Of all the nights to become an insomniac…

The moonlight bled through the blinds, and the rain pelted the glass like hailstones. I watched each drop of freezing water stab against the window as though the storming night wanted to kill me. My scarlet eyes contrasted with the indigo hue of the night sky, and I could make out a shard of my reflection within the glossy, wet pane.

For a split-second, I recalled the horror stories about mirrors, how looking within oneself could prove fatal. Perhaps there was a demon behind the glass, waiting for me to let my guard down. Just biding its time for the right moment to strike.

Its jagged, wretched claws would pierce the crystalline, still air and shatter the window with one swipe, and then the beast would follow. Sharp, blood-red irises would meet mine and watch the life drain from my body as its horrible nails impaled themselves through my torso. The blood would rush from my body, and I would either die from the shock and blood loss or the terrible asphyxiation as I choked to death on my own blood.

Call me paranoid, but I decided not to come any closer to the ghostly window.

Lightning flickered and thunder crashed, and an ethereally blue light was cast upon the flooded ground. That was when I saw it.

He was standing motionless in the downpour, the water coursing down his metallic body and pooling beneath him. Luminescent eyes the color of red glared at me in the dimming moonlight. His claws had the faintest hint of rust creeping along them, mysteriously reminiscent of bloodstains on steel. There was only a millisecond of illumination provided by the roaring lightning, and he made use of it.

His bony, silver arm shot forward and extended towards me to its full length, and a serrated blade that I can only assume was a finger or talon jabbed outward and into my direction. Like he was marking me for death, or perhaps claiming my soul for reaping.

Then the lightning vanished, and with it, so did he.

"I watched you die," I thought aloud, speaking quietly to myself. "You can't be him."

But whatever I saw that night, it had looked exactly like him. Exactly like Metal Sonic.

"What are you thinking about, Shadow?"

I awoke from my trance with a start, and my heart was beating at the pace of a fully-automatic weapon. But it slowed when I realized it had only been a memory. Hell, even the memory was probably just a nightmare anyway.

"Nothing," I reassured. "I was just daydreaming. We were doing something?"

"Picking movies to go see," the pink hedgehog reminded me. Then she poked the paper to show me which one she wanted.

I remembered what we had been doing, and I leaned forward to read the title. I cringed.

"This one?"

"Yes."

"This is the one you want to see?"

"I said yes, didn't I, Shadow?"

I sighed and rubbed my temples wearily. "Amy, we both know how you get when we watch horror movies."

"Now just what is that supposed to mean?" she snapped, her brow furrowing as she glared at me childishly.

I rolled my eyes. "It means you don't handle horror well… at all."

Amy Rose crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Shadow, when are you going to start listening to me? I said I wanted to watch this movie, and I want to watch this movie." One of her gloved fingers prodded at the newspaper article detailing movie times.

I sighed again and looked at the title of the movie just to make sure I had read it correctly. "Doctor Syringe," I read aloud, "a tale of extreme terror and mystery."

"Doesn't that sound scary?" she asked me eagerly. Her hands balled into fists out of sheer excitement.

I agreed. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

"I read the book," she argued. "It wasn't that bad."

"Wait," I stopped her. "Was that the book you were reading that night when I scared you?"

"You didn't scare me," she stated matter-of-factly. "You surprised me. You know better than to sneak up on me, Shadow."

I remembered that night. Amy had been sitting quietly on the couch, deeply involved in a book that, at the time, I did not know the name of. When I went to ask what she was reading, she shrieked loud enough to break glass.

But I knew that there was no arguing with a girl like Amy once she set her mind to something. And it was customary to let the girlfriend choose the movie, wasn't it? Or was that dinner? I'd have to ask her that later. This dating-thing was a difficult skill to master.

"I'll pick up the tickets," I finally said. "Then afterwards, we can go get dinner somewhere."

Amy beamed at me, "Thank you! I just know you'll love this movie."

I nodded halfheartedly. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She did seem really eager to watch this movie, so she must have known exactly what it was about and that she wouldn't get scared. Of course, she had lied to me before. Stubborn girl…

As I exited the house and put on my jacket to brave the chilly, autumn weather, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face it, but whatever it might have been had disappeared. The only things alive I could see were the people wandering the lengths of the sidewalk, and a man next door who was raking up clumps of red, yellow, and brown leaves. He was wearing a grey, almost black hoodie that covered up his face, and all that I could make out were two ruby-red eyes. He turned to me from his yard and waved a gloved hand in my direction.

I waved back hesitantly. Just my imagination, I told myself. It was just a bad dream.