Free The Awakening Evil by R.L. Stine

prayed for death.
    Oh, but I won’t let that happen, Jane, the voice answered calmly.
    The smell of burnt flesh disappeared.
    Jane slowly opened her eyes. She stared down at herself. Her skin was smooth. Not even one tiny burn marked her body.
    She stared around the room. It looked completely ordinary. The walls. Her coverlet. Everything was back to the way it had been.
    You can’t keep me from death, Jane vowed.
    I won’t let you die until I am done with you, you miserable creature, the voice promised. You think you recovered from that illness by yourself? You were more than half dead last night before I revived you, Jane.
    â€œYou call me by my own given name. Do you know me?” Jane asked.
    It no longer felt odd to be speaking to a voice inside her head.
    She knew the presence was real.
    And she knew better than to doubt the power of the being inside her ever again.
    Do I know you? the voice repeated.
    â€œOh, please, please, please,” Jane cried. She couldn’t think of what else to say. She could only beg.
    Oh, please, please, please, the voice taunted.
    Jane gasped.
    That voice.
    She knew who it belonged to now!
    â€œSarah!” she exclaimed. Jane sprang to her feet.
    Sarah. Sarah Burns’s spirit had entered her body!
    It should have been you on that boat, Jane. You know that, don’t you? Sarah asked.
    â€œYes, Sarah, I do,” Jane whispered.
    Jane felt hope rise up inside her.
    This was Sarah Burns’s spirit.
    Sarah Burns, her dearest friend.
    Sarah would soon forgive her for what had happened. It wasn’t her fault, after all.
    â€œOh, Sarah! I am so sorry,” Jane said.
    Sorry?
    â€œI would give anything if we could trade places again. If I could drown as you did on that boat, as I should have, then I would, Sarah,” Jane told her.
    Stop it! Sarah shrieked inside Jane’s head. Careful, Jane. Do not make me angry again. I warn you. What happened just now was mere child’s play compared to what I could do to you the next time.
    Jane could barely breathe, she was so frightened.
    Don’t you see, Jane? The life you have now should be mine! Mine! Do you know how jealous that makes me? Sarah asked. Do you have any idea of the hatred I feel for you?
    â€œJealous? My husband is dead, Sarah. I have no life anymore. If you were going to feel jealous of me nine months ago, I could understand,” Jane told her. “In those days I too felt as if I were embarking on a wonderful adventure. Marrying a rich and handsome husband. Moving to a new town.”
    Jane sighed. “But since then, it has been one accident after another. Such a horrible string of bad luck. If you only knew some of the things I have been through, you would not be jealous for an instant.”
    Sarah giggled mischievously.
    Jane shivered.
    You haven’t figured it out yet, have you, darling Jane?
    Jane felt faint. “Figured out what?” she asked.
    I can’t have the life I was meant to live here in Shadyside, Jane. You took it from me forever. But I can still destroy it, Sarah explained.
    â€œWhy would you do such a thing?” Jane cried. “You wouldn’t. Not the Sarah I know. Not my best friend.”
    I’ve been doing it ever since you got back from your honeymoon, Sarah informed her.
    â€œBut—”
    Jane’s jaw locked. She couldn’t open or shut it.
    She gazed down at her left hand. Could she lift that hand now, if she wanted to? Or was she paralyzed? Just as she had been when Thomas fell in the well.
    Jane tried to jerk her hand up. It remained frozen at her side.
    Do you believe me now? Sarah taunted.
    Jane stumbled forward. She could move again.
    â€œYou,” Jane breathed.
    Sarah shrieked with glee.
    â€œYou did this?” Jane asked.
    Yes, Jane, Sarah answered. I’ve been with you for months. I made Thomas throw Michael into that railing. I stopped you from pulling Thomas out of the well. And when I saw he was going