Chapter 3

I can tell when Sonic gets jealous. His nostrils flare up and he has a vicious look in his eyes. Like one time, I had a friendly conversation with Shadow and I noticed Sonic giving him that look. It's kind of cute and funny but he's just worried that he'll lose me. I always have to reassure him that he is the one and only person that I will love for the rest of my life. No one else will take his place.

Lydia put her smartphone away as she was waiting for Evan outside of the Burger Shack. Lydia wasn't sure if she chose the appropriate attire for a friendly get-together. She wore a simple, blue dress with red high heels. She didn't want to come off as flirtatious but she didn't want to look disheveled like she usually did.

Evan's black car drove by and stopped in front of Lydia. Lydia approached the passenger side of Evan's car. Evan pulled down the window.

"A little dressy don't you think?" said Evan.

"Better than seeing me in my usual Burger Shack outfit."

Evan giggled.

"Get in" said Evan.

Lydia opened the door of the passenger side and sat inside.

"So, where are you taking me?" asked Lydia.

"It's a surprise."

Evan and Lydia entered the mall. Lydia tried her best not to laugh.

"The mall? " said Lydia.

"Hey, they have a great food court." Said Evan.

They proceeded to the food court and sat across from each other. Evan noticed that Lydia was wearing a Sonic the Hedgehog bracelet.

"I never knew you liked Sonic." Said Evan.

"What?"

Evan pointed at Lydia's bracelet.

"Oh, yeah, I'm a big Sonic fan. I have all of the games and I've watched all of the cartoons and read all of the comics."

"Wow." Said Evan. "I think the last time I played a Sonic game was in Junior High."

"You should play the modern day Sonic games. They are really good and Sonic is just such an amazing icon and perfect in every way."

"Perfect? A lot of reviews I've read said otherwise."

"That's because they don't know Sonic like I…" Lydia stopped herself and continued "They never played the games so they don't know how it works. Maybe, I'll show you one of these days."

"Ok, I guess you'll have to make me a believer then."

"Well, it's quite easy to love Sonic. He's been with me throughout my entire life. He's been there through the good days and the bad. He always finds a way to make me smile at the end of the day. He's just…"

Lydia stopped when she notice something over Evan's shoulder. She noticed a large, oddly-shaped apparition with green glowing eyes watch Lydia from the bathroom corridor. Lydia focused her attention to Evan.

"Um…excuse me. I just need to freshen up." Said Lydia.

"Oh okay, I'll go get the food. What would you like?"

"Anything is fine." said Lydia quickly.

Lydia got up from her seat and walked over to the bathroom corridor but as soon as she got up, the apparition moved towards the bathroom. Lydia followed the dark apparition to the bathroom.

Lydia didn't find the apparition anywhere. She assumed that she was just seeing things and went over to the sink. She turned on the sink and splashed her face with water.

In the reflection of the large mirror, she noticed a long, pink splinter around her wrist. The splinter was fused into her skin like it was natural hair from her body.

Lydia pulled the splinter from her arm. The pain was like a deep pinch as Lydia tried to avoid screaming so loudly. Lydia noticed that more pink splinters formed around the area she pulled. Lydia pulled another splinter off and more multiplied around that area of her skin.

"What?" said Lydia.

She continued to pull each splinter but they continued to multiply until her whole arm was covered in pink splinters like quills on a hedgehog. Lydia scared and panicked, tried to wash the splinters off. Suddenly, the bathroom stall behind Lydia burst open. Lydia looked at the reflection of the mirror and saw Sonic the Hedgehog behind her. Lydia quickly turned around and saw a man coming out of the stall.

"Um…Is this the men's bathroom?" said the man in the stall.

Lydia in complete shock looked down at her arm and it was back to being her regular human arm. Lydia ran out of the bathroom. Outside of the bathroom, she looked back at the bathroom door to see if Sonic was there. Suddenly, Lydia bumped into someone. Lydia let out a resounding scream.

"Lydia…it's me, Evan."

"Oh my god!" said Lydia. Lydia held Evan in her arms as Evan embraced her.

"Hey, what happened?" said Evan.

"I thought I saw something." said Lydia. "I just need some air."

"Okay, we'll go outside for a moment."

Evan put his arms around Lydia and escorted her outside of the mall.

Across from the mall was a big fountain with benches lying adjacent to the fountain. Lydia and Evan sat down at one of the benches.

"I'm so sorry for ruining this night for you." said Lydia sullenly.

"No, it's alright. As long as you're fine."

They engaged in a momentary silence.

"What do you think about me?" said Evan.

"What do you mean?"

"When I'm in college, all I do is stay in my dorm and study and shut the whole world around me. Ever since I came back, you were the only person I've talked to besides my parents. I like being with you and just talking about random bullshit. But I love every moment of that bullshit because I'm with you."

"What do you mean?" said Lydia.

"I think we were destined to be with each other."

"We just met. I barely know you."

"For me, it feels like I've met you all of my life."

Evan came closer to Lydia.

"What are you doing?" said Lydia.

"I really don't know." Said Evan.

Evan kissed Lydia passionately. This was Lydia's first kiss yet she felt it was wrong. She couldn't get into it until she imagined she was kissing Sonic. Lydia embraced Evan and she began to get into it even more. Suddenly, Lydia's phone rang which interrupted them.

"My mom is really getting on my nerves now." Lydia dug through her purse and took out her phone.

"Hello" answered Lydia.

"How could you betray me?" The voice on the other line sounded like a whiny, morose, high-pitched voice.

"Who is this?" said Lydia.

"You go behind my back when you proclaimed your love to me."

"Sonic?" whispered Lydia so that Evan wouldn't hear.

"I see you kissing him." Said Sonic as he burst into tears. "After all I've done for you."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I love you, I swear."

"I trusted you, Lydia. I trusted you. You…you don't need me anymore. Do you?"

Lydia began to cry.

"No! I do need you! Please don't leave me! I need you!" she cried but the line went off the hook.

Lydia put her phone down and stared blankly ahead.

"Is everything okay?" said Evan. Evan put his arms around Lydia but she pushed it away. Lydia gave a thunderous slap to Evan.

"Stay the hell away from me, you pervert!" shouted Lydia.

"The hell is your problem?" said Evan.

Lydia ran away from Evan and into the streets. As Lydia ran, she saw Sonic's reflection through the windows of the buildings.

"Sonic wait! Please!" cried Lydia.

The pedestrians that were walking by, stared at her like she was out of her mind. Lydia continued to run after Sonic.

"He kissed me! I didn't ask for it!" cried Lydia.

Suddenly, one of her heels broke off and she fell into a puddle on the side of the street. Lydia quickly got up. Her blue dress was completely sullied with dirt and grime. Once Lydia got up, Sonic had vanished and was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Lydia got back home. Her parents were asleep and so she went upstairs to her room. Something was odd about her room. In all of the posters, Sonic was missing. Lydia panicked and ran to her video game collection. She looked at each one of the covers and threw them to side when she saw that Sonic wasn't on the cover. She went through the comics and couldn't find Sonic in those.

"No! No!" cried Lydia.

Lydia picked up the sketchbook at her bed. She looked at the drawing she made of Lydia the Hedgehog and Sonic but Sonic wasn't in the drawing and the bottom read "Lydia the Hedgehog. Alone again."

"No!" shouted Lydia. Lydia laid down on her bed. She cried hysterically while clutching the sketchbook in her arms.