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The chilly air of autumn penetrated the air, and more importantly Sonic’s fur. Even through his cave entrance. That would not do, but he was too excited to think of a solution. From his hanging out -not spying- off the town folk, an earth tradition was just around the corner, Halloween. He has been sidelined for the past 10 years, but not this year. No way. He has already concocted a plan that would allow him to blend in. He would go… as himself. A genius plan that Sonic has thought hard on. If he tried to make a costume, then it would look suspicious. A costumed kid, wearing a costume? The town folk would see through that. Even if a part of him wanted them to see through it. He shook his head, his quills shaking with it. “Don’t think like that. You know what Longclaw said.” That sort of killed the mood, his excitement was replaced with anxiety. What if they did find out and instead of greeting him with open arms, they attacked him with pitchforks. Well, maybe not pitchforks but his point still stands.
He bit his lower lip and started pacing. “It’s fine, they won’t find out. But what if they do?” His pace increased, “Ughh. I can just run away. I’m good at running. Great, even.” He suddenly stopped. “Wha- What if they think I’m a monster. You’re not a monster. Maybe I am.” After a decade of isolation, sometimes he can’t tell if he is thinking or talking. “Just this one time. Then I can go back to the sidelines and never interact with them again.” His excitement was officially killed. He walked over and flopped down on his bean bag, but in his clouded state, he didn’t account for his quills. Sonic felt the fabric of the bean bag, have a slight resistance before his quills punctured it like a needle to a ballon.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He quickly sat up and got out of the bean bag/bed. “Look what you did. Me? It was already like that when I sat down.” Which he wasn’t wrong, the poor bag was riddled with holes. Sonic, not liking the vibes in his cave, decided a run was in order. His destination was unknown, but he knew that he would make a pitstop at Donut’s Lords house. Which naturally, was his first stop. He zipped over there, the cool air blasted against him, but he figured it was better than being alone, even if the people he was hanging out with didn’t know he was there. He stopped at the edge of the forest, his worn-out sneakers causing the fallen leaves underneath his soles to crunch. He peered from the forest line. Looking to see if there was any chance of him being spotted. When he didn’t see any, he zipped over to the window that had light shining through. He looked through and saw his favorite humans. Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady. They had their backs turned towards him, watching whatever was on the TV. Sonic didn’t know what was on, so he lost interest. “Why couldn’t they watch something good… like Speed?” He talked in a low voice. His attention was drawn away from the humans when their dog walked in. And unlike the humans, the dog was much more attentive, he started to bark, which was Sonic’s cue to leave. “I don’t like you either.” With his self-proclaimed victory over the canine, Sonic made his leave. As his feet pounded against the ground, he knew this would be the first house he will visit tomorrow. And he ignored the made-up scenarios in his head with them realizing that he was an alien and embracing him with open arms.
The next day.
Sonic had slight trouble going to sleep last night, his brain moved just as fast as his feed. He kept going back and forth on rather he should actually go out or stay in. He did convince himself to go out, after all, he could outrun any problem. Any physical problem that is. Now he faced another problem, he didn’t have a bag to put candy in. “Think Sonic think.” He decided to just go look for one, and it was a little bit sad that he only had to run like 200 feet before he found a plastic bag. He grabbed it, and didn’t see any immediate concerns. He rushed back to his cave. Problem one was done, now he was faced with a different problem. The so called butterflies in his stomach. He didn’t have a mirror, but Sonic knew what he looked like. Maybe if he got some glasses, his eyes wouldn’t be that big of a problem. He pondered for all about 3 seconds before he decided that glasses were unnecessary. All he had to do now was wait until the sky darkened slightly, so he curled up on top of his bean bag and pulled a tattered blanket over his body, then drifted off to a restless sleep.
Sonic slowly woke up, yawning and stretching like a cat. He looked out of the entrance to his cave and saw the slight darkening of the sky. That got him up. “Let’s do this.” He grabbed the plastic bag he had found earlier. “First, I’m going to Donut Lord’s house, then… I’ll go from there. Sounds good? Sounds good.” He answered his own question as he got out of his cave. With a deep breath, he ran to the house. Only this time, he didn’t stop at the forest line. After a quick run by, he didn’t see anyone, so he stopped on the driveway. His heart pounded against his chest as he walked to the front porch. He noticed some decorations, an inflatable skeleton and there was a pumpkin on the porch. When he got to the first step, he stopped. His ears twitched as he felt goosebumps form all over his body. Could he do this? “I got this.” He made it another step, then another, until he was standing before the door. The butterflies in his stomach from earlier returned with a vengeance. His stomach turned so much he thought he was going to hurl. He saw a doorbell; he slowly raised his hand to press it. It made a *ding*. His ears picked up movement from behind the door, until it was suddenly opened. And Sonic was not ready. He just stood there, eyes wide and looking up at Pretzel Lady. He opened his mouth but all his fast talk left him, “Ca-C-candy?” He finally got out, but his bag wasn’t even stretched out.
When Maddie heard the doorbell go off, she was initially surprised because it was pretty early for trick or treaters. Tom was still on patrol, so it was just her and Ozzie. Well, I shouldn’t keep them waiting. She thought to herself. She grabbed the already prepared candy bowl by the front door and opened it. That is when she had to do a double take. Barely coming to her waist, was a… child? She honestly didn’t know. And then it, well he, judging by the voice asked for candy. Not even a trick or treat. She looked down at large wide eyes looking back. Okay. She then looked up, but didn’t see any parents or anybody, really. Which raised her eyebrows, what was this child doing all by himself? “Where are your parents? Sweetie.” All she got back was a blink.
I knew this wouldn’t work. Sonic internally thought, when he saw the surprise on her face. He wanted -needed- to run away, but he couldn’t get his legs to cooperate. Then she asked him a question, she talked to him. And Sonic could barely hear what she said over the pounding in his head. It was something about parents. “Think of something!” He thought to himself, but when he saw her react, he realized that he might have said it out loud. “I meant- umm… that I- they are- umm.In the car?”
“Uh huh.” Maddie didn’t see any car, and the kid was acting very skittish. “Are you… doing, okay?” She didn’t plan on getting involved, but something nagged at her that something wasn’t right.
“M-Me! I am doing fantastic greateventhoughitskindacold.” Sonic winced at that, “You idiot! She’s gonna know now.”
She’s heard enough, “I need you to be honest. Do you need help.” Maddie was beginning to think something was very wrong.
“I’m not an alien!” Sonic let out a nervous laugh.
“What? That’s not what I-“ She suddenly stopped talking. She didn’t want to believe it, but she knew that whatever that thing was wearing, it was not a costume. Oh my God, It’s an alien. Maddie internally panicked. She was not prepared for this; Maddie needed a second for herself without the alien looking up with its large, but somewhat adorable eyes. What?. “Will you just stay right there for a second? I got to… yeah.” Maddie left on that closing the door. She then silently screamed, her hands shooting up. “An alien!” “What.” She took a deep breath, she has this. If it wanted to abduct her, then surely it would have done it already. She straightened out her face before opening the door again. She kind of hoped it had left, but no, it was still standing there. “Uhmm. You’re not like a uhh… a evil alien?” She thought somewhere in the back of her conscience that it -he- was too cute to be evil.
Sonic really needed to make his leave, but his legs still wouldn’t obey him. She obviously knew now, but, but but but, she wasn’t screaming in panic. “N-no, I’m not evil, I’m actually very nice and uhh. Adorable?”
Maddie really should be panicking more, but she just couldn’t, not with that being the alien. With its large eyes with green pupils, and blue fur. And his smaller size made him appear less threatening. “Hmm, well okay.” She was at a loss for words, an actual alien was on her porch, trying to get candy from her. She’s hasn’t really been a believer, but she has never been a nonbeliever. She looked up and saw some kids at the house across from them, and she knew she had to decide. She could tell the alien to scram, after all, she didn’t want government agents knocking down her door. Or, as crazy as it sounds, even to herself, she could invite him in. She looked down and the decision was clear. It may have been an alien, but if it was naïve enough to think that it could actually pass as a kid in a costume, then she didn’t want it to be alone, at least for the moment. “How about you- “ She paused her sentence to laugh a little at the absurdity, “How about you come in. Then maybe I can help you?”
Sonic couldn’t believe his ears; Pretzel Lady was offering him into her home. There was a part of his mind that told him to leave while he still could, but that was quickly pushed away. “Well. Okay, if you say so.” At that, Sonic walked past her to get into the house. He felt his tail twitch involuntarily. Stop it, he told himself. He kind of just stood once he entered, not sure of what to do. He saw her close the door.
Maddie mouthed out a “what” as the alien walked by her. She quickly shut the door and turned off the porch light. That would hopefully deter some trick or treaters, she had more important things to do. She turned around and almost tripped over the little guy. “Okay, uhmm, follow me.” She then walked to the living room; Sonic was hot on her trail. “Just have a seat there.” She pointed to the couch.
“Okay. I’m great at sitting down.”
“Uhh. That’s good.” She took the opposite side of the couch, and waited as the alien took his seat. She took more details in, he had a peach stomach and mouth, but everything else was blue. And he also had spikey things on the back of his head? She was about to ask him his name but was interrupted.
“Where’s Donut Lord?”
Uhmm, What? “I’m sorry.”
“Your husband.” The alien looked at her like she was the crazy one.
“You mean… Tom?” Honestly, she didn’t want to know.
“I guess.” In all his time hanging out with Tom, he never actually knew his name.
“Huh, well, what’s your name?” Maddie changed the subject while she hoped the alien had a name and not some weird sounding clicks like in movies.
When the world hasn’t ended so far, Sonic got a little bit more confident, “Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog.” He pointed at himself with his thumb. Only now did Maddie notice how he -Sonic- was wearing gloves.
“A hedgehog?” She knows what hedgehogs look like and that is not one. She raised a brow.
“I feel like that’s obvious.” It was Sonics turn to raise a brow.
“Yeah, obvious. Sooo, so-Sonic, do you live here, like on earth?”
“Uhh, Yeah. Where do you think I live, Mars?” Now Sonic was feeling better. He can’t believe he’s been so scared. This is going amazing!
“I” Maddie paused, she actually did think he lived on Mars, but she’s not going to mention it now. “It’s just, I’ve never seen you before.”
“Well yeah. I live in the woods. But don’t worry, just because you didn’t see me, doesn’t mean I wasn’t there.” Sonic assured Maddie.
“I’m sorry.”
Uh-oh. “I meant uhmm.” Sonic froze. He can’t believe he just did that. Now she’ll never want to see him again and think he is a creep. His last thought may have been said outloud.
“It is a little creepy. And by a little I mean a lot, but I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm. Right?”
“N-no. I would never harm you, or Donut Lord, or anyone!” Sonic needed to dig himself out of this hole asap. He thought back to the countless nights outside the humans’ windows, watching tv with them. Time to pull out the big guns. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve spent so long alone in the woods, without any company, and it just got so lonely,” He looked up at her, his eyes wide, tears at the edge of his eyes. “I didn’t mean to intrude or creep, it just kind of happened.” Sonic put his head down and put his hands over his eyes.
Despite the situation, that tugged on Maddie’s heartstrings, “Hey, it’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay that you spent all that time alone.” Sonic looked up at that, he took his hands away from his face and wrapped them around himself in a hug and put his head back down. Maddie paused, trying to think of a continuation to what she just said. “But, did you not have an alien family to go back too?”
“No-no. She was killed.”
Maddie didn’t have to ask who ‘she’ was. She felt so bad for the little alien, even though she had just met him. She had a long blink before she asked, “Is- Is it okay if I touch you? I won’t turn into a alien, right?”
Sonic looked up if he was surprised, he didn’t show it. “I-I don’t think so? I’ve never been touched by a human before.”
That’s not very reassuring. Maddie took a leap of faith and slowly pushed her hand out. Sonic watched the entire thing. Slowly but surely, her hand reached the top of the alien’s head. And she was surprised at how silky it felt. It was like Ozzie’s fur, but finer. Her hand just pressed against it and stopped. It was Sonic who pushed his head against her hand, moving the top of his head back and forth on her hand. This was definitely not on her agenda today. “Shh. It’s okay.” She unintentionally let out the same tone she used with her niece. She pressed into his head with her fingers, scratching at it. When Sonic let out a little gasp, she quickly pulled her hand back. But she missed the sensation a little bit.
If she missed the sensation a little bit, then Sonic was the compete opposite. He had to swallow a whine at the lack of contact. He wanted to ask her, demand that she keep scratching his head, but he was too prideful and worried. “Yea-Yeah. That was okay I guess.” His tone wasn’t convincing at all. There was a sudden ring at the door.
“Must be trick-or treaters. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.” Sonic watched her get up and leave. The room felt much colder without her. He was going to wait for her. He really was. But his thoughts took over. Thoughts of Longclaw, how she died because of him. Because of his carelessness. The tears from earlier began to fall, not getting far before they were soaked up by his fur. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to put Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady in danger because he was lonely. He choked back a sob; he heard talking at the front of the house. He didn’t deserve to be happy. He forced himself up, his hand reached up and touched the part of his head that Maddie touched. The same hand then plucked a quill out. He put it down on the coffee table. He would leave, and Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady would be safe. With one last glance at where she disappeared to, Sonic was off, he went out the back door and into the woods. The only proof of his existence; the conversation with Maddie and the quill he left.
Maddie finally closed the door after a couple of minutes of candy giving. Back to the alien. But she did smile at the thought. She just met him, but she felt like they had a connection, as crazy as that sounds. So, when she walked back in, and didn’t see a ball of blue on the couch, her heart dropped. The house was silent. “Sonic?” She called out, but there was no response, and she didn’t know how to feel about that. “I didn’t imagine that, right?” She looked closer and saw a sliver of blue on the coffee table. It was a quill? Something that proved she wasn’t crazy. She put her hands on her hips. And even though the house was silent before Sonic, somehow, it felt even quieter now.