◤𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕪◢ - It Started With Vomit!

Chapter 1.5 | Goodbye Party

* * *

Prior to the situation that ended Amy Rose's incomplete career, a truckload's worth of coffee may or may not have been involved, which in turn induced her sudden lavatory distress.

Amy's stomach had been churning and threatening to expel its liquid contents all day long, but she had successfully evaded such embarrassment two times already and did not foresee an incoming third round so soon. Hence why she decided to steal a fifteen-minute nap before resuming the tedious task of composing documentation and specifications.

She could've sworn it was when Rouge started shaking her that caused this unfortunate happening—throwing up on a tall, lean figure obstructing her intended path towards the washroom called Shadow Hedgehog, president and CEO of SEGA Tech, a multinational conglomerate. A. K. A, Amy's boss. And all she could do was cry inwardly because slowing down wasn't an option at the speed she had been rushing; neither was opening her mouth to warn him.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," Amy said, recalling numerous people accompanying Shadow—colleagues who had watched her embarrass herself; their thunderous footsteps suspended in time and space, quietly living on within the enclosure of her mind.

"Good God... I'm fired aren't I?"

Cream placed a hand over Amy's lovingly. "We can't be sure about anything until tomorrow." A drunken smile splayed across her face. "So you can start bawling tomorrow, just not today."

"Gee, thanks."

Eying the curious sight, both disturbed and fascinated by Amy and Cream's drunken camaraderie, Rouge's half-eaten meat featured unashamedly within her ajar mouth cavity until Knuckles pushed it close. After their fall out earlier that day, they somehow managed to come to neutral terms, one way or another.

"I can still see their wide-ass gasps, Cream!"

"And hear their indiscreet mummers!"

"Their insults!"

"Albeit weak insults," Cream said, earning a skeptical look from everyone across the table, and Amy jumped out of her seat, upset.

"Their fucking degradation was uncalled-for! I genuinely wanted to apologize!"

"Gag reflexes are indiscriminate!" Cream cheered her friend on, encouraging behaviour easily considered indecent and would likely result in a public disturbance charge. "Gag reflexes are indiscriminate! Gag reflexes are indiscriminate!"

It was true—Amy had tried apologizing but gagged instead, heightening the sense of anxiety that filled the heart of everyone in the room; their unnerving eyes narrowing in on her, eager to see if she would repeat her mortal mistake.

But she had given them no such satisfaction, bowing a bow of utter melancholy, unable to look Mr. Hedgehog in the eye—or speak at all—when a group of heavily equipped janitors raced to rid him of her biohazardous material.

Engrossed in removing himself from this dreadful situation, she felt encouraged to examine Shadow's vermilion orbs to see if there lay even the slightest hint of compassion behind them.

For the first time in the longest while, Amy had actually prayed to God, hoping that underneath Mr. Hedgehog's pompous demeanour would be a kind soul. A man who valued integrity, honesty, and benevolence. But as expected, there existed none. Only a pair of creased eyelids boring into his savvy features and thinned lips flattened by suppressed rage.

"I guess even situations like this are outside God's expertise," Amy sighed and drooped back in her chair.

"Of course," Blaze said, disappointed. "There is only so much deities can do for mortals who choose not to help themselves," she scolded, performing her role as the ever-so-pragmatic mother of their little group. "Whatever happened to clearing your system or something? How could you brazenly do what you did, knowing fully what it'd cost you?"