clereen's story chapter 8

The First Vision

After a good rest, Clereen found herself lying in her bed thinking once again. How long could she really keep this façade? But she brushed the thought from her mind yet again. As long as nothing was happening, there was no reason to worry other than to stress herself. Besides, if she thought about it too much she might blow her cover. The less she thought about it, the better she could pretend there is nothing to hide.

Clereen wandered around, trying to find the others. She could hear them talking in the cellar so she went to see what was going on. Tails was on the computer doing some research with Knuckles looking on. It took a few seconds before Clereen recognised the picture on the screen. It was her home! This should have been a happy moment but instead it was terrifying. Clereen tried to stay calm.

“What are you doing?” she asked, while desperately trying not to look like she was panicking like she was.

“We are looking into Eggman’s location and we found this place. It seems to have some connection with him” Tails explained while not looking away from the screen. Clereen’s face turned pale. Eggman?! If they thought she was connected to Eggman then they would definitely think she was a spy and kill her for sure!

“What’s this? Experiment 412” Tails enquired curiously as she brought up a text profile with a picture. Clereen looked for a quick solution and found a nearby cup of coffee. Clereen quickly pretended to fall into the cup and pushed it directly on the desktop computer fan breathing holes. The computer sizzled and popped before the screen turned off and the computer smoked from the holes.

“Clereen you fucking idiot!” Knuckles yelled. Clereen tried to smile and laugh but she was very nervous and embarrassed. Even if it was done on purpose, Clereen didn’t want to be in trouble with Knuckles.

“I told you that would happen” Tails sighed as she picked up the fallen cup. Despite doing it on purpose and for a good reason, Clereen couldn’t help but feel very guilty.

“I’m sorry” she apologised

“It’s OK, Clereen. Accidents happen” Tails said

Just then Anna ran into the cellar exclaiming “Sonic has found something!”

Tails immediately stood up. “Where?” Tails asked purposefully

“In an abandoned building site not far from here” Anna replied. Tails and Knuckles quickly rushed off

“There are a lot of abandoned building sites around here” Clereen pondered out loud before realising they were fast getting away

“W-wait for me! What is this about?” Clereen yelled as she tried to catch up to them

“I sent Sonic out with the tracker to try and find any chaos emeralds in the local area” Tails explained as they ran

“Oh yay!” Clereen cheered and quickly got in the new tornado

“I am coming this time and can’t stop me!” She exclaimed with pride

“we know Clereen” Knuckles sighed

“Can I come to?” Anna asked

“Yeah, sure. There is plenty of room now!” Clereen smiled

“No. It could be dangerous” Tails said while starting the engine

“Oh no not THIS again!” Clereen cried

“If you let me come then Anna has to come to!” Knuckles stuttered as he was about to argue but he soon realised it would be fruitless

“OK fine! Just stay close OK and hurry up!” Knuckles eventually agreed

“Wooooo! Flight buddy!” Clereen and Anna cried.

“Uuuugh” Knuckles sighed with his head in his large gloved hands. Amy also followed suit and got in the new advanced plane.

“It will give me something to do, I guess” she moaned

It wasn’t long before they arrived at their destination. The building area was covered in soil and gravel and the entrance was made of wood supports. On top of the area there was a giant blue plastic veil over the top that had several strings loose so the corners flapped in the wind.

“Why is it underground? It looks more like a mine shaft than a building” Clereen commented

“It was an underground science lab for researching artefacts recovered from the ground so I guess it’s a bit of both” Anna explained

“Oh OK” Clereen responded, happy with the answer. Then she noticed the others going on ahead.

“H-Hey wait for us!” Clereen ran ahead and then suddenly stopped as a thudding headache came out of nowhere. For a split second she saw what seemed like a million images. As she held her head with the headache consuming her she tried to get her bearings but then, as the headache got stronger, everything around her started to spin and change shape as if they were melting and moulding into something else. She could hear the voices of her friends getting fainter and she screamed as the headache became unbearable.

Then suddenly she saw her friends entering the building. There was someone in the shadows who was watching them and waiting to pounce. The stranger jumped out to strike them as they found the chaos emerald. Then her head hurt again and she winced in pain. The next time she opened her eyes everything started to mould back into the right place. She could see the other things as if she was there and yet, she was exactly where she last stood before the headache had started. She looked around to get her bearings. Yes, she was definitely in the same place. She hadn’t moved an inch. She soon realised her friends were crowded round her. They stared at her as if she had somehow had an accident.

“Oh, Clereen! Thank god! Are you OK?!” Anna yelled, seemingly very worried. Clereen’s head still hurt a little from before and she stumbled trying to get up.

“Oh, Clereen! D-don’t overdo it OK?” Anna cried nervously as she got up. Clereen was so confused. What just happened? Who was it she saw and why?

“Take her back to the plane if you must. We need to find this chaos emerald” Knuckles said as he started to walk away, further into the darkness of the sheltered structure. But before Clereen could properly think about what she saw, something became very clear to her.

“NO!” Clereen yelled as she ran in front of Knuckles using her super speed.

Knuckles flinched a little as she appeared in front of him “I forgot you could do that”

“You can’t go in there!” Clereen exclaimed

“Why Clereen?” Anna asked. Clereen paused and thought

“I don’t know...but you have to listen to me!” she said as she put her hands on Knuckles shoulders holding him back.

“Oh that’s great!” Amy said with great sarcasm

Knuckles pushed her arms out of the way.“Clereen. I don’t know what’s wrong with you today but something is clearly wrong with your head. Just go home and go to bed. We need to get this chaos emerald before Eggman does” Knuckles tried to push past her but she got in the way

“But I’m being serious!” Clereen yelled

“Clereen. You can’t be serious if you have no idea why you want us not to go in there!” Amy exclaimed. Clereen paused to think. She had a point. How on earth could she convince them of the danger. There is no way they would believe her if she told them the truth. Nevertheless, the truth was all she had so it would have to do.

“But I saw it” Clereen cried after him as he tried to walk forward

“Saw what?” Amy antagonised

“I-I don’t know. A stranger! I saw a stranger. They are in there!” Clereen tried to explain but even she wasn’t sure what happened anymore.

“Go home, Clereen. You need some rest” Knuckles said as he continued forward with Sonic, Tails and Amy following close behind.

“You believe me don’t you?” Clereen desperately begged Anna but Anna wasn’t sure how to respond. Clereen knew she didn’t really believe her. Clereen turned around and watched sadly as her friends abandoned her into the darkness.

Anna stayed by her side and put her hand on her shoulder “Let’s just go home, Clereen” Anna tried to say but Clereen shuffled out of her grip and moved forwards. She walked ahead of them all and started to look around the darkness. Wary of what was there. Knuckles sighed as he saw her pass him. After a while of walking nothing seemed to be happening. Clereen wondered for a while whether she really was just over tired. Amy came over to a lighter spot where the tracker beeped louder in Tails’ hand.

“We are getting closer and no stranger in sight, Clereen!” Amy said sternly as she turned to Clereen to make a point. Clereen was looking down at the floor but at that very moment she suddenly looked up into the darkness. It was where the supports should be but it was pitch black and impossible to see anything there. However, everyone noticed her staring intently at this exact spot as if something was there.

Meanwhile, a shadow stared back. ‘She is looking straight at me! How is she able to see me from there?’ the figure thought as she stared straight back, motionless. If I make a move, will she come after me? No. Of course not. It’s pitch black. There is no way she could see me from there. I must be seeing things.

The others stared but Amy wasn’t impressed. “Oh come on, Clereen. We have had enough of this! There is nothing there! Stop trying to get all the attention!” Amy scolded

“I found it!” Tails exclaimed further ahead. Clereen soon realised that while she was looking at this figure she couldn’t watch where everyone else was so she suddenly turned to see Tails. However, in doing that she took her eye off the figure for a second and that was just long enough. The figure made its move and tried to pounce on Tails but Clereen jumped into it and pinned the stranger down. Everyone watched in awe as Clereen and this stranger rolled around on the floor. They rolled into the light as Clereen gained the advantage and pushed the stranger on the ground with both arms and legs.

Suddenly, the figure became clear but it wasn’t anyone Clereen knew. It was a white bat-like humanoid creature with large bat-like ears and wings. It wore a revealing yet solid pink bra and black leggings with strong white and pink boots to match. It seemed whatever it was, it had some good fashion sense. Clereen even noticed lipstick on its lips. Clereen was surprised by seeing such a strange creature that she, for a split second, let down her guard. Then the womanly creature took advantage of this moment and kicked her in the face to make her quick escape. Clereen put her hand to her face and growled as she watched the creature turn back with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Not this time, babe” she said before leaving.

Clereen wanted to give chase but Anna and the others pulled her back. Tails turned to find the chaos emerald and picked it up. The others got distracted by Tails and so lost grip on Clereen. Clereen ran forward but stopped when she couldn’t see the stranger outside. Clereen looked down on the ground. She was sure that stranger was who she saw in her vision. She had to find her. She may be important for something. Why was she looking for the chaos emerald as well?

“Clereen. Forget it. Let’s go home” Anna tried to comfort Clereen

“I’ll make my own way home” Clereen said before rushing off at lightning speed. Clereen didn’t want to go on the journey home and be made fun off. She didn’t want the fuss or the questions. She just wanted some time to think. She wandered around the rooftops of the skyscrapers, just thinking for a while before heading back home.

Things were quiet for a while so everyone relaxed a little. Things had been stressful over the last few weeks so everyone decided a break was needed. Two chaos emeralds had been confirmed already so they were ahead of time. Everyone was cooling down, that is except Clereen. Clereen just couldn’t seem to settle so she took this opportunity to drown out her troubles the only way she knew how, food. Everyone just accepted her eating habits by now but Knuckles could tell this was worse than usual.

When the night came, Clereen lay in bed, still thinking. There was only one cure she could think of for such worrying and it was food. Clereen snuck out of the bedroom where she slept and continued to scoff herself late into the night until her stomach hurt. She felt sick and yet she couldn’t stop herself. She kept going and going until she heard something familiar behind her.

“What are you doing, Clereen?” Knuckles asked with concern as he came forward out of the shadows of the dark kitchen and into the light of the fridge. Clereen turned around with tears welling in her eyes. She clutched her stomach as it gurgled angrily at her. Clereen then looked at some cake she was in the middle of eating and got ready to take another bite.

“No!” Knuckles pushed the cake out of her hand.

“Stop Clereen! You can’t eat anymore!” The truth of his words became more apparent as her stomach complained yet again. This caused her to break down into even more tears. Knuckles gave a little soft sigh and knelt down to hold her to his chest. He put his arms around her and stroked her head gently.

“I just miss him so much!” Clereen sobbed as she held him tightly

“I know” Knuckles whispered as he pulled her a little closer to his heart

“I’m sorry” Clereen sobbed

“For what?” Knuckles asked as he looked down at her eyes filled with buckets of tears. Clereen looked back and screamed in frustration before curling into his chest again. Then her stomach gurgled and she winced in pain.

“Let me get you some medicine” Knuckles said as he pulled himself away from her and went to one of the kitchen cupboards to bring back a box of pills. Clereen quickly swallowed the pills and clutched her stomach as it screamed at her again.

“It will take a while before it works. Do you want me to stay with you?” Knuckles asked. Clereen nodded.

“OK, let’s watch some TV” Knuckles smiled as he picked her up with various food crumbs and sticky half dried liquid all over the floor. He quietly took her to the TV where they watched anything that was on to pass the time. They stayed quiet for a while, Knuckles keeping Clereen close to his side for comfort. Clereen just leaned on him and tried to ignore her pains. They later started to talk about the shows on the TV a little as they watched. During a program they both agreed was particularly boring, Knuckles asked

“Clereen? Do you think you could tell me what has been worrying you so much recently?” Clereen looked up at Knuckles with a rather clueless expression.

Knuckles continued “Come on, Clereen. It isn’t just your father is it?” Clereen looked down, feeling a little guilty. Knuckles had always been there for her when she needed it so why couldn’t she be honest with him? But even so, she couldn’t bring herself to trust him. She couldn’t trust anyone. After all, they knew her as she showed herself to be. Not the real her. Nevertheless, she found it very difficult to resist his sweet face when he was being kind to her.

“I don’t know. I...I’ve just been...So much has happened recently” Clereen tried to explain.

“A bit too much?” Knuckles asked. She smiled and leaned on him. Knuckles could read her like a book. He had spent the most time with him of all her new friends, not even counting the time they were alone together in the forest just outside the city. He just had this way of somehow seeing straight through her every time. Clereen never felt so comfortable with anyone as she did with Knuckles. Knuckles stroked her head just the way she liked it.

Clereen somehow felt compelled to continue “Knuckles?”

“Hmm?” Knuckles responded as he looked down at her

“Do you like me?” Clereen asked

“Of course I do” Knuckles answered without any hesitation

“But why?” Clereen asked back just as quickly. Knuckles looked at her and then looked away as he spoke

“Well, you are kind, sweet...full of energy...you can be a bit of a handful sometimes but...” Knuckles tried to explain like a list in his mind

“You really think so?” Clereen looked at Knuckles with a concerned look and Knuckles just laughed

“And why shouldn’t I, Clereen?” Knuckles chuckled

“I don’t know. I just...feel like...sometimes. I am not what you think I am. Like I’m not being honest enough” Clereen admitted

“Well, what have you got to hide from me, Clereen? I already know you raided the fridge” Knuckles joked

“I’m serious, Knuckles” Clereen said as her voice started to wobble

“I know, I know” Knuckles said as he stroked her head again

“Everyone feels like that sometimes, Clereen. Am I really a nice person? Would my friends really like me if I did this or that? But none of that really matters because you can never truly hide yourself, Clereen. The real you is always there and real friends will still see it” Knuckles explained while not looking at Clereen. Clereen looked down and thought. Was it true? Was Knuckles trying to tell her something? Did Knuckles already know? Clereen smiled. Why did it even matter? This was something she hoped she would never lose.

“How is your stomach feeling?” Knuckles asked as he looked down at her curled up on his lap

“Oh I forgot” Clereen said while looking down at her belly

“It must be working then. I think you better get some sleep” Knuckles said. Clereen nodded in agreement and Knuckles took her to bed.