The Haunted Mask (book)

The Haunted Mask is the eleventh book written by R.L. Stine in the Original Goosebumps series.

Plot
The story begins a few days before Halloween in a canteen at the fictional Walnut Avenue Middle School. The story's protagonist, eleven-year-old Carly Beth Caldwell, is sitting talking about her trick or treating costume with her best friend Sabrina Mason. Carly Beth is a quiet, shy, and overly trusting girl. She is easily scared of almost everything, and repeatedly humiliated by her friends, Chuck Green and Steve Boswell, at school who call her a "scaredy cat", and delight in making her life a misery. After being tricked by Steve into eating a sandwich that contained a live worm, Carly Beth flees home in shame and vows revenge.

At home, Carly Beth discovers her mother has made a perfect likeness of Carly Beth's face from plaster of paris as a symbol of her love for her. Carly Beth is also annoyed to discover her mother has made her a silly duck costume. Carly Beth goes to her room, where her little brother, Noah, has dressed up in her costume and frightens her. After Carly Beth sends Noah away, she phones Sabrina and they talk about the cruel prank Steve played on her. Carly Beth swears she will never fall for one of their stunts again, and muses about buying a horrible mask from a new shop that has just opened.

The day before Halloween at a science fair, Carly Beth is once again made a fool of after Steve pretends his tarantula has escaped, knowing full well Carly Beth is terrified of spiders. Steve sneaks up behind Carly Beth and pinches her leg, making it seem as though the tarantula is biting her. Carly Beth runs off in tears, after everyone laughs at her. On Halloween day she collects her money and sets off for the costume shop, distraught that it is closed. However the mysterious owner of the shop allows her entry and she unwillingly stumbles upon a back room filled with the most hideous, deformed masks she has ever seen. The owner refuses to sell her the one she wants, but she is insistent and takes off with the mask while throwing the money to him. Thrilled, she goes home, puts on the mask and scares her brother. However the mask won't come off at first, when it finally does, Carly Beth and Noah are unsure as to how she unintentionally changed her voice to a hoarse growl. Carly Beth simply remarks "I don't know...but I like it".

She then makes her way to the front door, stares at the mirror for a second or two, hesitating to put the mask back on, but she does anyways. While putting on the mask for a second time, the mask seems to warp or "suck" its self onto Carly Beth's face. Dismissing the transformation as normal, Carly Beth steals the Plaster of Paris mould of her head that her mother made, steals her moms cigarettes and goes in search of Chuck and Steve, determined to make them pay. Yet strange things start happen to her. She acts like a totally different person: she attacks Sabrina, frightens young children, vandalises the neighbourhood and starts smoking cigarettes. After finding Chuck and Steve and scaring them however, Carly Beth is horrified to notice that the mold of her face spoke, imploring Steve and Chuck to "help" her. Steven and Chucky run off in fear and Carly Beth gleefully abandons the plaster face. Back at Sabrina's house, Carly Beth tries but cannot remove the mask. Sabrina tugs and pulls at Carly Beth's sweaty mask, but it doesn't seem to give. To her horror, Sabrina discovers that there is no space between the mask and her skin. The mask has somehow fused itself to Carly Beth's own face. Rather than seeing her own normal eyes staring back at her in the mirror, Carly Beth sees evil, animalistic, orange eyes leering back at her. Sobbing, she returns to the shop where she bought the mask and finds the owner waiting for her. He knew she'd come back.

Despite her desperate pleas, the shopkeeper tells Carly Beth over and over that the mask cannot be removed as it is not simply a mask...it is a real, living face. He tells her that he created them and they were once beautiful, but they slowly decayed over time and became hideous, repulsive monsters. He referres to them as "The Unloved Ones". It turns out every so often a young, innocent person like Carly Beth, finds one thinking it to only be a latex mask, puts it on and the mask begins to become one with the victims skin as the mask fuses with them and begins to slowly take over their mind. The shopkeeper tells Carly Beth the only way to remove the mask is to find a "symbol of love". But if the mask is ever put on a third time, it shall be forever. As she looks into the mirror and sees the hideous, grotesque face staring back at her, Carly Beth begins to cry out and scream in horror, realizing that she might possibly never see her true, young face ever again.

Unfortunately, Cary Beth's hysterical screams and shrieks begin to slowly awaken the evil masks who before laid dormat, lying in wait for their next victims to consume. They begin floating off of their model heads and start to slowly, but surely, fly at Carly Beth. They pursue her down the street, and Carly Beth finally realizes that the mould her mother gave her is a symbol of love she needs to remove the mask from her body. Carly Beth uses it to deter the masks and remove the monstrous face that has attached itself to her. She then returns home to her mother. Once she gets home, she drops the mask by the door and runs for her mothers warm embrace, Noah then appears from the other room to reveal he has apparently put on the mask, and he can't get it off!