Uncover → Transformers

Gone

I looked at the three men in front of me. All of them held curious expressions on their faces.

"Is Braelynn okay?" I asked.

It felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped ten degrees. None of them spoke.

"Is someone going to answer me?" I pressed.

My dad squeezed my hand and I looked at him. A single tear slid down his face and he coughed before speaking to me. "Braelynn wasn't as lucky as you were, Lea."

My body went limp and my throat contracted when I realized the meaning behind his words. There was no way. He had to be messing with me.

"No. You're lying to me," I whimpered out. I quickly wiped away a stray tear.

"I wish that I was."

My lip quivered as I tried to hold back the tears. This couldn't be happening. It was her damn birthday for crying out loud!

"But, she was fine. I saw her. She spoke to me and everything."

I felt the bed lower. Ron was now sitting beside me, a single arm wrapped around my shoulder.

"When I was chasing after your stubborn aft, I saw her. Since you're human, you couldn't see what I saw. She wasn't well. She was suffocating and the slagging Decepticon only applied more pressure to her fragile human body. She couldn't breathe. She was being crushed from the outside in, Azalea," Ron told me.

I leaned into his shoulder and silently cried. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Optimus and I had found her before I came to your aid. The Decepticons had begun to flee, including the one that had taken your young friend. Her skin was pale from the lack of oxygen in her system and she was lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"We had made the assumption that the Con had simply let her drop to the ground before taking off. It was the only explanation I had relating to the fracture in her skull. I believe that if she had not been dropped, she would have survived. I am so very sorry, Azalea. I only wish that I could have done something to help save her," Ratchet said to me.

My heart lurched in my chest. I tightly gripped Ron's shirt with my slung arm and sobbed. He held me tightly, but not tightly enough to hurt me.

This wasn't fair at all. I refused to believe that she was actually gone. It already didn't seem realistic. Just yesterday we had been having a great time laughing, eating, and joking around with my family. How had things managed to take such a drastic turn of events? I didn't understand.

She'd been there for me since the second grade. She was like my sister, my other half. She was my family. She was the sweetest and most innocent person I had ever known in my seventeen years of life. No matter what her situation was, she had always been there for me when I was in need, just like I was for her. I went to her for absolutely everything and now I had no one.

She was the reason I forgave Ironhide so quickly. She was the reason I didn't kill Trent when I had the chance. She was the reason for everything, and me? I was the reason she was no longer here. Meeting the Autobots was supposed to be a birthday gift to her, but it only costed Braelynn her life and almost cost mine. She didn't deserve this.

"It was her birthday though," I cried. Ron rubbed my arm comfortingly. I hugged him tighter, ignoring all of the pain in my body. "It's all my fault," I squeaked.

Ron pulled me away from him and stared at me.

"Don't you dare put the blame on yourself. You didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen once you arrived. You are not at fault for any of this," he told me.

I just had a hard time believing his words. Had I waited just a day or so, she would still be here. I couldn't even think of anything to say, so I just buried my head back into Ron's shoulder and cried.

"We must be off now. Optimus requires our assistance with the humans," Ratchet stated.

I jumped up. "You're leaving?" I asked frantically.

My dad stood up. "I'm afraid we have to, Lea."

Ron stood up as well and I panicked. If they left me alone I would be forced to sit here and think about everything I didn't want to.

"No, please don't leave me," I cried as I reached my cast covered arm out to Ron.

He gave me a sad look before turning to look at Ratchet. Ratchet sighed and gave him a small nod before turning to me.

"I'll be back to check on you later," he told me.

My dad kissed my forehead. I could feel a few tears from his eyes fall into my hair, but it was the least of my worries.

"I'll see you in a little bit, baby."

His voice was weak. He gave me a small smile before walking out of the room with Ratchet. I looked at Ron. He wiped the tears out of my eyes, but it didn't help a lot. They still continued flowing down my face.

"Will you stay with me, please?" He nodded and sat down on my bed, wrapping an arm around me as he did. He pulled me close to him and leaned against the bed's headrest. I couldn't very well wrap my arm around him considering it was trapped inside a sling, but I tightly grasped his shirt with my hand.

"I don't know what I would do if you weren't here," I whimpered.

If he were to leave me, I would probably lose it. I already didn't know what to do about my best friend dying, and if he left I'd go into a state of distress. His presence was so comforting to me.

"There's no place I'd rather be, Lea. It pains me to see you in such a state of hurt."

The tears flowed faster. "I'm sorry."

He rubbed my arm soothingly. "Don't apologize for something you have no control over," he instructed me.

"What am I supposed to do about this? What am I supposed to do without her? She was my best friend. I need her," I cried.

He squeezed me harder.

"Losing someone is especially hard; take it from a bot that has lost countless allies and friends in the course of thousands of years. When an Autobot falls, it still affects me because I have lost one of my own, but I have grown used to it. It's understandable as to why you're so brokenhearted by Braelynn's untimely and unfair demise, but she wouldn't want to you to grovel in pain over her loss. She would want you to live out your life and focus on your duties. That's something I've learned over the course of the years," he told me.

"But I just don't know how to do that right now."

"And that's okay. You're grieving. We're all entitled to our right to grieve."

I cried harder. This was killing me from the inside out. "Why her? Why on her damn birthday? What the actual fuck. ."

He sighed and kissed the crown of my head. "There are many things you just can't explain, Lea."

I sniffed and snuggled into him. "Have I ever told you that I love you, Hide?"

He tensed up and I frowned. "You do?"

I nodded. He hugged me tighter. "I love you, Azalea."

I smiled as best as I could. With him, I was going to get through all of this. It was going to take a little bit of time, but I could do it; I knew I could. He made me strong. He was my backbone. He was my everything and I couldn't ask for anyone better than him.

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