Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

Crazy Carl's Warning

A/N: Hey! Guess what's back?! This story! And I have a brand new co-writer. I have been stuck on this chapter forever. Thank you OctaScratchRock for helping me out.

When Sonic ran out of breath, he found himself surrounded by trees on all sides. His foot was in excruciating pain, filling him with regret for running so much on it. Sonic found a large log to sit on before he began to think to himself. As Sonic wiped the tears from his muzzle, he felt his soft, fuzzy, warm gloves on his face, which felt sweet to him and gave him a small boost of happiness. It was as if something was petting him. However, it was nowhere near enough to seal the metaphorical crack in his heart that his experience had given him.

"Well....." Sonic muttered to himself, "I guess I don't have any more options....."

Sonic sat in silence for a few more moments before he could have sworn to himself that he heard something. Certainly, sounds were all around him, mainly bird tweets and other forest noises, but Sonic was absolutely certain that he had just heard a more, shall I say, unnatural sound. Think of a gust of wind whistling through a cracked window. Sonic stood up, carefully hopping on one foot to avoid walking on his injured foot. Sonic was immensely thankful for the incredibly strong muscles and bones that he was born with, enabling him to keep himself stable in bad situations. That's when Sonic heard it again, this time much clearer and more audible. Sonic looked in the direction where the sound had come from and curiously began to carefully hop in that direction.

That's when he saw it.

The presence of a massive hole in the ground surrounded by twisted, thorny old trees which did not match the lively look of the other trees at all caught Sonic off guard.

Sonic's expression turned from curious to terrified in a matter of seconds.

"No....NO...!" Sonic shrieked as he backed away.

It was the very place where he had been killed in his nightmare.

Sonic's brain was rushing with conflicting thoughts. Was something out to kill him? Did something want him?

"Recognize this place?" a voice called out.

Sonic covered his ears in pain. He had seen movies, and wasn't taking chances with hypnotizing messages. Completely ignoring the excruciating pain he was about to experience, he took off running on both feet, trying to locate civilization. The voices only got louder and louder no matter how fast he ran, and no matter how much blood spilled out of his poor foot.

Suddenly, the blue hedgehog ran into something tall and solid. He felt it's arms wrap around him. He didn't know what it was, and in his panic, he started to struggle, his quills rising to defend him.

"No! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Sonic! Calm down, boy. Calm down, yee Blue Devil."

At the nickname given to him, Sonic stopped struggling. There was only one person in Green Hills who called him by that name. He looked up, sighing in relief when he saw the bushy bearded face of a man.

"Carl." He shuddered, leaning against him a bit. Having someone he recognized with him helped him feel safe. Safe from... whatever it was he just saw.

"What happened to ya, son?" Carl asked him. He frowned at the sight of Sonic's bleeding foot. "Yer foot is hurt."

"I... I don't wanna talk about it." Sonic sighed.

Carl didn't push it, and instead picked the hedgehog up, holding him in his arms. "Come on. I'll take ya to my home and get you fixed up."

"... Ok."

...

Sonic cried out in pain as bactine was poured onto his poor foot. He gripped the couch's cushion, his claws piercing through his gloves and embedding into the fabric.