Disclaimer: I don't, nor have I ever owned or won in card game the best-selling series: Animorphs.
A/N: I'm editing my other stories, but for now here's a new one. I can't promise how often I'll update but I'm working on chapter two now…I'll try to update soon.
Prologue
It used to hurt to see her sad, or scared, or in pain, but now it hurt to see her feeling any type of emotion. If she was happy and smiling that beautiful smile of hers, it wasn't because of him. If she was flirting or being the loving and caring person she was she wasn't with him. There he was kissing her and holding her close. There he was comforting her and wiping the tears from her face.
"AHHH!"
The man screamed at the TV for the millionth time. It was depressing to watch your own funeral. What made the situation even more absurd was that he taping it…taping it as if it were a football game!
And yet…and yet there was something poetic about all this. He grabbed a napkin from the take-out bag and began jotting down the opening lines to his script:
Darkness. All we see is darkness…fade to the pinkish gray of dawn. Cut to the line of pallbearers carrying his casket. It is the beginning of a new day and the end of his life. Fade to black. Roll opening credits.
Chapter One
Broken Promises
"I promise everything will be alright, we just need- Michael? Are you listening to me?" I slid the earphones off my head and let them rest on my neck.
"What did you say?"
"I guess that's a no…never mind, eat your breakfast before it gets cold."
"I'm not hungry."
"You should eat something."
"I'm not hungry." She just stared, jaw clenched and holding her fork in midair; halfway between the plate and her mouth. She looked like she wanted to say something but she wouldn't. I stood up and checked my pockets: ID, house keys, and key to my bike lock. As I walked pass the chair she grabbed my hand.
"I don't want to be late for school mom, "I said, yanking it away.
My legs pumped in a rhythmic motion with the pedals until they couldn't keep up anymore, then I stretched them out towards the front wheel and coasted down the empty street. I was only person school age within a five mile radius, which sucked because the quiet left too much room for my thoughts.
I thought about the jerk I had for a father who got bored with his wife and kid and decided to leave to go find someone more…fun. So much for 'till death do us part'. I thought about the push-over I had for a mother who would let her own son treat her like dirt. I thought about-
"HEY KID!" The driver leaned on his horn and made a sharp ninety-degree turn so that I slammed into the passenger door instead of being gutted by his hood ornament.
"Jesus! Are you alright?" The guy was standing over me. He looked rich, wearing a three-piece suit with his black hair slicked back. "Are you alright," he repeated lifting my ten-speed off the ground and holding out a hand for me.
"Uh…I think so." I let his hand hang in the air and got up on my own. He glanced at my bag.
"Do you need a ride to school?"
"No," I laughed "don't worry, I won't sue. I'm fine, you're fine, my bike's fine. It's all good."
"Okay you feel fine but- hey wait!" I hopped on my bike and took off. I really didn't have the time for this. I was definitely going to be late now. But what else was new?
"In the year 2000 the Animorphs-EXUSE ME am I boring you?" I jumped at the change in her voice.
"Not at all Ms. Arno," I replied, wiping the drool off my face.
"This is the tenth or eleventh time you've come late to my class this month…the least you could do is pay attention."
"I'm sorry."
"Why don't you read the chapter Michael?" She smirked.
"I'd be delighted," I said sarcastically, giving her a lopsided grin. I hate sitting in the front… I looked down at my book. It wasn't even open.
"Um…what page are we on again?"
"Five hundred seventy-six."
"Right, okay uh…In the year 2000 the Animorphs won the war against the yeerks after nearly four years of fighting. As you have read in previous chapters, their fight began in 1996, when they were thirteen years old. The six Animorphs (Jacob Berenson, Rachel Berenson-Williams, Tobias Fangor, Cassandra Harrison, Marco Santiago and Aximilli Esgarrouth Isthill) endured many hardships during their time as involuntary soldiers, but none harder than the final moments of the war that would decide the fate of both the human and alien races-"
BRRINNNGG!
Saved by the bell. "Read this chapter tonight for homework, class dismissed- Michael, wait a minute." I walked over to her desk, ignoring the snickers and comments of my classmates.
"Yes Ms. Arno?"
"Do you have your position paper on world war two?"
"Um…see the thing about that is-"
"Save your excuses for some other teacher. I gave you the weekend to finish that paper, which is more than generous of me because I hardly ever give extensions. You said you would have it done and you don't. I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a zero. You can sit in Mr. Hung's room doing worksheets during our debate tomorrow."
"But Ms.-"
"I'm not writing you a note for second period Michael, leave or you'll be late."
"Yeah, sure."
I walked out of her classroom, kicking the trashcan as I went. She yelled something, but I didn't hear her, I was already turning the volume on my CD player up.
Okay, that was chapter one of, yet again, another story. I'm taking all my other stories down except the revised version of The Way Things Used to Be which I will be updating by the end of this week (thanks to a surprising review from Natalie :-] ).
