Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Five

The doctor let out a chuckle. "I overheard you and your friend talking about it," he confessed. "You two were talking pretty loud."

I blushed in embarrassment. Was he right? Was this guy right that my sister and I had our conversation just a bit too loud?

I looked around to see if people were staring at either of us. Dr. O'Connor gently patted my back. "And no. No one is staring at you or your friend," he added, as if he could read my thoughts.

"Actually, she is my sister," I finally spoke, turning to him.

"Well, that would explain why you both look almost alike."

"Yeah. She likes to wear dresses and keep her hair the way that it is. I, on the other hand, prefer to wear shirts and pants and put my hair in braids."

"Sounds like that you two are the opposite of each other."

I slightly smiled. To be honest, I kind of enjoyed chatting with Dr. O'Connor now. He was funny and seemed fun to chat with. Still, I could not let my guard down. I knew only his name and what he did for a living so far.

"So why in the world are you and your own sister going to Forlot?" Dr. O'Connor questioned me.

"Because of this letter that I received yesterday." I hesitated on giving him the letter, but then decided that it would not cause any harm to do so and handed it to him.

He examined the letter, and then frowned and crumpled it into a small ball. "Mr. Hawk."

"Uh, is something wrong?" I asked, confused on why he, all of a sudden, was angry.

Dr. O'Connor slowly turned his head to look at me. "You are Margie Morgan?"

I nodded. "Yes. Why?"

His eyes widened, and he gripped my shoulders tightly. Feeling scared, I shook and tried to break free, but his grasp was too strong.

"You must not go to Forlot," he said sternly.

"W-why not?" I stammered.

"Like I stated before, Forlot is a dangerous place. There are scary monsters."

"But I like scary monsters."

"Oh, really? How about ones that like - no, love - to eat humans?"

"I do not mind that they eat humans. Just as long as the humans that they plan on eating deserve it."

The doctor growled. I could tell that he was starting to get frustrated of me. "What if they want to eat you?!"

I turned away, not wanting to answer his last question, for he yelled.

"Answer me!"

I remained silent, and he grabbed my arm and began squeezing it. "Ow!" I cried out. "You are hurting me!"

"Do you think that you are willing to survive in Forlot all by yourself?" he asked me.

I wanted to say yes and tell him that I would not be by myself anyway because Scarlett and Sarah were coming with me, but I was now too terrified to speak.

"You know, I am not the one who you should be afraid of. That would be Mr. Hawk. He does this every year. Sending stupid letters to people all over this country." He tossed the crumpled letter to the floor. "And of course, the people buy it. Poor people."

"W-what do you mean?" I spoke, finally finding my voice.

"Once they went to Forlot, they never...came back!"

I gasped. I could not believe what he had just said. Was it true? Was it really true?

Dr. O'Connor then let go of me, and I quickly ran towards the counter where Scarlett was at. "Scarlett! Scarlett!" I called.

My sister smiled at me and waved three little pieces of paper in the air. "Hey, sis! I got the tickets!" she exclaimed happily.

I ran up to her and breathed heavily, catching my breath. "S-Scarlett..."

"Whoa, what is wrong with you?" Scarlett asked me as she held me. "Were you running in a marathon or something?"

I shook my head and pointed to where Dr. O'Connor was at. "There...there is a man..."

"A man?"

"Yes, and...he is sitting over there...sat next to me..."

Scarlett rubbed my back. "Just calm down, Margie. Relax and take deep breaths." She looked at the row of chairs that I was pointing at. "Margie? I do not see any man."

"What?" I looked at the chairs - and saw no man.

He disappeared.