Forlot: Thunder Will Come Down - Book Twenty-Seven

Chapter Forty-One

I screamed bloody murder and waited for the pain to spread to the rest of my body and claim it. But it never came. I felt my chest. No stab wounds. Not a single one. A person was between me and Caleb. Her long hair was purple and dark blue, and she wore golden bracelets, two on each wrist. The knife went right through her and was just a couple inches from my chest.

I recognized her. "Lean? Is that you?"

She ignored me, but I knew that it was her. She had saved my life.

Caleb - or whoever was pretending to be him - was frowning and pulled back the knife. He was furious that the ghost interfered and said, "Stay out of this, Lean. I will get to you when I feel like it."

"No can do," Lean answered. "You will not be killing any folks. Not tonight. Not ever."

He began swinging the knife around. "If you wish to not suffer in the hands of Caleb Night, I suggest that you obey me. Get away from Cindy and this house!"

She was not at all intimidated by him, and that did not surprise me. After all, she was the first Forlot character created. "And if I refuse?"

"I will have no choice but to make you suffer. I will slit your throat like that I did to Destiny."

"How can you? I am a ghost!"

"Relax. You are not going to die."

"I know, but that does not change the fact that you will be unsuccessful in slicing my throat. Your knife will just go through me."

"You eat solid food."

"Ghosts like me eat special food that we are able to digest." She looked at me. "Run!"

I did not waste any time and scrambled out as fast as I could. Caleb was about to chase me, but the ghost girl grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him across the room. He hit the wall and landed in a heap on the floor. Lean floated into the hallway and caught up to me. I was by the stairs and coughing. She asked me if I was okay. Instead of answering, I asked her a question of my own.

"What the heck was that?!"

"I will explain later, Cindy. Right now, we have to evacuate everyone else from this home."

"Why?"

"Until Caleb has left this house, none of us are safe. Caleb will want to kill you and Kara and the kids."

"Why? Why the heck would Caleb desire to murder us? The Caleb that I know and love would never do something so evil."

"I promise that everything will make sense when he is gone from this house."

I trusted Lean. Although that some of the characters, including me, did not always understand the choices that she made, we could rest assured that she knew what she was doing. She does the weirdest things for the town of Forlot and the people in it.

Have you ever woken up someone, especially if that person is a heavy sleeper? It was not the easiest task, was it? The person is upset that you disturbed his or her sleep and in a cranky mood. That is exactly how it went with me and Lean. Lean fetched Wendow, Triso, Wendy, and Tris, while I woke up Kara and my kids. Kara was the only one who was not mad at me. She was just cranky. And Tamara and Alex had a crying fest. Everyone else was angry that the ghost and I interrupted their good dreams.

"Cindy, what is going on?" Kara said. We were now outside and in front of the house. "Is the house on fire?!"

Wendow and Triso each had a lit candle in their hands. They hid the candles behind them and rocked back and forth, whistling.

"There is no fire," I said. "We have an invited guest."

"So my house is haunted by zombies?!"

"No zombies."

"Ghosts?"

"Uh..." I looked up at Lean for help.

Lean placed her hands on her hips. "It is much more dangerous than a ghost or zombie or any monster."

Kara stroked her chin. "What is it?"

The ghost girl tugged us away from our children and released us when we were on the other side of the road. I yelled at Kara's kids to take care of mine while the grownups chatted.

"I am unsure where I should begin," Lean admitted.

"Start with why there was some...creature...in Kara's bathroom," I stated. "Why he resembled Caleb and called himself Caleb."

Kara gasped. "Caleb is alive?!"

Lean ran her ghostly fingers through her ghostly hair. "Caleb is dead. Caleb's soul, however, is very much alive."

What she and I witnessed in Kara's bedroom was the soul of Caleb. That was not right. His soul belonged in Heaven now. Why was it on this planet?

According to Lean, Caleb's soul was denied entrance into Heaven, which was weird because his soul was pure. He was not supposed to die yet, and the soul was punished by wandering this world forever. I should not say that it was punished, but that is how the afterlife works in Forlot.

Caleb's soul was not Caleb. The soul had no mercy or compassion in its heart and could remember only the pain that Caleb had to endure. The abuse. The discrimination. The abandonment. That explained why he was slicing throats and trying to commit murder, but why kill me? It was not just me that he desired to kill. The people who showed him love and respect were going to join him in the afterlife. He hated being alone and wanted to be with those whom he cared about.

I was scared. At the same time, I could not help but feel sorry for the poor soul. I was sad that he was not at peace.

"We can put a stop to this," Lean said.

"How?" I asked.