Chapter 43: Moments in Bed

M-M

(Meanwhlie, at the safe house...)

I ... How long was I out for? The last thing I remembered was falling to the ground with severe pain surging through my chest and shoulder. Thousands of questions flooded my head and I was slowly becoming more worried about my parents and friends. Were they okay? Where were we now? ...I needed to recover and find out. Fast.

"Megan..."

Wait... Mum? Mum, is that you?!

"Please don't worry about me... Go... Go on without me..."

No, screw that! I'm not leaving you and Dad behind!

I was in the same dark abyss from before only this time, things were different. I could see two figures standing not too far away from me, one engulfed in a bright light. A dark haired woman in her early 40s wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt with darker jeans and black boots. Standing in front of her was someone who we both knew very well; a slightly younger man with the same hair colour as mine and dressed in a bloodied white long-sleeved shirt, normal jeans and work shoes. I could tell that he went through a rough ride, due to the number of bruises that were dotted on his face and neck. I recognised them both instantly ... and my heart was literally jumping with joy!

I found them!

"MUM! DAD!" I shrieked happily, sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me. My body was aching even more due to the injuries I recieved, but I was so overwhelmed with positive emotions.. I finally found my parents! And they were okay!

Although looking back on this, ...I should have known that it wasn't real...

Unfortunatley as I got closer, something terrible began to occur. At first, I didn't know why my mother was surrounded by the light, but.. it gradually came to me. She was disappearing from mine and Dad's eyes, staring at the two of us with sadness overwhelming her. My breathing became heavy with panic surging through me, as I did everything I could to stop her from fading away. W-W-Why was this happening?!

"Please go..." Mum begged tearfully. "Don't worry about me..."

"Please don't say that," My father repiled, feeling just as desperate as I was. "Tell us where you are and we'll come get you out!"

"Dad's right; we're not leaving you!" I cried, not realising that my eyes were welling up with my voice cracking. "We ... W-We love you... and we're not leaving you behind!"

As those words left my mouth, my mother had disappeared completely, influencing me to scream out desperatley for her, one last time...

"MUM!"

...

"Megan, WAKE UP!"

My eyes snapped open as I let out a panicked gasp. What I just saw ... It ... It felt so real... The only strange thing about it was the bright light engulfing my sweet and caring mum, but ... it felt so damn real. I didn't know my dad's whereabouts but judging from what occured, he was possibly nearby. Maybe.. after I recover, we'll cross paths with him. The thought calmed me down as we were really close. Dad would sometimes join me and my mum in playing Sonic's games, including Unleashed. Hopefully I might see my parents again...

I love them and the rest of my family.. They mean the world to me..

Truth be told, I had a feeling that my friends and I were no longer in the water prison. And turns out, I was right. We were sat in a room which seemed to be a bar abandoned ages ago. Ellie, Peaches and the others eyed me with concern written on their faces, even Buck and Flynn who I unfortunatley didn't get the chance to interact with a lot throughout our journey. My throat was hurting like hell, so much that I had to press my hand against it to stop the pain from getting worse.

"Hey, kid," A familar voice said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Glad to see you awake. You okay?"

Slightly wheezing in agony thanks to my injuries, I slowly turned to see Shadow looking at me with slight worry overwhelming him. Diego and Shira sat a metres close to me and were just as concerned as everyone else was. I shook my head to say no, due to the vision/nightmare I had whilst I was unconscious. Whilst I took in my surroundings, I noticed that Sonic, Elise, Tails and Manny weren't with us in the room. But when Shira told me they went to get some antibiotics, I knew they were going to be alright. "What happened ... whilst I was out?" I croaked.

Hearing this, Diego gave a small sigh. "Well.., we managed to get here quite easily but.. we haven't seen the next ghost yet."

"O-Okay, t-that's fine.." I managed to reply, trying to stop myself from wheezing in pain. "Hey," Shira murmured, with concern lacing her tone. "Would you like to talk to us about your nightmare? Maybe we could help you find out what it meant."

"S-S-Sure..." I repiled after struggling to form the right words, being careful not to give my throat more pain by speaking at a slow pace. "I.., um, I.. saw my parents ... My mum had this ... really bright light surrounding her and ... she was disappearing, although my dad wasn't.. I don't know why, but ... I think it was trying to tell me something.. That ... one of us might not make it out..."

To be honest, I was incredibly frightened that I could end up losing my parents in this mess. If I did, then ... I have no idea what I'll do. They'd want me to live life to the fullest in the time I have and I'd do it, but ... I'm not sure about how I'd cope...

Sometimes, we have to move on from events like that... I just hope that I'm going to get to my parents on time...

"I think ... it could be a sign that we're getting close to finding out where they are," The female smilodon said, giving me a small smile in an attempt to make me feel better. "But, don't worry. We won't let the man kill your family."

"Face it, kid." Shadow added, nodding. "Whatever happens, you're stuck with us."

As glad as I was to see everyone in good spirits, I couldn't help but let Sonic and the others drift into my thoughts. I knew that they'd be able to handle themselves in a fight, and that was one if the things I admired about them. Maybe.. they ran into some people.. Suddenly, as if my thoughts were heard, they opened the bar's front door and came through one by one.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Sonic called out, walking over to us followed by Tails, Elise and ... Amy? She and Knuckles are here?! "Sorry that we took long." Our two-tailed fox friend apologised, casting worried looks at me every so often.

"Don't worry about it, kid." Diego responded, giving our two-tailed friend a nod and a smile. "You guys are right on time, too."

I had a couple of guesses on what was going to happen next. Another thing you should know about me is that.. I was born premature at 25 weeks and ... I wasn't supposed to survive due to how early I came. Because of this, I sometimes get terrified when I have needles put in due to having so many before. Nowadays, I can handle them decently but.. a part of me is still scared of them.

When there's no need to be.

"Hey Megs," Elise addressed me in an affectionate manner, slightly freaking me out at first. Megs, huh? That's a new one. "I'm going to have to inject some penicillin into your wounds, so could you take off your jacket for me?"

Struggling to prevent myself from shaking, I did what my deceased friend asked me to. Upon gazing at my injuries, I had to swallow back vomit to avoid throwing up. It was ... ugh! I didn't want to say it. "Okay," She continued, preparing for what was about to occur. "Sonic and Tails are going to talk you whilst I do this, all right? This is gonna hurt."

The blue blur and young fox sat down next to me and began telling me stories about their adventures in Station Square, Spagonia, Soleanna and all of the other places they've been to. Knuckles and Amy stood a few feet away from us and the latter sent a friendly smile in my direction, which I weakly managed to return. Despite letting out a pained cry due to the injections, I ... I felt rather safe with my friends. I know it might sound weird, but ... maybe they've become family to me?

I didn't know about the family part, but they're like ... the nicest beings I ever met.

"Sorry..." Elise whispered as I gradually relaxed, calming my breathing. "All done. That's it."

"Hey, hey! You're gonna make it, kiddo," Sonic reassured me, placing a cool hand on my forehead for a brief moment.

After being injected with the medicine, I put my jacket back on and continued to rest in my makeshift bed, watching my friends interact with each other. Elise, Amy and our blue friend decided to stay and chat to me, which was perfectly fine. I didn't mind having people to talk to whilst recovering besides, it's really nice to bond with those you meet. That way, you know you have someone you can rely on and spend time with.

I think ... that's happened to us. Like Manny said once, you look out for each other...