Tales from STH Academy (A Wattpad Tale)

A Garden Lie

This is while Ali was a human. It takes place in July, during summer vacation. Also there's some swearing. Reader discretion is advised.

If there's one word for Green Hill Zone in July, it's hot. I chose today to sneak away from Sonic and read in my safe place. I bet you are thinking, Oh my goodness, is Sonic that awful that you can't be out of his sight? The short answer is no. The long answer is that even though Sonic has taken good care of me, he always forgets that I'm autistic and would be hovering in the same room as me or peering over my shoulder when I draw something. Most of the time I tune out Sonic, but sometimes I need to be away from him. He just spends a little bit too much time in my space.

Anyways, I packed a small lunch, a book and some paper and a pencil in my backpack. It was just before dawn. I peeked down the hall, relieved that neither Sonic nor Airalain was awake to stop me. I sneaked past both Sonic's and Airalain's room, my heart thudding too fast for my liking. I grabbed an apple, a peanut butter and gummy bear sandwich I made, a water bottle and I prayed that all of those times I played Spy with my brother pays off.

I sneaked outside and stopped to look at Sonic's mansion. It was gigantic, gothic and nothing like what you would expect Sonic the Hedgehog to live in. The garden was overrun and I made a note to myself to try to get that back in order since weeds have grown all over. As much as I want to lecture Sonic about the state of his garden, I had a bad feeling the blue son of a bitch would not take kindly to having some semblance of order in his home. That, and it would be back breaking labor. I grabbed my trusty flashlight from a hidden compartment under the stairs and I took off.

I didn't want Sonic to find my breather spot because then he'd just follow me there all the time (this happened to me once).

*****

I arrived twenty minutes later. The awesome part of my safe place is that the outside perimeter is covered in rose thorns. Anything or anyone wider than a five foot tall human girl who is borderline underweight is going to get cut up. I crawled through the tunnel for a couple of feet and peered out. The clearing had an apple tree over the edge, near the opening is a tiny river with a waterfall and underneath the apple tree was a bench I made myself. So I settled in and started to read. I peeked over at the waterfall and noted the cave under the overhang that the waterfall tumbled from.

*****

"Alison! Where are you!?" I hear a familiar reedy voice call five hours later. I glance up, slam my book shut and got up. Then I hear the telltale sound of a helicopter. I knew better: it was Tails, looking for me. I shoved my book into the bag and pushed my bag under the apple tree. Then I glance up to check the sky. I froze as Tails landed on the overhang. His back was towards me, so I dove into the water as fast as possible. I swam underwater, panicking at the thought of Sonic intruding another safe zone of mine. I broke the water at the cave just as I heard Tails yell, "I don't think she's here, Sonic." I groan softly since the waterfall muffled whatever noise that I made that was quieter than the waterfall.

I hear Sonic say something, but I couldn't figure out what he said. I breathed in relief... That was, until a spider crawled on me. I bit back a scream and swatted the nasty thing. I felt my skin crawl and I screamed as quietly as possible. I was covered in spiders. So I raced out of the cave and threw myself through the waterfall. I swam to the bottom and swam back to the cave. I hear Sonic ask, "Did you hear something?"

"Like a scream?" I hear Tails reply. "Yes. It seems like it came from this clearing that's protected by thorns." I froze, terrified. Shit. Tails knows. And he's probably going to squeal on me about how I got in. I thought frantically.

I trembled as something rustled nearby. I thought that each moment was just a second closer to Sonic finding out my secret. They left, and I swam out. I checked myself to find that I was covered in spider bites. "Sonic's going to be asking questions. As long as I keep it vague, he probably won't ask about the spider bites." I noted to myself. I grabbed my bag and peered one last time at the scene. "I'll be back, little haven." I promised quietly. Then I checked my phone. There was 30 missed calls and all of them were from Sonic. "Fuck. Sonic's going to be shitting kittens." There are a lot of sentences that I never thought I would ever say, but because of my being adopted by Sonic, those strange sentences become a reality. I crawled through the tunnel again, looking back at my mini Garden of Eden. Then I took off running.

*****

I managed to make it back to Sonic's mansion in fifteen minutes. I stashed my backpack in front of the tree and climbed up. I busied myself with detangling the weeds from a bush. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ALISON MAY BLACK-HEDGEHOG!?" I hear a familiar voice shout at me. Then I felt myself get pulled away from my little task with a rough, jerky movement. I find myself gazing at Sonic's blazing green eyes.

"G-gardening, F-father." I stammered, trembling. I was covered in dirt and scratches from the rose bush I was currently underneath.

Sonic glanced at my damp tank top and his eyes narrowed. "If you were gardening, why are you wet?" He asked, his voice dropping an octave. Uh oh... That can't be good. I realized. If Sonic drops his voice while he's yelling at you, that means one thing: you have one opportunity to explain yourself.

"It's sweat, sir. I've been out here all morning. How the f- uh, heck did you miss me?" I reply, thinking on my feet. I was wearing a black tank top and a pair of shorts.

Sonic paused, his jaw dropping. Then he clenched his jaw. Fuck. I'm gonna die. I thought, or get grounded. Sonic clenching his jaw is almost never a good thing. "If that's the case, then why do you smell like freshwater?" His voice was even lower than before.

"I washed some dirt that got on my face. I better go wash it again." I explained, "I misjudged and got it all over me." Sonic stared at me for a solid minute. I swore my heart would implode. Then he inhaled.

"Then why haven't you answered me?" I wasn't quite expecting that question from Sonic.

"I dunno. Must have been really invested in what I was doing." I shot back before I could weigh my words carefully. That wasn't a lie: Sonic knew this from the numerous times he sneaked up on me while I was doing homework.

"Whatever. But what happened to your legs?" Sonic spoke up.

I glance down and swore silently at myself. "Uh... Haven't noticed." I completely forgot about my spider bites.

"I knew you'd try to lie to me about your whereabouts. So, darling, I'm asking again, where have you been!?" Sonic figured out that I was lying, but I remember that spiders are everywhere and not just in the wild.

Then I thought of something on the fly. "Sonic, I accidentally walked through a spiderweb and also accidentally killed a mother spider. The baby spiders got me in retaliation." I replied. "I was here. You just didn't see me." I sigh, pretending to be annoyed with the blue bastard.

"Okay. But call it a day. I need to take care of your spider bites." Sonic replied, gesturing towards himself then his mansion.

I roll my eyes. Sonic can be a royal blue pain in the ass when he wants to be.