Chapter Text
“..Do you ever wonder what it's like to be written like a book?...”
“...A writer being able to know your fate or twist your flaws, being able to know every little thing about you from the start to the end…”
“...Knowing who you are and what you'll become instantly without having to open you up and flip through your pages...”
“..Imagination is limitless, I just didn't imagine my life to change out of nowhere.”
DING!
The chime of a small bell dings as you walk into one of your favorite shops with a smile.
Breathing in, you make your way to an aisle near the front counter, carrying a decent sized bag on your shoulder that had a few pins of some things you were interested in. Interests,, you had multiple at this point. You enjoyed lots of things, even the smallest of things. Which is what brought you into your favorite shops in the first place. Finding yourself at a shelf now, you start to skim through it with your pointer finger while squinting just a little. ‘It’ being a shelf full of computer games. Boredom struck once again, finding yourself back in a shop that contained games, CDs, etc.
“Looking for another computer game??”
You blink, stopping your skimming to look over at the front counter, seeing who was talking to you. A woman with darkish brown hair and a work outfit was behind the counter. “Oh! Hi Grace,,” You reply back a little embarrassed but not that much since you kind of knew her from going to the shop from past times. “Didn't you come here not too long ago to grab a game?” She teases playfully after you go over to the counter.
“Ah that's right… I did do that..” You eternally facepalmed as you remembered before responding with a small awkward chuckle. A “Maybee??,,” is all you're able to say as if you're unsure, knowing well enough that you had stacks of games. She chuckles as well, shaking her head. “I'm not complaining! You're basically keeping our shop open with how often you come here” She tells you, causing you to smile a little as you fidget with your bag strap, not really knowing what to say in response to that. Being easily awkward was a pain.
“Kiddingg,, just a little- But!” She starts before happily taking something from behind the counter before placing what seemed to be a game disc in a case on said counter. You stand there looking at the disc confused. “Tada! A random mysterious~ game came out of nowhere!! All yours since I have no idea what it could be, found it today” She explains as you look up at her before looking back down at it.
“Why is it.. just red?...” You ask, squinting at it from the see through case. There wasn't a title or anything. “Don't have a clue” She replies back simply with a shrug. “Huh.” Is all you can respond back with to her reply. “Odd.. but thank you regardless Grace” You thank her with a smile before taking hold of the disc to place in your bag, not even questioning further knowing you'll find out about it when you get home. “Not a problem! I'd say bye and see you soon but I probably will be actually seeing you soon” She playfully teases once more causing you to chuckle again.
“Okay okay I get it,,” You say back, trying to meet her playful energy a little before the two of you finally say goodbyes and you make your way out the door.
The sky seemed gloomy as trees and houses past by before getting off a bus that stopped at your destination. Once off you start to walk on the sidewalk towards where your house would be. The house was small but to your liking being near a few others by the sides, having neighbors but never interacted with any.
Arriving, you walk up to your door step, unlocking the door with a click and sigh a little while walking in. Darkness and gloom crept in until you flick a light switch. Just standing there for a little causes you to think. This was your life. Daily routine.
Get up, work for the important things you need to survive and to keep you living, then spend whatever left over money you had to treat yourself. Restart and repeat. Despite enjoying the comfort of your home and the multiple “little” treats you spent for yourself, your living state was kind of sad. Living alone, not having any actual friends or family to keep you company. It was slowly getting to you fully.
You brush any thoughts of that aside as you head down a small hallway to your room, opening the door to be greeted with lots of colorful objects once you flick the light.
A few plushies were displayed on shelves and your bed. Posters covered on the walls showing off multiple fictional characters from animes, video games and cartoons. Then there were your games, cds, etc on other shelves. A collection of things you collected as a teen to now. Just a few things to help with your living state.
The door shuts behind and you take out the disc from your bag before sitting in a chair that was near a desk. There sitting on your desk was your computer. To be specific though, a beautiful and well taken care of Windows XP. It was the year 2003 so it wasn't like the amazing tech was outdated or anything. Being twenty three was something, being able to own so much cool stuff was great. You just hoped to continue being a bit more mature with your money.
Turning on the machine, you take the disc out of its clear case while waiting for it to start up. A bright light comes after its loading screen, now greeted with the pleasant green field wallpaper and little jingle. The sight makes you smile at the screen before putting the odd red disc into your computer's disc drive. You watch the screen curiously and cautious a bit. It takes a moment but a small window appears with text. Pulling yourself closer to your desk, you scoot your chair to read it in your head.
“Would you like to play?” Was what the text said, as well as a yes and no option. Basic stuff kind of. Clicking yes, you wait. It takes a bit again but another window pops up, going in full screen. Being now greeted with a black screen before showing what seemed to be the start of the intro to the game.
The words SEGA appear with a voice reading it and then the text fading away into the black void. Then played a silly little jingle while what seemed to be a blue hedgehog appeared on the screen in the middle of a circle thing with a nice looking animation. The name Sonic under it and underneath the name was a text saying to press the space bar.
You're in shock for a second, blinking as you just stare at the screen once the animation is done.
“No way!? I was given a sonic game for basically free?? That's,,” You react, with a shocked and dumb smile plastered on your face. You were a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, owning a few of his games. “I probably haven't gotten to playing or seeing this one before,,” Talking out loud to yourself, thinking.
Even though you were completely thrilled and happy to kill your boredom with a Sonic game you haven't played yet, you take notice on Sonic's model. The hedgehog had a somewhat different facial expression, ears pointy in a way and his gloves having thicker cuffs then usual. You didn't think much of it though, other then actually liking the models slight different look before pressing your computer's space bar with a small hum. A prologue appears on the screen. Starting to read it, still happy as ever, you're then hit with the title green hills, appearing as Sonic in what seems to be, well, green hills but your happy mood fades away as confusion fades in from the odd game and odd music that's playing.
“Huh..” You move Sonic around in the game making him roam around for a bit. You observe the area, noticing the slight differences this game had compared to other Sonic games. Until suddenly you end up finding a fox that looks kind of like Tails or Miles the fox. He was one of Sonic's friends in the other games but instead of the orange like fox, this one had red fur and had a few little critters next to him.
Thoughts continue to go in and out your head, wondering why Tails was red. Maybe a bug? Maybe this game was something made before or after 3D Blast? Or an unfinished copy SEGA left behind? You think while going towards the fox. The screen fades black to blue and then Sonic appears on screen in the black void next to some palm trees. Keeping your focus on the game, a kind of robotic voice comes from your computer and text below him appears.
“Hi, I'm Sonic. Let's play a game!”
This game was definitely odd.. but odd as in you couldn't help but think of when this was made and just stuff like that. Not because of the voice that seemed to be Sonic's in this game. “Hi?,,” You respond back a little quietly which seemed a bit childish. The screen then fades black for a sec with the words “HIDE N SEEK” before fading black again and the screen reappearing in green hills with Sonic to play as again. This time though green hills looked a little foggy? There was no music playing.
The silence was unpleasant. Not liking that at all, you make Sonic jump to see if the audio was working. To your surprise it was since you could hear the jump sound effect. No music now? Again odd.. and Tails was nowhere to be seen so you could only assume that you had to go find him. Hence the name of the mini game. So you roam around once more, starting to feel unsettled, not being able to shake off the odd feeling while keeping your eyes on the computer screen.
It takes awhile for you to find the fox. Ending up roaming around in the thick fog for a while looking for him, even commenting on how long it took while going up and down on platforms. Until suddenly you ended up spotting a faint red in the distance half way up a hill. Going to the faint red you saw, it was actually tails. You finally found him.
“How in the world..” Looking at how he was on the hill you start to jump, trying to get to him only to stop since it wasn't working. That small second causes a flash of black and blue to appear quickly which makes you blink. Tense music began to play and the fox was running away.
“Wh-” Wanting to comment on what was happening, your hands suddenly jerk away the moment you feel the keys of your keyboard pressing on its own.
“Woahwoahwoah-”
In shock you watch as Sonic starts to go after Tails on his own, he springs onto a tall platform, starting to spin dash to the bottom before continuing to chase. He starts to spin dash once more, this time into him which pushes him into what looked like water. Not knowing what to do or what was happening at all, you stay quiet, still in shock as you keep focus. Noises of something like static could be heard once sonic moves to the bridge that was above the water and you watch confused as Tails was drowning?.. It looked like he was. What kind of game was this.. Who made this? Was this a joke? Was this even meant to happen?? Lots of stuff and questions raced in your head. This whole time you were questioning this weird game and in a blink the red fox had drowned. The water starts turning red and a red ring suddenly floats above the bridge Sonic stood on.
He then goes forward, going towards the ring..
A FLASH of colorful glitches appear, making you flinch from the scare before suddenly your computer makes a loud bugged noise and the room light flickers for a second. This causes you to start cussing multiple times, desperately pushing the power off button to stop the whole thing.
“Come on come on-” You repeat in a hurry before it finally starts to.
Letting it suddenly fade to black. A sigh of relief comes out. “I- What even..” Being left speechless, you couldn't say anything in response. Thinking about turning it on again, you look over to a digital clock that was on the desk. It was getting late, late as in like two am. “Damn it..” You had work in the morning. You think as uncomfortable silence grew heavy in the room. “Guess I'll get some rest.. hopefully my computer will be okay..” You hope as if that was your only worry.
A lot happened today and despite everything you needed to get rest. Despite the scare and odd game, there wasn't any time to question it further and exhaustion was present so you got up. Kept the lights on and went to go get cozy in your bed to sleep for the morning. You'll deal with things after work. Pulling the covers to the side, you get in the bed and lay on your side next to your plushies for comfort before pulling back the covers.
Sleeping alone after everything...
Not knowing what was to come....
_____“あなたの祈りはすべて叶えられます。プレイし続けてください。”