Alright! I am, at least, seeming to be able to write these in a relatively timely manner. Glad for that. Haha.
Many, many thanks to those who've reviewed on the last few chapters! ^^ I was quite glad to hear from you!
And now for a little glimpse into somewhere that I've heard several people say they wanted to read a bit of...
Chapter Seven: My Mind
"I usually just bleed it out."
...
"...It's not like it's suicidal..."
...
"It's just blood..."
...
"I lied, Rouge."
...
"I tried to kill myself."
Why, Knuckles...? Why?
His voice was still ringing in my head. Like it was only yesterday... Oh, but I knew it was so much longer than that... So, so much longer...
No... yesterday was... I shivered. It was nothing but a nightmare... That was all the whole thing was. A horrible, horrible nightmare. Unreal. And when I woke up, it would all disappear. It'll be years ago again... There'll be a second chance... God, wake me up... Please... please...
From every corner of the room, I could see their eyes... Cold... Hidden in shadows... So alive... But so dead... Why?
I couldn't tell any of the others. I could hardly speak. What would I say? The others were blind... Blind to the eyes... Deaf to his voice... Numb to this feeling...
Where are you?
"I don't think I'm going insane. I know that I'm already there."
Then that makes two of us... Come back...
"I'm going to find help."
I could help... Why couldn't you give me the chance? I want the chance...
I hugged the Chaos Emerald close to me. He'd given it to me. I couldn't let it go... But I don't know what he thought it could do... Help me in some way... No... Chaos, even, could do nothing for me, I knew... I didn't need anything... How could I have thought for all that time...? I thought I had loved jewels... I hadn't even known what love was... I don't need anything... Nothing but you, Knuckles... I made the mistake of never telling you before... I learned my lesson... Wake me up, God... Let me try again...
I closed my eyes tightly, clutching the emerald to me... Let my try... Please... I'll give anything...
...
Complete silence... No talking... No breathing... Just... nothing...
Who was I kidding, anyhow? I had so much more than a second chance... So many chances... I let him go... I wasn't strong enough... I couldn't stop him...
What was it that you needed, Knuckles? Belonging? You belong here... With me... With the others... With all of us...
"Sonic and Tails are going downtown to help out the police in their search. I'm going to help. Are you going to be okay here until Vanilla and Cream get back from the grocery store, Rouge?"
I nodded in the direction of Amy's voice, forcing a smile. The tears had stopped forever ago, it seemed. I wished they would come back. It wasn't that I wished to cry... But tears seemed to help things. They took out some of the pressure of life, some of the pain... When the tears stop coming... That's when the real pain starts... When there's no outlet...
When there's no "Try Again"...
When there's no knowing where he is...
When there's a chance he'll never come back...
Is there any happiness left in this world? Where is it? Who's taken it all?
The pink hedgehog didn't return my smile but just nodded, and I heard the door close behind her.
Their eyes pressed upon me from all corners of the house as soon as the door clicked shut. Worse than before. Those tiny, poor, white, lifeless eyes... Another shiver slid up my spine, and I tried to focus on the television in front of me...
It was the same reporter who'd been on the day before... About those... deaths... "...still indefinite as to whether the cases were, indeed, murder. The doctors are still trying their best, but the only information released so far is to a peculiar type of "wound" inflicted upon all of the patients. It would seem that, while there is no other scarring on the body, all of the victims do share a lack of eardrums. Yes, every one of the victims seems to have experienced a sudden bursting of the eardrums at some point prior to death."
"I know..."
What?
I wasn't aware of how long I'd been staring at the television, until the front door opened again, and Cream and Vanilla entered.
The smaller rabbit was the first to come over to the couch. But even she wasn't smiling. Her faithful pet chao was following her slowly. All Cream said was, "Hello, Miss Rouge..."
Vanilla stopped to check on me and asked, "Do you need anything, dear?" There was exhaustion in her voice, though.
It wasn't all in my head. My mind wasn't the only place where pain and sadness reigned, then...
I shook my head at the older rabbit, and she walked away, straight to the kitchen.
It didn't feel right. Cream was sitting on the couch, silently. Sadly... She stared at the television blankly. No trace of a smile. Her trademark, innocently childlike smile... I didn't like seeing her without it. It was as if I was staring at a Sonic who'd just been told he was going to be paralyzed for life... Or an Amy, who'd just found out that Sonic had died...
It was so wrong... Why? Who on Mobius could have ever done something to drain so much happiness from the world? What was it? Those sixteen people dying? Was that really enough to drain everyone?
Or maybe it wasn't the people...
An island that had morphed within a year from something so alive to something so still and dead...
Maybe... Knuckles had known all of it was coming...
But what was "it"?...
Whoever could steal the world's serenity... All the happiness...
I thought even to Doctor Eggman... No, no one had heard from him in years... But could he have been plotting something all of this time? He had always been after the Chaos Emeralds... Hoping to harness the world's Chaos... He couldn't have done anything like that. He rarely got a new strategy... And he didn't possess the Chaos emeralds...
Isn't there an explanation?
I shut my eyes again...
And prayed again for Knuckles' return... That's all I need for my happiness... Just him... please...
All around me, their tiny eyes watched without ever seeing.
Ah, so... We finally hear straight from Rouge...