Forlot: Forgotten Forest - Book Eight {Completed}

Chapter Eleven

Sheila and Valerie sat on a log and were shivering. My sister and the other counselors thankfully melted all the ice, freeing the two girls. Though, the bullies were not completely ice-free. Little icicles were hanging from them. Icicles on their elbows and knees.

Melinda told me to get a couple of blankets from the counselors' cabin, and I hurried off and soon came back to the outside world with two blankets that were folded. The blankets were old and clean, and I unfolded them and put them around Sheila and Valerie.

Valerie placed a hand on my stomach and pushed me away. She grabbed her blanket and threw it down. "I am not wearing that filthy thing!" she said, referring to the blanket.

"Me neither!" Sheila agreed. She snatched up her blanket and tossed it, and it landed near the campfire. "Besides, Ari touched it, and we do not need her germs."

"Get a clue," I shot at them. "Everybody has germs, and not all germs are bad. Even you two have germs both on the outside and in the inside of your bodies."

Valerie shot back. "Sheila and I are smarter than you, and our school grades can prove it."

I grinned. "Straight C's and D's are not the best grades."

Sheila's little hairs on her arms were standing straight up. "That is because we are too good for school."

"That...does not make any sense."

Valerie whipped her hair back. "Look who is dumb now."

"That is enough, you three," Garcia warned us. He was putting pieces of wood in the campfire. Each piece instantly vanished in the warm fire.

Melinda did not have a problem with me roasting Sheila and Valerie. She knew that they were trouble. After all, she always believed me.

"You know, if you girls do not cover up with the blankets or get closer to the fire, you will continue to be cold," Melinda explained. "Do you want that? To continue freezing?"

"No," Valerie spat.

"Then do one of those things. Get comfortable in the blankets or by the fire."

"No thank you!" Sheila declined the offer.

"Oh. So you want to suffer."

"Pfft!" Valerie started rocking back and forth. "We are too good to suffer like this. But we are certainly not letting our beautiful clothes—"

"Your soaked clothes?" I questioned.

"...touch disgusting blankets that looked like that they were run over," Sheila finished. "And we do not desire our wonderful skins to be burned by the stupid fire."

Wow. What a bunch of babies!

David was sitting on a log, his hands clasped together, and staring intently at the campfire, the flames rising a bit from the extra wood.

When Garcia was done taking care of the wood, he sat on the grass. "You guys may sit. Or stand up. It does not matter. The story will not change anyway."

Melinda and Belinda sat on the same log, and my classmates and I plopped our bottoms on the green grass.

Garcia turned to David. "It is time to tell them of Forgotten Forest."

David was breathing heavily. "You see...Forgotten Forest is not your average forest."

"It is not average?!" Collin interrupted. "We are doomed!"

"Collin?" Melinda said his name, glancing at him. "That is not even the concern part."

David agreed with her. "Y-yeah. The bad thing is that...Forgotten Forest is cursed."

My best friend panicked. "What?! That is worse!"

I pulled him close to me and comforted him as best as I could. "Go on," I said.

David coughed. "Y-yes. As I was saying, Forgotten Forest is cursed. It always has been, and no one in Forlot knows why. It is a mystery." He began fiddling with his fingers. "Can anybody guess why it is called Forgotten Forest?"

Debbie raised her hand.

"Yes, Debbie?"

"Is it because this forest has been forgotten by society?"

"Good guess. But no." He placed his hands on his knees. "It is called what it is because...not only is it cursed...but when you go in the forest and stay there for a long time...about an hour...you...you..."

"You what?" Belinda questioned.

"You...lose your memories. Permanently."

The girls gasped, and the boys were surprised by David's comment.

"Trust me when I say that you will lose all of your precious memories," David continued. "You will forget the important things and people in your life. Your family. Your friends. Even yourself. You will forget who you are and where you are and wander the forest, never leaving it until you die. Which brings up...the two missing children."

My sister covered her mouth, and her body shook.

"What happened to the children?" Ethan asked.

"Many...years ago...two children who were the best of friends decided to enter the forest without any adult supervision. They were never seen again. Until...their skeletons were found deep in the forest."

My eyes widened, and I managed to keep myself from gagging.

"David and I...we accidentally found the skeletons of the missing children," Garcia explained. "It was so sad."

Debra raised a hand. "But that does not explain who - or what - cut Josh and how Valerie and Sheila ended up in the lake. Frozen."

"There is a man who lives deep, very deep, in Forgotten Forest. He is a psycho and just loves to kill people, especially children, for fun."

"That is probably how those two children tragically died," I mumbled under my breath.

David stared at each of us intently. "This is why I advise that none of you go in there. At least, not without me, Garcia, Belinda, or Melinda."

My classmates and I were convinced enough and promised that we would not go anywhere near Forgotten Forest.

Too bad that I did not listen.

That night, we were in our cabins and sleeping. However, I was not. 'Cause I kept hearing someone.

A boy. Calling for me.

"Ari. I need you. Ari..."