Forlot - Books 19-21

Chapter Eight

Kathy and I followed Libby to her lab that was in the agency building. Sophia wanted to tag along, but it was against the rules to allow outsiders inside the agency, and I suggested to her to return home and bake brownies. She became delighted by the idea of us eating brownies and hurried back home.

All the while, Libby was talking bad about the real worlders, and I do not mean in a cool way. She gave them the worst nicknames that I ever heard and claimed how awful and useless they were.

You are not useless, are you, real worlders?

Each word that escaped the scientist's mouth made me angrier and angrier. She had no right to say those things to you guys. I wanted to make a comeback, but thought that it would be best to keep silent until we were in her laboratory.

The hospital and agency were not far from each other, so the three of us did not have to walk for long. We entered the agency and followed Libby up a flight of stairs and into her lab.

You readers might be assuming that Libby's laboratory was roomy and hi-tech, and that is what I thought too when I was first recruited. One look at the room, and you would wonder if you were in the wrong room.

The lab had white walls and a white floor and did not have much gadgets. Only two long and narrow tables were in there, and they both were covered with invention after invention.

The female scientist walked to one of the tables. "I hope that you guys do not mind standing for a bit more. I do not bother with chairs. That is why there are none in my lab."

She scooted a few of her gadgets to the edge of the table and picked up a green folder. I pointed at the folder and asked what it was, and she responded that it was a folder with papers inside.

"I know that. What I want to know is what types of documents are in it."

She giggled. "I am only teasing." She opened the folder and took out a videotape and set of papers.

Kathy and I went up to the table. "What are all those papers for?" Kathy questioned. "Whatever the topic is must be important, considering how many documents there are."

"These are records of both minor and major incidents that occurred in the real world," Libby explained. "There are so many - I mean, too many - tragedies that the darn real worlders had put themselves through that I will just go through three major ones."

My eyes darted to the videotape. "What about that tape?"

"That will be our next discussion, Cassandra." She set down the stack of papers and flipped through them. "Aha! This will show you how evil the real worlders are."

She handed me a document, and my partner and I read the headline. I could feel sweat on my palms.

9/11.

"Do you know of 9/11, Cassandra and Kathy?" Libby asked.

"Yes," we answered in unison.

"What an awful day," Kathy added.

Libby adjusted her glasses. "Many, many people died that day, and what we can hope for is that something like this never happens again. But who am I kidding? These are real worlders that we are talking about. History has the tendency to repeat itself."

She handed us another piece of paper, and I was on the verge of sobbing my heart out.

In 2013, there was a bombing at the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts that killed three people and injured many others. Even in marathons, you are not safe, and that is ridiculous!

The scientist gave us one more document. "What could be worse than a bomb at a marathon is the shootings at schools," she stated sadly.

Kathy and I leaned on each other and hugged as we skimmed the article. This was not just on one school shooting. This was on many! Do the real worlders not realize that even one school shooting is too much?

"These major incidents occurred in the United States," Libby continued. "But that does not mean that they cannot happen in any other country."

"We are blessed that our writer created Forlot and keeps us far away from the real worlders," Kathy commented. "Who knows what they would do to us."

I tossed the papers onto the table. "There are bad real worlders. I wish that they were all good, but that is not how the real world works. Now despite that, there are good real worlders. Real worlders who desire to make the world a better place."

"Better? Ha!" Libby slammed her hands on the table. "No real worlder is good, Cassandra. Get that through your thick skull. If there were, the real world would not be getting worse."

I frowned at her. "Should I remind you that God created them? They are God's children too!"

"They are most definitely not His children. If they were, they would believe in Him and love Him."

"God still loves them even if they do not return the same love."

She slammed her hands on the table again. "The real world is making things worse for us fictional characters! The longer that they are around, the easier that we fall and never return."

"You do not know that."

"I do know that! As of now, they are ruining fictional franchises by incorporating meaningless agendas! It needs to stop!"

"We can always visit the real world and perform a peaceful protest, Libby."

"A protest will not do anything for us. The real worlders will not listen to us because they do not care!" Her chest was heaving. "Which is why...I..."

"What did you do, Libby?" Kathy asked.

"...I am supporting Mary Sue to proceed with the Final War."

I was baffled. "What? Why?!"

"The real worlders have to pay for what they have done to us."