Forlot - Books 7-9

Chapter Twenty-Seven

If it were possible, my heart would have broken in half. Heck, there was a chance of that happening with everything that my darn parents put me through.

Even though that I had just ran into Caleb and barely knew him, I knew that he would be no trouble at all. He neither looked nor acted crazy. It was just that...he had been hurting for who knows how long. I could tell by the look in his eyes.

As someone who knows how parents can be, I was both glad and relieved that I met him. After all, I enjoy helping others as much as I do with the animals.

I rested a hand on his shoulder. "I cannot believe that your own folks would do such a cruel thing. Actually, I can totally believe that, considering that mine drive me to drink—"

"Whoa! Maria. Do not say that."

"Hmm? Do not say what?" I scanned the area. "Are my mother and father watching? Or do the guards know that we are here?"

His face was now full of confusion. "What? No. Nobody is here but us."

"Oh. So what seems to be the problem?"

"You mentioned the phrase 'Drive me to drink.'"

I removed my hand from his shoulder, and Tabceo shrugged.

"There is nothing wrong with that," Tabceo said. "Unless...you are one of those people who gets easily offended by little things and is PC, which stands for politically correct."

Apparently, Caleb did not like my friend's remark. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open.

"Excuse me..." Caleb started. "...but are you trying to tick the real worlders off?"

"Real worlders? What the crub are real worlders?" I questioned him.

The red bird crossed her wings over her feathery chest. "Sounds too real."

Caleb plopped onto the dirt ground and crossed his legs. "I will tell you everything that I know and have heard." He patted the hard ground. "I recommend that you sit and relax. This will take awhile."

I nodded and sat down across from him. Tabceo leaped off my shoulder and flew into my lap. She laid on her back.

"Maria! Tickle my red belly!"

I giggled. She loves when I tickle her.

"What is the magic word?" I said.

"Please?"

I gently put two fingers on her stomach and began tickling. She laughed at first, and then her laughs quickly turned into moans.

To make sure that we do not bore you readers to death - with me interrupting Caleb from one minute to the next - I will tell you what Caleb told me and Tabceo.

First off, he said that the "Drive to drink" phrase means...more than you think. Oh, please. I drink water and apple juice. Nothing else.

Okay. Let me tell you the real juicy stuff.

Real worlders are apparently a human species who are from the real world. I asked him what the real world was, and he said that it was an awful place to live. This is how he put it:

"Racists and political correctness and sin. Oh my!"

Tabceo asked what racists, political correctness, and sin are. Caleb snorted.

"I am quite surprised that neither of you are familiar with those terms. I mean, Fairita does all three."

"Fairita?" I repeated. "You know her?"

"I read about her, yes. Do you?"

"Yes. She works with my mom and dad."

As soon as I said that, his face immediately went pale. He scrambled to his feet and held out an open hand. I took his hand, and he helped me up.

"Caleb? Was it something that I said to you?"

"We need to go. Right now."

"Why? What is going on? Did you see something that I did not?"

"I will explain along the way. You need to—ah!"

Poor Caleb had only taken a step forward, when a brown object, a piece of rope, wrapped itself around his ankle. He fell on his back and screamed bloody murder as he was being pulled into another part of the woods.

My bird friend was flapping her wings, flying next to me, and speechless. So was I. We both stared at the area where our new friend had been dragged and had vanished.

After what felt like an eternity of sitting and staring, I finally made a move. I raced off in the same direction where Caleb went.

"Maria!" Tabceo shrieked. "Maria, no!" She flew after me and was next to me once again. She was frantically flapping her red wings up and down. "You have no clue as to what is out here, and neither do I!"

My forehead was sweating like crazy, and my legs were already worn out, but I could not give up. If I did...I would never forgive myself.

"It was some rope that he accidentally got himself caught in," I shot at her.

"Yeah, but the rope did not pull by itself!" Tabceo shot back. "It did not set itself up and wait there until somebody fell in its trap."

"We need to help Caleb. After all the crub that he went through with his biological parents, he has to catch a break sooner or later."

She got in front of me and was glaring. "What if he is already dead? What if we are next? We should really head on back to the woods that we are used to."

I opened my mouth to respond, however, the only sound that escaped was my loud cry.

"Yah!"

The bottom of my foot hit a hard object, and the next thing that I knew, I was trapped in a net that was hanging on a nearby tree branch. The bird escaped the net with ease, but stayed by my side.

"See, Maria? What did I tell you?"

All of a sudden, people wearing masks hurried out from their hiding places and over to us. They pointed their very sharp spears at us.

Tabceo gulped. "We are dead. So dead."