I have a poll on my profile page asking a question I really want to have answered. I'm trying to get as many answers as I can, and very few people visit my profile. I've gotten literally one answer in a week, and that's sad. Please answer, and be honest about it.


I only own my OC's!


Old Family Part 5: Friday

The sound of the alarm clock blares through the room. I sit up with a groan and turn it off before using the potty chair. I'm feeling really, really lightheaded. Ratchet told me that's how you feel when you need energon, so I need to drop one of my hard candies into my milk this morning so no one sees it. I pull on a white Elmo camisole and light blue Elmo print panties. Over that, I pull on a white long sleeved T-shirt and red tights, then pull on a pink and white short sleeved, chevron striped dress with a red bow at the neck and an Elmo graphic on the skirt. I slip on canvas Mary Jane shoes with Elmo faces printed on. I head into the bathroom and do my makeup quickly—the foundation, then the lipstick, blush, eyeshadow, and mascara—then clean and twist my earrings. I then brush my hair and pull it into a ponytail braid and tie off the top with a pompom Elmo hair tie and the bottom with a plain red one. I slip on the red plastic glasses with a huff, then run back to my bedroom. I pull out my red and black plastic Elmo tiara and put it in my backpack. I want to wear it at school so I can have a sense of normalcy, but I don't want Aaron to see it.

Today Aaron catches me in the living room—he's getting quicker. "No breakfast. Get your lazy ass to school."

Darn it. I still don't even know if I'm allowed to have my energon gummies on the bus or not—but it is a good thing Carrier made some strawberry ones and put them in the gummy bag too, because I may be forced to share, and they could hurt people. I run back to my room and pull on my raincoat and boots—it's raining again—and put my shoes into my backpack, making sure to check for my emergency pouch, before grabbing my backpack and starting for the front yard of Grammy's to watch for the bus.


I check my lunch as soon as I'm on the bus. It's got a baggie with something molded inside, and nothing else. "Moldy PB&J. As usual." I close it and stick it into my backpack to wait out the ride, then pull out the Elmo tiara before putting it on. While I'm in my backpack, I pull out a handful of the flower-shaped energon gummies Carrier put in my emergency pouch and pop them into my mouth one at a time before chewing them. Yet again, all I have is my energon chews.

Emily slides into our seat beside me. She's wearing a white long sleeved shirt and a green jumper with white tights and her green rain boots. "Hi, Mari."

"Hi, Emmy."


I look her over as we pull out of the high school lot. I think she may be wearing makeup too, and she looks as hungry as I feel. "You otay?"

She sighs heavily. "Yeah…"

"No you're not. I can tell."

"How you do that?"

I shrug. "I don' know." I look out the window. "But we's at school, so come on." I lead her off the bus by the hand, and into the school. "You looks hung'y."

"…I am…" I hand her the handful of strawberry flower gummies I have left. "These all I has to shares…sowwy i's no' more."

"That's 'kay." I pop another blue one in my mouth. "What's those?"

I look down to the last two gummies before looking back to her as I remember what Uncle Smokescreen had told me in his office yesterday. "Want to try one?"

"…Otay…" She takes one of the energon gummies as I pray it doesn't hurt her. "It tastes good. What is it?"

I give her a stunned and excited look before all but dragging her into the office. "We need to talk with Mr. Miller, please?"

"He just got in. third door on the right."

"Thank you." I lead her by the hand and knock on the door before slipping inside with her. "Unca Dusty?"

"Mari, you know this room is soundproof from yesterday. Do don't have to call me—oh." He steps over and crouches to her. "What's your name, Little One?"

"Emily."

"Well, Emily…" He smiles gently. "It's nice to meet you." He moves behind his desk before sighing at me. "Mari…"

"She eated 'gon gummy and she no' sick."

His eyes widen. "She ate a…and she's not… Holy Primus." He slumps into the chair. "Prowl."

"What is it this time, Smokescreen?"

"Prowl, Mari found Ethereal."

"Mariposa found—Primus. Is she all right?"

"Hold on." He turns to us. "Emily…Mari brought you here for some reason." Her hand goes up to her cheek, and a little of the makeup is brushed off to reveal a bruise. "Holy… Prowl, she's being beat too!"

"Then we will have to get the girls from the school. They cannot be forced to stay in the school. Make sure they stay together as much as possible. And Smokescreen?"

"Yes, Prowl?"

"Make sure Mariposa knows…who Ethereal really is."

"Yes, Sir. Smokescreen out." He turns to us. "Emily, you might not believe me, but you and Mari are not human as you seem. You are actually a Cybertronian femmeling named Ethereal."

"Daddy told me I came to them in a pod…then he got 'rested for bad stuffs. Momma said he was lying, and started dating a woman who hits me, and makes me call her Mommy. She's the one who did this."

"Sweetheart…" He hugs her gently, which makes her smile, then turns to me. "Mariposa. Ethereal is your sister—your spark sister."

I look up at him, eyes wide. "Sissy? Like, combiner sissy?"

"Yes, Sweetspark. She is one of the two Prowl thought we had lost. Now, the other part isn't alive anymore—we had you two alone on the Artemis—but you should still be able to combine. I would look to Hot Spot for advice there, because I am not part of a combiner." He sighs. "You both need to get to class, and do not tell anyone what I just told you, Emily. It is a government secret. After we get you home with us, you will be free to talk because Mari actually goes to a private government school, where they all but know about our kind."

"Otay."

"What do you two have for lunch?"

"School lunch, Momma paid the school last week."

"Molded PB&J."

"When you don't like bread?" I nod. "I'll take care of you, Sweetspark."

I look from Uncle Smokescreen to Emily. ~Hot Spot?~

~What's wrong, Little One? You sound upset.~

~Carrier lied…~

~About what, Sweetspark?~

~Only one of three die. I finded two of three at school here. She's getty beated too…~

~Oh, Primus… Is she okay?~

~Not as bad as I gets.~

~She found Ethereal. Prowl just came over the comms with the announcement.~

~Who's Ethereal?~

~Ethereal is Mariposa's twin, Blades.~

~Right.~

~So…~

~We still able combine?~

~You'll be able to.~

~W-who's there?~

~Em, this is a spark bond, where we talk to each other. Those are my brothers. They chose us, because I was all 'lones. Now they've gots us both.~

~Oh. So this is normal?~

~For combiner teams. I'm Groove. It's good to finally meet you.~

~Hot Spot. I'm glad to meet you, and I hope I'll get to see you, in your real form, soon.~

~Blades. Glad to meet you, but I wish I could give Aaron and your human mom's girlfriend a piece of my mind.~

~You'll get your chance, Blades, and I don't even want to think about it, or I'll want to fight them too, and you know I hate fighting.~ An upset and angry-sounding huff comes over the bond. ~I'm First Aid. I hope we'll get you back with us quickly. I don't like that you're both being hurt.~

~Streetwise. I think Mari channeled me when she picked up who you were.~

~Hi. Mari, we're about to be late for class!~

~Gotta go! Bye, guys!~

She turns to me as we step through the door. "So that's why you zone out sometimes!"

"Yep." I giggle. "It'll take some getting used to, but you'll never lose us that way. Even when we're apart, we're together."

"I like that." We settle into our seats a moment before the bell rings.

~Hey, can I have more of those gummies at lunch? They're good!~

~I'm down to hard candies now, and you can have some, but they have to last until Carrier gets us out of this.~

~Got it, and thanks!~


Lunch

"Want to share with me again?"

I start to shake my head as Mrs. Johnson steps over and hands me a tray. "Here. Mr. Miller insisted you get this."

"Thank you." I carry the tray with pizza, corn, and pears over to the table and wait for Emily to join me before I start to eat. It doesn't take us long, and we run out to play on the playset. She's a step behind me, giggling and laughing like we should be, as kids.


Spelling

Mrs. Johnson takes the last spelling test right as the bell rings. "All right, everyone have a good weekend, and I'll see you on Monday!"

We run out, grab our raincoats and carry them over our shoulders—it finally stopped raining at around 10:00 this morning—before running out to the busses. I slide into the seat first, followed by Emily. "When do you think…"

"Daddy around people."

"Daddy's gonna come get us?"

"The plan is to wait until I get hurt bad so far, because if I get hurt so bad I need Aidie, there's more against him than just the beatings. With the way Aaron's been going, it'll be soon, Em."

"All right. I'll be ready then."

"If Aidie comes, he'll make sure you come too, so have anything you really care about with you."

"Okay. I'll see you Monday." She slides off the seat and climbs off the bus.

"You too!"


Emily's House, Third POV

Emily steps through the door to find Jamie sitting at the table with a man she's never seen before. "Emily, Sweetheart, I found this on your desk this morning. Is there something you would like to tell me?"

"Um…" She takes the paper—the song lyrics she had written out about Marianne the night before. "My new friend at school is being abused. I was writing that to Mr. Jesus."

Jamie points to the second to last stanza. "And this one?"

She looks down. "Please don't tell Jane I told?"

"Sweetheart, I thought you'd been getting hurt at school, or on the bus, and just didn't want someone to think I was beating you."

Emily shakes her head. "No, Momma. She's been hurting me since she moved in."

"Sweetheart, this is Peter?" The man nods. "Peter. He came looking for you. Remember how I told you we found you?" Emily nods. "He's your real family."

The man steps over to her with a smile. "It is good to finally see you again, Little One. You have grown a lot since I saw you last."

Emily looks down before looking up at him with an anxious joy in her eyes. "You're Mari's Daddy."

"Yes, I am, but I am your Daddy, too." Once the words are out of his mouth, the little girl jumps into his arms and clings to him as he turns to Jamie. "I will be taking her with me when we leave, but we are not leaving until our other daughter is safe in our arms again."

"I'm fine with that. I've already got Jane's things packed up, so you don't have to worry about any more bruises on this one. I just hope Marianne winds up okay after what she's going through."

"We will have her. She will."


Normal POV

I watch out the window, feeling like I've just lost a part of me when we pull away. We're at my stop before too long, and I clamber off the bus before heading inside. The second I am, Aaron jerks me over to the couch. "Clothes off! Face-up this time, because your back's so damaged I can't get a good hit in." I strip down to just my panties and lay face-up on the couch. He's got a wooden spoon and a coat hanger this time. He beats me across the chest and stomach with the spoon, then goes across my arms and legs with the coat hanger. It's all I can do not to cry from both the pain of laying on my back and the pain of the blows that just keep coming and coming. He finally stops and throws down the hanger. "Pull-up." I take the offending item from him. "Get dressed so you can get on your chores. Maybe we'll let you eat tonight."

I head into my room and change into a green cap sleeved Elmo T-shirt with "Cute, HUGGABLE, Loveable", hearts, and an Elmo graphic, blue jeans with an Elmo face on the back pockets, white socks, and white Elmo tennis shoes. Once I'm changed, I rejoin the bastard in the living room.

He drags me into the kitchen. "Get started, Bitch."

I wash the dishes and clean off the counters before sweeping the floor, then clean up the clutter in the dining area before clearing the table and pushing the chairs in. As a last step, I take out the trash.

"See? You got it done in fifteen minutes this time. Why couldn't you do that yesterday, Bitch?" I shrug. "ANSWER ME, BITCH!"

"There was more to clean yesterday."

He grabs my left arm by the shoulder and pulls me closer. I know it'll bruise later. "THERE WAS THE SAME AMMOUNT OF WORK!" He wraps his meaty hand around my tiny neck and squeezes tight enough to leave a bruise, but not tight enough to kill me. "YOU WERE JUST BEING LAZY YESTERDAY!" He punches me in the left eye, which really hurts.

I resist the urge to tell him he's lying, and follow him into the living room. Just like yesterday, he's watching me work. I pick up the clutter and clean off the couch before organizing the books, movies, and magazines on the shelves. Once that's all done, I wash the TV screen.

We then move onto the bedrooms. I make the beds, clean up clutter and toys, and empty the trash cans into the big one in the living room before moving on to the bathroom.

I wipe down the counters and sink, take out the trash, and clean the mirrors, then clean up the clutter before heading outside and sweeping the front and back porches.

"All right, now go help your mom." I join her, and she wordlessly hands me a couple cans of biscuits. I open the cans, take them apart, and place them just right on the cookie sheet before putting it into the oven.


Supper

I watch Stacy pile little pieces of biscuit onto my plate before covering it with gravy, then she piles potatoes into the second slot. "Gravy too?"

She starts to pour it, only for Aaron to grab her hand and shake his head. "Sorry, Little One."

I shrug, take the plate, and start to eat, dipping the potatoes into my gravy from my biscuits. Once it's clear, I put it in the sink and head back to my room. "Don't go outside, Sheyenne."

Since my name's not Sheyenne, I go outside anyway. He can't do no more than kill me, after all.

"Heya, Mari! How ya doin'?" I shake my head. "Tha' bad?"

"He choke me, Sire!"

"Don' worry, Li'l One. We'll ge' ya outta here as soon as we can."

"Where's Carrier?"

"He went to check up on Ethereal, and let the human know that she's coming with us when we leave."

"So I'll have Sissy."

"Yep." He hugs me gently before sighing. "Ya need ta ge' ta bed, Love. Ah'll see ya tomorrow."

"Love you, Papa."

"Ah love ya too, Mari. Goodnigh'."