Torn Ear (CANCELLED)

Chapter 3: A Hedgehog's Roost

We've been walking for awhile. Sonic told me to keep my eyes closed, as the place was a "surprise" of some kind. I was curious at to what this surprise was going to look like. Maybe it's just a motel, or a cave of some kind. Whatever the case, it would be my new hideaway from the world. Better not be a trap as I feared.

"Here we are, you can open your eyes now!" I heard Sonic's voice. I did as I was told, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a large tree infront of us, with a long wooden staircase with smooth, redwood railings up to a large treehouse, that was being held by the tree like the nest of a bird that was made for her children. It looked like a large hut that you would see when people were still nomadic, with another small hut on the large base hut. There were windows too, with those windows having rectangular pots below the sills, containing flowers of various kinds.

"..It's.. huge." was all I could say. It was a large place, but it was also beautiful. It was.. Homey, to say the least. Maybe.. It's not a lie afterall?

"I knew you'd like it! C'mon, you haven't even seen the inside yet!" He walks up the staircase. I follow him, with one hand holding onto the smooth, redwood railing. It was sleek, this place had been kept in shape for quite a while.

As we enter, the first thing I see is a living room, with a carpet in the middle, a couch, and two chairs, cozily in place. There are bookshelves near them, filled with books of different kinds and each with unique covers, no duplicates. 

On the right side of the treehouse is the kitchen, which was fully furnished as well, with cabinets that seemed to be attached to logs in a way that it looks like they're natural to the tree itself. There's a table with about 3 chairs on each length, and with 2 chairs on the opposite ends of width. 

There's a bathroom too, which obviously had a door. As I enter it, it too is fully furnished too, and somehow has running water. As I went back to the living room, Sonic was already sitting on the couch, but I sat on one of the already furnished chairs that was near.

"Did you build this place yourself?" I ask with curiousity. He must have had some help, unless he just winged it, which would be stupid.

"Actually, I didn't." He responds. That answered the question at least, as I listen intently for explanation.

"I found this place a long time ago, back when I was a kid and before I even met Tails or Eggman for that matter. It was abandoned, but I thought it was one of the coolest places ever, so I decided to keep it in shape and renovate it a little to be my own hideaway. I'd always come here whenever I wanted to be alone or needed to, felt stressed, It was my bubble. 'Course, I never told Tails or anyone about it up until now. I didn't want anyone to find it so that it'd still be here, even when I'm gone."

"I guess you could say, it was my nest. Or atleast, a nest that a bird decided to abandon." He ends.

"Huh. I never thought that you would ever even want to be alone."

It was true, I thought he never did want to be alone. His friends are always there for him, so why need to be alone at all?

"Eh, everyone needs some alone time I guess. I learned that from Shads." He answers. I froze for a moment as he said Shads. I know that's what he calls Shadow. The name still gives me..

Fear. I didn't realize that my ear were lowered and my tail had curled around my leg a little. "Hey- you ok? Your ears- ear lowered when I mentioned Shadow." He asks.

"I'm fine. Just struck a nerve that remembered something about him a little too well." I force myself to uncurl my tail and make my ear go back up. I didn't want to show weakness. Now was not the time. I still need to be on guard.

"If you say so." He quickly goes to the kitchen, coming back with a mug of hot chocolate. I dont know how he manages these things.

"You know, there's even a bedroom here too, I never really used it though, but sometimes I did. Trust me, it's probably the coziest one you've even seen." He adds, as he sips the hot chocolate from his mug. "That part I dont wanna spoil for ya."

He points to the wooden stairs that were at the wall infront when we first came in, looking like they were literally belonging to the tree just like everything else here. I hadn't noticed them up until now. I got up and started walking up them, to see what he meant by it being the coziest bedroom I would have seen. I was curious about it, though curiousity still kills the cat as they say.

As I walk up the stairs, there were picture frames along the walls, only a few though. They appeared to be from a long time ago, from a small human girl and a hedgehog. I didn't think too much of it, probably the previous "creators" of this treehouse. But if that's true, then they are quite talented. Huh. Me giving compliments now..

Alas, I reached the bedroom. The bed was infront of me against the front wall, seemed to be a bed for two people, and above it was a round window with a cross to separate the glass. there was a rug in the middle of the room, designed to be a sakura tree. There are bookshelves in this room too, along with some shelves for things and what looked like a toy chest underneath the shelves. there was a desk in the room too, against the right side of the wall, with some paper scattered on it, and a cup that held mechanical pencils and a feather, presumably for writing. Or drawing, whichever. There were two more windows in the room too, just smaller than the main window that was above the bed, as the sun gently lit the room. I could see a bird on the main window's sill, chirping.

My eyes had been wide the whole time. It felt cozy and at home, truly. 

"Like it?" I didn't even notice that Sonic had sped upstairs.

"..Yes." Was the only word I could say in the moment.

"Glad you like it! Anyways, I better get going now, if you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Where are you going?" I ask. He better not be fetching someone to catch me..

"Tails's workshop, I want to have a chat with the others about something. Cya!" He dashes out of the room.

I roll my eyes, and sat on the bed. I was going to get a long nights sleep that I haven't been able to get for a long time now. Or, perhaps this would be the last time I sleep? Dont know..

..But maybe I can give him a chance.

But what was Sonic going to talk about with the his allies?