Cream was finally home after a long adventure with Mr. Sonic and all of her other friends, and after all that hard work stopping Eggman, she needed rest. All that running around was starting to catch up to her, and all she wanted to do was sleep . . .
But she wasn't quite there yet. She still had to enter the house and explain to her mom where she had been for the last 4 days, which, she thought, was much scarier than fighting Eggmans robots. She would seem fine at first, baking her cookies as she usually did after an adventure, but then they would talk.
Whenever they "talked" about Creams adventures, Cream would recount exactly what had happened, and her mother would panic at the first mention of violence, before eventually grounding Cream for a week, maybe longer.
Considering how frequent violence was during Creams adventures, she estimated that her mother panicked at least every 2 minutes, and considering how long these panic attacks were (usually 5 minutes) and the length of the stories, (3 or 4 hours), this meant that it would be . . . a long time before she slept.
Oddly, however, none of this happened.
Instead, when the young rabbit knocked on the door, it flew open at speeds to rival Sonic himself, and she was hit with a flurry of screaming so loud that she recoiled almost as if she had been attacked.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I SAW YOU ON THE NEWS? WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?"
"Wha-"
"YOU COULD'VE DIED, YOU COULD'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED, YOU-"
"I-"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT YOUNG LADY! IN THIS HOUSE THIS INSTANT!"
Before Cream could respond, her mother grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the house, before abruptly stopping in the middle of the living room.
Vanilla breathed heavily, forcibly calming herself. "Explain. NOW."
Vanilla looked frazzled , exhausted, and quite angry. Instead of her usual dress, she wore a wrinkled gray sweater and a pair of too-large sweatpants. Her feet were bare. Despite her appearance, Cream was certain she'd never seen anything quite as terrifying as her mother in that moment.
Cream swallowed, trying to soothe her mysteriously dry throat, and began to speak.
"Mom, it was just a adventure, like usual. Did something happen? Are you OK?"
Cream, being as innocent was she was, didn't understand that this would set her mother off further, and before she could rectify her mistake, her mother was yelling once more.
"CREAM," she shouted, looking furious, " YOU DISAPPEARED FOR 4 DAYS! DID YOU CALL? NO! DID YOU TEXT? NO! YOU CRAWLED OUT OF A WINDOW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WITHOUT EVEN A NOTE! YES, SOMETHING DID HAPPEN! MY DAUGHTER DISAPPEARED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, AND THREE DAYS LATER, I SEE HER ON THE NEWS ABOUT TO BE INCINERATED BY THE SUN ITSELF!"
Vanilla looked more than just furious now. Her eyes were bloodshot, the shadows under her eyes from the days of worry and fear more prominent than ever.
Cream swallowed again. "Mom, I'm so sorry. I just got so caught up! I swear I'll call next time!"
Vanilla shook her head. "No, that's never going to happen again. You're no longer allowed to go on adventures. Last time was dangerous enough, but this time? No."
Cream recoiled as if she was struck. "What? But what if Mr. Sonic needs my help?"
Vanilla breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down. "Sonic is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. You're still a child. Now, go to your room, before I start yelling again."
Cream looked at her feet for a moment, before slowly walking up the stairs to her room. When she got there, she closed the door be hind her and sat, her back against a wall.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated.
She took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. It was a cheap thing. It could only hold about 3 small games, if you planned to ever call or text someone with it.
She had expected it to be one of her friends, texting her to see if she was alright.
Instead, it was something else.
A text from her father.
I just saw you on TV. I'm coming over.