Forlot: True and False - Book Four {Completed}

Chapter Thirty-Five

We were surprised - and confused, I admit. I raised an eyebrow as the girl dusted away the dirt that was on her. She slid off one of her tennis shoes and shook it with all her might. Pieces of dirt fell out of her shoe and tumbled to the floor.

"Could...could you repeat what you said?" I spoke up. "I do not think that I heard you loud and clear. That also goes for my friends."

The girl put her shoe back and looked at us, still holding onto the damaged phone. The ends of her mouth curved upward, forming a smile that was creepy, I admit.

That was when...the most terrifying thing happened.

She laughed.

But wait. It was not just any laugh. It was creepy. Disturbing. Wicked. Worse than any laugh that I have heard in my entire life.

"You guys are hilarious!" the girl exclaimed, continuing her laughter. "That is why you are the best things that has ever happened to me." She soon stopped laughing and glared at us with a concern look. "Did I scare you? I am sorry. It is just...so much fun being with you."

Her voice. It sounded soft...and pleasing. Like you would get a good vibe just by being with her.

"Who...who are you?" Nigel asked. "You said...that you are our writer."

"That is correct. My first name is Ash. It is short for Ashley. My last name is J. It is short for Johnson. But you can - and everybody must - refer to me as Ash. The fictional writer in history!"

"Fictional writer?" Margie repeated the phrase. "The heck does that mean?"

"Allow me to explain. But first, let me ask you a question. Do you know what the term 'fictional' means?"

The four of us glanced at one another. I had a feeling that we were all thinking the same thing.

Fiction is imaginary stuff...but we are real.

"From what I have learned and raised to believe is that 'fictional' means 'made up,'" Gretel explained her reasoning. "But...I am not sure about that anymore."

"Oh?" Ash walked over to us. "And why do you say that?"

"It is a long story," I said. "You can check out this book if you want to know what took place."

She clapped her hands excitedly and squealed. "You broke the fourth wall!"

"...pardon me? I broke what? 'Cause I did not mean to."

She giggled. "Silly. It is completely normal for a fictional character to break the fourth wall without knowing it."

"What is this...whole 'breaking the fourth wall' thing?" the Monster Protector questioned. "And are any walls involved?"

"'Breaking the fourth wall' is a term that writers and creators use when they break the barriers between fictional characters and the readers. It is a nice touch and can be funny at times."

"H-how do you know that?" Nigel stammered.

"Simple. I am your writer. You are my fictional characters. I thought of you and care for you with all my heart."

Margie quickly blinked. "I...I do not understand."

"It is okay. You are not supposed to know until I told you. Fictional characters have been lied to for too long. It is about time that they know the truth. That they are nothing but fictional."

"But...fictional things...are not real," I pointed out.

"That is what the real world wants you to think. I have turned away from the real world because of the things that are in it. Sin. Evil. It is boring for me, and there are no fictional characters. At all!"

She looked mad. Ticked off. Her face was getting red, and she took out a book. The book was titled...

...True and False?

Wait a minute...

I asked you, the reader, if you could show me the cover of this book. You happily obliged and showed me.

It felt as if my head was spinning. I thought that I was going to faint and collapse.

What was happening?! Was I in an alternate timeline?

Ash opened the book and flipped through the pages, looking at the pages that flew by. "Thanks to the real world, my heart was shattered into a million pieces. Nothing in that world could repair the damage that affected me...except one. Fictional characters." She shut the book and looked back at us. "You guys are the reason that I am alive. You guys are the reason that I can say that I feel great! I have left the real world. Both mentally and physically." She sighed heavily. "Which is why...you deserve to know this."

Tears formed in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She was upset.

Why was she getting upset?

"Margie...your parents are dead. Nigel...Mr. Hawk is your biological father. Hansel and Gretel...you both have cancer."