Sunny Sweet Is So Not Scary (2 page)

“
Our
light went out, Junchao. The one next to the couch,” I whispered.

Junchao grabbed onto us. “There's a ghost in this house?” she screeched.

“Shh,” I told her. I was afraid that if there was a ghost, it would hear her and then it would know that we knew that it was here.

We huddled under the blanket, listening to the storm still raging on the TV. I wondered why the ghost didn't turn that off too. Between two cracks of thunder I heard a tiny giggle.

I yanked the blanket off my head.

“Don't go out there,” Junchao cried.

I cleared my throat and then in my best outdoor voice said, “Did you know that the pupils in your eyes constrict in the dark?” Mrs. Hull had taught us all about the human eye in science class last year. I knew that your pupils actually dilated, or grew bigger in the dark.
They didn't constrict or get smaller. I also knew that
someone else
knew this.

“That's not true,” said that someone else. “Your pupils dilate in the dark, allowing more light to enter the eye, improving your night vision.”

Alice and Junchao threw off the blanket.

“Turn on the light, Sunny,” I said.

There was silence for a second, and then Sunny said, “It's a ghooost.” Her voice came from behind the window drapes.

“It is not a ghost,” I said. “It is a little sister who will be a ghost very soon if she does not turn on the light.”

The light did not turn on.

“Sunny, come out from behind the drapes,” I said. “It's time for you to go to bed.”

“Hoo, hoo, hoo.”

“Sunny, that's the sound an owl makes . . . not a ghost!”

“Sunny is sleeepiiing; this is a ghoul-ie ghost. I'm made up of pure energy, not ectoplasm, which isn't even real . . . like me.”

I paused the movie, hopped off the couch, and turned the light back on. Then I walked to the window. When I swung the curtain back, there stood Sunny.

“Boo?” she said, smiling.

“You are so
not
scary,” I said.

Before Sunny could answer, the door to the basement rattled.

“Masha! Did you hear that?” asked Junchao.

Sunny danced out from behind the drapes. “That was just the flow of gases caused by air moving from high pressure to low pressure. Sometimes it's called wind,” she added.

“Did it just get cold in here?” Alice asked.

“Probably your veins under your skin are constricting to send more blood to major muscle groups as part of the fight-or-flight response, since you're scared about the door rattling. Less blood in your skin makes you cold.”

There was a
clomp
,
clomp
,
clomp
of footsteps coming from somewhere, but I couldn't tell exactly where.

“Mrs. Song?” I called. But somehow I knew that it wasn't Mrs. Song.

“Your veins are definitely constricting now.” Sunny giggled.

“Shh,” I said. The four of us stood listening . . . listening . . . listening. All was quiet.

Finally, Junchao sighed, Alice leaned back onto the couch, and I dropped into the armchair. It was nothing. I started to breathe again, and even though I tried not to think about it, I thought about the blood running back into the veins in my arms.

Wooo.

We looked at Sunny. Sunny blinked back at us. She hadn't moved or said a word.

Wooo. Woooo.

“What was that?” I asked.

All four of us jumped under the blanket.

 

Don't Chew Gum in Turkey

Ghosts aren't real,” Sunny said.

“Then why are you under the blanket with us?” I snapped.

“Because you guys jumped under and it looked like fun.”

I actually really wanted to believe Sunny. She was a genius. She knew lots of things. She probably knew this too.

“My grandmother says that ghosts are totally real,” whispered Alice. Her face was so close to mine under the blanket that it didn't even look like her. I didn't like it. “And my grandmother was born in Turkey, where
they know a ton about ghosts. She says that if you chew gum at night, you're actually chewing the flesh of the dead.”

“What!” Junchao howled.

“She says . . .”

I put my hand over Alice's mouth. “We heard you,” I told her.

“Your babushka is just being superstitious,” said Sunny. “That means she believes in things that are mythical and can't be proven by science. I only believe in things that can be upheld using the scientific method, which are ideas that are tested using measurable evidence and based on principles of reasoning.”

I was still freaking out over the gum thing, so I wasn't listening to a scientific word Sunny was saying. All I knew was that she said ghosts were not real and I liked that. I also knew that I was sweating a ton under this blanket with everybody breathing.

I peeked out.

The light next to the couch lit up the living room. The movie was still paused. Everything looked normal.

“I'm getting out from under this blanket,” I said. Sunny and Alice joined me.

The cool air in the room felt great on my face. I breathed in a giant gulp of it as I looked around to be sure that there was no ghost. After about a minute, Junchao sighed and came out too.

“Did you know that Albert Einstein believed in ghosts?” Junchao said. “And he is the most famous scientist.” Long strands of her thick black hair were floating up in the air over her head from being under the blanket.

“Albert Einstein did not believe in ghosts,” Sunny said.

“He did too,” Junchao insisted. “He believed in the law of physics that says that energy can't be created or destroyed but only change form . . . so what happens to our body's energy when we die?”

“My grandmother knows what happens,” Alice said. “It becomes a ghost!”

I looked around the room again—scared that Alice just saying the word
ghost
might make it appear. But it didn't. And with the lights on, we all started to relax. Alice picked up a big handful of popcorn and shoved
it in her mouth. The sound of her crunching made me think about the gum in Turkey again. I was hoping that the flesh thing applied only to gum and not popcorn.

“The energy does not become a ghost,” Sunny said. “Basic physics tells us that after you die, the energy in your body is sucked up by the environment, either by a wild animal that eats you or worms and bacteria that eat you. Then the plants get our energy from the soil.”

“Can we stop talking about eating gross things and being eaten by gross things?” I said. “Let's put the movie back on.”

“Really?” Junchao asked. “But aren't you still scared?”

“Nope,” I said, faking it because I was still scared. But Sunny had said there was no such thing as ghosts. And Sunny was always right. Not that I was
ever
in my entire life going to say that out loud. “Anyway, it's just a movie.”

“That's true,” said Alice. “My mom always says that.”

I was glad to hear something Alice's mom said, and not her grandmother.

Junchao still didn't look convinced.

“We'll turn on all the lights,” I suggested.

“And we'll hold hands again,” Alice said.

“You guys are the best
gui mi
ever,” Junchao smiled.
Gui mi
meant “good friend” in Chinese.

“Let's do this thing!” I laughed.

I skipped over to the light switch and flipped on both the lights in the living room and the dining room. On my way back to the couch I thought I heard something. It sounded like footsteps. I stopped and listened.

“What are you doing?” Junchao asked, her dark eyes darting around the room.

“Nothing, Junchao. Everything's great,” I said. I was sure that it had only been my own footsteps I heard.

I picked up the remote and flopped back onto the couch. “Good night, Sunny.”

Sunny slid slowly off the couch. Before she had even taken a step, we heard it again.

Wooo. Wooo. Wooooo.

Alice, Junchao, and I looked at Sunny.

“There is a scientific explanation for that,” she said. But I could see a lot more white in Sunny's eyes than I wanted to see right now. It made her look not so sure, and I'd never seen Sunny look not so sure about anything.

Then there was a
click
.

Followed by a
beep
.

All the lights in the house blinked off. The television flashed . . . and then went black.

 

Be the Tiger . . . or the Antelope . . . or the Guinea Pig

Sunny was the first to dive under the blanket, but the three of us were super close behind her.

“What are we gonna do?” Junchao's eyes were so wide that they seemed to be shouting at me when she blinked.

“Maybe I should go get Mrs. Song,” I said, totally hoping someone would disagree.

Alice came through for me. “Nooo! You can't do that, Masha. She'll call my mom. And then my dad will be here in less than three minutes to take me home.”

“Okay, okay,” I said. “We'll figure this out. Maybe we should go turn on the lights.”

“Can we stay under the blanket and all go together?” Junchao asked.

“That won't work,” Alice said, pointing at her legs. Alice didn't really walk that well.

“We'll carry you,” Junchao said.

“No, thanks,” said Alice.

Sweat tickled my neck as it ran down into my pajamas. “Okay.” I gulped. “I'll go out and turn them on.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Junchao asked. I could tell that she was totally hoping I'd say no.

“I can go faster if I'm alone,” I told her, which was probably true, but who cares how fast you can go when all you're doing is running right into the clutches of a ghost.

Junchao smiled with relief.

“Tigers do everything alone,” Sunny said. “Spiders do too. They're called solitary animals. This way they have more space to live in and they don't have to share their food.”

“And why are you telling us this right now?” I asked.

“I'm giving you examples of the kinds of animals that do things alone, like you're about to do.”

“But Masha isn't about to hunt antelope or spin a web to catch a fly,” Alice said.

“Yeah, she's more likely to be the antelope or the fly,” Junchao added.

My stomach gurgled.

“Junchao!” Alice cried. “She is not the antelope or the fly.”

“Of course I didn't mean that,” Junchao said. “I'm sorry, Masha. I meant you're the tiger . . . the giant, stalking, roaring, fierce tiger.”

“Thanks, Junchao.”

“And we'll be right here watching,” Alice said.

She squeezed my hand. I squeezed hers back.

Then we slowly brought our heads out from under the cover. The cool air made my eyes sting with tears. All four of us searched the darkness . . . for a flapping white sheet, or a floating skeleton, or worst of all, a howling face with black eyes.

“Does anyone see anything?” I whispered.

No one did.

“Hey,” I said, having a thought that sent a wave of happiness through me so big that it felt like Christmas
morning and all the presents under the tree had my name on them. “Maybe the lights in the entire town are out and this whole thing is just a big electrical problem!”

“Yeah,” said Junchao. “It's probably just a power outage. Good thinking, Masha. ”

It was good thinking. But why hadn't Sunny thought of it? Then again, it's not like she's the only one who had good thoughts in this house. I had good thoughts too. Now I needed to think of a way to find out if it was a power outage.

“Stand up on the couch and look out the window. If the streetlight is off, then the town is out. If the streetlight is on, then it's just us,” Sunny said.

Okay, so she had a few more good thoughts than I did.

I threw off the blanket and stood up on the couch.

The streetlight was on. Shoot—Christmas was over.

I dropped down and pulled the blanket back up over my shoulders.

“Anyone have any last-minute advice before I go for the lights?” I asked.

Junchao moaned.

“When you get off the couch, don't put your feet right by it,” Alice said.

“Why?”

“The tiny men.” She pointed down by the bottom of the couch.

“The what?” I asked.

“Tiny men. They live under things like couches and beds. My grandmother says that if you put your feet on the floor next to the bed in the night, they will pull you under and . . .”

“Stop! Don't tell me what they do,” I said.

“Have you ever seen them?” asked Junchao.

“My grandmother bought me a ship captain's bed that has drawers under it, so the little men can't live under my bed. So I've never seen them.”

I looked over the side of the couch. The moonlight coming through the window made a shadow fall on the floor, so I couldn't see whether or not there were any tiny guys hiding below.

“Put your foot down and test it,” Sunny suggested, her stinky breath hot on my neck. “It's what a scientist would do.”

“You put your foot down and test it. You're the scientist,” I snapped.

“Haven't you ever heard of a guinea pig?” Sunny asked.

I ignored her. For some reason I was feeling like this ghost stuff was all Sunny's fault, which of course I knew that it wasn't. Anyway, just the thought of my bare foot dangling over the side of the couch made me shiver.

I looked over at the light switch by the kitchen door and wondered if I could jump from the couch all the way over to it. But that's when I had another good thought. “Wait,” I said. “I don't have to run across the room. I can just turn on the lamp.”

“Good idea,” Junchao whispered.

I reached out my hand about three inches toward the lamp. I tried not to picture something grabbing me. My fingers wiggled about in the air. The lamp was still pretty far away. I needed to lean out of the blanket more.