12:00 A.M. Midnight.
She worked late into the night, and feeling tired, stood up and stretched her body. Staying slumped over her works on a table made her back stiff, and her eyes were red from much concentration. She looked at the clock on the wall and it read exactly midnight. Sighing, she turned off her desk light and fished her keys from her jeans pocket. She went over to the shop door and put her hand on the handle. Turn...another turn...and another turn. The handle was locked, which meant that the door was locked. Feeling a little weird knowing that she didn't lock the door in any way, she picked a small key and inserted it in the keyhole. She turned it, unlocked the door, but another click and the door was locked again.
A chill crept up her spine, and she turned around as if something was behind her, watching her every move. There was nothing there. She tried to unlock the door again, but the door locked itself back, trapping her in the store. The lights in the shop flickered and turned off. The place was lit in silver by the moonlight, but other than that it was very dark.
Panic rising in her, she looked around quickly, making sure there was nothing alive in the shop other than herself. As she looked to her desk, the glass cup beside her desk light began to fill up with blood dripping from the ceiling. Her face going pale with terror, she looked up at the ceiling, her eyes following the trail of the dripping blood—
"AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
9:30 A.M. Morning.
Amy walked down the street to Autum's clothes shop. Awkwardly, her shop lights weren't on and her sign wasn't turned on. The inside of the shop was dark, and Amy could see a black figure lying beside the door. As she got closer, she could see that it was Autum, her hair all ruffled, and the most important thing—blood was all over her.
"Autum!" she yelled, pulling on the door, but the door was locked. No matter how much she banged on the door, Autum didn't wake up and opened the door for her. She just seemed dead, and Amy couldn't imagine the look on her face when she stood up and came closer to open the door.
Quickly stepping away from the door, Amy took out her cell phone and quickly dialed Shadow's number, her only comfort in the world other than Autum and her friends, even though he didn't seem to care for her.
"What do you want, Amy?" said Shadow's voice, annoyed.
"Gather anyone helpful in your sight and come over to Autum's clothes shop. Something happened—something terrible," said Amy, hanging up. Then she quickly dialed the number of Brian.
"Come on, Brian, pick up the phone!" hissed Amy as the ringing continued. Finally he answered his phone.
"Hello?"
"What took you so long to pick up the phone?!" screamed Amy, losing her temper.
"Uh, well—"
"Never mind! Pick up your stupid first aid box and hurry over to Autum's clothes shop!"
"Okay," said Brian in a confused-but-frustrated voice and hung up before Amy could hang up on him. A few minutes later, Shadow came with Shade, Indigo, Ghost, and Vinny while Brian came running with his hospital box.
"Why are you guys late?!" screamed Amy, tears forming at her eyes. Everyone else just shook their heads and looked away. "Autum's—there's something wrong with Autum!"
"Then why didn't you just open the door and walk in? Are you that much of a coward?" said Shade, and her words stabbed Amy right in the heart. She let Shade walk up to the door and put her hand on the doorknob. As soon as she tried to turn it, some sort of an electric barrier appeared and repelled her back, electrifying her as well. Shadow caught Shade and fell down together.
"What the—" started Shade, but there was a sudden bang that repelled everyone far back. Everyone groaned and began to stand up, and Ghost pointed to the glass window on Autum's shop.
"Everyone, look!" he yelled, and people's attentions turned to the shop window. Someone invisible was writing something in red:
Go away.
"Go away?" asked Vinny, and people exchanged glances. Amy whimpered and Indigo put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's probably a trick," concluded Ghost.
"But who? And why would they even care to do this?" asked Amy. "If trick is right, who can write without being seen? Ghost and Relin are the only people who can do things like that."
"True," agreed Ghost who, obviously, knew his powers. He glanced at Shadow, who had called him to come, and saw him shrug carelessly.
"Well, whatever the reason and whoever's doing this, they're not getting me scared," muttered Shadow, crossing his arms over his chest. Shade shifted her weight to her other foot, looking at the glass door of the shop. Normally, if the door was locked, she would have picked the lock with something. And if it wouldn't budge, then they would either get Ghost to use his ghost powers or get Shadow to use Chaos Blast with his Chaos Emerald. But the door repelled her with a strong barrier. And it told her to get lost. Okay, thought Shade. If that's how you're going to come out, fine. Though I have no idea how you would open the door, I'll get it open somehow.
Amy looked at Autum through the shop window. The shop was ruined. All the clothes that Autum worked so hard on were scattered on the shop floor, some of them in a big pile. They were dirtied with something that looked like dried blood. Amy just hoped that Autum wasn't dead.
"Er... guys? What are you doing here?" called a familiar voice from beside them. They looked around and found Autum holding a big shopping bag and approaching them at a walking pace. She was unhurt and alive, and...not in the shop.
"Autum?" Amy stared at Autum with wide eyes, like everyone else. She looked at the 'supposedly' Autum in the shop and back at the Autum with the shopping bag. The dark purple echidna smiled back at her.
"That's my name!" replied Autum. Shadow had his mouth open, believing that his eyes were playing tricks on him, and Ghost looked around to check any signs of ghost powers, even though he knew he won't find a trace of a ghost power during its usage. Indigo and Vinny exchanged confused glances with Brian.
"How are you out here when you're supposed to be in there?" asked Amy, being the first to semi-recover.
"Ooooh, that..." Autum went to the door and opened it without any problems. She smiled at them and gestured them to come in.
"Come in, and have a look around. I'll explain... Or rather, we will."
Amy reluctantly went in, followed by a suspicious Shadow, bored Sushi, and confused Indigo, Vinny, and Brian.
The moment they went in, they figured out the problem. Relin was hanging from the ceiling above Autum's desk, and a paintbrush with red paint on it was dropped on the floor. There also was a bucket of red paint spilled over on the floor beside the pile of messed up clothes. Relin smiled at them, putting a hand on his head in embarrassment.
"Er, hey, guys!" he said, smiling. Shade raised an eyebrow.
"When did you—how did you get up there?" asked Vinny, and his voice carried a hint of doubt.
"Well, I WAS painting the roof red... but then I fell through a hole... and got caught and have currently been hanging up here for nearly 14 hours. I would love to get down..." explained Relin. Autum nodded in agreement, and the hedgehogs 'oh'-ed at the story.
"So you were the one that put the barrier on the door and wrote 'Go away' on it!" exclaimed Ghost as he snapped his fingers.
"You guys are such a waste of my time," muttered Shadow after a while of silence. He walked to the shop door. "I'm out of here."
"Me too," said Shade, walking out of the shop and disappearing from sight.
"I guess there is nothing I can do," agreed Brian. He gathered up his first aid box and left as well. Vinny, Indigo, and Ghost were the only ones left, and they were staring after the people who left. Relin looked at them hopefully.
"You're going to help me get down, right?" he asked with concern. "I really want to get down..."
"Are you going to give me tangerines when I help you?" Ghost asked suddenly, raising an eyebrow.
"Err..."
"Then no." Ghost walked away as well, leaving Relin hanging on the ceiling.
"Don't leave me!" cried Relin, looking at Vinny. Vinny sighed.
"Love to help you, but I gotta go somewhere... so... I'm off." Vinny said cheerfully and skipped away to wherever he had to go. Now Indigo, Amy, and Autum were left. Autum didn't help him in the first place as a punishment for ruining her shop. Amy didn't even seem to care about him, and Indigo had a creepy look in his eyes... something very evil.
"Heh," he smirked.
"What?" asked Relin, though he knew he didn't want to hear Indigo's deal.