A cloud of dizziness shrouded my head, and I felt like I was on a ship standing on tumultuous tides. Everything around me swayed as I tried to wake up. Oddly enough, the feeling was similar to the one when you got yourself drunk and then tried to sleep, and then felt the whole room turning around. Other than feeling like your head would sway off the bed, it also made you feel sick, as if you would throw up. My whole body felt crushingly sore, my torso ached dully in the middle and I felt as good as a corpse. After what seemed like five minutes of me waking up and stopping to stir pointlessly in my bed, I opened my eyes.
I saw a lot of men in my room, and thankfully, I recognized them instantly.
Doctor Ratchet poked me in my hurt ribs. "Ow!" I screamed. The whole area starting pulsing with pain as I started to feel sick again. Saliva piled up in my mouth, my throat became drier and I even started looking around for a bucket to throw up in.
"Still tender." The doctor pulled away from my sensitive rib and I realized that my uncle was holding me by the armpits, not letting me lie down on the bed. Which was odd, and only added to my disorientation and confusion.
Sighing poignantly in my sit up position, my eyes looked up to the ceiling.
Who was my guardian angel up there, who was so intent on keeping me alive? Why didn't they just let me die? It would have made everything so much easier, less painful, shorter.
"She has a slight fever, sadly, a cracked rib and heavy bruising. There is also minor swelling on her body, especially around the chest, arm and leg area, because of her external injuries. The fever has been acquired during her twelve hour sleep, so I will initiate adequate medication immediately." Ratchet finished his wound roster, and I felt as if I was in a fight and got my ass handed to me.
But his would roster made me think. Have I really been sleeping for that long? The last thing I remember was Ron putting me in his truck, shortly after I kissed him.
Wait…
I kissed Ron!
I didn't mean to do it, but my body reacted on its own. His lips were just so soft and warm and…
"How can we help her?" My uncle's voice cut off my thoughts, thankfully, when he addressed the doctor. His voice displayed worry, disappointment and seriousness, as he let me go and watched me sit up on my own. I felt like as fragile as an innocent lamb.
"There's not much you can do. All I can do is to bandage her up. Sarah should make her some tea and soup, warm liquids soothe human organs." The doctor said as his eye caught something on the inside of my arm. I almost wanted to laugh when the doctor said 'human organs'. Sometimes my uncle's friends say very odd things that they don't care to explain.
My neck hurt too much to turn it to the side and see what the doctor saw on my arm. He pulled up the sleeves of my T-shirt and apparently saw more of whatever he saw in the first place, the further he was going towards my chest. "Will, could you lift her shirt up?" Doctor Ratchet asked.
My uncle nodded and lifted my cotton shirt up to just below my breasts. Will didn't lift it any more than that. The moment the shirt was lifted, pure silence ensued and all the men stared at my stomach.
"My God…" My uncle whispered as I straightened up on the bed. His gasps and whispers really worried me, sending cold chills down my body, fearing that something really bad happened to me, or that I suffered permanent damage.
"It could be worse." Doctor Ratchet said as I bowed my head to look at myself. My stomach was purple in the area around the bellybutton, with dark blue, almost purple veins that popped out and expanded outwards, like branches of a tree. There were plenty olive colored and yellow bruises around my ribs, along with blood crusted wounds on some parts of my back and ribs. I looked as colorful as a freakish clown.
An adrenaline-fueled type of fear set itself into my veins, and I could feel those very veins pulsing around my stomach. The feeling was so unnatural, disturbing and frightening, as the fear rose up to my chest. Doctor Ratchet started to bandage me up, starting with my forearms and progressing onto my stomach. I yelped once the bandages started to tighten.
"Uncle Will, I'm scared." I looked up to him with tearful eyes. Veins don't pulse like that, and I was afraid that maybe my wounds were way more serious than they let on.
"You will be okay, Melissa." My uncle nodded his head. "Doctor Ratchet is the best one there is. He'll fix this."
"As he always does." Doctor Ratchet grumbled as he tightened the bandage way too much. I let out a sharp and short scream.
"Easy, Ratchet." I jumped up at hearing Ron's voice behind me. That meant that he was on my bed, just sitting behind me. I froze in place as a cold shiver went down my body, leaving odd and excited tingles as its trail. That confused me greatly, because how could Ron... Be behind me, on my bed?
I only gulped, trying to remain calm and not to blush and look like a tomato. Doctor Ratchet accidentally tightened the bandages too hard around my torso, causing me to gasp for air and I jostled instinctively. My chest began to throb painfully at the very sudden movement, as if somebody dug a sharp knife very near my heart and started twisting it around. I grabbed my chest, bending over in pain and let out a groan. Ron's hands were immediately on my forearms, his grip the only thing keeping me from falling off the bed and ending up on the floor. I inhaled deeply, trying to regain control, but it only made things worse.
Agony ripped through my body when I over-expanded my chest.
"Try to breathe normally." Doctor Ratchet's wise voice said, though I only heard it as a whisper.
This was even worse than when I broke my collarbone. I used my torso in every movement. Still, I tried to breathe, but the agony that ripped through my chest every single time I took a breath was too much. There was no painless way to get enough air into my chest. I started suffocating, with panic shortly ensuing. I was going to die of hyperventilation!
"Shh…" Ron whispered into my ear behind me. His cheek pressed lightly against my ruffled hair and then, very gently, he swayed us from side to side, also very slowly. Suddenly, it was like I was thrown in another dimension. The movement should have hurt me, but it did the exact opposite. Instead, the movement was slow, rhythmic and gentle, coupled with the warmth of his body, it eased the throbbing pain and my breathing started to level out. I don't know how he managed to do this, but I knew that I had to thank him later for it.
A sharp needle suddenly struck my right arm.
"Continue breathing." Doctor Ratchet reminded me softly as I looked at him with irritation in my eyes. What if the only reason Ron calmed me down was for Dr Ratchet to strike a needle in me?
I stifled a groan by biting my tongue, trying to push those thoughts away.
"Don't worry, you're in good hands." My uncle assured me from a distance of around four feet, where he was standing near Optimus, who was standing near the threshold of my room. "Ratchet's the best there is." Will seemed to be saying that a lot, that Dr Ratchet was the best there is. I wondered if he was saying that to calm me or himself?
I looked from my uncle to Optimus, who was standing right next to him, wearing a red military beret on his head. It looked cool.
"Nice… hat." I said and yawned shortly afterwards. Optimus chuckled and nodded as a form of 'thank you'. I started feeling really tired.
"I gave her an anesthetic. It's going to put her to sleep multiple times." Dr Ratchet explained. Well, now I know why I'm sleepy.
But why do I need an anesthetic?
"What do you mean 'multiple times'?" Will asked as I started to relax, my back slowly bending forwards.
"She's going to be in and out of sleep a couple of times. It's for us to track how her body is coping with the… wounds." The doctor replied as Will nodded, and I had a feeling like there was more than just wounds they wanted to keep track of. My uncle seemed very trusting when it came to Dr Ratchet's prescriptions and techniques. I felt my arms go limp and that I could no longer support my torso. I yawned tiredly, the anesthetic relaxing my tense muscles more.
"Relax and lie down." Ron said, but he didn't move. He seemed oddly tense himself, but maybe it's because he screwed up with this whole guardian thing. I honestly didn't even think he would guard me, but… now, surely it feels comforting knowing I have someone to take care of me when I'm not able to take care of myself.
I felt my muscles relax and the pain in my chest ebb away ever so slowly. I leaned backwards to lie on my bed, but I knew that I landed on Ron's chest behind me instead. The good thing was that he was warm. I felt my head hang back beyond my will and my eyes close on their own, as well. My head turned to the side, resting on his soft chest. I wondered why my uncle didn't say anything, or why he thought this wasn't weird.
My whole body started going limp as a faint, dull noise settled itself into my ears. I started hearing less and less, the sound fading out.
As if on cue, I heard my uncle's voice in the room, but it started fading out too as I slowly lost consciousness. "How coul- yo-... –et this happe-, Ironhi-?"
That's when I completely fell asleep.
What felt to me like only a couple of seconds, to the outside world it could have been hours that passed. I woke up on my own, without even stirring in my bed, because I truly wanted to continue sleeping. I felt neither hungry nor thirsty. Sleep was the only thing I truly craved right now.
"What's going on at the base?" A voice said, but couldn't register in time who said it. I yawned and opened my eyes slowly, looking for the source of the voice wordlessly. Will, Optimus, Dr Ratchet and Ron were talking to each another, although they didn't notice me wake up. Ron wasn't behind my back anymore, instead, he moved away from the bed and was standing adjacent to the rest of the grown men, which was in the north corner of my bedroom, near my desk.
"It appears there was a jet flying around the vicinity of the town multiple times. We detected a Cybertronian signature, which showed it was Starscream." Optimus's voice said in a serious voice, looking at the other three men.
What's a Starscream? And Cyber signature?
Ron growled, punching his fist into his palm. "It's my fault the Decepticons know about her."
"Ironhide, I know you're concerned, but right now that isn't helping matters." My uncle added.
"I shouldn't have let her go unprotected." Ron said.
"Agonizing over what has happened will not bring us anywhere." Optimus replied, giving Ron a hard look. There seemed to be some more history between the two, or maybe even events that happened that I didn't know about.
The anesthetic kicked in again, and I felt my eyes close on their own, as the warm cushions and blanket started getting comfier, lulling me to sleep.
"I will… rip spark… fragging… Decepticon…" Ron's voice became but a mere whisper and the darkness took me in.
"Come on, time to wake up." An incessant, gentle patting on my cheeks woke me up.
"Nnn…" I moaned and shook my head slowly, not wanting to open my eyes. Why wouldn't they just let me have my rest?'
"You didn't eat anything. You need nourishment." I realized that this was Ron's voice.
"Not… hungry." I replied dully. Ron patted my cheeks gently, as if to finally wake me up. When he saw that I wasn't cooperating, he slid his large hand under my lower back and gently lifted me up to a sitting position. I groaned as he lifted me, feeling like I was a rag doll, completely restrained from using my torso. "Did you… have to do that?" I said, breathing with difficulty because of the tight bandaging that now started squeezing me uncomfortably from every side as I was sitting up. A light dizziness accompanied me, but soon went away.
"Yes, now eat." He said and put a bowl of soup on my lap. He handed me a spoon, but I couldn't move an inch. "Can you manage?" He asked, eyeing me up and down. I shook my head slightly before he sighed. He moved my legs to the side of the bed, one-handedly with such ease, and sat on my bed. He took the bowl into his hand and the spoon in his other. He fiddled with the spoon until he got it the right way in his hand.
He carefully put the bowl under my chin and put the spoon in it. He retracted the spoon, but the soup managed to get away. He tried a couple of times, before he got a bit of soup to stay in the spoon. I smiled, finding this funny. It was as if he was holding a spoon in his hand for the first time in his life.
He carefully put the spoon in my mouth and I slurped it. I immediately recognized that it was Sarah's special chicken soup, that she used for whenever someone had a cold or was just sick in general. It was warm and very tasty.
"It's delicious." I said, as he took another spoonful and put it in my mouth.
"Sarah is the one who made it." He said quietly.
"No shit, and I thought you could cook." I tried to be light, and surprisingly it worked, as he chuckled, albeit slightly. It took some time until he was done feeding me. He put the empty bowl and spoon on my bedside table.
"Are you feeling well?" He asked me.
"Yeah, thanks for feeding me." That sounded rather peculiar saying it out loud.
"Rest now." He left my room without another word after that.
Why does someone always have to wake me up just when I fall asleep?
"Come on, get up."
"No." I opened my eyes.
"I don't believe I asked you a question." Ron sat on my bed.
"You didn't have to. I just ate and I want to sleep."
"Well, you can't." He mocked playfully, as if somehow knowing that good humor made me feel better.
"Says who?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Says Ratchet." He put his hand on my forehead. His hand was soft and warm and my forehead tingled. "Your temperature has raised." He said and retracted his arm. I hadn't realized I stopped breathing until my lungs began to hurt. My forehead still tingled.
But I had an unanswered question this whole time. How did Ron manage to find me after the robot fight? How did he know exactly where I was?
"Uh, Ron?"
"Yes?" He said as he gave me another shot of what I only presumed was a sleeping medicament for me to go back to sleep. But I didn't want to go to sleep just yet.
"How did you find me?" I asked and he gave me a confused look, before tapping my forehead with his finger.
He answered. "Are your processors glitching? You're right in front of me."
What? "No, I mean when that… when that black robot came, how'd you know where to find me?"
He was silent and I could almost see the cogs turning in his head. "I… saw you?" He weakly offered.
"Nice delay, Ron."
"All you need to worry about now is rest." He evaded the topic, trying to get up from my bed and go away. I gripped his arm and held him down. I was surprised that I still had some strength left in me.
"Why was that robot after me?" I demanded, but he sighed. I felt the sleeping medicament starting to work on me as I lessened my grip on his arm, and eventually let go.
"Your bio-signature is close to that of Will's."
My what is who's, huh?
I looked at him very confusedly.
He started elaborating "That robot, the black one that you speak of, most probably wanted to take you as hostage so that he could trap the Aut- I mean, the military, and then later ransom you for intelligence, which they would later use for the destruction of your plan..."
Why did he have to say so many things?
"You're not listening." He declared, giving me a look of disappointment, but I gave a shrug in turn.
"I'm trying, but I'm not really understanding why me?" I repeated. "What do I have to with the military, the robot, and any kind of intelligence?" I started losing sense of what I was saying. Perhaps he meant that the robot would threaten to kill me to get intelligence from the military. Oh man, my brain was becoming slower by the minute.
Ron sighed, getting up from my bed and going for the door. "I'll explain once you start feeling better and can actually focus on what I'm saying."
Well, I certainly knew he wasn't known for his patience.
Which reminded me that I still had a few unanswered questions.
"Ron, what's a Starfreak?" He turned around, giving me a very confused look. It took him a moment to catch on. I knew I'd fall asleep soon.
"Ice-cream?" He guessed, although I may have heard that wrong.
My heard started spinning slightly as sounds became harder to make out. "No, I'm not talking about ice cream." Though I was craving something sweet now.
He came back to my bed and shook his head, chuckling, as he crossed his arms. "No, Star – Scream. How do you even know about him?"
"Starscream, Decepticons, Ironhide, they're all such weird names." I waved him off with a hand, slowly becoming dizzier, less aware of the bullshit I was saying, and just waiting for the drugs to fully kick in.
"What's wrong with the name Ironhide?" He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. Apparently, I was a talent for pushing buttons.
"What's the big idea?" I asked.
"There are some things you couldn't possibly comprehend." He sighed. Well, in this state of mind and body, I couldn't possibly comprehend anything.
And when I didn't understand something, I immediately took it to heart and received it as a personal offense. More often than not, I usually get offended by things people don't even say, but allude to instead, but whatever.
"You're calling me stupid?" I gave him the eyebrow as my head slowly started to sway.
"Naïve." He corrected, although I could see the hint of a smirk on the corner of the lips. He was amused by my lack of control and the utter stupidities I was blabbering.
"Listen, I heard you talking about Star-cream…" I yawned and he chuckled again. "Hey, didn't that guy… um… with the... ah-the hat…" What the heck did Ratchet tell Ron to give me? "Didn't he mention Star-fleas or something?"
He stood silent for a moment, rewinding the conversation in his head. "Do you mean Optimus?" Oh yeah, maybe Optimus had the hat, but it was all so blurry in my mind that I was just waiting to doze off.
"Yea-maybe... I dunno." I whined. I could event remember what I was talking about anymore.
"I think Ratchet over-drugged you." He said as he looked at the empty injection vile in his hand, and then stashed it back in his jacket pocket.
"Meh." I shrugged, giving him a drunk smile, even though I wasn't inebriated the slightest. He ruffled my hair and left my room silently, turning off the lights behind him and closing the door softly.
Waking up, for the first time in a long time, it felt like a slept a whole week. But also, it made me feel very well rested, which was also a first. When I opened my eyes, I saw Ron by my side, sitting in a chair next to me, seemingly deeply thinking about something.
"Hey, Ron." I muttered out, my voice deeper than usual because I just woke from my sleep.
He looked at me and offered a weak, kind smile. He didn't seem too happy today. "How are you feeling?" Ron asked me.
"I'm feeling alright, I guess. Whatever drugs Dr Ratchet prescribed are working, I'm not hurting as much anymore."
"Good." He nodded. There was an awful silence in the house.
"Where is everyone?" I asked. "It's really quiet today here."
"Will and Sarah are organizing something. I have to monitor your condition and give you more medicine when needed, before we leave."
"How long was I sleeping?" And second question, leave where?
"About two days."
My mouth hung open after hearing that. "And nobody was concerned?"
Ron gave me a hard look. "Our concern was that you stay alive, we didn't care how long you were sleeping. Don't you think we wanted you to sleep in the first place?"
Well, the guy surely loved arguing and making a point. But I understood his reasoning, Dr Ratchet did want me to go 'in and out of sleep multiple times' as he put it. Perhaps they did some treatments while I was out.
"Ron, do you mind going downstairs?" I asked him.
"I do mind." He replied.
I rolled my eyes. "I have to go to the bathroom and get dressed. I really don't want you seeing my PJs and me naked in a towel."
He seemed to understand what I was saying. "Right. I'll be around. Let me know when you're finished, I have something important to tell you."
I nodded simply as he got up from the chair and left my room, leaving me to find clean clothes in my closet and go to the bathroom to wash myself. I must have smelled horribly, since I didn't shower in two days.
When I got up from the bed, there was some pain coming from the right side of my ribs, but it was more as an uncomfortable feeling, rather than proper pain. Whatever Dr Ratchet used as medicine truly did wonders. Once I got my clean underwear and casual clothes, I went to the bathroom just next to my room. As I was undressing my pajamas, I carefully looked at the wounds, the bruises, and the ugly pulsing veins around my bellybutton. Those didn't want to go away just yet.
I washed my hair and body for a few minutes before jumping out of the shower. As I was drying myself with a towel, I knew I had to take the hair dryer from the mirror cabinet just above the sink and dry my hair. The moment I laid eyes on myself in the mirror, there was just one thing that I knew for sure – I looked bad.
Dark circles under my eyes made me look like a zombie almost, like I was a live corpse. My skin became so dry and my hair looked matte, not even silky and shiny like it used to be. But of course, for a 17 year old girl, it shouldn't be matte and damaged. It should be well taken care of. I guess the same drugs that were used to heal me took a toll on my skin and hair.
Deciding to throw those thoughts away to the side, because I knew I would just get super stressed out because of this, I dried my hair and dressed myself into clean, casual clothes, putting the smelly PJs in the basket for dirty clothes.
When I came back into my room, Ron was there again, waiting for me, although a bit impatiently. What was so important for him to tell me?
"I see you are finished with your shower. Any pain, difficulties, odd smells?" Ron asked.
Odd smells? "No…" I said weirdly. "Just if I try to stretch out, then there's this uncomfortable feeling coming from my ribs. But I guess it's normal, considering what I've been through."
"Yes, that's normal." Ron said. "It means that your body is healing quickly." He nodded. "I have something important to tell you." He suddenly said, his voice turning serious.
"Yes?" I asked, looking at his blue eyes.
"I'm unsure if your uncle told you, although I doubt he did, but today is… your parents' funeral." He gently said.
It was the last thing I expected to hear. My parents' funeral.
I started feeling lightheaded as my chest started slowly burning with pain. How come nobody told me until now? I plopped down on my bed and felt my eyes pile up water in them. This was the last thing I wanted to do in my life, to bury my parents. The tears overflowed and came down on their own. I wiped them away with the back of my hand and motioned Ron to go downstairs with me. I put my hands out in front of me, and he immediately understood that I wanted him to help me stand up from the bed. Just as we got out of my room, I saw the obstacle in front of me, the staircase. There was no way I could descend without help. My knees shook terribly and I felt that my legs were good for nothing.
"Can you manage?" Ron asked. I didn't know the answer, but I took a small step forwards, grabbing the handrail. I carefully lowered myself a step, but it hurt me a lot, as my arm stayed behind. For some reason, Dr Ratchet's medicine stopped working, and my whole body started aching once again. I cringed as I took another step, and cringed again when I took another. I was literally yelping and cringing the whole way downstairs. "Are you alright?" He asked again. I nodded as we finally got to the ground floor, and he let me do it by myself. It wasn't long until he brought me my coat, helping me carefully put each one of my arms in it.
"Are we..." I started, but didn't know if I had the strength to continue the words. Ron hummed in thought as he looked at me, clearing telling me to go on. "Are we going to their funeral now?" I managed to gulp out.
He gave a curt nod. "Let's get you into the truck. Will and Sarah are waiting for us in Sarah's vehicle." He said as we left the house and sat in his truck. I sat in the passenger seat and looked through the window. Just as I did so, it started to rain from the black clouds above us. I sighed and closed my eyes, bowing down my head.
A gentle pat on my shoulder brought me back from my poignant thoughts. I looked at Ron, who smiled a reassuring smile, and I forced one back. This wasn't going to be easy.
The ride took us almost half an hour until we arrived in front of the cemetery, where we parked the cars. Once I exited the truck and closed the heavy door behind me, I saw Sarah standing next to the door with an umbrella in hand. She handed it to me as Ron stood beside me. I opened it up quickly and followed Will and Sarah.
We walked over to the middle of the cemetery, where I noticed four men carrying two brown, wooden caskets. The walked over to in front of us, where there were two six foot deep holes ready to put the bodies of my parents in.
The pain I felt was extraordinary. It was unending. It was like my heart had been replaced by slow burning sulphur that ate me from the inside out. It was burning me. It was freezing me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to curl up and claw onto the caskets and take my parents out and bring them back to life, but I couldn't do any of that. I couldn't even move.
Why couldn't I have been killed in the damn tornado too? I'd be with them now…
The caskets were gently placed into the rectangle, dug-up holes as my family, Ron and I just watched, with me suffering in the silence. After the men finished with putting the dirt back into the coffin hole, they left and a sudden crack of thunder shook me to the bone. The rain started picking up again, falling even harder this time.
I kept staring at my parents' tombstone as hot tears flowed down my cheeks to my chin. Pictures of their faces were embossed into the sickeningly beautiful gray tombstone. The wind blew my hair into my face as my knees felt like they were about collapse from under me. Instinctively, I grabbed Ron's forearm for support as he stood right next to me. He took the umbrella from my hand and used it to cover us from the rain. He seemed to understand how extraordinarily difficult this was for me, so he wrapped his arm around me.
My thoughts were anything but reassuring or calming. I decided to move away from Ron and I crouched down to in front of the tombstones. The tragedy happened way too fast, way too unexpectedly.
"Best if we leave her in peace for a few moments." Ron said wisely, as if he was already experienced in this field. My uncle and aunt understood, but before they left, they handed me a bouquet of crimson roses. I knew that red roses were renowned for expressing love, and that only made my heart beat with pain inside. All the while I was looking at the tombstones and laying down the crimson roses in front of the stone, Ron stood protectively behind me, not daring to let me out of his sights anymore. I read the wording on the tombstone.
John and Katy Lennox, always loved. May they forever rest in peace.
I couldn't help but say something out loud. "I wish this was just some kind of… sick joke. I'd really do anything to bring you back." I said as I wiped away my tears. "I don't know why this happened, but I hope you are… looking at me." I hiccupped at the agony of the words I was saying. "I love you more than you can ever imagine." My throat burned as if somebody shoved pieces of hot coal into it. "Mom, dad… I'll always miss you." I said through heartbreaking sobs. My teeth numbed from the incessant crying. "I'll be alone…" I whispered through numb teeth, oh so quietly. "But I'll see you one day." I promised at the end, unable to keep my eyes open from how much the tears were stinging and burning me.
I caressed the top of the perfectly crafted tombstone. The droplets of rain fell on my hand and the tombstone, giving me slight chills at the coldness of the rain and the weather itself. What a god-awful day.
"R-Ron…" I cried out, trying to stand back up, but my knees were too weak. Without another word spoken, Ron put his hand under my arm and hefted me up. "T-They…" I wanted to explain to him how I felt to try and make myself feel easier, but talking was way too big of a task for me right now. I couldn't even look at him in the eyes, but I felt like I was in a dead-end street, with no way out anymore.
"Take it easy." He gently said as we walked back to his truck and got into it. Sarah and Will waited patiently for us to get back in Ron's truck before driving away from the lot.
My chest started hurting from breathing so heavily and trying to console myself by breathing deeply, but every inhalation of breath felt like a knife punctured my lungs. Almost every time, it was like the air was knocked out of me. Somehow, the seat beneath me started to massage me soothingly, and the heating in the car turned on. I was soaked, although I don't remember seeing Ron turn it on.
I closed my eyes and prayed that my parents were in a happier place, one without war, death, sadness. I would never understand why I was the one left behind to grieve over the ones that were so suddenly and painfully taken away from me.
The following day…
I woke up, almost not feeling the pain my chest caused me. Almost.
I was in my room, but I couldn't help but feel oddly cold. It was the end of December, which meant it should have been snowing and getting properly cold. I opened my eyes only to find Ron, again, in my room. Lately, I started feeling that he was my roommate.
"Good morning." I said as I managed to sit up on my bed.
"Morning." He greeted me. "Are you feeling well?"
"Yeah, I guess I'm doing alright." I scratched the back of my head. "Why is it so cold?" I asked him, hugging myself to warm up.
"It's almost the end of December. Your… exam grades? Is that how you call it?"
"What, you've never been to high school?" I laughed wryly.
"No." He said seriously.
"Oh." I decided to get serious, not in the mood to press any unwanted buttons. "Yeah, exam grades. Are they finally here?"
"Yes, I have this letter for you." He handed me the letter. I opened it up and carefully read through the subjects and my final grades. A wave of relief washed over me once I saw my Grade Point Average slightly above the threshold for passing. A smile formed on my face as I was so happy with my results. I passed my senior year of high school! "Is it good?" Ron asked me.
"Yeah, I passed." I smiled at him, a true smile.
He seemed to notice that it was a real smile, as his expression grew softer. "Congratulations. Sarah told me that if you passed, you should start considering applying for a college."
"Yes, I know. But what about prom?" I asked him, but he looked oddly uneasy. "What's wrong?"
"Your uncle should be here in a moment." Just as he said it, my uncle came into my room. I swear, Ron can be psychic at times.
"Oh, I see you're up, Mel." Will said. "Um, there's something I need to talk to you about."
"Go for it." I rubbed my eyes tiredly and looked up at him. He seemed oddly tense.
"Well, you are well aware of what you… saw." He mumbled as if he was a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Yeah, the robots." I nodded. How could I forget that dreadful night?
"The thing is… You're a part of this mess now, and I'm so sorry for it, Mel." Will said with utter sadness in his voice. "I never meant for you to get involved, but you were attacked because of me and Ron."
"I don't understand." I narrowed my eyes. "Why because of you two?"
Ron looked away and my uncle gave out a long, exasperated sigh.
"Best would be if we just showed you." Ron suddenly said.
"Show me what? You're not making any sense." I said to Ron.
My uncle started fidgeting uncomfortably. There was something seriously wrong with this whole situation. Will seemed to think hard about what Ron just said.
"We have to see with Optimus." Will said to Ron. After a few short seconds of awkward silence, where Ron was so zoned out, seemingly to be telepathically speaking to Optimus, he suddenly stood up.
"You heard it right." Ron said. "We're taking you to the base with my truck."
"If we have to." I looked at both of them. "This still doesn't make a lot of sense to me." Will sighed and nodded, and I knew that whatever they were going to show me in order to explain to me was of the utmost importance. I told both of them to leave my room so that I could change my clothes, for I sure wasn't going to change in front of them. After that, I went downstairs to the truck and got in. Ron started the engine and drove to the base.
After an hour journey to the base, through country roads and woods and deserts, we finally came up to a ramp. The only things I could see from the back of the truck was that there were enormous hangars in front of us, adorned by gray walls and military airplanes on the side. There was a house right next to us with a soldier inside and a security camera above that was pointed straight at us. Upon spotting the massive truck, the soldier inside the little house controlled the ramp in front of us, and he immediately lifted it up.
There were a couple of hangars outside, but we went to the biggest one that was between the two smaller ones, right in the center. Ron drove over to it and stopped the truck. Will was the first to exit and I followed his lead, looking around. There were so many soldiers in khaki uniform and oddly enough, there were a lot of cars… And some were really nice cars. I also saw three motorbikes, not that I knew which make and model, but they had some strange, white symbols on them.
They did remind me of the symbol on Ron's truck.
"Melissa." A deep voice behind me rumbled. I turned around, but I already knew to who that voice belonged to.
"Hello, Optimus." I shook hands with him, looking at him in the eyes. "It's a very big base."
He nodded. "We needed a large one." Optimus looked around pensively.
I didn't know what to ask and I was afraid that the conversation would go awkward, so I just started babbling. "Are these the cars of the soldiers?" I asked.
He chuckled. God, I sounded so stupid. Otpimus answered, walking towards the cars and talking while I followed him. "No. These are vehicles of our comrades. Let me introduce you to the newest members of our team."
I guess that was nice of him to introduce me to members of the military, but I still failed to see the reasons why I was dragged out here in this desert.
We were suddenly in the center of the hangar, where many different flashy cars and trucks were parked neatly in front of us. Optimus started introducing me to the… cars? "You already know Ratchet, the Chief Medical Officer of our unit." He motioned towards the yellow Hummer that I often saw in front of my house. Out of nowhere, the Hummer flared its headlights and emergency lights. Perhaps the doctor was doing something important in the truck, but as they were all tinted and I couldn't see anything in them, I just waved at the vehicle, thinking it's better to wave than to look ignorant and ungrateful. Optimus then moved to the second car. "This is Bumblebee." He pointed with his open palm towards a hot rally yellow colored and black race striped car. The car honked suddenly, and the hoot echoed through the base. I jumped at the sudden noise.
Then, I felt my heart quicken as I looked hard into the dark windshield, trying to see who was the owner of the car.
There wasn't anyone in the car.
"Did th-the car honk on its own?!" I stared at Optimus wide eyed.
He gave a short nod. "Yes, it did. This is only one half of the secret we are about to expose to you. We fear if we introduce you to every aspect of it, you might face physical and deadly consequences."
"In other words, you'd get a heart attack." Doctor Ratchet appeared out of nowhere right behind us. I assumed that he got out of the Hummer, but it was weird, since I didn't see anybody come out of any vehicle, nor did I hear any door clicking noises...
"That's comforting." I sarcastically said. "But what is 'half of the truth' supposed to mean anyway?"
"We'll get to it." Doctor Ratchet said as he motioned for me to pay attention to Optimus and what he was saying.
"These are the twins, Skids and Mudflap." He pointed towards two small Chevrolet cars. One was neon green and black, and the other copper red in color. I waved insecurely at them. "Approach them with caution, they are not old enough to comprehend… human customs." He carefully said. Human customs? So wait, these are not man-made cars or what? Before I could speak out my questions, Optimus moved onto the motorcycles. "These are Arcee, Chromia and Elita One." He motioned to the three motorcycles.
The purple one was Elita One, the blue one was Chromia and the pink one was Arcee, as shown by Optimus. They flashed their headlights in greetings. I was truly taken aback a little, but did not let myself panic. It was really weird, seeing motorcycles flash their headlights on their own.
"This is Sideswipe." He motioned towards a sexy silver Corvette. I wanted to approach the car, but it suddenly revved its engine aggressively. I was startled and quickly took a few steps back.
My uncle didn't like that. "Can it, Sideswipe, she isn't here to feed your ass ego." Will kicked his bumper and we moved on. I shot one last look to the car and we went towards Optimus's truck. I guess some of them weren't so happy to see me. What if I have done more harm than good inadvertently and unknowingly?
"You've met the whole team now." My uncle said, leaning on the truck, looking at my face for a reaction.
I saw Ron parking his truck right beside Optimus's, which made me think about the big blue and red semi. "Is this truck also one of them?" I pointed to the semi.
My uncle nodded. "Yes, his name is Optimus Prime." Will said. "He is the big boss here."
"So he's the leader?" I fished, trying to think of what a Prime was. Prime Minister perhaps?
"That's exactly what he is." Ron said as he exited his truck, and it was parked near us. "And this is Ironhide." Ron patted the hood and I approached Ron's truck. Or should I call it Ironhide?
This was all so weird and so hard to grasp. "But what are these cars anyway? I mean, how can they rev their engines and honk and flash their lights without anyone inside?" I asked.
"Well, they're special cars." Will said.
"Yeah, and Optimus told me that some of them don't understand human customs." I lowered my voice and whispered to my uncle. "How am I supposed to interpret that?"
"Just go with it." Will said. "They're not aggressive. They're part of the US military and they're on our side."
"So there are other cars out there that are not on your side?"
Will nodded. But I was confused once again, because they were only feeding me with bits and pieces of information. That Mustang cop car that attacked me, he transfigured. Did these cars also do that?
"Go greet Ironhide." Will said, looking at Ron.
I gulped and started approaching the big black truck. It looked even scarier now that I knew that there was more to it than just being a normal truck. I should greet it fearlessly, I thought, as it's been around the house for months now and nothing bad happened. Also, Will must have really trusted this truck, as odd as it sounded, because he let it stay around his most loved ones, Sarah, Annabelle and me.
Once I arrived to the front of the truck, I carefully put my right hand in front of me. "Hey there… Ironhide." I said softly. I had no clue if trucks understood the meaning of soft or harsh voices, but I decided to play it safe. The only thing that I understood around here was that I was dealing with something foreign, like autonomous vehicles. As scary as it was, it was also oddly exciting. I tried patting the truck, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I simply couldn't place my hand on top of the hood, for fear that it might open up and eat my arm. Who knows, maybe it's also aggressive like the Swipe Corvette, or whatever it's weird name was.
The truck's engine purred lightly as it came closer to me. I took a deep breath and realized that there was no way I was going to touch this thing, and I immediately ran to Ron and hid behind his back.
"Ron, he's gonna eat me." I took cover behind his huge back. He was standing between me and the truck.
I could almost hear him smile. "Don't be ridiculous." The whole base chuckled, or at least, whatever soldiers that were in the same hangar as us chuckled. I seemed to be missing something. "You just need a different approach." He stepped aside and took my hand and pointed it towards the truck. I didn't want to resist, but honestly, I was afraid. Ron put my hand on the hood of the black truck and I felt my body relaxing as I felt the truck being warm and non-aggressive, despite the huge size, and the radiation of safety emerged again.
"See?" He said. "Not bad at all."
I slid my hand across the hood, caressing it. The paint was so well taken care of and so smooth to the touch. "I could get used to this." I said. What if I had a truck puppy? A massive, pumped up, metal puppy.
"Me too." He whispered, absent-mindedly.
"What?" I said, almost catching his whisper. Almost.
"Nothing." He said and moved away. I watched him, but something else caught my attention. I saw a boy and a girl entering the same hangar I was in and they weren't dressed in military clothes. They looked normal, like… me. They also looked like they were about my age, probably either in senior year high school or first year of college.
They looked at me and I looked at them. It was time we meet each other. I approached the boy with a smile and introduced myself.
"Hi there. I'm Melissa Lennox, Captain Lennox's niece." I said as I shook hands with the boy. He had brown eyes and brown hair, and a baby face. He was taller than I was and had a lean body.
"Sam Witwicky." He said with a smile, although I could see the cogs turning in his head, wondering what I was doing here, a mere civilian. I saw the yellow car with black stripes from before come slowly behind him, bumping him gently as Sam slightly fell forwards. "Not now, Bee!" He smacked the yellow car that craved attention with his hand.
"Hey, don't smack him!" I heard a yell from the inside of the car. A girl exited it, kissing the spot where Sam hit… Bumblebee, was it?
Sam's hand went through his hair. "I'm sorry, this is my fraternal twin, Nicole." I shook hands with her.
"Melissa Lennox." I replied.
"Nice to meet you, Melissa." She smiled warmly at me and sat on the hood of the yellow car. "Is that your guardian?" She pointed to Ron, who was leaning on his truck, talking to Optimus and Dr Ratchet.
"Yeah." I smiled.
"Bumblebee's my guardian." She said, patting the hood gently and I could hear the car purring beneath her.
"Our guardian." Sam corrected. "Bee's also her boyfriend." He said casually. I stared at them, my mouth hanging open. Was he toying with me?
"The car is your boyfriend?" I stared at her blankly.
"Yeah. I just love him." She said and sat on the hood with her whole weight and leaned on the windshield. She planted a kiss on it and the car revved its engine. She laughed. "Alright, lil' Bee. Forward march!" She pointed forward and the car started to drive itself slowly forwards. I could tell she was enjoying herself. Sam and I moved away as the car drove away with the girl on its hood. I don't think even dreams were made up of things that I just saw.
"So how'd you end up getting here?" Sam asked me, bringing me back from my thoughts. "They usually don't accept anyone here."
Time to put the long story short. "I was attacked by a cop that turned out to be a robot that tried to kill me. Something to do with my bio signature. And you?"
He nodded in return. "My grandfather's glasses. He had some coordinates cracked on them."
"Oh." I didn't understand a word of what he said. "Coordinates to what?" I asked.
"This cube looking thing that can destroy the universe."
"Oh." Now I was pretty sure this was way out of my league.
"Yeah." He smiled nervously.
"Hey guys, check this out." Someone yelled from outside the hangar.
Nicole is my OC, mostly known from my 'A Blessing or A Curse?' story that is a Bumblebee/OC story. You may not use her without my written permission.