A few hours had passed since my little shopping journey with Bernadette and I was walking with Sonic. We had a few minutes 'til the party so we were just talking.
"So, they started wrestling on the floor and everyone was cheering!" I told Sonic, who just started laughing.
"Man, I wish I could have seen that." He laughed.
I smiled as Sonic laughed. It always made me happy to see him like this.
"Man, we need more guys like that around here." Sonic said.
"Trust me, you don't." I said.
"What does that mean?" Sonic asked.
"That…was a one time deal." I said. We were going over the guys in my school.
"How so?" Sonic asked.
"These days they're nothing like that! My dad keeps saying that 'they're going to get better this year' every school year, but they don't they actually get worse!" I said. "Why, just last spring a group of guys were busted drinking BEER in front of the school!"
Sonic looked at me shock.
"There's also been graffiti in the restrooms, the gang signs that have been drawn on the windows and in the boys restrooms, and not to mention countless fights! It's unbearable!"
"Whoa, I take that wish back." Sonic said.
"You better, there have been plenty of victims to them. Myself included."
Sonic nearly tripped at that.
"You okay?" I asked, helping him up.
"Yeah, but what happened?" Sonic asked.
"Well, most of it's a blur but I can give you the basic idea." I said. "It was early winter and it had just begun to get into the 30s. We were waiting in line to get a drink from the fountain because we had just come in from recess. There were only a few in front of me when the guy behind me, David, pushed me out of line. I got back into place at once but he pushed me out of line again and then again. Something snapped and I sensed it but it was too late, 'cause less then half a second later he punched me in the cheek. The next thing I know I was sitting right in front of a wall, holding my cheek and crying. I don't remember if it was out of fear, shock, surprise, or pain but I remember crying. David was suspended for a week after that. The year after, he was sent to another school after he hit a girl with a desk three times."
"Ouch, I hope she was alright." Sonic said.
"Don't worry, it was Nicki Lapash, she's one of those fast girls so she was alright. That was what toppled the dominos though. It was what happened next that did it, sort of. He grabbed a pair of thick scissors and threatened to kill her with them. The teacher took him tot he principal, who, for some stinkin' reason, let him go without a punishment! However, what David said next really did it. He said: I should have killed that girl when I had the chance. He was out for good after that!"
"Man, now I REALLY take that wish back." Sonic said.
"Very wise idea, Sonic." I said.
"What else have they done?" Sonic asked.
"Well, one guy slammed a door on a guy's head, literally. From the sound of it, you just knew he dead, but it wasn't Lucas, the guy who closed the door that was the dangerous one, it was the other guys in the class! They were so mad and they were out for blood! The teacher could only tell him to run. I think the chase went on for about half an hour, I don't remember." I said.
"Was the kid okay?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, it was a miracle his skull wasn't crushed, let alone killed!" I said.
"Yuck." Sonic cringed.
"Yeah, so you can understand why I love being away from my school so much, it gets me away from those dangerous boys." I said. "One of these days they're going to end up on A.M.W."
"A.M.W.?" Sonic asked.
"America's Most Wanted." I answered. "It's an hour long show to show the public the faces and tell the stories about the most dangerous criminals and why they belong behind bars. Other wise, over nine hundred of America's most dangerous or most constant criminals would still probably still be on the streets. You never know where they could pop up! Heck, they could be your next door, neighbor!"
"What are some of the crimes?" Sonic asked.
"Usually killers, rapists, bank robbers, kidnappers, con-men, and some very strange men." I said.
"Strange how?" Sonic asked.
"These two sick and twisted brothers, claiming to be working under the order of God, kidnapped women, and claimed they were trying to "purify" them." I answered. "They even had one of them wear a diaper, treated them like slaves, made them say that they loved them, handcuffed them to a bed, and sexually abused them."
"BLECK! That's disgusting!" Sonic snapped.
"You think that's bad? There's worse. A woman kidnapped another woman's young baby son from her very arms and took off! He's sent more time away from his mother then with her! It makes me sick!" I hissed.
"That is bad." Sonic agreed.
"But probably the one that really ticks me off the most is "The Predator"." I said.
"The Predator?" Sonic asked.
"Yes. You see, there's this world wide famous theme park, Orlando Florida, there's a rapist hiding there somewhere and he 'prays' on young women, but it's the youngest one that disgusts me." I hissed again.
"How young?" Sonic asked.
"Hold onto your socks, 'cause this is gonna blow you right out of your shoes!" I said. "The youngest girl he did it to was…" I shuddered before saying it. "Only nine-years-old."
Sonic's pupils shrank to the size of grains of rice.
"Are you serious?" Sonic asked.
"Dead serious, Sonic." I replied flatly. "When they finally got him after months of chasing him, the judge let him go on house arrest with a tracking device! But after only six weeks he but it off and just walked away and no one has seen him since!"
"Man, that stinks!" Sonic growled.
"And there are how many hundred others like them! Most of them can't be found as easily as Garvin though." I grumbled.
"Garvin?" Sonic asked.
"Number one reason not to go to the gym." I said. "She's sneak into the woman's locker room during the classes, then take out her bolt cutters and break into the lockers. She'd take the purses and then make a break for it. She'd then go the bank and then call the owner, claiming to be an officer or detective, and ask for pin numbers, how the person can get their money from the bank, swindled twice. After they aired her story on A.M.W. they caught her, only twenty-two hours after to be exact."
"Well at least she's off the street." Sonic said.
"Yeah, if only they ALL could be." I said.
"Yeah." Sonic sighed.
I sighed as well. There's no telling where freaks could show up, that's why I watched the show, incase I ever saw any of them I could be useful and get them behind bars. But the problem was that, so far, only two of them had been in my home state of Ohio, and one of them was fleeing from it to Texas, the rest, in just about every other state other then Alaska.
"Something up?" Sonic asked.
"Just thinking." I said.
"'Bout what?" Sonic asked.
"Nothing important." I said.
Sonic kept looking at me. I could feel his gaze on me. What happened next, I could never have guessed. Sonic quickly grabbed my hand and started running.
"Ah! Sonic! Slow down, I can't run that fast!" I cried, struggling to keep up.
"Don't worry, just keep your head up and run!" Sonic said, picking up the pace.
I kept my head up and what happened next only was in my wildest dreams: I was able to keep up with Sonic! He was still ahead of me but it was amazingly easy to keep up. I was panting and quickly becoming tired from all of the energy I was using up. I guess Sonic could see that, cause for a second he stopped, let me run ahead for second, and then scooped me up.
As Sonic ran, he stared at me and I did the same but it wasn't out of love, from wither of us, I could tell. It seemed…familiar somehow, and not just the speed. When he said 'don't worry, just keep your head up and run' it sounded fairly familiar. I had heard it in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 but that wasn't where I had heard it, from somewhere else. But where…and when?
I looked at Sonic and for some reason it was familiar. Sonic continued carrying me for I don't know how long but we did stop at one point. I didn't know where we were at first because I had been hiding my eyes in his chest. When I looked, I was surprised. It was a field of flowers, probably the most beautiful I had ever seen.
"You like 'em?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, they're beautiful." I said in awe. The whole time, I forgot Sonic was still holding me.
He gently placed me down and walked closer.
"What's your favorite color?" Sonic asked.
"Blue." I answered.
In a flash, Sonic was gone. For moment, a pang of panic struck me at the heart. What was going on? Just when I started to think Sonic left me, he returned with he hands behind his back.
"I picked these for you." Sonic said, revealed what he had behind his back: a bundle of blue flowers.
"Oh, Sonic, they're beautiful." I said in awe.
"Yeah, figured I'd try to cheer you up a bit, stuff like that is bound to bring up painful memories." He said.
"Yeah."
Sonic handed me the flowers and I was more then happy to take them. They smelled better then anything I knew of. Sonic took one from the bundle and placed it gently behind my ear.
"It really makes you look beautiful." Sonic said softly.
That line sounded familiar to me as well but I still didn't know where or when but that wasn't on my mind at the moment. What was if Sonic had said I was beautiful, that was something no one had EVER called me. I was usually considered the girl everyone picked on just because it was fun. I HATED it when they did that. I was just about ready to claw their eyes out sometimes I was an outcast because I was the only girl in my class and there were only three other girls my age in our school but they were all in another class all together. The rest were much younger then us, or they were in the High School that was in the basement.
The worse part was the guys in my class were a bunch of idiots and jerks for almost the entire time, there was one, two, maybe three nice guys of fifteen or so boys. Only one of them was actually nice constantly, the rest were only nice sometimes but the rest of the time, they were jerks.
They would never give me a compliment like that. But then again, beauty was one of the last things on my mind, along with being cool, they just weren't for me and I didn't really care if I was cool or not. But it was things like this that made me an outcast. The other girls accepted me but hardly any of the guys. They would usually cuss at me, yank my hair, and pass notes saying: I hate Shelby Workman. I knew because I caught a glimpse of one being passed right in front of me, and on purpose.
Times like that left me all alone in the world, it was like nobody understood me and still didn't. I stood up for others but when I stood up for myself nobody helped me and when I did, stand up for myself, I got in trouble with my teachers and parents and when I got their help, things only got worse. They called me tattletale, and teacher's pet. Whenever this happened, I was stuck choking on my own throat, tears in my eyes, spitting out fake threats and when I did, I got in trouble. It was just something I couldn't win. It never ended. I just didn't belong. I was on my own. I didn't know how I could get a good future with them destroying my confidence left and right.
As I went over those thoughts in my head, I saw that Sonic was looking into my eyes. I could see that he was reading me like a book. He now knew my thoughts. I was half expecting him to run off and leave. It was like the stuff I was used to, try to speak your mind and you end up alone. I curled up into a ball, trying to hold my tears. I was going to be alone again. I just knew it.
After what seemed like a long time, I felt a pair of hands touch my shoulders. I looked up in surprise. Sonic had rested his hands on my shoulders and was sitting right next to me. I could see something in his eyes, saying in a clam yet demanding voice: "do it". And I did.
I rested my head on his shoulder and started crying. It hurt more then anything but I still did. Sonic held me, stroking my back, hugging me, just about anything to make me stop crying.
"Shelby, stop crying." He said softly. "I promise, I'll do everything to make sure you're not hurt…I promise."
I looked up at him with red puffy eyes.
"Thank you." I whispered.
Sonic pulled me into a hug and for the first time since, I don't remember when, I felt like I belonged somewhere.
"C'mon." Sonic said, picking me up. "Lets' go home."
I closed my eyes and stayed quiet. I was right about Sonic. He really was a big sweet heart even though he sometimes had strange ways of showing it. I looked up at him and made my own promise but not aloud, in my heart.
"I promise you Sonic, I'll repay you for this."