Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

The Voices

“How much did you run today?” Tom calmly asked while unpacking one of Sonic’s boxes. “I know yesterday you kept it to a minimum, but you seem very… jittery today. I bet you ran a lot. Don’t tell me you were racing, again!” Tom sighed.

Well, it seemed it was impossible to hide things from Tom.

Sonic sighed and removed his shoes, carefully setting them beside the bed.

“I ran,” he admittedly numbly. There was no point in hiding it because everything Tom did was to help. “500 laps around the courtyard, I ran across town and then my normal daily run.”

“I thought we agreed you would slow down,” Tom sighed as he dragged the heavy box to Sonic’s bed. The hedgehog stayed still, letting his legs dangle off the side as Tom got out the normal supplies. “First off you’re technically hiding from the government still, even if they’re being much friendlier now… You asked to stay hidden from them.” 

“I don’t trust guys in uniforms.”

“I wear a uniform.”

“Okay. I don’t trust actually intimidating guys in uniforms. You’re fine.” Sonic scoffed, leaning back on his hands as Tom got out some compression aids made specially for Sonic’s legs.

“Did you take an ice bath and drink a lot of water?”

“Yea yea, I can run and do it again-”

“No more running. I was lenient yesterday but seriously, no running tonight. Give your feet and legs a break.” Tom helped Sonic put on the compression sleeves, then laid him back in bed, pulling the blanket over him. Besides Sonic’s bed was now a jug full of water if Sonic needed it throughout the night.

“I’ll be good,” Sonic drew out slowly with a smirk. Tom didn’t seem amused.

“It sounds like you didn’t go crazy today, so we can leave the treatment here. Anything more and I'll have to tell Maddie.”

Oh… That would be bad.

“I’ll ease up on the running, promise.” Soic grumbled and nestled into bed, pulling the blanket to his nose to hide his smile as Tom turned on his nightlight.

“Get some sleep,” Tom patted Sonic’s head before standing up and walking out of the room, leaving the door open, just a crack.

Sonic nestled deeper into the blankets, pulling it over his head as he tried to block out the world. His mind was racing and he could feel his heart pounding as if he just ran across town. It was so weird and... so lonely.

Tom wouldn't let Ozzy sleep in his room until the 'rat' problem was tended to. Honestly, he would rather have Ozzy in the room, even if the dog was growling at the vent. At least then he could be sure it wasn't all in his head. Then again, maybe it would bother him. Despite being a hedgehog he didn't have the keen animal eyes they apparently have- he couldn't see why Ozzy was growling most of the time.

Sonic groaned and tried to relax, reassuring himself he was safe. If anything went wrong, he could just run away. It wasn't like anything could catch him- not even that Doctor Eggman!

As Sonic started to settle down he smiled, remembering Sam's phone nearby. If anything happened he'll surely catch it and show it to his friends. They could figure out what to do together then.

…

Hours seemingly tick by, the night stretching out. Every time he looked at the clock almost no time had passed. Then, after hearing Tom and Maddie go to bed the sounds from the vent returned.

They started after Sonic's sensitive ears heard Tom and Maddie go to their room for the night. Of course the voices would wait for them to be gone... The sounds started off soft, then grew louder until they sounded like they were right beside his ear. It was all distorted, unable to form proper sentences. He couldn't make sense of them.

He just couldn't take it! Sonic bolted out of bed, grabbing the phone and zipping to the vent as fast, but as quietly as he could. He didn't want to get caught and cause problems, not like it was that much of an issue. He just... wanted to take care of this himself. This was his home and he had a job to protect his new friends.

The voices were soft as whispers again, almost if they got startled by Sonic's sudden action. Well fine, whatever. As long as they weren't digging into his ears he could deal with whatever was going on.

Sonic kneeled in front of the vent, quickly turning on the phone and setting it to record. He made sure to point it towards the vent, though he had a feeling nothing would show up.

The voices, all scratchy and overlapping, were growing more confident now that Sonic wasn't running and started to get louder and clearer to the point Sonic could understand them.

"Come play with us."

Sonic's eyes narrowed and he moved the phone closer to the vent, refusing to allow his hands to tremble. He didn't need that showing up in the video. His friends would only laugh at him, he was sure of it.

"Who are you?" Sonic demanded firmly. He could feel his quills were on edge, spiking through his pjs. Great, that'll be annoying to pick out later.

"Sonic..." The scratchy voices called, echoing through the vent. Sonic refused to back down, though his legs were anxiously starting to bounce under him as if his very body wanted to run. How dumb, he wasn't scared! Sonic stubbornly sat down in front of the vent, one hand holding the phone up while the other tried to hold down his jittery legs.

"I asked you a question. Who, or what are you?" He continued firmly. "If you don't answer me I'm just going back to bed."

"We're your friends..."

"Friends?" Sonic tried his best not to scoff. He doubted that. Friends weren't just claimed, they were relationships built up with trust and respect. He had no trust in these voices. Sonic, annoyed, turned on the flashlight on the phone, shining it into the vent. It was empty. Clean of any dust and just empty. "Where are you? I don't trust what I can't see."

"Trapped... Trapped and locked away... The basement... We're so hungry, we've been here for so long... Please... save us."

Sonic leaned back, trying to control the shutter that shot up his spine. He shouldn't be scared of people begging to be freed. He was Sonic, he helped people! But... He could get caught if he tried now.

The house was so old the floorboards were so creaky- surely he would get caught if he tried to leave his room now. Tom was such a light sleeper, always on alert for a call from work and such. He became an even lighter sleeper after Sonic moved in, admittedly.

He couldn't go to the basement, not tonight at least. Besides, he wanted to review with his friends and make sure everything would be okay if he did this.

"I can't save you yet," Sonic sighed heavily. He needed time. "I'll get caught and yelled at. Tom isn't the boss of me, but I don't like making him unhappy. You don't want me to get in trouble with my other friends, do you?"

"Trouble... No no, cause no trouble... Trouble is awful- we don't want that..."

It was bone-chilling how the voices kept saying ‘we’, but it did sound like several kids talking at once.

"Alright, good... Wait for a bit, I'll save you when I can. I'm going to bed, and you should rest too. I'll try tomorrow." Sonic stood up, keeping the phone aimed at the vent.

"Yes... Tomorrow," they whispered before falling silent. The chill in the air seemed to be gone now...

"... Yeah," Sonic muttered, stopping the recording. He headed back to bed, crawling back under the covers and bundling himself up tightly, holding the phone tightly to his chest. This was his only proof he wasn't going crazy... Hopefully, his friends would think of what to do.