Chapter 5: Friend's Comfort

Sonic couldn't focus on classes, not to the level he wanted. His mind kept drifting back to his friends' words and worry filled his chest. His teachers seemed to notice something was off. A few were gentle with their approach, while one called Sonic out in the middle of class- yelling at him... So Sonic used his speed and put a paper on his back saying he was a dumb diaper baby- and so far he hadn't noticed one bit.

The second the class was over Sonic quickly walked out, even if there was no real way to prove it was him.

Normally he would be laughing about the ordeal, but even with the small prank, it didn't bring much joy. He just couldn't get it out of his head, so he was more than eager for lunchtime.

Sonic walked to the lunchroom, grabbing his normal lunch then headed for their normal spot in the courtside courtyard. Getting some fresh air sounded pretty nice, and after being forced to sit so still in all his classes he normally spent most of his lunches running off the excess energy.

Sonic set his tray down at one of the outsides tables, smiling as one by one his friends found their way to their meeting place. Their backpacks were all tossed under the table in the pile of protection. Now, worry-free the group started to eat at their leisure, except for Sonic. He, as fast as ever finished his entire meal as if it was some sort of contest, then popped up and did a few quick laps around the perimeter of the courtyard. It used to be all grass out here, but since Sonic popped up they added some gravel because the grass was dying- and they couldn't deny a student trying to be healthy during lunch after being stuffed inside all day- especially since Sonic wasn't even trying to run his full speed at all.

As Sonic did his hundredth lap he noticed Sam was tossing grapes into Alan's mouth. Oh please~.

Sonic dashed over, and as Sam tossed another grape he jumped up, catching it in his own mouth.

"Too slow Alan! You have to be quicker," Sonic skidded to a stop a few feet away, grinning confidently. Sam laughed, plucking another grape off her tray and tossed it towards Sonic, who caught it in his mouth again.

"Yea whatever Sonic. Everything has to be fast with you," the redhead scoffed. "You ruined my streak, I was about to beat my record at that... Anyways, with all that speed, when are you going to try out for baseball?"

"Oh you know I would love to," Sonic zipped right over, sitting between Jerry and Kevin, his feet once against dangling off of the seat. Nothing was sized to what he needed!

"If you would love to, why not?" Kevin sighed, putting his math book down.

"Well, it's clear why," Jerry looked at them plainly. "Sonic would clearly feel like he's cheating because he's a one-man team and no one can really defeat him so playing with our team would make him the star player instantly, but also if he joined he'll have to go out of town for baseball games, therefore, other schools will find out we have a talking hedgehog on our team. Correct?"

"... Yes," Sonic sighed.

"Quill," Jerry said plainly as he reached over, removing a loose quill that was barely hanging onto Sonic's uniform. "Didn't you brush them out this morning?"

"Hey I did, but you know... I kinda lose a lot in the fall and running around so much loosens them."

"Oh seriously? Let me help!" Alan grinned.

"Hey, wait-" and just like that Sonic was sitting on the ground with his friends around him. They helped groom his quills, pulling out the loose ones and making a small pile on the ground for Sonic to take home.

"... Guys, I wanted to talk."

"Oh, is it about you spacing out so much during class?" Jerry dully asked. "Because I'm trying to figure out why someone as energized as you could be so slow in class."

"Watch it Jer, you saw what I did to Mr. Prolone for calling me out," Sonic teased, then tilted his head to the side as Alan, being the jerk he was, scratched behind his ears. "Hmm... But yea, that's kinda what I wanted to talk about."

"Well then, speak oh mysterious blue blur," Sam grinned as she ran her fingers through his quills, ruffling them up. Several more quills fell loose and Alan reached over, gathering them up.

"Dude you are super shedding. Also, why are they kinda soft?"

"They're soft if I want them to be until they fall off- then they're just pointy- this is beside the point!" Sonic groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"... Did something happen, Sonic?" Kevin placed a hand on his shoulder. "You look really stressed out."

"I am... I really am, something did happen. First off, we didn't even know that the house had a basement, we found it by accident- I kinda broke the window to it. Then when we went searching for it, we had to break down a wall to get to the door. Who seals up a basement like that?" Sonic groaned and fell back- leaning back against Kevin who accepted his fate as a pillow.

"If someone died in a room I would want to seal it up." Sam offered. "Maybe it was the wish of the people who moved in after him? Or the wish of his family or... something? It's not completely strange."

"I mean... okay, but it gets weirder!"

"Oh yes, the blue speeding hedgehog is speaking of somehow weirder things. Please, keep going," Alan grinned as he leaned against Kevin's side, plucking out yet another loose quill.

"Oh shush," Jerry rolled his eyes. "Keep going Sonic."

"Okay so, we all go down there after Tom broke down the wall and Maddie found the key. So it was sealed away and locked. We went down there and of course, we explored." The group nodded. They would have done the same thing. "It was so old it had a bell ringer for servants and stuff- which actually still works. But anyway, I noticed there was just this large sheet covering like, half of one wall! Oh course I wanted to know what was behind it, so I pulled it down... There was the most disturbing painting I ever saw."

"What was it?" Sam asked, gently poking Sonic's nose with one of his quills. "It couldn't have been that creepy, right? It's just a painting."

"A painting in a haunted house in a sealed off and locked basement.," Alan reminded the group.

"The painting... Had a little boy. He was being held up by trees, a cage made out of their branches. He was being held over this pit with red glowing eyes and mysterious hands reaching up to grab him... The kid looked terrified."

"Okay, so this painting wasn't by Bob Ross," Kevin tried to brush it off.

"Totally burn that painting," Alan encouraged.

"You can't burn art, it might be worth something. Plus, burning something just because you don't like it is... so dumbly wrong," Jerry scoffed.

"Anyways," Sam said firmly. "What else? I can tell there is more."

"Well, last night I admit... I had a bit of a nightmare. Everything was the same but I was stuck in that dumb cage, and I couldn't run out."

"Hey man, we all get... bad nightmares," Kevin comfortingly petted Sonic, smoothing out his quills.

"I woke up before I got dropped into the pit, but I just couldn't sleep again. Then, Ozzy started to growl. Like, really growl- rip a man's arm off growling. I never have seen him upset, ever. I ran around my entire room, checking everything. Everything was normal, but he wouldn't stop. Turns out he was growling at the air vent. When I got closer... I thought I heard voices," Sonic shook his head and closed his eyes. "You guys must think I'm going crazy."

"We told you that the house was haunted!" Alan threw his hands up in the air. "Dude that place sounds awful!"

"What did Tom and Maddie say?" Sam asked calmly.

"They both think it was just rats," Sonic sighed, opening his eyes to look up at his friends. "Tom called some exterminator to come to check it out today, but I doubt he'll find anything. I just hate thinking about it... I bet I won't even be able to prove it to them."

"You can try recording it?" Sam shrugged her shoulders. "You can borrow my phone," she pulled it from her pocket. "Just record anything creepy tonight and we'll watch it all together tomorrow."

"That's smart!" Alan grinned. Sonic took the phone, looking it over carefully before slipping it into his pocket. It was a good idea.

"Come on, I know what will cheer you up... A good ol' race." Kevin grinned.

"On it!" Alan leaped up and unbuttoned his jacket, taking it off. "We all know the rules, but gather around!" He yelled to the courtyard. "Sonic is about to race!"

That's all it took to gather a crowd. Sonic could even see students gathering by the windows, Alan's voice carried in because they were all open due to the pleasant weather.

"The rules are the same as ever! Kevin must run 5 laps while Sonic runs 500, while carrying Jerry!"

"...I hate races," Jerry muttered under his breath.

"We're raising the difficulty today though, Jerry AND all our backpacks. As normal Sonic will get 3 warm up laps to get enough speed to lift Jerry up, then the race will start!"

"Everyone stay off the track!" Sam yelled as she stood up, clapping her hands. "If anyone gets slammed into, it's not the racer's fault!"

"I hate all of you," Jerry muttered as he reached under their table, picking up their backpacks and one by one putting them on in different ways. He managed to put 2 on normally, one on backways and the others slung over each shoulder.

"Jerry is now wearing our 5 backpacks, and trust me they're not light!" Alan called to the eager crowd.

Seems he had no choice. Sonic smiled and got up, removing his jacket and tossing it to the ground. Fine, no matter what his friends tossed his way he could handle it. Jerry and Kevin stood side by side on the gravel path, looking to Sonic with a smile. Sam was holding out a notepad. Everytime Sonic ran a lap, he would have to slow down and make a tally, just to assure he wasn't cheating- course no one would ever be accused of it.

"Fine... You know I'll win despite all this," he grinned while motioning to Jerry, who was standing still and looking miserable.

"Why me?" Jerry whispered. No one listened.

"Bring it, Blue Devil," Kevin laughed.