Lasting Memories

Shadow stood flat against the wall, hiding in the shadows of a row of ten-foot tall computers. He blended in with the darkness, trying to be as silent as possible, as he looked for a way to sneak out.

There were computers all along the walls of the huge room, where a large rectangular hole was in the center of which held a strange glowing green substance. There were large crane robots working with the substance.

Shadow walked low past the computers along the wall and checked for signs of anyone before dashing across the bridge over the hole. He dove behind one of the cranes on the other side of the hole and looked back across the room, but no one was there.

He walked with cautious steps toward the hallway leading out of the room. Shadow kept looking back over his shoulder as he approached a turn in the hall.

He reached the corner of the hall and continued to watch his back until "Aha!" Shadow jumped with surprise as Maria came from behind the corner and grabbed his arm. "I found you!" She giggled as Shadow turned around to her with astonishment. "You didn't see me coming did you?"

Shadow smiled and shook his head. "I thought you were behind me the whole time."

"I'm getting pretty good at this game," Maria said proudly with her hands behind her back. "I've been memorizing all the different passageways around here."

"Well now it's my turn to get you!" Shadow exclaimed as he made a step toward Maria to scare her off.

Maria ran out of the way with a cry of delight. "But I get a ten-second head start!" she exclaimed as she started fleeing down the hallway where Shadow came from.

Shadow stood and looked over at Maria with a feeling of love and friendship. He saw her blonde hair swaying back and forth along with her dainty dress and her little blue shoes tapping on the metal while she ran down the hall. He enjoyed playing hide-and-go-seek with Maria and all the other games she'd play with him. She always had a way to make them have fun together.

Ever since Maria had calmed him from his rampage on the day he was created, Shadow had been behaving more congenially and civilly. Professor Robotnik and the other scientists had accepted him afterwards and approved him as safe, so the work on Project:Shadow continued, and Shadow was welcomed into the Space Colony ARK family. The one who welcomed him most was Maria, and they had become the closest of friends.

After ten seconds and after Maria had gone, Shadow ran down the hall to chase her. He made sure not to go to his rocket speed since Maria had told him not to, and he ran back to the room he came from, since he saw her there last.

But he arrived at the room with the computers and the liquid abyss and he didn't see Maria there anywhere. Shadow peered down the other two halls leading out of the room from other walls, but didn't see her there either.

He decided to try down the hall where he thought he heard noise and hurried off that way and across the bridge until Maria darted out from behind one of the cranes. She let out a burst of giggles as she ran right where Shadow had just been and back to the same hallway.

Shadow couldn't believe that he'd been tricked again, but he couldn't get mad at Maria, with her playful expression as she looked back at him. Shadow ran back, across the bridge yet again, to chase Maria down that same hallway. He raced down the hall toward her and became closer as they approached the corner. Maria looked back another time and a look of shock was on her face when she saw how close Shadow was. She put on a burst of speed as she turned around the corner, but Shadow was too fast for her. He sped around the corner and tagged Maria on the shoulder.

Maria staggered to a stop, panting and catching her breath. Shadow came up beside her with a small grin showing his pride to wait for Maria's response.

"You're running too fast for me, Shadow," Maria faintly complained with heavy breaths.

Shadow looked down to his feet disapprovingly of himself. He had forgotten to control himself. "I'm sorry, Maria," he apologized guiltily. "It was unfair of me to do that."

Maria gazed down at Shadow looking guiltily at his feet and grabbed his hands in hers to calm him. Shadow looked back up at Maria. "It's okay, Shadow," she said gently. "I forgive you." She put her arms around him and hugged him close to her, and Shadow felt loved.

So throughout all the days aboard the Space Colony ARK, Shadow and Maria kept each other company. When there was nothing to do in that isolated station way above Earth, the two were there for each other, and they played games together and spent time together. Shadow was having the best time of his life as he grew closer and closer to Maria.

Shadow loved to read books with Maria in the evenings in her bedroom. She had a room that looked different than the rest of the metallic machine-filled rooms of the ARK—it was made into a comfortable cut little girl's bedroom. Covering the metal floor and walls, there was a bed with plush blankets and pillows, floral rugs and carpets along the ground, a shelf standing against the wall with rows of books, and pink chests filled with clothes and dolls.

It was near nigh-time on the ARK, when the sun was on the opposite side of the Earth, when Shadow went into Maria's bedroom with her to read a book.

Maria said, "We should read one of my favorite books. It's called The Tale of Peter Rabbit." She went over to her bookshelf and pulled out a thin book from the top row with eagerness to read it to Shadow.

They settled down on a pile of pillows at the foot of the bed with their backs against the bed. Shadow felt warm and snug with Maria.

Shadow looked at the cover of the book in Maria's lap. He looked intriguingly at the painting in a square of a rabbit in a blue coat standing in a garden. Shadow had never seen anything like the garden, filled with green leaves instead of metal and machines.

Maria admired the painting with him and commented, "I especially like picture books. I like looking at all of the pictures of things on Earth, but sometimes Grandfather says I should be reading longer books more often."

"Where do you get all of these books from?" Shadow asked, peering over at her shelf full of books.

"Whenever they send supplies up here from Earth, Grandfather asks for them to send books with them for me," she replied.

Maria opened up the book and flipped to the first page. She read with her gentle voice, "Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter." She turned to the next page. "They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree." Shadow listened intently to Maria reading the story with his eyes glued to the pages.

Further into the book, Maria read about how Peter had eaten from Mr. McGregor's garden and that now the man was after peter. "Peter rushed into the tool-shed, and jumped into a can," Maria said, reading about Peter running away from Mr. McGregor. "It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not had so much water in it." Shadow looked at the illustration of Peter hopping into a watering-can as Maria read.

Maria also examined the illustration and commented, "I think he could have found a better place to hide than in a watering-can, don't you Shadow?"

He nodded. "Maybe in a place where he could escape easier, or at least somewhere he'd stay dry."

Maria giggled and agreed with him. "Yeah," rabbits probably don't like getting wet. Well, if I had to hid somewhere, I'd hide behind a pumpkin or a watermelon in the garden since they can get really big. What about you, Shadow?" She tossed her blonde hair to the side and looked down at Shadow beside her.

"I'd fight that man if he got in my way," Shadow replied, representing his words with a fist. "then he'll be the one who's hiding."

"But Shadow, he wouldn't deserve that," Maria remarked. She lowered his fist so Shadow relaxed his hand from its position. "Mr. McGregor is probably just trying to protect his garden, and fighting isn't always the answer."

With his brows lowered over his eyes, Shadow re-thought his words, realizing it was an over-reaction, and corrected it by saying, "Then I'd hide under that wheelbarrow in the shed." He pointed to the picture on the page that Maria had flipped to, that showed the contents of the shed, where a wheelbarrow stood.

Maria turned back to the book and smiled. "That's a wonderful place to hide, Shadow."

Then she continued reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit and both of them thoroughly enjoyed the story. Shadow found the story appealing almost as much as Maria did.

There were many nights that Shadow and Maria spent reading together, in that room, at the foot of that bed, and on top of those soft pillows.