I must have blacked out because when I opened my eyes I was on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance. Various forms loomed around me "She's come to!" A man's muffled voice echoed through my ears.

I let out a breath and blinked a few times.

Again when I opened my eyes my surroundings changed.

I sat up in the hospital bed, my ribs ached and I had a few stitches on my arms and one on my knee. "Allie!" a familiar voice came from my left and I saw Shona, Hallie and Molly all standing from their chairs. "Agh… how long have I been out?" I asked, rubbing my eyes with bandaged palms.

Molly spoke first "Not too long- the docs put you out so they could stitch you up." Shona jumped in "What the hell happened?"

I shook my head and gave out a small laugh "I'll tell you later… It's just hard to believe." They all nodded.

"Where's-" I started but Hallie broke in "He's not doing so good…"

"How bad?"

"He's…" she stopped and looked to Shona and Molly. "He's in a coma…"

I froze up. My body tightened and became numb. My vision blurred as tears rose and slipped down my cheeks. "It's all my fault…" I whimpered.

I tossed the sheets off me and slid out of the bed, stumbling to my feet. I pulled the cords off my chest and fingers. I grabbed the stand that held my I.V. pack.

"Take me to see him…"

A nurse rushed into the room at the sound of my machines screaming, she relaxed when she saw that I was standing, and conscious.

"Please sit back down Miss." She touched my shoulder and I shrugged away from her. "No. I want to see my boyfriend."

She hesitated before nodding, silencing the machines and led the way.

The room was deathly quiet, my boyfriend's father stood and rushed over to me, his eyes where puffy and red. "Thank god you're ok… what happened?"

I looked over to my boyfriend's limp body his chest barely moving and his face was beaten and bruised. My stomach churned.

"Some guy came up and told me to give me any money I had… when I refused he brought up a pistol…" I stopped and looked like I was trying to remember when in reality I was trying to make up a cover up story. "I don't remember much after that…" I looked down to my socked feet.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?"

Yes. "No."

"Can you remember who your attacker was?"

Yes. "No. He was tall and was wearing a mask and all black."

The cop I just noticed that was standing in the room seemed to be writing this all down.

A few minutes of silence passed before I turned to the nurse "Am I allowed to go? I feel ok…"

She again hesitated and thought before answering me "We'll talk to the doctor and see about your dismal."

After about half an hour of exams and Just-in-case's I was free to leave. I was given a fresh pair of clothes my friends had brought and I grimaced the whole time I dressed. I gimped out of the front doors, my friends behind me. I turned to them "So whose taking me home?"

Shona jingled her keys.

We where about halfway home when she finally spoke "So… what the hell happened?"

"This is going to sound more than loony… but…" I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

"You know how you swear you're just imagining things and you want to keep thinking their not real until well- until they put you in an ambulance?"

She looked over to me with a raised brow and a questioning look "Yea…?"

"Well apparently Shadow the Hedgehog is real." I braced for the fit of laughter but what she did say caught me off guard.

"Shit…" She slammed her head back against her seat "Fuck."

"What?"

"Would it surprised you if I believed you?"

"Yes."

She let out a sigh "Well I do… I believe you because I had the experience of running into a certain echidna yesterday…"

The truth was out and I learned more than I thought I would.

The car was silent and we pulled into my driveway next to my car that had been brought back home for me. I got out of the car "Are you coming in?" I asked flatly. She just replied by getting out of the car as well. We walked over to the third bay garage door and I entered the code. The door rolled open and we walked inside.

I took a deep breath as I opened the door leading into the kitchen from the garage. I walked in and quickly took in my surroundings. Just Shona and I… so far.

I immediately went to the stairs and slowly walked up them, I peered down the hall- empty.

Guestroom: empty

My room: empty

Bathroom: empty

Parents room: empty

I walked into the TV room and let out a sigh when I noticed it was empty as well. I turned and let out a scream as my eyes connected to burning crimson irises.

Shona rushed upstairs just as I was thrown back against the wall.

"Take back what you said about Maria!" he yelled and gripped my collar.

I whimpered and squeezed my eyes shut.

"TAKE IT BACK!" he bellowed and dropped me to the floor.

"I TAKE IT BACK! I TAKE IT BACK!" I shielded myself with my arms.

When no punishment came I opened my eyes and peered between my arms to see him standing there, fists squeezed shut and a piercing glare. He turned and stopped at the sight of my friend, her mouth just slacked open slightly.

"What are you looking at?" Shadow spat and she moved to the side so he could walk by and back down the hall to downstairs.

Shona tried to speak "I- Wha- But- "

She shook her head "What the fuck was that?"

I just looked at her and leaned back against the wall. I was stunned. I wasn't sure why he didn't just kill me and get it over with.

"First off what did you say about Maria- you of all people should know that's taboo." She was sitting in front of me now.

"I know, I know but it was that or he was going to kill me…"

"What did you say, Allie?"

"Kill me like you did to Maria…" I mumbled, emotionless. Her eyes widened "And you thought that would save you? Allie you just put your name at the top of his hit list!"

"Well apparently he's not going to do anything other than beat me up and scare the shit out of me!" I yelled back and she was quiet. "How long has he been here?"

"Two days now."

She took out her phone and Googled a list of all the characters then copied pasted them into a draft text message. "Alright so I can get rid of Shadow and Knuckles…" she thought aloud.

"And Mephiles." I added and she looked up to me quickly her eyes wide. I stood up warily and made my way downstairs. I found shadow in the kitchen going through my fridge.

He didn't even turn around "What do you want, human?" again back to no names…

"Knuckles is here for sure, Shona saw him yesterday." I spoke flatly. Shona was next to me now "And where did you see Mephiles?" she asked.

Shadow shut the fridge, a package of hot dogs in hand and still didn't look over to us as he read the package.

"I didn't just see him." he put the dogs on the counter and walked over to my pantry. "I fought him. We were in the woods over there-" he motioned the forest a block over "and in Portland." he reached in the pantry and pulled out a bag of buns and a can of something.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my curiosity finally rising.

He held up the can and looked over to me with a blank stare.

It was a can of chili.

"If there's anything that faker will run blindly to is a chilidog." he hummed and walked back over to the counter. Shona busted up laughing and I tried to hold back my giggles. "That actually makes perfect sense." She laughed.

Within a few minutes we had about four chilidogs made up, we placed them on a plate and set them out on the back of Shona's car.

"Now, we wait." Shadow still was emotionless and pulled over a chair to watch out the dinning room window.