Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Eighteen

It all made sense now. The pieces were coming together. No wonder Lean's eyes were different compared to the other ghosts' eyes. A couple chapters ago, I examined her eyes and described them. Pure white. No color, and definitely no pupils. She being blind would also explain why she did not wave at me and Sarah in the right direction when we were getting introduced to the monsters. She could not see us. She could not see anyone or anything.

I felt bad for her.

"I am terribly sorry," I said.

"For what?" Lean spoke. "You have not done anything wrong. That is, except pushing on my door and talking with me."

Wrong? She did not know the half of it. What I did yesterday and today were not just wrong. They were downright awful and unnecessary. Accidentally shooting an arrow from my crossbow, resulting panic from my classmates. Keeping the disturbing message a secret. Talking and getting on a bus with a complete stranger, leaving my sister and Sarah at the airport. I was ashamed for all of that. However, out of everything shameful that I did, the worst...

...the worst...

...was lying to Scarlett about almost every incident.

Scarlett does not like when someone lies to her. She gets heartbroken, and I do not blame her. I would be ticked off if somebody lied to me too. The last person who did not tell her the truth, she threw the guy into a garbage can. What if she did the same thing to me? Perhaps something worse? We are sisters, and we promised to be true to each other. But I broke that truce. I am a horrible sister.

"Your eyes," I stated. "You said that you are blind."

The ghost slowly nodded. "And it is on Mr. Hawk. It is his fault."

Mr. Hawk? I was not surprised that he had something to do with her blindness.

What did he do to her that caused her to lose her eyesight? I needed to know.

"Do you mind if we chatted about this topic? Maybe it will make you feel a bit better."

She shook her head. "I already talked about it to everyone who lives here, and they all disagree. They say that I am the one responsible for losing my eyes, not Mr. Hawk." Tears began streaming down her cheeks. "I was there! They were not! I saw what happened before I lost my eyes!"

Lean then threw her soup out of anger and frustration, and the soup splattered all over the floor. She sat on the edge of her bed and cried. I walked in her room and sat next to her.

"I agree with you," I said softly. "I do believe that Mr. Hawk is the reason that you are blind."

Lean sniffed. "That opinion would change if I told you the story."

"Then tell me. I have a guarantee that my opinion will not change." I wanted to know. She was a victim of the evil Mr. Hawk, and I really wanted to help her.

The ghost did not answer and buried her face in her hands. I knew that she did not want to tell me. I then got an idea.

"Hey, if you tell me your story, then I will tell you one of my most embarrassing moments."

She raised her head and turned to look at me. "What?"

"You heard me. I will tell you an embarrassing moment that I went through, and in return, you get to tell me about your eyes." I gave her a nice smile.
"What do you say?"

"...you go first."

I sighed. "Fine." I thought of some of my embarrassing memories that I experienced for the last few years.

Forgetting a school project? No.

Dropping my instrument during a performance? Nah.

Bursting milk from my nose in front of my classmates? That never happened!

There was only one. One that topped them all.

Oh, no!

Oh, yes!

I had to. For Lean's sake.

I told her about the incident at my school that happened yesterday. And I included every single detail.

How I did not like Show and Tell. How I was picked to go first. How my classmates both laughed and screamed at me.

What a terrible morning that was.

When I was finished with my story, Lean was shocked. "Whoa," she said. "And I thought that losing my eyes was bad."

I looked down. "Yeah."

"Good thing that the teacher did not punish you for it."

"Yeah." I felt somebody pulling me close and hugging me. It was Lean. She was embracing me in a hug.

That was surprising.

As I hugged her back, she began to tell her story.

"It was a dark night. Mr. Hawk, the others, and I were at a factory that was located somewhere in the woods, and—"

"Guys!" a voice interrupted. It belonged to Tippy. He walked into the room. "Lights out! Mr. Hawk says that it is time for bed. So head to bed, or consequences will be met."

Aw, man!

The puppet eyed me and Lean suspiciously. "Why are you two hugging?"

Lean and I quickly jerked away from one another.

Oh, boy.