My name is Jake.
And I was sick of it all.
It had been another battle. This one wasn't that bad. None of us had died. And these days, that was more than enough for me. But that didn't fix the way I was feeling.
No, before you can ask, I'm not crazy. But I'm not making this up either. There is a war going on. It's hidden, it's secret. But it is true. This fight is real, all too real.
The enemy is the Yeerks. The short story is that the Yeerks are parasitic gray slugs that slide into your head through your ear and basically control you totally. They can be anyone- your best friend, your uncle, your parents, your teacher. I would know. My brother's one of them. I don't mean to sound depressing and pessimistic, but the facts are that the Yeerks are slowly taking over the world.
But there is resistance. Me and my friends fight against them. How? Well, we have a power. Believe it or not, we can turn into animals. Now, who are we? There's my best friend, Marco. The ultimate joker. Never serious. But at the same time, he's the paranoid one, the one worried most about security. Than there's my cousin Rachel. The warrior. She's tall, thin, blonde, beautiful and always ready to fight. Lately, I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Rachel's best friend is Cassie. Cassie's the one always worried about morals. She keeps us from crossing the line. She's also our animal expert. Her parents own this barn that saves injured wildlife. That's where we meet most of the time. The other human-well, mostly human- member of our little resistance is Tobias. He broke a very important rule- he over-stayed the two hour limit. We can only stay in morph for two hours. If you go over that, then you become a nothlit, a person trapped in an animal form. Tobias now lives his life as a red-tailed hawk. I worry about him sometimes. But then again, it's my job to worry. Lastly, there' Ax. He's an Andalite, which is basically a cross between a human, a deer, and a scorpion-with blue fur. He lives out in the woods behind Cassie's barn with Tobias. The two of them are best friends- and through a bizarre string of events, Ax is Tobias' uncle. And Ax's brother was the one who broke the Andalite law and gave us our power.
We call ourselves the Animorphs.
I'm the leader of our group. I'm the one who has to make the decisions. The one who gets us in and out of the tough spots. And like I said before, I was sick of it all. I was sick of the fighting, of the making tough decisions. I just wanted it to end. All of it.
I staggered up to my room and collapsed on my bed. It was late. Normal kids my age would be sleeping. But I'm not a normal kid.
I looked in the mirror. I saw a tired kid in too-small spandex looking back at me. A depressed, tired kid.
Seeing Tom had triggered the depression. Seeing him reminded me of everything. Even though the battle hadn't been too bad, seeing Tom reminded me of the chances of us winning this war. What was the point? We had been fighting for almost two years and my brother was still controlled by the yeerk.
What was the point?
Even after all this time, nothing had changed. Tom was still trapped in his own mind. Our resistance had just gotten weaker. Tobias was trapped in the body of a bird. Marco was more paranoid than ever. Rachel was turning into a crazed fighting machine. Cassie was losing her morals. Ax was becoming more withdrawn. And me? I was breaking down. I was sick of it all. I couldn't handle it anymore. I looked down. The knife was right there in front of me. All I had to do was lift it.and everything would be over. No more war. No more seeing Tom the way he was. It would all be done with. Maybe it was selfish, but I didn't care. I was sick of it! I closed my eyes and slowly lifted the knife. For a moment pain flooded through me. I opened my eyes and looked back in the mirror. Same tired, depressed kid with too-small spandex. But this time there was blood, slowly dripping. I felt myself falling. And right before I hit the floor, I heard a distant, familiar voice.
JAKE. IT IS NOT OVER YET. YOU MUST WAIT AND SEE. YOU WILL SEE.
And I was sick of it all.
It had been another battle. This one wasn't that bad. None of us had died. And these days, that was more than enough for me. But that didn't fix the way I was feeling.
No, before you can ask, I'm not crazy. But I'm not making this up either. There is a war going on. It's hidden, it's secret. But it is true. This fight is real, all too real.
The enemy is the Yeerks. The short story is that the Yeerks are parasitic gray slugs that slide into your head through your ear and basically control you totally. They can be anyone- your best friend, your uncle, your parents, your teacher. I would know. My brother's one of them. I don't mean to sound depressing and pessimistic, but the facts are that the Yeerks are slowly taking over the world.
But there is resistance. Me and my friends fight against them. How? Well, we have a power. Believe it or not, we can turn into animals. Now, who are we? There's my best friend, Marco. The ultimate joker. Never serious. But at the same time, he's the paranoid one, the one worried most about security. Than there's my cousin Rachel. The warrior. She's tall, thin, blonde, beautiful and always ready to fight. Lately, I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Rachel's best friend is Cassie. Cassie's the one always worried about morals. She keeps us from crossing the line. She's also our animal expert. Her parents own this barn that saves injured wildlife. That's where we meet most of the time. The other human-well, mostly human- member of our little resistance is Tobias. He broke a very important rule- he over-stayed the two hour limit. We can only stay in morph for two hours. If you go over that, then you become a nothlit, a person trapped in an animal form. Tobias now lives his life as a red-tailed hawk. I worry about him sometimes. But then again, it's my job to worry. Lastly, there' Ax. He's an Andalite, which is basically a cross between a human, a deer, and a scorpion-with blue fur. He lives out in the woods behind Cassie's barn with Tobias. The two of them are best friends- and through a bizarre string of events, Ax is Tobias' uncle. And Ax's brother was the one who broke the Andalite law and gave us our power.
We call ourselves the Animorphs.
I'm the leader of our group. I'm the one who has to make the decisions. The one who gets us in and out of the tough spots. And like I said before, I was sick of it all. I was sick of the fighting, of the making tough decisions. I just wanted it to end. All of it.
I staggered up to my room and collapsed on my bed. It was late. Normal kids my age would be sleeping. But I'm not a normal kid.
I looked in the mirror. I saw a tired kid in too-small spandex looking back at me. A depressed, tired kid.
Seeing Tom had triggered the depression. Seeing him reminded me of everything. Even though the battle hadn't been too bad, seeing Tom reminded me of the chances of us winning this war. What was the point? We had been fighting for almost two years and my brother was still controlled by the yeerk.
What was the point?
Even after all this time, nothing had changed. Tom was still trapped in his own mind. Our resistance had just gotten weaker. Tobias was trapped in the body of a bird. Marco was more paranoid than ever. Rachel was turning into a crazed fighting machine. Cassie was losing her morals. Ax was becoming more withdrawn. And me? I was breaking down. I was sick of it all. I couldn't handle it anymore. I looked down. The knife was right there in front of me. All I had to do was lift it.and everything would be over. No more war. No more seeing Tom the way he was. It would all be done with. Maybe it was selfish, but I didn't care. I was sick of it! I closed my eyes and slowly lifted the knife. For a moment pain flooded through me. I opened my eyes and looked back in the mirror. Same tired, depressed kid with too-small spandex. But this time there was blood, slowly dripping. I felt myself falling. And right before I hit the floor, I heard a distant, familiar voice.
JAKE. IT IS NOT OVER YET. YOU MUST WAIT AND SEE. YOU WILL SEE.