Jake

I was the tiger. I could see Tom before me, racing away from me, fear on his face. He tripped and loomed in front of him. Then suddenly he started to change shape. He grew long blonde hair. Deep blue eyes replaced his dark brown ones. He changed in to Rachel, my cousin. The tiger pounced on her. Crayak didn't appear like usual. He let me see this dream. I landed on her body. She started shrieking. Yelling at me. But I ignored all this. I lowered my bared, sharp teeth to her throat and ripped it out.

I woke up in cold sweat. I sat bolt upright, shivering like mad. I got out of bed and hurried towards the bathroom. When I got there I lifted the lid of the toilet seat and threw up. I flushed and sat down against the wall. Of all the times I would have appreciated Crayak to turn up in one of my freaky dreams it would have been then. I placed a shaky hand over my face. Why did it have to be me? Why did I have to be the leader? Why did I have to make the life and death decisions? Why did I have to choose what futures my friends would have? It was night and I had chucked up half of my guts. I took my hand off my face and when I opened my eyes, I found I wasn't in my bathroom anymore.

I was in a grassy area. All I could see was grass. I stood up and looked around me. There was nothing but grass. There was no sky, just grass. Nobody else was around. Rachel wasn't there. Cassie wasn't there. Marco wasn't there. Tobias wasn't there. Ax wasn't there. I was by myself.

"Hello Jake," a voice said.

I looked around me. The voice came from everywhere. All around me. The Ellimist.

"Very good, Jake," he said, showing himself as an old man.

"What do you want from me?"

"I've come to talk with you, Jake," he said, his old face showing no emotion.

"No," I said.

"No, what Jake?"

"No," I repeated. "I don't want to talk with you."

"Then you will listen."

Suddenly I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't bear it.

"What do you want from me?" I shouted. "What more can you take away from me?"

"I haven't taken anything away from you, Jake," he had calmness in his voice that infuriated.

"Yes you have," I shouted. "You've take away my brother, you've taken away my morphing power, and you've taken away my confidence and my happiness…"

"No, Jake you've taken away that for yourself," he said. "You refuse to be happy, so why should you be. I haven't taken away your brother, the Yeerks have and your stress and worry has taken away your morphing ability."

I just stood there. How could I argue with a speech like that?

"Jake, Cassie has told you the two possible futures; I am here to make the choice simpler."

"I don't want your help," I said, turning away.

"I know the pain you're going through, Jake," he said, still calmly. "I am here to make it go away."

"You can't do that," I said. "It's against the rules."

"Yes," the Ellimist said. "But I can help it go away."

"Like I said, I don't want your help," I said, stubbornly.

"Those two futures are just some futures that could happen," the Ellimist continued as though I hadn't spoken. "There are many others."

"How could there be many others?" I asked. "There are only two possible choices. Fight or don't fight."

"You need to listen to your friends more," the Ellimist smirked. "Wasn't it Marco who said that you could fight for another cause?"

"What other cause?" I said, frustrated. "There is no other cause. Besides I don't have my morphing power. I can't fight."

"If you want your morphing power back, you will get it."

"Well, I don't want it back,' I shouted. "I don't want to be the leader. I don't want to be in this fight."

"If you don't lead, who will?" the Ellimist asked, still in that annoying calm tone. "Nobody will take Marco seriously. Rachel is too reckless. Cassie is not reckless enough. Tobias continues to doubt himself. Aximili only cares for his own planet. They will crumble without you."

"That's not true," I said.

"No?" he said. "You are fooling nobody. They know it too, even though they try to fool themselves. Rachel thinks of herself as indestructible, as does Aximili. Cassie tries to convince herself that you are not cut out to be leader and tries to persuade you to drop out to spare your feelings. Tobias doesn't fool himself or anybody around him. Marco tries to make a joke out of it, but he knows you are the heart of the group."

"Why are you telling me this?" I shouted. "Is it not enough that I am slowly dying out of pain, guilt and pressure? Why do you keep doing this to me?"

"I am trying to help you Jake," he said.

"No, you're trying to destroy me," I shouted. "You and Crayak are the same."

I think I might have angered him, because he waved his hand and the next second I found myself back on my hard bathroom floor.

"Find your cause," I heard him say in my head.