"Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Julie-Su's already in her room. You don't get dinner tonight because of what you did." Momma-Su snapped, and gave Knuckles some sort of toothbrush with toothpaste on it. "And may I recommend you brush your teeth?"

"Why won't you 'punish' me by putting me in the basement?" Knuckles grumbled.

"Tails is down there though." Momma-Su remarked.

"You could put him in the living room..." Knuckles suggested.

"Get upstairs!" Momma-Su yelled. "And don't be coming back down 'til the morning!" Knuckles ran up the stairs. He stared down the hall where Julie-Su's bedroom door was. He looked a bit to his left and saw the bathroom door open. He darted inside and locked the door behind him. He turned on the light and looked in the mirror at himself.

"Ugh..." he mumbled. Knuckles looked at the toothbrush. He started brushing his teeth. As he did this, he came up with an idea. I could just sit in the bathroom all night and say I'm sick, he thought. Then I don't have to go in her room...

Knuckles rinsed the toothbrush off. Realising how thirsty he was, he ran the water until it looked less muddy and tried drinking it. It tasted disgusting though.

Someone banged on the door. "Knuckles, what are you doing in there?" called Julie-Su. Knuckles did not answer. "Knuckles? Are you okay?"

"No...I'm sick..." Knuckles lied.

"Oh...maybe you got food poisoning. I wish you felt better, sweetie..." Julie-Su said.

Yeah, not because you care about me, creep... Knuckles thought. He could hear her run down the stairs. After a moment she ran back up.

"What's the problem, Knuckles?" asked Googoo.

"...I'm sick..." Knuckles replied.

"How convenient..." Knuckles could hear Googoo mutter under his breath. "No you aren't. If you are, open the door and prove it."

"I can't get up..." Knuckles lied, standing in the middle of the bathroom.

"Then I'll kick the door down!" Googoo yelled. "Are you REALLY sick, or just nervous? Because there's nothing to be nervous of, it's-"

To prevent Googoo from going any further, Knuckles jerked the door open. "I'M FINE GOODNIGHT!" he yelled and ran down the hall into the bedroom.

"Well that was easy." Googoo remarked. "Goodnight, Julie-Su." he walked downstairs. Julie-Su excitedly ran down to her bedroom.

When she ran in, Knuckles was not there. "Knuckles?" she yelled. "Ugh, why do you have to be like this? Where are you hiding?" she ran over to her closet and opened it, but no one was in there. "You're being a jerk." She walked over to her bed, and stood there, silently staring at the bottom. I know he's under there, she thought. After a long silent wait, Julie-Su suddenly jumped onto her bed.

"OW!" Knuckles yelled from underneath.

"Gotcha!" Julie-Su screeched. She leaned over and looked under, and Knuckles's face was right there. He backed up quickly.

"I hit my head on the bed..." he growled.

"Come out from under there, silly!" Julie-Su squealed.

"No!" Knuckles argued.

"Fine, then I'll get you out myself!" Julie-Su exclaimed. She fell onto the ground, and tried to grab Knuckles's arms but he pulled them back. So she crawled underneath the bed. Knuckles tried backing out but he got stuck, and Julie-Su got really, really close to him.

"I'm...STUCK!" Knuckles yelled. He started panicking, feeling very claustrophobic and uncomfortable. He struggled until he ended up having to lift up Julie-Su's bed. He lifted it up enough so that he could run out from underneath, and it slammed back down as Julie-Su ran out. She ran in between him and the door.

"Don't even think about leaving." she smiled creepily. "Or my parents will make you stay another night."

"If that's the case, I'll beat them just to get Tails so we can both escape together safely!" Knuckles yelled.

"Don't you beat my parents, you violent idiot!" Julie-Su yelled.

"I'm not an idiot!" Knuckles shouted. "But I can't leave Tails, and I know your dumb parents are always trying to separate me from him! I don't want to, but if I have to I'll beat them just to get to Tails!"

"You're pretty obstinate, aren't you?" Julie-Su remarked. "I like that."

"Go away!" Knuckles yelled.

"Don't you step outside that door, or I WILL hurt Tails in some way you'll never forget." Julie-Su declared.

"You can't do that..." Knuckles mumbled. "If you do, I'll beat you."

"You'll beat a girl?" Julie-Su asked.

"I don't care WHAT gender you are, if you hurt me or my friends, expect to get it back!" Knuckles yelled.

"But wouldn't you like to avoid seeing Tails get hurt in the first place?"

"I wouldn't let it happen in the first place..."

"Uh-huh..." Julie-Su walked over to what looked like a music player. She turned it on, and stupid music started playing. "You know what I did to those little birds out there...you don't want that happening to you..."

"...What?" Knuckles cried. "Why'd you turn that garbage on?"

"Because...I recall how you were acting in the restaurant..." Julie-Su smiled creepily again. She walked over to Knuckles.

"Don't get any closer..." Knuckles growled, backing away from her. But she ignored Knuckles and kept approaching him, backing him up into a corner of the room. At this point, Knuckles was terrified. He was shaking and he started hyperventilating.

"What's your problem?!" Julie-Su finally asked.

"Uuuuhhhh..." Knuckles mumbled, and lowered himself deeper into the corner.

"You're...I don't even know!" Julie-Su yelled, and kicked Knuckles's legs.

"Ow!" Knuckles yelled. He tried attacking her back, but he felt very weak and as if he could not move. So she continued kicking him.

"GET, UP, AND ACT NORMAL!" Julie-Su screamed, and kicked him in the head. Knuckles fell over, and had himself curled up.

"You are so STUPID!" Julie-Su screeched. "I liked you, too! Is this seriously what I want? But I still love you...but I don't! I don't know! Why are you so weird? Why have I soultouched with you but you haven't with me? Why are you laying there shaking, curled-up in a ball, huh? What is WRONG with you?"

Knuckles did not respond. He remained in one spot. He really wanted to beat her up, but he felt too weak. He let his fears weaken him. Now he was stuck in one spot. And that music was still playing. Julie-Su began yelling things again, but the sound started draining and getting mixed up. All the sounds were mixing with older memories. Memories of Knuckles's parents yelling at him, beating on him - they were mixing with the current sounds, and at the moment Knuckles felt like he was trapped in some kind of terrible place. He felt scared and he wanted out of it, but the sounds continued to distort and everything felt very dark around him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Knuckles. I guess I should be nicer to you, shouldn't I?" Julie-Su said eventually. She bent over and picked him up, and ran over to her bed, quickly dropping him there. She crawled into her bed and wrapped herself around him. Knuckles felt even more terrified than before. Suddenly, the door opened.

"Knuckles, I can't sleep...I..." Tails began. He looked over and all he saw was Knuckles and Julie-Su in the bed together. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tails screamed, and ran back down the hallway. Angered, he threw the Knuckles blanket at the floor and started banging on it. "NO! NO! NO!" he screamed. He started kicking and flailing himself allover the floor until finally Googoo walked over.

"What's all the fuss about, Tails?" Googoo asked.

"...Knuckles..." Tails mumbled very quietly, and fell down.

"Uh-oh..." Googoo mumbled. He ran down the hallway, but saw Julie-Su standing in the doorway. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Tails screamed and ran away." Julie-Su replied.

"No, tell me the full story." Googoo demanded.

"Well, Knuckles had a panic attack and fell down onto the floor. He wouldn't answer me. He was curled up into a ball so I put him on the bed and then I went into the bed too, and hugged him. Then Tails walked in, started saying how he couldn't sleep, screamed and ran away." Julie-Su explained.

Googoo looked over at the bed, and saw Knuckles laying there sprawled out, still shaking and hyperventilating. "Are you sure that's actually what happened?" Googoo walked over to Knuckles. "...Knuckles?" he turned him over, but Knuckles had his eyes closed. "Knuckles! Answer me! What happened?"

"...Uuuuh...I don't know..." Knuckles mumbled.

"What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" Googoo asked.

"I don't know..." Knuckles mumbled. "But I didn't do anything...never...ever..."

"Uh...okay..." Googoo got up. "I guess maybe Tails overreacted. I don't know what's wrong with Knuckles, but he's acting really abnormal."

"I know, he's been like that for the past ten minutes. It's annoying because he won't talk to me." Julie-Su agreed.

"I have the feeling that there's something really wrong with his head..." Googoo declared. He walked down the hall over to Tails, who had his face shoved into the floor. "Tails, what happened?" Googoo asked.

Tails looked up at Googoo, his face soaked. "I don't know...all I saw was Knuckles and Julie-Su in bed together for a second so I freaked out..." Tails replied.

"Maybe you can talk to him. Knuckles has been acting weird, and Julie-Su was hugging him, that's all." Googoo explained.

"...Oh..." Tails said, feeling stupid. He picked up the blanket and walked down the hall into the bedroom. "Knuckles?" Tails walked over to him. "It's me, Tails..."

"I didn't do anything, I promise..." Knuckles muttered.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

"Oh, never mind..." Knuckles replied. He sat up and looked at Tails. "I...I can't do this..."

"I think we really need to go." Tails remarked, noticing Knuckles's abnormal behaviour. "You're acting very strange. I don't think this is emotionally healthy for you."

"Uh, okay..." Knuckles said. Julie-Su walked in, and saw Knuckles extending his arms. She ran over and pushed Tails out of the way.

"GO AWAY!" Knuckles screamed. Both Julie-Su and Tails backed away from him. Julie-Su stared at him, then ran out the room. Tails continued to stare at Knuckles. Something was really weird and not right about him.

"We REALLY need to go!" Tails exclaimed. "Come on, before you go ballistic." he grabbed Knuckles's hand and pulled him out of the room.

"Where are you two going?" Googoo asked.

"We have to go, Googoo, I'm sorry. Knuckles is acting VERY weird. I don't think this is emotionally healthy for him. He could be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, maybe...but we have to go before he kills someone." Tails cried, in a hurry.

Googoo could tell himself that Knuckles was acting pretty messed-up. "Alright, just go, find yourselves a place to stay." he said.

"But dad-" Julie-Su began.

"This is for Knuckles's...and everyone's sake, dear. I'll talk to you about it later, maybe tomorrow." Googoo turned to Tails and Knuckles, in which Tails was pulling Knuckles out the front door. "Bye."

"Bye..." Tails replied, and the front door slammed.

Tails looked up at Knuckles. "Don't worry, Knuckles. Everything will be okay."