Chapter 1 Beginnings
Author's Note:
Very first fanfic!
Let me know how I did :)
Also, as you all know, I don't own anything apart from my OCs.
There comes a time in a person's life where everything comes to a standstill.
A stop.
A time where everything they knew or thought they knew changed forever.
And at that time...
That stormy night...
...it was raining like hell, Sophie thought bitterly, and then swore as a large bullet of rain hit her in the eye.
"Ack!" she exclaimed as her vision blurred yet again and she felt her feet loose friction with the ground; arms cart wheeling uselessly in the air as she fell back onto her ass.
Sophie caught a throaty laugh that was barely heard against the rumbling of thunder. Using both hands, she pushed the soaked strands of straw-like hair away from her face and glared in Uncle Rob's general direction. Coincidentally, the sky suddenly lit up with a crack of lightening; the light reflecting eerily off the jagged shards of scrap metal and rusted down cars. A medium sized figure with a bulging stomach was briefly highlighted before the lightening rolled away into thunder.
"Come ON, Sparky!" he roared with his croaky voice, obviously grinning, "Stop messin' 'round!"
Sophie growled as she yanked herself from the mud; she could feel the sediment weighing down her once-kind-of-white-volleys as she began to pluck her way through the wreckage once again. Her head ached tightly between the eyes and she wasn't in the mood to deal with this crap."Says the idiot who wanted to come here in a lightening storm!" she yelled back, squinting her eyes against the rain, attempting to spot anything useful in the closest pile of discarded metal parts.
"What's the worst tha' could happen?!" he laughed again.
"Oh, yeah. What could possibly happen in a dump filled with electrical conductors!" Sophie tried to illiterate, anger bubbling inside of her, but the sharp wind snatched away her words. As if to prove her point, however, a flash of light split the sky and struck the ground not far from their location.
BOOM
The earth shook and they were both blinded.
"SHIT!"
"GUDDAM!"
A heavy rumble of thunder rolled away and Sophie blinked; not able to hear anything except the ringing in her ears and the panicked beat of her heart. She shook her head, the ringing slowly fading away and looked back up at Uncle Rob who was still standing on top of the scrap heap. Both of them frozen, staring at each other in shock, before Uncle Rob began to crack up, lifting his fat arms up to the heavens and yelling "Bring it!" in his stupid ass hillbilly accent, exhilarated.
Sophie lost it. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" She screamed in frustration, " I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF THIS STORM DOESN'T KNOCK YOU DEAD!", trying to heave up a chunk of brick and blindly throw it at him.
It missed, of course. Strength and grace had never been her strong point. On cue, Uncle Rob snorted another laugh like the pig he was and continued to clamber through the maze of junk, disappearing from view.
Sophie pressed both of her palms against her throbbing forehead, hard, before swerving away from the pile of trash she was inspecting to find him. "That fool," she muttered before stopping in her tracks.
There was a peculiar tugging sensation deep in her chest. It was faint, barely even susceptible, but it was there.
Sophie closed her eyes, and silently debated with her voice of reason, before sighing and turning to where the line was weakly pulling her.
She followed the tugs with practiced ease as they grew in strength, now feeling as though a thread was towing her through the labyrinth of metal bones. She glanced back once, a little hesitant to leave the idiot to his own devices, but continued on. She was getting closer; dark dialect of a foreign language was now wiggling across her peripheral vision.
Then she saw it.
Uncle Rob was waddling happily through the torrents of rain; while not having found much useful machinery yet, he was sure Sparky would spot something good for him. Nevertheless, he kept a wary blue eye out for other good for nothing scavengers, even though most would be too chicken-shit to brave the elements like him. Feel that wind! Breath that air! He would have to tell Sparky to quit being such a tight ass; she didn't know what she was missing.
Rob blinked from his thoughts as the sound of shifting metal caught his attention... And speak of the devil here she was now! Digging through a pile of rusted ground pegs for her dear old uncle.
He saddled up sneakily beside her, squinting down at her usually tall frame, and watched her shoveling through the scrap almost feverishly, putting aside the occasional part she deemed important enough to spare. "What ya' find?" he boomed across the howl of the wind.
She barely spared him a glance, suddenly gotten a good hold of something beneath the wreck. She dug her feet more firmly into the muck, bared her teeth, and heaved.
Rob, of course, observed her efforts for several minutes before clamping a meaty hand on her shoulder and pulling her and whatever she was grasping backwards.
Sparky gasped and fell back as a metal carcass landed on top of her, causing a mini cascade of nails and pegs to bounce down the pile.
Rob looked at her, let out a snort, then evaluated the solid piece of hardware she still gripped, stroking his superb beard thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. "What's with the crap?"
It was a motorcycle, or used to be. Both tires were bust and most of the casing and components were missing or seemingly torn out-
"-but the framework underneath still intact," she finished for him, little tike probably reading his mind.
Uncle Rob then paused and studied her suspiciously; he was always suspicious when she wasn't yelling at him. It meant she was up to something.
Rob waved a hand dismissively. "Still not worth it; it'll take time and money ta' fix that junk, and time and money is exactly why we're out here. We aren't lookin' for a bike anyways, Sparky-"
"-Sophie," she corrected automatically, then shook her head, frowning, "Look, Rob, I can make this work, you know I can and you don't even have to lift a finger."
He waited, considering.
Encouraged, she continued. "Think of it as...as a way for me to gain more experience; just a little repair project, nothing serious. And it won't interfere with my work at the shop." she added quickly.
Rob took his time, umming and arring, shifting his weight from one foot to another and scratching his stomach through his white singlet, all of which was drenched from the storm still raging around them. Then he smiled, and they swapped roles; Sparky looking instantly suspicious. "Sure," he agreed with a careless shrug.
She shifted a little from her position on the ground, hovering over the motorcycle a little protectively. "But...?"
His grin grew. "But you av' ta' drag it out of here by yereself,"
Her expression dropped like a stone. "What?" she spluttered, but Uncle Rob was already casually walking away whistling innocently as he went. Which was quite a feat considering the weather he thought.
"But you know I can't-" she started indignantly, but then stopped. She sighed and began again in a lower tone, "You have to leave the trailer here, alright? Right? Uncle Rob!"
And then he was gone.