Chapter 3

When Sonic arrived back home, he decided to find '1001 Arabian Nights' for Miky. It took a lot of searching, but he at last found it tucked away in the corner bookshelf that occupied his attic. He pulled it out and began to flip through it as he returned downstairs. Sonic than noticed a bookmark in the back cover of the book. It was a piece of pink string with a ring tied to one end. This was the ring that he had worn throughout the whole adventure; Shara's ring. Many a time Sonic had put it on and rubbed it in hopes of making Shara appear but nothing ever happened. He was always curious as to what happened to her after he left and how she was doing.

Feeling a little sentimental, Sonic plopped down on his couch and began to read. He re-lived what he often considered to be one of his craziest adventures as he laughed at Sinbad Knuckles, fumed at Erazor Djinn, and felt sorrow for Shara's misfortunes. Sonic read on to the other stories in the book and found himself wishing he had been a part of them and experienced what the characters did. Without realizing it, Sonic passed several hours turning those pages and he didn't even notice as he began to nod off. As night time arrived, the blue hero fell into a deep sleep on his couch, the book resting on his chest.

At first it seemed that the nightmares were over and a restful night's sleep was in store for Sonic as he snored contently away for quite some time. However, it didn't last. Sonic once again suddenly found himself in that dark, black space. His heart rate instantly kicked up a notch as he turned on his heels to run. He hadn't even taken two steps before the icy cold hands gripped him again and began to pull him in the other direction. He fought as hard as he could, yelling, "Let me go! What do you want from me?! Stop, let me go!"

The chorus of whispers began again, getting louder and louder until it was like hundreds of voice were all shouting, "SonicsonicsonicSonicSONICSonicSonicSONICSONICSONIC!" They dragged him forward and soon, Suicide Lake appeared again, glowing with pale moonlight. His heart sank and skipped a beat as he dug in his heels but it was no use. They pulled him closer and closer to the lake's shore as the surface began to ripple. Once again, those horrible hands came out of the water, the moonlight glinting off of the exposed bone.

The hands reached for him as that voice rang out, "Soooooooonnnnnniiiiiccccc."

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed back as he tried to get away. It was no use as he was pushed closer and closer the water's edge. The stench of the rotting flesh clinging to the hands and arms was unbearable and heightened his fear. There was a rattling crunch as his feet now reached the pebbly gravel that made up the shore of Suicide Lake. The water was inches away and the icy, invisible hands now forced him to lean towards the water, towards those disgusting hands. "NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Soooooonnnnnniiiiiicccc." Came the voice again as the hands reached out a little more, the boney finger tips caressing his cheeks and leaving behind little trails of pond scum. He shuddered violently, holding back the urge to vomit as his stomach lurched.

"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real. It's just a dream, just a dream." He whispered to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to wake himself up. His blood was pounding in his ears, his breath was coming in quick, sharp gasps and his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

"It's very real Sonic… you know that…" His eyes snapped open and immediately drew in breath to scream but it caught in his throat so only a strangling gasp came out. Before him was the thing he had seen in the ripples the night they had tossed pebbles into the lake. It appeared to be female that was perhaps at one time, quite lovely but any beauty she had processed was rotted away. She had random patches of short, stringy green hair scattered about her head that hung down in her pale, blotchy face. Her eyes were black as coal and sunken into her face. Clinging to her thin, bony body were clothes so soaked, and tattered, they might as well not even be there. Showing through the holes was blotchy, gray, water-logged skin and in some places there was bone shining with that disgusting pond scum. She grinned, causing her whole face to shift as the skin cracked, slid around the skull, and bunched up in places, "You know this is real… That's why you fight… You're very strong…" The grin vanished in an instant as her hands grabbed the sides of his face and dug in with a piercing, vice grip, "But I'm stronger…" He was finally able to get the scream of terror to explode out as the figure sank back down into the lake and with one yank, pulled him down into the water. There was a giant splash as he hit the water, darkness descended and then there was nothing.

Miky stood outside of Sonic's house, knocking on his front door. A fall breeze blew, ruffling her hair and giving her a little chill. Miky shivered as she zipped up her jacket. She knocked again, wondering if maybe Sonic had gone for a run. Miky had decided to drop by to see if Sonic had found '1001 Arabian Nights' to lend her but now she was getting worried as she knocked for the third time. She calmed herself and dialed him on her communicator. 'Stop being so silly. He probably went out, that's all.' The phone rang and rang and rang but there was no answer. As it rang though, Miky's ears perked up as she heard a small sound, almost like a jingling. A bad feeling began to make her flesh crawl as she called Sonic again. This time she put her ear to the door and listened. Sure enough, she could faintly hear the jingle that Sonic's communicator made when it rang.

Knowing that Sonic didn't lock his door, Miky let herself in, calling out, "Sonic? Sonic are you here?" She got no reply as she went through the hallway, and entered the living room, "Sonic? Son- oh my gosh!" Sonic was laying face-down on the floor of his living room, unmoving. Miky was at once kneeling by his side shaking him gently, "Sonic! Sonic, wake up, say something!" She rolled him onto his back, trying to figuring out what to do. Sonic was horribly pale and his skin was cold and clammy. "Come on Sonic, your scaring me! Wake up!" Miky slapped him lightly in the face, not knowing what else to do and frightened for one of her best friends. Her desperate act worked though, as Sonic groaned and began to stir.

He sat up slightly and mumbled, "Ugh… Wha-What happened?"

Miky hugged him tightly, "Oh Chaos, you're ok."

"Ow… My face hurts…" Sonic rubbed his cheek where Miky slapped him, "Seriously, what happened?"

"Oh, hehheh…" Miky blushed slightly as she sheepishly admitted, "Sorry, I kind of flipped out a little when you wouldn't wake up sooo… I kinda slapped you a little."

"I wouldn't wake up?"

"No, I found you on the floor. You were pale and cold, yet you were sweating. Is something wrong?"

Sonic looked at Miky for moment, noticing the concern in her eyes, wondering what to tell her, what he could tell her, before finally saying, "I've… I've been having nightmares, really vivid, nightmares… about the lake…"

Miky eyes widened as she replied, "Oh my gosh…" Guilt washed over her face as her ears dropped, "I'm so sorry Sonic. This is my fault; if I hadn't been so dead set on proving that story wrong you wouldn't have fallen in that lake. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Sonic put an arm around Miky's shoulders, "I told you, this isn't my first time at the rodeo. These things happen."

"But THIS shouldn't have happened! I just HAD to prove that story was dumb and because of that you almost drowned and now you're having nightmares! We could have looked at that lake, turned around, and went home. Than nothing would have happened and you would be ok." Babbled Miky as her eyes started to water and she wiped them furiously with her forearm. "It's my fault, it's all my-"

"Shhh…" interrupted Sonic as he put his finger to Miky's lips. "Its fine Miky. I'M fine. I'm alive, and I'm no worse for wear."

"But your nightmares-"

"That's all they are. Just nightmares. They're not real. You can't blame yourself. You had no idea that I would fall and neither did the rest of us. The nightmares will go away, I'll get over it. Everything is fine."

Miky suddenly threw her arms around Sonic, squeezing him and burying her face in his chest as she began to cry harder, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… When I saw you go under, it felt like my heart stopped! And, and when we couldn't find you, I thought you were gonna die! You could have died!" Confused and startled, Sonic gently held her and stroked her hair to comfort her as she continued, "I tried to just shake it off like you did, but it's been the only thing on my mind! I can't get over the fact that we almost lost you… That… I almost lost you…"

Sonic lifted her face and gazed into her frightened turquoise eyes as he smiled warmly, "But you didn't lose me. I'm still here and fit as a fiddle."

"But just now you were passed out on the floor! You were pale and cold; like if you were dead! You're my best friend Sonic, I'd be lost without you!" She buried her face in his chest once more, sobbing out the tears and feelings she had been fighting the past couple of days.

"Miky look at me." Once again Sonic turned her face upward, "Am I still pale?" She shook her head, sniffling. He then hugged her close, "Am I still cold?"

"No… You're very warm…" replied Miky as her cheeks flushed a scarlet red.

Sonic felt his own cheeks redden as he cleared his throat, "See? I'm ok. There's nothing to worry about. So just put those thoughts out of your mind. It wasn't your fault, I'm still here, and everything is going to be fine."

Miky sat back on her heels, rubbing her eyes for the hundredth time, "Ok. I'm sorry I broke down like that. It just…" She smiled at the ground shyly, "You really are my best friend Sonic. I care about you a lot and I just wouldn't know what to do without you."

"I really care about you too Miky. And I'm really glad to have a friend like you." They hugged again for what seemed like eternity before Sonic cleared his throat again and asked, "So, uh, what made you decide to drop by? Did you have a bad feeling or something?"

"Oh, no, I came over to see if you had found the book. I'm pretty eager to read it." Answered Miky as she played with her hair and looked away, her cheeks still glowing red.

"Yeah the book. I was reading it last night…" Sonic glanced around and spotted the book on the floor by the couch, "Ah, there it is. Here ya go." He handed the book to Miky. She took it awkwardly with a quiet thank you as Sonic led her to the door.

As she stood in the doorway Miky began, "Thanks again for letting me borrow this. And I hope your nightmares get-" Without warning, Sonic grabbed Miky and kissed her, catching her completely off guard and causing her to drop '1001 Arabian Nights'. The kiss was full of passion, and an edge of ferocity. Miky yanked herself away, trying to catch her breath as she quickly stooped to pick up the book. Sonic stood where he was, in a stunned, horrified silence, a hand on his mouth.

He reached his other hand towards Miky stammering, "I-I-I'm so sorry! I d-don't know what c-came over me!"

"No, its fine, its ok, I'm just-just gonna leave now. Thanks for the book." Retorted Miky as she shied away from his touch and ran off as fast as she could go. Several minutes after she was out of sight, Sonic stood there, one hand on his mouth and the other hand reaching out into open air, trying to comprehend what had happened.

At last the shock wore off and he went back inside, still trying to grasp what had prompted him to do such a thing. Did he like Miky? Of course. She was a close and valued friend. Did he like her in that way? That was a harder question for him to answer. There were so many things he loved ABOUT Miky, but did he have romantic feelings for her overall? This was something Sonic had been thinking about for quite some time. There were times when they were together he got the butterflies in his stomach and his heart would flutter when their hands touched but did those really mean he was in love? Were those tiny, simple things worth taking a chance and complicating their friendship?

"I guess none of that matters now though…" mumbled Sonic to himself. He flinched at the image of Miky moving away and running off to get away from the situation, from him. That impulsive kiss had definitely thrown a wrench in their friendship, Sonic already knew from the confused and frightened way Miky had looked at him after she pulled away. "But why?" he asked no one in particular, "Why? I would never do something like this! So why did I do it?!" The confused hero got no response but the sound of what he thought was the whispering of the wind outside.

It had been a long week since the awkward kiss between Sonic and Miky. He hadn't seen her since then and was beginning to worry he had ruined their friendship forever. The only upside was that his nightmares had stopped. He no longer dreamed of being dragged by those invisible cold hands into the lake; in fact, he didn't really dream at all. This was fine with Sonic though, he much rather have a quiet night's sleep than one plagued by frightening things. While he would have felt a little silly confiding in Tails and Knuckles about his dreams, he was able to tell the two about what had happened with Miky.

"You kissed her?!" exclaimed Tails in disbelief, "Like actually kissed her?"

"Yes Tails, how many times do I have to say it? I kissed her." Confirmed Sonic as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Just out of nowhere, I grabbed her and kissed her… I don't even know why! It happened so fast."

The young fox shrugged, "Well why does a person kiss another person? Cause they like them. You like Miky right?"

"Well yes but I don't know if I like her like that… But the weird thing is that I felt like it wasn't ME who kissed her. It was just so impulsive, like I was forcing myself on her. She looked scared, and the whole thing felt wrong…"

Knuckles now spoke up, "Sonic, you do realize that you ARE impulsive right? When something needs thinking through, you're not exactly the first person to kick off the brainstorming session."

"Maybe so… but I still can't shake the feeling that it wasn't really me." replied Sonic, as he stared off into space.

Tails tipped his head in thought, "Knuckles has a point though Sonic; you ARE kind of impulsive. I think both you and Miky are overreacting. You've been on the fence about Miky for ages and its plain to see there's something else between you two. I'm no love expert but I think you two need to sit down and lay all the cards on the table."

"The kid is right, both of you are handling this like two immature teenagers. You have to sit down and talk about it like adults. If you ask me, this is long overdue." Said Knuckles as he folded his arms and scoffed in slight annoyance, "Obviously, judging by what Miky was saying regarding how she feels about the lake incident, she has some pretty strong feelings for you and doesn't even realize it. She's a great person and all but that girl is clueless on so many levels about so many things."

Sonic looked up from the square of floor he had been staring at, "Yeah, but she's not THAT clueless. If Miky felt something for me other than friendship she would know it."

"Say what you want, I'm just calling it like I see it. Whether she realizes it or not, she feels something for you and we all know you feel something for her. You need to stop beating around the bush and talk about it like adults. No other way to put it."

'How am I supposed to talk to her about it if I don't even see her? I swear she's avoiding me…' thought Sonic as his gaze fell back to the floor, 'Sure I'm impulsive, but I have self-control.' He sighed and shook his head, 'This is NOT how I pictured this happening…' The cerulean hedgehog stood as he said aloud, "Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm just going to head home and think it about it some more. If I'm going to talk to her, I gotta know what to say right? See ya later." Sonic turned to leave but as he reached the doorway of the living room, his ears shot up and his legs stopped in mid-stride.

"sonic…..he…. sonic…." came the low whispering from behind him.

"Did you guys say something?" the hero asked as he turned around. Knuckles and Tails exchanged a look, shaking their heads and shrugging. Confused, Sonic resumed his exit, "Ok than. See ya." Sonic's confusion deepened for he could swear the whispering resume as he closed the door behind him.