Chapter 1

You know that life isn't fair, right? Many people go through life differently, with them either coming into the world happily and being raised properly, or go through such trauma that they become scarred for life. This story is focused on a woman. A woman, whose name is Sophia Carroll. Right now, she's sitting on the edge of a cliff, a cliff that happens to have one of those, just epic-looking horizons. A forest sits beneath the cliffs edge, protruding outwards into a busy city, being showered under the powerful, reddish-orange flare of the sunlight. She's seen tediously kicking the side of the cliff's edge with her heels, covered in brown boots with abstract emblems, weaved in yarn on the tops of her boots. She had a depressing expression on her face, only being able to think about the destructive experience that had entered her brain. It had crushed her heart to bits, and since that time, she's decided to live her life on her own terms. She's never lived with anyone in her life, ever. She had raised herself, taught herself polite manners and proper social skills, and even educated herself using textbooks she rented off the internet in her house. It all haunted her, and that's exactly what she couldn't shake off her mind, the exact minute she sat down on the cliff's edge in the first place.

"I guess, some things never change, do they?" She asks herself depressingly, as she moves her fingers through the dirt on the ground, feeling every single particle of dirt making contact with her soft, white fingers comfortingly. She slowly picks herself up, being careful with herself so that she doesn't trip off the edge of the cliff, which takes her a little bit. She turns herself around to see a small house, a house that was her own to keep and live in since she was only 13. As she takes her steps towards the house, she walks up a small deck connected to the back of the house. Slowly opening the door, she walks into a kitchen with a grey pan on a black stove, used for her breakfast while she heads to the bathroom at 6:00 PM. She heads into a hallway with three doors, two doors on the sides of her with one to her right and one to her left, and a door that sits in front of her, right before her very eyes. She continues walking towards the door in front of her, grabbing the handle of the door with a gentle touch, too gentle to be seen as affectionate. Getting a grip of the handle, she turns the handle and pulls the door open. She walks into the door and shuts it behind herself, turning on a light inside the room. Turning out to be the bathroom, she takes a shower and cleans herself for bed, and for the next day that's coming. After about 20 minutes, she comes out of the bathroom in a silky, lavender-coated robe with no change of expression on her face. Holding a pile of clothes that were actually the clothes that she wore today, she goes to the door that's now to her left. She grabs the door handle with the same gentle touch, closing her eyes depressingly as she turns the handle to open the door and go inside. Suddenly, a loud explosion is heard outside, startling Sophia as she spins around in surprise.

"What the?!" She shouts startled, as her house suddenly starts to shake uncontrollably. She instantly trips to the floor, dropping the pile of clothes and landing on her right arm painfully, holding herself to the floor with the tips of her fingers. Things in her house start falling, as she hears a vase shatter and her cooking pan fall to the ground, soaking the marble tile in disgusting, old egg grease. "Earthquakes?" Sophia asks herself confused, as she runs out into the kitchen and notices the broken vase, shaking her head in disappointment as she gets irritated even more when she sees the egg grease on the floor. "Ah yuck! There's another job for me." She says disappointed, looking out her sliding glass door to see a huge dirt cloud, watching it engulf her house. "What the hell?" She says stunned, quickly sprinting to the glass door and throwing it open. Running out the house as she slams the door shut, she gets engulfed in the dirt cloud, blinding herself from the dirt in discomfort. Eventually, the dirt fades into nothing, as Sophia walks up to a black-colored figure. Walking to it, she is soon paralyzed by the sight of something that would've never crossed her mind.

"What the hell is THAT?!" She shouts to herself horrified, actually staring at a black, anthropomorphic hedgehog, lying on the ground unconsciously before her. It had fur as black as ink, with crimson red stripes coming down its quills, arms, and legs. It was also wearing white rocket shoes, along with gloves white as clouds with golden rings on his wrists. Struck with fear, she quietly rubs his side with her soothing palms, as the hedgehog rolls over and faces her, startling Sophia. She quietly stares into the black, large eyelids of the hedgehog in shock, walking over to him and gently picking him up by his side. Holding him in her arms, she walks back to her house, rolling her eyes over seeing dirt all over the glass door and gently setting him down inside. As he was lying on a dark-brown, leather sofa, she brings over a hot mug of tea and sets it down on a coffee table next to the sofa. After all the trouble she went through, she covers him with a soft, blue blanket with a woman on it, staring to her right with beautiful, long blonde hair that stretches across the blanket. She looks over to the oven, checking on the time which happens to be 8:00 PM. She then leaves the room, walking back over to her room with a smile on her depressed face. She closes the door behind her and heads to bed, as the night passes by.

The next day, the hedgehog is still unconscious, at the time of 7:51 AM. He moves around uncomfortably, trying to cover himself with the blanket as he grits his teeth in anger. Dreaming a nightmare, he is trapped in a clear glass tube with his only friend, Maria, standing there in despair, holding a switch as Shadow begs her to stop.

"Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog." Maria says in sadness, closing her eyes and pulling the switch, ignoring Shadow's screaming as she's shot to death.

"MARIA!" Shadow screams, as he instantly wakes up, flying up into a sitting position as he breathes heavily. He grips the edges of the sofa in anger and shock, as he tries to calm himself down and figure out where he is. "A house? What am I doing here?" He asks himself quietly, looking around as he sees the grease on the floor, the dirt covered door and the glass pieces of the vase scattered on the floor. He then looks towards the blanket, with widening eyes as he notices the long, blonde hair of the woman on the blanket. He carefully grabs it, opening it up to where he can see the woman clearly. His eyes changed to a saddened look, as the long blonde hair brings back his own haunted memories.

"Hey, you're awake!" Sophia says happily, coming out of her bedroom with sleep-drenched eyes, walking over to Shadow as if he was a pet.

"Who are you, and where am I?" Shadow asks demandingly, as Sophia jumps in shock, screaming as she trips on her heel and falls to the ground painfully, landing on her butt as she slowly gets back up in pain. "What was that all about?" Shadow asks confused, as Sophia, jaw-dropped, picks herself up and puts her hands on her hips in surprise. She couldn't help but smirk and shake her head in surprise, confusing Shadow as he raises an eyebrow.

"You, can talk?" Sophia says surprised, as Shadow shakes his head annoyed.

"Is that such a surprise to you?" Shadow asks confused, as Sophia goes on without noticing Shadow's annoyed expression.

"Why shouldn't it be? Animals don't speak like you do here." Sophia says, as Shadow crosses his arms and looks down at the sofa, eyes closed.

"Well, things aren't that same where I come from." Shadow says annoyed, still sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed until something crosses his mind. He opens his eyes in shock, as Sophia pulls her hand through her glowing blonde hair, as it floats in the air like the gate to heaven and Shadow stares into her light blue eyes like they were a spell of mind manipulation. Sophia then heads into the kitchen, remembering the grease on the floor that spilled as she steps into the now, white puddle of grease that covers her foot like mud.

"Eew! That's so gross." Sophia says disgusted, quickly pulling her foot out as she instantly runs over to a cabinet, grabbing a couple of paper towels and running over to the grease to clean it up. After throwing the grease-covered paper towels into the trash can, she walks over to the fridge, pulling out a plastic bag of bread while Shadow watches in boredom. His eyes follow her like an annoying fly, until Sophia turns on the TV and puts two pieces of bread into the toaster. Setting her elbow down on the countertop, she watches the TV in boredom like Shadow does, watching the same, old news-reporter that everyone hated, Randy Newman Carl, tells everyone the same boring, old crap that everyone else didn't care for.

"Today, we have a striking incident that'll kill us all, with kids that aren't becoming educated!" The stupid man says, grinning in a disgusting manner and holding a thumbs-up like some sort of cheesy cartoon character would. "Kids are too busy playing on their phones! They always are lacking the education they need, even when getting A's in class!" The stupid man says again, as Sophia rolls her eyes in disgust.

"What an idiot." Shadow says annoyed, as a ding reverbs through the entire room and Sophia grabs the two pieces of toast from the toaster.

"Everyone hates him. It's stupid to ask why they won't even fire him, they say at the least." Sophia explains suspiciously, handing other the golden-brown piece of toast to Shadow, who examines the cooked-bread in his hand. "Just a generous gift from me. You should eat it if you don't want to starve." Sophia says, taking a passion-filled bite from her toast as Shadow continues examining his piece. He takes a bite from his piece, looking up at the stupid man who keeps going on about stupid things like the lack of education, the reason why people are skinny, what love does and why you should become a news-man.

"What the hell, why people are skinny?" Shadow says perplexed, shaking his head in disappointment as Sophia shrugs her shoulders in agreement.

"This is stupid. Let's watch something new." Sophia says bored and annoyed, grabbing the remote-controller and about to hit the guide button, so she can look for something else to watch. However, they both stare in surprise as some random person comes running on screen, slamming into Randy Newman Carl as he flies onto the ground, face-flat. Sliding across the ground in pain, Randy goes on to himself about how comforting it is, while the man who just barged in starts to explain his reasoning.

"There's just been a news report of a woman breaking into the National Museum of Linguistics! Someone managed to record the crime-scene, and here it is!" The man screams, spinning around and using a remote to play the recording, Sophia and Shadow staring in shock. The video plays on-screen, and an older, blonde woman is seen, wearing a black for a corny appearance. Sophia's jaw drops, as she drops the remote in shock, watching the video-playback in horror as the remote falls to the floor. As the remote's battery-cover breaks in half, Sophia instantly jumps up and runs to her room, as Shadow watches in surprise, seeing the younger blonde speed to her room. Shadow attempts to follow her, but then feels like he shouldn't, so he holds back as Sophia locks the door behind her anyway, after she enters her room. Shadow just lies down on the couch, wondering why Sophia reacted so strangely and why she looks so much like Maria. The thought pierced his heart and brain like needles, but this didn't stop him from pondering on about it.

Hours later, as Shadow is sleeping on the couch with his hands behind his head, Sophia comes out all dressed up. She was wearing a seemingly-attractive catsuit, with gun-belts wrapped all over her, loaded with bullets as she holds a machine gun in her hands, legit. She also has a large katana on her back and a pistol in a black holster on her hips.

"You can stay here if you want, but if you come, you better be ready for gore." Sophia says, acting all cool about it. Shadow gets easily confused, wondering why she would do such a thing out of random.

"What's your point in going after her? Isn't she just some criminal?" Shadow asks her perplexed, but Sophia's depression got her again and she explained why.

"That woman killed my mother." Sophia says darkly, as Shadow is surprised by this response. "She was all I had, and that woman killed her!" She shouts angrily, causing Shadow to start to feel bad for her as she becomes even more determined. "I want to kill her for my own personal satisfaction." Sophia explains, as Shadow realizes that he would've done the same thing when he found the person that killed Maria. Shadow gets up and starts walking towards the back door, as Sophia stares at him perplexed.

"I'll come, just in case." Shadow says calmly, opening the door and jumping upward, as Sophia smirks before running into her garage. Opening the garage door, she jumps into a silver Toyota Celica, as she quickly throws most of her stuff into the back seat, only wearing her ammunition belts. She starts the car, hearing the loud, high pitched rev of the vehicle. She quickly shifts into reverse, slamming the gas as she flies out of the garage. Quickly changing gears, she slams the gas again and drives off, as Shadow follows behind her, easily keeping up to her, shocking Sophia at his immense speed.