Sorry I haven't updated lately...now I have a writers block! Suggests are
welcomed! Enjoy!
Chapter seven
I sat on a bench of a deserted old park that was on the way to Cassie's, though I wasn't going there. I should be getting to school, I should be getting to my first period, but I'm not.
Why, you ask, am I skipping school? It's because if I go, I wouldn't be able to think about my own problems, and one of the most difficult decisions I had ever had. Whether or not to use the orb and who do I listen to? Kritra or the Animorphs?
I sighed, I had a lot of thinking to do.
A few hours later, found me wandering around the city, it was almost time for school to let out and I didn't know what to do. I mean, Kritra was my friend and some one I could relate to on some level. She had listened to me and answered as truthfully as possible. At least, I think she did.
Then, there's the Animorphs. What can I say about them? I can relate to them just as easily as I could Kritra....but not as much. I still feel like an alien in their mist, even if I argue and joke with Marco or Ax, I still feel out of place. I don't know any more. I mean, they're nice and all even tried to make me apart of their group in some ways. It's nice, though, to feel as if you belong somewhere.anywhere. But I'm not feeling that.
Not from them, Kritra, or even my own home. It's like I walk through life but I'm nothing more than a ghost or something. Living, but not really feeling like I was alive, nothing seems real to me anymore. The Yeerks, Andalites, my mom, a controller, my dad acting like everything's fine, school, and .everything. It feels like I'm dreaming or in a bad movie that won't stop. Or maybe, I'm afraid for it to stop, for it to be nothing more than a dream..
I glanced at my watch, it's three: forty. They should be out by now. Maybe I need to get a grip and decide on how I'm going to do this, cause there's no way in heaven or hell that the Yeerks are going to get the orb.
It was late that afternoon that found me in the last place I had ever wanted to be...Cassie's barn.
I don't know why I was there; I guess I had just wandered around submersed in my own thoughts, not really paying an attention to where I was going.
"Hey there Leigh!" Cassie's mom calls, greeting me. She met me that morning when I had spent the night at their house. She was very nice and works at the zoo part of the Garden.
I smiled back at her, "Hi, what's new?"
"Nothing really, you're looking for Cassie?"
Damn, I hate to lie to such nice people. "Yeah, seen her around?"
She nods, "She's in the barn with her friends." She shrugs and smiled a little, "I don't know what it is with those kids...they're always hanging out at the barn."
I smirked, "Well, not much to do, I suppose. A kid's got to have some place to hang other than the mall."
"Well, nice seeing you Leigh, see you later." She calls as she got in her car and drove off.
"Yeah," I said quietly, more to myself than anyone else, "See ya."
I shook my head; I was going soft or something. Yeah... that was it..
I wandered pass the barn, seeing them in there pretending that they weren't talking about me or the orb or something like that. I knew they saw me, I also knew that they were watching me, which was fine with me.
"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked angrily. "I thought you didn't trust us or in fact, hated us."
I looked at her, "My feelings for you guys don't conflict with my actions." I told her. "In other words, I don't hate you.or even dislike you.besides, it's a free country.almost, I can walk wherever I like to."
"Don't mind Rachel, she's just mad that we can't fight." Cassie smiled apologetically to me.
"The Visser is now, not only looking for the orb, but he's looking for the dagger as well."
I snorted, "Stupid fart."
"He isn't such a stupid fart if he can turn into the most deadliest creatures in the universe." Jake pointed out. "What brings you here?"
I shrugged, "Nothing really, just been wandering around, thinking, that's all."
"Is that why you weren't in school?" Cassie asked, "You've just been wandering around the city?"
I nodded, "Yeah, not like I had anything else better to do. Besides, I wouldn't have concentrated on anything anyway." I turned and looked out towards the woods, where the dagger and the orb were hidden inside its maze of trees and foliage. "I want the orb." I told them coldly, "It'll be better if you just tell me where it is."
"Why should we?" Rachel demanded, "What would you do if we don't tell you?"
I looked over my shoulder at her, "I don't have to do anything, just the simple knowledge that I'm looking for it as well as the fact that I'm persistent, will make you nervous." I turned half way towards them, "And nervous people, scared people, always make mistakes, even if they are the smallest, unnoticeable things, will be their downfall."
"So," Marco looked me over, "You're going to kill us?"
There was a pregnant pause for a moment as we stared at one another.
Then finally I shook my head, "No, I won't kill you. I'm not a murder, I don't kill people just because they won't do what I say."
Looking intrigued by this response, Cassie walks up to me and just stared at me, as if she was trying to find my true intent. "So, are you threatening us then?"
I looked thoughtful, "I don't know, what is considered being a threat to you." I answered truthfully. "All I want is the orb."
"I'm sorry, but we won't give you the location of the orb." Jake announced.
I shrugged and smiled a little, "Good," I turned, "It will make it a lot more interesting then you just handing it over."
What if we needed you in a battle or mission, would you turn on us? Tobias asked in my head.
"Now that is rhetorical question, Tobias." I shook my head again, "How many times do I have to say it? I'm nothing like David. I won't turn on you or turn you in. If I want a fight, it'll be between you and me." I looked at my watch, "Gotta run, SYL." Then I left.
Jake looks at his friends, "What do you think?"
Surprisingly, it was Tobias who spoke up first; We can trust her.just not with the orb. Cassie agreed with him.
"But we still have to watch her." Marco told them, "After all, if the Visser found out our friend had something to do with the little dagger thing, than we're in big trouble."
As soon as I walked in, I heard my parents arguing again. I sighed, it was becoming more frequent now, it seems that all they ever do is fight. I went up to my room and closed the door, hoping that I wouldn't be able to hear the noise. But I guess the walls are thinner than they seemed.
"I don't know why I ever put up with you!" I heard my dad yell at my mom, "You are acting weird and to top that off you hurt Leigh! Your own daughter!? How could you?!"
"If she hadn't lost that damn dagger, then none of this would happen!" She yells back, "If she had only read the piece of shit then we would've been paid and everything could've been fine!"
There was a pause, "Is that all you ever think about?" He asked her, "The money? Only the money? What about Leigh? Doesn't she have a right to this?"
"To what?"
"If she didn't give the dagger back to them, then she must have felt that it was either too valuable or too dangerous to give it back to them. Who knows what it could've been used for?"
"She does, obviously. Remember? She's the one with that freaky power." I could hear her moving around down there. "Besides, she isn't even ours..well maybe yours but definitely not mine."
I sat up on my bed. What does she mean by that? ' " she isn't even ours"' or the other part of it, ' "maybe yours but not mine."'?
I was confused now. What the hell is going on? Are they really my parents? What are they not telling me?
I went to the staircase that was near the front door. I sat on them, listening hard to what my parents were talking about.
"Shhh.." My father hushed her, "At any rate, we've never told her. Besides, Starry could've been lying to us when she told us that the baby was mine and she couldn't take care of her."
I heard my mom snorted as she opened the fridge. "More like she was a bitch that got knocked up and wasn't responsible enough to take care of the brat." The fridge door slammed closed, and cabinets opened and shut as the clinking of glasses being set down was heard. "If she hadn't had died and her mother being the stubborn bitch that she was, we could've gotten a sample of her blood, to see who's child Leigh really was."
"Are you implying that Starry kidnapped the child when she was an infant and passed her off as her own?" Dad asked incredulously.
"Anything's possible to that cheap ass whore."
"But still, it is no way to treat a child like Leigh." My father announced going back to the topic, "She's special like that. She's a good kid, and she's very creative. She can't help that her parentage is a bit...mysterious or that she has these gifts."
"I still say we should've given her to the orphanage back in Murrayville. They would've taken her."
"True, but she was given to us, and we should be glad we have her." Then what he said next almost made me want to laugh, though I wasn't feeling very humorous at the moment. "Like you would ever have kids anyway you slice it."
I heard her stomp her foot in rage and scream at him, "It's not my fault you dickless son of a bitch that I was born this way, without a womb! Any way, I've had better than you!"
With that, she let out a frustrated yell and marched out of the house, going right by me.
I stood, and looked at the living room..So, all this was a lie? I wondered. I wasn't really theirs. I mean, if I was adopted or something like that, then it would be ok. But this. I swallowed and went up to my room again, my mind was loaded with questions, and I'm not sure if my so-called 'dad' could answer it.
I rolled over and switched off the light in my room, but all though my mind and body was tired, I couldn't sleep. As hard as I tired to get some sleep, I couldn't stop thinking on what they had said. It all seemed so bizarre. I mean, if I was really kidnapped, then why hasn't anyone been looking for me? Do they even know that I exist? Did my real mom still worry about me? Did she miss me at all? Where they still looking for me?
A million questions and none of them could be answered. Eventually, I got some sleep that night, my mind still on the questions that still plague me into sleep.
The bell ranged, and it was time to go home. All through the day I had been walking from one class to another as if in a dream. I mean, I couldn't concentrate on anything at all. Even at lunch, I didn't notice either Cassie or Jake talking to me; I was just out of it.
So, I'm walking home, everything seemed to be.out of focus still. I mean, how can the world still go on? I guess it doesn't matter any more of who you are or what you're doing. People will always stay ignorant to many things until you show it to them. It also meant that after I dropped my stuff off at my house, that I had nowhere to go. There was no meeting, there were no missions, and I didn't feel like searching for the damn orb.
So, instead, I settled for going to the mall.
I sat in the food court, just eating some nachos with extra cheese and jalapeno peppers in it with a large root beer.
I just stared at the people, coming and going, talking with their friends, or talking on their cell phones, things like that. I really wasn't paying much attention to the people themselves, it was all like background that you just ignore. To me, they were faceless dolls, moving colors, nothing was really being seen. All I could see and hear was my parents, talking about me.
I sat up and leaned on the table, propped up on my elbows, with my hands covering my face. I felt the first drops of tears slid down my cheeks and soak up into my gloves.and all I could think about was: Just who are these people? Why..why is this happening to me?
Now don't get me wrong here, I mean, I know Tobias's situation, never meeting his parents..or remember his mother..but at least he knew exactly who they were. Even if it did take years to find out that he was, essentially, half Andalite.
For me, there's no way of knowing who my parents' are..or were. I mean, could be just like the book and movie, 'The Face on the Milk Carton.' Or whatever it was called. At least she eventually found out who her parents were.
"Hey Leigh," Jake walked over to me, my face was still covered in my hands, "What's up with you today? I mean, Coach would've popped a vein when you didn't answer him."
Cassie and the others were with him, again, since they had 'accidentally' met up somewhere in the mall.
I didn't answer as they sat down at the table. "Yeah, and in Social Studies, I could've sworn that Mrs. Maryland was going to give you detention for sure!" Rachel added.
"What is Detention?" Ax asked, of course, he was in human morph. Can't have blue centaurs running around the mall, now can we?
"What is wrong with you?" Cassie asked; I could hear the concern in her voice. "You've been quiet all day."
"Yeah," Marco chimed in, "And you haven't insulted me yet?"
I looked at them with red eyes, and said nothing for the moment.
"Leigh..what happened?"
I wiped my face off, "Nothing..just family problems." I cracked a watery smile, "Nothing..too serious like someone died or anything."
"No, tell us." Tobias was there too, I guess it was an outing for the Animorphs. "Maybe we can help."
"Unless you can find people, there's nothing you can do."
"But we can, after all, we have Ax, remember?" Marco stated, "So what's the deal? You've been acting like a zombie all day."
I took a breath and told them everything.
I sipped my soda, and looked at them, "And after that, she left, probably to her friends or something, cause she didn't come back until the next morning, and even then she wouldn't look at me, like I was some ghost or something."
They didn't say anything to me, it was as if it was a bit too much for them or else they were just as confused as I was.
Finally, Jake late out a long sigh and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. "Man, now that's confusing."
"You're telling me" I muttered and took another sip of my drink, "And that's the censored verse, you should hear what they were really saying." I rubbed my face, "Talk about a shock to your system, huh? Don't know whether I've been kidnapped as a baby or if I'm a fucking bastard."
"What is a bastard?" Ax asked, after eating all my food and my drink, since I've ordered another one, you can tell that he would probably eat the box too if Jake hadn't have said anything.
"It's a rude way of saying illegitimate." Tobias answered, "You know, born on the wrong side of the blanket, or born out of wedlock."
"Oh."
I sighed, "There's nothing that can be done about it. After all, it's the people who raise you that counts." I looked at them, "Right?"
Tobias shrugs, "I don't know, maybe it does." He still had this weird black expression on his face.
I guess being a hawk for so long does that to you.
"I wonder if they even know that I know now?" I said out loud, "I need to find out who the hell this Starry person is or was. Dad said she's dead.but I wonder if she really is dead."
"What do you mean?" Marco asked.
"You see," I began, "mom said that if Starry's mother wasn't so stubborn about getting the blood sample then they could compare mine to hers. But what if there is no body? What if Starry faked her death?"
"Like Marco's mom?" Cassie asked, "I mean, why would she do that?"
"To keep a secret a secret." Jake answered, "Think about it, if there's three people, who know the same secret, the best way to keep it a secret is to kill two of them. Dead men tell no tales."
Marco rolled his eyes, "Great, Jake thinks he's a philosopher."
"He's got a point." I said, "But.." I looked around us, then back at them, "This isn't the time or the place for such things. Besides, it doesn't matter." I stood up and lean in close to them, "I still want that orb. If the orb and the dagger are a part of something big, it's best that I keep them."
"No." Jake said sternly, "You will not have the orb."
I shrugged, "Ok, well SY." Then I left.
I wasn't sure why I was there in my panther morph. I mean, I thought I didn't want to find the orb, but now I guess it's now mandatory to find it. The question was, what the hell was I going to do with it? No one knew where the dagger was and they didn't know where the orb was. Now that I know that the orb wasn't at Ax's scoop then that meant that it was somewhere out in the woods, somewhere far away from civilization. All I have to do is to find it.
I demorphed from panther to human, preparing to morph into a wolf, when my human ears picked up something. It was loud, and there were many of them. I then realized that it could be anyone and that they were looking for something. I quickly morphed into a wolf and hid among the bushes and trees. I could smell them, humans, but they smelled familiar, like I should know them.
"Which way did she go?" I heard Jake asked.
I don't know. Tobias answered.
I heaved a sigh, trotting up to them.
"Don't move." Cassie announced to everyone. "If we don't move, it'll probably just go away."
I promptly sat down.
Macro sniggered, "'It'll probably go away' she says."
You know, I am a girl, not an it you idgets. I told them.
"Idget?" Rachel frowned, "What's and idget?"
People who are idiots that are midgets.
"So, that'll be Marco."
No shit Sherlock. I told her and began to demorph. Why are yo- I had lost the ability to communicate through thought-speech as my mouth formed into a human one.
I waited until I was mostly human, to ask, "Why are you guys here?"
"Back at ya." Macro squints a little, trying to see me, "Is it me or are you harder to see?"
"It must be you." I answered, "Besides, you guys know why I'm here, why you're here is really the mystery."
"Well, we were looking for you." Jake told me.
"For what?"
The dagger, of course. Ax answered. He was in his normal body, a blue centaur cross between a scorpion with two eyes at the end of some stalks.
I raised a brow, "Really? Now why do you need the dagger if you cannot use it?"
"We have to let Visser Three get it so he could stop going after the orb. That way we'll have more time to figure out how to use it and how to control it." Rachel said, "And we need the location of it."
I blinked, and then shook my head, "Bullshit. Like hell I'm giving it to you! After all, you still have the orb." After a moment, I fell quiet, "Alright, I'll give it to you, tomorrow since it's Saturday."
They all agreed and they left, while I continued to search for the orb.
AN: I know that chapter sucks, but I'm running out of Ideas.. Any way, yes it is possible for women to be born without a womb, very, very, very rare, but possible. Any questions e-mail me. Just click on my name and then e-mail address. I'll answer anything and everything to the best of my abilities.
Chapter seven
I sat on a bench of a deserted old park that was on the way to Cassie's, though I wasn't going there. I should be getting to school, I should be getting to my first period, but I'm not.
Why, you ask, am I skipping school? It's because if I go, I wouldn't be able to think about my own problems, and one of the most difficult decisions I had ever had. Whether or not to use the orb and who do I listen to? Kritra or the Animorphs?
I sighed, I had a lot of thinking to do.
A few hours later, found me wandering around the city, it was almost time for school to let out and I didn't know what to do. I mean, Kritra was my friend and some one I could relate to on some level. She had listened to me and answered as truthfully as possible. At least, I think she did.
Then, there's the Animorphs. What can I say about them? I can relate to them just as easily as I could Kritra....but not as much. I still feel like an alien in their mist, even if I argue and joke with Marco or Ax, I still feel out of place. I don't know any more. I mean, they're nice and all even tried to make me apart of their group in some ways. It's nice, though, to feel as if you belong somewhere.anywhere. But I'm not feeling that.
Not from them, Kritra, or even my own home. It's like I walk through life but I'm nothing more than a ghost or something. Living, but not really feeling like I was alive, nothing seems real to me anymore. The Yeerks, Andalites, my mom, a controller, my dad acting like everything's fine, school, and .everything. It feels like I'm dreaming or in a bad movie that won't stop. Or maybe, I'm afraid for it to stop, for it to be nothing more than a dream..
I glanced at my watch, it's three: forty. They should be out by now. Maybe I need to get a grip and decide on how I'm going to do this, cause there's no way in heaven or hell that the Yeerks are going to get the orb.
It was late that afternoon that found me in the last place I had ever wanted to be...Cassie's barn.
I don't know why I was there; I guess I had just wandered around submersed in my own thoughts, not really paying an attention to where I was going.
"Hey there Leigh!" Cassie's mom calls, greeting me. She met me that morning when I had spent the night at their house. She was very nice and works at the zoo part of the Garden.
I smiled back at her, "Hi, what's new?"
"Nothing really, you're looking for Cassie?"
Damn, I hate to lie to such nice people. "Yeah, seen her around?"
She nods, "She's in the barn with her friends." She shrugs and smiled a little, "I don't know what it is with those kids...they're always hanging out at the barn."
I smirked, "Well, not much to do, I suppose. A kid's got to have some place to hang other than the mall."
"Well, nice seeing you Leigh, see you later." She calls as she got in her car and drove off.
"Yeah," I said quietly, more to myself than anyone else, "See ya."
I shook my head; I was going soft or something. Yeah... that was it..
I wandered pass the barn, seeing them in there pretending that they weren't talking about me or the orb or something like that. I knew they saw me, I also knew that they were watching me, which was fine with me.
"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked angrily. "I thought you didn't trust us or in fact, hated us."
I looked at her, "My feelings for you guys don't conflict with my actions." I told her. "In other words, I don't hate you.or even dislike you.besides, it's a free country.almost, I can walk wherever I like to."
"Don't mind Rachel, she's just mad that we can't fight." Cassie smiled apologetically to me.
"The Visser is now, not only looking for the orb, but he's looking for the dagger as well."
I snorted, "Stupid fart."
"He isn't such a stupid fart if he can turn into the most deadliest creatures in the universe." Jake pointed out. "What brings you here?"
I shrugged, "Nothing really, just been wandering around, thinking, that's all."
"Is that why you weren't in school?" Cassie asked, "You've just been wandering around the city?"
I nodded, "Yeah, not like I had anything else better to do. Besides, I wouldn't have concentrated on anything anyway." I turned and looked out towards the woods, where the dagger and the orb were hidden inside its maze of trees and foliage. "I want the orb." I told them coldly, "It'll be better if you just tell me where it is."
"Why should we?" Rachel demanded, "What would you do if we don't tell you?"
I looked over my shoulder at her, "I don't have to do anything, just the simple knowledge that I'm looking for it as well as the fact that I'm persistent, will make you nervous." I turned half way towards them, "And nervous people, scared people, always make mistakes, even if they are the smallest, unnoticeable things, will be their downfall."
"So," Marco looked me over, "You're going to kill us?"
There was a pregnant pause for a moment as we stared at one another.
Then finally I shook my head, "No, I won't kill you. I'm not a murder, I don't kill people just because they won't do what I say."
Looking intrigued by this response, Cassie walks up to me and just stared at me, as if she was trying to find my true intent. "So, are you threatening us then?"
I looked thoughtful, "I don't know, what is considered being a threat to you." I answered truthfully. "All I want is the orb."
"I'm sorry, but we won't give you the location of the orb." Jake announced.
I shrugged and smiled a little, "Good," I turned, "It will make it a lot more interesting then you just handing it over."
What if we needed you in a battle or mission, would you turn on us? Tobias asked in my head.
"Now that is rhetorical question, Tobias." I shook my head again, "How many times do I have to say it? I'm nothing like David. I won't turn on you or turn you in. If I want a fight, it'll be between you and me." I looked at my watch, "Gotta run, SYL." Then I left.
Jake looks at his friends, "What do you think?"
Surprisingly, it was Tobias who spoke up first; We can trust her.just not with the orb. Cassie agreed with him.
"But we still have to watch her." Marco told them, "After all, if the Visser found out our friend had something to do with the little dagger thing, than we're in big trouble."
As soon as I walked in, I heard my parents arguing again. I sighed, it was becoming more frequent now, it seems that all they ever do is fight. I went up to my room and closed the door, hoping that I wouldn't be able to hear the noise. But I guess the walls are thinner than they seemed.
"I don't know why I ever put up with you!" I heard my dad yell at my mom, "You are acting weird and to top that off you hurt Leigh! Your own daughter!? How could you?!"
"If she hadn't lost that damn dagger, then none of this would happen!" She yells back, "If she had only read the piece of shit then we would've been paid and everything could've been fine!"
There was a pause, "Is that all you ever think about?" He asked her, "The money? Only the money? What about Leigh? Doesn't she have a right to this?"
"To what?"
"If she didn't give the dagger back to them, then she must have felt that it was either too valuable or too dangerous to give it back to them. Who knows what it could've been used for?"
"She does, obviously. Remember? She's the one with that freaky power." I could hear her moving around down there. "Besides, she isn't even ours..well maybe yours but definitely not mine."
I sat up on my bed. What does she mean by that? ' " she isn't even ours"' or the other part of it, ' "maybe yours but not mine."'?
I was confused now. What the hell is going on? Are they really my parents? What are they not telling me?
I went to the staircase that was near the front door. I sat on them, listening hard to what my parents were talking about.
"Shhh.." My father hushed her, "At any rate, we've never told her. Besides, Starry could've been lying to us when she told us that the baby was mine and she couldn't take care of her."
I heard my mom snorted as she opened the fridge. "More like she was a bitch that got knocked up and wasn't responsible enough to take care of the brat." The fridge door slammed closed, and cabinets opened and shut as the clinking of glasses being set down was heard. "If she hadn't had died and her mother being the stubborn bitch that she was, we could've gotten a sample of her blood, to see who's child Leigh really was."
"Are you implying that Starry kidnapped the child when she was an infant and passed her off as her own?" Dad asked incredulously.
"Anything's possible to that cheap ass whore."
"But still, it is no way to treat a child like Leigh." My father announced going back to the topic, "She's special like that. She's a good kid, and she's very creative. She can't help that her parentage is a bit...mysterious or that she has these gifts."
"I still say we should've given her to the orphanage back in Murrayville. They would've taken her."
"True, but she was given to us, and we should be glad we have her." Then what he said next almost made me want to laugh, though I wasn't feeling very humorous at the moment. "Like you would ever have kids anyway you slice it."
I heard her stomp her foot in rage and scream at him, "It's not my fault you dickless son of a bitch that I was born this way, without a womb! Any way, I've had better than you!"
With that, she let out a frustrated yell and marched out of the house, going right by me.
I stood, and looked at the living room..So, all this was a lie? I wondered. I wasn't really theirs. I mean, if I was adopted or something like that, then it would be ok. But this. I swallowed and went up to my room again, my mind was loaded with questions, and I'm not sure if my so-called 'dad' could answer it.
I rolled over and switched off the light in my room, but all though my mind and body was tired, I couldn't sleep. As hard as I tired to get some sleep, I couldn't stop thinking on what they had said. It all seemed so bizarre. I mean, if I was really kidnapped, then why hasn't anyone been looking for me? Do they even know that I exist? Did my real mom still worry about me? Did she miss me at all? Where they still looking for me?
A million questions and none of them could be answered. Eventually, I got some sleep that night, my mind still on the questions that still plague me into sleep.
The bell ranged, and it was time to go home. All through the day I had been walking from one class to another as if in a dream. I mean, I couldn't concentrate on anything at all. Even at lunch, I didn't notice either Cassie or Jake talking to me; I was just out of it.
So, I'm walking home, everything seemed to be.out of focus still. I mean, how can the world still go on? I guess it doesn't matter any more of who you are or what you're doing. People will always stay ignorant to many things until you show it to them. It also meant that after I dropped my stuff off at my house, that I had nowhere to go. There was no meeting, there were no missions, and I didn't feel like searching for the damn orb.
So, instead, I settled for going to the mall.
I sat in the food court, just eating some nachos with extra cheese and jalapeno peppers in it with a large root beer.
I just stared at the people, coming and going, talking with their friends, or talking on their cell phones, things like that. I really wasn't paying much attention to the people themselves, it was all like background that you just ignore. To me, they were faceless dolls, moving colors, nothing was really being seen. All I could see and hear was my parents, talking about me.
I sat up and leaned on the table, propped up on my elbows, with my hands covering my face. I felt the first drops of tears slid down my cheeks and soak up into my gloves.and all I could think about was: Just who are these people? Why..why is this happening to me?
Now don't get me wrong here, I mean, I know Tobias's situation, never meeting his parents..or remember his mother..but at least he knew exactly who they were. Even if it did take years to find out that he was, essentially, half Andalite.
For me, there's no way of knowing who my parents' are..or were. I mean, could be just like the book and movie, 'The Face on the Milk Carton.' Or whatever it was called. At least she eventually found out who her parents were.
"Hey Leigh," Jake walked over to me, my face was still covered in my hands, "What's up with you today? I mean, Coach would've popped a vein when you didn't answer him."
Cassie and the others were with him, again, since they had 'accidentally' met up somewhere in the mall.
I didn't answer as they sat down at the table. "Yeah, and in Social Studies, I could've sworn that Mrs. Maryland was going to give you detention for sure!" Rachel added.
"What is Detention?" Ax asked, of course, he was in human morph. Can't have blue centaurs running around the mall, now can we?
"What is wrong with you?" Cassie asked; I could hear the concern in her voice. "You've been quiet all day."
"Yeah," Marco chimed in, "And you haven't insulted me yet?"
I looked at them with red eyes, and said nothing for the moment.
"Leigh..what happened?"
I wiped my face off, "Nothing..just family problems." I cracked a watery smile, "Nothing..too serious like someone died or anything."
"No, tell us." Tobias was there too, I guess it was an outing for the Animorphs. "Maybe we can help."
"Unless you can find people, there's nothing you can do."
"But we can, after all, we have Ax, remember?" Marco stated, "So what's the deal? You've been acting like a zombie all day."
I took a breath and told them everything.
I sipped my soda, and looked at them, "And after that, she left, probably to her friends or something, cause she didn't come back until the next morning, and even then she wouldn't look at me, like I was some ghost or something."
They didn't say anything to me, it was as if it was a bit too much for them or else they were just as confused as I was.
Finally, Jake late out a long sigh and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. "Man, now that's confusing."
"You're telling me" I muttered and took another sip of my drink, "And that's the censored verse, you should hear what they were really saying." I rubbed my face, "Talk about a shock to your system, huh? Don't know whether I've been kidnapped as a baby or if I'm a fucking bastard."
"What is a bastard?" Ax asked, after eating all my food and my drink, since I've ordered another one, you can tell that he would probably eat the box too if Jake hadn't have said anything.
"It's a rude way of saying illegitimate." Tobias answered, "You know, born on the wrong side of the blanket, or born out of wedlock."
"Oh."
I sighed, "There's nothing that can be done about it. After all, it's the people who raise you that counts." I looked at them, "Right?"
Tobias shrugs, "I don't know, maybe it does." He still had this weird black expression on his face.
I guess being a hawk for so long does that to you.
"I wonder if they even know that I know now?" I said out loud, "I need to find out who the hell this Starry person is or was. Dad said she's dead.but I wonder if she really is dead."
"What do you mean?" Marco asked.
"You see," I began, "mom said that if Starry's mother wasn't so stubborn about getting the blood sample then they could compare mine to hers. But what if there is no body? What if Starry faked her death?"
"Like Marco's mom?" Cassie asked, "I mean, why would she do that?"
"To keep a secret a secret." Jake answered, "Think about it, if there's three people, who know the same secret, the best way to keep it a secret is to kill two of them. Dead men tell no tales."
Marco rolled his eyes, "Great, Jake thinks he's a philosopher."
"He's got a point." I said, "But.." I looked around us, then back at them, "This isn't the time or the place for such things. Besides, it doesn't matter." I stood up and lean in close to them, "I still want that orb. If the orb and the dagger are a part of something big, it's best that I keep them."
"No." Jake said sternly, "You will not have the orb."
I shrugged, "Ok, well SY." Then I left.
I wasn't sure why I was there in my panther morph. I mean, I thought I didn't want to find the orb, but now I guess it's now mandatory to find it. The question was, what the hell was I going to do with it? No one knew where the dagger was and they didn't know where the orb was. Now that I know that the orb wasn't at Ax's scoop then that meant that it was somewhere out in the woods, somewhere far away from civilization. All I have to do is to find it.
I demorphed from panther to human, preparing to morph into a wolf, when my human ears picked up something. It was loud, and there were many of them. I then realized that it could be anyone and that they were looking for something. I quickly morphed into a wolf and hid among the bushes and trees. I could smell them, humans, but they smelled familiar, like I should know them.
"Which way did she go?" I heard Jake asked.
I don't know. Tobias answered.
I heaved a sigh, trotting up to them.
"Don't move." Cassie announced to everyone. "If we don't move, it'll probably just go away."
I promptly sat down.
Macro sniggered, "'It'll probably go away' she says."
You know, I am a girl, not an it you idgets. I told them.
"Idget?" Rachel frowned, "What's and idget?"
People who are idiots that are midgets.
"So, that'll be Marco."
No shit Sherlock. I told her and began to demorph. Why are yo- I had lost the ability to communicate through thought-speech as my mouth formed into a human one.
I waited until I was mostly human, to ask, "Why are you guys here?"
"Back at ya." Macro squints a little, trying to see me, "Is it me or are you harder to see?"
"It must be you." I answered, "Besides, you guys know why I'm here, why you're here is really the mystery."
"Well, we were looking for you." Jake told me.
"For what?"
The dagger, of course. Ax answered. He was in his normal body, a blue centaur cross between a scorpion with two eyes at the end of some stalks.
I raised a brow, "Really? Now why do you need the dagger if you cannot use it?"
"We have to let Visser Three get it so he could stop going after the orb. That way we'll have more time to figure out how to use it and how to control it." Rachel said, "And we need the location of it."
I blinked, and then shook my head, "Bullshit. Like hell I'm giving it to you! After all, you still have the orb." After a moment, I fell quiet, "Alright, I'll give it to you, tomorrow since it's Saturday."
They all agreed and they left, while I continued to search for the orb.
AN: I know that chapter sucks, but I'm running out of Ideas.. Any way, yes it is possible for women to be born without a womb, very, very, very rare, but possible. Any questions e-mail me. Just click on my name and then e-mail address. I'll answer anything and everything to the best of my abilities.
