My name is Sean. You don't need to know my last name. Frankly, the only thing you need to know is that we're all in danger. Names don't mean a thing when your identity has been stolen. I'm not talking about credit cards, on-line accounts, or even Social Security numbers. I'm talking about YOU. Your body, your personality, your mannerisms, the way you talk, walk, and even the way you roll your eyes at your parents. That's of course if you're lucky enough to have any.
My parents are... dead. My dad was afraid of flying, so he forced us to go by ship. Yeah, they still do that. Unfortunately, there was an altercation that ended with my mother accidentally falling over a rail and into the water. My dad reacted immediately by jumping in after her. Neither one of them can swim, so they died. I showed up in the States completely alone and newly orphaned. I was ushered into the American Foster Care system almost immediately. I was nine years old. I didn't know anything about my parents' finances, and my name was too commonplace to really find any records. So I was put in a home. They were an okay sort, the folks I was put in with. They were obviously only in foster care for the money; but they kept to State law and we lived as comfortable as any family. We weren't close in any real way. It was more like having flatmates, really.
I was a good kid; but after 5 years of having rather apathetic parents, I couldn't stay there anymore. In all reality I only ever slept there. The rest of the time I spent with friends I made at school. Their parents sucked too. Some more than others, but we all agreed on one thing: we all hated our parents. Except for Marleen, she loved her parents; but she had her issues too. I'm not entirely sure how she fit into our group, but she did.
One day Obbie tells us about a group called The Sharing. He hypes it up so much, we couldn't help but go. They had some really cool beach parties, community out-reach programs, and the best part, tons of free food. My foster parents were the most bland people when it came to food. The Sharing's barbecues were the best. Tri tip, hot dogs, ribs, you name it, it was there. There were some cute girls there too. One girl I liked was one of those that were a "Full Member". I assumed it was like volunteering at a campaign office for some politician; boy was I wrong.
My induction into becoming a "Full Member" was not fun. It was at one of their centers. I was lead to a room I was previously told was a water closet. You know, a closet just for the water heater. When I entered the room, there was no water heater. There was a sink with a chair next to it. The chair had straps and come weird kinky contraptions. I tried to back out of the room, but they blocked the exit. They held what looked like a Star Trek phaser at me. I didn't want to test whether or not it worked. I sat in the chair and got a good look at the sink. It was a weird gray, lead-like liquid. Inside, was something swimming around. It looked like a slug. The men told me about what it was. A "Yeerk", that's what they called it. It crawls into your head, wraps itself around your brain, and takes complete control of your body.
That what I meant by they take your identity. They take over your body. You become nothing but a spectator at your own life. Never do you look where you want, say what you want, or even scratch your leg when it randomly itches. If there's a hair in front of your eye, you can't idly blow it away. If there's a hot chick crossing your path, you can't turn your head to appreciate the view. It's maddening.
At first I fought and fought. I would spit threats and taunts at the alien living inside my head; but the slug wouldn't respond. When the slug would leave my head to feed, I would be dragged away by these seven foot godzilla monsters. Every three days. I had control of my body once every three days. That's when those Yeerks need to swim in their gray water to recharge. Then they go back to taking over your life. After a couple of months of fighting and screaming, being dragged to and from a cage like cattle, I accepted my fate. I stopped yelling and screaming at the one controlling my body. I knew it was ignoring me. I stopped crawling and clawing at the freaky dino guys that took me to and from the cage. Truthfully, after a while of cooperating, the Yeerk would begin to take my suggestions. He could sense what I wanted. He could read my thoughts, almost before I could think them. After a while, he actually would glance at a few hotties that would cross our path.
It wasn't all too bad being "voluntary". It was kinda cool. When my Yeerk fed, I was able to chill at a lounge, and play video games. I ate decent food and visited with the other hosts. Sure, I hated that I couldn't control my body, and that I no longer had any control over my life; but playing Final Fantasy and eating burgers every three days was a lot nicer than crying in a cage, sitting on the ground. My apathetic parents barely noticed any change in me. My friends didn't see a difference either. Though eventually, they all became hosts too. A couple of them actually became voluntary. Now we hung out every three days; provided our Yeerks' cycles lined up. Whenever I could, I would look around for a way to escape from the Pool. I had to disguise it like I was just taking a walk of course; but every three days I would play a bit of Final Fantasy, have lunch and actually enjoy being able to eat food on my own, and then case the Pool for anyway out. After six months of being voluntary and searching for a way out, I couldn't ever find anything.
My Yeerk, Inniss 5839, was in charge of recruiting new members at The Sharing. We would gain the trust of low lifes, losers, and the generally depressed and recruit them to the Yeerk cause. It was a weird balancing act the Yeerk would play. From prodding for info to giving just enough info to keep them interested. Then, when the Yeerk had them eating out of his hand, bad mouthing humanity, he would let them in on the secret. Then we would either infest them with the chair and sink contraption I was infested with; or we would take them straight to the Yeerk Pool under the city.
Today, we were taking a couple of voluntary hosts to receive their first Yeerk. The group of involuntary recruits had already started their way down before us. We were just waiting for them to clear the staircase before we headed downward. As I saw a girl get passed over to one of the godzilla things, I started ushering the new members down into the Yeerk Pool. I couldn't wait to try beating Final Fantasy VIII without leveling my characters. It was going to take some time.