(This takes place before the episode Conspiracy, so Scavenger is still a 'Decepticon'!)
As most of these stories go, its started off as a perfectly normal day. I dragged myself out of bed around five o'clock and beat my older siblings to the shower, as usual. After practically drowning myself in the hot water, I dried myself off and got dressed. A blank black tank top covered by my Evanescence hoodie, black jeans, and black tennis shoes. I stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, just looking at my face. My skin was rather pale, which made my dark eyes stand out. Long, straight black hair ran down along the sides of my face, neatly framing it. Picking up a small sea-shell shaped case of cover-up, I began to coat the bruise that was forming around my eye.
"RAVEN!" May, my older sister by four years, pounded on the door. "YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE AN HOUR! IT'S MY TURN!"
"Go use the downstairs bathroom!" I yelled back, pulling out my eye liner. She hit the door with her fist again.
"YOU LITTLE WHORE! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"
"No!" I responded with a deadly calm voice. I was used to this kind of treatment, although it was usually my dad and uncle who were screaming. Checking to make sure the door was locked I drew a pentacle at the corner of my left eye, and then my right. Carefully circling them, I stood back and looked at myself in the mirror. Almost perfect. I pulled a silver chain out of my pocket and snapped it around my neck. A plain, simple silver cross hung down on my chest. I tucked it beneath my clothes, and then turned to unlock the door and let my steaming sister in. That's when I realized that she had gone silent. At first I thought she must have gone downstairs, but that was impossible; she never gave up unless she really was going to be late! Seeing how it was six in the morning and school didn't start for another hour that was not a possibility. I reached for the doorknob. Just as I touched it, however, it fell to the floor with a loud 'thud'. "Oh slag..."
Slag. It's a weird word, huh? I heard a girl on my bus say it a few days ago. Her name is Alexis and she's a real goody-goody seventh grade prep. Anyways, since then I've been saying it a lot; makes up for cussing and getting in trouble, right?
So, the doorknob falls off. That wasn't what I was saying 'oh, slag' about. It was the fact that .000003 seconds later the door flew over, bashing me in the jaw and forcing me back into the bathtub/shower that stood behind the door. I can sum it up in just one word: ow.
The worst was yet to come, however. My sister slammed the door as she came into the small bathroom. It simply rattled and bounced back open an inch or two, but she didn't care. I had fallen straight into the bathroom and was sitting with my body in a u-shape, legs dangling over the edge of the bathtub, head against the wall, my body in between. My head had given a pretty good 'crack' when it hit the wall, and I could feel blood dripping down the back of my neck into my hoodie. Slag.
My sister stood over me, face glowing with pride and hatred. She was a regular beauty queen; perfect blonde hair, perfect blue eyes, perfect skin tone, perfect face shape, perfect body. She was perfection itself. Except for this. Except for the hitting and the screaming. A few weeks after my mom had slipped into her coma after the car accident she stormed into my room and started screaming a hitting me. Like a fool, I hit back and got in the biggest trouble of my life. My dad, Kyle, and my Uncle Louis stormed into my room and began beating me along with my sister. Luckily, Jay, my brother, was at the library at the time. Ever since then I've become the family punching bag. My dad moved me into the attic, onto an old army cot that smells like it was sewn out of sweat socks. Not that I'd ever say that to their faces, though.
Anyway, at the moment the beauty-queen was standing over me, blood lust shinning in her eyes. I mentally kicked myself for getting her angry before she had her coffee. Swallowing slightly, I stared back at her and tried to push myself up out of the tub. No such luck. Her foot came down hard; slamming into my stomach and forcing me back down into the tub.
I could take every fucking word she says
Throw it in her face
but would she even care
I still remember when she looked at me
that frown upon her face
Trying to be sincere
I choked as she pressed down. She was bigger than me; they all were. I was only around 4'11, while they were all around 5'7 or, in my dad and uncles cases, 6' flat. Slag it, she's going to kill me this time! I just know it! I thought frantically, struggling beneath her foot. I couldn't breath; she was pressing down on my lungs now.
"What's the matter Raven? All choked up?" She laughed at her own joke.
I gathered all those little things she said
kept them close to me
trying to make this real
this cloud will always hover over me
I'm leaving you today
'cause now I see
I gritted my teeth; the lame joke didn't help the situation at all. She pressed down again then lifted her foot. I struggled to straighten myself up, my spine hurting like heck, believing that my punishment for the day was over.
Fat chance.
May's back scrubber came out of nowhere and clobbered me in the head. The hard end, not the squishy end. I fell back, letting out a weak cry of surprise. I could see blood dripping off the handle in the dim light of the bathroom. My head lolled onto my chest, and out of the corner of my eye I could see blood, my blood, running into the drain, diluted from the water left over from my shower.
"Scream you little freak!" She screamed, waving the back scrubber around hysterically. I was half expecting to look up and see foam and blood coming out of her mouth; she was raving mad!
Suffocate, you suffocate
That you lie (I don't lie)
That your fake (I'm not a freak)
Suffocate, you suffocate
You always take (I don't take)
What you can (what I can)
I would not scream. I sunk my teeth into my lower lip, and warm metallic blood flowed across my tongue. I would not scream. I would not scream. I would not scream.
May did not like this. She grabbed my long black hair, the only think I liked about myself, and practically yanked me out of the tub by it. Throwing me against the wall across from the door, she pulled open one of the drawers under the sink and pulled out some shiny, silver scissors. Sliding them into her fingers, she snipped them. Once. Twice. I grabbed my hair, knowing what she was going to do.
I could take every fucking game you play
Blow it all away
but would you even care
I could take all those lies you said to me
Never go away
Never disappear
I had three options. One: let her cut my hair and loose the most precious thing in my life other than my mom. Two: scream my head off until the neighbors called the cops or my dad and uncle woke up. Three: defend myself. I don't scream, and I wasn't about to let her cut my hair. Three it was. On my left was the toilet; on my right was the shower head, the bendy kind that hung down about six feet. A plan slowly hatched in my mind.
May advanced slowly, looking like the devil himself. I only had one shot at this. Just as she leaned over me, I jumped to my right, grabbed the shower head, pointed it at her and turned on the water. Hell followed.
"AGH!" May dropped the scissors and fell into the toilet. I would have stayed and laughed my head off, but she tended to bounce back pretty easily. Instead, I leaped for the door, flung it open and raced down the hallway. Jumping down the stairs and into the kitchen, I slid across the linoleum floor and into one of the counters. Looking behind me, I could see some blood splattered across the floor. I touched the back of my head. It came away red and sticky.
"Slag."
This cloud will always hover over me
I'm leaving you today
'Cause now I see
Suffocate, you suffocate
That you lie (I don't lie)
That your fake (I'm not a freak)
Suffocate, you suffocate
You always take (I don't take)
What you can (what I can)
"YOU LITTLE WHORE!" I looked up and saw May standing at the top of the steps. That was my cue to run far, far away. Snagging my bag off of the counter, I sprinted out of the kitchen, into the laundry room, and out the back door. Leaping off the porch, I hit the over-grown crab grass and sprinted across the backyard. Pulling myself up over the fence, I dropped down into the woods that bordered the houses in the neighborhood. May wouldn't follow me this far. She's not that athletic.
I could take every fucking game you play
Blow it all away
but would you even care
I could take all those lies you said to me
Never go away
Never disappear
This cloud will always hover over me
I'm leaving you today
'Cause now I see
I sprinted through the trees, ducking and dodging the branches. The world was spinning, and I could feel blood leaking down into my tank top. I ignored the pain and continue on. About a mile and a half away from my house were a stream and a small pond. I could wash up and hide out there.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running, I made it to the small, sparkling pond. I dropped to my knees beside the crystal clear water. Lying my bag down on top of a rock, I pulled off my hoodie and threw it on top of the messenger bag. My face was paler than it had been before. Blood dripped down from the hair, across my brow and down my cheeks before landing in the pool of water with a small, inaudible splash. My make up was smeared around my eyes, making it look as though I was drunk. Taking a deep, shuddery breath, I splashed the water on my face, tinting it with swirls of black and red. After I had cleaned the makeup and blood streaks off of my face, I lie on my back and set my head in the water, washing the blood from the silky black strands of my hair.
As soon as I was sure my head wasn't bleeding, I lifted it from the water and rung out my hair. Sighing heavily, I leaned against the stone my backpack was resting on and closed my eyes. I felt so tired. Slowly, sleep crept up on me, tongue tying my thoughts and forcing me into dreams of darkness.
When I woke back up, it was dark and I was thirsty and hungry. I sat up and groaned; rocks did not make good pillows. Rubbing the back of my head, that thankfully hadn't started to bleed while I was asleep. Blinking several times, I pulled a can of Pringles out of my bag and began to munch on them. They were barbeque, not a good choice; I didn't have a drink with me, and they were making me terribly thirsty.
After I had choked down the last chip, and put the mini-can in my bag and stood up, stretching. I needed to get back home. I considered running away for a moment, but quickly decided that my $1.50 lunch money wouldn't go very far. The only other choice was going home. Excuse me, the ONLY choice was going home.
Pulling my hoodie back over my still-damp black hair, I wrapped my hand around the silver cross hanging at my neck and said a small prayer. Picking up my bag I followed the stream eastwards. It would take me to a road that went straight through my neighborhood. It was the quickest way home.
Hiking through the forest in the dark is not my forte. I stepped in the trickle of a stream twice and got hit in face by branches thirty-two times, not that I was counting. Finally, two hills, three stream crossings, five more branches and a squirrel stalker later, I reached the road. Panting slightly (the squirrel has smelled my Pringles can and didn't give up until I reached the houses) I tiptoed through a vegetable garden and past a familiar white house. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I began to walk home, careful not to be spotted by anybody; there was a rule about teenagers being out late now a days, with all the abuse going on in street alleys and such. Ironic, isn't it?
That's why, when I heard a car coming down the street, I automatically jumped into a bush that was conveniently placed right in front of the house I had been walking by. Crouching down in between the branches, I watched as the car rolled to a stop right in front of me.
'Slag, slag, slag, slag, SLAG!' I thought furiously. Swallowing (my mouth was still very dry) I watched as somebody climbed out of the car. Two people; a girl and a boy, came out of the front seat, while a darker boy came out of the back. I held my breath as they stopped and talked for a minute. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but then the blonde boy from the front seat turned and talked---to the car.
"Thanks for the ride, Hot Shot!" He said, patting the hood of the car.
I nearly fell out of the bush at what happened next.
"No problem Rad!" The car responded in a young, slightly childish voice. I could feel my eyes bug out of my head and my jaw drop; thankfully, they couldn't hear my gasp of astonishment. They were all laughing over something the car, apparently named Hot Shot, had just said.
'Okay....' the rational part of my brain said, 'cars do NOT talk.' I nodded to myself. Finally, something I could be certain about! Someone must have been left in the car; the driver. They were to young to drive. The girl turned around, and I recognized her as Alexis, the wonderful person that had introduced me to the word 'slag'. 'She's to young to drive, so the person who spoke HAS to be the driver of the car.' This thought firmly in my mind, I watched as the three kids departed, walking right past my hiding place. I had a clear view of the car. Shifting slightly once the kids were out of hearing range, I looked into the front seat.
It was empty.
'SLAG! SLAG! SLAGSLAGSLAG SLAG!' I thought to myself, most probably violating a law by using that word so many times in a row. The car had spoken. Another thing I could mark off of my 'I'm surely positive' list. Craning my neck some, I could see that the yellow hot rod had a weird type of dashboard, with what looked like a T.V. screen built into it. 'Okay...that is not a NORMAL car....not that there's such a thing as normal. Well, there are limits, like for your body temperature and things like that...' My mental conversation was cut short as the car revved its engine, ready to take off.
My choices: go home, stay in the bush until morning, or tail the car. Going home was not an option, the bushes branches were digging into my back, and I was already dying with curiosity to see how the car had talked. Option number three won by a landslide.
The car revved its engine once more then took off down the road. I stood up (the others had already gone inside or turned the corner three houses away) and waited for the car to come back; this road led to a dead end, at which I lived. Heh, dead end. Does the irony never stop?
Anyway, I quickly crossed the street and waited behind a tree for it to come back. Half a minute later it did, going considerably slower this time, but still about ten miles above the speed limit. I watched as it turned the corner two houses down then took off in between the yards behind me. I had a clear view of the street, and a clear path in front of me. It went straight, but seemed to be slowing down a little bit. For a second I thought it had spotted me. Then, however, a second car came into view. About three minutes after my little chase had started, the car turned onto a dirt road that wound up the mountain side. I paused, panting. The road only went one way; it would be easy to tail it.
After making sure the other car was long gone, I sneaked through yet another vegetable garden and across the street, into the woods that bordered the dirt road. I crept up the hillside until I was certain that nobody would see me. Then I stepped out onto the road and began to run after the car. It was probably at the top by now. The road curved around the mountainside, spiraling towards the top. I sprinted up it as fast as my legs would allow, taking the corners sharply.
"Look, Smokescreen, I'm sure nobody followed me."
Halfway up the hill, I froze. The same voice from the car drifted out of a cave a little ways ahead. I slowly climbed towards it, stopping at the edge. The cave was pretty shallow. About thirty feet in, I could see two robot-like figures standing in front of a large door that was spilling yellowish light into the night. The fact that they were robots didn't scare me. The fact that they were about ten times my size did. One was yellow, while the other was orange. The yellow one that had the same voice as the car from before was arguing with the orange one.
"Ah, come on Smokey! You know nobody could have tailed me! Our sensors would have picked it up!"
"The sensors have been down for three weeks." Mr. Orange argued. The yellow one sighed.
"Fine! If anything follows us in, then its my fault, okay?" He snapped.
Mr. Orange considered this for a moment. "Fine." He stepped to the side, allowing Yellow Head to come in. A silver door slid shut behind them.
I could have stood out there all night gaping, my mouth practically touching the ground. I was not planning on going into the cave, not even for a hundred dollars. Sure, they had seemed friendly to Alexis and her friends, but what if they were faking it? What if they were mean like my dad and uncle and siblings? No, I was not going in the cave.
Apparently, fate decided that I was supposed to, because just as I was about to turn around and go home, lightening struck and rain came down in a sheet, hitting the ground all at once. It rung through the mountains and echoed in the cave, like a guillotine slicing off the martyrs head. I was soaked to the bone in seconds. Like any insane person would, I ran into the cave.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Going into the cave stirred my curiosity from before. I walked toward the doors, which somehow seemed to blend into the walls. I couldn't explain it, really. Anyway, I'm walking towards these doors and just as I step within three feet of them, they slide open. Instinct number one: Panic. Instinct number two: Hide. Instinct number three: Look. I panicked, jumped behind a rock, and then looked. The hallway was empty. The doors began to slide closed again. I took a step forward and they paused, and then slid back open. I lifted my foot; they began to close. I put my foot down; they opened back up. 'Pressure sensors in the floor.' I though to myself, carefully approaching the empty hall. Behind me, the cave was beginning to flood. I stepped carefully through the doors. With a whoosh and a bang, they slammed shut behind me.
"SLAG!" I shouted without thinking. Quickly covering my mouth after my brain had caught up with me, I looked around; nobody had heard. Taking a deep breath, I stared down the straight hallway. If I was going to find a way out, I had to start walking. There was a turn about twenty feet down the hall; that was a start. I tried hard not to run towards it. I should have. Maybe then I wouldn't have stepped through the laser tripwire.
An alarm rang through the metal hall, waking me up. I covered my ears and wet hair with my hands, shutting my eyes tightly. Through the alarm and my hands, however, I could hear footsteps. Looking up, I saw the yellow bot from before standing at the end of the hallway, coming towards me.
I have never run so fast in my entire life.
Woot! First chapter's up! Hope you guys liked it! REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE! I would like at least five review for this chapter, if not more, so please REVIEW! Toodles!
NOTE: If I get a 'D' or 'F' in English (believe it or not. Honors English SUCKS!) I'm off the computer for six weeks! But never fear, for I have keyboarding! So I might be able to post still! Report cards come out Thursday or Friday, so wish me luck!