Forlot: True and False - Book Four {Completed}

Chapter Eighteen

I was scared. Every hair on my body stood up. The hairs on my arms. The hairs on my own head. I could feel drops of sweat running down my forehead.

I glared at Ava until she was nothing but a purple and black puddle on the grass. I was totally creeped out and could believe what I had witnessed.

What happened to Ava? Did she...die?

I was pondering, when somebody said my name.

"Hansel?"

It was Gretel.

She, Margie, and Nigel were by me and facing away from the stairs and the argument that was taking place.

"What are you looking at?" she asked me.

"...are you talking to me?"

"Well, you are the one who is looking out the window. Correct?"

"Um..." I was unsure to tell them what I had seen or not. It was both disturbing and unbelievable.

Would they believe me?

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I...I saw Ava."

"You did?" Margie said. She swung back one of her braids.

"I did. Seriously."

"Where did you see her?" Nigel demanded.

"Outside." I pointed a finger at the window and the spot where Ava had been standing. "She is not there right now."

"Did she say or do anything?" Gretel wondered.

"She did not say anything...but...she did...some things."

As ridiculous as it sounded, I told them the truth. How Ava's eyes were replaced by black and purple swirls. The smile. How black and purple goop escaped her mouth. How her clothes and skin transformed into black and purple goo. The fact that she melted and was now a puddle.

The fact that she said to me, "You...are next..."

"And the puddle is right there," I explained, pointing where the disgusting puddle was at. I stepped aside and let them see for themselves.

The three of them looked out the window.

"Hansel...I do not see it," my twin sister admitted.

"Me neither," Margie agreed with her.

I frowned. "Are you not looking where I told you?"

"I am," Nigel said. "And even I do not see it."

I was a bit frustrated with them. It was there. The puddle was there! I was not crazy! I saw what I saw.

"Move out of the way," I ordered.

They did without hesitation, and I looked out the window once again...and saw...

...that the puddle was no longer there. It had disappeared.

"B-but..." I sputtered.

"Now you are acting like me," Margie stated, comparing us.

I spun away from the window and glared at them. "We are going to call Ava."

"How? We do not know her number," Nigel pointed out.

That was when the phone in the living room rang.

We looked at one another. I had no doubt that we were thinking the same thing.

Ava was calling us.

Unfortunately for us, Mr. and Mrs. Sanders overheard the phone as well.

"I got it," Mrs. Sanders said. "Go to the kitchen, Richard. We will talk about this as soon as I answer the phone."

Mr. Sanders nodded. "Fine." He strolled to the kitchen.

Mrs. Sanders went into the living room. Worried that our undercover team would be exposed, we quickly and quietly tiptoed down the stairs. We peeked in the living room and watched Nigel's mom picking up the phone and answering.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Her back was facing us, so Margie had the "genius" idea of hiding behind the sofa. I pointed out that even though that the sofa was not against the wall, it was extremely close to the wall. There was no way that four people, let alone one, would be able to squeeze behind the sofa, but Margie both insisted and encouraged us to at least give it a try.

So we did.

But we regretted it.

We had to huddle close to each other, and our knees barely touched our faces. Mine barely touched my nose. Thankfully, we did not have to be there for long.

"I am sorry. You have the wrong number. Goodbye." Mrs. Sanders hung up, set down the phone, and exited the room.

As soon as the coast was clear, we got out from our hiding place and went over to the phone.

"Do you think that she will call back?" Margie questioned.

"We will just have to wait and find out," Gretel suggested.

So we did. We waited...and waited...and...waited.

We waited for five minutes. The phone did not ring.

"Bummer," I mumbled under my breath.

"We should go to her house," Nigel insisted. "We need to tell her what we discovered. And who knows? The call might have been important."

A couple minutes later, we left the mansion. We lied to Mrs. Sanders that we needed some exercise and that was why we were going to take a walk around the block. She said that was just fine, but expected us to return very soon. The killer had not yet been caught. We promised her and was on our way.

No later did we arrive to Ava's house. We did not see Ava outside, so we assumed that she was inside.

We walked up to the porch and made our way inside. The lights were on, and we glanced around.

"Ava?" I called to her. The others did the same.

No response.

"I do not think that she is here," the Monster Protector said.

"Jee. You think?" I responded.

I turned to the red door. It was open a crack...

...and red stuff was flowing from the other room.

Blood.

Shaking, I pushed the door open...and was horrified.

There was a person lying in small amounts of blood. The person had a gunshot wound between his chest and stomach.

Then I felt somebody pushing me to the side.

It was Ava.

She kneeled down next to the person who had the gunshot wound.

"Caleb!" she cried.