Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Two

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"One...two...three...go!" Mr. Hawk ordered. At the sound of that, his friends headed into a building which looked to be a factory.

Stanley stood where he was, shaking a little. He had a nervous look on his face and hugged himself, covering his hands. Mr. Hawk noticed and went over to him.

"What is the matter?" the man asked.

"I-I am worried...and scared," Stanley stammered.

"About what?"

"...about...hurting them..."

"And...?"

"If...they hurt us."

Mr. Hawk rubbed his back. "And...?"

"...that is it."

Mr. Hawk sighed. "It is your powers, is it not? You are worried about your powers the most."

Stanley just looked down and slowly nodded.

"Son, you are such a wonderful person," the man explained, pulling the boy close to him. "I know that you are concerned for the others, but you soon have to realize that you cannot help any of them just by taking a backseat and watching, hoping that the results will come out the way that you want them to. You have to take action and help to the best of your ability. Letting your fears run your life and letting others fight your battles are not the ways to go. If someone keeps repeating those patterns, it will be too late to understand how much that he or she has wasted their precious time, and he or she will have regretful thoughts."

The boy shook even more, but Mr. Hawk patted his shoulder. "You are capable of great things. I know it," he continued. "The powers that you have were given to you for a reason. Not to make you suffer. Not to turn you into a freak. It is a gift, and you must share it with the world."

A tear ran down Stanley's cheek. "How can I though?" the boy questioned. "How can any of us show off our talents when society believes that we are the monsters? Even the people of Forlot will not give us a chance."

Mr. Hawk took Stanley's hand, and they walked to the entrance of the factory. "They are the ones who are blind," he told Stanley. "They have been lied to. People who neither look like nor act like them are outcasts. However, this is not true. I would rather have somebody who is nice and weird than somebody who is rude and supposedly normal. It is not what a person looks like on the outside. It is what a person looks like on the inside. That is what really counts. In fact, some 'normals' could actually be monsters on the inside. They are blended in society and unfortunately, nobody knows who the real monsters are until it is too late."

He took a deep breath and let it out.

"You do not need to worry about any of this, Son. You already know the truth, and that is what is important. Right now, your brothers and sisters need your help, and if you help them, I promise you that the outcome will be significant."

Stanley slightly smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, Mr. Hawk." He ran into the factory, and Mr. Hawk followed.

When they got inside, they saw monster after monster fighting each other. And there were a lot of them. All kinds. Vampires. Werewolves. Ghosts. You name it. The creatures whom I came to know - Lin, Leen, Riley, Sage, Zeke, Willy, Tippy, Skippy, and Tappy - were fighting against unknown creatures, like robots, vampires, and other ghosts.

Mr. Hawk stepped forward, his eyebrows narrowed and his hands clenched into tight fists, and a shadowy figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Well, well, well," the figure spoke. "We meet again."

"Free these creatures at once!" Mr. Hawk stated. "They deserve to have a life!"

The figure laughed. "Creatures? Do you not mean monsters?"

"They are not monsters! They were never monsters to begin with!"

"Oh, really? We will see about that!" The figure took out a controller and turned a dial on it, and the unknown creatures began to go crazy, as if they were impersonating wild monkeys. A couple punched the puppets' faces, and the puppets groaned in pain. The rest kicked Willy and Zeke and swung the ghosts around.

Except one ghost.

Lean.

She was not in the room, and neither was Stanley.

"Retreat!" Mr. Hawk commanded. All of his friends got up and hurried out of there, still getting beaten by the unknown monsters as they did so. Mr. Hawk looked around for Lean and Stanley.

"Where did those two go?" he whispered to himself. He then spotted Stanley standing in a doorway and hurried to him. "Stanley, we have to go."

"What about Lean?" the boy asked and pointed. The man looked to where he was pointing and gasped.

Lean was unlocking a large glass case that had a robot in it. The robot was gray and somewhat shiny. It had dark red stains all over it, and it did not seem that it was alive. Its metal body was lifeless, and both of its arms and legs were dangling.

"Lean!" Mr. Hawk called to her. "We need to leave! Now!"

The ghost shook her head. "Not without my best buddy," she said.

"He has probably already been programmed to do his bidding."

"I will take my chances."

"We will not take chances of any sort!"

Lean started to feel frustrated. "I am not leaving without him!"

"Lean!"

"Shut up! You will wake—" The robot suddenly gripped Lean's ghostly face. "No!" she cried out.

"Turn invisible!" Stanley suggested.

The ghost girl tried, but she could not break free. The robot had a good grip on her face. It clawed its pointy, metal fingers in the area around Lean's eyes.

"Do not do this!" she pleaded. "I am your best friend!"

The robot stared at her with its bright red eyes as it moved its robotic hands to her eyes.

"Ah!"
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"Ah!" I screamed as Lean drove us off a cliff.