I wake up the next morning and dress in my space suit before skipping out to the living room.
"Good morning!" I exclaim.
An eerie silence responds.
"Hello?" I ask, looking around. Usually, my parents are in the kitchen or dining room at this time of day, making breakfast and talking.
"Jason!" my mom calls. I sigh in relief and race towards the control room, where her voice had come from. When I get there, both of my parents are sitting at the panel, frantically pressing buttons and typing in codes.
"Is something wrong?" I cock my head to the side and watch them, trying to figure out what the looks on their faces means.
"Nothing to worry about! Just a few technical difficulties." Dad chuckles nervously and continues his fast paced typing.
I purse my lips and walk to Jeffery's pen. When he sees me, the pig oinks happily and runs up to me. After about ten minutes of us playing, my parents walk into the glass dome and take Jeffrey and I out to the garage.
"Where are we going?" I ask as I follow them. Jeffrey remains close on my heels.
"A very special place, Jason," Mom replies, not meeting my eyes. Her voice wavers as though she's scared, but I don't know why she would be afraid. They said it was just technical difficulties...
A small, round spaceship sits in our garage with the door open.
"We thought it was time to give you and Jeffrey your own ship," Dad explains. Something about his tone makes me uneasy, but I shake it off and get inside.
"I love it!" I exclaim, looking at everything. There's a small bed and kitchenette, and I know how to operate the control panel. "Why did you decide that I should have it now?"
My parents look at each other, their expressions grave.
"Jason, you're going on a vacation. Just you and Jeffrey. To explore the galaxy," Mom says gently.
"Aren't you coming?" I whimper nervously.
"No, Jason. Just you and Jeff," Dad says gently.
"But, I don't want to go alone!" I begin, tears brimming in my eyes.
"It's okay. There will be more people where you're going," Mom assures me. She kisses my forehead quickly and Dad closes the door of the shuttle. He presses a button and the ship soars out into space, away from my home.
I watch through the window as my parents wave goodbye. I wave back and they both smile.
As I grow farther from the ship, I see it burst into flames and parts of it explode. A scream escapes me, followed by sobbing. Jeffrey presses himself against me, and I can feel him trembling.
I turn away from my home and cry freely.
A couple of hours later, my ship starts beeping and buzzing like crazy. I try to get it under control, but it continues to zip towards the face of a planet. I wrap Jeffrey in my arms and brace for impact. I feel something soft surround me just as the ship collides with the ground.
I wake to Jeffrey snuffling my face. As my surroundings come into focus, I notice the smoke rising off the wreckage that was once my ship and a balloon of air surrounding the seats where my pig and I were.
"Is that how we survived?" I mumble. Jeffrey snorts in response.
I pull my helmet off of my head and breathe the new air. It tastes like a mixture of wood and smoke. The trees around me are taller than anything I ever could have grown at home. I've never been to this planet before, but it looks really cool.
Looking back at my ship, I conclude that there is definitely no way of getting it to fly again. My heart gets heavier when I realize that I probably won't be able to explore the stars like I wanted to.
"Who are you?"
I spin around to see a group of five boys, a cow, a horse, and a chicken. I've never seen anyone quite like them.
"My name is Jason," I greet.
"Hi... uh, you don't look like you're from around here," states one of the boys. He has a bow and quiver on his back and he's holding the cow's rope.
"I'm not. I'm from space," I say matter-of-factly. One of the boys, who appears to be the youngest, giggles.
"Is that why you're wearing a spacesuit?" another asks. I've read about his species in some of the books back home. He's a bacca.
"What are your names?" I inquire.
"I'm Adam." Golden amulet, curly brown hair, hazel eyes. Holding the horse's rope.
"I'm Jerome." The bacca. Thick brown fur, brown eyes.
"Ian." Windblown brown hair, blue eyes, archer. Has the cow and the chicken.
"I'm Mitch." Tousled brown hair, brown eyes, plaid sweater.
"I'm Ty," says the last boy. Headphones, brown eyes, brown hair. Youngest.
I remember all of these things, reminding myself to write them down. This must be the planet that my ancestors left many years ago.
"Well, you already know my name. My pig is named Jeffrey." I motion to my pet, who oinks. "Which planet is this?"
"Earth. Now, Space boy, why are you here?" Adam asks.
All the memories come back like a whirlwind. The fire. The explosion. They way they waved at me and smiled like nothing was wrong.
"My spaceship blew up, killing my parents. They sent me here to Earth before it happened," I mumble.
"You aren't the only one without parents," Mitch says. His face falls for a moment before returning to its "nothing is wrong" state.
"Do you want to join our team?" Ty asks, changing the topic. "We call ourselves Team Crafted."
"I'm in. Can Jeffrey come?" I ask. They all nod.
We head away from my ship and into the vast forest that lays ahead. As I peer into the sky, I'm surprised to notice that it's blue with little white cotton balls instead of black with tiny stars.
"Where are all the stars?" I question.
"They disappear during the day," Jerome replies.
"Ah," I mumble. I look down, the thought of a blue sky depressing me.
I'm already missing my stars.
YOU ARE READING
Together as One: The Story of the Teams
FanfictionEveryone has lost something. A toy, a family member, maybe a home. For these kids, it's no different. They lost their homes. They've dealt with the pain of losing their families or identities. Now they must team up in order to survive and s...
