Singular contact (Sonadow story)

Ep. 3 - Confusion

It was almost midnight, when Rouge proclaimed the party to be over, so everyone was free to go home. Tails and Amy went home earlier than the rest, because they still live with their parents. Everyone started getting ready to leave the house, including me, but a firm grip on my wrist stopped me in my tracks as I slightly hissed and turned my head to look at the one, who dared to do such thing.
"Rouge?" I called her name as I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Her expression was unreadable, yet really scary.
"I need to talk to you," she said firmly and led me to the living room. I tried to get away from her grip and tried to protest, but to no avail. She dragged me over to the couch and then crossed her arms while standing there in front of me. I gulped, suddenly feeling really nervous about what she wanted to do to me.
"I see you have a really nice collar," she said surprisingly in calm voice, which confused me even more.
"W-What?" I subconsciously raised my hand up to touch the jingle bell on my neck. My little action made her lightly smile.
"Where did you get it?" she asked in a normal tone, I couldn't decipher anything strange about it. Then why did I feel like something is off? Because you are a liar? My mind opposed me and I tried to shake it off.
"Uh..my mom gave it to me before I moved here," I gave her the same lie as I did to Tails, but Rouge was something much different. She didn't seem to buy it easily, for her smile faded away and exchanged for a frown, while a quiet sigh escaped her lips.
"I thought, that friends are supposed to trust each other," she said in a little sad undertone and it caught me of guard. She knows something!
"Tell me... are you making fool of me now?" she asked firmly this time, the previous hint of sadness vanishing from her immediately.
"N-no! I am not, I swear!" I still tried to defend myself as I stood up and was about to leave the house, but since I was walking backwards, my back met something hard and cold. That made my fur stand up in fear, because I realized, that it was surely none other but her metallic friend. He was blocking my way out of the house, so there was now no escape.
"If you're not, then why are you nervous and even stutter?" she smirked at me while standing on her place. She got me.
"Just spill the truth, Sonic! You did not get this from your mother, did you?" the female bat snapped at me, making me slightly flinch from getting startled. I stared at her with my eyes widened, I felt like she could see through me. There was no point to lie to her anymore, so I sighed and hanging my head in shame I decided to tell her the truth.
"I found it in an abandoned house, that I and Tails went to explore," I finally confessed while staring down at the ground. A huge silence filled the room for a long minutes, which actually felt like days, before Rouge's voice cut it off.
"Was it so hard to say? Anyways, give it to me!" I looked up at her with scared expression in my eyes and again touched the collar.
"Rouge, I-"
"I said GIVE IT TO ME!" she raised her voice at me, making me even more scared now. Even though I had no idea, why she wanted it so much, I then untied it from my neck and handed it to her. She snatched it out of my hand angrily and crossed her arms again.
"Fine. Now go! And don't you dare show your face to me until you learn, that you are not supposed to touch things, that do not belong to you!" she snarled at me and I could feel the metal moving away from my back, so I turned around and with tears in my eyes I stormed out of the house in a blur.

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The next morning was pretty un-easy for me. I was whimpering and changing positions during the whole night, unable to properly fall asleep. Also, I cried. I regretted everything I have done. From even getting the idea to explore the house to lying to my friends. My mind was busy as I still kept thinking about the little incident in Rouge's house, that occured just few hours ago. I did not get it, why Rouge got so upset after noticing the jingle bell.
"Does she know the thing? Was it hers? But... why would it be in an abandoned house?" I said to myself and not being able to go to sleep, I sat up on my bed. There was surely something, that Rouge did not want to tell me. A frown formed on my face.
"So... I am not allowed to lie to her, but she can keep all the secrets from me? What.. how is this even fair?" I kept talking to myself. Honestly, I was desperate for some company, I needed to talk to someone about it. I found it hard to keep it to myself. But... there was nobody to talk to. Not about this. Rouge is the only one, who knows the truth now. And Rouge forbid me to visit her until I learn the lesson. I sighed and standing up I walked downstairs to the kitchen to at least make some tea for myself. While waiting for the kettle to boil the water enough for me to pour it to my cup, I noticed something strange here. There were three coffee beans laying on the ground, just few feet away from my feet. Curious, I approached them and picked them up, then my gaze moved up to the cupboard in confusion.
"What the-" my eyes widened, because as soon as I opened the small door, many coffee beans spilled out of the package, which was obviously wrongly put there. Shocked, I stared at the newly made mess and tried to undertstand, what in the universe was just going on here. Straight in my kitchen. I let out a sigh of frustration as I crouched down and started picking up all the beans, putting them back to the package I realized, that this distracted me from the thoughts, which haunted my mind all night. Well, now they started chasing me again. Once I was done with cleaning the mess, I made sure to put the package on the kitchen counter, far from the edge, so logically there was no way they would spill anew. In the meantime, the kettle was already done with boiling the water, so I grabbed the handle of it and poured the water to the cup, where a tea bag was resting on its bottom. Now it went slightly floating in the hot water as I put the kettle back to its place and turned around to lean my back on the edge of the kitchen counter while crossing my arms over my chest. To be honest, I truly missed the jingle bell, since I somehow found a weird sense of liking it.
"I need someone to tell about it.. hmm, would Tails understand me, if I tell him about everything?" I wondered while staring down at my feet. I felt bad for lying to him. Then I thought about other friends of mine. For example, Silver and Blaze did not know anything about it.
"No way... no, you can't drag someone else down with you!" I scolded myself.
"But I need answers..." I argued with myself, not knowing which step would be the right one.
"Ooor... maybe I could go ask Rouge directly!" this idea crossed my mind as I snapped my fingers, but then quickly shook my head.
"No, no... she does not want to see me, right? Meaning, that she won't tell me anything about the collar," I contemplated. Minutes later, I pulled the tea bag out of the cup and placed it on a small plate before taking a sip of the delicious fruit tea. I walked to my living room and sat down on a couch. Putting the cup on a table in front of me I grabbed a remote and turned the tv on, so I could forget about my worries at least for a few hours. However, that was what I just thought. The truth was different from what I imagined. The channel I switched to, showed a very familiar house being demolished, while the reporter's voice could be heard in the background.
"....so, due to lack of interest in this rather old house, the burgomaster decided to let it be demolished, as you can see on your screen now," the camera switched to a view of the female reporter with long brown hair and green eyes standing in the distance from the ruins, that remained after the old house.
"However, the burgomaster proclaimed, that he will start working on his newest project and use an advantage of getting a new free space for...."
My mind, once again, wandered around the house, the collar, upset Rouge and eyes of my fox friend, that looked at me with so trusting expression in them. I quickly switched to other channel, where there was some cartoon playing. I did not pay much attention to it as I was lost in my thoughts. Yet, my eyes were glued to the screen and when it became dark for a second, due to the scenes switching between one another, I noticed something moving in the background. Or in the reflection of it? I turned my head to look behind me, but everything seemed normal. I returned my gaze back to the tv screen, yet my breathing was not as steady as just seconds ago. Why did I feel like I was not completely alone here? That's absurd! Of course I am alone here, it's my house! But... if I am alone here, am I just imagining things? The feeling like being watched from behind never left me though. I felt insecure. In my own house. Just great! I stood up and started walking around the whole house, trying to find any clue about anyone else being in my house, but of course I found nothing! I was so deep in thoughts, that a simple door bell echoing through the house startled me and I even yelped. Placing my hand on my chest, I could feel my heart beating rapidly along with my breathing, that also quickened its pace.
"Okay, calm down... it's just one of my friends, right?" I said to myself to calm my nerves and then went to open the door.