Sure, I was nervous. But I knew I could do it. I knew I could be a superhero and help us escape.

I took a deep breath, leaped high — and dove across the room at Dr. Maniac.