clereen's story chapter 9

Spiritual Nightmare

Having explored most of the local area, the friends were struggling to find more options for finding chaos emeralds. However, Tails managed to find a potential spot by doing some research into the local area with some loose magazines and newspapers lying around. She found that there is an abandoned building a distance away from the city, known for rumours of spiritual activity.

“Chaos emeralds are drawn to ancient structures and places with spiritual significance” Tails explained as she showed them the page with the picture of the building

“But what if the chaos emerald isn’t there?” Amy said sarcastically

“It’s not a direct source but it’s worth a shot” Tails responded

“Besides, it might be an interesting little trip” Tails continued with a smile

Clereen gasped loudly “and we can have a PICNIC!” she screamed with excitement

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Knuckles agreed

With the new tornado, it was a safe and quick journey to the location. There was also lots of extra seats so everybody could come to. When they got there everyone was eager to stretch their legs.

“Finally, we can do something. I was so bored!” Amy cried

“Finally some fresh air!” Clereen cried with glee. Anna and Clereen gave deep breath in and out of the cool breeze blowing around them. Clereen looked at the grass beneath her and felt content and calm for the first time in a while.

“Well me and Sonic are going in” Knuckles said before turning towards the run down building. It was some sort of elaborate church with some rather detailed carvings and designs.

“Bye!” Clereen sang as she watched him go but then suddenly she felt a great cold shiver down her spine. Then a great feeling of dread hit her.

“What’s the matter, Clereen? You cold? The wind just got a little chilly just now didn’t it?” Anna tried to talk to her but Clereen was focused on one thing. She quickly turned to see Knuckles getting ever closer to the ruined building. Then she put her hand to her head as it started to spark with pain. Everything started to spin as the pain got worse and she clenched her face and fist.

She screamed as the pain reached its peak and suddenly she appeared in a dark room. This room felt like a cold pod and she saw her friends all fallen around her. She examined every one but they were all out cold and had terrible cuts and bruises all over them. She then heard a laughing and she looked to see where this came from. She saw a little window in the darkness of the room and peered inside to see three white figures.

These figures she could see clearly this time but she still had no idea what they were. They seemed just like floating white wisps, two smaller and one large. Then they turned around and they all had a mean grin on their faces. The large one had the worst grin of them all with sharp teeth reaching from ear to ear. There was only one thing she could call them and it was ghosts. Then, just as quickly as she went in, she came out of it.

After a while to get her bearings and to shake off the dizziness, she soon realised that she was still there with Anna and Amy. They were looking down at her on the floor as if she had fainted and to be honest she wished she had. Anna looked very worried but Amy just stared down at her disapprovingly.

“Are you OK? You blacked out again” Anna cried with fear as she held her up from the ground. Clereen sat up and quickly darted her head towards the door of the building. She could still see Knuckles and Sonic there so she called to them.

“No! WAIT!” Clereen screamed after them

“Oh no. Not THIS again!” Amy said with great distain as Clereen ran after them

“You can’t go in there!” Clereen yelled as she caught up with them

“Oh, Clereen” Knuckles said with more concern than anger as he turned around to see her

“If you go in there you won’t come out! It’s possessed!” Clereen screamed

“Oh for crying out loud will you stop with all this stupid crap! Nothing is going to happen, you drama queen!” Amy argued

“But what happened at the underground building site. I predicted that didn’t I?” Clereen desperately tried to reason with them

“That was just co-incidence! It’s not like you’re psychic!” Amy yelled back

“But I-” Clereen tried to continue to Knuckles interrupted

“I’m sorry but I have to agree with Amy on this one” Knuckles said. Clereen’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Finally!” Amy yelled

“You’ve had a rough few weeks. You are probably tired, Clereen. Just stay here and relax, OK?” Knuckles said as he turned to continue on.

Clereen couldn’t believe her ears but she couldn’t help but wonder. What if he was right? Am I really just imagining it? I don’t want to look like a drama queen. So with that, Clereen walked away and joined Anna and Amy with their picnic. Tails was too busy with a gadget as usual to bother too much with food. Anna left her a sandwich to nibble every now and then between fiddling with her tracker. Clereen desperately tried to enjoy herself but she just couldn’t stop worrying. She kept looking back at the building over and over again to check if Knuckles and Sonic where coming out but they never did. Anna could see she was upset and tried to comfort her. However, she also became concerned after it had been a whole hour.

“Sonic and Knuckles haven’t come back yet. Should we go and look for them” Anna suggested to Tails

“Oh for god’s sake. There are probably fine!” Amy complained

“I’ll go and look for them” Tails said after looking at Anna and Clereen’s concerned faces. Tails got up and wandered into the building. 15 minutes later and she hadn’t come out either.

“That’s it! I can’t take it anymore!” Clereen said as she jumped up to go in after them. Anna tried to tell her to stay but she didn’t try very hard as she could soon see she had made up her mind.

“Don’t let the LIES hit you on the way out!” Amy cried to her as she entered. Clereen felt a very cold shiver all the way through her body as she went through the large archway inside but she kept going. The further Clereen went inside the building, the more unsettled and frightened she became. By the time she was well inside, she had lost almost all her confidence but she had to keep going. If anything had happened to them she HAD to save them!

Just then, she saw Knuckles and Sonic up ahead. Her heart felt like it lifted with relief and she was about to call over to them. Then she suddenly saw some white hands grab them to the side and before she knew it they were gone! Clereen ran over there as fast as she could but she couldn’t get there in time before they were pulled into the wall. Clereen felt a strong feeling of hopelessness. She couldn’t save them! But before she could react to that, Tails arrived.

“Clereen? Have you seen Sonic and Knuckles yet?” Tails asked, more urgently than she had expected. Clereen just shook her head. Tails sighed and looked around anxiously but as she did, Clereen saw long white hands coming from the wall towards her. Clereen screamed and grabbed her arm but the white arms had already grabbed Tails’ legs. When Tails saw the hands she turned to Clereen and screamed.

“Oh god, Clereen, you were right!”

“I don’t want to be right!” Clereen cried in anguish as she pulled on Tails harder but it was no use. The arms were too strong for her and Tails was fast being pulled back through the wall.

“Clereen, you’ve got to listen to me! The magazine said something about an ancient stone hourglass being connected to the spirits appearance. You have got to find that hourglass! HURRY!!” Tails said and with that she was gone. Clereen just stared at the wall before breaking down into tears. But she didn’t have time to think as the hands came for her to. But she was too fast for them and she ran at full speed out of the way and down the corridor.

Meanwhile Amy waited, tapping her feet impatiently.

“UGH! I can’t wait any longer! Why am I the only one who gets anything done right around here?!” Amy exclaimed in anger as she stormed into the building. Anna tried to stop her but quickly gave up when she remembered that once Amy had made a decision, it was not wise to talk back. Not too long after Amy went in, Clereen came out sweating in panic. She looked around the outside of the building desperately for any clues.

Anna approached her “What’s the matter, Clereen?” Clereen quickly turned to her with an panic stricken face

“Do you know if there is a stone hourglass around here?” Clereen asked very intently

“Well, there is a stone statue that looks like an hourglass over there” Anna looked ahead and Clereen could see the stone hourglass. Clereen rushed over there as fast as she could go and Anna ran after her. When Anna got there Clereen was standing there examining the hourglass and then she hung her head.

“Why didn’t I stop them?” Clereen said under her breath.

“Clereen?” Anna answered concernedly

“This is all my fault” Clereen said with tears in her eyes as she looked at Anna before running back into the building. Anna yelled after her but it was too late. She was long gone.

Meanwhile, Amy was still looking around for the others and getting pretty irritated.

“UGH! This place is so dusty! I can’t believe I have to walk around here to save their asses because they are all so fucking incompetent!” Amy yelled to herself. Then she noticed a large mirror in the hallway in front of her.

“Ah! Finally! Time to see if my hair has suffered any damage. It better not or I am going to kill them!” Amy said as she approached the mirror. She looked in the mirror and started to arrange her hair while mumbling about dust and spider webs. She looked away to brush some of the hair by her ear and coughed at the dust but when she looked back it wasn’t her reflection she saw.

“Why, hello there” The white grinning figure in the window said as it stared back at her. Amy’s scream could be heard echoing throughout the building’s halls and corridors.

“Amy?!” Clereen screamed as she heard it and she rushed faster further into the darkness and depths of the maze of halls. Clereen headed for where she heard the noise and she soon came across a large room. Something felt different about it so she entered it and she soon saw a pedestal with a circle. She looked at the hourglass in her hand and put it nearby to see if the size matched and it did. Clereen could also see a moon symbol in the circle. She had already noticed the hourglass had a sun on one side and the moon on the other. The answer was obvious but just before Clereen could put it down, she could feel a presence behind her. She quickly turned around to see Amy standing there. She gave a sigh of relief.

“Oh. Thank god! I thought-” but then Clereen stopped as she looked at Amy. Amy put her hand out and spoke.

“Give me the hourglass. I know what to do to save the others” Amy said or at least it sounded like Amy but something didn’t seem right. Clereen stared deep into Amy’s eyes and she soon realised that they were empty. No not empty. They were clouded with fear hidden behind a misty blank gaze.

“You’re not Amy” Clereen said and she quickly went to put the hourglass on the pedestal but Amy grabbed her arm. When Clereen turned around she saw a creepy grin that could haunt nightmares. Clereen went to use a lazer beam out of her hand but stopped as she couldn’t hurt her. If the ghosts were possessing her then she was still there. So Clereen used a blast of energy to blow her out of her grip and then she put the hourglass on the pedestal with the sun facing up.

Suddenly she could hear many voices screaming as if burning alive and then her friends fell out from the ceiling above onto the floor in front of her.

“Sonic! Knuckles! Tails! Oh thank god!” Clereen cried with ultimate relief.

“Clereen!” Sonic cried before giving her a big hug and the others soon followed, all except Knuckles and Amy. Clereen smiled a gleaming smile and couldn’t help chuckling a little. Knuckles just looked on and smiled. A white figure flowed out of Amy’s mouth and she collapsed but Knuckles caught her before she fell. Amy looked towards Clereen and smiled a little as well or at least it seemed like it for a second or two before she pushed Knuckles away. She got herself up and stood there with her arms crossed.

“I think it is safe to say their isn’t a chaos emerald here” Amy said, looking at Tails accusingly

“Errr yeah. She’s right. The tracker isn’t picking up anything. Sorry everyone” Tails admitted

“Who cares?! Let’s go home! I’m going to need a lot of comfort cake!” Clereen said. Everyone agreed and they all walked safely out of the building. When they came out Anna was still there, worrying herself to death and staring at the entrance to the building’s halls. When she saw them come out together she leapt up to see them.

“Are you alright? What happened?” Anna cried

“Forget it. We’re too tired” Amy said sighing as they all meandered to the Tornado mark 2. Anna just stared unbelieving. Was no-one going to tell her what happened? Anybody?

That night, Clereen lay awake in her bed, thinking. She found she just couldn’t sleep with her mind so busy so she decided to get up. She went to a nearby window and climbed out and onto the roof where she was surprised to see Sonic already sitting there so she went to join him. Clereen lay on her back leaning on the roof and stretched her arms and legs before letting her arms rest behind her head and one leg bend over the other. Sonic’s position was less glamourous with him just lying there on his back like a pancake.

Sonic spoke as she approached “Oh, Clereen. Didn’t expect you to be here.” He said nervously

“I bet you didn’t” Clereen chuckled jokingly

“I just like to come up here sometimes and just stare at the stars. There is a pretty clear view from up here” Clereen explained while looking up at the starry night sky. Sonic looked up at the stars with her and jumped when she spoke again.

Clereen turned to Sonic before asking “So what are you here for?”

“Oh, I just like to sit here and think about things...sometimes” Sonic said in a shy tone as he fiddled with his fingers

“Yeah” Clereen answered as she awed at the stars

“Thank you for what you did today. Everyone really appreciates it” Sonic said

“You really think so?” Clereen asked, surprised with a hint of curiosity

“Of course they do. You saved our lives!” Sonic pointed out. Clereen just blushed.

“Yeah but I never really thought ‘I am going to triumphantly save the day!’ you know” Clereen admitted

“When it comes to it, you never do” Sonic answered without much hesitation.

“Trust me. I know” Sonic smiled at Clereen before quickly turning away in embarrassment.

“But that doesn’t mean it means any less” Sonic said. Clereen thought for a while before looking back at the stars and gazing again at their beauty.

“Looking at the stars at night like this, makes me think just how small we really are...” Clereen paused for a while before chuckling as she said

“It sounds pretty cheesy when you say it that way but...it just puts things into perspective sometimes. When you need it most” Clereen said. Sonic looked at her as she gazed at the stars but instead of being happy or peaceful, she looked sad. A kind of sadness that seemed deeper than Sonic could possibly comprehend. Clereen then snapped out of it and then looked to Sonic and smiled again.

“I would suggest to lay here for a while but I think it’s about to rain soon” Clereen said as she got up and started to walk away.

“How do you know that?” Sonic asked with surprise

“Because of the air is getting colder. Plus those clouds are a big give away” Clereen said as she pointed to the dark, gloomy, looming clouds not too far away.

“Oh” Sonic said as he realised he had missed them and he got up to join with her to get back inside.

“Sonic. I...” Clereen started but then changed her mind.

“Nevermind” she said and she smiled as she watched Sonic bounce away.