Chapter 27: Exit Wounds

(Meanwhile, in the real version of St. Jerome's Hospital...)

M-T

As soon as the ambulance came into the car park, we knew that something was wrong. But what shocked us the most was when the doctors came out with a beaten, cut and heavily injured Sonic.

We had no idea that he was attacked! If only I went back up to check on him...

My big brother didn't even deserve it. Why would someone do such a thing?! We all started panicking and asking what happened to him as they placed Sonic in the ambulance. The answer we got was enough:

"The girl from 302 saved his life and called us up. For a kid her age, that was a pretty brave thing to do."

Upon hearing that, Amy collasped to the ground, letting relief take her over whilst I bent down to help her. Even though we all knew he could handle himself in a fight, we were relieved that Sonic was still alive.

"We're coming too." Knuckles had said. "Sonic's our buddy and we want to be there when he eventually wakes up."

And so we entered the ambulance and it drove off. Now here we were, standing in the hospital room of the one hedgehog who changed our lives for the better. Shadow had his arms folded as he leant against a wall whilst Knuckles paced around, trying not let his slowly boiling anger at Sonic's attacker lash out. Both Amy and I sat in two separate chairs, pondering over who the saviour was.

"As soon as we find out who the girl is and thank her, we all should invite her to hang out. What do you think, Tails?" The pink hedgehog suggested, smiling sadly.

"That's a great idea, Amy." I replied, returning the gesture. "She'd probably be up for it."

Who knows? She could be one of his fans or a friend...

Just then, a thought suddenly flashed in my mind; I remembered hearing rumours involving the South Ashfield Heights apartments and a man named 'Walter Sullivan'. After hearing the news about the deaths of three victims including Elise, I couldn't help but ask myself ... Is the murderer ... Walter?

At first, I dismissed that thought as nonsense due to him being dead, but something continued to linger inside me. "This is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I think I got an idea on who attacked Sonic."

Hearing this, my three friends immediately looked in my direction with interest. "That's Great," Knuckles said, grinning at me. "Tell us!"

"Okay, well, you remember hearing those rumours about Walter Sullivan and how we all dismissed them?" I began, carefully choosing my words. The answer I got were three nods. "We can't do that anymore."

Nice going, Tails. They're gonna think you're going crazy.

"Hang on a minute," Amy murmured. "What do you mean?"

I sighed, blinking a couple of times. "I mean that potentially ... Walter's come back as a ghost and murdered Elise and the other two victims. He attacked Sonic, but the girl from Room 302 saved his life. I don't believe that the dead can haunt us, but ... That's what I think."

To be honest, I was expecting my friends to tell me that what I just said was nonsense and someone else could be the culprit. But instead, the response I got both relieved and surprised me.

"I'm with you Tails," Knuckles said. "Even though I'm not sure about the dead living among us, there could be a slight chance that you're right. We should probably find out."

One by one, the other two agreed and I rose from my seat, looking sadly at my big brother who was lying in the hospital bed, bruised and battered. "Okay. I'm gonna quickly head outside for some fresh air, you wanna come?"

"Sure," Both Knuckles and Shadow responded, walking towards the door.

"Actually I'm gonna stay here for a while." Amy replied. "You guys go ahead."

T-A

"Alright, we'll be back in a minute." Tails said, giving me a small smile. "See you later."

"Bye guys," I replied, returning the gesture as I watched the boys leave.

As soon as the door closed, I pulled myself up to my feet and walked over to Sonic's bed, never taking my eyes of him. It broke my heart into pieces, seeing him like this. He didn't deserve it, at all. Elise and the other two didn't either.

Why is this happening...?

"Sonic," I murmured, shaking my thoughts and gripping his gloved hand tightly. "I know that you just see me as a friend, but ..." I paused for a moment, squeezing my eyes shut and reopening them. "I'll always love you."

Taking a deep breath, I leaned down and gently pressed my lips to his forehead, just for a moment and letting the gesture calm me. I then pulled away, desperately trying to fight back any incoming tears. "So, keep fighting in the way you do best. And come back to us..."

I believe that you can do it...

Afterwards, I stayed there for a little longer; gazing down at the hedgehog I loved so much. I thought back to when we first met, I was looking for him since my destiny cards told me that I would meet someone who would sweep me of my feet. And he did, not physically though. Ever since then, I always remained beside Sonic, helping him, Tails, Cream and the others whenever they needed it. But deep down, I hoped that maybe one day ... Sonic would start to return my affections...

And I think he probably has...

"Excuse me? Miss Amy?"

Snapping back to reality, I whirled round to face the nurse who guided me and my friends to Sonic's room. "Yes?" I sighed, feeling slightly irritated.

"I apologise for disturbing you," She began. "But visiting hours are over. You can come back later, though."

Brilliant!

"Okay," I responded, nodding in acknowledgement. "Thanks a lot."

Hearing this, the nurse gave me a small smile and went back down to the main floor whilst I quickly checked the time; 19:45 pm. It was getting pretty late and I assumed that the party we were all missing was already in full swing.

Oh well...

Taking one last look at the love of my life, I turned round and exited the hospital room.

(Back in the Otherworld version of Ashfield Subway Station...)

A-M

To be honest, I actually thought I was dead due to how long I was unconscious for. I hoped that my friends were in good shape, even though I had a slight feeling that we were going to encounter the next couple of ghosts as we progressed, since Cynthia was the one who tried to murder us moments ago.

This is not going to end well, at all...

I slowly let my eyes flutter open and I was immediately greeted with the smiling face of the blue hedgehog who I looked up to since I was just a little kid. "Sup, mate?"

Sonic snickered with an amused smirk. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."

Pulling myself up into a sitting position, I took in my surroundings and discovered that we were in the nearest and safest place my friends could find; the toilets. "Where's Elise and the others?"

"Oh, they're just outside waiting for us." My idol answered, locking his emerald eyes with my matching ones. "You okay?"

I looked down at my chest injury to see that it was now completely bandaged, although the white fabric was stained with a dark red from underneath my torn shirt. I grimaced at the sight of the bloodstains but steeled myself together. "I've been worse. You?"

Elise must have bandaged my wound up - Cheers, girl!

My idol sighed, checking his own injury. "Eh, it's not too bad. I suppose I won't have to wait too long for it to heal, but I'll live. No worries!"

"That's good." I replied, nodding to prove my point. "As long as we're all still breathing, then nothing can take us down."

Sonic grinned once those words left my mouth. "You're definitely right there, kiddo."

Looks like we're getting along great! Although ... I hope I won't mess up...

There was a brief moment of silence before a thought suddenly came into Sonic's mind. "Hey," He began, never taking his eyes of mine. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself whilst we're here?"

At first, I was quite surprised. I mean ... We've only met a couple of hours ago and didn't get that much time to talk to each other. I was planning to wait for a while until this sort of thing occurred and I never went through it with someone other than Elise and the Herd. Maybe I should tell Sonic about my life?

And my mother's disappearance...

"Well, there's not much to say." I murmured. "I lived in Room 302 of Silver Lake Apartments my entire life and ... You already know that I'm a fan of yours and I'm a fan of Manny and the Herd so, that's the basic part."

My idol seemed very interested and urged me to continue. I understood that Sonic loved making new friends and that was pleasant, but then came the part where I had to bring in my troubled life. "But, my past wasn't really that great."

Hearing this, Sonic's smile faded with concern. "Oh, well if you don't want to talk about it then that's fine. But, we can help you out if you'd like."

"O-Okay," I stammered, giving him a small appreciative smile. "T-The only thing I'm going to say about it is that ... I ... have this condition which makes me different than everyone else and ... It's made things really tough."

As soon as I said that, I waited anxiously for a negative response. Just like with Elise all the way back in Crisis City, I was expecting Sonic to point at and tease me.

But, he didn't do anything of that...

"Man ..." My idol murmured, sympathetically. "I'm so sorry..."

I just remained in silence, letting relief overwhelm me. I was suddenly snapped back to reality by the blue hedgehog's hand settling on my shoulder, prompting me to jump out of my skin. "H-Hey...!"

"Kiddo, I feel bad about what's happened to you. But you have us now and we're not gonna leave ya! You can always be free when I'm around!" Sonic said, brightening the mood like he always does.

I giggled as he helped me up to my feet. He was right, whenever someone was with him, they would have nothing to worry about and be free at the same time.

Soon, we decided that we would have to head back out and join up with the others as they were waiting. As we exited the bathrooms, I made up my mind to wait a little later before I would tell Sonic about the reason why I was in the Otherworlds.

And, I knew that he would be in to help...