Click

"Click" is the eighth short story in the book Tales to Give You Goosebumps.

Plot
Seth Gold loves channel surfing. When his dad brings home a universal remote that he bought at a small store, Seth is thrilled. Seth begins to use the remote, but his younger sister, Megan, tries to take it away. While fighting for the remote, the kids launch it across the room. Megan leaves, and Seth inspects the remote. It seems to still work. Seth's mom comes in and yells at him for hogging the remote and not doing chores. Seth points the remote at her and presses mute. Shockingly, it works. During dinner, Seth eats dessert, but he uses the rewind function to eat dessert multiple times. During school the next day, Seth uses the pause function to allow himself to cheat on a test. He continues to use the remote to improve his life throughout his school day. Seth mutes a lunch lady, but he finds himself unable to unmute her.

A kid named Danny Wexler tries to steal the remote, and Seth ends up pausing him. Kids begin to panic, and the principal steps in. Seth freezes her, and more kids notice. As kids shout at him and chase him, he feels panicked. In desperation, he presses the power button. Seth finds himself in a dark void. He looks at the remote and sees a blinking light, signalling a dead battery.

Television adaptation
"Click" was adapted into an episode of the Goosebumps TV series. It is the fifth episode of season three, and the forty-ninth episode overall.

Trivia

 * This short story may have been the inspiration for the similarly plotted 2006 movie with the same title, which stars Adam Sandler as a man who gains control of a magic remote that allows him to rewind and fast-forward different aspects of his life.
 * This story, along with many from the Tales series, was included in the 90's Scholastic magazine Thrills and Chills, and it included illustrations by Earl Norem.