Woo! New ShadAmy story! Okay, so as you know, I do NOT own any of the characters in this work of fiction unless that is stated HERE so if there are any of my own characters in chapters to come, I will write that here. Well, I hope you readers enjoy Finding Shadow as much as I'm sure I'm going to enjoy writing it!
-(Amy's P.O.V)
It was a dark, starless night when it happened. No one had expected it. No one had prepared for it. No one knew what to do when it happened.
We had all been huddled together – Shadow, a few other kids and I – when we heard the door to the orphanage we lived in burst open and slam against the wall. Everyone jumped, even Shadow, but he remained calm and soothed us all. That was his job, after all, since he was a little too old to have hopes of being adopted at age 16, so he was like the support for the other children who had been left parent less after the war. "I'm here to adopt." Those words would normally work us up into a elated frenzy, rushing around to make ourselves look like the perfect child in hopes of a new life. Not tonight though. We were as still as the dead, hardly daring to even breath.
"Everything's going to be okay." Shadow's strong, assertive voice called. Oh how wrong he was. "Amy," I felt his red eyes on the back of my head, so turned to face him.
"Yes?"
"Don't do anything stupid." I could tell that Shadow was genuine in what he said, despite the joking tone he used, so I nodded in response, not wanting to let him down. I've already done that too often as it is.
You see, when people came to adopt back when Shadow was thirteen, he had a chance. He was strong, so could be used as a labourer, and caring, so would be the perfect big brother, but I always managed to mess his interviews up. I had been eleven at the time, and the concept of being adopted, or him being adopting, was surprisingly unappealing. To me, everything was perfect as it was. After all, how could it not be when you had people all around you who knew your pain, not just tried to imagine it? It was only after Shadow hit fifteen when I realized how badly he wanted to be gone, but thanks to my stupidity and selfishness, he would never get that.
All eyes snapped to the door of the bedroom as the door slammed against the wall. He was here. The man who wanted to adopt one of us was here. From where I was (between Shadow and my good friend Cream) I could see that he had dark glasses, a bald head and a ginger moustache. Not exactly an... attractive man, to say the least.
I continued to watch as he strode down the aisle that separated the two rows of beds and scanned ever inch of each of us. I could feel his eyes taking in every detail as he passed me, obviously as unsatisfied with me as the rest. It seemed that not even Shadow was receiving a second glance from this violent man. "Do none of you possess a back bone?" He boomed incredulously as he reached the end of the aisle. I flinched.
"One of us does..." I mumbled, just a little too loud for it to go unheard.
"What was that?" He inquired, staring in my direction. I knew he was certain of where it had came from, so I readied myself to repeat.
"I said," Shadow. What was he doing? He hadn't said a word, so why was he taking the blame? "That one of us has a back bone." His ruby eyes were staring right back into the dark glasses of the bald man. Even I could feel the hatred Shadow had for this man whom he didn't even know.
"Is that so?" He questioned, intrigue lacing his words. "And who, might that one person be?" I could still salvage this situation, if only I could say-
"I do." Shadow again took the words from my mouth. He was going to get himself adopted by this monster at this rate! I looked to the man just in time to see the most twisted, wicked grin I had, and will probably ever see, blossom across his features.
"I'll be taking this one, then."
I could actually feel my world tear in two as he said those words. I felt like whimpering 'no' like the pathetic fourteen year old I was. I felt like telling him it wasn't Shadow – it was me. I felt like say that I had a back bone as well, just so he would try to adopt me as well. Just so that Shadow and I would not be separated – but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, my throat held onto my words with a vice like grip, telling me that I would not tell that man who had really said those words.
I felt my gut knot itself tightly as I looked to the ebony and crimson hedgehog I had come to call my friend. I tried to show my shock and guilt through my eyes alone, but I couldn't.
I failed Shadow the Hedgehog. I failed him. And the worst part is, I will never see him again to right the wrong that I caused that day. Never.
Please R&R! All suggestions are welcome! (Criticism is good too. I love constructive critizism, I just don't get enough. D:)