Forlot: The Creature From Beyond - Book Three {Completed}

Chapter Fifteen

Upon hearing me, my aunt zipped her purse and stepped up to the front door, looking at the two of us. Once again, her fingers twitched.

"W-why do I have what?" she stuttered. Her voice sounded high-pitched, like she was singing off-key.

"This," I responded. I held up the picture.

Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth.

"It flew out of your purse. I saw."

She slowly uncovered her mouth. "Oh my gosh."

Hansel sneered and leaned against the wall of the green building. "Ugh," he said. "What is so special about that picture?"

I looked at him. "It is not special."

My brother had never seen "The House with the Eyes" photo. That is why he was wondering why it was such a big deal to me.

Besides, how would I explain to him about the eyes that were staring?

Staring into any victim's soul who was looking at the photo?

I looked back at our aunt. "Why?"

"Why what?" Katrina questioned, blinking a couple of times.

"Why did you take the picture? Why did you steal the photo?"

"Huh? Steal?"

"I had this exact photo. I laid it on my desk when you came into my room."

"Gretel, I have no idea what you are talking about. Really."

"Then explain how this photo got in your purse! The picture did not just get up and walk away."

Katrina thought for a moment, and then gasped. She frowned.

"Kids, I know why that picture was in my purse. I should have known from the start."

Hansel and I both crossed our arms.

"Do not keep us waiting," I said.

"Yeah," Hansel agreed. "I am curious now."

She strode past us and grabbed the doorknob. She twisted the doorknob, and the door opened. The door made a squeaking sound.

Squeak!

"Follow me," Aunt Katrina said in a firm voice. "We will go where my boss spends most of the hours. There will be chairs for us to sit in." She motioned for us to come inside. "I do not want anybody to listen in on our conversation."

I was confused. "Who the heck is going to overhear us?" I wondered. "People in the town are doing their own things."

She did not answer my question and gently pushed me and my brother into the building. She then came in and shut the door.

I surveyed the place and was not impressed.

The inside of the building looked to be a dump! Both the walls and floor were gray, and there were objects scattered all over the floor. Dirty paper. Pencils. In the center of the room was a pile of paper clips. Other than those things, the room was deserted. No furniture.

No people.

Lights suddenly flickered, and I glanced up. Three lightbulbs hung from the ceiling. They swayed back and forth and flickered on and off.

A smelly aroma filled my nose, and I pinched my nose. "Blah!"

"Do you like the place?" Aunt Katrina asked. "I treat it like my second home."

I let out a cough and turned to her. "What is that smell?" I asked her.

"The smell?" She waved her hand left and right. "Why, that is the smell of human corpses."

"Human corpses?!" my twin brother and I exclaimed at the same time.

My body tensed. Hansel shivered.

She laughed. "Relax. I am only kidding. That smell is dead fish."

"Ew!" Hansel and I covered our noses with our hands to protect them from the horrific smell. We let our bodies relax. We were somewhat relieved that the smell was not coming from dead humans.

Though, dead fish is not any better.

Katrina surveyed the room. "That is weird," she said. "There are usually people here." She shrugged. "Perhaps we arrived very early."

"Or we are probably at the wrong place," I mumbled under my breath. Still clutching the picture, I spoke to her. "When are you going to reveal to us, me, Hansel, and the readers, why you had the photo?"

"In just a minute. I have to make sure that my boss is here." She turned to us. "Stay in this room. I will be back." She patted my shoulder. "And I did not steal that photo. Somebody framed me." She turned a corner and headed out of the room.

When she disappeared, I took a good look at the picture. I kept my focus on the eyes and was thinking.

Whose eyes are those?

Is that a person or a monster?

It cannot be a monster. Monsters do not exist.

But the eyes...they do not look like human eyes.

"Sis!" Hansel exclaimed, snapping me back to reality. "Check this out!"

I put the photo away and turned my attention to my brother. The front door was opened, and I saw that he was outside. He was pointing to something.

I hurried out of the building and stood next to him. I looked to where he was pointing.

Across the street was a large, brown house. The outside of it was entirely made of wood. The only part that was not made of wood was the chimney. The chimney was made of stone.

"That house looks nice," Hansel commented.

"Yes, it does," I agreed.

We then saw a boy striding across the grass. The boy looked to be our age. Eleven years old. He wore dark blue shorts, a blue jacket, and a red scarf. He had pale skin and brown hair.

I watched as the boy walked up to the porch of the house. He opened the door and went inside. The door closed behind him.

Hansel gripped my wrist. "We should go in the house and introduce ourselves to that boy," he suggested.

I glanced at the house - and my mouth dropped when I saw sharp claws tear through the glass of a closed window.