Change
By Nova Rose
Shadow the hedgehog was two years old. He was pretty smart for his age, and could already read most of the picture books in his room. He was reading one such book when, at about 8:00 in the morning, his dad, Julius Hedgehog, came in and said," Shadow, I'm taking your mom to the hospital. The baby is coming." Shadow looked at his dad, surprised. He had known that his mom, Bernadette Hedgehog, was going to have another baby, but he had thought that the baby wasn't due for a few more weeks.
"I thought that the baby was coming in a few weeks," he said. His father replied," Well, I guess your little brother or sister is tired of waiting to see the world." Shadow thought about this for a minute, then asked," So... What do I do?" Julius replied," There's a sitter coming to watch you until the baby is born. Once your little brother or sister is here, I'll give the sitter a call, and she'll bring you up to the hospital." After a moment, Shadow said," So... Can I get back to reading then?" Julius laughed and replied," Yes Shadow. You can get back to reading." Shadow turned his attention back to his book, and his dad left.
After about 5 minutes, the sitter arrived and checked on Shadow. He was intently focused on his reading, so she didn't bother him. He read for the next three hours, taking books one at a time from a stack at his right that was almost as tall as he was. Just as he was starting on book number thirty-one, the phone rang. The sitter came to his room and said," Shadow, that was your father. You have a little brother. It's time to go see him." Shadow set his book down and walked up to the sitter. She took him by the hand and together they walked up to the hospital.
20 minutes later...
Julius met them in the waiting room. The sitter was carrying Shadow now, because his legs had gotten a little tired on the way over. She handed Shadow to Julius. He smiled at his son and asked,"Are you ready to meet your little brother, Shadow?" Shadow nodded. "Then let's go." He left the waiting room and went up to Bernadette's room. Julius set Shadow down and went to sit on the edge of the bed next to his wife. "Shadow, come here," his mother said softly. Shadow walked over to the bed and climbed up on it. Bernadette was holding a tiny bundle in his arms, and it was moving. "Is... is that my little brother?," he asked. "Yes," she replied, cradling the baby with one arm and putting the other one around Shadow and pulling him close to her. Shadow closed his eyes and nuzzled his mom. He liked it a lot when she held him, even when it was only with one arm. After a few minutes, Bernadette said,"Shadow, look at your brother. His eyes are open." Shadow opened his eyes and looked at his little brother. His brother had royal blue fur, with a pale muzzle and chest and emerald green eyes. His quills were very short and still soft. His brother looked a lot like their parents. Shadow wondered why his brother looked like he was actually related to them while Shadow looked nothing like them.
For the entirety of his 2 years of existence, whenever he went somewhere in public with his parents, anyone and everyone would always come up to them and ask if they were trying to find Shadow's family. Then his parents would patiently explain that they were his family, and whoever had asked would walk away looking very embaressed. Shadow knew he looked different, and he didn't mind most of the time, but when people kept bringing it up, it made him feel a bit like an outsider.
"Shadow, would you like to hold him?," Bernadette asked, interrupting his train of thought. He nodded. His mother put him in her lap and showed him how to support his brother's head. Shadow looked down at his little brother and couldn't help but smile. "What's his name?," Shadow asked. "His name is Sonic the Hedgehog," Julius replied. Sonic smiled when he heard his name. Shadow said," Hi Sonic. I'm your big brother, Shadow." Sonic seemed to think about this for a minute, then said,"Sh-Shads." Shadow chuckled and said,"Close. Shad-ow." Sonic repeated,"Shads." Shadow frowned. Sonic repeated again,"Shads." Shadow said," If he wasn't a newborn, I'd think he was doing it on purpose just to irritate me." At that moment, Sonic yawned and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, Shadow also yawned and closed his eyes. within minutes, they were both asleep.
Bernadette and Julius looked at each other, then Julius said,"I think they're going to get along just fine." Bernadette smiled. Julius smiled back, then leaned down and kissed both his sons on their foreheads. "I love you both more than words could ever describe." Then he looked at Bernadette. "And Bernie-baby, you did so good." She smiled at him lovingly. "Thanks Jules." He kissed her, then they both leaned back on the pillows, careful not to wake their boys. Before long, they were asleep too, and then the entire family enjoyed a long, peaceful sleep filled with good dreams of a bright future.