If My Voice Had Wings

Book One

Chapter 03 – Souci Pluvial

Written By: Wrath of an Aerow

(Flower, also meaning "Marigold, Cape") Souci Pluvial ~ Presage

Shauna looked at the beckoning hand with confusion, watching as its claws motioned her to follow its carrier. Behind her was a different, softer hand, holding its hand out for her to take. Darkness surrounded her in a mist, but she could see herself, and the two hands clearly; just not their bodies.

She didn't know how she got into the darkness, but she knew something wasn't right about either one of the hands that called her name. The soft hand clenched its hand in a fist, and then slowly eased his fingers back, showing an image of her mother in a holographic image, smiling. In the other, it did the same, but instead of a living object, it showed clouds. But they weren't just clouds. It was the sky above the clouds. Both hands showed what she liked and what she desired the most.

It was a matter of choosing one, and only one; she couldn't pick both. She wanted nothing more than to get out of her father's hell-hole of a house and scamper back to her mother and her friends. But she loved the thrill of being above the clouds, and seeing nothing but the azure-blue sky above her head, and stare at the funny shapes of clouds. To her, she couldn't pick the one she wanted, which made her even more confused.

Suddenly, the image spiraled out of focus and shifted to another. She landed with a THUD on a metallic surface. In front of her was green, vile colored water. A gurgle protruded her eardrums and she snapped her head up. There, in front of her, a vile, ugly metallic beast snarled; it's sharp, white and jagged teeth oozing some sort of purple and clear liquid through gaps of its fangs. Its eyes seemed to burn right through her, and she was paralyzed with fear.

As it lunged at her, blackness quickly engulfed her.

Shauna shot up in her bed, her music from her earbuds blasting to "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie. Yanking the buds out of her ears, she turned her IPod off and sighed. "What was that all about?" she asked herself and picked up her phone from the floor. The clock read 9:39 AM and Shauna was relieved to know her father had already left for work.

Swinging her legs out of her bed, she stretched, and unlocked her door to go to the bathroom to take care of her hygiene. After brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, and splashing her face with cool water, she retired the bathroom and sauntered to the kitchen, double checking her father wasn't in the house. Smiling contently, she grabbed a piece of leftover pizza from the fridge and a Mtn. Dew, kicked the door shut, and plopped on the computer chair in the office. Clicking the mouse, she typed in the password to get in, and opened up Google. Tapping the keys absent-mindedly, she eventually decided to go to Youtube.

This is how it was most of the time, and Shauna would state that openly. She was left at home most of the time while her father went to work, went to a party, had friends over, or was watching sports. He didn't pay much attention to her, and Shauna actually didn't really care. She liked it that way. The dumb-ass took her from her mother for what? For his friends to bug her and pick on her? Shauna snorted. That's exactly what it seemed.

Her phone began to ring on the desk in front of her, and she paused the video she was watching and opened her phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey! It's Charlie. Whatchya up to?"

Shauna smiled, though her friend couldn't see it. "Just Youtubing, you know, the usual nowadays…"

"Your dad needs to let you be free, jeez," Charlie started, and Shauna could imagine her rolling her bright green eyes. "You need to come over to my place or something; we don't live too far away from each other…"

"I guess I could always sneak out…but if Trent found out…I'd be dead meat."

"You're already dead just sitting there! You need to get up and moving, chika! I still can't believe he won't let you go see Sam! He's your cousin, and you two are closer than conjoined twins, and he won't let you go!"

It was true, Charlie had a hate for Shauna's friend as well, and if anybody knew anything about her family, it was her. They had been close friends since first grade, and she was known throughout Shauna's family as the hyperactive, short, ball of fun.

"I know Charlie, it's a bunch of crap," said the sophomore. "So…should I sneak out or what?"

"It's up to you, Shaun'. Whatever happens, it's not my fault!" she laughed. "It's all your call."

After a few seconds, Shauna half-smirked and said; "Be there in a few."

She rushed to her wardrobe in her room and plucked out her over-sized black ACDC shirt and her skinny jeans. She pulled on her dark brown high-tops and put her favorite baseball cap on backwards. She tied her dark brown hair in a low ponytail, and let her dark red sidebang crawl freely down her cheek. Looking in the bathroom mirror, she smiled.

Before she retired the house, she got her phone and her key and left, smirking as she did so.

Emily sighed as she leaned back on her couch, flipping through the channels in boredom, her feet kicked on the coffee table. Her chocolate eyes were full of boredom and she waited for her cell phone to ring, and she constantly checked for messages. She was contemplating whether or not to call Shaun' and see if they wanted to go to the big skate-park downtown, but she had a feeling that her dad was home or she was doing something else.

Huffing, the Hispanic teenager leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

Stuff just wasn't the way it used to be, now was it? Emily and her best friend lived just a few minutes away from each other when Shauna was with her mom. Now, they were miles apart, and it just wasn't fair. No matter how much pleading happened, Trent's mind didn't alter, and Shauna left all the friends she had. Now, she was bored. Emily had nothing to do and no one to talk to.

It sucked.

"Emily! Have you done your chores?" called her mother from the kitchen.

"I'll get on it in a minute, mama!" called Emily back and crossed her arms.

"Call Shauna, why don't you? You're so depressed when she's not around!"

Emily again, huffed. Her mother wouldn't stop nagging about it!

Shauna had her hands shoved in her pockets as she continued walking down the sidewalk. She'd get to Charlie's in about fifteen minutes, and she enjoyed the walk so far. Walking soothed her usually jumbled up mind. The worst her father could do if he discovered she snuck out was take her laptop away. But then again, Shauna could get it back easily while he wasn't home.

Cars lazily road past her without giving her glances, and to be honest, she didn't care if she was noticed or not. The only reason she was known throughout her school was because she had slight anger issues, got in fights, and was a good artist. She got in verbal fights with the popular crowd, and was looked-up to by some of the "nerds" or "outcasts" in school and she'd become quick friends with them.

She sighed as she rounded a block, and jumped a little bit when she looked up and saw a black and white police car with a man leaning casually by the driver's door. The man had pitch black, shortly cut hair with a small goatee and dark – almost black – brown eyes. He had paling skin, and his eyebrows were narrowed as he studied the girl walking towards him. He wore the usual police officer attire and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked to be in his late thirties and was in pretty good shape.

Shauna avoided the officer's gaze and immediately shook off the sudden fright she had of him. It was a normal cop that got into punks like her business, and she knew this.

Before the fifteen year old passed her, he asked in a somewhat gruff voice: "Aren't you a little young to be walking out here alone?"

She stopped, tucked some of her side-bang out of her eye and looked at the officer. "No. It's a city, dude, you should know that. No one is going to kidnap me in front of shops and passing cars."

"Where are you off to? Would you like a ride there?" offered the police man, his expression changing into a calm expression.

At first, Shauna said nothing. It was the golden rule in a child's life not to talk to strangers, and especially not get into a car with them. Even if this was an officer she was talking to, she'd never accept a ride from him. She would rather walk.

"Look, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, or get in cars with them," she scratched her head. "I know you're being nice and stuff, but I think I'll pass. Thank you for the offer though."

When she tried to walk away, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Ma'am, I insist. You wouldn't like walking in the rain, would you?"

"It's not rain-"

She was interrupted by a single droplet of water splashing on her nose, and flinched slightly. Thunder clapped in the distance. It was a choice of running fifteen to twenty minutes in upcoming pouring rain, then making it increasingly obvious that she snuck out during the day, or hitching a ride from this officer or a taxi. After a few seconds…she came up with her decision.

"I think I'll just walk. I'm not afraid of rain. Thanks again, sir. Have a nice rest of the day."

The cop didn't have it.

His grip tightened suddenly on her shoulder enough for her to yelp. He then leaned in and whispered in her ear in a growl, "You are coming with me, little brat."

"What?" she asked in utter confusion as the officer flung the backseat's door open and tried to shove her in. She was pushed on to the leather seats, but recoiled in anger and kicked the officer in the chest, sending him back, looking confused. Shauna took her chance and scampered out of the back seat and back onto the concrete. She set off in a flat out dash.

The officer cursed and regained balance, running after the girl with clenched fists.

Shauna rounded a corner of the block and while she passed a garbage can, she shoved it to the ground, hoping to slow down the officer. The cop swiftly jumped over the cans and continued the chase. She cursed to herself when she saw him not at least trip and continued to run. Also, knowing that she never really got out and exercised, she didn't and couldn't run for very long. She now wished she listened to Charlie when she told her to get off her ass and go run around outside. Karma sucked.

She turned her head to see if the officer was still behind her, and stopped, panting.

He wasn't there.

Shauna put her hands on her knees and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. She had lost him. She smiled softly, taking a few deep breaths and stood up straight.

"Oh, are we done playing tag already?" asked a familiar gruff voice from behind her. The figure behind her tapped the lip of her hat from behind her, and her eyes widened.

She swished around and yelped out of surprise to see the same officer who had been chasing her. He wasn't sweating or panting at all; he looked as if he was calm and didn't chase her at all.

Trying to keep her voice calm, she questioned; "What do you need me for?"

The officer smirked and took hold of her arm, and dragged began to drag her off.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" she yelled, irritated. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

Still not getting an answer, she yanked her arm free of his grip; it was a technique she learned in karate some time ago to get out of someone's grasp. "HEY! Tell me why the hell you are taking me back to your cop car!"

The cop rounded her, his dark brown eyes narrowed dangerously. He suddenly seemed more threatening than he did before, and Shauna would admit that he was very intimidating in every way, shape, and form. "That information is classified, Shauna Fairheart."

She blinked, "You know my-"

"Yes," he made a sound similar to a low hiss. "I know a lot about you. Now, if you'd come with me, I can explain. You want that, don't you?"

Shauna almost nodded 'yes', but took a double take at it. This was a stranger who knew her name, and that was strange enough. Why would she go with this creep? He could kidnap her and she could possibly never see anybody again. This officer could kill her or rape her, if he even was an officer at all. Maybe this was his way of getting teenaged girls into that backseat of his and take them to an old abandoned shack to kill them. But still, how and why did he know her name?

Narrowing her eyebrows and going with her instincts, she said in a low voice; "No."

"Bad choice," he growled and rose his fist.

Later that day

It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and Shauna still wasn't at Charlie's house. Charlie had tried calling her friend at least twice every half hour, and was already beyond worry. She was biting her nails, her phone in her lap and her fingers wrapped around it. Charlie Reese was a fifteen year old girl with dirty blonde hair with scarlet colored highlights. Her skin was slightly red from sunburns and freckles dusted her cheeks. She wore a simple dark purple shirt with black jeans and socks. She was rather skinny, despite all the junk food she ate; she was always exploring and hyper, so she was always skinny.

"Charlie," her mother called from the kitchen. "Isn't Shauna coming over today?"

"Yes," replied the teenager quickly and got up from her bed.

She was going to go into the kitchen to get a soda when she heard the doorbell ring. Her mother could have sworn she teleported there, seeing how fast her daughter got to the door. She opened it without looking through the peephole and had a big grin on her face.

But the grin quickly vanished.

Shauna had her hand on the side of the door, but she was shaking. She had a large bruise blossoming on her right eye and a cut bottom lip. The arrival sniffed.

"I got beat up."

A/N - I find it extremely obvious who the cop is, don't you? It's Prowl! :D Haha, not. Prowler's not mean like that. Anyways, this is pretty different from the first "Lovely Spark" isn't it? (If you've read it, which I don't suggest because it fawking sucked!) Thank you for all the awesome reviews so far! Please keep them coming. I only own my OC's, but Charlie Reese belongs to SouthAmerican Eggplant, and she let me use her in my story :). I do not own Transformers; they rightfully belong to Hasbro/Takara. I also do not own any of the songs or brands or bands mentioned in the text above. Hoped you enjoyed and drop a review!