Forlot: Not What I Am - Book Twenty

Chapter Thirty-Five

"Margie! Nigel! Hansel! Gretel! Jorgie! Eleanor! Tim! Ari! Maria! Wendy! Tris! Jackson! Daniel! Steven! Sam! Mike! Brandon! Cassandra!" I exclaimed each of their names.

"Caleb!" Jorgie said my name.

"We were all kidnapped by your anti," Margie explained. "He was pretending to be you, and our antis jumped on us."

"Literally," Hansel said. He was coughing hard. "My stomach still hurts."

"Forget your stomach, brother of mine," Gretel scolded him. "We have more depressing matters."

I adjusted my glasses. "Do not worry. I will get you free. All of you."

"How are you planning to do that, Caleb?" Ari wondered. "We are dangling over an empty hole."

"I will think of something. Give me a minute."

A few seconds into my thinking, three blue doors by the corners of the room slid up, and antis with disturbing smiles walked in.

They were the other antis of the main characters!

Coming from the door to the left were Anti-Nigel, Anti-Hansel, Anti-Gretel, and Anti-Eleanor. From the door to the middle were Anti-Tim, Anti-Ari, Anti-Maria, Anti-Wendy, Anti-Tris, Anti-Jackson, and Anti-Daniel. And from the door to the right were Anti-Steven, Anti-Sam, Anti-Mike, Anti-Brandon, and Anti-Cassandra.

Man. That is a lot.

The antis circled the hole and glared at me with blank expressions. I swallowed a lump and stumbled back until my back hit the wall.

Margie clapped her hands. "Eee! He is here."

"Oh, no," I muttered.

A shadowy figure entered the same way that Jorgie's anti and I did. He stepped into the light, the shadows instantly fleeing, and I scowled at him.

"Anti-Caleb," I said. "I had a feeling that you would show up sooner or later."

"Greetings, Caleb. It is nice to see you again."

"Forgive me if I am not overjoyed of seeing you."

He pretended to be shocked. "Wow. If I was not mistaken, you have grown a backbone."

"I always have had a backbone. It just took me a long time to use it."

"That is great to hear. I am extremely proud." He stormed over to me, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and forced me to the computer. "You now should have no problem getting rid of these people."

I uttered a small gasp. "You mean my friends?"

He chuckled. "We can discuss what to do with the main characters later. But first, we need to dispose the real worlders."

"What?!" I glanced up at the rope with the real worlders. "No..."

"These are not just any real worlders. I picked out a real worlder from each group that is against us. I hate them and deep down inside, you hate them too."

"No!"

Anti-Caleb explained further that there was a gay, an anti-vaxxer, a feminist, a flat earther, a transgender, a media warrior, an atheist, and one from every religion out there. And yes, there was even a Christian.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I do not - do not - hate any of these groups. I may disagree with some of the things that they support, but in no way do I hate. Disagreement does not equal hate.

"Poor Caleb," Anti-Caleb said. "How he has to live and deal with such people. He allows them to walk all over him, and in the end, they still hate him."

"Not true," I argued. "At least, not for everyone."

"Let us begin with the gays and transgenders. They go against God, right?"

"Depends on what you mean by that. God loves the sinner, not the sin."

"How about anti-vaxxers and flat earthers? Can you lose any more brain cells?"

"Stop it! God does not want us to bully one another."

"So you believe that it is okay for kids of anti-vaxxers to be in schools?"

"Two wrongs do not make a right, Anti-Caleb. Two wrongs do not make a right."

His grin turned upside down. "Breaking news! Caleb hates healthy kids!"

"Knock it off! I believe that it is wrong to put healthy kids at risk."

"And we should not forget about the feminists, media warriors, atheists, and religious people. Feminists and media warriors hate your guts because you are a white male who is straight and a Christian, and atheists and religions despise you because you are a true Christian and not a strict Christian like the one that I kidnapped."

"You seriously need to do your research, Anti-Caleb. Not everybody from those groups feel that way about me. I am sure that some are...afraid."

"Afraid?" He laughed. "That is crub when people would rather listen to them than you."

"Maybe one of the reasons is because nonbelievers are spreading misinformation about Christians. If one Christian is strict, all Christians are strict. If Christians believe that gay is a sin, then they hate all gays. Not true. At least, not for me."

I backed away from the computer.

"I only agree with one thing, and that is people can be jerks. They do so much wrong that you facepalm and wish for the human race to go existent. I understand that feeling because I have been there. At one point, I started to believe their lies. That I was useless and that nobody would ever love me."

My glasses slid down, and I pushed them back up.

"Thanks to the Lord, I learned to love myself. And thanks to His power, I learned to love others regardless of what they believe. I love the gays, transgenders, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, feminists, media warriors, atheists, people of religions, and strict Christians. I do not agree with what they believe, but I truly love them."

I looked up at the real worlders. "It is not my place to judge. It is God's. And I will rescue you somehow."

The real worlders were surprised by my speech and whispered to one another.

What were they saying about me?