Chapter 5: Memories of a Shadow
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'Three bright coins in five holes be
At one end sits the seducer of she
The wind from behind, the woman doth play
The formless one, null, lies furthest from they
The old one beside the serpent sits not
'Tis to the prisoner's left that he doth rot'
Three coins, he had collected throughout both apartment buildings. One with an old mans face engraved on it, the second with a snake's face, and the third had the body of a man in shackles. In front of him was a safe—the safe on which the poem was written on the back—that had four coin-shaped holes on the front, rather than a normal lock. The puzzle wasn't that hard, at least not once you had what you needed.
'Seducer of she – that's the snake, obviously. Adam & Eve…Formless one?…eeer…I'll worry about that one later. Old one sits to the left of the prisoner…' He put the coins in the left three holes, first the snake, then the old man and the prisoner right after. Nothing happened. 'Okay…gotta change something……formless one? Maybe that means no coin goes there, I guess, so the farthest left hole stays empty…which means…'
He pulled the snake coin out of the hole and placed it in the hole next to the now formless one, then moved the others one over too. A click was heard. 'Yes.' He said. The safe was unlocked, and he opened it to see a key inside. The nametag on it: 'Kyne'.
It must be the key to the apartment with the writing on it, since this was the room that was next to the door like the note said – room 105. He turned and walked out of the room, back to the hallway.
Instantly the radio turned back on and Miles looked up and down the hall. A single mannequin monster stood there, instantly reminding him of the Pyramid monster in the other apartment. He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. Those mannequin leg monsters seemed a lot deadlier than the straight jacket ones. Miles pulled out the handgun and took aim. Once he was confident he could hit it, he squeezed the trigger. With an extremely loud bang, a fresh hole appeared in one of the monster's left shin, causing it to stumble over and fall.
A bead of sweat formed on the side of his head. He had aimed for the torso, but his aim wasn't as good as he had expected it to be, he guessed. The weapon also had more recoil than he recalled it did when he shot Pyramid Head too.
'Probably because you were so scared you didn't notice.' His mind told him. 'Now move before it gets up.'
Best not to waste the ammo, it was too far away to be a threat anyway. Miles turned right and opened the stairway door. He took it to the second floor and walked into the hallway. The hall was littered with several straightjacket monsters, but only two of them were blocking his path to the door he wanted to go to. He dispatched them each easily enough with the plank, and ran to the door with the note on it. Slipping the key in and unlocking it, he entered the new room.
Unlike most of the other rooms in the apartment, this room's windows were open. In fact, it even had a balcony. He walked over to it; feeling relaxed to see a decent amount of light for the first time in a while, and looked down both ends of the balcony. The fog was too thick to see the streets below, and no ladders or anything were in sight, but the door to another apartment room was open. Both apartments shared the same balcony.
He walked through the open door, entering a small bedroom. Immediately he noticed the key on the bed. He grabbed it and read the label: '2nd Floor Stairway'.
"Finally!" he exclaimed. Turning, he ran back out of the room and into the hallway once more. The stairway door marked 'EXIT' was directly in front of him. He took one last look at the empty hallway (strange, he could of sworn there were a three more straightjacket monsters here before…), and unlocked the door, opening it and walking into the stairway.
He stopped dead in his tracks, paralyzed with split-second uncontrollable horror. The Pyramid Head was there, raping another monster brutally up the rear—this one a straightjacket one. It let out more strange grunts, which echoed from inside its gigantic helmet. Immediately Miles turned around to try and run out the door again, but it had closed shut right after he walked in. He grabbed the handle and viciously tried to open it, but his efforts were futile. The door was locked now.
'SHIT!'
"ooooooooeeeeeaaaaaaaAAHHHHHH!!!" the Pyramid Head cried.
Miles turned around and put his back to the door, trying to get as far away from it as possible. Pyramid Head seemed to be groaning in pain, as if the bullet to its eye earlier was causing it a migraine. Dropping the now dead straightjacket monster to the floor, it put its gray hands to its metal helmet and grasped the ends of it tightly, seeming to try and pull the pyramid off. The sharp edges of its helmet cut into its dry flaky skin, causing blood to form at its fingertips. It dropped its hands as if aggravated, then quickly turned to the fox.
'Nonononononono…' Miles pushed backwards more into the door, as if trying to disappear into it like he did in the closet earlier.'Stairway!' he looked over to the stairs, almost ready to sprint down them. But his heart sank when he saw that the whole stairway was flooded with grimy, almost black water.
He desperately looked around the room, hopelessly trying to find a hole, a ladder, a window, anything. But the room was completely empty of everything but the stairway. He backed farther into the corner, looking back at Pyramid Head, who now grabbed the giant five-and-a-half foot long knife and pulled it out of its resting place on the ground.
'Oh God what have I gotten myself into!?' Miles cried, once again quickly surveying the room. While his eyes darted back and forth, Pyramid Head was slowly walking towards him, dragging the heavy knife close behind. The rusty bloodstained blade screeched across the floor, its weight slowing Pyramid Head down. It was only a few feet away now…
Miles, desperate to stop Pyramid Head from getting any closer, raised the plank and chucked it at the monster. The piece of wood just bounced off its long metal helmet, not seeming to phase it at all. He reached into his side pack, grabbed the handgun, and pulled it out. "Stop!" he cried, knowing it wouldn't listen.
And it didn't.
He squeezed the trigger, shooting the deadly bullet into the monster's face. It ricochet off of the rusted helmet and shot out towards the left wall, embedding itself in there forever. His assassin just kept on walking closer and closer.
Pyramid Head stopped and—obviously straining its muscles—lifted the blade above its head. Miles got the picture and practically dived out of the way and to the right, just in time to avoid having the blade slam down upon his weak organic body. The blade stabbed into the door, and it seemed to take a while for Pyramid Head to realize that it hadn't hit the fox. Terrified, the furry jumped up, drawing the gun once again. Pyramid Head tried to pull the blade out of the door, but seemed to be having trouble.
Miles took this short time to attack, aiming down at the back of Pyramid Head's leg and firing. The bullet pierced its flesh, splattering blood onto the floor. The strange monster screamed in agony and spun around, yanking the knife out of the door and swinging it at him in the process. Miles ducked underneath the vertical swing just in time, then spun around and ran to the other corner of the room. While powerful, Pyramid Head was very slow when carrying that overly heavy weapon around. Aiming the gun at its other leg, Miles opened fire once again, and then again and again.
With each bullet entering its body, Pyramid Head seemed to move slower. Until suddenly, it swung the knife upwards horizontally; the tip didn't hit Miles's hand but instead the gun, sending his only trusty weapon flying into the air. It landed on the ground in the corner, automatically firing another round. The bullet ricochet off of the monsters head and hit the wall not too far away from Miles. Instinctively, Miles jumped away from where the bullet landed, managing to escape a downward swing from Pyramid Head's knife in the process.
On the floor, he looked up and almost screamed as Pyramid Head slowly turned towards him. He began to back away as fast as he could without getting up, knowing very well that in the time it took to get up he would surely be killed. His mind was too clouded with fear for him to realize that that would happen anyway if he stayed down on the floor. For each foot he moved backwards, Pyramid Head moved two; and in seconds the monster was standing right over him, its grayed fingernails clenching the grip of the knife tightly.
He looked to his left and saw the plank lying on the floor only a few feet away. Miles quickly grabbed it and smashed the wood into Pyramid Head's leg. The nail dug into the meat, causing the monster to twitch and almost stumble. But it stayed erect, staring down upon the fox who knew his seconds were numbered.
'No…'
As if to deny his pleas, Pyramid Head slowly raised the knife above both of them, about to bring it down on the fox's measly body and end his miserable life.
'NO!'
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooohhh!
Sirens.
Pyramid Head suddenly jerked, looking around quickly as if it were trying to figure out where that loud noise was coming from. Miles did the same. It sounded like it could only be a few blocks away. The large monster lowered the sword back to its side, turning and walking away like it had lost interest in its kill.
The grimy almost-black water was still flooding the whole first floor of the stairwell, but that didn't stop Pyramid Head from nonchalantly walking down the steps, sinking into the liquid and taking oversized knife with it. It clunked against each step as it fell, splashed, and continued weaving through the water like a tired dog being dragged by its master. Miles's jaw dropped in shock. Somehow, the sirens had spared his life.
"…"
A strange startlingly loud sound then echoed throughout the room. It sounded like the water was draining away or something extremely quickly. Getting up, Miles shakily walked over to the stairs and shined his flashlight down to see it really was, for a fact. The stairs was already half empty now.
Seconds later, all the water was gone and the sirens shut off, leaving Miles alone in the quiet darkness, staring down into the now only wet set of stairs.
"…what was that all about?" he asked, his voice sounding higher than usual. He really didn't expect to be alive anymore right now, but he wasn't complaining.
Well, he didn't think he was at least.
---Later…---
It was nice and cool outside.
Miles's fur was still slightly damp from all the sweat he'd spilled out of his body, and it had created a rather pleasant effect on him in the town's cool outdoors. It cooled him down a lot, and even though he knew soon he'd be longing for warmth once again, he was enjoying it while it lasted. Smiling, he breathed in some nice cold air. It was good to be back outside.
Having been in the darkness of the apartments for so long, the gray-white fog had seemed rather bright for his eyes when he walked out the back exit door from the stairwell. Now he was moving up the alleyway, which would lead to Doggie Street soon, according to the map. All he'd have to do was continue forward till he spotted the road.
His ears perked up as he heard a voice coming from not too far away. He couldn't tell what she was saying, but she sounded almost like she was singing. He broke into a sprint—not having to worry about carrying the plank anymore since it had broken in half on Pyramid Head's leg—and began to wonder whom it was as the voice came closer and closer.
He stopped.
"Ring around the rooosy. Pocket full of pooosey. Aaaashes, aaaashes. We aaall faaall down…"
Sitting atop an eight-foot brick wall with colorful child-like paintings on it was the little girl, the same one he'd seen in the apartments. She was waving her pink-furred legs back and forth in a very childlike manner—which would be expected considering her age—and singing a song cheerfully.
Miles's eyes narrowed in anger. "It was you, wasn't it!?" he shouted, pointing accusingly. The girl stopped singing and looked at him, surprised. "You're the one that stepped on my hand!"
Her face, which held on it some very discreet freckles, scrunched up immaturely. The pink headband holding her quills down lowered a bit too, as a result of her narrowed eyes. "I dunno, maybe I did!" she said, voice filled with distain.
Miles couldn't believe it. There was actually a girl casually hanging out in this insane place still teetering on the edge of puberty He spoke, his own voice mixed with anger and worry. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this anyway!?"
She raised an eyebrow, looking down on him like he had asked her an extremely stupid question. "Huh? Are you blind or something?"
The fox's eyes narrowed even more. This girl was obviously a misbehaved brat.
There was a piece of paper in her gloved hand. From where he stood, Miles could see tiny little ant-like words resting across its floppy grayed surface. He pointed at it. "What's that letter?"
"None of your business!" she shouted angrily. "You didn't love Sonic anyway!"
With that, she spun around and jumped off the wall, landing on the opposite side of the brick as Miles.
"Wait!" he cried out. "How did you know Sonic's name!?"
No reply. He wasn't even sure if she was there anymore.
'What the hell?' he asked himself. 'She knows his name? How? That doesn't make any sense…'
Sighing, he looked back up the alleyway. The sidewalk was visible, disappearing into the fog right where the road should be. It looked like the edge of the Earth, almost. As if whoever stepped off the safety of the white-cemented sidewalk would fall forever through the white nothingness to their untimely death.
'Rosewater Park…'
It should only be across the street. And that's when it hit him; he made it! Sonic might be there…
He began to sprint down the alleyway, crossing the wide street ('Which looked so much like a bottomless pit…' Relief was what he felt, knowing that stupid idea was false.) through the fog and stopping when he got to the other end. He ran West, getting closer and closer until he finally stopped at the entrance. Just like he'd remembered it, but a little more worn and dirty, was the park's front sign.
"I'm here…" he said, his voice suddenly filled with a hint of joy. "Sonikku…"
His body tense, he slowly began to walk into the park. Each step getting closer and closer to his goal…and as he continued moving deeper into the place, memories came flooding back. Memories of how many hours he and Sonic had spent together here…
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Light blue, the sky was that day. The sun was shining bright and vividly; it was yet another calm day in the peaceful town known as Sonic Hill. Tourists came by as usual, just walking through the park to take some photos of the monuments here and there, and obviously, the lake. The whole park—measuring at only about an eighth of a mile long and wide—was right on the shoreline of Lake Toluca. In fact, the most northern portion of the park was built completely over the water, kind of like a boardwalk, but a lot prettier.
From where the park was, one had a perfect view of the lake and some of North Sonic Hill. And boy was it beautiful. The sun itself reflected off of the lakes clear blue waters; at sunset especially, it was magnificent. The town was a major tourist attraction, not for much anything else than how utterly beautiful it was.
In the more Southern part of the park was the playground, where children usually liked to have a fun time. On that day though, no children were on the swing set, because Sonic and Tails were already occupying it.
Laughing, they were. Laughing just for the sake of laughing. It might seem like a ridiculous thing for two boys in their sophomore year of responsible adulthood to do, but they didn't care. They had already gone through enough hard times against society together to not care what the others thought of them. All that mattered was that they were happy.
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Now though, that same swing set was old and rusted. One of the swings was only hanging on one chain, making the other one which was still in good condition look out of place and lonely. Just like Miles himself was. The swings had been in such good condition four years ago, and that reminded him of how much the town itself too had changed since he came here. It might as well have been in a whole other universe, because even the familiar parts of town didn't look much like he remembered. But that wasn't his top concern at all. Most importantly he wanted Sonic.
'Please be here…' he wished, shaking his head and continuing his walk to the observation deck. If Sonic were really in this park, he'd be there. 'I've come all this way…Please…'
He didn't know what he'd do if the hedgehog weren't here, but he wasn't going to find out just dwelling over the question. Success or failure wouldn't rear its head until he forced it to. His walk turned into another run, passing by several monuments, greenery, benches, ect. until he finally reached the short stairs. He hopped up the steps two by two, suddenly being overcome by the undying need to see Sonic's face again.
'Sonic will be there and I'll fall into his arms and we'll be together again and everything will be okay…' Miles stopped at the top of the six step stairs, panting lightly from the several sprints he had just done. 'Sonikku…'
The thick fog continued to do what it did best and coated the whole deck. It seemed to be heaviest of all right here. Waves hitting the wooden pillars below were heard, and the strange but relaxing smell of the lake's water filled his nostrils. Breathing in one long, deep breath, Miles exhaled and turned left. Sonic shouldn't be more than a hundred feet away.
His footsteps against the rock floor joined the waves in his ears. Butterflies inhabited his stomach, fluttering around in their beautiful but meaningless existence. Through his gloves, his palms were sweating vigorously. It was time.
Through the fog, the silhouette of his hedgehog came into view.
The fox's heart jumped for joy, and he began to run towards him, his mouth curled into a huge smile. Sonic was leaning on the railing, looking down at the water through the fog just like he imagined he would. Miles couldn't believe it, but he was there; it was really true!
"Sonic?" he asked, sounding surprisingly calm while he reached out to touch the hedgehog like he wasn't sure he'd stay there.
The hedgehog turned around and faced him, and his world of hope shattered around him. Burning away and leaving behind ashes of discontent sadness.
It wasn't Sonic.
"No…you're not…" Miles recoiled, his whole body feeling cold and empty once more.
All the fur on the hedgehog's body was jet black, minus a small white patch on his chest which contrasted with the rest of his body, and some stripes of red on his arms, legs, and spikes which—unlike Sonic's—bent awkwardly upwards. His large eyes were crimson red, making him appear almost menacing. Around his wrists were gold black and red bracelets, which served as the bridge between his arm and gloved hand. Covering his feet were very strange looking white and red boots. On his pale light-skinned face, his mouth held a devilish grin.
"Do I look like your boyfriend?" the hedgehog asked in a deep, baritone voice.
"Uh…" Miles almost took another step back. The question hit home exactly. "I…how'd you…yeah, my late boyfriend. But he died…"Miles looked down, as if just saying it out loud made it seem any truer than keeping it bottled up. Looking back up at the hedgehog, he really began to notice how startlingly similar he looked to Sonic. In fact, had his appearance been altered slightly, he might have still believed he was his late lover. No wonder he had confused him for the other hedgehog a minute ago.
"I can't believe it!" Miles exclaimed, staring dumbfounded at the black hedgehog. "You could be his twin! Your face…your build…only your fur and spikes are different…"
The crimson-eyed furry took a step closer to him, his devilish grin growing wider. "My name is Shadow. I don't look like a ghost, do I?"
Before Miles could do anything, Shadow grabbed onto his hand and placed it on the soft white patch of fur surrounded by blackness on his well-muscled chest. "See? Feel; I'm warm."
Miles pulled his hand away like Shadow's fur was burning steel. "I'm Miles," he said. "You're…really not Sonic…" He stated the obvious, as if finally accepting it.
"I told you, I'm Shadow." the attractive male said in a way comparable to how adults speak to young children, almost seeming to laugh at how naïve Miles was.
Miles put his hand to his head, rubbing it through his scalp fur once again, trying to take in the whole event. It was like someone was playing a real sick joke on him. Not only was Sonic not here, but the furry that was looked a hell of a lot like him.
"I'm sorry…I…I was confused…" Miles said, turning and beginning to walk away, his heart wrenching with disappointment.
"Where are you going?" Shadow asked.
Miles stopped, not even really noticing that he was leaving. He turned back to Shadow. "I'm looking for Sonic. Have you seen him?"
"Didn't you say he died?"
Miles looked down to the floor; he knew the hedgehog was going to think he was crazy. "Oh yeah…three years ago…" he said. "But I got a letter from him! He said…he said he was waiting in our 'special place'…"
"And that's here?" Shadow actually sounded really concerned on the matter. "Sorry, but I haven't seen him. Is this your only 'special place'?"Miles looked up, contemplating where else it might be…
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Through the eyes of a shaky black and white camera, Miles looks up to see Sonic's figure leaning on a cupboard a few feet away. The lighting makes the hedgehog to look almost like a shadow of himself. Sonic looks into the lense. Though it's hard to tell through the darkness, he is smiling. He turns around and looks out the window, where a wonderful view of a lake from very high up is seen.
Static.
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"Well, there's the hotel too, I guess…" Miles said, surprised he hadn't even thought of the idea yet. "The one on the other end of the lake. I wonder if it's still there…"
"The Lakeview Hotel? Yeah. It's still there." Shadow grinned. "So that was your 'special place' huh? I'll bet it was…"
Offended, Miles glared and turned to continue walking away. "Yeah right."
Shadow's heart panged with regret at the nasty comment, though Miles did not know it. He realized he had seriously pissed the fox off and ran up to his side. "Don't get mad! It was just a joke! And it's not that way." the hedgehog pointed in the opposite direction; North West. "It's this way."
"Thanks." Miles said as he did an 180º turn and started walking where Shadow pointed. After only walking a few feet, he noticed the hedgehog was following right behind him. "You're coming with me?"
"You where just going to leave me?" Shadow sounded equally offended.
"No, but—"
"With all these monsters around here?"
"No I just—""I'm all alone here..." Shadow said, his tone changing to very depressed. He leaned on the railing sadly, his back facing the lake. "Everyone else is gone…I need some company anyway. I'm so lonely…" he trailed off. After a pause, he got off the railing—standing up straight—and began to move closer to Miles. "I look like Sonic, don't I?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let me help you out. You'll need company if you plan to find him and get out of here."
Miles continued walking. "Don't be ridiculous. I was fine on my own."
The hedgehog followed right behind him. "So can I come with you?"
"Yeah, okay." Miles said coldly. He felt the hedgehog grab his hand, and he quickly yanked it away, looking annoyed. "What are you doing?"
"You'll protect me, right?"
Considering how dark and masculine this hedgehog appeared, he sure seemed rather feminine. Maybe feminine wasn't the right word for it though – after all, it was a very scary place to be alone in. Miles knew that all too well. "Um…sure. Whatever."
"You won't run too far ahead?"
"I won't."
Shadow smiled, a rather sincere smile this time. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Things just seemed to get weirder and weirder. With that in mind, Miles continued to walk out of the park, Shadow following close behind. Together, they disappeared into the fog once more.