Dare to Be Scared (2003)

Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Stories to Chill and Thrill is a 2003 children's horror short story collection by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by David Ouimet, consisting of thirteen stories. It is the first book in the Dare to be Scared series, which consists of four books.

Stories

1. Nighttown

It is about a "dream" where a boy named Sammy is on vacation and is looking for the hotel he's staying at and finds vampires. Then he gets to the hotel and wakes his parents up and tells them, and they say, "Were they as big as these?" And they flash their giant teeth, revealing that they are vampires too. Sammy starts running and he felt that they were chasing after him and that he never woke up.

2. The Dark, Dark House

After being dared by his friends, a boy named Peter must go in a creepy, supposedly haunted house and write his name on a chalkboard to prove he was there. As he is in the house, he hears strange noises. A werewolf touches his shoulder then chases Peter out of the house and all the way to his own house, with the last lines (which is the wolf man's) being, "What's the matter? Don't you like me?"

3. The Caller

A girl named Lindsay has a beautiful ring given by her Aunt Margaret, who died. Lindsay had pretended to like her Aunt because she only wanted her ring. Lindsay's father loses his cell phone while at the funeral. When Lindsay gets a call from an unknown caller, who says it's her Aunt Margaret, Lindsay tells the caller she never liked her, just wanted her ring, then hangs up. While Lindsay's at her friend's house, Missy, she gets another call from her Aunt Margaret who says she's coming back to get her ring. This time the call was from her father's number, she guessed it was her little brothers trying to mess with her. When Lindsay hears footsteps behind a door, she thinks it's Margaret. While the door is still closed, Missy says she's on the other side, laughing at Lindsay. Mad at Missy, Lindsay opened the door, but it wasn't Missy who was clenching a phone covered in mud.

4. The Double-Dare

Four boys have their own club and they run through woods everyday that are supposedly filled with evil spirits. A boy named Greg hangs with them a lot, but the boys only like him for his computer games. Against his will, they make him run through the woods, but while he's running through, sap is spread on him and he's transformed into a terrible tree monster. Upset, he finds the four boys, and spreads sap on them also.

5. Space Is the Place

In Mark's town, weird lights have appeared in the sky, believed to be aliens. Mark's mother wants to leave the town, against Mark's wishes. They arrive at the bus station to leave. The bus was supposed to arrive in five minutes but instead Mark and his mom wait for one hour. Finally, it arrives. Surprisingly, the bus was new with a fresh coat of paint, unlike the other buses. The driver was hidden in a compartment. The inside of the bus is shiny, comfortable and new. Mark's mom is delighted. They soon take off. The ride begins smoothly and comfortably, but then the passengers complain that the bus has passed their intended destination. Then the bus rises into the sky. They soon panic as they find out the driver is an alien and they are in a UFO.

6. Ants

Kyle lies to his mom, saying that he's going to see a Disney movie, when he's going to see a horror film called Jungle Jaws of Death, about killer ants. At the theater, while watching the previews, a horror movie called Frightmaster is coming soon and it's about things that crawl out of your nightmares and come to life. After watching the movie and going home, Kyle begins to feel and see killer ants everywhere. While in bed, killer ants crawl to him. Scared and shaky, the Frightmaster is in Kyle's head and says, "They're just figments of your imagination, like me. But, then, you always did have too much imagination".

7. The Halloween Spirit

A girl named Keesha is forced by her mother to take her younger sister, Jonelle, trick-or-treating on Halloween. Keesha's friends are all at the park, Keesha's desired destination, however Jonelle insists that their mother restricted the two girls from going. Keesha defies their mother's wishes and drags a reluctant Jonelle along with her. Jonelle doesn't want to stay at the park, while Keesha does. Jonelle runs back home to tell on Keesha. Keesha and her friends begin to pay attention to a girl named Cassandra, who calls for a spirit to come. No one believes in ghosts and spectral beings, making Cassandra angry. Cassandra's attempt at summoning a ghost seems to have worked, until it is revealed that Jonelle is the "ghost". As Keesha takes Jonelle home, the younger girl doesn't speak as if she doesn't exist, confusing Keesha. When they arrive home, Keesha's mother is furious at her for going to the park and Keesha sees Jonelle sitting at a table and is confused when she looks back at the girl next to her. The girl with Keesha transforms into a genuine witch who takes Keesha up into the sky and spins her around until she falls down to Earth in pieces.

8. The Bald Mountain Monster

Three kids, Nick, Sarah, and Angel are on a trip with their parents to explore interesting mountains. The kids meet a man who tells a legend of a strange winged creature who flies to children and eats them. If anyone gets in the creature's shadow, bad luck comes to them. Sarah goes off into a cave and gets trapped. Nick goes after her and then they both end up stuck. They see the winged creature in there, which turns out to be a pterosaur, and are chased by it. Finally getting out of the cave, they take Nick's dad's camera tripod and use it as a lever to push boulders on the creature, scaring it away. They tell Angel and their parents what happened, but only Angel believes them, until the creature's shadow flies over everyone.