Hey all- this is the new and special revised If Jake Had a Twin!! I didn't change much, just threw some stuff in a and compacted everything into a few chapters. This is basically the old chapters 1 and two.
Enjoy!
My name is Kristina. That's my first name, obviously. I can't tell you my last. Then the Yeerks would get us quicker. Us as in Jake, Tobias, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and me.
I can't tell you my address, block, city, county, or state. I can tell you just one thing: the Yeerks are here.
I have to write this down so more people will know the truth. Maybe then, the humans will have a chance. A chance to fight until the Andalites come. Maybe a handful of kids can fight the most evil race in the galaxy. Maybe they can win. Maybe.
My life used to be as close to normal as you can get. Being smart and pretty didn't help my somewhat-bloated ego and neither did having a ready-made best friend along with the ones I made myself. Being one of a pair of twins can do that- I've classified sets of twins into two columns: extremely close and complete enemies.
I was sitting over at one of the motorcycle games in the arcade, waiting for Jake to finish off the last quarter, trying to speed-read myself through the chapter I was reading in Harry Potter. I've read them a million times, but each time seems like I'm opening up the world of spells and wands all over again.
I heard Jake die and the groans it caused. I folded over the corner of page 314 and snapped the book shut.
"Let's go, guys," I said I stood up, slinging my black bag over my shoulder. Jake got up moodily.
"Well, let's GO," he snapped at Marco.
Bad day. He tried to get on the basketball team, but, well, it wasn't a go. The bad thing about it was our big brother, Tom, had been main scorer on the team. Now he was huge on the high school team. Jake and Tom had been drifting, so Jake thought of he got on the team, all problems would go bye-bye. Sad how life usually doesn't work that way.
We were laughing our way to the exit when we ran into Tobias. He's a nice guy, but he was new. And he gave out those 'Come hurt me, I'm helpless' vibes. Natural bully target.
"What's up?" Tobias asked.
I shrugged. "Those two idiots ran out of quarters, which means it's time to go, since they never spend their money on anything else,"
"Certain people keep forgetting that the Sleaze Troll shows up right after you cross the Nether Fijord. So certain people keep losing the game- and our quarter," Marco always jerked his thumb at Jake when he said "certain people."Great pity, Marco. I'll try not to cry," I said dryly. He grinned.
"I can get you a tissue," he said and looked around. "Just give me a minute. I have to run to the little boy's room."
I wrinkled my nose and slapped him gently on his cheek. "Such a strange little thing," I said, turning his head from side to side with my hand on his chin. "What do you think, Jake? Would The Gardens be interested?" I asked him, taking away my hand and shaking it slightly, trying to get rid of those tingles I got when I touched Marco.
"I doubt it," Jake said and grinned.
The Gardens is a zoo and amusement park in one, which alone is fun. But our friend Cassie's- well, to Jake a little more than a friend, if you catch my meaning- mom works there as the head vet. So being with her is like having the best tour guide on the planet Earth and beyond.
"So, like, maybe I'll walk home with you guys." Tobias said. We said sure. Why not?
We were almost at the exit, goofing off and such, when we saw Cassie and Rachel.
Rachel… she's one of those people who could go through a natural disaster and come out spotless. She has hair just as long as mine, except hers is blond, not brown. Her blue eyes make it so she's basically a guy magnet.
Cassie's sort of the opposite. She's the one whose mom works at The Gardens, and she's not into fashion like Rachel and I are, even though Rachel takes the lead. She's black and wears her hair short. I already said that Jake likes her. From what I've seen, she likes him too.
"You guys going home?" Jake asked them. "You shouldn't go through the construction site alone. I mean, being girls. Come on, Kristina has a full parade!"
I smiled. Jake should have never suggested that Rachel was weak. Or me, really. But mostly Rachel. She may look like a model, but she thinks she's a superhero.
"Are you going to come protect us because you're a big strong ma-a-a-a-n?" she said. You think were weak and helpless just bec-"
"I'd appreciate if they did come with us." Cassie interrupted. "Maybe you're not afraid of anything, Rachel, but I guess I am."
That's Cassie. Stopping an argument without making bad feeling. I sadly do not have that power. I have to power to start an argument. Not so much stop it.+
So there we were- the six of us. Marco, Jake, Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and me. Six little busy mall rats, heading home.
Sometimes I think about that last moment as normal kids- so long ago, but not so long. I was… no, we were all different. Back then; we got scary from movies, from books… not from life. Life was goofing off with friends and the biggest decision was whether to wear that skirt or not.
To get home, there were two options- the safe, long way, or the short, dangerous way. Our parents do not like the long way. But it cuts the time in half, so…
…We took it.
We crossed the street. Headed into the construction site. It was a big area, surrounded by trees. It was supposed to be a new shopping area but the stopped construction. No one knows why, but they did. Now it's just some half finished ghost town. Rusty steel beams, CONCRETE PIPES. I hate those. It feels like the crane can just pick them up and drop them on you.
When Marco, Jake and I came in the day, we found beer cans and liquor bottles. So people definitely came there. That haunted me as we went through.
It was Tobias who saw it first. Gazing at the stars, in his own world.
Then he stopped. "Look," he said pointing.
"What?" Jake asked.
"Just look." Tobias replied. He sounded serious, yet amazed, but then still exited.
So Jake and I looked. And there it was. A brilliant, blue white light, scooting across the sky for too long to be a shooting star, but too fast to be a plane. Then it was slowing down. "What is it?" I whispered.
Tobias shook his head. "I don't know." He said.
I looked at Jake. Then Tobias. They looked at me. We knew what we thought it was, but we didn't want to say it. Marco and Rachel would laugh.
But Cassie just blurted it out. "It's a flying saucer!"
"A flying saucer?" Marco said. He did laugh. That is, until he looked up.
I could hear my own heart pounding. I felt weird, exited and afraid all at once.
"It's coming this way," Rachel whispered.
"Hard to be sure," Jake replied.
"No, it's coming this way," She said again. She sounded so sure… so utterly sure…
And she was right. Whatever it was, it was coming this way. Now we could see it more clearly. "Not your average teacup holder, is it?" I said, attempting at a joke.
It took us a bit by surprise. The shape, I mean.
First of all, it wasn't that big. About as long as a school bus. The front end was shaped like a pod, shaped like an egg. Extending from the back of the pod was a long, narrow shaft. There were two crooked, stubby wing like things, and at the end of each "wing" was a long tube that glowed bright blue in the darkness.
The little ship looked almost cute. Almost harmless. Until you got to the end. It was a tail thing, sharp as a needle at the end. It was curved, up and forward, pointing directly in front of it.
"That tail thing," Jake said, "looks like a weapon."
"Well, it's definitely not nice." I said.
"Definitely," Marco agreed.
It came closer…slowing down…
"It's stopping." Rachel said, in the same oh-my-gosh-this-can't-be-real voice we all had. Like she couldn't believe it. She didn't want to.
"It…it SEES us!!" I squeaked.
"Yup," Marco said. "Should one of us run home and get a camcorder?" He asked I swear I could almost see the flashing in his eyes.
"They'll KILL us!!" I screamed. Why now? Why, for the love of Pete, did my world (or at least school) famous paranoia have to kick in NOW of all times? When I get paranoid, I have one thought in my head. Only the one and I can't push it out until it's over.
The ship stopped and hovered over our heads about 150 feet in the air.
"What do you think it is?" asked an extremely shaky Marco asked. He was a little scared. So was I. Scared as in so terrified I couldn't move. But it was also super cool. I mean a spaceship right over our heads. This was an once-in-a-lifetime thing. Actually, more of a once-in-three-billion lifetime thing.
Tobias was actually grinning, but that's Tobias for you. He's never scared of the weird stuff. It's the normal stuff he can't stand. "I think it's going to land!" he said, this huge smile on his face. His eyes were bright and exited.
The ship slowly began to descend. "It's coming RIGHT AT US!!" I cried.
I had to fight the urge to go straight home and curl into bed. But I knew this was an important, amazing thing. I had to stay and see it all. Besides, how exactly are you supposed to go home when you're so terrified you can't move?
I suppose we all felt this way, because we all just stood there, watching this ship slowly descend to earth. It settled into a space between two piles of junk, and I noticed that there were burn marks all over it. It touched the ground and the blue lights went off.
"Not too big." I whispered.
"It's about..." Jake thought. "...About three or four more times the size of our minivan."
"We should tell someone." Marco said. "This is kind of major, you know? Space ships don't land every day. We should call someone. We'd be famous."
"I wonder if we should try to talk to it." Rachel suggested. "I mean, try to communicate. If it's possible." She stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at the space ship like it was a puzzle she had to figure out.
Tobias nodded. He stepped forward, hands out with palms up. I suppose he was showing whoever was in there that he had no weapons. "It's safe." He called, loudly and clearly. "We won't hurt you."
"Do you think they speak English?" Jake wondered.
"Well, in all the movies they do." Cassie said with a nervous giggle.
Tobias tried again. "Please, come out. We won't hurt you."
((I know.))
I froze. Okay, I had heard someone say, "I know," except I hadn't heard it…. There was no sound.
Maybe this was all a dream. I looked at Jake and his glance at me told it all. I looked at Rachel and she was looking for whatever…no, whoever made the sound. I felt a thick, twisting feeling in my stomach.
"Did everyone hear that?" Tobias asked. We all nodded.
"Can you come out?" Tobias called.
((Yes. Do not be frightened.))
"We won't." Tobias said.
"Speak for yourself." Jake muttered. I giggled nervously.
A thin arc of light appeared, a doorway, opening slowly in the smooth side of the pod part of the ship. I stood there, totally hypnotized.
The opening grew, first a crescent moon, then a full, bright circle. And then he appeared.
It was like a centaur with a scorpion's tail and no mouth. My mouth opened for a moment before I snapped it shut and just stared at… it.
"Hello," said Tobias. His voice was gentle, and his grin was even wider.
I realized I was smiling, too. And there were tears in my eyes. The emotion is hard to explain…It felt like he was an old friend who I hadn't seen in a long time.
((Hello,)) it said in that silent voice.
"Hi," we all said back.
To my surprise, the alien staggered. He fell out of the ship to the ground. Tobias tried to grab him but he slipped.
"Look!" Cassie said. She pointed at a burn that covered half the alien's side. "He's hurt."
((Yes. I am dying.))
"Can we help you?" Marco asked. "We can call an ambulance or something."
"We can also bandage that burn. Jake, give me your shirt. We can tear it up to make bandages." Cassie's parents are both vets, and she's totally into animals. Not that this was an animal.
Although I'm thinking she might have just wanted to see Jake with his shirt off. (Just kidding. Kind of)
((No. I will die. The wound is fatal.))
"NO!" I yelled. For some reason it distressed me that he was going to die. "No, we can fix it. You can't… You can't DIE. You're the first alien ever to come to earth. I want you to stay."
((I am not the first. There are many, many more,)) he said.
"Other aliens? Like you?" Tobias asked.
The alien shook his head. ((Not like me,)) he said. ((They are different.))
"Different… how?" I asked.
I will remember his answer forever. How can I not, when it haunts memories, dreams… days.
((They have come to destroy you.))
