I remember the day I first learned about the concept of death. It wasn’t due to any horrific or traumatic event that I went through, but it was still due to an occurrence that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
The day began like any other for a child at the innocent age of five. I was sitting on the carpeted floors of my bedroom, playing with my robot action figure when I heard knocking at the front door. Excitedly I ran towards it, but then skidded to a halt once I saw him; my father. Even at such a young age, I knew that my father was strict when it came to the rules of the house, so I submitted when he posed the question of, “Where are you going in such a rush?”
Nervously, I replied with, “I-I was going to check the door, bec-cause my friend is supposed to be coming soon… Remember?”
Just a couple of days prior, he had agreed to allow me to spend the day with this very friend at their home. It was his parents that came up with the idea since they knew how much we enjoyed our time together. My father was very hesitant about it initially, but after both of our persistent pleas, he eventually complied.
As my father sat there in the lone cushioned chair with a novel in hand, the knocking continued echoing through the living room. It wouldn’t stop, if anything, it began to accelerate; confirming that the mobian I was anticipating was in fact at the other side of the door. Increasingly growing tired of the constant noise, he hastily sat down his book onto the coffee table and trudged to the door. Placing his left hand on the knob, he caught my attention by turning his head towards me with a look that told me “to get over here”; I immediately did so. Still peering down upon my anxious stature, he pinched the bridge of his nose while letting out a slow gust of air through his clenched teeth. He finally turned the knob and released the fresh outside air into my lungs; which was so refreshing after spending the whole afternoon in the stuffy house.
“Oh. Hi Mr. Doom!”, the young hedgehog greeted with a swift wave of his hand. “Shadow, are ya ready to go now?”
Looking up to my father for one last sign of approval, and when I received it with a confirming hum, I returned my gaze towards my friend and nodded.
“Great! Now let’s hurry before my mom finishes cooking up dinner!”. Naturally getting into a runner’s stance, and right before taking-off he shouts, “The last one there is a rotten egg!” That’s classic Sonic for you, always trying to have a race at any chance he can get. Even now all these years later, he still attempts to pull this trick on me. His need for any amount of friendly competition is so endearing; it’s one of the many reasons why I’ve fallen for him, but that’s another story.
Finally catching up to the eager hedgehog, at the front doorsteps, we both waited patiently after Sonic had rung the doorbell for someone to unlock the entrance. The one to do so was no other than Sonic’s father, Jules himself. Out of all his and Aleena's three children, Sonic is the one that favored him the most in terms of appearance. From the rich blue color of his quills to the light tone of his skin, there was no questioning if those two were father and son.
“So, you finally decided to join us all for dinner?”, Jules inquires in his usual playful manner.
“Look, Dad, I brought Shadow with me”, Sonic proclaimed while practically presenting me as if I were some sort of trophy with his hand gestures. “Yes, you did”, he confirmed. “But I'm afraid that there might not be enough leftover once Sonic here has his portion”, Jules teased winking one eye in my direction.
“Daaaad!”, the child whined with a small hint of red tinting his cheeks. Lightly chuckling, Jules guided us inside, and almost instantly the aroma of a delicious home-cooked meal made its way to my nose, having my mouth water with anticipation. While Sonic and his father were playfully bickering with each other, I made my way over to the source of the smell in the kitchen. Once there, it could be noted that the scent was incredibly stronger, sending me into a temporary trance-like state. The aroma trail brought me towards the cook herself, Aleena.
“Now what are you doing here”, the gentle sounding woman voiced, “I thought that you would be playing with Sonic?”.
“I-I was about to, ma’ am, but the smell-”
“Oh, I understand, you must be hungry”, she concluded before the rumbling of my stomach confirmed her statement. And with an enduring giggle, Aleena guided me towards the living room mentioning that dinner will be finished shortly.
My attention now focused on the young hedgehog who was sitting a couple of feet from the television screen, fiddling with a video game controller, I decided to take a seat next to him. Seeing that he was completely immersed in the vibrant 16-bit game, I tapped him on his left shoulder to get his attention. As he jolted back into reality, the pixelated plumber on the screen got knocked off the platform by one of the apparent enemies, resulting in a “GAME OVER”.
“I’m so sorry! You were really into the game and I… gosh I’m so sorry!”
“Dude, it’s okay; I was gonna lose that last life sooner or later anyway”, Sonic unfolded as he lightly patted my back.
“Oh… okay”, I mumbled as I looked down at my lap.
“Hey,” I looked over, seeing that he was holding a second controller, “I can always use a player two”.
The notion itself was great on its own, but the genuine smirk that came along with it just made it even more special. Returning the favor with a smile, I grabbed onto the controller and started a new playthrough with him.
Dinner with Sonic’s family was more satisfying than I had ever thought it would be; not only because of the delicious meal, but also the fulfilling conversations that were held throughout. From the friendly banter between Sonic and his two siblings to the snarky quips Sonic’s father expressed, the whole vibe of the dinner table was filled to the brim with the obvious family connection they all had for each other; and for the first time, I experienced true joy at the dinner table.
It did eventually come the time for me to return home, excluding how much I wanted to stay. After saying my goodbyes once my father had arrived, the two of us were on our way back. The drive home was, to put it blatantly, very awkward. There was nothing but the blandest of small talk that a father and son could have, and the occasional whooshing sound of other cars on the road.
As we walked through the doorway, by then I had seen that my decreasing amount of energy was catching up onto me. Taking notice of this, father went up to me and stated, “It’s about time for you to go to bed, right?”
After a nice warm bubble bath, brushing my teeth, and putting on pj's, I was now laid in my twin-sized bed. Once tucked in, father made his way to leave the room; but then I had an epiphany. “Where’s mom?”
Abruptly stopping in his tracks, he faced towards me once again with an expression that I found to be foreign on him. The furrow of his brow and agape mouth spoke a thousand words on their own. He finally uttered “Where is this coming from?” after a few moments of silence.
Lifting myself to now sit up, I answered with, “I’ve seen a lot of kids at my school that have both of their mom’s and dad’s picking them up from school; and Sonic has both of his parents too. So, I was wondering… where’s my mom?”
Trudging over to my bedside and sitting down, he cautiously held onto both of my hands.
“I knew this day would come, but now that it has, I’m having a hard time explaining-”
“Explaining what?”
He was now looking directly into my eyes with deep sorrow. “Shadow your mom is… gone”
I didn’t get it. I had already concluded that my mom was nowhere to be seen, but the way he said it made it out as if it was deeper than that. My naivete took the best of me with the question of, “Where did she go?”
Exhaling the last bit of breath, he was unexpectedly holding onto, he revealed the utter truth with, “What I mean is that… she’s dead…”
‘Dead?’ What does that even mean? How come I haven’t seen her before? Is she never coming back? While trying to rack my brain with these and many other questions, tears started to build up at the corners of my eyes. My father then held onto me as I let the tears trail down my cheeks. The whimpers started as I firmly grasped onto his upper arms, not being able to control myself. I looked up and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. His face displayed nothing but deep sorrow, and the tears just wouldn’t stop spewing out from his tightly shut lids. I had never seen him in such a light before. “Do you miss her?”
A few sniffs later he responded with, “…yes…yes, I do”.
