Chapter 2
It had been two years since Sonia had died. Sonic stood silently in the pouring rain, waiting for his son Manik to come out of the school. He sighed sadly as he thought about how he only gets to keep his son Monday through Friday each week. A few months ago Sally decided she could no longer stand to see Sonic's constant grieving over the death of their daughter and had him divorced, it pained Sonic to lose his wife, but sadly he chose to go ahead and move on with life. The blue hedgehog stared up to the sky, watching the rain constantly pour down on Mobius, trying his best not to remind himself about how much Sonia loved the rain. Taking a deep breath he tugged on the collar of his brown jacket, wondering how much longer it would take for Manik to come out. Finally there he saw his son walking out of the school doors, his steps slow, and his head lowered, not making eye contact with his father.
"Hey, Manik." Sonic said with a small smile, hoping to get a response out of him.
Manik's grip on the straps of his backpack tightened, wishing he could reach the hood of his beige coat that was pinned to his back by his backpack so he could hide his face. His blue eyes continued to stare ground, not wanting to look up at his father's face.
"Hey, dad." Manik replied in an emotionless tone.
Sonic frowned at this response; over the two years he had tried to repair the bond between him and his son. Ever since Sonia died they barely talked to each other, in fact Manik even stopped trying to beat his dad in races. They would just only share a few words and say nothing more. Sonic closed his eyes as his son walked past him and got in the back seat of his car that he bought since Manik no longer liked the idea of running home, though Sonic was glad at least he would be dry instead of having to run in the rain. He went over to the driver's door and got inside. After Sonic buckled himself up he checked his mirror and could see Manik's reflection in the mirror with his head still lowered and staring at the car floor. But to Sonic's surprise his son's blue eyes glanced up at him before a moment before glancing down once again to continue staring at the floor. Sonic looked away from the mirror and started the car. As he placed his hand on the gear shift, he thought about how his life could have been different if he had kept an eye on Sonia. Manik was his only child now and he wanted to make sure he does not lose him like Sonia. He shifted the car gear into drive and began headed for home.
As he drove down the road he glanced at some kids laughing and playing in the puddles created by heavy rain that had been pouring lately. He thought about how if Sonia was still alive she would have been twelve, it also pained him when he thought about how Manik is now ten himself, the age that Sonia had died. Quickly he pushed these thoughts aside, not wanting his son to see him grieve; he wanted his son to see him happy. Finally they stopped in front of an old worn-down house that they knew as home. Sonic had to admit he had neglected the house and hadn't bothered to fix up the house since a nice looking house wasn't one of his main priorities as of late.
Manik quickly got out of the car followed by his father. Once inside Manik took off his coat, throwing it on the old green couch, and turning on the TV to watch cartoons.
Sonic sighed at this, for him this had become a regular routine for him. Once they always got home Manik would watch cartoons and barely speak to his father. But Sonic was planning to attempt to end this today.
"So, Manik, how was school? Is your teacher nice?" he asked, hoping to get a response out of his son.
"Nothing special, dad." Manik answered in an emotionless tone, never taking his eyes off of the TV screen.
Sonic wanted to bite his lip when he heard the sound of his son's voice; he also hated when his son would talk to him in that tone of voice. Seeing that Manik didn't want to talk about school, Sonic decided he would try to start a conversation about something else.
"So how's your mom? Do you still have fun playing with your friends?" he asked, hoping that he would get a better response.
"Everything's fine, dad." Manik replied in the same tone as before.
Sonic almost flinched when he heard that same emotionless tone. Figuring that wasn't going to work, he decided to try a different approach.
"How about we have a race to see who's the fastest?" Sonic suggested.
"I'd rather watch cartoons." his son said, tone never changing.
Sonic closed his eyes in defeat, he knew there was no way Manik was going to talk to him or compete in races against him. He couldn't force Manik to talk to him or interact with him; he knew that his son needed more time to heal from the tragedy that had struck their family and that it may take him more than two years to finally heal of his emotional wounds. Sonic opened his green eyes and looked over at the clock on the wall, seeing it was now four-thirty pm, the time to give Manik his snack.
"Hey Manik do you want a snack?" Sonic asked, making sure that his son was hungry.
"I guess, I am a little hungry." he replied in a slightly happier tone.
"Okay I'll go see what's in the kitchen." Sonic said.
As he walked to the kitchen, he smiled at the fact that Manik's tone changed some, though he knew he still wouldn't be able to talk to him despite this. Once in the kitchen he looked around at the different food he could give his son as a snack, finally he settled on an apple. He grabbed the apple from the basket, tossing it up in the air, and catching it in his hand. He went back into the living room and handed his son the apple.
"Here you go, Manik." Sonic said.
"Thanks, dad." Manik replied, glancing up at his father.
Sonic was happy when he saw his son made eye contact with him, glad that he was at least making some progress, even though it was only small progress. Deciding it was best not to ruin the progress by trying to talk more, Sonic walked over near the stairs, noticing a newspaper lying on a table. He picked up the newspaper and cringed when he saw what the front page was about. The article talked about the Origami Killer, a criminal who always kidnaps a boy between ages eight to thirteen and drowns them with rain water. The police always found the victim's body five days after they had gone missing with an orchid on their chest and an origami figure in their hand. Sonic continued reading, seeing the article was talking about how the Origami Killer had managed to kill a ninth victim, Knuckles' son Brock. Learning that sent chills down Sonic's spine, he couldn't believe that his friend's son was killed by the Origami Killer. Wanting to not think about this tragedy, Sonic put the newspaper down, deciding to look through his mail instead. As he flipped through the usual junk mail, a white envelope caught his eye.
Sonic studied the envelope carefully, seeing it was addressed to him, and oddly the envelope did not have a return address. Curiosity beginning to pry his mind, he started to open up the envelope. Inside he saw there was a piece of paper that had a small poem written on it.
"When the parents come home from church, all their children were gone." Sonic read quietly, "They searched and called for them, they cried and begged, but it was all to no avail. The children have never been seen again."
Sonic's face turned pale when he finished reading the letter, a feeling of uneasiness washed over him, he wondered why someone would send him such a letter. Quickly he put the paper back in the envelope and laid it down on the table, wanting to forget about the letter he had just read. He glanced over at Manik who had finished eating his apple. Sonic walked over to the couch and picked up the apple core for his son. When he threw it in the trash he glanced at the clock on the wall, remembering he had to get Manik to start on his homework at six. It wasn't quite six yet so Sonic decided to watch the TV as well to pass the time. On the TV he saw his son watching a cartoon about a blue robot and red robot having to hunt down robots that had gone rogue. They watched the cartoon for a while, not saying a word to each other. He looked back at the clock and saw it was now six, the time to have Manik work on his homework.
"Manik, it's time to do your homework." Sonic said.
"Dad, can I please watch some more TV, we'll do it later." Manik pleaded.
"We should do it now that way it's done and over with." Sonic stated.
"Okay." Manik said with a sigh of defeat.
"Alright come on, get your bag and meet me over at the table, I'll help you with any problems." Sonic said with a grin.
They both sat at the kitchen table across from each other. Sonic waited silently even though he did not like waiting at all, the only reason he was waiting to see if Manik would ask him for any help on the problems. He watched as his son silently wrote down answers in his book, not once bothering to look up, and not even asking his father for help.
Finally one hour later Manik had finally finished his homework.
Sonic had been tapping his fingers on the table out of boredom, wondering if either Manik didn't need help on any of his problems or chose to ignore him.
"Dad, I'm finished. Can I go watch TV now?" Manik said, wanting to return to watching cartoons.
"Let me take a look." Sonic said as he leaned over his son's book, checking to see if he had got all the answers right.
He scanned over each question, seeing every single one was right, though part of him felt like that Manik kept trying until he got the answer right instead of asking him for help. Finally he decided to push this thought aside for the sake of his son.
"Looks pretty good. Okay off you go." Sonic said with a smile, ruffling his son's blue quills.
For the moment Sonic remembered how he would always ruffle Sonia's red hair after she had completed her homework. The memory almost made Sonic cry, thinking about the happy memories he had of his daughter before she lost her life in the car accident. He quickly shook his head, trying to snap out of his thoughts, remembering how he didn't want to grieve in front of his son. Sonic looked to the clock, seeing it was now seven, usually that was the time he started making Manik's dinner.
"Hey, Manik, do you want some dinner?" he called out to his son who was sitting back on the couch.
"Yeah I'm really hungry." Manik replied.
"Okay I'll see what's in the fridge." Sonic said.
As he dug through the fridge, he saw a couple of cold chili dogs. Sonic stuck out his tongue in disgust at the thought of cold chili dogs since he always liked them hot. He pulled the plate of chili dogs out of the fridge and placed them in the microwave to heat them up. When he was waiting for the chili dogs to finish, at that moment he heard Manik sneeze. He thought nothing of it until he heard another sneeze come from Manik, followed by another and another. After he had pulled the finished chili dogs out of the microwave and set them on the table, he decided to check on Manik. Sonic walked over to his son, seeing that he finished sneezing, but had to sniff a few times due to his nose being stuffy.
"Looks like you have a cold coming on. I'll go get you medicine while you eat." Sonic said.
Manik nodded and headed to the kitchen to eat his dinner.
Remembering he kept the medicine in the bathroom, Sonic began to climb the stairs to the upper floor. Once up there he entered the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He looked around at the different medicines that were in the cabinet until finally he spotted cold medicine. He opened up the cold medicine packet and dumped one of the pills into his hand. Seeing he had got what he wanted he headed back down stairs. Sonic reached the bottom of the stairs and saw that Manik had finished his dinner.
"Here take this. It will help you feel better." Sonic said, handing his son the pill.
"Thanks, dad." Manik replied in a happier tone before swallowing the pill.
Sonic decided this time he would not watch TV to pass the time like last time, instead he chose to do something that he was surprised at himself for wanting to do, and that was to watch the rain fall. His green eyes focused as he watch the rain drops drip down the window, remembering how at times he would find his daughter Sonia sitting in front of a window, watching the rain, talking about how it seemed like the rain was in a race. Sonic didn't know it, but tears slowly began to streak down his face as he continued to watch the rain, thinking about the memories of Sonia watching the rain. He finally stopped watching when he noticed tears dripping down his muzzle. He quickly wiped away his tears, not wanting Manik to know he had been crying. He looked at the clock and saw it was now eight, Manik's bed time.
"Manik, time for bed." Sonic said as he walked over to Manik who was still watching cartoons.
"Ah, but I'm not tired yet. Can I please stay up a while longer?" Manik pleaded.
"Now you know that's not reasonable. You have school tomorrow so you need the sleep." Sonic stated.
"Okay, will you come with me?" his son said, accepting the fact it was time to go to bed.
"Go brush your teeth and take your shoes off, I'll be up there soon." Sonic replied.
Manik nodded his head and headed up stairs.
Sonic headed up stairs as well and went into Manik's bedroom. He went over and shut the window shades, but before he could turn around he noticed on Manik's desk there was a drawing. Wanting to get a better look he picked up the drawing but instantly regretted it. His eyes widened in shock when he saw it was a drawing of Sonia's death. Sonic felt sick at his stomach seeing Manik had drew Sonia lying on the ground dead and Sally crying, also the fact Manik had drew himself in the picture staring at Sonic's unconscious body. Not wanting to think about it anymore Sonic quickly laid the drawing back down on the desk. To his relief Manik had finally came into the room and got on his bed. Sonic sat down on the bed, getting ready to tuck his son in.
"Goodnight, Manik." Sonic said with a smile.
"My teddy! Dad, I can't sleep without it!" Manik exclaimed, seeing his stuffed bear was not on the bed.
"Alright I'll go look for it, you must have left it somewhere around the house, be back in a flash." Sonic said before zooming out the door.
It didn't take long for him to come running back into the bedroom. Out from behind his back he pulled out a green teddy bear.
"Thanks, dad." Manik said as he wrapped his arms around the teddy bear.
"Goodnight, Manik." Sonic said as he laid his hand on Manik's head.
"Dad? Why do you look so sad?" Manik asked.
Sonic closed his eyes and let out a sigh, figuring that he hadn't done a very good job hiding his grief over Sonia's death.
"Guess it'll take more time for me to heal, until everything will be back to the way it was." Sonic answered as he opened his eyes.
"You know, dad, Sonia's death wasn't your fault and I'm sorry if me not talking a lot made it seemed like that I did blame you for her death." Manik said.
Sonic said nothing but gave a small smile, his son's words reassuring him but only by a small bit.
With that said Manik closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Sonic pulled the covers up, kissed him on the forehead, and closed the door quietly. He was about to go to his room but he ended up stopping in his tracks. His body began to violently shake, his breathing became quick and raspy, and his surroundings kept fading in and out from darkness. Finally he closed his eyes and his mind went blank. Sonic opened his eyes and began to panic instantly when he found himself underwater in his flooded house. He frantically looked around, searching for anything to pull himself out of the water. But there was no escape; everything was filled to the brim with water. At that moment Sonic noticed something in the center of the room. He made his way to the thing as best as he could, not able to get there easily due to the fact he doesn't know how to swim. Finally he made it to the thing, but when he turned it toward him, he began to scream, and allowing water to rush into his lungs as bubbles flew out of his mouth. In front of him was the drowned body of a ten year-old white-furred male echidna. Sonic's eyes snapped open, finding himself standing in the rain near Carnaby Street, no where near home.
Sonic realized that what he saw was another one of his blackouts. Ever since he got a concussion from that car hitting him, he would at times blackout and when he finally came to he would find himself somewhere he didn't know. But there was one final thing Sonic would always find when he came to. Wanting to confirm his fears Sonic slowly lifted his hand to see what he was holding. His eyes widen in fear when he saw he was holding the same object that he would always be holding every time he came to from his blackouts, there in his hand was an origami figure.