Birds of Prey
An Animorphs Story
Disclaimer: Animorphs belongs to K.A.Applegate; I'm just playing with a few of the characters.
Chapter One: Safety Line.
It was a while ago now when my young cousin Sara told me I was her safety line.
When I asked what she meant, she told me that a safety line was something firm and protective, something that she could grab on to when times were hard. She told me that I was her safety line because I was always there, reassuringly solid and comforting in the darkness. I was her one constant in a world gone mad.
Ouch. Can you say I had a lot to live up to?
When I thought about it, though, I realised that what she said was the truth. In a life suddenly torn away from its roots, where her mother, father, and sister had suddenly been snatched by an enemy she could barely understand, when she had been forced to flee for the hills with her only two remaining family members, I was the one thing that was always there. I comforted her when she woke screaming from nightmares. I found food for her and her one remaining sister. I scouted out shelter, so that the rain wouldn't fall on us, and I kept us hidden from our enemies. In short, I protected her.
This is not a story about the overarching story of the war. This is not a story about the great deeds and consequences that played out on some giant galactic chessboard. This is a story about our small, family part in it.
This is the story about how Sara came to call me her safety line.
My name is Tom. And my story starts with the Animorphs.