The Bystander
I finished the final touches on my painting, a darker blue here,
a little white here for a shading, a touch of silver, a few extra wrinkles
to the stalks. I looked at my work, it was similar to what I had seen, what
I thought I had seen, I corrected myself. There was no way a creature like
this could exist anywhere in the world. But it was great inspiration for a
painting I suppose.The blue part-deer, part scorpion with stalk eyes stood
proudly on the white canvas. I didn't know what to use for a background,
so I began to sketch ideas on another sheet of paper.
"That's...interesting," my art teacher said to me, giving me an odd look.
"Thanks," I told her, wondering at the look it her eyes. I shrugged and went
back to sketching. "What do you think would make a good background?" I asked
the girl, Melissa, who sat beside me.
She shrugged, "That's a little unrealistic for my tastes," she explained
and went back to her painting of a cat.
The bell rang, and I started to quickly put away my supplies, hoping I
wouldn't be late for math class again. My teacher understood my love of art,
however he insisted that I come to class on time. I even have several tardy
slips to prove it.
As I ran down the hallway to class, I saw Jake and Cassie. Outwardly, I
smiled. Inwardly I sighed, I really liked Jake. But everyone knew he and
Cassie were an item. A very serious item. Besides, who was I kidding even
before Cassie, Jake wouldn't have been interested in me. Of course I don't
think anyone will ever be interested in me.
I worked on sketching a background for my painting during math. I probably
should have been paying attention, but ever since that day in the bathroom at
the store, my mind has been obsessed with the blue scorpion-deer.
"Ana?" the teacher called, "Ana?" I looked up from drawing, startled.
"Earth to Ana, Mr. Chapman would like to see you in his office, now."
I gathered my things and stood up slowly, surprised. I had never been in
trouble before, why should I be called to the Vice-Principal's office? I
exited the classroom, trying to ignore the snickers behind me. What could I
have done? I went over the last few days, searching for something. It
didn't make any sense. Maybe it was the tardies? That was the only thing
I could think of, but I only had two, I knew kids with two or three times
that many, and they hadn't been sent to Mr. Chapman's office, had they?
As I walked around the corner, Jake suddenly jumped out of the boy's bathroom
in front of me. "Ana?"
I almost fainted, Jake? Jake knew my name? I was amazed. I didn't know what
to say, I mean I knew he was with Cassie and all, but a girl can dream, right?
"Umm...hi..." I said, trying to keep the amazement off of my face.
"Listen, Ana,"Jake said harshly, "if you value your life, don't go to
Chapman's office."
Suddenly, I remembered the meeting, the tardies. "Huh?" I stuttered. "What
did I do?" I asked.
Jake looked at me, almost with pity, "It's about your painting in art, Ana,
go into the boys bathroom and climb out the window. My friends will be
waiting for you. Go. Now." With that he walked away.
My mind raced, for some reason, I don't know why, I decided to listen to
Jake. Something in his eyes, in his voice. I don't know. But, I Ana,
bookworm, honor student, and overall good kid, found myself climbing out
the boys room window, trying to skip a meeting with the Vice Principal.
I sat inside a barn, filled with wild animals. Jake's friends had taken me
there. One introduced himself as Marco, the other as Rachel. I sort of knew
both of them; I had seen them around school. I gasped as, five minutes
after we got to the barn, the scorpion-deer that I had seen walked in to join
us. I stared for a long time, amazed at the creature. I noticed, secondly
that the blade of the creature's tail had been placed carefully at my neck.
If you're a Controller, you've done a good job of hiding it. A voice
sounded through my head out of nowhere.
Jake walked in followed by a wolf and a red-tailed hawk.
"I'm pretty sure she's not a controller, Ax." Jake said. He sighed and
turned toward the wolf. "There you go Cassie, we saved her."
I looked toward the wolf. Cassie? Jake rubbed his hand through his hair.
"We'll have to keep her somewhere for three days, and make sure. My guess,
is after that drawing the Yeerks, went after her family already, but we'll
have to see. And come up with some excuse. And then the question is: What
do we do with her?"
I looked around the barn confused. Ye-whats? Cassie a wolf? I wanted to
speak but was afraid, the blue creatures tail was still at my neck. I looked
towards Jake, for comfort. He just shook his head and looked away.
I sat in the barn, cold, tired and hungry. I didn't know how long,
I'd been there, just that it seemed like a long, long time. For some reason,
no one was talking to me. Always, the blue creature and the hawk were watching me.
Every once in a while, some one, or something else would come in. Jake, Marco
Rachel, Cassie, a wolf, an osprey, a skunk.
"You know, were only doing this for your own good?" a voice, said
quietly. I looked up startled, I must have drifted off to sleep. It was
Cassie, she had brough me a peanut butter sandwich. I grabbed it, realizing
that I was famished. "Thanks." I mumbled, my mouth full of bread and peanut
butter.
I ate the sandwich quickly, and reached for the glass of milk Cassie
had brough me. My stomach full, my head started swimming with emotions. I
blinked back the tears threatening to pour down my face. "When can I go home?
What am I doing here? Why are you keeping me here?" I asked, half acussingly,
half whimpering.
Cassie looked towards what seemed like nothing. "Are those the words
of a Controller!?" she yelled to no one. "Isn't this unnecessary!?" she shouted.
She stood still for a few moments and left abruptly. I closed my eyss, attempting
to keep the tears in.
I wondered what my parents were thinking. Shouldn't they be looking for
me by now? The blue creature had removed it's tail from my throat, but it
tood there, watching me. I studied it, upon seeing it closer, I realized
that I had gotten several details wrong in my painting. I became so busy catologing
the things I needed to fix, I didn't even notice Jake come in.
"Could you stop doing, that?" Jake asked, politely.
"Doing what?" I asked, puzzled.
"Staring at my friend like that, he finds it...uncomfortable."
"Oh," I said, startled and looked towards Jake instead. "So," I said,
a little nastily,"can YOU tell me what's going on?"
Jake looked straight at me, his expression reluctant. "Not yet." Slowly
he walked out of the barn. I watched him leave, sad. I was seriously confused.
And I was more than a little upset. On a hunch, I looked toward the blue creature.
"Can YOU tell me what's happening?" I asked, trying to keep the strain out of my
voice.
All four of the creatures eyes turned towards me for a few seconds. This...is
a human matter, I think. That voice that seemed like it was coming from head, said
again. I sighed, my mind was racing slowly, I was tired. I laid my head on my knees
and tried to think. Finally, I could no longer keep the emotions out and began to cry.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," someone said. I looked up, it was Rachel. I had always
thought she was kind of a snob, but that was just mean.
"And wouldn't you be crying, if you were in my situation?" I shouted.
Rachel looked at me uncomfortably, and handed me a blanket. "You looked cold," she mumbled and
walked outside quietly. I wrapped the blanket around me, feeling kind of bad about
what I had said.
I sat in the barn eating peanut butter, drinking milk and just thinking, for what I
later found out was three days. On the third day, the entire group assembled in the barn.
"I told you," Cassie said to Jake quietly.
"Okay, NOW can you tell me what's going on?" I asked.
Everyone turned towards me. Jake looked at me thoughtfully,"Well, I guess
we had better, you deserve to know."
And they told me the entire story. About Yeerks, Controllers, about how
because of me my parents were Controllers, about Andalites the blue things, about morphing,
about Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. And I must confess, I laughed. It seemed so ludicrous. Even, with
the blue creature, Ax, I learned, sitting in front of me, I couldn't believe it. I mean, come on,
an alien invasion? of SLUGS? No way.
As I laughed, the hawk began to do something incredible. In place of wings,
it grew arms! I felt myself beginning to scream. "Shh," Cassie said, "my parents got back tonight, and
they might hear you." I controlled my urge to scream. Barely. And then I turned away.
"It's safe now," a vaguely familiar voice said softly. I turned around, and where there used to be
a hawk, there was a boy. "Tobias?" I asked.
He looked at me, kind of funny. "Yeah."
"I always wondered what happened to you, just thought you moved somewhere else," I said.
"Yeah."
"So, it's true? Wow." And then I said a few things, I'd rather not repeat.
"Yeah."
"So," Marco said, "Aren't you glad you saw a pretty blue thing in the mall? Bet you'll think
twice before you paint something weird again. You might find people even crazier than us."
I laughed, softly this time.
"So, it looks like you have an ally, Marco," Rachel said.
"I always told you my jokes were funny,"he replied,"you were just too busy
being Xena to notice, that's all."
"No, no, she's just tired that's all. No way, anyone could find your jokes
actually funny. You're forgiven in advance,"she said to me. "When you're feeling a
little better, you can tell us what you really think of Marco's jokes."
Everyone was smiling now. The tension hadn't been dispersed, but it had
been lessened.
I sat in the shack in the woods, waiting. I couldn't go home, so the others had made
it seem as if I had runaway. "Just in case...one day you can go back,"Cassie had said to me.
Ax had known of an old shack in the woods, and everyone had pitched in to help me fix it up.
My new friends were slowly bringing me food, telling their parents, that it was 'for a food
drive a school'. I felt kind of bad, but I had to eat.
A knock sounded lightly at my door. It was Jake. "Come in," I told him, opening
the door. "You ready?" I asked.
"Yes," he said definitively. He handed me the old typewriter he had in his
hands. "This is the best I can do, for now," he said.
I smiled. "I hope you brought paper?"
"Oh, yeah. here."
"This might not be the best way to let the public in on the secret, but it's a start, right?" I asked,
trying to comfort him.
I sat the typewriter on the floor, I didn't have a table or chairs, just cushions. "Anytime your ready," I said
to him as I finished putting the paper in.
"Okay...here goes. My name is Jake..."