A story not often told

Chapter 2: hidden behind himself

The room was cold. He was getting used to it by now. The room was familiar to him. The small data pad in his hands was freezing. His hands were scared. His face was cut. His body was battered. He ignored the great pain he felt. He was smiling. He finally had a name. He was happy to be known as something. Perceptor. What a new name!

Outside, behind the door, he heard the clattering of metal and the slamming of doors. Then the door before him clattered. He heard the locks lift. The door was thrown open. Too much energon again. The older mech stumbled in. The mech gave Perceptor an angry look. Perceptor gasped as he was lifted by his neck.

His feet dangled from the ground. His hands stung, trying to grasp the hands around his throat. The sharp pain running through him was too much. His optics shut. He couldn't withstand it. The pain. The trouble. Was he ever going to stop?

"Where have you been!?" snapped the old mech.

"I…you locked me in…don't…don't you…recall?" stuttered Perceptor.

"Don't give me excuses!" ordered the bot.

"It wasn't an excuse…it was a logical reason…" gasped Perceptor.

"Don't give me that! What are you doing, boy?" snapped the bot.

"I'm studying," Perceptor answered.

"That stupid teacher…what's her name!? What's she teaching you!?" the elder huffed.

"She's teaching me new words, math, physics…that kind of stuff," explained Perceptor.

The elder dropped the youngling on the floor. Perceptor could hardly understand the world around him. He tilted his head up at the elder. The elder looked at him angrily. Perceptor lost all interest to please him.

"What do you want from me!? What do you want from Redmoon!?" sobbed Perceptor.

"Do not snap at me boy!" ordered the elder.

"You push me around like garbage!" Perceptor cried. "Why do you hate me!? I try to please you and you merely try to exterminate me!"

"Shut it child!" ordered the elder.

"Child? I have a name now…no thanks to you!" sobbed Perceptor.

Perceptor was pushed back in the freezing room. Perceptor ran for the door. It closed in his face. He placed his hands on the cold door. He slowly slipped down along the door. He fell to his knees on the cold floor. He let his head rest on the door frame.

"What did I do to deserve this…" Perceptor hissed.

Perceptor crawled back to where his data pad was. He needed something else on his mind. He looked over the data pad. He was only supposed to go to the fifth page. He was on page four. He frowned. After finishing page five, he kept reading. He went through the whole data pad before he finally heard the door click. The lock had been undone.

"Perceptor?"

"Ms. Redmoon?" Perceptor gasped.

She stood in the doorway. She looked worried. Perceptor slowly stood up. The data pad slipped from his hands as he ran to the teacher. He hugged her. She looked so sad as if the worst thing had happened. She kneeled down so she was eye level with him.

"Why are you here?" Perceptor asked, looking into her optics.

"Perceptor…" she whispered, "I'm sorry but.."

"What?" Perceptor gasped.

"Your guardians not here anymore…he's been gone for cycles. Didn't you know that?" she hummed.

"He always leaves for a long time. Usually he'll come back around the next day…" Perceptor explained.

"He's not coming back this time…He left you. He stopped by my room and said he wasn't coming back…" explained Redmoon.

"No…no, he wouldn't leave…" Perceptor gasped, shaking his head.

"I'm…sorry," sighed Redmoon.

Perceptor couldn't believe it. His guardian may not have loved him or treated him well, but he was someone he was familiar with. He still felt cared for. He still felt loved in an odd sense. How could this have happened? Why did he deserve this!?