The Speed of Sound

Paranoia

        Tired (e/c) eyes open to find themselves in a familiar room—Sonic and Tails' guest bedroom. With a moan of pain you lift your head up, only to have it fall back down. Everything hurts. Especially your arms and torso. You groan and weakly thrash under the bedcovers to get them off. Outside the guest room, the sound of a TV is blaring. Get up, you command yourself. Teeth gritting with effort, you lift your sore arms off your body and roll out from the bedcovers, landing ungracefully to your feet. Ow, ow, geez...ow! Wincing, you stumble to the door and out into the hallway.

        The next events pass by in a blur. You arrive into the living room and see Sonic watching "Bizarre Foods America" intensely. He looks up to greet you and begins to bombard you with questions, of course being mainly "How are you feeling?" "Can I get you anything?" "How many fingers am I holding?" Long story short, your friend is very worried and is wondering why the heck you almost killed yourself over him. Luckily, before you can answer, Tails calls from the kitchen announcing the arrival of a spicy enchilada dinner. Stomach still in knots from the many areas of pain occurring throughout your body, you have to refuse the meal. At the moment, all you want is to return home and relax in solitary.

        "Let me escort you home, (Y/n)," Sonic insists after you voice your thoughts. His smile then disappears as you shake your head. You can take care of yourself. And for now, you wish to be alone. The boys sadly wave goodbye as you leave the property, turning to their own conversation as you race out of earshot. "Do you think something is bothering her?" Sonic turns to his friend with a concerned expression. "I've noticed that (Y/n)'s been gettin' an awfully distant look lately."

        "I've noticed it too, Sonic." The fox boy narrows his eyes and presses his lips together in thought. "Possibly something is on her mind and she doesn't want to tell us?" He notices Sonic looking somewhat crestfallen and hurt at these words. "Don't worry about it. Most likely she's just got her head in the clouds."

        Many miles away you have been consumed by a sense of paranoia. The feeling has followed you since reaching about halfway toward home. At last you decide to stop running and scan the area for anything suspicious. You hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing. There is literally no sensation of anything existing, other than your own growing paranoia. It feels as if you're being pursued by some inexistent entity. With a short growl, you dash home full-speed, only stopping to spin around at the back door as these feelings persist. The shadowy forest continues to be oblivious to your emotions. No sights, sounds, smells... Now, not even the feeling of being followed. What is wrong with me? you sigh, massaging your eyes. I'm always so...paranoid.

        Ears lowered in disgust, you enter through the back door and lock it tightly. Once you turn around again, you find none other than Shadow the Hedgehog gnawing ravenously on a large strip of beef jerky. Both eyebrows rise at this unexpected sight. Okay... From the looks of it, Shadow appears to have discovered a renewed liking for the tough, strong-flavored meat that was once one of his few sources of nourishment back in his lonely cabin. Cautiously you step around the hedgehog, being careful not to get within striking distance in case you somehow disturb his meal. He doesn't seem to pay much attention, focused as he is on the beef strip. With Shadow left behind, you wander down the hallway and turn into the bedroom.

        Now is the time to relax, you tell yourself while switching on a corner lamp. The room lights up to display the lovely, expensive, (f/c) laptop that Tails had given to you. It rests on a small wooden desk, opened up but not running. With so many thoughts going through your head lately, it will be nice to have the welcomed distraction of a new game. So, you settle down into an office chair, press down the power button, and place a large set of (f/c) headphones over your ears. You intend to play games until tired, which may take a while since you had that "nap" after the Tsunami incident.

        After searching the web for about half an hour, you eventually find and download a free horror game to play, since you have none of your own. You crank up the volume and position the headphones more snuggly over your (y/a) ears. For this game, you will need utter silence and concentration if you don't wish to die within the first few minutes. When the main menu pops up on the screen, right away you press play and allow the horror to begin.

        Time passes by without you even knowing it. This game has really caught your attention; never once had you thought to check on any matters of reality. Right now you are in a dark, suspenseful position. Every creak and squeak causes your body to tense and your hand on the mouse to fly around, searching for whatever had made the noise. You hear a muffled yell, sounding far off in the distance. Instantly you think, Monster! and scan the game landscape once again. There doesn't seem to be anything around, yet you stiffen as another muffled yell occurs, a bit louder this time. Where the heck is it? It must be too dark to see anything! 

        Your game avatar approaches a suspicious-looking door. A sharp cry sounds as if it is right on the other side of the door. There you are. You narrow your eyes and hunch forward in the office chair, your attention fully on the closed door in the laptop. Slowly you creep near it, preparing to click the interaction button on the doorknob...

        "GET THAT THING OFF YOUR HEAD!"

        With a high-pitched yelp, you tear the headset off your ears and throw it to the ground, falling out of your chair in the process. Quickly you scrabble along the floor and use the laptop desk to pull yourself up, before spotting a black and red hedgehog standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

        "I was wondering why you couldn't hear the damn phone ringing," he fumes. You stare at him with a lost expression, a bit too paralyzed from your previous scare to even comprehend what he is saying. Shadow stonily glares as your mind finally wraps around one word. Phone...?

        "Wait," you mumble. "So, you didn't answer—" You stop, knowing that of course he wouldn't answer the phone. Red eyes roll at the stupidly obvious question.

        "The caller left a message. It was that snoopy green crocodile back on detective's duty." Shadow grumbles something else incoherently under his breath, and then he leaves the room. Ugh, you sigh. I don't know if I can keep up my Roselyn...Rosie...Rosemary...disguise again. Sour expression on your face, you trudge into the kitchen and click the "New messages" button on the phone stand.

        "Hey-yo Miss Rosemary (Y/a), it's Vector from the Chaotix! Just wanted to let ya know that me and the boys are headin' out your way tomorrow, so we'll drop by and ask a few more questions regarding (Y/n) the (Y/a)." There are a few quiet voices in the background, but you can clearly make out the sudden, hyperactive squeal of a little boy. "Charmy, shut up!" Vector bellows, not bothering to cover the phone's mic. "So yeah, givin' you a heads-up before we arrive...might be around lunchtime..." You groan aloud as the voice continues to ramble, a finger hovering directly over the "Delete message" button. "Hey, Espio! You think we have time to grab a bite before headin' over to the client's—"

        "Message deleted."

        You stare exasperatedly at the phone. Then you twist on your heel to return to your bedroom, acting as if nothing had even happened. In the hallway, you pass by Shadow, who is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

        "They sure are persistent. Annoyingly so," he grumbles. Your head tilts to the side, surprised that the hedgehog would willingly make conversation without having a necessary reason to.

        "I know, right?" you say. "I wish they would leave me alone.

        "Was I speaking to you?" Shadow's eyes snap open with an annoyed glower. "Hmph." He stalks into his room and slams the door shut.

        ...I hate you so much...