Chapter 10: Sonic World
"Mmm." Sonic mumbled as he slowly started to wake up, the light from outside shining through a crack in the blackout curtains, hitting his face just right. He sat up and yawned, looking around his surroundings. He didn't remember falling asleep last night, and yet, here he was, in Shadow's room on Shadow's bed, waking up in the morning.
What had he been doing last night? He tried to remember.
He remembered making dinner last night… and then hearing Wilfred outside.
Yes, that's it. Wilfred. He was hurt and Sonic had taken him to the vet. He remembered the veterinarian saying that Wilfred will need surgery to get his eye removed. He remembered that the cat would have to stay overnight.
What came after that?
Oh yeah, that's right. He was overwhelmed with worry and was trying to distract himself. Distract himself… with…
Oh no.
Sonic gasped and looked around his general area, trying to find Shadow's book. He looked over the side of the bed and squeaked in despair when he saw the book on the floor, open face down in a way where the pages were crinkled and bent, and there was a slight rip in the corner of the cover where it must've hit the floor.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." The blue hedgehog said repeatedly in a panic as he picked up the book from the floor and tried to fix it, smoothing out the creases in the pages and trying to cover up the tear in the corner, but no matter how much he tried, it was obvious that someone had tampered with Shadow's work. "No, no, no, no, no!" He cried, pulling on his quills in distress. "Ah, Shadow's gonna kill me! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!"
Suddenly, the house phone started to ring, making Sonic nearly jump out of his fur. Nervous, he ran downstairs, into the kitchen, and picked up the phone off the wall. "H-hello?"
"Sonic? It's Shadow."
Suddenly, Sonic's whole world seemed to zoom out into darkness, like a movie. It was just him, the phone, and Shadow's voice on the other side. He tried to remain calm. "Oh, hey Shads! Wasn't expecting a call from you!" Nailed it.
"Rrright. Anyway, I'm calling in just to check on things. Seeing as you answered the phone I'm assuming the house is still standing?"
"Yep. Sure is Shads."
"Everything is still in order and clean?"
"Like a monk's house." He slapped a hand over his mouth. Better not to reference anything from the book.
"... Right. And Wilfred? Has he come around?"
"Um… yyeah…" Sonic said, a little bit of guilt coming from his voice, which did not go unnoticed by Shadow's keen senses.
"Faker… what happened to Wilfred?"
A few tears came to Sonic's eyes, knowing he'd have to explain to Shadow what has happened to his kitty. "Well… Shadow… I'm so sorry…" He tried to remain calm as he explained to his rival and crush about Wilfred's fight and the surgery he had to go under to remove his eye. The whole time, Shadow was silent until the very end.
"I see."
"Shadow I'm so sorry." Sonic gasped, a few tears rolling down his face. "I should've kept a better eye on him. I'm so sorry."
"Hey, hey. It's ok. It's not your fault." Shadow's voice sounded genuinely concern and understanding over the phone.
"It's not?" Sonic said, a little shocked.
"No, of course not. Cats fight, Sonic, and sometimes they get hurt in the process. These things happen, Sonic. What matters now is that he's alright. I'd rather him be blind on one side than have him be put down. You made the right decision and… I'm proud of you for that."
Sonic's heart started to flutter and he smiled, wiping his tears away. "Thank you, Shadow."
"You're welcome, Sonic. Now one more question."
"Ask away."
"Did my package come in?"
Once again, Sonic felt his world come crashing down. He froze on the spot, shaking in his fur.
What was he supposed to tell him?
His package had come in, but the book had the obvious signs of being tampered with.
He didn't want to tell him the truth, knowing he will be angry with him, and just after he said he was proud of Sonic.
The blue hedgehog shook his head.
No. He won't lie to Shadow like that. Honesty is the best policy. Besides, Shadow would appreciate the truth more… Right?
"Nope, hasn't come in yet."
……….. Well shit.
"Huh, that's odd. Because I got an email saying that my package has been delivered."
"That is odd, considering it still hasn't shown up." Sonic nodded. 'Stop lying to him!'
"You're not lying to me, are you hedgehog?" Shadow's voice sounded suspicious. "You haven't opened it, have you?!"
"No Shadow. I swear it hasn't come in yet." 'STOP IT!' "Maybe it got sent to the wrong address?" 'You're making it worse!'
"Chaos I hope not! I don't want anyone seeing that yet!"
"Well I'm sorry Shadow. I don't have it, whatever it is." 'He'll never trust you again!'
"Dammit!" Shadow sighed. "Alright, thanks for letting me know. I'll have to talk to the post office later when we come back."
"When is that anyway?"
"We'll be back on Thursday. Can you manage until then?"
"Of course, Shadow. You can count on me." 'No he can't.'
"Thanks. Talk to you when we get back."
"Bye Shadow."
And with that, the two hedgehogs hung up.
Sonic put the phone back on the receiver and screamed at the top of his lungs.
What was he going to do now?
