Hopeful Thoughts


"Champ! Here you go, boy! Catch."

I tossed the frisbee over his head, out into one of the meadows surrounding the Hork-Bajir Valley.
Champ raced after the spinning disc and jumped into the air, catching it before it hit the ground.

I brushed back a lock of blond hair. I still wasn't used to it, and seeing again was strange after so many years of darkness, especially since I didn't have many memories of even everyday objects that most people saw everyday and took for granted. It was all still so new. The colors and shapes. I could see them all now. Thanks to Tobias.

I had hoped that the morphing power would help restore my memories, as it had my body and sight, but it didn't. The vague images I do remember don't make much sense, and I remember various alien races more than my family or anyone close to. Except for a few scattered memories of a baby I knew was Tobias.

I would never have thought, even last week, that my life could get so weird.

I always thought Tobias would eventually come looking for me, but who would've imagined the rest of it? He was fighting a war against a race of aliens intent on enslaving the human race. Or that he'd actually care enough to try to save me from them?

It sounds suspiciously like a science-fiction novel. Tobias popped into my kitchen one day, after having turned into my guide dog, to warn me aliens were after me. Turned out I wasn't a nut after all. A few days later he came to rescue me and gave the morphing power he had, so that I could turn into a bird to escape aliens. If I didn't know better I'd think I was nuts. Next he's probably going to tell me his father was an alien or something. And I probably won't even blink or be surprised. Much.

I can tell Tobias has really been trying to get to know me. And from the bits and pieces I've heard about his childhood, it's no wonder. I guess he never had any sort of mother figure in his life. And I always thought he'd be better off with my family taking care of him. I don't know how he turned out to be such a great kid around them.

I spotted Champ trotting towards me from the middle of a group of Hork-bajir. I pried the frisbee from Champ's teeth and sent it soaring in another direction, Champ in enthusiastic pursuit.

I smiled and waved to Tobias.

Despite the odds, the Animorphs hadn't given up yet.  There is still hope.
And, maybe, if they won, everything could be normal again.