The Creatures Neon

Chapter 4

Sonic the Hedgehog sat in the corner of his darkened room. The air conditioning unit droned as it filtered clean air into the tidy space. There was a single window through which a lonely star could be seen hanging over the mountains, a bed with papery white sheets, a mahogany bedside table holding a lamp and a pot containing a single purple orchid, and a closet devoid of any clothing.

Sonic sat there in the dark. His eyes were open, but he was hardly awake. Time had lost it's meaning for the hedgehog. He no longer cared if he was tired or hungry, everything seemed to move past him slowly, as if trapped in glass.

Often, he looked down and felt the need to throw up as he once again saw the unnatural space where his legs had been. The doctors had offered him prosthetics, but Sonic was too bitter to take them; nothing could replace what he had lost.

He hated himself. He hated how he could no longer climb stairs, he hated how he had to be so dependent on others.

He hated how he couldn't run.

Just the thought of never being able to feel the air whistle past at super sonic speed crushed his heart. He had long since given up on the joy of living. To him, there was nothing left in the world.

And so, as the minutes and the hours ticked past, he sat, motionless in the dark.

Such was his stupor, that he didn't notice 3 LED lights flashing in the darkness on the opposite side of his room. Nor did he notice the space fill with the thickest, dankest vape cloud probably ever recorded.

From within the mist, a figure emerged. It crossed the room, squatted down in front of Sonic, and ripped a second, somehow even fatter cloud, directly into the azure hedgehogs' face.

Sonic was dragged back to consciousness by his own violent coughing. He waved a hand to clear the air, and squinted as he tried to make sense of exactly what he was seeing. The dark figure now stood a few feet away from him.

"Who's there?" he wheezed, peering into the night and the fog.

There was no answer. Sonic searched for a second more, before dropping his hand and hanging his head.

"What does it matter anyway?"

A moment more passed before the dark figure moved towards him, swirling like the mist.

"What does it matter-?" a deep, gravelly voice questioned, "Did I visit the wrong room by mistake?"

He brought the vape pen to his mouth and once more filled the room with an opaque, tropical smelling cloud. He leaned in close out of the mist, so that Sonic could clearly see him.

"Coz this sure as hell doesn't sound like the Sonic the Hedgehog I knew."

Shadow the Hedgehog scowled, looking the sad creature up and down before waving his hand experimentally where Sonic's legs had been. He let out a low whistle.

"So, it's true..." He looked back at Sonic, "About Tails too?"

Sonic could say nothing.

"Amy and Knuckles got out alright though, right? Where are they...?"

Sonic remained unresponsive. All he could do was stare.

"HELLOOOOO, SONIC. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ARE YOU THERE?" Shadow knocked on Sonic's head trying to get some reaction out of him.

"I saw you die." Sonic whispered.

"Finally." said Shadow under his breath, then louder, "No, you saw me get shot."