The Child
[Note: This is a pre-Animorphs Tobias story, as in, he's not in Animorphs now. This is the past.]
Chapter 1
"Would you shut up, Tobias?! Geez!" my uncle bellowed. All I was doing was going downstairs to see what food I could sneak from the refrigerator. I have the right to stay alive, right?
After these years, I'm not quite sure.
But there's my uncle for you. If he's not drunk, he's yelling at me for breathing, or hitting me, like some inflatable balloon punching bag toy. It's like that's all I'm there for. But I can tough it out. I've learned. If you pretend like you're defeated, he'll go away. Then you can huddle in a corner, bent over, and recover your strength, and dread the next set of commercials.
So I froze on the steps. I had just gone two steps down, and I decided to back up very slowly. My uncle was too drunk, to hear me, too drunk too care. Not that it was better when he was sober. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference.
Welcome to my world.
As you know by now, my name is Tobias. I'm not telling you my last name. First of all, you don't need it. Second of all, if you did know it, what would you do? Would you track me down and try to rescue me from this hellhole?
What would happen then? A foster home? I would rather live at the mercy of family than at the kindness of strangers. I can't take anymore change.
So "Tobias" is all you need to know about me.
My uncle was busy cursing out the TV. It was a commercial. For Lysol, I think. I don't know, and quite frankly, I don't care. Oh crap, I thought. Commercials. He's bored. I heard his heavy, thudding footsteps come plunking up the stairs and dove into my room.
I mean, what would he do if he caught me outside my room?
He came in before I could retreat into armadillo-mode and, without warning, lashed out and punched my stomach. I tried hard not to scream, and it worked. Barely. I fell back against the wall and shut my eyes tight. My uncle's big ring had ripped some stomach skin and ground against a bone. I didn't exactly have a quality, 100% cotton shirt on.
He kicked me, and shoved my head against the wall a lot. When he got bored, he went down to cursing me and trying to brainwash me into believing less of myself.
Not working...
Finally, he lumbered back down. I sighed and sank down. I think I passed out, but only for a little while. I was dizzy, and my ribs made a strange sound when they moved. The pain in there was intense, and it was increasingly difficult for me to breathe. I started crying, quietly. But I refused to let that happen, to admit my weakness for the world to see. I wiped my tears as I have always done, and retreated back into myself.
I'm not letting him do this to me. This is too much. This can't happen! "America the beautiful, who are you beautiful for," remember, Tobias? Do you remember, do you…?
I felt fadish, it was kind of nice. As in, I didn't really remember. Good. Don't remember, it's not pretty, just ignore...Golden world, fuzzy, spin, spin, system overload, shut d-o-w-n...Chapter Two
I awoke again in about an hour, my memories painfully rushing back. That's it, I snarled inside myself. I'm leaving and I'm not gonna be stopped this time by my weakness. I'm just gonna go, and leave this hell forever. My uncle will kill me if I stay. So what if I go? I'll die there, too. I'll die either way. I stood up, relentlessly ignoring the excruciating pain in my stomach. A little person inside of me was wailing, Don't go! No! But I had listened to that person for too long. Look at the result. I was beat up, and half-dead. The Living Un-Dead.
Ha ha.
The only thing I took with me was my teddy bear, Moose. After reading The Giver in school, I had started to call it my "comfort object." It seemed like nice things like that, things that belonged in a pretty magazine bedroom, those things didn't exist for me.
I waited until the clock chimed once. That meant it was 1:00 AM. I slowly descended the stairs, clutching Moose, praying that the stairs wouldn't creak.
They didn't.
Maybe there is a God...
My uncle was snoring his head off in his La-Z-Boy, so I rushed out through the (open) front door, quickly closed it but with as little sound as possible, and breathed a few deep breaths, again ignoring the pain of my cracked rib.
I was free! I wasn't in my uncle's personal hell! I was outside of that home – if you could even call it that!
I hugged Moose in a sudden burst of warm joy that seeped through me, seeming to heal even my bruises and bones, and massaging my head in its thrill. Automatically, it seemed, I turned towards the forest. I ran stealthily towards it, ever in shadow. I know it's really dumb, but I felt – it was calling me. Call of the Wild. I had to be there, go there.
Once I reached it, I settled near a tree. I was in so much pain, but my joy overrode that. I felt more at home than I had ever been. The leaves and grass felt softer than anything I was used to.
{Tobias.}
"What? What?! Who's there?!" I yelped, turning my head so fast I nearly got whiplash.
{You can't see me.}
I felt like saying, "Well, DUH," but also felt that wouldn't be a very good idea. The voice seemed sweet as honey, but with a force – something beneath it. Like dog doo wrapped in gold foil.
"How do you know my name?" The only thing I could think of to say. Typical movie cliché.
{That is something you do not need to know.}
"Well, what do you want? Why are you talking to me?" I demanded from this unknown creature.
{That's good that you accept me in your mind, Tobias. That's important.}
"What do you want?" I asked again.
Chapter 3
All of a sudden, I was in a cell. A stone dungeon, like from the Middle Ages, dank and depressing. Very, very strong. I didn't even have Moose. Figures, this big hyper-dimensional pain in the butt couldn't even bother bringing a small stuffed comfort object here.
Boy, I was scared. This wasn't like wondering when my uncle's coming up. This is more wondering when the executioner scheduled you. Like death-scary.
{This will be your home until you locate the key. Then I will know for sure. You have some strong signs, but...} The "voice" trailed off.
I sighed in a frustrated manner and kicked the steel bars. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. My ribs...I touched them, and they were whole and healthy. I was whole and healthy, something I haven't been since I was what, five?
I was grateful for that, but I hated this! I wanted to go back to the forest! Had I escaped from one prison, just to be confined to another? This was my sure-as-hell-hard-earned freedom at stake here! This was enough to blow anyone's mind!
I sat on the floor and all of a sudden, the walls closed in on me. Very small...too small! No space! Air! Aaah! No! I needed air, I needed an open space! I breathed in highly escalating panic until I hyperventilated and passed out.
When I woke up after what seemed like a long time, the cell was still dingy and dark. Figures, I thought bitterly. I'm probably in some hyperdimensional prison. I didn't even have Moose.
{Do you want it? Will it help you?} the silent voice inquired smoothly.
"If it's not too much trouble," I said sarcastically.
{Do not be impertinent, lest it weigh heavily upon you later,} the voice snapped. {You must find the key on your own. That is the true test of character.}
I didn't say anything, though I felt like crying.
{Look through the bars, Tobias.}
I did. What I saw were rows of cells, with sagging skeletons draped in them at random intervals.
I screamed. It echoed eerily in the hallway, creeping around back to haunt me.
{They all had the potential. But none of them were the one. This will be your fate unless you find the key. Then I will know that you are the One. And of extraordinary use to me you will be.}
I hated this cryptic fellow. What was up with all that talk about "the One"? And if I didn't find this key, I'd be a skeleton?
"Okay, Tobias," I muttered to myself. "Find that key."
I ransacked everything in my cell, which didn't take a lot of time, seeing as there was nothing there. No luck. Then I sat back on the floor and stared purposely at one of the bars in a way that said, I'm sick of you, whatever you are. I wanted to go back to the forest. This cell confined me...I wanted to go back...I stared, aggravated, at the bars. I wanted to go back and-I-wanted-to-go-back-right-NOW!!!
The bars collapsed.
"Whoa!" I yelled, jumping backwards. "Did I do that?! No way!"
{Ha, ha, ha.}
{Ha, ha, ha.}
I tremulously walked out of the cell. Lying at my feet was a tiny key. I picked it up and held it in my hand, a little golden dot.
Chapter 4
A blinding flash of light, and I was in a room without end. On a throne miles high, sat a single, bloodred eye.
It looked slowly, up, across, to the right – then down.
Down straight at me.
"Oh my God, oh my God, ohmigod!" I shrieked. That thing scared me. It was more than scary. It was bigger than scary. Its dead, yet forcible eye stared at me in the same way I had stared at the bars.
{I have found the One,} it said, nearly gleefully.
That was it! That was the voice! But what was that new thing? That thing it had hidden in its tone? I couldn't quiet place it – until I remembered my uncle.
It was evil.
And I was terrified. It challenged all I had ever held dear, it challenged my soul, and hell, it was winning.
"Who are you? What is your name?" I whispered fearfully.
{I am the great Crayak. Now that I have found the One, this will be so much easier. The Ellimist is powerless against your power.}
"I don't have any powers, I'm just a normal kid!" Well, not really true, but oh well. "I am not any One! What's an Ellimist?" I cowered.
It...the Crayak...sighed exasperatedly. {Of all the people on Earth, only one has the psychic powers I'm looking for. I have been combing the Earth for so long, from Ezekiel, right up to you. And now I've found you. No one else is a true psychic. One that can do it all. Many seemed likely. But none of them were the One, as you were. The One. As in, the only person in all the universe to have what you have. Your powers simply haven't been unlocked yet.}
"I'm not remarkable. I'm just another person."
The thing snorted. {If only you knew what I knew. Ah, if you are not now, you will be. But it is up to another to tell you how truly remarkable you are, and to save you from the consequences.}
"Alright. So I'm supposedly psychic. I've never done a thing to prove it, at all!"
{It took just a little push to unlock your power. Your longing to go back to the forest, combined with them, and your anger, and your frustration...it all just burst out. That is why the bars collapsed. That is why you found the key. Now...heh heh heh.}
I didn't like that laugh.
Chapter 5
NO, CRAYAK. I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO TAKE THIS HUMAN.
{Ellimist,} the Crayak sneered.
TOBIAS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM. HIS WORLD WILL NEED HIM. BOTH OF THEM.
I was baffled. How...what...why...? But more, I felt this indescribable self-possession and calm, and yes, dignity go through me and I stood up straight.
{I honestly don't care, you meddling fool!} Crayak shouted. {I have spent too long searching for him and now, now my power is doubled and you cannot stop me!}
NO, CRAYAK. AS I SAID, YOU WILL NOT TAKE HIM. HE IS FATED TO SAVE WORLDS, NOT DESTROY THEM.
Then I was in space. The two beings, Crayak, Ellimist, battled. Over my destiny. Planets blown apart. A million creatures and peoples destroyed. Dozens of galaxies eliminated. Strands of space and time flying apart.
All for nothing.
Neither won.
{We cannot make open war like this,} the Crayak admitted, when it was all over. It took such a short time, to do so much damage. {But I know your ruthlessness. You have taken away my control!} he howled suddenly. {My control is lost!}
REPAIRED. NOT LOST.
{Fine. You may take the human. But he will never be happy. NEVER will he find true happiness, do you hear me?!?! NEVER!!} Crayak bellowed, furious.
The curse lay heavy on me. In just a few words, Crayak had erased my capability for joy. That warm feeling would never spread through me again. Again, I wanted to cry. The Ellimist. This was his fault.
COME, it said. And I was on a sidewalk. Morning. I could see other kids walking to school. I was gonna be so late and SO busted. I HAVE BURIED YOUR POWERS DEEP IN YOUR MIND AGAIN. IT WILL BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO UNLOCK THEM AGAIN.
And then it was gone.
"Hey, Rachel!" a girl called out. Rachel had long blond hair and confident blue eyes. I stared at her for a minute.
Crayak had ridden me of happiness.
But not love.
THE END