Spooky

Chapter 18

-Scourge's POV-

By the time I pull back into the school parking lot, it's only maybe five o'clock. The place's absolutely deserted, almost eerily so, and the walk back to the dorm is equally spooky. Lots of people tend to leave over the weekends—the school isn't exactly keeping track of us, to be honest. I'm definitely not complaining, though; I've never taken well to schools (or anybody, for that matter) constantly looking over my shoulder. A yawn escapes me as I approach the dorm buildings, and I stretch a bit. I'm downright exhausted and my nose itches terribly but I know scratching it won't really do anything. Right as my hand touches the doorknob, I feel a sneeze coming on, and I whip around, faster than light itself, fast enough to give myself whiplash, just in time to sneeze directly into a bush.

"Allergies?" I hear from behind me, and I stiffen, slowly turning. "Actually, that's a dumb question. I know you don't have any allergies."

"Sonic," I growl, mood souring immediately as my ears flatten against my head. My twin stands a couple feet or so behind me, somehow wearing a letterman jacket in this heat. He leans to one side, weight on his left hip, with his hands in the pockets, eyes silently boring into mine, and my hackles rise.

To my surprise, though, my blue twin just lifts one hand and tilts his head down a bit, closing his eyes. "I'm not here to bother you, I promise." He says sincerely. Confused, I turn all the way around, stepping down from the dorm's front steps to examine him. "Honest," he continues, glancing up at me for a moment, "I just wanna ask you something."

"Oh?" Wary, I raise an eyebrow at him.

He hesitates for a moment, steeling himself, before he just simply looks me in the eyes and says, "I've heard the rumors, just like everyone else. So I'm going to just ask you, point-blank—how do you, uh, feel about Spooky?" I freeze, startled. Rumors? What rumors? Anxiety immediately spears me as a rush of unwanted thoughts flood my head; my troubles must show on my face, because he rushes to add, "I'm not trying to interrogate you, and I swear whatever you say will stay with me." His eyes search mine for a moment, focus darting from my left eye to my right eye then back to the left before he does an awkward half-shrug, finishing with, "And you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Wh—Why are you—" I stammer, confused and still shaken up. I automatically take a step back, trying to distance myself from him, even though I know there's just a door behind me. Why does he even want to know? He's never shown any interest in my friends, or in me at all, so why? "He punched you in the face. Why would you even...?"

"Yeah..." Sonic shrugs, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Kinda earned it though. I was being a dick." A long pause follows, where I stare at him flabbergasted. Was that an apology? It certainly carried the same tone as one, even if an 'I'm sorry' wasn't said. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I know we don't really...get along, Scourge." The sapphire hedgehog begins slowly, seeming to consider each word carefully. It's so very unlike him. "But despite that, you're still my brother. And I," he pauses to take a slightly-shaky breath—he seems almost as unnerved by all this as I am, "still care about you, of course." Sonic sort of trails off, like he doesn't really know how to keep going. He's never really been one for talking about feelings—neither of us are—but the sentiment is there.

"I...uh..." I glance off to the side, trying to think, but I still feel weirdly anxious. "I, I don't know," looking at my feet, I kick up a little dirt with my left foot.