We have something we'd like for you to interact with." she added, pointing to a small box in the middle of the room. He didn't trust it. "All we want you to do is open it."

Then, she hurried away and everyone else followed. Shadow looked around in suspicion at the fleeting scientists and looked down to the small box in terror. He glanced about the room for anything to protect himself, but saw nothing. The room was bare, in fact. When was the last time they made it bare?

When the loud beep rang, Shadow took all of five steps towards the box, kicked it hard, and ran away.

Nothing happened.

He stared at it from afar. It simply laid there, now knocked over from the force but still closed.

Slowly, Shadow stepped closer, gently picking it up and pulling it to his ear to listen. Nothing. He shook it. Nothing.

Finally, Shadow peeled the top off and it was now open. Nothing happened.

There was something inside, but he didn't know what it was. Just as he reached inside to pull it out, there was a hiss and a pop and the machine exploded. Shadow yelped and took a few hurried steps back, eyeing the yellow smoke drifting up from smoldering heap with uncertainty.

"It broke!" he called, looking up at the scientists quickly jotting down notes "It wasn't my fault, it broke!"

His breath caught and there was an acrid taste on his tongue. It was probably the smoke, he guessed, and laid on the ground with his hands over his nose and mouth. He tried to stave his breathing, knowing that he was special and could hold his breath for seven minutes if need be, but he was quickly reminded that he needed a full lungful first.

Shadow looked around frantically, but the smoke was filling the room, even to the floor. He needed to leave, this wasn't a proper testing environment. He got to his feet and tried the door, but it wasn't working. It had no handles as he destroyed them many a time before, but that wasn't important. His hand wasn't recognized, even without the glove, and neither was his eye, and even the hand punched code didn't work! What was going on!

Then, it dawned on him.

Endurance. This was the test.

His eyes stung from the smoke now, making his vision hazy and even tinged yellow. Or maybe the room just looked like that, he couldn't tell anymore. His lungs screamed and he finally sucked air in, just to cough harshly and suddenly, hunching over until he was laid on his side in a heavy coughing fit that wouldn't end. Blood coated his lungs and sputtered out of his mouth in fat splotches, staining the floor in a spray. Claws scratched at his throat and the tile, screams erupting from his throat as he thrashed in agony. It hurt. It burned. He couldn't breathe and boiling tears traveled down his cheeks everytime he blinked.

"GERALD!" he hollered, scrambling his way to his knees to spit up, nothing but crimson liquid dripping thickly down his chin. Nothing was in his stomach to even throw up. "DAD! HELP...help me…"

Words wheezed, dry heaving as the stinging died down. The smoke didn't stop flowing. In fact, it sped up.

But, it didn't hurt anymore. Why didn't it hurt? Sure, the smoke still tasted awful, and he couldn't see very well and it was still uncomfortable to blink and look around, but he could breathe.

So, he laid on his side, eyes closed, and did only that. Breathed. The smoke smelled bad, too, he realized. His tickled the inside of his nose and made him sneeze, and didn't have a specific scent other than 'bad', but he couldn't complain. He was still alive, wasn't he?

What did this test have to do with anything?

The soft hissing of the machine died down until it completely stopped, but Shadow knew better than to open his eyes now. He didn't know how much time passed since the experiment started, and really didn't know when he collapsed, but that was fine. A few more minutes laying down, and he'd be sure to smell when the smoke was completely gone from the room.

He heard the vents start up, and the room get colder, but still didn't open his eyes yet.

Then, footsteps hitting the ground, and muffled whispers.

"Shadow? Son? Are you still with us?" it was Gerald. It took a bit of effort to open his eyes, but he did, just to frown when everything was cloudy. Even Gerald looked at him in confusion, as if he could see the cloudiness too. Shadow felt the sensation of 'opening his eyes again', and everything was clear once more. He was too out of it to even question anything.

Gerald, along with everyone else in the room, was wearing a hazmat suit and completely not touching him. He was a bit worried but said nothing about it.

"Hello." he rasped, vocal cords and throat torn to rubbish. "I want to go to bed."

"I know you do, but you can't sleep now. I need you to hold your breath, okay?"

He did, taking a shallow breath to hold. He didn't feel like trying to hold more.

Then, the hedgehog was hoisted up onto a cart and a dome was slammed down over him, trapping him inside as he was wheeled away.

His brain started signing out for the night and the hedgehog struggled to stay awake, but, ultimately, when he was placed onto a table and felt the comforting sensation of a robotic tube being shoved into his throat and down into one of his lungs, he passed out.

Shadow was woken up a bit automatically, internal clock telling him that it was around the time he'd normally be up. Just as he did, Maria was bent down, staring directly into his eyes.

"AGH!" Shadow yelped, flinging himself backwards and raising his hands into fists and quills to sharp daggers all within a split second. "Why!?"

"Hm," Maria only smiled, standing back up "I knew you'd wake up. Anyway, Grandfather said that 'Shadow should be careful of himself when he wakes up, or he'll tear his stitches and bleed everywhere.'" she huffed in a somewhat mocking voice, sounding nothing like Gerald whatsoever, just to look down and see that Shadow already had bits of blood on his claws and was currently tearing out the stitches on his chest.

At the silence, the alien looked up. "What? I heal better without them anyway."

"Yes but now you're all dirty, and that probably hurts! So stop doing that, it's gross."

Once the word "gross" was uttered, Shadow grinned, staring at the one particularly long stitch he'd pull from his healing wound. Yes, the feeling was irritating, but felt more itchy than painful. Slowly, he rose it in front of his face and waved it side to side.

"Mariaaa… It has my blood on it~" Shadow sung, moving it closer to the retreating girl.

"You put that back where you found it, mister!" She tried to yell, but was laughing too much for it to sound threatening.

Shadow jumped off his cot and playfully chased Maria about the small room, dropping the lone stitch seconds in just to grab at her with arms outstretched. "I'll catch you!"

She laughed, "No you won't!" and dove behind the cot, Shadow on the other side.

Then, Shadow ducked, and Maria blinked and crouched too, spotting the project squatting on the other side.

"Hi, how's it going?" he waved.

"Oh, hi! I'm good, you?"

"Ah, great! Could be better, my chest feels pretty hot and my throat hurts."

"Would you like a glass of water?"

"Yes, please, right after I win this game of chase with this funny looking friend of mine."

"In your dreams!" Maria stood and leaned over the cot, making use of her height and grab the smaller hedgehog and push him over.

Shadow fell on his rump with a hearty laugh, knowing the little game was over and that it'd be best if they stopped. True to his word, his chest did hurt.

"What is even going-- you know what? I don't think I even want to ask."

The two looked up to see Gerald standing there, a small tray in his hands balancing two glasses of water. "I'm actually very surprised you're up and moving, it hasn't even been a full day since your surgery."

"I've been under the needle as much as thirty times in the past two weeks, sir. I'm sure my body has adjusted by now." Shadow took a long swig of his water, acutely aware that it was warm, not cold. He was a bit irritated by that but figured it was for the best right now.

"Shame you haven't adjusted to calling me Gerald," the scientist mumbled, giving the colder glass to his granddaughter. "Anyway, I need you down in the lap again whenever you have time today."

Shadow said nothing and lowered his glass to his lap, staring at the ground as Gerald left.

"... Are you okay?"

He sighed and glanced at Maria. "I fine, Maria." he'd tell her about the experiment some other time. "How about we get breakfast? I'm very hungry."

While she wasn't convinced that her brother was fine at all, she didn't want to pry and simply nodded, finishing off her glass and leading Shadow to the cafeteria.

It didn't matter that he already knew where it was, anyway.

xox

hi

didn't know i didn't post this chapter

have some bad news

Boney passed away

Boney, AKA Little Boi, was one of my baby leopard geckos I rescued from Petsmart (my first animal from there). He was incredibly skinny, lethargic, and laying in the corner of a shared tank waiting to die when i saw him. I was so sad and distressed for him that I bought him on the spot, told by the employees that they had force fed him and everything like that, but he didn't want to take. we asked if he ever went to the vet, and they said he did, but came back totally fine.

i bought him myself and put him in his own tank, where he thrived.

i made him food by grinding up mealworms, superworms, crickets, calcium, all that stuff and even a bit of sugar to get his weight up. it was working for a bit, even got him moving around his tank and hunting his own food, but then he started going downhill again. he started sleeping alot, falling aleep in random places, in the middle of eating, drinking, pooping. even his stool got incredibly watery, so i said that i needed more help.

i got some reptoboost, made to help lizards gain more weight and vitamins, and he took to it well

then, it went downhill again. he got more and more frail, and he otfen got stuck in his leaves and was unable to free himself. he stopped taking food, no matter how it was offered. he didn't eat his favourite food anymore. he barely drank anymore. We knew he was going to go. he had stick tail, a contagious disease to Leopard Geckos (remember, he was in a shared tank when i got him) where they cannot gain weight and quickly pass away due to infections in their organs/liver. There is no cure.

then, when i was about to go to the store to buy more crickets, he passed away before i even walked out the door.

we had him for a month and a week.

he was an amazing lizard. my first baby, and my first from petsmart. i loved him so much, but there was only so much i could do. i'm just glad he died in a warm tank, surrounded by people who loved him, instead of in a cold, small, shared tank, ostrasized by the healthy leopard geckos and ignored by the workers. may you rest in piece, Boney

(this is also why i havent been writing. depression hit hard when i realized he wasn't getting better, so i just spent all my time with him. i'll get back to writing later on, okay?)