Okey-dokey, folks; here's the mindset for this chapter; Mental institution staff evil.
I needed a small break from the Sonic torture, for as awesome as it is, It is not the point of the story. I was starting to bury the centerpiece of the story- 'there are much worse things than death' and other such morals that apply to this tale, with a little more torture/angst than necessary. So, more or less this chapter will be based more on the philosophy than the misery. But don't worry, there WILL be torture, just not as focused as in the other chapters. I'm trying to go back to the roots of the story, where Sonic kept thinking about Amy and how he felt guilty and all that stuff. And I got a really thought-provoking comment that Sonic shouldn't be capable of thinking clearly at this moment. So, I tried to follow the advice, and somewhere in the middle and end of this chapter, you will see Sonic slowly drift into a moderate level of insanity. Enjoy.
Anyway, to all reviewers, I am FAR to lazy to respond to all of you at this moment, so, if your name is not in the following list of replies, please note that you are just as important as any of the reviewers listed, I just didn't really care. A-as much. Yeah. But thank everyone... I just... These reviews... make me so happy, I- ...great! I'm crying again! It's just so beautiful that people bother to read my stories! So beautiful indeed! I love you all! That's it, I have to vent these positive energies. ...What's something I can maul...?
Fading Hopes: Sure! Unless your site is angel island shrine! They turned me down a year ago and now I'm never setting foot there again unless I get a huge apology! And I want them to beg, too!
"But that was because all your writing sucked a year ago."
"Be quiet, Shadow! They don't know that!"
Max: Drama? Dra- ...ma? What is this 'drama' you speak of?
Crystal: yes, I was going for the whole 'scary' thing with that sentence. Thank 'Purity' by Slipknot for that, otherwise I might not have thought of it.
Isu: Hi! I haven't heard from you in a while! Good to see you! And yeah, It is sad... As a matter of fact I think that I'm making it to monotonously sad... so this chapter is a slight change of pace. Slight.
Azul: Neat! I can't wait to see your new character. Make sure to give them a unique personality. That's the most important aspect! Good luck!
Lilamyrose: Oh my! How violent! Well, here it is, so you can't hurt me.
-Day 2 (I think. This fanfic has relatively no sense of time. I'll just say it's been five days about 6000 words later. I have no idea how the days are actually passing in this story.)
Sonic stepped uneasily through the dense woods, unsure where he was going. He felt confused; muddled, he knew there was something strange about this situation but he couldn't put his finger on it as he trekked through the dense underbrush and out into a field of rolling plains.
Coming out of the forest was like stepping into cold water- it struck Sonic like lightning, and he looked around at the scenery breathlessly.
He was in a meadow. Lush and green with tall, soft grass carpeted a gentle slope, which lead to the edge of a lake. Mountains could be seen in the distance, and the forest, which seemed much more cheery from the outside, bordered the serene clearing.
Sonic stared happily up at the clouds, again haunted by the feeling that something was wrong. But what could be wrong? It was so beautiful here... he stumbled, without intention, through the meadow, taking in its beauty as he neared the shore of the lake. He stopped once his feet reached the sand, smiling as the tiny lake-waves splashed around his bare feet. He had no idea why he was so happy and why it felt so strange to be so happy. He ignored it and collapsed back into the soft grass, sighing at the bliss of it all...
"Hello, Sonic."
The blue hedgehog bolted upright, the person's voice tearing him forcefully from his state of relaxation. He looked behind him to see...
"Amy!" Sonic exclaimed, standing up and leaping for her: to embrace her. She sidestepped, and he half-stumbled through air, his target missed entirely. He barely stopped himself from falling over, and turned to face her, confused. She stared back at him, expressionless, a hand behind her back. "A-Amy?" He asked, stepping in her direction. She stepped away. He stepped closer, and this time Amy laughed cruelly and seized him in one arm, kissing him forcefully and pinning his arms to his sides. Sonic's eyes widened in shock, he tried to pull away but he felt himself grow weak in her arms. He struggled, bewildered, when Amy removed her hand from behind her back, and Sonic saw what she was holding in her other hand.
A knife. The knife. The same one he brought to the dock. The same one he had spent so much time with the three days after Amy died. All the memories came back, all the pain came back, he suddenly became the mute, half-paralyzed hedgehog all over again, and the meadow morphed itself into the dock, the lake transforming into the ocean. Amy laughed bitterly, and pushed Sonic to the ground. He lay there, helpless, not understanding what she was doing.
"A-my." He protested weakly, barely able to manage the sounds once again. Amy ignored him and sat down beside him, resting the edge of the knife against his chest. Sonic shook his head and cried strengthlessly.
"How could you?" Amy hissed bitterly. Sonic shook his head, he didn't understand. Amy glared, and lowered the knife to his stomach, in the exact place where he had stabbed himself. "How could you? After all I did for you?"
Sonic tried to get away, he didn't understand. He hurt. He stared up at her, his eyes pleading what he could not say -'Amy, please stop this'-
But she didn't stop. She slowly lifted the knife into the air, and brought it down forcefully upon his stomach-
Sonic bolted upright and tried to scream- but his voice failed him and his muscles cried out in pain as he collapsed back into the floor of the padded cell. He gasped for air as tears streamed down his cheeks. It took him a while to understand. The room was pitch black and he had no memory of where he was- when it all came back to him and Sonic was reduced to harsh, wailing sobs as he relived the last moments of the dream within his mind over and over again. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to drive the images of Amy's sneering face and the blood-encrusted knife from his head, but it did not work and Sonic was broken to pieces every time the dream replayed in his head.
What did it mean? What did any of it mean? He shuddered at the memory of Amy hissing those cruel words in his ear. The words themselves were not venomous in any way, but it was the way she said it...
Sonic shook his head and bit back tears. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Amy wouldn't hurt him. Amy would never hurt him. Never.
Sonic repeated this to himself over and over again- pretty soon it worked and the horrid images of the dream left his battered conscious. Sonic looked around into the darkness, but soon couldn't stand it and forced his gaze back to the dimly lit window. The dark was his enemy- if he stared into the nothingness for too long his fear would cycle over itself and assure him that something terrible resided in what could not be seen. Sonic again looked to the light. Exhausted, in pain and barely able to move, he half crawled, half dragged himself over to one of the barely lit corners and curled up inside it, hugging his knees to his chest, panting in exhaustion at what had now become an extreme effort.
His thoughts again began to repeat themselves over the dream, this time successfully blocking out the scenes that brought him terror.
...He realized that it was true. Amy had every right to be mad at him. She had given up her own life to save him and what had he done? He threw it away. That made him guilty. Did that mean he deserved this? Sonic wasn't sure anymore. He just knew that it hurt. The little blue hedgehog shivered in the cold. Hadn't Amy known that it would hurt? How could she have expected so much from him? He was not a god- he could be crushed and broken just like anyone else in the world. Why hadn't Amy realized that?
(Those of you who can supply an answer to Sonic's question are very wise. Respond in your reviews.)
Sonic wasn't sure. All he knew was that the dream- although true- was at the same time wrong. Amy would never hurt him. He had learned that early on. Amy had made it clear to him that love meant she wanted him to be happy, safe and healthy, not that she wanted to drag him along on dates or do anything that would make him miserable. Even after what he had done- she would forgive him. Why? Because she loved him.
Sonic scoffed briefly. Why did he bother thinking about that? He would never see Amy again. She was dead.
Sonic's head began to hurt at the complicated philosophy. He immediately abandoned the thoughts, and buried his face in his knees as tears spilled from his eyes.
Suddenly, as if to purposefully take away what little time he had to grieve, the door swung open, and Sonic was blinded by the sudden huge amount of light.
"It's time for your therapy, Sonic."
Sonic stared blankly around the room, his eyes drenched with worry and uncertainty, but for the first time in days, acknowledgement. Three doctors, instead of one, surrounded him. He shivered. This was not like Mr. Phillips' office. That was colorful, more than often it had appeared friendly, and it had been tastefully covered in furniture, and filled with books. It had been a reasonably comfortable place, Sonic realized, in contrast to this room.
It might as well have been an interrogation room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were bare concrete, and the solitary chair and table were that of which you'd find in a prison. Sonic didn't like it here. And the three people standing before him had personalities to match the room. They sat there, with clipboards, and asked him to do tasks he was barely capable of due to his hardly controllable movement, but were at the same time extremely simple and degrading.
"Please complete this puzzle, Sonic." The doctor said, placing a wooden slab on the table, which contained indentations matching the shapes of the wooden cutouts next to it. He glared. This was the fifth one he had been asked to do. It was like a puzzle made for kindergarteners. Sonic groaned and rested his head in a solitary hand. Hadn't they made him feel bad about himself as it was? His muscles ached from all this stress and he could barely lift his arm. This had gone on for hours, or so it had felt like to Sonic. He wanted to go back home, to his dark room, and sleep, while holding his picture of Amy. He wanted to go to wherever Amy had gone. He didn't know of anyone in the world who could take the pain away like she could.
Although Sonic was ashamed of it, the pain of being incapable and caged in and beaten around was starting to outweigh how much he missed Amy. Now, if Amy would only come back everything would be perfect. She would find a way to take him from this awful place. She would find a way to make him better. Wouldn't she? She would do that for him, right? She would do anything for him. She already had...
Tears began to splash from Sonic's eyes, and he completely ignored the puzzle put before him. After a while, the doctors noticed. The nearest doctor took a hold of Sonic's chin and forced him to look up, then curiously rotated Sonic's head side to side to view the tears. The doctor sighed, patted Sonic's head, (Sonic glared- he hated being treated like a dog.) and left the room. The other two doctors followed.
Sonic was confused. They left him alone? His eyes widened. They let him alone! For just a second, he smiled. He could get out! He had to! ...He looked around the room. The door he had used to come in would only lead to the white, sanitized hall of the institution. He shuddered. That was not the way out. Someone would catch him. But the door behind him, the one that the doctors had used to leave, lead to...
Sonic, with difficulty, turned around in his chair to look at the door. He practically shouted for joy, unable to believe his luck! The door was slightly ajar, and he could see into the next room... It looked like a staff lounge. It had a couch, and a shelf for books, as well as a coffee table, and... A window!
The blue hedgehog smiled. His escape! ...But how would he get over there without detection? The doctors were in the next room over, in what appeared to be a kitchen. He probably, if he tried hard enough, could get over there. He had gone across his room at the hospital. But this was different. There would be no objects that he could use for support. He wouldn't get to rest. And once he got out the window, he wouldn't get far before they caught him.
He sighed. He wasn't an idiot. (Yes he was.) Okay, so he was, could you just let me narrate? (Okay.) He knew that he would not get out that way. But he had to do something. He had to, otherwise he would rot away in this horrible white-walled cage and even if he somehow got over his losses there would be no hope at all. He shakily stood, and half-stumbled over to the door, careful not to make any noise. He struggled, and almost lost his balance half way there, but Sonic finally managed to drag himself over to the doorframe, upon which he nearly collapsed into to rest upon. He slid to the ground, unable to keep himself upright, and panted heavily, opening an eye slightly to make sure the doctors had not seen him.
No, still drinking their coffee. Sonic took a few more deep, panting breaths, pulled himself to his undependable feet, and tripped his way over to the window. There... about two more steps, and...
He barley stifled a shout of pain as a vitriolic shudder passed through him, as his knees gave out and his leg muscles cried out in anguish. He stared up at the open window through tear-blurred eyes. He had come so close! Another shudder went through him and he collapsed to the ground, unable to hold back a sob of disappointment and agony. The doctors were immediately alerted, and before Sonic had a chance to grieve, the psychiatrists immediately pressed a needle into his shoulder, (injecting a tranquilizer) and quickly put Sonic to sleep.
Who knows if it had been hours, minutes or days, but finally Sonic awoke, and he was met with something quite unexpected. He was still in his dreaded cell, but the door was open, allowing light in, and one of the doctors, who Sonic recognized from the therapy, sat before him. He glared weakly at the doctor, ignoring the bitter exhaustion that pulsed through his veins.
"Well about time you woke up. Sonic, I think we should have a little talk about your behavior back at the therapy center..."
I couldn't care less if I tried. Sonic wanted to yell, but of course, his voice... He hadn't been unconscious for long...
"Now you were noted as a good patient from your records at the hospital but, as you probably know, that was a bad thing to do."
I want to go home...
"We just want to help you, Sonic. For now, you have to stay here. There are things and people out there that can hurt you. So you have to stay in here. Remember that we're only trying to help. But, you're making that very difficult. I'm sorry to say that because of what you did, you're going to be wearing the restraints during therapy and meal times now."
If you want to help me, kill me. Sonic tried to say, but no sound came from his throat. Instead, he buried his face in his elbow and sobbed bitterly, wanting nothing more than to get out of this horrible place. He should have been able to just spin-dash through the walls, run away from here. But he couldn't
It was suffocating him. He could feel it. He had felt it, ever since he got here- a dark, ominous feeling in the back of his mind- and every second in this awful place it got worse. Sonic didn't know how long he had before it would become too grievous to bear.
"Lunch is in half an hour, Sonic. We'll send a nurse to pick you up by then."
Tails sat in his workshop, looking over his blueprints and calculations, searching for any fault that could have caused Knuckles and Amy's disappearance. He looked for hours on end, but to his distress, he found no reason that they should not be standing in plain sight at this moment. If all had gone to plan, Sonic would be safely in Amy's arms by now. But something had gone wrong. And despite Tails' enthused efforts; the error could not be found.
It was driving the young fox crazy. The worst part was that it would be his fault. His fault that now they had lost Knuckles, too. Due to some calculation he had missed, who knows where the two were, or if they were even alive! He rested his head in his hand and sobbed quietly. He couldn't bear it. Three of his friends were gone now.
Tails sudden bought of angst was rudely interrupted by a knock on the door. Surprised, he quickly wiped away his tears and walked to the door, opening it to be met with Cream, Rouge and Shadow. Rouge seemed devastated that Knuckles was missing; Tails wasn't too sure if she was mad at him or not. Cream appeared to be putting up a front of mild cheerfulness, but it could still be seen that she was taking the loss of her friends about as well as everyone else.
"I though maybe we should go visit Sonic." the black hedgehog explained. "He probably needs it... besides, we're all starting to miss him."
Cream nodded, and Cheese made a point of looking very depressed, and nodding solemnly.
Tails' eyes widened, and he smacked himself in the forehead. Of course! Poor Sonic! Why hadn't they done that yet? He, Knuckles and Shadow had got so excited about the idea of bringing Amy back, they had forgot all about visiting the poor hedgehog!
"That's a good idea! We should have done that sooner! Now I feel even worse..." The fox moped, his ears drooping sadly. Shadow shifted his weight a little.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault. I'm sure Knuckles and Amy are fine, wherever they are. They'll turn up any day now, and Sonic will be okay." Said Cream, who was fighting to be positive. Shadow nodded.
"Yes, the odds are Knuckles and Amy are okay. But, they could have been sent to any time at all. They might not show up for years, or maybe they died of old age centuries ago." Shadow shook his head. "...But at least they're alive."
The group hung their heads, and Tails sadly reached for his coat. It was winter, and the first snows would arrive soon.
"You have to eat, Sonic. Come on, it's not that bad." urged one of the doctors, trying to get Sonic to eat the cruddy mashed potatoes, which were disturbingly similar to that of a Styrofoam - esq. glob. You know, the stuph they give you at Kentucky Fried Chao. I-I mean chicken. I think... Moving on now.
Sonic glared down at the lump of- and I use this term loosely- 'food' and pulled further into his chair. It seemed pointless- if he kept this up he'd probably end up on a hospital bed with needles in his wrists- Sonic shuddered at the concept- but it was the last action of defiance he had. If he had no voice, not even the ability to make it clear he was unpleased, then surely his sanity would leave him faster than it currently was already.
Suddenly, Sonic's ears flicked to the attention of a sound by the hallway- a familiar voice...
Tails! Sonic realized. Ashamed, he let his ears droop and again shrunk into the cheap cushioning of the chair. He had forgotten all about his friends. How could he have forgotten them? Sonic shuddered. This place is terrible enough to make you forget anything Sonic decided. He froze. Did that mean he could forget Amy? Sonic prayed not.
He again heard Tails' voice from around the corner of the hallway. The hedgehog listened intently, wondering why he was here.
"Hey, We've come to visit a patient here- Sonic the Hedgehog- and-"
"That patient is not permitted to have visitors at this time." He heard a staff member say. Sonic, appalled, momentarily flattened his ears, wishing he had not heard that. Why? He gave something between a sigh and a moan, and ended it with a half-heated sob. The discussion continued.
"No- Hey, it's really important, we're his friends, and-"
"I'm sorry, sir, but that patient isn't permitted to-"
"We heard you the first time!" Sonic could hear Shadow argue. "We're not leaving until we get to see him!"
There was more arguing- Sonic could not tell what was being said due to the fact that everyone was talking over each other.
He wanted to cry out to them. He wanted to see his friends- it was one form of release from this misery.
"Let us see him!" Demanded Rouge, but that was all Sonic could hear before it once again drowned into a whole bunch of loud talking- just on the verge of becoming an all-out argument. Sonic caught sight of some security guards walking down the hall. They turned the corner, and the arguing of his friends and the doctor were silenced, momentarily.
"We'll have to ask you to leave, folks. People are trying to get their rest."
"He's a hero! He's a person! You can't do this to him! There is no reason that you can treat him like this!" Sonic heard Tails shout. The blue hedgehog sighed, and looked away. It was no use. He heard some more shouting, even though he didn't acknowledge what they were saying, he could tell that his friends were being forced to leave. Depressed, he once again fell into a similar rut as he had within the three days before the ..accident at the dock, one where he refused to think at all.
Time passed slowly for the young hedgehog, but lunch ended, therapy and dinner came and left, and once again he was left alone to the darkness. It was starting to feel routine. And he hated it.
"I can't believe those jerks wouldn't let us see him!" Growled Rouge, pacing around the wooden floor. "It's probably a living hell for the poor guy in there!" The bat yelled, throwing her arms in the air with exasperation.
"...Sonic is a hero. What reason do they have to treat him badly?" Asked Shadow, unsure of Rouge's outlook. The bat sighed, and turned to Tails, Cream and Shadow, who now stood before her.
"I've seen those places before, Shadow. They're bad places. ...people don't like it there, Shadow- well, most of them don't. And I know Sonic would never in a thousand years enjoy being locked up in that horrid place."
"They lock him up?" asked Tails, horrified. Rouge nodded.
"That's what they do to the suicidal ones. Padded cell, cliche' as it may be. I studied psychology for a year or two- then, I took a trip to an actual hospital- I realized that was definately not the career for me. I don't want to chain people up and crush them on the inside." Rouge explained. The group was silent.
"...What Sonic hates most of all- underneath water, spiders, evil and Fliara- is being in a cage." Shadow shook his head. "Poor guy."
Rouge nodded.
"He shouldn't be there- he should be here, he should be taken care of by people who care about him."
"That would be no easy task, Rouge. We'd need someone with like three degrees in psychology and the right training to get.. whatever stupid document they'd need to be allowed to take care of Sonic. Unless you can magically pull 5 years and a complete scholarship out of your pocket, I'm sorry to say Sonic isn't going to be moving from where he is anytime soon." Shadow admitted sadly.
"Wait a minute!" Announced Tails. "Amy studied about medicine... do you think she would have the requirements?"
"Well sure she would, but great deal of help that does us!" Shadow scoffed, keeping in mind that, as far as they knew, she was either dead or somewhere in the seventeenth century. Or possibly both. Tails sighed.
"Yeah, I know... " the fox admitted, sitting down on the couch.
"I'm going home. It's no use wishing we knew where- when they were. We may never know, Tails." Shadow said, heading out the door.
A few hours passed, and Then Rouge left for home, followed half an hour later by Cream, which left Tails once again alone. The kitsune sighed; wishing there was something he could do to help Sonic, or something he could do to find Knuckles and Amy. But it was far too late in the day to be reviewing blueprints and making plans. The young fox decided to sleep on it, and think of something in the morning. He had to think of something. Sonic was probably dying in there. Not physically, but, as Rouge said, simply being in that place was killing him on the inside.
Whatever there was to do, Tails would have to think of it in the morning.
Sonic's eyes flickered open sometime during the middle of the night to be met with a soft, orange glow. This was confusing. It was night, as far as he could tell, and the door should give no light at this hour. What could be illuminating the room? The light, as he saw it from the shadows it cast on the wall, flickered and wavered. Sonic's memory stirred, he had seen this form of lighting before, and the way the shadows danced. He froze.
Fire.
Sonic, as quickly as he could, struggled to turn over, and sure enough, he was met with a terrible sight.
Flames danced up and down the wall in front of him, licking around the highly flammable padding of the cell and inching slowly towards him. Black smoke billowed from the wall, which was not built for fires, and Sonic coughed even though the majority of the smoke was above him.
He stared at it, terrified, until a single thought ran through his head enough times for him to react.
Move!
Sonic struggled to get onto his hands and knees, but the restraints on his ankles and wrists were making that nearly impossible. He struggled to roll away from the ever-nearing flames, but it was no use. He could barely move as it was without the handcuffs, now he was almost entirely immobile.
The hedgehog cursed himself. What a way to die. The fastest thing alive- dying because he couldn't get away. He shook his head and stared at the flames, when a thought struck him.
Why was he trying to get away? Fire was more than capable of killing him. Was this his way out? He uncertainly let himself relax, and stared at the oncoming flames.
True, it would hurt. A lot. It would hurt more than the knife and it would hurt much more than feeling the water fill his lungs. But it was a way out. He had little time left to wonder, because as he thought this, one of the flames began to lick around his right leg.
He cried out bleakly in fear. It hurt, but not much. It would hurt more once it got through his fur. Sonic cried silently. Even if he had wanted to live, he didn't have a choice. He coughed as the smoke burned his lungs and cried out as the flames reached out for more of him.
For a few seconds, Sonic paused for a huge wave of unimaginable pain. One that never came. The fire licked around him, as if tasting him, but before it decided to sink it's flaming teeth into his hide...
The door flung open, and Sonic felt a pair of arms seize him around the waist and pull him from the room- Sonic cried out because the person was not gentle and the pressure against his heat-agitated skin was not comfortable. He was eventually lay down on the floor, in the clear air, where he coughed up what seemed to him like mountains of icky black sludge- the smoke that had managed to blanket the inside of his throat when he was in the fire. Meanwhile, many people rushed to his side and managed to put out the many tongues of flame clinging to his fur. Exhausted, he collapsed, unable to hear the panicked shouts of the people surrounding him. His consciousness left him, and he fell into a shallow, dreamless sleep. If sleep were what you would call it.
Oh no! Now a fire? Is Sonic cursed? Did the mechanics cheap out on the wiring? Is the authoress simply twisted and calloused slime who cares not about her characters and stole and idea from a friend of hers? The answer could be any or all of the above...
Okay, sorry guys, but I can NOT type another word! I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I need a shower something awful! So this chapter ends NOW! Next chapter will probably be up sooner- once I have all the filler typed up- Man I hate the filler- but otherwise I have like half of the chapter typed up already so whoop-de-yeah! (Grin) And I'm sorry, but Fear is going to be temporarily discontinued until I finish this story. Okay? Okay. Good day honored readers.