Something Strange About Marci (short story)

Something Strange About Marci is a short story written by R.L. Stine and published in "More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps".

Plot Summary

"Something Strange About Marci" is about a strange girl named Marci who has been observing a group of people. The main character, who remains unnamed for the remainder of the story, notices one day when Marci suddenly moves into the neighborhood, seemingly out of nowhere and with no family. All she does is watch the main character and his friends play without interacting, so they decide to just ignore her.

Two days later, the main character and his friends are having a picnic on a hill, when he notices Marci. He goes down to offer her to join them, but every time he tries to get close to her she backs away. That's when the main character comes to the wild idea that Marci might be evil.

The next day, the main character tries to say hello to Marci, but then he gets scared by the mysterious black case she has with her, and the frightening black object she takes out. He runs off, but finally decides that enough is enough and is going to discover everything about Marci.

The next day he follows Marci to her home, which is actually a tent. The day after, the main character is surprised when Marci finally says hello to him. She offers him a piece of fruit, which he takes, and she then takes out the strange black object she had before and talks into it. That's when the reader finds out why the main character had though Marci was so strange. Marci is a scientist named Dr. Marci Gould, and the main character and his friends are really orangutans that she has been observing.