Forlot: The Mom Who Lives Next Door - Book Twelve

Chapter One

Let us get one thing straight. My mom was gone. No, no. She is not dead. I meant that she was gone. You know? Out of town. Who do you think that I am? Nigel Sanders?

So yeah. My biological mother, the one who gave birth to me and my baby sister, Amy, left Forlot because she could not stand being in the same town with the family who did not love her anymore. Though, that was not entirely true. Even with the divorce between her and my father, Amy and I still loved her and called her our mom. Dad, however, was a different story.

Way back when my sister and I were even thoughts, Donna, that is mom's first name, and Bill, that is my dad's first name, were in love and dated for a solid three years. By the second year rolled around, the once happy couple already knew everything about each other, and that was an accomplishment.

Mom asked Dad when they would get married, and I was not surprised why she asked such a question. Their relationship was strong, possibly stronger than most relationships, and the two of them were aware of that. But despite that, Dad was skeptical. He was not sure if he was ready for marriage and to have children, considering that Mom really wanted children. Mom did not pressure him and informed him to let her know when he was ready.

When those three years were up, Dad proposed to her. Not with a ring. With a drawing of a red heart.

You see, Forlot has laws - yes, laws - when proposing. Yes, men are the ones who are supposed to prepare and present the proposal, but they are not allowed to present a ring. In fact, you never see an engaged woman or a married couple wear rings in Forlot, and that is because it is illegal.

Do I even have to explain why wearing an engagement or wedding ring is forbidden? Who would want to wear some ring at all times? I sure do not.

Instead of a ring, the man is supposed to give a drawing of a heart colored in with the color of the woman's choice. And yes, the women are supposed to know about the engagement ahead of time.

You think unfair? I think necessary.

Back to my mom and dad.

Within a week, they were married, and that was because they did not have to worry about expenses. They had me, and then had Amy last year. I am fourteen, and my little sister will be turning one year old, so our parents were together for a long time.

Unfortunately, our family was turned upside down two months ago. I did not know what Mom did wrong, but she must have because Dad would always storm into a room that she was in and start shouting at her. I had to admit that it was scary for me. It was even scarier for my baby sister. She would usually be with Mom and have on her precious smile, but as soon as Dad began the yelling, she would cry softly.

I would take her to her room, which was upstairs, and set her on her favorite blanket. Then I would play and laugh with her, praying that she would be happy again. Lucky for me, it always worked. She just loved her big brother.

It was not before long that my mom stood up for herself and argued back, her voice louder than my dad's.

What was up with Dad? What were they fighting about? Even though that I was in need of answers, I never did ask them.

I was afraid of them. Afraid of my own parents.

After three full weeks of the fighting, Dad filed a divorce and wanted my mother out of our house. Mom was glad that she was going to be free from him and did not hesitate in signing the divorce papers.

"I do not know what I did wrong," Mom shot at Dad.

"You know what you did!" Dad shot back at her.

In a day, Mom packed up all her stuff and left. But not before saying goodbye to me and Amy.

"Goodbye, my darlings," she said, her voice cracking. "Promise me that you will make me proud."

I hugged her, and so did Little Amy. She hugged us back and kissed our foreheads.

We never saw her again.

I was not mad with her at all. I was angry with my father. How could he do that? Letting her leave without giving explanation as to what she did wrong. To me, she did nothing wrong, and I had hated him since.

What happened next really ticked me off.

Dad put his ex-wife behind and dated a new girl. She was younger than Mom, about a few years, and beautiful. She had short, blonde hair and wore a yellow, short-sleeved shirt with buttons where her chest was. She also wore grey pants that reached to her knees and pink shoes.

Her full name was Kira Kai, and she seemed nice. She took good care of Amy and helped me with things, such as sports. However, despite all this, I hated her.

Let me rephrase that. I do not hate her. After all, it is not her fault that my mom and dad got a divorce. It is just that...I felt that she was replacing my mother, and I believed that was what Dad was doing.

I found out later that Dad and Kira were going to get married. There was no way that I would be attending. No way! And to top it all off, my father had full custody of me and Amy, and we were forbidden to see our biological mother ever again.

Oh, how I hated him.

Little did we know that he would send us to our mom...on accident.