Post by ♠♣♥K.I.D.A on Nov 25, 2008 20:10:36 GMT -5
It was night, and the cold winter breeze blew across the park, carrying a few brown leaves with it. The only light emanated from the lamp posts scattered across the area and the full moon in the sky. A small warm breath puffed from the fragile, vulnerable hedgewolf as he sat on one of the many park benches. This was his sanctuary, the place where he could escape all of his problems; being constantly bullied, being beat upon and then having respiratory problems for an entire week, and... the nagging at the back of his mind. It was confusing him, and he wasn’t even sure what it wanted… it wanted something, and it wouldn’t stop bothering him. Maybe it was the fact that his mother would go into random fits of sadness and rage. Maybe it was the fact that every time she looked at him, there was a small trace of hurt in her eyes.
Shaler winced, and pulled the scarf closer as a single tear slid from his light blue eye. The little amount of friends he had were probably sleeping by now, seeing as it was midnight. No one to comfort him… He shut his eyes as yet another tear came. His ears twitched as the leaves brushed against the concrete sidewalk. “Stop crying.” He told himself. “That’s why you’re bullied so much. You’re too weak…”
“Yes. You are.”
Shaler jumped off the bench, his head swishing around, looking for the source of the voice. His breathing quickened, and he hugged his scarf close. He could barely make out the shadow of a familiar hedgehog, propped against a nearby tree. The eyes slid open and Shaler found himself scared and afraid… for the second time in his life.
It was the sight of those blood red eyes. The same from thirteen years ago. The same that he had found himself begging for mercy to. The ones that never showed any remorse or pain, like his mother’s.
Shadow’s.
Shaler cowered, backing away slowly. Yet his father matched him for every step, always staying a few feet in front of him.
“What do you want from me?!” The small hedgewolf yelled, coughing once afterward. He had not seen his father in what seemed to be a lifetime. There weren’t any pictures around the house... The only picture he had was the mental one that was burned into his mind at such a young age. The picture of his father, attempting to destroy what he had helped create. That memory was brought back again, boring even more pain into Shaler’s heart.
Shadow scoffed, “I came to finish my job.” His gaze traveled around the park, settling on Shaler, satisfied. “Your mother stopped me last time. Now, she’s not around to help you.”
The hedgewolf whimpered. Somehow he knew his father wouldn’t be coming for a friendly visit. The instinct inside him said to run. But that nagging in his mind told him otherwise. “Why do you hate me so much?”
The dark hedgehog’s eyes narrowed and his quills rose in anger. “You were never meant to exist.”
Shaler winced. Those words, coming from his own father, struck his heart like a bullet. “But… You loved mother, and she loved you...”
“I NEVER LOVED HER.” He snapped in reply. His quills were at their full height now, and he came ever closer to his son, who was now defensively lowered towards the ground. His father was much taller than him, and surely much stronger.
The hedgehog’s hands lunged towards the small boy’s neck, lifting him up to his height. “You aren’t even fighting back. How weak. You can’t possibly be my son.” He whispered angrily, glaring into the fear-stricken eyes.
Shaler gasped as his already damaged respiratory system was losing air. The view of Shadow’s angered gaze was starting to fade into black. “Father... please…”
But his pleas did not affect the hedgehog. He continued to choke his own son. “I can now finish the job that I had started thirteen years ago…”
He was interrupted, however, by a snarling coming from the left of him. Shaler was thrown to the ground, and erupted into a coughing fit, as Shadow was tackled down towards the concrete. The hedgewolf dragged himself to the nearest tree, slowly regaining his senses. There was mixed growling and yelps coming from where Shadow was tackled. Shaler looked to see a blur of silver and black, fighting on the concrete sidewalk.
The two blurs separated from each other, leaving a splatter of blood on the sidewalk in between them. The small boy gasped as his sight returned and he spotted his mother, bleeding from a tear above one eye. She spat out a shred of black fur. “I TOLD YOU TO NEVER COME BACK!” She yelled, the hurt returning, in a much larger amount, to her sky blue eyes.
Shadow simply snarled in reply, blood dripping from his mouth, and one eye shut tight. “I had to finish that abomination of a son off.”
That tore it. All of Silvia’s anger released at once. She leaped at the dark hedgehog, tearing at him with her claws and fangs. He retaliated with kicking at her stomach and even tried reaching for his gun.
Shaler was propped against the tree. Seeing his parents fight like that, when he knew that at one point they loved each other, even if his father rejected that idea... It hurt him. He was sitting there, helpless. He couldn’t do anything as yelps of pain came from his mother, who wasn’t as good as Shadow when it came to fighting.
Once again, his breathing quickened and he stepped forward, his hands balling up into fists. He couldn’t take any more.
“STOP!”
And with that, time stood still. The hedgewolf collapsed to the ground, his yell stinging the inside of his throat. He looked back at the fight, only to find them frozen in place. Time was stopped completely. The bugs that buzzed around the park lights also stood still and the glimmering stars… just stopped glimmering.
The young boy blinked a few times, confused as to what had happened. Time had completely stopped. But was it his doing? He wasn’t quite sure. Tears slid down his face as he continued to stare at the frozen battle between his parents. Blood dripping from both their mouths, and the injuries they had caused to each other. Shadow was bleeding heavily from a bite on his shoulder, and you could barely see the broken ribs that Silvia had sustained from his furious kicking.
Shaler found himself now sobbing into his scarf. He didn’t want this to happen. Maybe he was better off dead. His father should’ve just killed him.
“I just want it to all stop…”
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