Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Seventeen

The woman sat next to me on the blanket and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. "My son. My wonderful son," she said. "You have changed so much since the last time that I saw you."

Confused, I pushed her away. I hugged myself and shuddered. The way that she touched me.

It was strange.

And her sleeves and hands were...cold.

A concern look appeared on my mom's face. "Sweetheart? Is something wrong?" she asked.

Some parts of my hair swept over my eyes, but I did not bother to move them this time. I was too shocked to move a muscle.

"You..." I spoke quietly.

"Are you not happy to see me?" She brushed the strands of hair from my eyes.

I scooted away from her. "I...I would be...but...you are dead."

"Dead?"

"You died in that car crash, remember?"

"You mean the incident where they did not find any trace of me?"

I slowly nodded. "Yes. The police never found your remains."

"Hmm. Interesting."

Mom grabbed a picnic basket that was on the grass and brought it close to us. She opened it and peered inside. She pulled out a sandwich that was in a plastic bag and held it out to me.

"Tuna sandwich?" she offered. "You used to love them."

I looked at the sandwich. Poking out of the sandwich was the tuna. Some of the tuna had dripped onto the inside of the bag. White bread covered the rest of the tuna, and the bread had the crusts cut off.

This was the way that my mom made tuna sandwiches just for me. And they were always delicious!

My stomach grumbled. It was so very hungry. I was hungry.

I glanced back at my mom.

Should I take the sandwich?

"Who else knows how to fix your most favorite sandwich?" Mom stated.

I licked my lips. She was correct on that. Who would make sandwiches the way that she did? Besides, I was extremely hungry.

I took the sandwich and unzipped the bag. I carefully pulled out the sandwich, tossed the bag to the blanket, and began eating.

I chewed and chewed. Mmm! It was good!

"How does it taste?" Mom asked.

"Delicious!" I exclaimed happily, swallowing a small portion of the sandwich.

Mom patted my head and lied down on the blanket. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "There are things that we need to talk about."

"Hmm?" I gobbled down the rest of the sandwich like a savage and lied down next to her. "Like what? That Dad still watches American Starless?"

"Really? He is still watching that show?"

"More, actually. I think because he wants to keep his mind off of you. He misses you."

She rolled her eyes. "That show is not good for him. As a matter of fact, it is not good for anyone. It corrupts the mind."

"Mom, I already explained to our readers why you hate the show. You can stop ranting on it now."

"I will stop ranting on it when I can stop worrying about people out there that have the nerve to write weird fanfictions based on the Forlot series. I am afraid that our fans will ship you, Nigel, with Margie, and that is not supposed to happen!"

"But...the fans are bound to write weird fanfictions, even if we, the victims, do not like it."

"My point exactly. I will never stop ranting on American Starless."

I sighed. So much for that.

Mom wrapped an arm around me, and we both tilted our heads towards the blue sky. Puffy clouds floated, moving along with their lives. My mom kissed the side of my head, and I smiled.

And then my smile instantly disappeared.

"Mom, where have you been?" I questioned.

She sighed. "In hiding," she answered.

"Why? Why did you never come back to me and Dad? We missed you."

"I missed you as well." She hugged me tightly. "I waited for so long. That is why the cops never found what was left of me."

"Because...because you survived the crash."

My mom shook her head. "No. I did not survive."

"What?!" My teeth chattered. "S-so you are a ghost?"

"No." She held me close to her. "I am a—"

Suddenly, everything became black.

The sky.

The trees.

The ground.

We were swallowed in darkness.

I screamed as black tentacles wrapped themselves around my mom and pulled her away.

"Mom!" I cried.

I could see that Mom was not struggling to get free. She stared at me helplessly as the tentacles pulled her in the blackness.

"I love you...Nigel..." she said softly.

She then disappeared.

"No!" Tears ran down my cheeks. I lost her again.

I lost Mom.

"Nooo!"

I opened my eyes and sat up.

"The heck...?" I looked around and realized that I was in my bedroom.

And a shadow was standing by my bed.