Forlot - Books 10-12

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Hey, the baby can talk," I commented. My eyes widened as I thought about what was off. "Ah! The baby can talk! She speaks!"

Scarlett was the exact opposite - at first. She took one good look at Rene and explained to me that it was natural for babies to start speaking the same words as we do around Rene's age. She also added that the baby girl must have started to walk because she was, of course, standing on her little feet.

"Babies do these kinds of these all the time," Scarlett finished her explanation. "It is not a big shocker."

Margaret was wide awake, and even though that her shoulder was still bleeding out, she remained calm and collective.

"Well, that is two minutes that I will never be getting back," she stated out loud.

"It is useful information," my sister defended herself. "Why else would I tell you?"

"What do you think that I did during the months that I was pregnant? Leaping off the world's steepest cliff and having no safety net underneath me? I may sound stupid, but that does not mean that I am stupid."

Nicole was apparently not hurting anymore because she snatched the gun from my sister and scrambled to her feet.

"The cliff is where all of you will be heading!" Nicole said. "So the enjoy the view from up there. It will be your last!" When she spotted Rene standing, her eyes bulged. "It cannot be..."

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Margaret said to her. "Is the guilt getting to you?"

She did not answer her questions. "My baby...she—"

"My baby!" Margaret reached up, grabbed Nicole by the shirt, and pulled her down to her level. "Say it, Nicole. Say that Rene is Margaret's daughter. Or I swear that I will...I do not know what I will do to you because I am injured, but it will not be good for you."

The four of us watched as Rene waddled towards us. At first, she was slow. Then, she moved faster.

"Mama! I want Mama!"

"Awe," Scarlett and Margaret said in unison.

I do not know why, but I was suddenly frightened of the baby. Call me a chicken, however, I had every right to be.

"Margaret, I am sure that Rene is not referring to you," I reminded her. "Nicole has been raising her, which means that your daughter has the mindset that she is her mother."

A tear trickled down Margaret's cheek, and it looked like that she was trying to hold back tears.

"Sweetheart, you must understand. I am your mommy."

"No! I am!" Nicole pointed her gun at the top of Margaret's head. "Another word, and I will blow your head off!"

Rene's arms were outstretched, and she kept repeating that word.

"Mama, Mama, Mama!"

Nicole got the stroller and moved it so that it was now in front of her. "I know just how much you love your stroller. One could say that you are quite attached to it." She rolled it back and forth. "Come to the stroller. Come to me. Your mother."

Neither Scarlett, Margaret, nor I wanted the baby girl to be returned to such an evil and heartless woman. At the same time though, we could not do anything about it. One, because we would have been shot. And two...

...because we did not have to.

All of us watched as Rene came up to the stroller - and sat down. No, she did not sit in the stroller. She plopped her precious bottom on the floor.

"Goo." She sucked on her little hand.

Nicole huffed. "Well...I assumed that you were going to get back in the stroller, but that is okay. I will just put you in myself."

You will never believe what happened next. No. Do not guess. It is seriously something that you would never think that would be possible.

Rene shut her eyes and opened them. Only this time, we could not see them. Her eye color. Her pupils. They were replaced. Replaced by yellow light.

"What?" Nicole said. "How...did you...?"

Rene tilted her head up, and when the yellow light fell on Nicole, she let out the most agonizing scream that I had ever heard from anybody.

Within seconds, Nicole's skin that was exposed was getting crispy. The nice, flawless skin that she once had was now turning into big, brown and red bumps.

The baby girl closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the yellow light had disappeared. We could see her small, beautiful eyes.

"You are not my Mama! So I put a curse on you that would last...forever!"

My bottom jaw dropped. "Huh?!"

After that, the baby returned to cooing and being her cute self. She got on her hands and knees, crawled up to Margaret, and hugged her.

"Mama."

"That was weird," Scarlett commented. "But on the bright side, Rene knows her true mother."

"And I could not be happier," Margaret remarked. "I would return the hug if my shoulder was not bleeding."

"Allow us to help you with that," I insisted. "Also, all logic at this point has been thrown out the window."

Meanwhile, Nicole was rolling around on the floor. There was not one piece of her skin that was not covered by red and brown bumps. The bumps must have also been burning her because she complained about that.

"Yah! Oh my gosh! It burns! Somebody..."

She stood up and leaned against a wall.

"...somebody...make it go away. Make this pain...all go away...please..."

As if a person had been eavesdropping, shots were fired multiple times. Scarlett and I shrieked as we covered Margaret and her baby using our bodies.

The sounds of gunfire soon stopped, and we heard groaning.

It was coming from Nicole, and she collapsed to the floor. I had to keep myself from gagging.

Nicole had been shot multiple times - and was now dead.