Chapter Four

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The next day, we drove to the news station. Wait. Let me rephrase that. We walked to the news station. I keep forgetting that we did not own a car.

We did have a car. In fact, it was a Prius, and a nice, blue one at that. Despite that, Mom and Dad sold it. Why? I do not know. The writer wanted us to walk, so she needed our parents to sell the car.

Mom and Dad were talking to each other, probably discussing news and plans for work, as they strolled down the sidewalk. My brother and I were a few inches behind them, taking our time as we tried catching up with them. Our parents were walking pretty fast.

I wiped sweat off my forehead and looked at my purple shirt. There was a sweat stain, the size of a gumball, in the middle of the shirt. I sighed, sad to see any kind of stain on my shirt, and looked at Hansel.

Speaking of gumballs, Hansel was chewing on one.

"Really? Another gumball?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "You just had one this morning, and it was right after breakfast."

Hansel immediately stopped chewing and brought a hand to his mouth. Realizing what he was going to do, I turned my head away and heard spitting sounds. I could not help but groan in disgust.

"Ew."

I waited for a couple of seconds, and then glanced back at him. He stepped over to a nearby trash bin, opened it, and flicked the gum off his finger and into the bin. I stuck out my tongue, and he looked at me.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked as he let go of the door, making it clang! against the can, and hurried back to my side.

I pulled my tongue back in my mouth and ran a hand through my blond hair. "You," I answered.

"Me? What did I do?"

"For one thing, you like gum." I hate eating gum.

"Hey, this is a free country. I can eat gum if I want to."

I slowly shook my head. "Just because you can, does not mean you should."

He rolled his eyes. "Gretel..."

"Since we got to this city, we have not been to church."

Hansel played with my short, ponytails. "The family is still adjusting, sis."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "We have not been to church in eight months!"

My dad stopped chatting with Mom and turned to me. He put a finger over his lips.

"Relax, Gretel," he said. "We are in the big city. There is no need to yell." He turned back, and he and my mom continued with their long conversation.

I let out a low growl and glared at my parents. I swear that they do not love me and my twin anymore.

And yes. In case that you were wondering, I am a child of the Lord. And I promise you that there will be more characters in this series who are also children of the Lord.

We all soon stopped in our tracks. Hansel and I put our hands on our knees and were catching our breaths. I could feel the sun beaming down on the two of us, letting its hot rays of light rest on our backs.

It was a hot day. A very hot day. Both Hansel and I had to wear short-sleeved shirts and shorts. We both wore blue shorts and gray sneakers, and I wore a purple shirt - because my favorite color is purple - and my brother wore a white shirt.

I placed a hand on his blonde hair that had strands of brown and gently ruffled it.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes," he responded. "Peachy."

We tilted our heads up and saw a blue, tall building. Skyscrapers and other buildings were tall, but this building was really tall. It looked like that it reached the sky!

"We are here!" Mom proclaimed excitedly. "Welcome to the news station."

Hansel narrowed his eyebrows and stared at Mom and Dad. "Are you serious?" he questioned. "This huge building...is the news station?"

"Yep," Dad replied. "Where did you think that the news station was? In a small building?"

"Uh, yes!" I piped in, defending my brother.

My mom ran a finger through her short, blonde hair. She had on a green dress that reached to her knees and a dark green coat that reached to her ankles. "You two thought of that?" She giggled softly. "Well, today is already getting off to a good start. Now you know what the building looks like."

My dad put something in his jacket pocket and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets as my mom opened the door that led inside.

"Come on, kids," Dad said.

I let Hansel go in first, and I followed.

Our parents followed us inside and took us to a row of chairs that were against the wall and near a closed window. My dad instructed me and my brother to sit and wait, while he and Mom visited their boss. We did as we were told, and they left.

"This is going to be boring," Hansel told me. "I would rather go to school."

I did not answer him. Instead, I leaned back in my chair, shut my eyes, and fiddled with my fingers. It was not before long that I started overhearing a conversation taking place. At first, I paid no attention to the conversation and listened to my own thoughts. But then, it got interesting.

"We need to find that monster," I heard. It sounded like a man's voice.

"You mean the Beast," I overheard. Another male voice. "The Creature From Beyond."

"Someone needs to go to Forlot and at least get a picture of it. This station would be rich."

Huh? Forlot?

I listened some more before I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a creepy voice.

"Hello, Gretel."

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