The fictional characters and real worlders reached the bottom of the stairs and said our final goodbyes. The leaders were grateful for us Forlot characters and gave us permission - the good characters - to visit the real world whenever we wanted. They also added to contact them if we ever needed their assistance.

"Thank you," I thanked. "Thank you all."

I finished my hugs and goodbyes and backed up until I was a couple inches away from the group. As I watched the fictional characters and the real worlders, something got me thinking. I recalled Mary Sue's claim from earlier. How our writer and Lean Share assisted the Lubriem in faking her death.

This was not the first time that I heard of the Lubriem's fake death and that Lean Share killed her. I did not buy the fact that the Lubriem faked her death. I believed that theory was only being tossed around because of the characters who did not want to give up hope that the Lubriem could still be alive and out there somewhere. And why in the world would those same people be convinced that Lean killed her? The ghost girl would never murder a person, let alone the one who created her...right?

Curiosity got the best of me. I decided to ask Ash J. how she thought that the Lubriem died. When she was done saying goodbye, she walked to where I was and gave me one of her welcoming smiles.

"Are you excited to go back home and have things be back to normal?" she asked.

I returned the favor by giving her one of my smiles. "As much as you are, Ash."

"Good. I am glad. Let us hope that we can put yesterday and today behind us."

"Agreed. And if Kathy were here, she would agree too."

"Where is Kathy anyway, Cassandra?"

"She is still in the president's office. She told me that the kidnapper stole some of what belongs to her and hid them somewhere in the office."

"Did you offer her your help?"

"I most certainly did, but she did not want my help. She is too concerned that Mary Sue could escape me again and wants me to lock her away as soon as possible."

"I honestly am not surprised that she would say that, Cassandra. Even I am tired of putting up with Mary Sue's shenanigans. Mary Sue wants to play the game, but she is putting innocent lives at stake. Thank the Lord from above that we had the capacity to stop her when we did."

I was about to respond by asking her what was on my mind, when Sophia skipped over to us and around us. She repeated over and over how she was eager to get back home and hang out with me. Ash laughed, and I crossed my arms and growled.

Sophia stopped skipping and looked at me with a worried expression on her face. "What is wrong, Cassandra? Are you jealous of me or something?"

I uncrossed my arms and could feel the anger building up inside of me. "I am not jealous of you. How can I be jealous of a person who pretends to be naive and is really a psychopath?"

"Cassandra," Ash said.

I looked at her. "It is the truth, my beloved writer. Sophia is a psychopath. I can prove it too." I reached into Sophia's back pocket and pulled out the box of matches. I had hoped that they were still in there, and they were. I raised the box high. "This is a box filled with matches, Ash. Sophia used a match to light the restaurant on fire. I found a used match at the scene of the crime."

At first, Sophia was shocked that I was accusing her of such a crime. Then tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and she burst out crying. She cried how she did not do it and wrapped her arms around our writer.

"I did not do it, Ash. I swear on Cassandra's life."

"Do not swear on my life. You set that restaurant on fire. The evidence does not lie."

She turned to me and sniffed. "I do not play with fire, let alone set property on fire. Why would I even want to burn the restaurant?"

"You tell me."

"How can I tell you when I do not even know?"

"That is enough," Ash said. "The last thing that I want you two to do is to cause a scene. No more discussion on this topic until we are home."

"Yes, Ash," we said in unison.

Our writer hugged both of us, and we hugged her back. I decided that this would be a good time to ask her my question, considering that we needed to change the topic. I pulled away from her and asked if she knew what truly happened to the Lubriem. Her response took me by surprise, and it was not because of what she said. It was how she said it. Her voice sounded cold and meaningless.

"The Lubriem is dead, Cassandra. Lean Share killed her with no mercy."

I processed this for a few seconds before saying, "That is it? It cannot be that simple. I feel like that there has to be more than that."

The writer patted my head. "Trust me. Lean killed the Lubriem while the Lubriem was not looking."

As much as I wanted to respond to that, I could not. I was speechless. Sophia asked why Lean murdered the Lubriem.

"It all comes down to jealousy, Sophia. Lean was jealous of the Lubriem. The Lubriem got all the fame and attention. The ghost girl got none. She thought that if the Lubriem was out of the picture, the attention and fame would come to her. She got what she wanted, but not in the way that she expected."

"I would hate to be in Lean's shoes. If she even had feet," Sophia commented.