Chapter 8: Setting Them Free
Sonic could hardly wait to see his friends. After sleeping in from staying up too long he was almost late to school- made it to his seat right as the bell rang. Then, he had to sit and wait until lunch before they were all gathered, finally!
Sonic fidgeted in his seat, pulling Sam's phone out as they all gathered around, eager to see what happened.
Their excitement was drained by the time the recording ended, their minds racing with the fact that something was caught and suddenly, ghost jokes were a lot less funny.
"That's freaky," Alan muttered as Sonic pushed the phone back to Sam. "Like, extremely creepy." His face was so pale it seemed even his freckles had lost some of their color.
"I can't believe you actually got something," Jerry whispered, his eyes wide and frozen on the table, seeming to be in deep thought.
"Sonic, you talked to them." Sam held her phone away from her body as if it was some sort of cursed item now. "I mean that's terrifying, and I'm so impressed. I would have run away!"
Sonic didn't want to admit to them he was barely able to hold still either. Every inch of him wanted to run away- to go to another world even. Facing Eggman was much better than the creepy voices.
"So, what are you going to do?" Kevin asked stiffly, his arms folded tightly across his chest. "You promised to set them free- can't you show this to Tom and Maddie?"
"They'll think I edited it here at school," Sonic almost growled. Why wouldn't they see their precious new house was so creepy? "I wanted to show them this morning, but they left for some emergency."
"Oh... That might be my fault," Sam muttered. "Our horse Sunny went into labor really early so we called Maddie to help. I guess Tom decided to tag along. I'm sorry Sonic, I didn't know you actually caught anything."
"No need to say sorry over things you can't control... But Kevin is right, I promised to set them free."
"You're all idiots," Jerry adjusted his glasses. "You can't be seriously thinking this over. The only solution is to burn the house down and run."
"I"m not burning down our new house!" Sonic groaned. "You're the smart one of us!"
"Burn. It. Down." He calmly replied. "It's the only way."
"We don't know if these spirits are bad... They asked for help, right?" Sam weakly brought up. "So why not actually help them? Maybe they're really just innocent. Come on Sonic, you're a hero!"
Well... It wasn't like he could say no now. He was supposed to be a hero, but everything about this was so creepy and unnatural.
The lunch bell rang much to Sonic's disappointment and he started to gather up the mess.
"Sonic, dude." Alan rested a hand on his back. "Do whatever you think is right, but if worse comes to worst, do what you're good at- run."
…
Later that afternoon, Sonic was in his room, thinking about what he should do about the voices he heard last night. The more he thought about it, the more his curiosity was getting to him.
Should he go down and set them free? They didn't really seem that bad, just creepy as hell. They said they were friends, and Sonic was always willing to make new ones, no matter how different they were.
At last, the blue hedgehog couldn't take his curiosity anymore and grabbed his bag, emptying it of his school supplies so that he could fill it with the tools he'll need to open the grate to the ashpit. The real challenge, however, would be sneaking past Tom and Maddie to get down to the basement. The first thing he'll have to do is get the tools needed from Tom's study.
Sonic put on his backpack once it was empty and quietly snuck out of his room. Tom's study was downstairs by the library, just two doors away from the basement. Tom and Maddie, however, were also downstairs in the dining room, which was just right across from the library. It would not be easy to sneak by them.
Sonic snuck down the stairs, taking it one step at a time. He tested each step on the wood, listening for the slightest creak before putting his full weight onto it once he realized it was a quiet step. He wasn't taking any chances. When he reached the last step, he took a sneaky peek into the dining room. Tom and Maddie were sitting at the table, as he expected, looking over some important papers that Sonic didn't really understand. They seemed too busy to be paying any attention to him, but Sonic knew better. Their hearing was better than any human he has met, and they had eyes on the back of their heads, he was sure of it.
He looked over to Tom's study. The door was open. Sonic could see the toolbox sitting there on Tom's desk, just waiting for him to sneak away a few things he needed. He took one more peek into the dining room and began to slowly sneak away towards the study room, testing each floorboard for the slightest creak. When he reached the door, he took another peek at the dining room. His adoptive parents were still busy going over bills together, they haven't noticed him yet. Sonic snuck over to the toolbox on Tom's desk and quietly pulled out a wrench, a bottle of rust remover, pliers, and a flashlight, sticking all four items quietly into his backpack. He then quietly left the room, keeping his eyes on the dining room as he snuck over to the basement door. Once he reached the hole in the wall, he knew he just got away with it, quietly opening the basement door and sneaking through before rushing down the stairs.
"Phew, that was close." He said to himself, reaching into his backpack and pulling out the flashlight. He then turned it on and made his way over to the ashpit. Each step he made towards the ashpit brought more anxiety onto his nerves, but he wasn't about to run away from what he was about to do. He wasn't a coward.
He set his backpack down on the floor by the pit and knelt down, sticking his ear up against the grate. He couldn't hear the whispers, but he was sure that they were in there. Sighing, he reached into his bag, pulled out the rust remover, pliers, and wrench, and set to work trying to unscrew the bolts keeping the grate closed.
The bolts were so rusted that he had to kick at the wrench to get it to turn. He had just gotten the first bolt out, pulling it out of the hole with the pliers, and was moving on to the next one when he heard them again.
"Sonic… Open the grate… Yes, yes, open the grate… Set us free! Set us free!"
Sonic gulped and stepped away from the grate, the chills running down his spine again. He looked down on the floor and found a long piece of metal and picked it up, kneeling back down to the grate and poking the stick through the bars, trying to feel around for these creatures.
"Who are you?" He asked them again. "What do you look like?"
"We've been locked up for so long. Set us free!"
Sonic huffed and turned back to his bag to get the rust remover, leaving the metal stick in the grate. He suddenly heard a sharp sound and turned back to the grate, his fur standing up as he witnessed the metal being pulled in. Something was definitely in there. "Hello?"
"Come down. You'll see what it's like down here."
"Wait a minute, will ya?" Sonic huffed in annoyance as he grabbed the rust remover and sprinkled some on the second bolt, then tried using the wrench to unscrew it. They continued whispering to him, but he had stopped listening, more focused on trying to get them out than paying attention to what they were saying. His fur suddenly stood up on end when he heard a different voice call out to him.
"Sonic?" It was Tom. Busted.
Sonic pulled away from the ashpit and gave a sheepish smile up to the man as he came down the stairs. "Heyyyyy Tom." The man was unamused.
"Sonic, I thought I told you to stay away from that thing." Tom frowned. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I heard something." Sonic told him.
"We discussed this already, Sonic, it's rats." Tom rolled his eyes as he came over.
"It was a voice." Sonic countered.
"Really smart rats then, come on."
"No!" Sonic insisted, standing up from the grate and stepping aside. "Just listen."
Tom sighed and knelt down to the grate, putting his ear up against it. Sonic stood by, watching him for any reaction that may detect that he was hearing what Sonic had heard. He did not notice the metal stick being pushed out, aiming for Tom's ear. It pulled back and was pushed back out with the force of wanting to harm Tom, but it missed as he pulled away, giving Sonic an unamused frown.
"Nothing." He said to the hedgehog as he stood up, dusting off his jeans. "Come on, let's go kiddo. It's time for dinner."
"But… but…" Sonic started.
"Sonic, now." By the sound of his voice, Sonic knew Tom wasn't playing around. He sighed and started to follow him to the stairs. He had only made it halfway to the stairs when a squeak from the ashpit made him stop. He looked back at it curiously, noticing that he left his backpack behind.
"I forgot my bag." He said to Tom.
"Well hurry up." Tom rolled his eyes and left through the door.
Sonic nodded and went back to the ashpit, keeping his eyes on it as he slowly reached down for his bag, putting everything back in it. He turned away to follow Tom upstairs when suddenly, he heard a very sharp, very loud CLANK against the floor. He turned back to the ashpit, noticing that the final bolt had been removed. He stared at the grate in curiosity, gasping a startled breath as it suddenly fell to the floor, sending up a small cloud of dust and creating another loud clank throughout the room.
A small breeze blew through the opening of the ashpit, disturbing the cobwebs that hung inside. Sonic gulped and took a few nervous steps towards it, setting his bag down and kneeling down to the hole. He stuck his head in and looked around, noticing a large drop that disappeared into nothingness at the bottom. He also noticed a small dish sitting on a ledge, filled with something very odd. Sonic reached a hand in and picked up a few of the small objects, accidentally knocking the tiny platter off the ledge and down the abyss. He pulled his hand back out and inspected the tiny things, coming to a quick conclusion that they were teeth. But, why would there be teeth locked up in the ashpit?
"Sonic, now!" Tom called down the basement again, startling the blue hedgehog.
Sonic quickly picked up his backpack, stuffed the teeth into the small front pocket, and ran up the steps, slamming the basement door behind him.
He didn't hear the whispers from the ashpit all laughing cruelly to each other as they ascended from the abyss.
