A Moments Grace Continuity Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Hasbro's does.
Make it to your truck, that's all you have to do right now is just get to your truck and then drive home. I kept repeating that to myself as I made myself walk across that parking lot that felt like it was 5miles. There it was just a few more feet from me and then I wouldn't feel so exposed out here in the open. My hands shook slightly as I put the key in the lock, damn it I forgot the drivers side door was still broke. Walking around the front of my truck keeping a hand on the hood the entire time I made it to the passenger side door quickly unlocking it and scrambling up in it scooting over to the drivers seat.
I put the key in the ignition but didn't start it up just yet. Leaning my head back against the headrest I closed my eyes a moment taking deep breaths. Get a grip I mentally yelled at myself. Opening my eyes I started the engine turning the radio up; as I turned to check before backing out I couldn't help but sneak a glance at the yellow rescue hummer that sat innocently by the front doors. Turning my attention away I continued backing making my way out of the parking lot and into the busy afternoon traffic.
On the drive home I kept the radio turned up as far as possible refusing to think about what I had learned this afternoon. Parking my truck at the top of the drive I got out to open the gate and get the mail. When I got in the house Randy was laying on the couch watching some show. Dishes were piled in the sink and scattered across the room. Sighing I began rounding them up and placing them in the dishwasher. Heaven forbid he might strain something.
Grabbing the bottle of aspirin out of the cabinet I swallowed 3tablets hoping it would kill the pounding in my temple. Opening the fridge hoping to grab a bite to eat all I was met with was ketchup bottles an empty jug of milk and something fuzzy in a plastic container. Frustrated I shut the fridge door and went into my room to change.
Tossing my clothes across the room I stood there fuming. I was totally exasperated; this was ridiculous, this-this was beyond ridiculous. None of this really happened for crying out loud. Only in fiction stories and I was fairly certain my self and my life were indeed real. So that left me..where?
Grabbing my barn clothes I tugged them on as I headed out to the barn. The horses were all out grazing in the late afternoon sun; flies buzzed in the air and I could hear an eagle in the distance crying out. Entering the barn I turned the radio up and grabbed a rake to tidy up the aisle way.
I was about halfway through aware that it was getting close to feeding time when I felt someone grab me from behind. I screamed like my life depended on it throwing the rake off to the side. Twisting away and turning to face my attacker I was met with a red-faced hysterically laughing Kevin. I almost killed him.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing? You don't sneak up on a person like that!" I yelled angrily bending down and picking up my rake to continue my job.
"Haahaaa! Oh my god Heather that was hilarious you..you should have seen your face. Man I wish I would have had my camera with me." Kevin was still laughing, his eyes watering.
"Good thing you didn't; wouldn't want any evidence of my murdering you." I grumbled furiously raking the errant bits of hay up.
"Oh come on, you gotta admit it was funny though huh?!" he stopped to catch his breath trying to give me his most innocent smile.
"Not really" I said before throwing some hay at him. "So what brings you over, you know besides trying to give me a coronary."
"Actually I came over to thank you. I don't know what you said to that insurance guy but that agency was giving me crap about the wreck. Somehow they found out about the broken windshield wiper and tried to say the wreck was my fault. But after you talked to them they changed their minds and sent me this check. Look at this! I can get a pretty sweet ride now!" as he waived the checked around in front of my face.
Grabbing his hand so I could read the check I was a little surprised at the amount listed.
"Wow, man that is a pretty chunk. So what are you gonna get". I asked as I started scooping up the piles into the wheelbarrow.
"Not sure really. Were gonna go looking around tomorrow. So how are you doing anyways. Okay?" he asked leaning against a stall.
"Yeah, you know same old same old." I replied thinking if that included thinking you saw characters from a movie everywhere.
Kevin stayed around and helped me get the horses in for the evening and fed before he headed back home. Once back inside Randy was of course right where I had left him several hours earlier. I wonder if its possible for someone to turn into a slug. I already knew there wasn't anything in the fridge for supper so I didn't even bother to open it. Rummaging around in the cabinets did however provide some cans of spaghetti-ohs for dinner.
I was exhausted and decided to go ahead and turn in for the evening. Strangely enough though I found myself unable to sleep. After tossing and turning for awhile I went out into the living room and grabbed the laptop. Perched on the bed I turned it on waiting for it to boot up. My two dogs groaned and stretched before falling back asleep. Lucky mutts.
Finally my home page popped up and I began checking my email. More story alerts. Not really wanting to read any fan fiction feeling as if I had been in a middle of one all day I ignored them and began checking the rest of my mail.
After that was done I sat there staring at the screen. I was restless but I didn't really know what to do about it. I needed to do something but what? Hmm I wondered if?
Having a sudden thought I began typing a name into the search engine. The nurse said that she wasn't sure what hospital Doug Travis had transferred to but maybe that info would be on-line. I waited but it came back with no results. Okay, but it should have at least had something on him. My space, Face book,Twitter something; it couldn't just be coming up with nothing.
But those came up with no results either, okay so I'll just try something else. I was sure I would get a result with this one.
I went to our high school class site and typed in his name; nothing. It was like he really didn't even exist anymore. This wasn't right. I had just seen him, talked to him a few days ago. Hell I still had papers from the hospital with his name on them as the attending physician.
A sudden flare of anger seemed to grow in the pit of my stomach. This..this wasn't right, he hadn't done anything wrong. He warned me that's all. He thought he was helping me out.
Guilt rolled in my stomach making me feel ill. He had gotten into some trouble it seemed because of me. I had to fix this somehow...help him. But how?
I collapsed on the bed feeling drained and sick to my stomach and strangely enough still angry a little. There had to be a way. Sitting up I stared at the screen still displaying my email. There was the answer right in front of me. Doug had said that friend of his wrote stories on some fiction site so maybe he had written about his experiences too. If he did there would be an email address, maybe I could email him and tell him what had happened to his friend. He said that he had wanted more though, but what did that mean? Did they come to him with a deal or something.
Clicking on the link to the fiction site I began researching stories; I needed to go back a couple of years also. Maybe he had written about their own experience when it happened.
The hours on the clock ticked by as I read story after story. Anything that might resemble what my own experiences had been. But I was coming up empty so far, of course it would have helped if I knew what his name was I thought ruefully after going back to my searching. My eyes were starting to burn as I looked over at the clock. Great...in 4 hours I needed to be up for work.
Shutting the computer off I climbed out of bed switching the light off.
I don't know how I got through the day exactly; all I know was that I couldn't wait to get home . I felt like a zombie all day at work luckily no body harassed me too much. As climbed into my truck I was happy to notice that I hadn't spotted one odd looking car all day. Not that I was complaining any of course.
Surprising enough the rest of the week passed without incident. I quickly found myself falling into my old routine but that also found me most nights staying up too late browsing through the fiction sites trying to find a story that resembled what I was looking for. And each night I found myself coming up empty handed.
It was one night getting pretty late and I was just about ready to call it quits and get to bed when my computer dinged telling me I had an instant message. I accepted and waited to see who it was from.
"Hey there! Remember me? You were on here a few weeks ago on the story idea forum asking about an idea of yours. I've been waiting for you to post your story to see what you did with it but haven't seen it so far." PRT 02084
"Oh yeah, hi I remember you. Well I haven't exactly been able to get very far with it unfortunately." I quickly typed back.
"That's too bad. I actually thought you had a really interesting idea there. Where are you stuck on it maybe I can help?" PRT 02084
I rubbed my hand across my forehead "Umm well I guess just the whole thing. I don't know I may not continue with it."
"Oh come on now. It was really good I think you should."PRT 02084
"I don't know I'll think about it. It needs a lot of work before its ready for anybody to read."
"We'll if you need any help I'll be glad to give a hand. " PRT 02084
"Thanks I'll keep that in mind. Hey I was wondering if you happened to remember ever reading a story on here where two guys saw or maybe they met a transformer when they were on a fishing a fishing trip."
"No not that I can remember, why?" PRT 02084
"Oh well a friend recommended it is all and I can't seem to find it."
"Well do you know the authors name? That may help." PRT 02084
"No afraid not." I sighed at least it was worth a shot.
After saying bye and signing off I shut off the computer and crawled into bed, my sore muscles ached. I'd stayed up too late yet again and I had another long day of work to get through.
The next few days passed by with monotony; which was fine with me. I hadn't seen any 'familiar' cars in over a week now. My fears were slowly starting to subside it seemed as things slowly started to return to normalcy.
It was a Wednesday and I for once got to sleep in that morning. We were going to be doing inventory in the store so a group of us would be going in later that afternoon to get everything ready. Hopefully once the store closed for the night it wouldn't take but a few hours to get everything done. I sure didn't want to be out half the night doing inventory.
I took the dogs for a walk and cleaned out the stalls that morning before doing a little stuff around the house before I needed to leave for work. As I was putting a load of laundry in the washer Randy came walked through the door; tossing his keys on the table he flopped on the couch and turned the television on.
"Randy don't forget I have to work this evening, we're doing inventory so I need you to feed the horses and bring them in okay?" I called as I was measuring out the detergent.
"I knoooow. You told me this morning remember." he yelled back annoyed.
Sighing I went into my room to find something to wear to work. Half an hour later showered and dressed I headed out the door, I knew I should have left a little earlier. I was worried about running into the late afternoon traffic.
Thankfully I was only a few minutes late when I pulled into the parking lot. I couldn't help myself when I cast a quick glance across the street at the empty parking lot. Laughing a little at myself I headed inside to the long night that was ahead of me.
It was about 10:30 when we finally got done that evening; I was exhausted as the group of us walked out the doors to the dark parking lot. Man I hoped I could stay awake for the drive home. At least I was off the next day so I wouldn't have to worry about getting up early.
Getting into my truck I rolled the windows down and turned the volume up hoping it would help keep me awake. I pulled out and onto the highway thankful that the traffic was light.
It was about 15 minutes into my drive home and I was totally oblivious to anything else as I sang along to the radio. It was a few minutes till I noticed the car that was following so close behind me. I was going the speed limit and there wasn't any traffic coming from the other direction so I wasn't really sure why he just didn't pass already.
The car continued to follow me; not right on my bumper but very close to it. Okay so lets try a little test, I put on my turn signal and pulled into a gas station just ahead. And so did the car behind me. Not really needing any gas as I had filled it up yesterday I went inside and got a diet coke and candy bar. The car sat parked two cars down from me, its engine still running. Fumbling a little with my keys I got into my truck and started it up backing it up slowly. The dark colored sports looking car did the same thing.
Okay so this was a little odd. But at least I had my cell phone so I could call if I needed to. The car continued to follow me as I headed back onto the highway. A turn was coming up that was a back way home; it took a little longer but maybe he would turn or I could lose him. Speeding up a little not even turning on my turn signal I gunned it as I made the turn and sped down the little back-road. I could hear the sports car as he accelerated quickly catching up with me. Now I was getting a little scared.
The road sped by me on both sides, it was mostly farm country out here so there wasn't alot of homes around. Plus the added worry of deer jumping out into the road. The sports car kept right on my tail not letting me gain an inch. I was going about 55 now and the speed limit was only 35. I thought about calling 911 but I wasn't really sure what to say to them.
Hi there's a strange car following me. Yeah that sounded sane.
I needed to call someone though. Reaching across the seat I scrambled in my purse trying to locate my cell phone while keeping an eye on the road and on the car following me. Finally locating it I flipped it open with my chin and scrolled down till I found the number I was looking for. I knew it was late so I hoped someone would be up. It rang about 3 times before anyone picked up.
"Hello?" I heard Kevin ask questioningly to whoever would be calling at this hour.
"Kevin its me. Umm I don't know but I may be in some trouble. There's this car that's been following me for past few miles and I wasn't sure about calling the police." I kept glancing in my review mirror as I hurriedly tried to explain.
"Where are you at now?" I heard him also explaining the situation to someone else.
"I'm on Grafe rd. almost to the little bridge there across the big stream." I kept hoping that I would spot another headlight any moment now.
"Okay you head in my direction okay? We're on our way, you call again if he does anything; just try to stay ahead of him." I could hear him getting in a vehicle and the engine starting.
Shutting my phone I turned my attention to the road once again. Once I crossed this bridge I needed to turn left to head towards Kevin's families farm. My hands where sweaty on the steering wheel as I slowed down a bit to cross the bridge, the car behind me slowed down as well. Turning left immediately I sped towards my safe haven. The car ahead of me accelerated right on cue.
After about 10 minutes that seemed like an hour I spotted a pair of fast approaching headlights. Praying silently that it was Kevin I glanced in my mirror to see the car still behind me.
Loud honking could be heard as the oncoming car picked up more speed; as it sped by me he braked suddenly and turned his tires squeeling as he made a bee line for my persuer. Still honking incessently he pulled next to the car as I spotted someone lean out of the window and start yelling at the car behind me.
Spotting the drive to coming up to their farthest out hay barn I pulled in and stopped as the car behind me drove past but then stopped and spun around to face Kevin and his passenger in their truck. He had pulled up and stopped right behind me as Kevin got out of the truck the driver who I now recognized as his older brother sat there gunning his engine staring down the other car. Keving jogged over quickly to the drivers side as I rolled down the window.
"You alright?" he asked looking skeptically at me.
"Yeah I think so" I answered shakily staring at the sports car. "What's he doing anyway?" I whispered.
"Don't have a clue, here scoot over" as I pushed the door over for him to climb up into the drivers seat.
The car sat there for several tense moments his engine revving before he abruptly turned and sped off his tires squeeling. We watched as his tailights disappeared in the night.
"What the hell was that all about?" Joey asked as he got out his truck and walked over to us. "Hey Heather you alright?"
"Yeah, just spooked is all. Thanks you guys for coming I didn't really know what to do." I looked at them both leaning over and giving Kevin a hug.
"Not a problem. Just want to know who the psycho was though. You probably need to report this though just in case its some nutcase on the loose." Joey continued to stare down the road where the car had disappeared.
"I will tomorrow, first I'm going home and sleeping maybe till noon." I sighed leaning my head back against the headrest.
"Not by yourself your not" Kevin turned to give me a glare.
"Randy's there and besides the guys gone so its alright now." I finally turned to look at him to see him giving me a look.
"Well I'm coming with you. I'll sleep on the couch just in case he comes back." he answered in voice that told me he didn't care if I wanted him to or not he was still doing it.
"And I'm coming to keep an eye on both of you so there. You know how mom is about her little boy especially since that wreck you had a little while back." Joey grinned mischievously back at his little brother.
Sighing knowing there was no since in arguing with either one of them since I'd known them most of my life "Fine you can both stay, the couch folds out and I think theres a camping cot in the closet too." All I wanted was to get home and climb into my nice soft comfy bed and sink into oblivion.
Kevin started up the truck as Joey jogged back to his truck and pulled out following us as we back tracked towards my home. I leaned my head against the window struggling to stay awake; the terror from earlier had left me totally drained.
