Can You Feel the Sunshine?

"Can a day get any better than Friday?" I exclaimed. I was overflowing with joy, though I must admit, it was only another day in mid-October. The holidays and breaks would come soon, so not much longer until Christmas and winter break. I just can't wait for school to stop for weeks! You might think that I am being over emotional, but I just don't really like school, especially the overflow of homework and stress to endure. I like learning, but not work, but saying that is an understatement.

Freezing, I walk into my house where it is nice and warm. I must admit, I hate the heat, well, I exaggerate the heat, but I don't really like the cold. "If I get my work done fast enough, maybe, excepting how much work I really have, I can convince my parents to get me a new video game, Legend of Zelda, maybe, or a Sonic the Hedgehog game." I think. But usually they just think that I'll never get my work done. Against my dad's strong belief, my homework's done before he knows that I've started. "Alright, we can go," he says reluctantly. Soon, at Wal-Mart's extensive game section, I happily search through games until I come to a shelf that I've never seen here before. A used games section. The only thing that is on the shelf is a Sega Saturn, an

unknown system to most, and a game called "Sonic R." I've heard about the game before, and now that I've seen it, I know that this is the game I want. I walked to my dad and asked, "I searched through the games, and found an old game system. Could I get it? It's not a lot, and I have enough to pay for it." Sure enough, I'm soon in my dad's truck going home with the game. I've wondered about this game for a while, and not I have it.

Now, finally home, I rush to my TV in my room, turn on the lights, plug in the TV, and listen to it electronically crackle to life. I immediately plug in, turn on the Sega Saturn, and put in the old disc. Only the game is on my mind. I soon found out that it was a racing game, where the object of the game was to win races to unlock more characters. I unlocked most of the eccentrically designed characters before I decided to go to bed.

Soon after I fell asleep, I began to have a strange dream. I was in my room, with a low and intense humming through my room. Somehow the humming was forming words in my head, that told me never to play Sonic R again. I woke in my bed, covered in sweat. It must have been a nightmare; albeit one that made no sense. Still a bit afraid, I went to get some food: Rice Krispies with milk. Sure enough, by dinner I had forgotten about the dream. I told myself it was only a nightmare, nothing more. So, once again, by 7 o'clock, I had gone to my closet and gotten out the controller again. "This time, I would finish the game!" I promised myself, "I will have this done before I sleep!" Within no time, I was nearly finished. "Just this one last level, then I can go to sleep." I said to myself. Finally, I complete the level.

Excitedly, I begin to wonder what happens next. Then the credits show up. "That must be it, now. The game's over," I say softly to myself. I walk slowly over to turn off the game, when, unexpectedly, something grabs my attention. The credits slowly twist, becoming a checkered pattern with something standing in the middle of the screen. Oddly, this scene is just like when you unlock a character. Standing in the screen is a thing that looks like Tails, Sonic's friend, overall, but a few key differences set them apart. This one has a glowing jewel on his head and uneven stitching all over his body. "Tails Doll," it says in the corner of the screen.

Rethinking my decision to turn off the game, I keep it on. Soon, it returns to the boring and duller title screen. I decide to play using the Tails Doll, after all, he is a new character to learn actions for, and I wanted to know what made him so special that he is unlocked last.

"You've got something different about you," I mutter to myself. I decide to try him out in tag, dodging and tagging before others can tag you. Soon, I found that he isn't a good character, overall. He's decent in some skills, but severely lacking in others. I keep playing, anyways. Now, I've gotten nearly all of the characters tagged, except Super Sonic, the hardest character to catch. I think, "it's my lucky day!" when he slips and crashes into a wall. "Hahahaha! I win! You lose!" I joyfully say as I tag him. As soon as I touch him, the lights flicker out.

Out, except for the TV and game. The race is no longer on the screen, but a message, ultimately filled the screen, "HAHAHAHAHA!!! And so it begins." Suddenly, the TV goes out. Fearfully, I start to panic, when the lights come back on. The TV's still out, and I'm freaked out, explaining to myself what happened. I convince myself that I fell asleep while playing, that the entire thing was a nightmare. I turn around to go to bed, when on the wall behind me I see the last three words I wanted to see, "TAILS DOLL FOREVER," written in blood on the wall. Or paint, that could be either.

However, I was really tired, and went to bed anyways, but downstairs, away from what I, angrily, convince myself was a prank by my brother.

The next day, my brother insists it wasn't him, and that there was nothing on my wall. Suspiciously, I walk up and see nothing there. I start up my computer to check my new emails on the internet. As it loads, my TV flickers back to life, with Sonic R on screen. "I must have left my game on, and the cat probably stepped on the remote again. I walk over and reach for the electric plug, to keep my cat from turning it on, when the screen catches my eye again. "Not that easily. You can't run from me much longer. Tails Doll Forever!" it said in the same writing. "It looks just like what was on my wall!" I exclaim, before unplugging the TV and game. They morbidly turned off, to my relief. I walk back over to my computer, where I have 20 new emails. "I never get that many," I think suspiciously, as I click on the first. The email's line for subject said nothing, and the sender said "." All of them were signed "Your friend, the Tails Doll." They also had the same message, "TAILS DOLL FOREVER!!!"

On the edge of hysteria, I look up "Tails Doll" on Google. The first few are YouTube links, but underneath those is a site that has a description with a phrase that catches my eye, but it had just confirmed my fears, "Tails Doll Curse." I looked through the site. It was a site of unconfirmed stories about being possessed, haunted, or people found killed extremely suspiciously after playing, and beating Sonic R. The people mentioned that the Tails Doll, the terrorist of the site, is evil, and can be summoned through many ways, but the constant flow of never-ending stories all agreed that the Tails Doll is released from the video game if you are exceptionally good, and can tag Super Sonic with the Tails Doll. As if right on a cue, the electricity goes out before I can figure out if the site says how to get rid of this cursed evil, the demonic puppet that is haunting me.

Then, from nowhere comes a familiar tune. It is a tune from Sonic R, the song that plays when one is in the presence of the Tails Doll, according to the website I was at earlier. The song is really loud, now. I can tell that it is "Can You Feel the Sunshine," the last song, the most unassociated with the Tails Doll. Suddenly the TV flickers back on, with Sonic R loaded.

"Now," I think, "the power must be back on." But the lights are still off, and the Sega Saturn and Sonic R are in the other room. Suddenly, the TV's screen shatters, and I jump back. "I just want this night to end," I think to myself, as out of the circuitry of the TV floats the Tails Doll, and the music gets louder. Suddenly I recall that in some stories, they could still easily scare it, you just needed to sing the theme song of Sonic.

Rushing out of the room, the Tails Doll follows after me, as I hear in a low, metallic voice, "You expect me to spare you? You thought I wasn't real, now you will die!" I ran through my house, and struggled to remember the words to the song. Suddenly, I can remember the first line of Chaotix's theme, but after singing a few lines, I realize it's not working.

Hating my memory, I lose hope, thinking it doesn't matter anymore. "Wait a minute! I figured out the line! The first line is "It doesn't matter!"" I begin to sing what I can remember of the unforgotten song, and suddenly "Can You Feel the Sunshine?" stops. I can hear a metallic yell that will forever haunt me. Suddenly, everything seems to fade as I feel myself pass out.

From the darkness, I get up to find myself in bed. The house looks as before. "I dreamed it all, or I imagined it," I said to myself. I got up and laughed in relief, and started to head downstairs, ready for breakfast, when I saw something that chilled me to the bone. On a piece of paper, that was taped above my head, written in the same bloody font I had seen before, was written, "HAHAHA!!! You may have won this time, but I leave no survivors. TAILS DOLL FOREVER!" I, ever frightfully brought the paper to show my parents, but stopped. The paper was now blank.

So, now I sit here typing my story, the one I will never forget. How could I forget this unforgettable memory? I just hope you remember my warning of the curse. I've got to go, now. My TV just turned on, again. The cat must be stepping on the remote, again. Wait a second, my cat's at the vet…


Disclaimer: I do not own, and did not create Sonic, Chaotix, the Tails Doll, Legend of Zelda, or any songs or characters mentioned. This story and plot alone were created by me. This story is fiction, for anyone who wishes to use this in proving the Tails Doll's existence, none of this really happened (though I did hear a laugh from my computer while I wrote this.)

Please do not copy without asking, and give credit if used.