CHAPTER 1
Wake Up, Sleepyhead
Brrrrriiiinnnnng … brrrrriiiinnnnng! My alarm clock rang loudly in my ear.
“It can’t be morning already,” I said, opening one eye. “I just fell asleep.”
I rolled over to grab the alarm clock and turn it off, but I fell out of bed and hit the floor with a thud. “Umph!”
Brrrriiiiinnng … brrrrriiiiinnnnng … brrrriiiiinnnnng! The alarm kept ringing.
“Hey, Shark Breath, turn that thing off!” my sister, Suzie, yelled from the other room.
I got up on my hands and knees, grabbed the clock, and threw it across the room. It bounced off my dresser and crashed to the floor. The back of it opened up and the batteries fell out, but at least it stopped ringing.
I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes. I was so tired I didn’t think I could climb back into my bed.
Just then my mom opened my door and ran in. “What’s going on in here, Freddy? I was downstairs making breakfast, and I heard a loud crash in your room.”
She looked around, but she didn’t see me lying on the floor. “Freddy? Freddy? Where are you?”
“I’m down here, Mom,” I said. “On the floor next to my bed.”
“Oh my goodness, Freddy! Are you all right?” my mom said as she rushed over to me.
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“Are you hurt? Is your arm broken?”
“Freddy’s arm is broken?” Suzie asked, running into the room with her toothbrush in her hand. “Let me see.”
“My arm is not broken!” I yelled.
“You don’t have to yell,” Suzie said. “What are you doing on the floor, then, Ding-Dong?”
“Here. Let me help you up,” said my mom, reaching out her hand.
She pulled me up, and we sat down on the bed together. “Now, why in the world were you sleeping on the floor?”
“I wasn’t sleeping on the floor. I fell out of bed when my alarm went off.”
“But I also heard a crash,” said my mom. “Like something broke.”
“That would be the alarm clock,” Suzie said, pointing to the pieces of broken clock on my floor.
“Freddy, what happened to the clock?” asked my mom.
“I’ll tell you what happened to it,” said Suzie. “Freddy threw it across the room. It hit his dresser and broke into a bunch of pieces.”
“Thanks a lot,” I whispered to Suzie.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered back with a big smile on her face.
“Freddy,” said my mom, “why would you throw your clock across the room?”
“Because I just wanted it to stop ringing so I could go back to sleep,” I said with a big yawn.
“But it’s a school day,” said my mom. “You have to get up and go to school.”
“Do I have to?” I said, yawning again. I lay back down on the bed.
“That is so not fair!” said Suzie. “I never get to stay home just because I’m tired.” Toothpaste started dripping out of her mouth.
“Who said anything about staying home?” said my mom. “And I think you need to go rinse out your mouth before any of that toothpaste drips on the carpet.”
Suzie put her hand up to her mouth to catch the dripping toothpaste and ran off to the bathroom.
As soon as Suzie left, my dad walked into the room. “Is everything all right up here? Your mom came to check on you, but she never came back down. I was starting to get worried.”
“Everything is fine, Daniel,” said my mom.
“Then why isn’t Freddy getting dressed and ready for school?”
I pulled the covers over my head. “I’m too tired to go to school!”
“Too tired?” said my mom. “But, Freddy, why are you so tired? You went to bed early last night.”
“I know,” I said from under the covers, “but I keep hearing these strange noises, and I can’t sleep.”
“Oh no! Not this again,” my dad said. “I thought we took care of the vampire nightmares with the Dream Police.”
“It’s not a vampire, Dad,” I said. “I think it’s a monster.”
“A monster,” Suzie said, laughing.
“Go away!” I yelled. “No one invited you back into the room.”
“But I just have to hear about this monster,” Suzie said, giggling. “Does he live under your bed or in your closet?”
“For your information, he doesn’t live in either of those places, Brat. He lives in the attic.”
“The attic?” Suzie said. “That’s a good one, Freddy.”
“The attic?” asked my dad. “There is nothing in that attic except a lot of old junk.”
“I don’t think there is anything up there that a monster would like,” said my mom.
“Besides,” said my dad, “the Dream Police will take care of the monster if there is one. They can get rid of any nightmare.”
“But it’s not a nightmare. It’s a real monster,” I said. “And the Dream Police can’t get up to the attic.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said my dad, pulling the covers off my head. “We can talk about this more later, but right now you need to get up, get dressed, and get ready for school.”
“Let’s go, Sleepyhead,” said my mom. “I don’t want you to miss the bus.”
“Can’t I just stay home and sleep? Pleeeeeease.”
“No!” said Suzie.
I stuck my tongue out at her. “Who asked you?” I said.
“Enough, you two,” said my dad. “You both need to get moving or you’re going to be late. Hop to it!”
My dad lifted me out of bed and carried me into the bathroom. “Splash some water on your face. That should wake you up. I want to see you downstairs in five minutes. You will be in big trouble if you miss your bus.”
“Yes, Dad,” I mumbled.