Chapter 4:

My aching head was what woke me up. Or was it that I woke up and my headache began? Either way, it was not pleasant coming back into the world. My bleary eyes opened slowly.

I heard a gasp from my right and the sound of an object falling.

My head snapped in that direction, fear already working in my mind, only to see a young women with short brown hair and blue surprised eyes. She was wearing simple teal scrubs, and had an identification card hanging onto her right shirt pocket. The identification card had her picture, the name Sylvia Panuchan in block black letters, and, at the top of the card, was labeled Jasper Hospital.

Hospital.

I looked around the room. It was small, simple, and mostly white. There was a window to my left with drawn blue curtains, and a basic plastic chair in the corner. On the far left of the wall was an unopened wooden door, another door was on the opposite wall to my right. I was laying on a standard hospital bed with white sheets, only my feet sticking out. My right foot was swaddled in bandage, and when I tried to move I was rewarded with pain.

"Oh no sweetheart, the doctors just did surgery on your foot, that stick they pulled out was half way through it! You need rest." The nurse said after coming out of her surprise. She had a light southern accent. I looked at her confused.

"Stick?"

She suddenly looked concerned.

"Do you remember anything that happened? Who you are? Anything you could provide would be of help to us. I can tell you where you are right now if you think that'd help jog anything?"

My throat was dry and the sterile hospital air filled my lungs. My head was pounding. I moved my hands to rub the sleep out of my eyes and I noticed that I was now wearing a basic thin blue hospital gown under the sheets.

"What happened?" I repeated her question, my mind turning. "… I think I need some time to think, I don't remember right now...but where is this?" I managed to croak out. A hospital in Jasper? Nevada? No that couldn't be right, I lived in Texas.

"You were rushed into the ER unconscious early this morning, covered in mud and with that stick in your foot," She bent down to pick up the clipboard she had dropped and continued. "You're in Jasper, Nevada," the nurse said confirming my suspicion. She stood back up and came closer to me.

"I'm just gonna check your vitals now hun," she informed me. She took an electronic thermometer out to take my temperature across my forehead, recorded it, then hooked up a blood pressure machine to me and told me to relax.

"Nevada huh?" I asked incredulously.

"Do you remember where you're from?" She asked as she recorded my blood pressure and began removing the machine. She then began checking my eyes. "Follow this pen please," she asked as she moved it left and right.

"Texas, near Houston." I replied finally when she was satisfied that my sight was a-okay. She smiled.

"I'm originally from Texas myself. That's quite a bit away though, what brought you to Nevada?" That was the question wasn't it? What was I doing here when I should be in Texas? Heck, I didn't even own my own car, so I had to of come with someone to get here.

Seeing me struggle with the question, the nurse moved on to a different subject.

"Don't worry 'bout it, it'll come back to ya eventually. How 'bout some food? You must be starvin'." I nodded.

"Water?" I asked.

"Sure thing hun."

She took a pitcher that was on a night stand next to the bed and filled a paper cup with the liquid. I took it from her with a quite thanks and attempted to have some self control by not just downing the whole contents in one gulp. When I finished, I didn't even have to ask before she refilled the cup. This one I took my time sipping. I reread her tag, as her name had already slipped my mind: Sylvia Panuchan. Nurse Panuchan.

"Is there anything you'd like from the cafeteria in particular?" She handed me a menu pamphlet. "Lunch is open right now, so anything in that section."

I opened the pamphlet to the lunch section.

"Anything here?" I made sure.

"Yep! You're not on any required diet, so choose whatever you feel you can handle right now."

My eyes traveled down the list. I didn't know how to feel that they offered bacon hamburgers at a hospital. I guess at the end of the day it came down to what sells.

"I'll have a ceasar salad and fruit." I felt like if I ate anything heavy, I'd throw it right back up again.

An idea wiggled into my mind.

"Could I also use a phone?" I asked. She smiled brightly at that.

"Sure thing! We'll trade. Your name for the phone," she grinned teasingly. I smiled.

"Rachel. Rachel Evensbrough."

Satisfied, she took an older looking phone that was hidden in a corner behind her, and placed it within my reach. She told me how to use it to call outside the hospital before she left the room using the door on the right wall. As she opened the door to leave I saw the busy hustle of doctors and nurses going to and fro.

The door clicked shut behind her and I was alone.

I glared at my bandaged foot.

That dream I had couldn't have been real. My mind must have mixed fiction with reality, and in my panic I must have ended up hallucinating. That was actually possible. That or my kidnapper drugged me and left me for some reason. I then must have tried to find help, but accidentally hurt myself on the way.

One thing I knew for sure now was that not everything last night had been a dream. The pain I had felt from moving my foot was all too real. Though, how much of what my mind was telling me was true had yet to be determined.

I looked at the faded black phone. It was one of those corded ones with silver buttons.

There was one way of knowing for sure if I was losing my mind.

I picked up the phone and dialed my moms number.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer available." I ended the call and tried again. A knot building in my chest.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected-"

I messed up the number again. That was it, yeah.

"We're sorr-" I put the phone back onto the reviver, ending the call. She must have forgotten to pay the phone bill this month. That's fine, it happens. My dad's number then.

It rang.

And rang.

And rang

"Hello?" A foreign voice finally came from the speaker. The knot deepened.

"Hello?" The voice repeated when I didn't immediately answer.

"He-hello? Hi, yes. Is Robert Evensbrough available?" I managed to sputter out before the man on the other end hung up. It must have been the wrong number or something got switched up.

"Robert? I'm afraid he passed away three years ago."

It was like a ton of bricks hit me in the gut.

No.

No way. I- I misdialed. His phone got lost, anything but that. Tears started building in my eyes.

Three years? No way. I had seen him just yesterday. Or what to me felt like just yesterday.

"You're speaking to his son though, I take care of any of his leftover business."

A shiver dragged down my spine.

There were many thing in life that can be rationalized. Heck, our brain rationalizes so much, it's ridiculous how often we place meaning on things that never had any. But this?

I didn't have any brothers.

I slammed the phone back onto the receiver and stared at it.

I…

I had no words.

I was in another universe.

Of course, most people wouldn't jump to that conclusion after just two strange phone calls, but my parents always picked up. They sure as hell would have noticed my absence if i'd been kidnapped, and would have most definitely not given up after just three years. That's not even mentioning the facts that my mom had already hit menopause, meaning there was no way I could of had a brother I just missed being born in the meantime, and anyway that male on the other line had clearly sounded like a full grown adult. I know, I know, the option of, 'dad cheated on mom!' was plausible, but I know dad and he loved mom more than anything in this world. He would never in a million years cheat on her.

This is all assuming it has been three years since I was last home, which I wasn't entirely convinced of. I needed to know the date.

Still, the possibilities opened in my mind.

If I really was in the Transformers Universe (and a BIG if) the implications would be huge. It would mean that the multiverse theory was correct, for if there were an infinite number of universes, as ridiculous as it sounded, that means there had to be one where the fictional Transformers Universe was real.

Did that entail that not only was I from an alternate reality, but that I knew the future here as well? And if I did, does that mean our creations and stories are just us acquiring the history of real places across dimensions, like peeking behind a dimensional curtain? If I created an original story right now, would I have created a new universe, or would that universe have always existed, and I am just now tapping into it?

And, food for thought, if I do know the future here, just how responsible does that make me to all the ills that happen if I don't change anything?

I needed access to the internet. Then I could know for absolute certain if it was all true, for how could an entire beloved franchise disappear from the internet?

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I said. It hadn't felt long enough for the Nurse to have gotten the food and come back up, unless this facility was just that efficient.

The door opened and Nurse Panuchan came inside, pulling along a heavy cart behind her while another nurse helped her deliver the lunch orders to the correct patients. Nurse Panuchan came inside and placed the tray of food on the table by me. She was carrying a clipboard which she set down as well.

"That everything you wanted?" She asked. I looked at the food and nodded. A cup of fruit and a ceasar salad.

"Yep."

"I have some forms here that I'd like you to fill. Just put as much info as you can into it." She indicated to the forms and pulled out a pen to place it next to the papers. I quickly glanced at them and noticed the date had already been put in thankfully. It was still February the 28th, thank God. At least I can put that out of my mind.

"Alright, well if you need anything else or have any questions, just push this button here," she pointed at a remote for the bed that I hadn't realized was there. It had an array of options to change the elevation of the bed. The very last button on the remote had the figure of a person with a medic hat. She then turned to leave.

When she got to the door frame though, Nurse Panuchan turned around to address me.

"Oh! And there will be law enforcement coming in shortly. No need to worry hun, they're just gonna ask some questions. Police is real friendly around these parts. You just answer the best you can." She smiled at me, then left the room to complete her other tasks.

Shit. I needed a cover story and fast.

Or should I tell the truth? Minus my conjectures of course, no need to talk about the stuff with alternate realities and maybe knowing the future. That was research I needed to look into myself.

Nope. No way. If I told the truth I'd go straight into an asylum, and to be frank my story was ridiculous. I could imagine how the conversation would go:

I just woke up in the middle of freaking nowhere, only for some fictional giant alien robots to come save me from the Decepticons who were- Who are the Decepticons? Well they're the fictional alien robot villains who are trying take over Earth. Then there's the Autobots, the ones who saved me, they're the good fictional alien robots, but I was running away from them-

Nope. Too much of a headache.

I took a fork off of the food tray and started stabbing into the bowl of fruit and shoving said fruit into my mouth.

Okay than. I'd say I woke up in the middle of nowhere, and that I didn't know how I got there. I'd say I began hallucinating, seeing things, and that it caused me to become scarred and so I ran into the forest where I accidently hurt myself. After that I woke up here.

No Autobots. No Decepticons.

Man eating feels so good, I'm so happy to have food in my stomach. My headache was calming down now.

I took the salad off of the table and onto my lap as I stabbed it and put the lettuce into my mouth. I laid back into the bed and stared at the ceiling while I chewed.

Pushing the Where out of my mind, the How was a looming question, as in how did I get here? I was sleeping in bed, at home, then whoosh? Welcome to your new reality?

And was it me or was this bed really uncomfortable?

I set the salad back onto the table, and ever so carefully scooted forward, trying my best not to move my foot. I twisted slightly around to take the pillow I had been laying on to fluff it. I stared.

Behind the pillow was the stick.

You know. The stick. The rod thing. The blue glowy stick. The stick that, if my memories were worth anything, I'm pretty sure was given to Optimus. The rod that the Decepticons and the Autobots wanted. That stick.

I didn't want to touch it. I didn't want to see it. Yet, just rationally speaking here, I knew it wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

I grabbed it carefully and turned back around, placing the pillow back behind me.

The rod's length was about two feet and its width about one and a half inches. It was completely smooth with no bumps or ridges and was clean despite everything that had happened to it last night. It was slightly cool against my fingers, and felt like it was made from some kind of thick metal, yet it was light as a feather. Even though the room was well lit, the rods own blue light was still discernible.

It was like nothing I'd ever seen.

...Is what I would have said before all of this. After meeting fictional alien robots, the strange becomes quite mundane.

The rod was the only clue I had to how I maybe got here, as it was there when I first woke up. And now I guess it'll always be here when I wake up. Just perfect.

There was a knock on the door.

Shit. What do I do with this thing?!

I shoved the rod under the sheets.

"Co-come in!" I said a bit nervous now. What if someone found me with it? I didn't have a cover story for this! Maybe - maybe it's a new toy! Or a valuable family heirloom? That worked in the Bay movies.

I plastered a smile onto my face as the door opened slightly. Nurse Panuchan popped her head in.

"The people who came to see you are here." She looked nervous. The smile left me immediately as I tried searching her face to see if I could figure out what was making her suddenly all nervous.

"The police officers?" I asked cautiously.

She looked apologetic as she opened the door completely, revealing two men in black suits and red ties. One was a white middle-aged male with a chiseled, flawless face. He had brown hair and blue eyes, as well as a tall lean build. In his right hand he was carrying a briefcase.

The other man I recognized almost immediately.

"I'm sorry if there was some kind of confusion. We'll be dealing with your case, Ms. Evensbrough is it?" The brown haired man came over to me and offered his hand.

"I'm Agent Cauley," he said as I shook his hand and stared at him.

"And this is Agent Fowler." Agent Cauley gestured to the pot-bellied, black man. Fowler fixed his tie and glared at me. He glared at me looking ready to grill me until I was barbecue.

"We're from the Pentagon."

The government was here. Of course the government was here. No wait, why was the government here? If Agent Fowler was real and here then that meant…

"Are you feeling alright Ms. Evensbrough? You don't look so well."

"Yeah, well go through what I did, the way I did, and that'll happen to you." I snapped at him. Everything felt so fast. Too fast. Where was time when you needed it?

"That's what we're here for. We would like to hear what you believe happened last night. It's imperative we get as much information as possible if we are to help you in any way." He said sympathetically.

Yeah? Well wait in line.

"I hope you don't mind if I take a seat?" He asked flashing a perfect smile. I shook my head, and he took the plastic chair from the corner and pulled it close enough to the bed to hear me, but not so close it was uncomfortable. Fowler, I guess, choose to lean against the wall in front of me.

"I'll be going now, don't hesitate to call if you need anything sweetheart." Nurse Panuchan said. Her eyes were filled with concern. I guess it wasn't everyday the Pentagon stops by, so it wasn't surprising she was concerned.

"Okay, thank you Nurse Panuchan," I replied trying to convey that everything was fine, and there was nothing to be concerned about.

Now whether or not that was true had yet to be determined.

The Nurse shut the door behind her as she left.

And then there was three.

"Now, I don't want you to feel like we're ganging up on you. We're just looking into if what happened last night might be of interest to us in another case we're following." He said, breaking the silence.

Oh really? Another case?

I needed to calm down. This was an opportunity to get to the bottom of this. This was the point bank conversation I needed to face right now. Still, I didn't want to give too much away. No fiction. No alternate universe theory.

It was time to use my junior high school theatre training to good use.

"Of course Agent. Ask away, and I'll provide, though I doubt it'll help much."

He smiled at me again and I found it creepy.

"Great! Let's start with some simple questions then." He took out a folder and a pen from his briefcase. "You're full legal name?"

"Rachel Abigail Evensbrough." I even spelled it out for him.

"Date of birth and age? "

"October 12, 1999. I'm 18." There was a slight pause before he continued.

"Sex?"

"Female."

As Agent Cauley wrote down his notes and continued his questions, I struggled not to stare at Agent Fowler. Act normal Rachel. Act normal. I could feel Fowler's glare on me.

"Well, that all seems to be in order," Cauley said finally. "Do you think you could tell us what happened? You can start from anywhere you feel comfortable with."

Okay, you can do this Rachel. You can do this.

"I don't understand what happened much either I'll be frank." I didn't. I don't. "I go to sleep, at home, in my bed. Next thing you know, I wake up, I'm in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night. Just like that." I snapped my fingers to demonstrate how quick it felt for me. Both Agents were listening intently.

"No phone. No idea where I am. Heck I don't even have shoes! You can see where that got me." I gestured to my bandaged foot. "So I go walking, trying to find the nearest town or person or anything." I laughed. This was the make it or break it moment.

"Here's where it gets weird," I shook my head in disbelief. "I started hallucinating."

"Hallucinating?" Agent Cauley asked. "What of?" He said this in a manner that suggested he was just curious or he found it funny. But I knew better. He was testing me.

I rubbed my arms, and shrugged.

"Does it matter? Point is while I was in lala land I probably got myself hurt, passed out, and someone was kind enough to get me to a hospital." I deflected.

"So you were hallucinating something. Did you have any other symptoms? Nausea, Dizziness?"

"Yep. Nausea, dizziness, disorientation. I had the whole works." I took a deep breath and let it out through my nose.

"It sounds like you were drugged."

"And kidnapped. It's what I've concluded. How else could I have gotten from Houston to Nevada with no memory of it? And I don't do drugs, before you ask." I defended myself.

"I'm curious about these hallucinations. What makes you so sure you were hallucinating?" Fowler suddenly spoke up to my suprise. It was strange he sounded the exact same as he did in the show. You'd expect some sort of difference. Even the way he said 'hallucinations' reminded me of the time he was captured by the Decepticons and feigned ignorance of the Autobots in Starscream's interrogations. I hoped he would take what I was saying at face value.

"Don't laugh." I said embarrassed. Neither of their expressions changed, so I continued. I ran my right hand through my hair and looked at Agent Fowler.

"I saw giant sentient robots that could transform into vehicles." I watched his face carefully, but there was no change in his expression.

Agent Cauley chuckled.

"I can see why you believe you were drugged." I glared at him. Didn't I say not to laugh? Still, saying it outloud and having the idea laughed at eased my tension a little.

That's right. It was ridiculous. What was I thinking?

"Yeah, it was weird seeing fictional characters right in front of me," I lightly laughed.

"Fictional?" Agent Cauley asked, curious.

"Yeah, you know. Transformers? Robots in disguise?" His face looked at me blankly.

"The TV show's? The Michael Bay movies?" I looked at him incredulously. He had to of at least seen the movie trailers.

"You can Google it," I gave up. They could just look it up if they really didn't know. Agent Cauley gave me a strange look and Agent Fowler had an eyebrow raised. The tension came back with a vengeance at their complete lack of recognition of what I was talking about. Shit, I shouldn't of said that. They both looked at each other, silently agreeing to something before Cauley continued.

"Well, maybe we can get back to that later. Do you have any idea who your kidnapper might have been? Any clues that you found significant?" They wanted to know about the glow rod. I just knew they'd ask about that.

I shook my head.

"I'm afraid not." I said trying to go for an apologetic tone. Whether they bought the lie was impossible to tell from their reactions.

"A shame." He slightly shook his own head and sighed in disappointment. He stared at me dead in the eyes, and I couldn't help but look down into my lap. Do you ever wonder how many threads a blanket has? Very interesting subject.

Damn it, they could totally call my bluff, I just know it. I was trying to act like I had no idea what was going on, but it's hard the longer you have to speak. The longer you speak, the more you accidently let slip. I was curious if they knew of the Transformers franchise, because that was the final straw I needed to convince me I was really in another Universe. In doing so though, I didn't have to let them know I thought the Bots were fictitious characters!

"I hope you don't mind, but do you have any family or close relations we can call? Just in case we need to verify anything you've said." Shit.

I wonder if this blanket was always off-white, or if it was once just white. I hope the hospital didn't give patients old, and worn out blankets.

"Ms. Evensbrough," Agent Cauley said in a stricter tone than the kind, relaxing one he had been using during our conversation. Like he was trying to command me to tell the truth.

Like hell he could order me around.

"No. I don't." I replied without looking at him. "I'm quite tired now, and would like for you to leave." I glared up into his blue gaze and practically dared him to see what would happen if he refused to leave.

"Like hell we're gonna leave until you-" Agent Fowler started protesting before Agent Cauley cut him off.

"Of course. You must be tired, so we'll be taking our leave," Cauley said packing his briefcase and standing up from the chair.

" It was a pleasure meeting you Ms. Evensbrough, despite our short visit. Perhaps we can continue this conversation another time." He smiled, but this time I didn't care. I wanted them out of the room. Out. I had said too much, and they were asking questions I didn't know how to avoid. What? Do I tell them that my mom is who knows where, and my father had apparently died and I had a brother I never knew about? Did I tell them apparently my dad died 3 years ago, despite me seeing him just yesterday morning? It brought up too many questions that I didn't want to share.

It looked for a second like Agent Fowler was going to protest their dismissal, but an unsaid understanding passed between them again. Agent Fowler reluctantly left the room with Agent Cauley, but not before he shot me a suspicious look over his shoulder.

And then there was one.

I sighed and fell back into my bed, draping my left arm over my face.

Well that went well.


Authors Notes:

I finished writing this one late at night, so I may go back and change some things later if I realize I didn't get a point across or if I didn't like how I phrased something.

Question: Do you think Rachel is projecting her fears onto the Agents too much, or do you think she was right to believe they weren't believing her anyways?

Comments appreciated.

Also note: I do not own Transformers. Rachel is mine, the gal with all of the crazy theories.