Sirius
…
It felt like forever and a day before Jolt pulled into her gravel driveway. Unlike the typical people who chose to live in the confines of the city close to amenities, her home was much more secluded.
A quaint two-story house with aged white siding stood in a large clearing bordered by lush green trees and brush only just beginning to show signs of the approaching fall. On either side of the steps going up to the front door, a raised garden full roses, peonies, and dahlias, slightly overgrown and wild, like they were meant to be.
A ways behind the house was a small aged red barn, the roof caved slightly on one side. It sat along side a large field with only a few trees speckled about.
"This is your home?" came a voice through the interior speakers of the Chevy as it parked on the otherwise empty driveway.
It was just as she left it, unknowing to the events that transpired. Untouched and safe. There was no sight as beautiful as her home in the setting sun.
"Yes."
As soon as she opened the door, the scent of the flowers and trees filled her nose. The air was fresh and still comfortably warm. A stark contrast from the ocean breeze that previously assaulted her senses.
As she carefully stepped out of the vehicle, the bushes between her property and the neighbours rustled. Violent barking cut through the tranquil silence. A lean black dog burst out of the trees, still barking and beelining towards her.
Aria, now fully out of the car, kneeled down and stretched out her arms. "Sirius!"
The Doberman crashed straight into her body, assaulting her with wet licks and paws. Her rib throbbed from the force, but Sirius' attention was plenty of distraction. She pet him and kissed his head. Nothing was more sincere than a dog's love and affection.
There was a loud sound of rushing air and rotating metal from behind her. She turned to face the blue alien robot, wiping the dog drool from her face. Sirius ran up to him barking frantically and nipping at his feel. Jolt simply shook the dog off.
Aria called Sirius back, when he didn't listen, she shouted at him louder. He obeyed, backing up towards her and sitting, his brown eyes never leaving Jolt.
She patted his head. "Good boy. Be nice to Jolt or else he won't come back."
Sirius glanced at her, letting out a wine.
"This is a Canine?" Jolt asked.
He didn't sound fazed by Sirius' outburst, so that was good. "Yeah, we typically call them dogs. This is Sirius, he's my guard dog and my baby."
"Guard dog? It seems harmless enough."
Aria scoffed. "Well to you maybe. I have neighbors that won't even walk by because he looks scary." Speaking of which, she looked past Jolt to the small entrance between a wall of trees and lilac bushes. "Do you mind standing over there on the grass? I don't need the neighbors who still do walk by seeing you."
"Certainly." Jolt gave a curt nod and took a few steps off of the driveway and out of sight from the opening to the road.
"Sorry." Aria walked over with him. "It's a dead end road, by I do still see the occasional car and person. Other than that, this place is perfect."
"You are not one for company?"
Aria sat down on the grass. Sirius leaned against her as he sat as well. "I mean, I wouldn't mind it once and a while, just not from strangers."
Jolt looked around, before mimicking Aria's action and sitting on the grass. He looked to the house. "You live alone, then?"
Aria shrugged. "Alone with Sirius and my horses."
"Is that not a lonely existence? Humans seem like social creatures."
A lonely existence? He sat on the grass of her beautiful property, looked at her beautiful house, and that was the conclusion he reached? Not a peaceful existence, or quiet existence—no, a lonely one.
"I don't know… I mean I have acquaintances from work, but none that I would like enough to invite over. My parents stop by once and a while though."
Jolt stayed silent for a moment. His blue eyes scanning the field behind the barn. "I see," he finally said.
Aria turned to Sirius, patting her legs. He knew the gesture well and immediately sprawled across her, tongue sliding out the side of his open mouth.
"I must go now, dusk is approaching." Jolt stood up, stray blades of dry grass falling from his as he did.
"Oh, yeah, I guess." Aria coaxed Sirius off her and got up slowly. "Maybe I'll see you again sometime?"
"It is unlikely, but it was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Normandy."
Aria opened her mouth but nothing came out. Was this really going to be the last time she talked to Jolt? To any of them?
"Farewell." Jolt's body folded into itself until he once again took the form of a Chevy Volt. It pulled back onto the driveway and out of the opening to the road.
Aria lowered her raised hand. "Bye…Jolt."
She turned and headed into her house. Was that it then? The end of an adventure. It was short, but the twelve most eventful days of her life.
Teleported across the ocean, discovered aliens existed in the form of giant robots, rode in a Blackbird, witnessed an unknown war, travelled in an aircraft carrier, talked to Autobots, and now, she had said goodbye.
And thanks to the paperwork she signed, no one could ever know about it. Even if she did have friends, she wouldn't have been able to tell them. At least she had Sam, Mikaela, and Leo, even if they were currently on a plane back to California.
The front door was unlocked as per usual. For some reason locking it always slipped her mind, especially when she had to run for the bus. At least this time it paid off. Her backpack was in her locker at the museum.
The house was as she left it. The eastern facing windows let in plenty of amber light. She grasped the railing and took the stairs one step at a time.
She entered her bedroom and went straight for the drawer in her bathroom vanity. She dug aground for the bottle of pain pills and popped two.
After downing a glass of water, she crawled into her poorly made bed and half threw a cover over herself. Sirius took his place at the side of her bed that faced the balcony doors.
Jolt was right. Normally the silence was nice. Just the rustling of trees outside her window and Sirius' occasional noise while he slept was enough, but compared to falling asleep to Leo and Sam's dumb conversations or Mikaela's incessant gossip, it was too quiet.
Lonely, even.
…
It wasn't until the next morning that Aria got out of bed. The house was lit by grey light from the overcast sky. It dulled the colors of the sage green walls and brought out the age of the old wooden floors.
Aria turned on the TV as water boiled on the stove. A narrator's voice filled the empty silence with theories of dark matter and the existence of black holes. Nothing about alien life, unfortunately.
Most of the food in the fridge was spoilt. The bread had green spots and the milk was long past due. Black tea and a less than fresh egg it was then.
Today was going to be a long day. There was going over to the neighbors and thanking them for watching Sirius, calling her parents, grocery shopping and possibly working the evening shift at work. She was still scheduled and apparently Mark, her boss, knew the cover story and that she'd been taken in for questioning all this time.
Lennox had her practice the story back on the ship on multiple occasions, reminding her that jail time for treason was the alternative. Leo was given the same alternative, Sam and Mikaela only had to do half the paper work, it hadn't been their first time being a part of a top secret expedition with the Transformers.
She washed her plate and cup in the sink and placed them in the drying rack. Sirius sat by the front door waiting to go out after finishing his food as well. She gave him a pat and let him out. Turning the TV up louder, she ventured back upstairs to get dressed.
Although the days were getting cooler, her closet was filled with mostly dresses. The yellow one that flared out at the bottom looked the most appealing. She put on a sweater on top to make it more weather appropriate.
She put on her other pair of glasses. Fortunately, the ones lost in Egypt were her work pair. The downside was she was now down to her last frames.
Putting on her shoes, she joined Sirius outside. Her eyes landed on the driveway entrance.
Jolt had said that she'd probably never see them again, but Sam had once said that it was hard to keep them away once you got to know them.
Sirius ran ahead of her as she walked back to the pasture. They were somewhere in Washington. Either somewhere in the rural area where they'd never be spotted, or true to their disguises, somewhere right in plain sight to the entire city.
The last place anyone would expect.
Aria grabbed the pitchfork stuck in a half-gone bale of hay. Stabbing into a loose bit hanging off the edge of it, she tossed it over the wooden fence into the pasture.
The ground rumbled with the galloping of hooves. Two horses ran full tilt toward her—or rather the pile of hay. All the fresh grass in the world, and the ran toward the sight of hay like they had been starved for months.
They whinnied and threw their heads as they neared. Azimuth was the faster of the two, his shiny white coat gleaming even in the overcast sky.
Zennith wasn't far behind. Taller with a larger head. He was a buckskin, golden coat with an off black mane and tail.
They came to a sudden stop just before the fence, dropping their heads into the pile of hay. They looked to be perfectly fine, no visible injuries or limps, and just as fat as ever.
Aria climbed over the fence. The pain medication from that morning seemed to be helping. If she didn't make any sudden movements, it wasn't too bad.
"Mom and Dad would surely kill me if they found out I made you only eat grass for a week." She took turns petting the pair. "And drink from the pond instead of your fancy water trough that you only splash in. Poor, poor creatures."
"Aria, are you here?"
Aria turned back towards her house where the voice called from. Sirius was already full tilt toward the visitor, none other than her neighbor.
"Hey Deb, I'm back here!" Aria climbed back over the fence.
Deborah scurried over, her ginger hair contrasting with the greenery around the farm. The woman never failed to look out of place when she stopped by. She was always dressed in expensive clothing and gold accessories despite being a full time Doberman breeder.
Aria met her half way, allowing Deborah to catch her breath.
"Thank you so much for taking care of Sirius while I was away. Family emergency, but everything's fine now."
Deb waved her hand. "That's quite alright, dear. I figured as much. Sirius was a good boy." She pet his head while he sat between them.
Aria began to walk back to the house. Deb and Sirius followed on either side.
"Would you like any tea or anything?"
"That's quite alright, dear. I just wanted to stop by and make sure everything was okay with you."
Aria's eyes wandered to a raspberry bush in the distance. "Oh, well thank you for checking up on me."
Once they reached the driveway, Deb stopped at gave Aria a smile. "Take care, you know where to find me if you ever need."
"Thanks again, Deb. See you."
And just like that, Deb disappeared behind the trees and she was alone again.
Sirius whimpered.
…
Work was…weird. Where Jetfire once sat was now a big empty space. The walk to the back offices was almost disorienting without it.
Whatever damage Jetfire caused was already cleaned up. The only remaining evidence of his war path towards the overhead door was a few empty spots where planes once occupied.
Aira walked past a few other offices before reaching Marks door at the end of the small hallway. His door was open as per usual. She knocked on the frame before peaking in.
Mark looked up from his computer and waved her in. "You conveniently missed out on an eventful week. Military, government agents, specialty cleanup crews. I can't believe the Blackbird was a ticking time bomb all this time."
"Yeah they swarmed in right after I started my shift. The assailants sure worked fast in setting it off."
"I'm just happy they got it out of here before it blew the museum. Not to mention they cleaned up all the damage in two days so we could reopen again."
Aria sat down in the chair in front of Mark's desk. "Are Frank and the others okay and back to work now?"
"Most of them. A couple of them requested a few extra days." Mark leaned back in his chair, looking down his nose at her.
"That's good to hear. It was scary finding them on the ground like that."
A knock from behind drew Mark's attention away. Aria turned back to see a well dressed brunette in a plaid pencil skirt and black blouse. Her hair was immaculate and her jewelry coordinated flawlessly with the outfit.
"Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity."
Marks eyes were glued on the woman with a wide smile. "You're first day went well then? Ernesto was nice to you?"
She flashed a white smile. "Yes, I enjoyed working with him. He has some great stories."
"I'm delighted to hear it. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow?"
"Of course. Goodnight, Mr. Matthews."
"Please, call me Mark."
She smiled and left with a whip of her silky hair.
As soon as the woman disappeared, Aria turned back to Mark. "You hired a new tour guide?"
"Yes, lovely, isn't she?" Mark finally tore his eyes away from the vacant doorway.
Aria sat up higher in her chair. "You said you'd interview me when a position opened up."
Mark frowned. "You weren't here last week."
Oh so this was how it was going to be? Whoever promoted this man to general manager needed to be fired themselves.
"You couldn't wait? I've been working here for five years as a janitor and you still won't even give me a chance?"
"No offence, Aria, but you're not really the ideal fit to be a tour guide." His eyes swept over her. "You have to look and act a certain way, and you do not show promise with either of those standards."
"So you want me to dress up and talk to people while I clean the entire museum? That hardly seems fair, especially when I barely make over minimum wage."
"If you want to make more money maybe you should consider finding a job in your field. I'm sure somewhere is hiring astrology majors."
"Astronomy," Aria corrected. "And no, I want to work here as a tour guide."
It wasn't like she was asking to become the CEO. She wasn't even asking for a measly raise. But no, she was just too homely looking to do anything with even the slightest amount of dignity than the job she got when she was starting university.
"Alright, Aria. I'll consider you for next time we look to hire. Maybe start smiling a little more and putting on a little lipstick or something."
Sexist asshole. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now time to get to work."
…
Aria caught the last bus home. Done another day of her dead end job in her dead end life. Like many nights, she was the only one on the bus.
Sirius greeted her when she opened the front door. After a scratch behind the ear, she let him outside. She tuned on the speaker in her room to play soft music while she got ready for bed. The feminine voice soothed the silence of the empty house and drowned out the noise of the wind against the window.
Once she put on her pajamas, she let Sirius back in and did the usual ritual of turning all the lights off in the house. The faint lamp light was enough to guide her up the stairs to her room.
Sirius curled up in his usual spot beside the bed. Aria crawled under the covers and tuned off the lamp.
She fell asleep to the sound of music.
…