"Mom! Who the hell is that?!"
OST for humor moments: "Fluffing a Duck" by Kevin MacLeod
I woke from a slumber I wasn't aware of having been in and rubbed my eyes and then the curves of my face, massaging them in an attempt to relieve morning stress, but felt slickness. Damn, burn creme and damn you, howler; I already miss that alarm clock. There was a shuffle of fabric and I turned my head to see a boy a few years senior to me positioning himself a few feet away from me with his arms in mid-flail. He seriously looked like I could pounce him if I wanted to. I probably looked like a wounded animal with the salve over the healing burns. Rubbing my eyes again and placing my glasses, which were clipped to the seam of my shirt, back on my face, I nearly jumped back from the edge of the couch and crashed myself onto the wall. The teenager was the spitting image of Shia Labeouf for gods' sake!
"Samuel! Is that any way to greet a girl?!" Judy walked into the living room, which was currently my sleeping quarters, and chided the Labeouf-look-alike without his beard - as if unbeknownst he was a major celebrity. Oh right, this is an alternate reality where fictional characters are real. He's Samuel... Wickedy? No, Witwicky, if I remember correctly. Judy and Samuel's attention then spun back to me when the older Witwicky suggested her son to properly introduce himself.
To my amusement, the teen spazzed a bit and then shakily held up a hand. Oh, he's not used to girls other than his mom. I gave him a small smile and shook his hand with a bit vigor.
"Hi, I'm Nyla Conners. I'll be staying at your place for a while until I can find a respectable place to work and, hopefully, my own place to call home."
Taking his time to process my situation, Sam genuinely smiled and said, "Samuel Witwicky - but you can just call me Sam."
Judy then cut in, "I forgot! I didn't introduce myself once meeting you! Silly me!" Shaking my hand briskly yet hard with her excitement, she greeted me, "I'm Judy Witwicky, and I'm glad you two got to finally meet. Ron, my husband, and I had discussed earlier this morning that since you have no place to go back to, you can stay here; employed or not. We'd be happy to accommodate you, and you seem like a nice girl who just needs to take in Nevada territory."
"N-No! I can't do that to you! Plus, I'd most likely trouble you, and that's not the brightest side for both of us," I stumbled through my words and noticed Sam's eyebrow's furrowing in curiosity over my so-called "problems."
"But you can just be our gardener! After all, it takes more than these wrinkly hands to make sure my pride is at its greenest!" Judy jovially raised her hands to show its coarseness, despite how there was little to none, and gestured to the yard where there was a stone path, a fountain, and flowers.
"What are you saying, Judy?" Ron walked into our conversation from the back of the house, "Nyla can't spend her days gardening 'til her back is broken by the time she enters college! Besides she's got those burns to worry about; no need to add fire to the flame."
"Hmph! Three boys and one girl in this house," my slight confusion at the mention of a fourth person was perceived by Judy, who clarified, "Mojo, our Chihuahua."
Oh, right. The one that pees on Ironhide. I knew the main Autobots by heart, but my knowledge in anime was far stronger than western films.
"What does it take to have a girl-friend around here?" Sam choked at Judy's remark, probably thinking about how lesbian the phrase sounded when she emphasized "girl-friend". Ron didn't look the least bit peeved.
"It's fine, Judy. I'll find something to do here," I assured her, albeit vainly. I was clueless as to what I wanted to be once I reached adulthood even in my world. I looked at a Chihuahua speedily trotting on his paws and instantly reminisced Elena's excitement over her terrier's wedding. No depressing thoughts now, Nyl. I mentally shook myself. While the possibility of never seeing Elena, Roger, or my family again plagued my conscience, I couldn't afford to breakdown now. Too much happening too fast, I thought, recounting last nights events and turmoil. If this continues, I won't -
"Nyla?" I spluttered myself awake from my internal conflict, realizing Ron and Judy staring at me with slight worry. They shouldn't be so caring to a stranger like me, I bitterly thought.
"Sorry, it's just that everything's happening so fast. With me being amnesiac, I'm not sure how helpful I can be or how capable I am of to do anything," I smoothly explained my true feelings, well most of them. I'm so underhanded.
"Don't worry about that so much!" Ron rested a hand on my shoulder, like a father would to a child, "You have - What? - three years to decide your future?"
I blinked, surprised he remembered my age from last night's events.
Knowingly, I grinned at his antics to ease my conflicting mind, "And isn't that like - What? - over 1000 days? I'm sure by the 1000th day, I'll be in Russia playing an accordion while freezing my ass off."
I instantly slapped a hand over my mouth, realizing the sarcasm and vulgarity at the last part.
But Judy gave out a huff of laughter, "And what? Dress up as a Matryoshka?" the woman slapped her thigh and cackled. Even Sam snickered, obviously imagining me wearing old-style doll makeup and a giant bib over an hour-glass-shaped dress.
My face reddened when Ron finally chuckled,"With more wit like that, you might as well be mistaken for a Witwicky."
"Come on, sweetheart. Let's put some more lotion on those wounds," Judy giddily began guiding me back to the house. I looked over my shoulder to Ron and mentally asked, "Really?" I mean, unless this was really unscented lotion, this was burn salve. Ron only shrugged in response. My eyes immediately strained, raising eyelids in the most expressive way of utmost horror of what will become of condition with Judy as my nurse.
~*/*/*/*/*~
I spent a week searching for any resemblance of my past, my friends, my family, and the incident to the alternate reality here so that I can find an alternate-me. I discovered that it was 2006 now - a year before the first movie came. I looked up all the old houses I had lived in my reality and saw different houses and streets. My school doesn't exist: I looked up the address and found an old daycare instead. Then I looked up indoor lab failures in public schools that killed a female student, and received zilch. I tried male afterwards, and found an article on a teacher who died due to a lab accident near Tranquility. Sure, I could be an old dude. Why not?
I instantly gave up on the search and wallowed in a state of absent-mindedness and extreme depression. I had no idea how much energy I had in me to keep smiling. Despite repeating over the fact that I would never see everyone again, I reasoned myself that I had to look onto a future for myself here in this dimension. Seeing Judy and Ron so anxious over my turmoil, with the sliver of regret on their faces - How can I not smile when these people have put their happiness on the line for me? That was where Sam became my therapist unconsciously. Rather, Sam instantly became my older brother. After a month living with the Witwickys and nights of bonding time with him, he knew when I was down and how to make me laugh for a straight fifteen minutes. Unknowingly devoted to his name, Sam's moments of sass and spazz were on par with Roger's moments. Because of their similarities, I refused to think of Sam as my best friend's replacement. My heart just couldn't take it. Despite my fear of seeing Sam as a substitute, I remained his friend even at his darker hours, like when he started getting depressed from all the harassment operated by a certain "Trent" and members of the football team. The older teen stayed on his toes thanks to my presence and his aspirations to be Mikaela Banes future boyfriend. The aftermath of that phase of self-change was us become even more closer together in spite of the little time we had spent together, especially when I was on what seemed like an eternal job hunt.
It was because of Sam that I was able to find a job as a local traveling tutor who teaches middle-schoolers chemistry and biology. Thanks to Sam, he allowed me access to some his assignments and textbooks since I had to spend most of the time at... home. Yeah, it sounds about right. Because I was constantly moving, though, I had very small social circles. Judy and Ron attempted to solve my social deviation by inviting over people my age. I didn't mind their schemes, but in the end, I only made few friends. Besides, outta' sight, outta' mind; my tasking tutoring sessions made up most of my time. As much as forcing myself in seclusion never dwelled well on my slightly extrovert personality, I needed to keep a low profile so as to not have an interrogation from nosy people. This was after all a neighborhood, and the Witwickys were pretty open people.
My presence here especially changed the Witwickys' life. Compared to the movies, Sam became much cleaner and definitely showed less grease on his skin as did the boy I met in 2006. He even started adopting the buzz-cut! Judy became much more sociable with several neighbors due to my tutor-student relationships with their children, and the neighborhood saw the wild fun in the middle-aged woman. Ron, apparently, grew much more verbally open about his intentions behind his actions like pranks or teases that unnerved Sam and me. Hell, compared to my own dad, he said "please", "sorry", and "thank you" much more sincerely and frequently. This, in turn, made him appear less of an asshole to Sam. Actually, he's still an asshole, but a pretty nice asshole to hang around with. The Witwicky boy may be insistent, but I could tell he liked this development on his parents and himself.
Miles, Sam's supposed bro, met me through pure accident. Imagine a girl walking down the street, calm and collected, until she finds a dog bounding to her. In self-defense, she lifted her leg to kick the dog, but was knocked the wind out of her by the friendly fire of a paintball gun belonging to Miles. Sam was livid at the fist-sized bruise on my right hip. Miles, who was apparently targeting the dog under the belief that was trying to attack a victim of a house fire, shot and missed. The guy desperately asked for forgiveness and suggested that I would make him his slave. Seeing how unnecessary the idea was and how adamant he was to preserve his friendship with Sam, I, of course, forgave him but told him to be my best friend in return. The guy was so happy, he dared to kiss me on the cheek, causing Sam to chase him around the Witwickys' yard for a good hour. Why didn't he join football if he can run that fast and tackle Miles? Oh, right...
Miles became quick friends with Sam. However when he displayed his... uniqueness through tree climbing, cartwheeling, jumping jacks, and other aerobic activities in broad daylight and public places, Sam began worrying about his social life and compatibility with girls. One time, he had nearly snapped Miles's head off when Trent accused the two boys as gays during a PE lesson. The asshole, who was greatly amused with Sam's fury, persuaded Sam to hang around with the douche. At first, Sam thought this would be a chance to gain Mikaela's attention - and boy, how wrong he was. He instead became a walking wallet and a stress ball for Trent and his gang after some time of scripted bromance. Frustrated over his complex and naivety, I literally slammed Sam's pride down the gutter and did an angry review on his actions to the point of which my voice drowned out metal music and scared Mojo off to the next block with Judy running after him. I convinced the poor Witwicky to apologize to the heart-broken Miles. Neither of his parents, who both saw that my anger towards their son was one that had pure intention, defended him or stopped me in my rage mode. Sam would never live down his douchey attitude towards Miles, who was probably the first ever true friend he had. Afterward, Sam treated Miles, albeit better than he did in the movie.
Thus, us, the trio, were stuck like glue despite me being younger than the both of them. I saw both Sam and Miles as older brothers. Sam returned the sibling love. Miles - he had the smallest crush on me but finally told me that he'd never see me like that unless I saw him as more than a friend; he would probably fall for me again. I would have cooed at how sweet he told me that, if only he weren't climbing a tree at that moment. But in the end, I never developed romantic feelings for Miles. I wasn't ready for any relationships otherwise.
In about half a year, my burns cooled their redness back to peach. If a person looked at me at mere millimeters from my face, he or she would notice the slightly unmatched areas where they belonged. In addition, I matured. My dark hair was shortened up to my trapezes while my bangs where cut up to my chin and then in symmetrical layers. Because of the humidity in Nevada, the locks tended to curl of their own record. Judy called the look cute and perfectly fitting for me. All the walking and small meals for being a mobile tutor enabled me to gain delicate muscles and slightly more defined cheek bones. In addition, I lost weight considerably - from 121 to 98, which leaned to the lighter side for a 5' 3" girl like me, in half a year. I preserved my fashion style, though. I kept wearing a collared button up with either jeans or capris. My black sneakers remained intact and almost brand-new because of my devotion to keep them clean. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep my sweater forever. It still hangs on the coat hanger with Ron's poncho as its companion.
Judy complained about my demands for sunblock, saying that a tan wouldn't be that bad for me. I never liked having a tan because I liked my mother's peach-tone due to her Indonesian lineage and I worried that the areas where my burns were would be resurrected to their angry red. Sam, seeing my distress, bought me sunblock and an umbrella. Because I wanted my umbrella to be original, I took it into my own hands to decorate the inside a bright blue sky with clouds. To say I was the topic of the road was an understatement; drivers still look in awe at "Tranquility's Mary Poppins." The rumor spreads every now and then that Miles would often pop in "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" whenever he comes over to the house or describes the weather.
My electronic devices weren't hard to charge. My Walkman was a USB device. Finding a power feeder for my Nokia Lumia was harder until I researched that the Kindle first-generation resembled my own Nokia charger. Thus, a trip to the electronics store never brought suspicion to Sam. He still didn't hear my made-up story from Ron and Judy, but was smart enough to know that it was a sensitive topic for me. After all, I was still coping.
Strangely, though expected, my songs were still saved in both devices. The WiFi belonged to this universe, so everything based on Internet access and the Cloud from my world - like my comic book library, non-re-uploaded ebooks, and my digital art Sketch app - were gone. I guess I can start from scratch, but my comics were my golden ticket to paradise on a comfy bed.
Life continued on as tranquil as the city promised. I didn't care how much Sam complained about how boring it was. It was an alright place to be called a sanctuary for an inter-dimensional traveler. However, its because of my awareness of being inter-dimensional that reminded me of the upcoming obstacles and struggles Sam and Mikaela must face with the Autobots just as 2007 arrives. The more the calendar pages piled in the trash, the more gut-wrenching I feel, and the more often I kept reminding myself not to jinx myself every night I clung to the apprehension of the near future.
Outro Music: "Haunted" by Halsey