Chapter 26

I cried so loud out in the parking lot other people began to taken notice.

"Miss, are you alright?" A woman entering the clinic asked.

"I...I'm fine..." I sobbed. She walked away and I took my phone out of my purse. I looked through my contact list. I saw Charlie's name. I broke down again. About that time Charlie came running over to me the moment he saw me.

"Har!" He shouted. "What's the matter?"

"Like you don't know!"

"I don't know, what happened?!"

He touched my arms and attempted to wrap me in a hug.

"No, Charlie, don't touch me!"

"Har..."

"Don't call me that either!"

"Harmione?!"

I ignored him and began to dial my phone.

"Who are you calling?!"

"My Daddy!"

"What for?!"

"Shut up Charlie!"

"Hello..." Dad's voice came through on the other end.

"Daddy, I need you to come get me..."

"Harmione, I can take you home honest." I heard Charlie say. "What's this about?

"At the maternity ward...yeah the parking lot south of Cameron...okay...bye Daddy."

I quickly put the phone back in my purse. I walked away from Charlie to stand on the west end of the parking lot so Dad could take me home. Charlie continued to follow me.

"Harmione, seriously talk to me!"

"Who is she?!" I screamed and turned to face him.

"Who?!"

"Charles John LeMay you tell me the truth, and you tell me right now, we've been through too much for you to do this to me, I deserve better! Do you have any idea...or do you even care, how much my heart is broken right now?!

"Please...I...I want to tell you the truth, but I really don't know what you're talking about. One minute I'm having three baby girls the next my wife wants to leave me..."

"Oh you really don't know? Do you think I'm stupid?! I come out of the exam room...I expected to find you waiting for me, instead I found you kissing some stranger, some other woman I've never seen before!"

"Me?! Kissing another woman?!"

I nodded. Charlie grew furious.

"Well then to Hell with you if you think that's what I was doing?!"

I scoffed.

"I paid the bill and went to the bathroom. I felt a little light headed, I came back to wait for you and the nurse told me you had already left!"

"Charlie...if we go in there I bet that woman will have a different story."

I started to walk back to the clinic

"You know what? Good! Show me this girl you think I got the hots for!"

When we entered again I looked around. She was nowhere to be seen. I walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me hi, I saw a blonde nurse in here before..kinda average height about 5'7...her hair was kinda curly wore dark blue scrubs."

"Oh Miranda, yes she works in the NICU. Shall I tell her you'd like to see her?"

"Yes please."

"One moment."

I looked at Charlie.

"Miranda...does that sound familiar?!"

"No!"

Suddenly Miranda walked up to us.

"Hello, you requested to see me; how can I help you?" She asked with a smile. "Oh hey Char...I thought you were heading out?"

I looked back at Charlie. He stared at me then at Miranda. Tears came back to my eyes.

"She definitely knows you...goodbye Charlie."

"Har..."

Charlie followed me back outside.

"So she knows me, I've never seen her before in my life, honest Har I don't know what's going on but whatever you saw it wasn't me."

I looked into his eyes. I could sense the truth inside of him. Was what I saw even real? But that woman recognized him. Something didn't add up.

Dad's car pulled into the parking lot. He parked near us and got out.

"What's going on?!"

"Daddy...I saw..."

"Yeah..."

I contiued to stare at Charlie.

"Charlie and I...need your help."

"Okay what's up?"

"We were wondering what we should name the babies because we're having girls!"

"Really?! Oh sweetheart I'm so happy for you!"

Dad embraced me. I felt Charlie's gaze in the back of my head. I realized I couldn't tell Dad the truth. I still had feelings for Charlie, and I didn't want him to get hurt. Although, we didn't talk anymore about what happened there after. I desperately wanted to believe in Charlie. I knew there was no way he'd ever do something like this to me. Until I got my mind settled I didn't want to speak to him. I had to relax and think of the babies. I also had the end of the year program coming up for my Kindergarteners. I was five months pregnant by then and it had been almost six weeks since Charlie and I spoke to one another. Even if he wasn't cheating on me I wasn't sure what I saw anymore. That man looked like Charlie. He used his hands like Charlie. The way he would hold me was the same way he held that Miranda woman. And she recognized him immediately. I didn't know what to think. We sat on opposite sides of the auditorium.

The moment I saw Harmione crying in the parking lot, I thought she and the babies were in trouble. I couldn't believe my own eyes and ears when she opened up to me like that; about me cheating on her. It broke my heart to know she would believe such a lie. I've been confused ever since. I know I did not kiss that woman. I've been in that clinic so much with Har, she must have saw me leaving or coming in. I didn't know her from the moment she walked up to us. I was baffled when she knew me by my nickname. Were we stuck in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from or what?

"And now presenting Mrs. LeMay's class." The principal announced at the podium. I watched my beautiful wife cross the stage. Her stomach was so large she could hardly walk. Why would I give up her, and Bryan, and now my three girls for nothing. It was an outrage. I couldn't bare to watch her.

"Bryan, you stay right here, don't move."

"Okay Daddy."

I left the auditorium and entered the lobby. It was there I saw something I didn't expect. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was Harmione! She was in the arms of a man I didn't know. They began to kiss and talk sweetly to each other. I looked back on the stage.

"And as of now, I have to say they are the best class...sorry my first class I ever had...but they really are the best." Harmione said into the microphone. That was my Harmione up on stage. Then who was? I turned, the mysterious imposter made a mad dash for the door.

"Hey!" I shouted and chased after "her." I pushed past the man she was kissing and pursued her outside. I ran down the steps and looked around the empty parking lot. Suddenly someone hit me in the back of the head. It was her that Harmione imposter. I grunted as I fell forward onto the concrete. I turned to see this poser. Before my very eyes they morphed into me. It was like a mirror image. I got to my feet to fight myself. This was the Charlie, Harmione saw.

"What are you?!" I shouted. I then dodged a punch from them.

"And what do you want?!"

"I am SAD-13. I am an artificial intelligence autonomous cyborg, typically humanoid. I can change my appearance at will. My creator gave me one purpose to search for Harmione Kay LeMay and split her and her protector apart. That means you. To alienate her so that my master Psyphon can take her...and now...I must kill you Charles John LeMay."

I gulped and tried to fight back the best I could. He was throwing punches like a man on fire. His fighting style was just like mine, but he seemed to be a lot faster. It was hard to get a good punch in. I thought I could take care of him because underneath all that tissue he was just an exoskeleton. Just wires, and mechanical parts.

He punched high and I dove under his arm. I wasn't about to let him kill me. I grunted and hit the back of his neck. He fell forward into a car door. He left an imprint of his face. To my surprise his head turned all the way around and he stood back up almost spiderlike. He dropped kicked me in the stomach hitting my pump. I grunted furiously and fell to my knees.

"It seems it wasn't hard to discover your weak spots Charlie."

I breathed heavily as he stood over me. I held my stomach trying to ease the pain. He kicked me in the face and I fell flat on my back. I coughed and rolled over on my side. Blood began to leak out the side of my mouth.

"My master will be pleased."

"He already is."

I gasped as out of the shadows came a creature with a skeletal appearance. His body was white. He had some sort of fin on his head that was also white and outlined with three black stripes. He wore a sleeveless black robe and a brace-like armor with red bars in the bottom, one in the middle, and one square and circle on top. He glared at me with piercing red eyes.

"That is enough SAD-13."

"You dont want me to finish him?"

"No...now I'm thinking quite the opposite, we should bring him with us."

The android morphed into its true form. It was all metal just like I thought. He grabbed me up by my arm and broke it. I screamed and he covered my mouth. I felt his cold metal fingers ease around my chest and abdomen. When he found my insulin pump, he violently pulled it from my stomach. I screamed into his hand. He crushed the pump into his fist and threw it on the ground.

"Let's go SAD-13." The strange creature spoke out. I would later come to know him as Psyphon. They began to carry me away. All I could think about was Bryan sitting there alone, and my Harmione. My beautiful Harmione. Her worst fear became real. Just as her Dad said it might. They wanted her and planned to get her using me as bait.