The Other Otter
By Oren the Otter

I woke up feeling extremely groggy. I didn't remember losing consciousness, but I must have done it badly at some point to end up like this. I brought my hand up to my face to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. That gave me two startling realizations. One) I had no fingers. Two) My eyes were plastic.

I snapped to full wakefulness. I looked down at myself and saw with horrified realization that I was not the least bit human at all. I was no longer a man trapped inside a plush suit. I was a plushie. I was a little, two-foot-long otter plushie. How did it happen? I searched my memory. I remembered creating such a plushie. I was sewing it for Sadie. I had filled it with Pufflin...

I remembered at that moment how Zech had become a zebra. "Cripes." I said. "I'm DEAD! I'm dead and my soul has been transferred to the body of this plushie!"

I looked around to find out where I was. I was lying on a bed in a bedroom that looked overtly feminine. Lying on the end of the bed was an arm. It was Sadie's plush arm.

At that moment, Sadie emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed, but having obviously emerged from the shower. She looked at me and said "Hey! You came to life! How ya doin' boy?"

"How am I doing? I'm a plushie!"

"Well of course you are." she responded as she strapped on her arm. "Oren made you for me. He said I could use some company around here and someone to help me out around the house."

"Oren? Sadie, I'M Oren!"

"You do look a lot like him." she conceded. "Shall we call you Oren Junior?"

"You don't understand. I'm THE Oren! I'm the original! I somehow got turned into my own creation."

Sadie froze before she continued. "You're saying that you ARE Oren?"

"Yes!" I started to cry.

Sadie picked me up and snuggled me, making quiet shushing sounds. She didn't speak. She merely held me as I wept dry tears. When I had quieted down, she placed me on the bed again and stepped out. She returned a moment later wearing a coat.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"WE are going down to the coffee house. You need some cheering up and friendship, and that'll be just the place."

I didn't want to see anyone, but I knew she was right. That was the best thing to do.

.....

Joe beamed as we walked past the counter into the lounge are of the cafe. "Hey, Sadie, who's your friend?"

"You won't believe it. This is Oren."

"He sure looks like Oren." said Marco, the chihuahua."

"I am Oren." I said. "I've been turned into a plushie, just like Zech."

"Kewlies." said Leo.

"Kewlies?" I repeated. "I'm a plushie, Leo."

The stuffed animals looked around at each other and chuckled.

"Well I'm not used to it." I said, distastefully. I liked being a human, even if you couldn't tell from the outside."

Fred, the wizened old teddy bear, came up and stroked my head. "We understand." he said. "You know how hard life can be for a plush. You've dealt with a great deal of it first hand with that costume of yours."

"Yeah." said Stuffy. "You done our kind a lot of good, and believe me, there's no better person in the world to join the plushie race."

Each one in turn gave their sympathies and reassurances, including several I did not know. Then Bill said "I want to know just one thing. If you turned into a plushie the way Zech did, where is your body?"

I hadn't thought of that.

As if on cue, a customer entered. A man in a very familiar otter suit.

Sadie looked in amazement from me to the newcomer. The man in the suit came right up to me and said "I see you finally came to life."

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Oren Verden. Your creator.

"No." I hissed. "I'm Oren Verden. I don't know who you are, but you're not me! I'M Oren Verden!"

"I think you're confused."

I became enraged beyond words. "Get out!" I shouted. "Get out of this cafe! Get out of my suit!"

"What is wrong with you?" he said, sitting down as if to spite me. "What did I ever do to you?"

I looked into his eyes. They were familiar eyes. They were the eyes I saw in the mirror every morning. That should have made me see reason, but it didn't. It only made me hate him more. In the end, I had to be pulled away, kicking and screaming.

I did finally calm down once we got home. Not my home, of course, but Sadie's. She didn't say a word to me. She just set me on the sofa and retreated into her bedroom.

I turned on the television.

I tried to lose myself in late night sitcoms, but it was no good. I just couldn't get those eyes out of my mind. Those were my eyes. Of that, there could be no doubt. That meant only one thing. I didn't want to face the possibility, but I had no choice. Leaping out the window, I set off to go find myself.

It was raining outside. I didn't mind getting wet, being an otter, but by the time I got to my old home, I was so soaked that I could barely move. I knocked on my door with a "splap splap splap" of my chubby, fingerless hand. The man in the fursuit opened the door.

"Oren," I said. "We need to talk."

"Good gracious!" he exclaimed as he picked me up and carried me over to the sink. "I don't know about you, but I never go out when it's this wet."

"Because your flippers get heavy. I know, because the ironic thing is, I am you."

He placed me in the sink and pressed down. "Tell me if this hurts." he said. It didn't. I was glad to get some of that water squeezed out of me. He placed me on the floor in front of a warm air register and under a sunlamp. He sat down himself in a rocking chair. I never noticed before how my tail always curled around when I sat down in a chair without a tailhole. "You want to talk? I'm listening."

"Oren, why did you make me?"

"I made you as a friend for Sadie."

"Why an otter? Why so similar to your suit?"

"That was so that Sadie could have a little me ar... Oh my gosh! That's why you think you're me!"

"No, Oren, I don't think I'm you. I AM you."

"Then how can you be sitting here?"

"I'm a replicant. When you sewed me together, you thought of me as yourself. Do you know what that did? It copied all of your thoughts and memories into my stuffing. When Sadie received me and thought of me as a miniature you, that only verified that I was in fact you. Don't you see? We're BOTH Oren Verden!"

"So... It's like we split in two. My mind was transferred to your body, but I stayed here in my own as well."

"Exactly."

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"Oren," said my larger counterpart. "I'm sorry I made you me."

"Don't apologize. I sewed this body as much as you did."

More silence.

"I guess one of us needs a new name."

"Well, since you have the original body, I suppose I ought to be Oren 2."

"Or maybe Oren Junior?"

I thought for a moment. "How are we related, anyway? Brothers? Twins?"

Oren 1 reached for a comic book from the shelf. "Remember the creation of Laser-Man in Weird Warriors 112?"

"Ah, yes. A mental and physical duplicate of the original Laser-Man, who went on to become Psi-Borg."

"Psi-Borg adopted Laser Man as his son. I guess that would make you my son."

I smiled. It would be weird having myself for a father.

.....

"So you're telling me..." said Sadie. "That he really is you?"

"Essentially." said Dad. "He's decided to go by Oren 2."

Sadie played with that. Oren Two. Second Oren... Double Oren... Doren. How about Doren?"

"How about I just go by Junior?"

.....

I still live in Sadie's house. It's not like we can do anything kinky, since I'm no longer built that way, so it works out okay.

I still frequent Joe's coffee house a lot, though I don't drink quite so much coffee. I have a little every now and again because I miss the flavor, but boy do I get soggy afterward.

-End, for now.