The Forest's Secrets

Chapter Twenty-Two: The End

Brooks lead the kids back to the changing room, where they just put the clothes from the day before back on. It didn't matter to either of them, except for the blood on Ali's pants, the clothes didn't get dirty.

"Are you sure you want to wear bloody pants in a police station?", Taime asked before they left the room.

Ali laughed and replied:"You know that no one will notice."

Just a few minutes later, they sat in the blank office with the mirror again. If it wasn't for both Brooks and Taime to look as if they had just fallen out of bed, one could have thought they never left there.

"You both will have to go to court", the policeman opened the conversation, earning a tired and an angry groan from both teens.

"Why", Ali asked," and what can I do to be seen as too dangerous to be there?"

Taime laughed at that, but Brooks replied seriously:"You already killed three people, if you're not seen as a threat now, there's no way they'll excuse you from court."

"Let me guess, Fate wants me there", the girl groaned as she leaned back in her chair.

Brooks looked at the white haired girl in confusion, as he replied:"How did you know that?"

"I can identify more than two thousand different behaviour types. There is not a single chance, that I am not seen as a threat. Especially with Fate's testimony and a whole team of trained officials that can confirm that I can melt concrete with nothing but my blood", the girl answered coldly.

"Yes, Fate wants you there. I don't know why", the officer said after a few moments.

Now Taime chimed in:"I know why! Fate wants to see Alistor getting sentenced!"

Before the policeman could reply, Ali continued:"That is not going to happen."

"You can't prevent it", Brooks explained," If you're invited to court, you'll go."

The almost identical looking teens locked eyes for a second, then Taime asked:"What's for breakfast, I'm starving!"

Ali chuckled slightly, then the officer replied:"I can get you something, if you promise to behave."

"Yes please!", Taime said as his eyes lit up, Ali just nodded.

"I'll be right back. And I'm going to lock the door", the officer said as he stood up and headed outside.

Brooks locked the door behind him and went on his way to the nearest breakroom. He had always liked it, that there were three on each of the two floors, there never were too many people in one.

A few minutes later, he went back to the room he had left the teens in, a cupcake and two cups of coffee in his hands. As he managed to unlock the door, he nearly dropped everything. The room was empty.

The man immediately put the things away and ran down the hall. He knew they couldn't have made it far, and one of them was easy to spot. As the officer arrived at the door, he saw that he was right: the teens were held back by a few of his co-workers.

"That's enough", he said in a cold and angry voice, as he put a hand on Ali's shoulder.

The girl growled and pushed away his hand. Taime had stopped moving entirely, everyone was looking at Brooks.

"Alistor?", Taime asked quietly, as the girl perked up. Her back straightened and she seemed as if she wanted to turn around, but was scared to do so. Then a big smile spread on her face.

Then the door opened, and two other people came in. Ali turned around again quickly and waved. "Tae! Ryth!", she yelled excitedly.

Taime's eyes lit up with joy as he turned around too. "Hey guys", he said loudly.

And then two more kids joined. It was weird, Brooks felt as if he was seeing doubled. That was, until he managed to get a clearer image of every teen.

"Did it work?", one of the other kids asked. The officer wasn't sure, if they were a boy or a girl, the kid wore their hair open and wore a white T-shirt and light green jeans. Brooks finally understood, what Ali had meant when she explained what an Enby was.

The kids red and blue eyes laid on the officer, as the other stranger replied:"Tae, we are talking about Alistor. Of course it worked."

None of the officers seemed to know what to do, as Ali suddenly started to look alive. She had already seemed more human with just Taime being around, but now she almost seemed completely normal.

Taime hugged her, this time the girl didn't even flinch and hugged him back. "I hate it that I can't do this more often", he complained quietly.

"I'm just not a hugger!", Ali laughed in response.

As Taime let go of the girl again, him and Ryth took a step to the side. Tae offered Ali their hand and the girl smiled at them and took it.

"Ok guys!", Tae announced to everyone around," my baby is not going to court and not going to prison. Thanks for keeping care of her tho."

Now Brooks found his voice again, as he angrily replied:"It's not in your power to decide that!"

Ryth sighed and started to walk towards the door, dragging Taime along by his hand. "We're waiting outside", he said quietly. A moment later, the boys were out the door.

A few officers ran out after them, and now Brooks was facing the two white haired teens in a nearly empty room.

"Look", Tae said calmly, as the officer tried to reach for Ali and the girl backed off behind the other teen," Alistor did nothing wrong."

"She killed three or maybe even more people!", the man growled in reply.

"And now she's done. She protected us, and now it's my turn to protect her. Good day", the kid said coldly and turned to leave.

Brooks could see that Ali was blushing, as Tae pulled her along. Just before they reached the door, the kids could hear guns clicking behind them.

Tae groaned and turned around, Ali now was standing in front of them.

"Put the guns down", Alistor growled at the more than ten policemen that were aiming at the kids.

"All of you are under arrest", Brooks replied coldly," You for homicide, and your friends for complicity."

"I'd rather get shot", Ali replied, as she turned around and quickly pushed Tae out the door.

Just as the girl wanted to leave too, there was a shot. Ali was bleeding from her shoulder, but the wound wasn't deep. The bullet dropped to the floor and the bloody scratch healed in seconds.

"Hope to never see me again", Ali said, as she looked right at Brooks. Then she left.

The search for the teens went on for years. But they weren't ever found. What had happened quickly turned into a scary fireplace story, the kids turned into folklore. There weren't many people who knew what had happened, which helped develop the story.

And so, there is a tale, about the forest's secrets. It says that there is a monster living in the woods. That monster is split apart into many, many parts. Those parts all look the same, except for their eyes. It is said that they kill you if you disturb them, or look them in the eyes.

And one day, many decades later, four almost identical looking teenagers were spotted in the city, and then later in the forest too.