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I felt myself be shoved backwards, I felt myself be slammed into something hard. I watched as the person who pushed me continued to run on. Heather. She was the one who invited me to this study session. I had finally had free time in my schedule and I decided to try to study with others. Though no one wanted to study with me. Heather noticed and asked if I wanted to study with her and her group. Though I ended up wishing I had just studied alone. I was isolated even in the group. I realized whatever I had hit, was not as solid as I had thought, because I felt myself falling again. A ripple of pain goes through my body as I hit the ground. A groan comes out both my mouth and the mouth of who I hit. I then realized I had been pushed into someone. I was quick to get off of them, only to groan again at the pain going through my body. I then look at the person I landed on. I was confused a bit.“Oh my god, are you okay?,” I asked the seemingly metal person, I looked them over to make sure they weren’t badly hurt.“Who would think you earth beings were so heavy?,” I hear the metal being groan. I looked at them worried. The metal being went to sit up, I continued to sit at their side and look at them with worry. My sight is then fixated on the sound of crumbling. I looked up and saw that the building next to us was starting to cave in. My eyes widened as I looked back at the metal being.“We need to get moving,” I said quickly, trying to grab their hand and pull them along. I was able to get them up to their feet and I was quick to drag them away from the crumbling building. Once we were barely out of reach, the building crashed down. I felt my hand be held back and I came to a stop. I had completely forgotten about the metal being. I turned back towards them and noticed that they were looking at me in confusion.“Is something the matter?,” I asked. I let go of their hand and turned all the way around to face them. I was able to take in all of how they look. They were taller than me, not too shocking. They were a purplish-blue, and what seemed to be their eyes were red. They looked at me and just stood there for a second, before we heard the sound of a nearby explosion. Before I knew it the metal being ran off.“Wait, what are you doing?! Don’t run towards the fight!,” I yelled at them. My body stopped before I could completely run after them. I could not do that. I sighed and watched the being run off. I hope they will be okay. I turn around and go to run. But then I hear an explosion again. I quickly turn around and see that the explosion came from the same area I had just seen being run. I felt my blood run cold. My body and mind were fighting with each other at that moment. I wanted to run towards the explosion and make sure the being was okay, but the logic in my brain called me stupid for wanting to do that.“Fuck it,” I mumbled as I bolted towards the area. Once I got there I looked around for the being. Where had they gone? I then heard a groan, and I was quick to look towards the sound. My eyes widen at the sight in front of me. Luckily they had not been hit by any of the debris from the building that blew up, but they seemed to be bleeding out. I quickly ran over towards them.“Are you still alive?,” I asked as I bent down at their side. The being was quick to look my way. They groaned again as they looked at me.“Stupid Starscream,” they mumbled. Who was Starscream? I shook my head at the thought that was not important right now. Right now, I need to stop their bleeding. I looked them over and tried to find out where they were bleeding from. I couldn’t see anything. There was a chance that it was on their backside, the side I could not see at the moment.“I’m gonna try to stop the bleeding. Though I’m gonna need to sit you up to find out where you are bleeding from,” I said. They groaned in reply, so I slowly started to sit them up. I looked on their backside and saw that there was a good size hole on their lower back. Oh that was way worse than I thought it was. I quickly pulled the first aid kit out of my bag. I was barely gonna have enough gauze to cover the hole. Much less enough to even fill the hole. I sighed at my worry and quickly covered the wound.“I’m sorry. I’m not gonna be able to do much. I can cover the wound and keep the blood inside, but that is as much as I can do,” I said. I realized my voice was beginning to shake. I tried to calm myself down, I could not cry right now. I need to focus on the wound first and then cry after. Once I was able to patch up the wound the best I could I laid them back down.“Hey, are you still there?,” I asked. I watched the being’s head look towards me. They were still conscious that was good.“Can you still speak?,” I asked.“What is it to you?,” I could hear the sarcasm in their voice. I chuckled a bit.“It keeps me relieved,” I said. They stayed silent for a bit.“You're stupid,” they comment.“That would make two of us,” I said with a smile.“What’s your name? If you have one,” I said. They stayed quiet for a bit, it worried me.“Rumble. What’s the name of the stupid earth being?,” Rumble asked. I chuckled a bit, swallowing my tears.“Riley,” I said with a smile. I feel the ground rumble a bit. I was quick to look around, just in case we needed to move. Instead I was met with a bigger metal being. I looked at them in shock. They weren’t here to hurt Rumble right? I felt myself move in the way without thinking. I would have chuckled at my dumb action, because for all I knew, this could be a repeat of standing in front of a bull.“Hey boss,” I hear Rumble say quietly. So Rumble knew this being? I felt myself relax a bit. I moved a bit out of the way of the bigger being. The bigger being bent down and slowly picked Rumble up. Rumble winced a bit when the bigger being touched their wound. The bigger being seemed confused by the cloth on Rumble.“I tried to patch them up the best I could, but there is only so much I can do,” I said, looking up at the bigger being. The bigger being looked at me and then back at Rumble. The being then stood up and I was shocked when I saw them just fly up into the sky. I watched them until I couldn’t see them anymore. I sighed and instinctively went to wipe my face. I then realized my face was wet. I chuckled a bit as I started to cry more. I hoped that Rumble would be okay.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I had seen Rumble a few more times after that day. I was very happy to see them the second time. Mostly because I was happy to see that they were alive. I ended up being told the whole attack stories by the two owners of the store I worked in. Supposedly there were the Autobots and the Decepticons. It seems like the Decepticons were the bad guys and the Autobots were the good guys. I was warned by the owners to stay away from the Decepticons. I understood their worry, but I ended up becoming friendly towards Rumble. So I wasn’t just gonna do a full 180 out of nowhere, just because he was one of the bad guys. I would feel guilty, but also because he seemed to be one of the only friends I had even made here. I chuckled at the thought of when I first had a normal conversation, if it can even be called that.I flinched back a bit at the figure in front of me. I was quick to hold my chest and breath out.
“Hello Rumble,” I said. I sent him a small smile. I was not expecting them to be outside the back door of my job. I was about to head home, and I normally took the back door for many personal reasons.
“Hello Riley,” they said with a smirk. I smiled back at them. I wonder what brought them here? Wait, how did they know I was here? I tilted my head at them once I thought that. Rumble seemed to read my mind.
“I saw you go here earlier,” Rumble commented. I walked to their side and hummed. Oh yeah, one of their fights started just a few minutes before I went to work.
“So what compelled you to come to see me,” I said, as I started to walk out of the back alleyway. Rumble followed after me. Rumble had never tried to have a conversation with me, hell, they sometimes would not even respond to my wave and friendly gestures whenever I would see them. Then again, Rumble would usually be in the middle of a fight. So I shouldn’t hold that against them. I did notice how Rumble seemed to stay quiet for a while.
“I have actually been wanting to talk to you, I just finally had the time to,” Rumble said. I looked at them and tilted my head.
“Well, what did you want to talk about?,” I asked. Rumble stopped in place, and I turned back to look at them in confusion.
“Why did you try to save me that day? Were you just trying to get on the good side of the Decepticons to try to be spared?,” Rumble questioned. I looked at them even more confused.
“What?,” I said in confusion.
“Why did you do that on that day? You pulled me away from falling debris and even tried to patch up my wound. What is your motive?,” Rumble said as they grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into the nearest alleyway. I felt fear grip me and I then started to panic. I felt my body begin to shake and tears came into my eyes. I started to hyperventilate.
“Hey, Riley, are you trying to distract….,” I couldn’t make out the rest of their sentence. I couldn’t breathe, so I tried to grab my neck.
“ I can’t breathe,” I tried to say. I then felt myself blackout. I spoke words I could not remember, but I did feel a warmth surrounding me. I felt safe. I gasped and opened my eyes. I came face to face with Rumble who was holding me as I sat on the ground. I sat there for a second.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. Rumble quickly pulled away and looked at me.
“Why are you saying sorry? And what was that? I thought you were trying to fool me, but you stopped responding to me. You kept saying ‘don’t hurt me, please’ over and over again. And then you just went limp,” Rumble said, almost shouting. Though their voice got quieter after I flinched at the volume. I looked down in shame for a bit. It had been a while since I had such an attack.
“It was an anxiety attack caused by my PTSD,” I said, “ it’s a really long story though.” I held on to Rumble’s arms, which were still wrapped around me. Rumble looked at me with a head tilt, showing they were confused. I chuckled a bit.
“And to answer your question from earlier. The one where you were asking why I would help you, well, I’m not entirely sure. I just did it out of the feel of needing to help. I have always been like that, and not shocking, that need has ended me up in a not so great situation, again,” I said with a shrug. I feel Rumble pull me into a hug once more. I stiffened a bit, but then hugged back.That night Rumble walked me home and we did our best to know each other. I found out Rumble was pretty much a male in his species. I also found out he had a brother, or well, the equivalent of a brother. The way they interacted with each other really sold it. The two of them would come over quite a bit at my house, we would sometimes watch movies. I also found out there were more of them. Though the others did not look anything like them, they were all mini cons. And I found out their boss’ name is Soundwave. I chuckled at a memory that came up when I thought about their boss.Frenzy and Rumble complained about how they would have to return to their base in a few minutes.
“So y’all pretty much have a curfew?,” I asked. They looked at me confused.
“Curfew is a designated time that you have to be somewhere, usually used for when a parent wants a child to be home at a certain time,” I explained.
“Yeah, I guess that is what it is,” Rumble commented. Frenzy laughed a little bit.
“What?,” both me and Rumble questioned, wondering what caused Frenzy to laugh.
“Riley, do you think our boss is our parent?,” Frenzy said, laughing a bit more. I sat there and thought about it for a second. I remembered how the two of them would sometimes talk about their boss, Soundwave. Sometimes it did sound like teens talking about their dad.
“Yeah, he almost seems like he can be your dad,” I said. Frenzy laughed again, while Rumble looked at him and rolled his eyes. I chuckled a bit, tickled at Frenzy’s laugh.I smiled at the memory.
“Riley, what are you thinking about?,” I looked over to see Mrs. Bexter, and chuckled a bit.
“Just thinking of my friends,” I said with a smile. Mrs. Bexter smiled at me and patted my back before walking away. I looked over at the clock for when I would get off, I kind of wanted to leave quicker. I sighed and my attention was stolen by the customer who had come up.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Hey there, why don’t you give me a smile?,” the man said, looking at me as I scanned his items. I ignored him and continued to do his transaction.
“Hey, did you not hear me? I asked for a smile,” I continued to not listen to him as I started to bag his items. I then looked over at him, waiting for him to pay. He stared right back and sent a smirk.
“I won’t pay until you give me a smile,” I rolled my eyes and leaned over and picked up the phone. I typed in 254 and heard the music stop.
“Can I have a manager come to register 5?,” I said into the phone.
“Hey, there is no reason to do that,” the man said, leaning over towards me. I was grateful my manager showed up at that time.
“What is it you need, Riley?,” Mason, my manager asked.
“This customer seems to not be able to pay for his groceries, so I'm gonna need you to suspend the order, please,” I said, facing Mason. Mason nodded and went to suspend the order.
“Wait, I can pay. I just want this bitch to smile,” the man said. Mason looked up at the man and smiled and hit enter on the suspension. Mason was quick to make it around the register and grabbed the basket to go put the stuff back. The man got angry and started yelling, he was soon kicked out by Mrs. Bexter who shook her head at his attitude. She then looked back at me slightly worried.
“Are you okay Riley,” she asked. I nodded, though I noticed that I was shaking. Ah, that is why she felt the need to ask.-I had to do a bit of overtime, but that didn’t matter to me. I grabbed my stuff and went out the back door. I started walking home. I then felt the feeling of being watched. I was quick to slip into the nearest gas station and sure enough, I saw a man come out from one of the alleyways and head down towards the gas station.
“Is something the matter, miss?,” I looked over to see a young girl behind the counter. I smiled a bit at her.
“Just a weirdo. That’s all,” I said. The girl looked at me in worry and then back at the man. I then watch the man come into the store. I continued to make small talk to the cashier, trying to seem like we were friends, and she did her best to pretend with me. Another employee, male this time, came out towards the registers and looked at me and the cashier in confusion. The creepy man seemed to linger and once I saw him head back towards the back of the store I said bye to the cashier and walked out the door. Once I was out of the door, I grabbed a hold of my bag and sprinted towards the maze back roads to my house. Once I was in my house I locked the door. I panted as I tried to calm my heart down.
“Is something the matter Riley?,” I flinched and quickly turned towards the voice and immediately went into defense. I then froze when I realized it was Rumble who had spoken. I sighed and relaxed. I hung my purse on its hook and looked back towards them.
“Yeah, I just had to deal with a weirdo,” I said, walking towards the two of them. Once I got close enough, Frenzy pulled me into his lap, he then got hit on the head by Rumble.
“Leave her alone,” Rumble said. I chuckled a bit. It was warm. I felt my eyes start to get heavy, and before I knew it, I was asleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I stood in the kitchen cooking my dinner for the night. I heard the TV playing Jaws. I chuckled a bit at both Frenzy and Rumble. They seemed to really like horror and thriller movies. Once my food was done, I put it on a plate and waited for it to cool. I then grabbed it and went to sit with Rumble and Frenzy. I watched the movie and finished my food. I went to go and put my plate into the sink, I then heard a banging on my door. I looked at the door confused, but decided to ignore it. I wasn’t supposed to have any more people here. I washed my plate and put it up and walked back into the living room. I still heard the banging on the door. Who could that be?“Riley! I know you are in there! Open the fucking door! I just want to talk!,” I froze in place. No. No, HE was not supposed to be here. HE shouldn’t have known I was here. I looked over at Rumble and Frenzy, and I knew the fear was obvious from me. Rumble and Frenzy had both looked towards the door as HE continued to bang on the door. The banging just kept happening. I had to answer the door. This house was old and creaky, if HE banged on the door any longer, the door would cave in. I started towards the door, I also heard Frenzy and Rumble follow behind me.“Y’all just stay on the couch,” I whispered towards them. Both of them looked at me with doubt, but listened anyway. I got to the door and cracked it open. It didn’t take any time for HIM to push the door open evenmore.“Finally you dumb bitch,” HE said as HE went to grab me. I tried to dodge, but HIS hand never reached me. HE cried out. I opened my eyes to see that Frenzy had grabbed HIS arm. I felt arms wrap around my waist and saw Rumble place his head on my shoulder.“Do you really think we would just let you touch her?,” Frenzy said as he squeezed HIs arm even more. I touched the arms around my waist.“You said you wanted to talk to her, not touch her,” Rumble said. I noticed how it was now HIs eyes that held fear, and I was relieved. He opened His mouth to speak but nothing came out. Frenzy grumbled and pushed Him back. He fell to the ground and looked up in fear. Frenzy looked back at me, almost as if he wants me to be the one to speak. I nodded and got out of Rumble’s grip and stepped towards him.“If you have nothing to say, then excuse us,” I said, as I slammed the door closed. The moment I let go of the door knob I sighed and held my chest. I looked towards Rumble and Frenzy and smiled. I was grateful that the two of them were here tonight. I would have not been able to face him without the two of them.“Who was that asshole?,” Frenzy asked as he got closer.“A long and horrible story,” I said, “would you like to hear it?”“Only if you are willing to tell,” Rumble says. I nodded and led them back to the couch. I smiled a bit. I let the two of them sit down first and then I sat in between them. I was shocked I had be able to do such a feat earlier. I looked at the two of them as they looked at me. I realized, if they hadn't been here tonight, I would have been screwed. Another reason for me to love and care for the two of them. I smiled as I started on my horrible relationship that I had with him.