Haha! I'm back! Now, I know the last chapter was a tad bit rushed, I will most likely go back and re-write that… but anywho, on with the story!


The last box slid into the moving truck as Shadow wiped the sweat from his brow. They had rented big truck to pack all of Eileen's and her mom's belongings into for moving. Linda had chosen to move to a large city not very far from where they lived, after consulting with her husband over the phone. He told her that he regretted not being able to be there when they moved, but he had a mission that he had to go on the next day.

Eileen was on the big hill behind their house, looking out over the partially charred fields. Shadow frowned as he walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Shadow… I've lived here all my life… I can't bear to see it go." She told him, her eyes watering slightly. Shadow gave a simple response.

"I can relate."

Eileen finally sat down, her head in her hands, tears seeping between her fingers. Shadow sat down next to her, unsure of what to do. The only girl he had ever been next to that was crying was Amy, and that was usually out of joy because she thought she found Sonic. He awkwardly placed his arm around her, looking back to catch Linda's eyes who rushed over seeing Shadow's desperation.

"Eileen it'll be fun, just think of it as a brand new adventure! You get to explore New York; it's a huge city after all!" Linda tried to console her daughter as she wept.


After a while, Eileen calmed down, walking back into the house to get the remainder of her belongings. Shadow started to get directions to New York; seeing as how he didn't yet trust these 'cars'.

"Are you sure you can run all the way to the city Shadow?" Linda questioned the hedgehog, who gave her a thumbs-up.

"Trust me, I've ran much farther than this before!" he replied, thinking of the days he spent racing around Space colony ARK.

As he began to race off down the long winding dirt road, he couldn't help but think that this was all his fault. If he had left Eileen and her mother, Black Doom wouldn't have given them a reason to move away; and Eileen would have been much happier. The moving van pulled up next to Shadow, and Eileen waved at him, grinning to ear to ear. Shadow smiled back, slowing down to match the van's speed. He dismissed the thoughts from earlier. Eileen seemed plenty happy, despite her breakdown that morning.

They went like that for a while, riding side by side, when Eileen opened the window and yelled, "SHADOW! LOOK OUT!"

Shadow's head snapped back to the road ahead of him to see a car racing straight for him. He panicked for a second, and then to his horror, did the only thing he could think to do: he flung himself into the window of the moving van.

He straightened up, looking at Eileen, who had both of her hands over her mouth, a shocked look on her face. Shadow merely chuckled, crossing his arms. The van then hit a small bump in the road, making the hedgehog stumble and bumping a wall, causing a cascade of boxes to rain down onto him. Eileen started to giggle, then burst out laughing as Shadow pulled himself out of the pile, shaking his head.

"I hate cars."


Hm. This chapter's rather short isn't it? Ah well.

R&R!

That's a dinosaur, signing out.