Forlot: Not What I Am - Book Twenty

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Come to me, cutie." I motioned to her with my two hands. "Come here."

My girlfriend and I were in the Forlot hospital and in the waiting room. We were sitting next to each other and playing with Baby Tamara. She had missed us, especially me, and to make it up to her, we spent time with her.

After minutes of playing and tickling, I decided that it would be great to continue teaching her how to walk on her own two feet. You see, I had been trying my hardest to help Tamara walk properly, and so had Cindy. Neither of us were in luck, but that did not stop us.

Even Tamara was determined to walk. If you have visited Forlot, which I am positive that none of you fans have, you should have seen her. She would walk, fall on her little bottom, pout, climb back up, and repeat. She does not give up easily.

Cindy and I were leaning forward in our seats and encouraging the baby to keep going. Cindy was patting her legs.

"You are almost there, Tamara. You are getting close to us."

I smirked at my girlfriend's uplifting comment and said, "I will be the princess again if you make it."

That made the baby super excited. Unfortunately, it was too much excitement because she fell back and landed on her bottom.

"Crub," Cindy and I said in unison.

We expected her to pout, but Tamara took us by surprise. This time, she clenched her little hands into little fists and sniffed. Then we covered our ears with our palms as she sobbed loudly.

Thank the Lord from above that nobody else was in the waiting room.

"Tamara." I sprung from my seat and rushed to her side. "Sweetheart." I scooped her up in my arms and cradled her. "Shh."

The infant came to a halt with the crying and looked up at me. She sniffed again and gripped my shirt with her tiny thumb and fingers.

I gave her one of my nice smiles and played with her little hairs. "You did good on the walking. Better than last time."

She then kicked her little feet and said something that I never thought that she would say.

"Dada?"

My eyes bulged at this, and my glasses slid until they were at the edge of my nose. Tamara cooed happily, managed to get my glasses, and played with them.

"Awe!" I heard Cindy. "She called you her daddy."

I slowly returned to the rows of chairs and sat back in mine. I pressed the innocent girl close to my warm chest. "I...I cannot believe that she called me her dada."

Cindy rubbed Tamara's chubby belly. "I figured that she would refer to you as her dad."

"How come?"

"Come on, Caleb. Let us be honest here. Although that all the good guys of this book series are responsible for taking care of her, you have been the only person caring for her more times than I can count on my fingers. You and Tamara have spent so much time with each other that she has grown attached to you. According to Kara, the baby was demanding to see and play with you."

"Yeah. She told me that when we picked Tamara up."

Does Kara sound familiar to you?

Kara is one of the characters that first appeared in book ten named 'My Friend is a Human.' She is an alien who was going through depression and said to have committed suicide. And she would have if I did not intervene.

I handed the baby to Cindy, and she rocked her. The infant yawned and stretched.

"How do you know Kara anyway, Caleb?" Cindy asked with curiosity. "You never told me about her."

I massaged the side of my neck and chuckled. "Sorry about that. There are so many characters. So many events." My face saddened. "So little time."

"Caleb?" She reached for me, but I leaped from my chair.

"I need to go and check on the girls, Cindy. See you soon."

I dashed down the wide hall before she could utter another word and made a sharp turn around a corner. My shoes slid on the slippery floor, and I skidded to a door. Beyond that door was a doctor's office, and I grabbed the doorknob and pushed open the door.

The girls that I mentioned to Cindy earlier were Ada and Anti-Cindy. The doctor, Dr. O'Fallon, was working on both of them. Ada was hoping to see again in her blind eye, and Anti-Cindy was getting her scar treated.

Anti-Cindy's problem was worse than Ada's. Her scar had been bleeding, and she claimed that it had done this more than once.

I assumed that the antis were in the same office, seeing that they shared the same doctors. But when I entered the office, I only saw Anti-Cindy. She was slouched in one of the chairs that was next to the computer and sink. Stitches were on her scar, and she was not bleeding.

"Hi, Anti-Cindy," I greeted as best as I could without feeling scared. "Are you happy that you are not bleeding anymore?"

She did not sound happy. "Thrilled."

"Good. Uh, where is Ada? I mean, Anti-Ava?"

"Do not ask me. I do not know. Nor do I care. You can find her yourself."

"I will, but first..." I grabbed the doctor's stool, rolled it to Anti-Cindy, and plopped on it. "...you and I need to talk."

"What is there to talk about? I am your enemy, and you are mine."

"I would not be so sure about that. As a matter of fact, I believe that we have a lot more in common than we realize."

"Like what? Give me an example."

"We both have been abused. And you said it yourself. He abused you. Only it was not me. Anti-Caleb abused both you and Anti-Ava."