Hello again, R.L. Stein story club members. I'm Ivy, your ghostly host and keeper of those

strange and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R.L. Stein. Today is another chilling tale.

This unsettling tale story club members might make you wonder if you're still yourself

by the end of it. It's one I call who is freaking who. In case of my demise, I'm recording this to

keep some kind of record. My name is Rhonda Sutherland. I'm 11 years old and live on 1938

West Campbell Street. I attend Finney Elementary School and it used to be a great place to go to school, but a few days ago, it was Mrs. Kaufman. She started acting really strange. Thud, thud, thud. I have to talk fast. That pounding you just heard, that's them. They're trying to get in. I'm hiding in a broom closet where I found this micro-caset recorder and tape. I lost my phone, and I don't have very long. I'm trying to keep as calm as collected as possible, but it's hard. I'm so scared and tired. It all started three days ago. There was a bright orange flash in the sky. It was as fiery as a comet.

That morning, Penny Clark and I were walking to school. We saw a big smoldering crater just through the trees in the woods.

After we checked it out, we saw these strange plants growing around the smoking hole.

They were these pod-like things, about the size of

cantaloupes, with a little orange flowers sticking out the end of them. They would be kind

of pretty if they weren't so strange-looking. Anyway, we took one to school with us to show

Mrs. Kaufman, the science teacher. We wanted to know what she thought of the thing. Mrs.

Kaufman studied this strange plant and said, I've never seen anything like this before.

I've looked it up at all the botany books and even on the internet.

Nothing.

Where did you find this again?

We told her.

I'll go check it out after school, she told us.

It was the next morning when things got weird.

Mrs. Kaufman showed up to class, but she was different.

I mean, she looked like Mrs. Kaufman and up to class, but she was different. I mean, she looked like

Mrs. Kaufman and talked like her, but she wasn't Mrs. Kaufman. It sounds kind of stupid, I know,

...