Forlot: True and False - Book Four {Completed}

Chapter Eight

Margie looked at Nigel. Nigel looked at me. I looked at Gretel.

"Pardon me?" Gretel questioned, looking at Ava. "What did you say?"

Ava scratched the front of her neck and cleared her throat. "I said that you are fictional. Fictional characters. That includes me as well."

"That is what I thought that you said," Margie told her. "And this is what I think of your theory." She began laughing. "It is bogus!"

"It is not bogus. I am telling you the truth."

By now, everyone except her were laughing their heads off. I was laughing the hardest. Ava slowly narrowed her eyebrows and got out of her seat. She left the room and went to another room that was closed by a red door. She soon returned with a file that had a bunch of papers inside, and I noticed a person who was trailing behind her.

The person was a boy and a few inches shorter than Ava. He had pale skin and short, brown hair. He was wearing a green, short-sleeved shirt, brown shorts that touched his knees, and grey sneakers on his feet. He also wore glasses and had papers tucked under his arm.

Ava plopped back down and pointed at the boy. "This is my assistant," she explained. "His name is Caleb Night."

Margie, Nigel, Gretel, and I waved to him.

"Hi!" Margie said happily, smiling.

"It is a pleasure," Nigel said.

Caleb did not say anything or even wave back. He pushed up his glasses and tilted his head down to the floor. Then he spun around on the heels of his shoes and returned to the room with the red door, leaving the door open.

"Uh...what was that all about?" I asked the group. "Is he shy or something? Or does he not like us?"

I had a hunch that Gretel would scold me again by what I said, and she would have to, if Ava had not intervened.

"Caleb has two disorders," she admitted to us. "He has a personality disorder and anxiety disorder."

"Um, what are those?" Nigel cut in. "I do not think that the four of us are doctors."

"He is extremely paranoid as a result of personality disorder. He is afraid of almost everything. Bugs. Health complications. The air that we breathe. Girls."

"Jeez. Can he not control it?" Gretel wondered. "It is very unhealthy to worry about things like that."

No, sis. That is why it is a disorder!

"Both of his disorders are really bad. He can hardly control them. That is why he has no friends - except me - and shuts himself out from society. It would not be so bad if he did not have anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorder is when you are anxious at the wrong times and can even lead to a panic attack, which is bad on its own because panic attacks make you feel like that you will collapse on the floor and die."

"My gosh," the four of us responded at once.

"I am the only girl - the only person - who understands him. That is why he does not mind me around him."

"Do you have the same problems as him?" Margie asked her. "Or something similar?"

"I am perfectly healthy. I have no health problems. No disorders. That is...if you do not count my red eye."

We were curious as to how she got the red eye, so she confessed. Turns out, her left eye was not always red. It was the same color as her right eye. Dark blue.

But then...something happened.

She apparently was on a mission. She did not dwell on what the mission was about. It was just an important mission. Anyway, one of the bad guys, who was a scientist, shot her in the left eye. She had to retreat, and specialists had to fix her eye.

"I can see clearly," Ava stated. "It is just that every object that I look at is filtered red. The specialists could not fix my eye entirely. But I am glad that I am not blind."

"What a miracle," Gretel commented.

"To be honest, you do look cool with two different color eyes," Margie added.

I slowly shook my head. Stuck-ups.

"But enough about me," Ava continued. "I need to show you all what I found on the Internet. Evidence that proves that we are fictional characters living in a fictional town in the real world."

She opened the folder and took out a piece of paper. She set it on the table so we could see it.

"Exhibit A. Breaking the fourth wall. The four of you and your friends and families tend to break the fourth wall a lot and do not even realize it. You say stuff like 'We are in a fictional story!' or 'We have to make a good impression on the readers.'"

She took out another piece of paper and put it down.

"Exhibit B. References. The shows and movies that you watch, books that you read, and games that you play are actually references from already-existing properties. The main reason for this is to avoid copyright and getting sued. For example, TinnyTop TurboToppler is a reference to the famous sponge that we all know and love."

She picked up two more papers and showed them to us.

"Exhibit C. A writer. You have all acknowledged that we have a writer who writes our stories. And Exhibit D. The rules in Forlot. There are strange rules, but they are necessary. Like you cannot get married or be married, and you cannot use social media. There are plenty more of the rules, but we will get to them later." She grabbed another paper and closed the folder. "My point is that we are fictional, you and I. No real worlder has told any fictional character this..."

She held up the paper that she was holding.

"...and that is where the Lubriem comes in."