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Sara Beth sat in the corner of the room crying, alternating from light sniffles to harder sobs as she tried harder and harder to tuck herself into a ball. She wanted to block out the whole world, and while successful in doing that, she wasnât very successful in calming herself down. She never had actually gotten this particular method of coping to work well – she might push herself into a tight, small, space, but her problems remained as overwhelmingly large as possible.
It had been utterly cruel of her friend to say those things to her. All over some silly argument. Sara Beth grasped at the tether looped around her hand, tugging slightly on it to make sure she still felt resistance. She did, and it reassured her slightly in between hysterics. At least he wouldnât betray her trust.
It had all started 5 minutes ago. The two girls had been playing with Sara Bethâs pet hedgehog, Sonic. Sara Beth never did quite understand why her parents felt it would be a fitting name for the hedgehog – it was something related to an old video game – but she was so happy to have a pet that she was alright with her dad trumping the naming rights. He had brought home little Sonic to her a few months before, along with all the appropriate hedgehog gear. Sonic was a friendly hedgehog, despite his spikes, and Sara Beth had become a good parent to Sonic, rarely holding him in the wrong way, rarely seeing the business end of his most prevalent defense mechanism. Sonic seemed to like Sara Beth, although one wouldnât know how exactly to tell that from a hedgehogâs demeanor. Perhaps it was the way he would roll his little ball near to her when he was ready to go home to his cage, or the look on his face when she smiled at him (At least she saw a look on his face, others told her she was nuts). His ball had a small hole in which a tether could be looped. It made sure he didnât roll too far away, and was very useful when your eyes are so full of tears you wouldnât be able to see your new best friend rolling away after like your former best friend had.
âSheâs jealousâ, Sara Beth thought in her mind. âJealous of Sonic and jealous of having a pet – her parents would never allow it!â. Each time Sara Beth would take Sonic out and let him play in his ball, her supposed best friend would try to snatch him away, play with him a bit too rough, or lightly push the ball around, throwing Sonic into a bit of confusion.
5 minute earlier, Sara Beth had had enough. Poor Sonic seemed disoriented and dizzy after being unceremoniously pushed by her friends foot.
âYou canât do that!!!â, she screamed as she snapped the tether onto the ball, in essence keeping Sonic tied to one spot, âHe doesnât like that!â
âHow do you know – he looks like he likes playing with his Auntieâ, came the sing-song reply of her friend.
âYou play too rough with him, heâll get hurt!â
âItâs fine Sara Beth, you worry too much. I wouldnât do anything to hurt him⊠unless you made me really madâ, she said with a sly smile that Sara Beth couldnât tell the true intent of. 99% sure it was a joke, but not 100%.
âYou donât care about him⊠you just want to play rough. And⊠andâŠ. you donât care about me! If you did you wouldnât do itâ
âThatâs not true!â
âYes it isâ
âNo itâs NOTâ
âYES IT ISâ
âNO ITâS NOT!!!â
Sara Beth mustered all of her courage and proclaimed:
âI HATE YOU! YOU ARENâT MY FRIEND ANYMORE! GO AWAY AND DONâT EVER BOTHER ME OR SONIC AGAIN!!!â.
She then tumbled to the floor while the other girl ran away.
Almost immediately, she regretted her words and actions. She was constantly told at school to act like an adult, but the impulsiveness of a child was still present at her age, and in this case it may have cost her a friendship sheâd had for years. Theyâd practically grown up together, and while so often these spats resolved themselves, this was the first time either had used the H word. She hoped sheâd hear her friend return and say something, anything, that would make things normal again. A long while passed and no timid small voice broken into Sara Bethâs balled up figure. This likely fueled her hysterical sobs that punctuated the silent sniffling in the empty classroom.
Eventually, she decided it was time to move on. To raise her head and get ready to go home. While she was old enough to be a âlatchkeyâ child, her parents were skeptical of how sheâd do alone, so each day they dropped her, and Sonic, off at an after school program. Theyâd do some art projects, read stories, and have time at the end to work on whatever they like. From time to time, though, even the older kids like Sara Beth would have a breakdown, evidence that they werenât quite yet the teenagers they aspired to be.
To her surprise, when she lifted her head, the room was darker than she remembered it. As her eyes focused, she began to realize that not only was it darker, it also wasnât even the same room.
âHello?!?â, Sara Beth called out, wondering if in her hysterics someone had come and taken her to another part of the school. She looked down and saw Sonic, still in his ball, still securely attached to her wrist. At least wherever she was, she had a true friend with her. Sonic looked up at Sara Beth in confusion.
Slowly she rose to her feet. Sara Beth hadnât yet experienced her growth spurt that the others had begun to endure. Her small frame still spoke of childhood, not adolescence. It seemed to fit her well. Her blue eyes pierced through her pale complexion, hair neatly pulled back in the same pony tail that her mom had been putting it in for years. She wore her school uniform, today consisting of a simple red cotton dress, which sharply contrasted with the gray scenery around her.
She spent a few minutes wandering around before it hit her: She wasnât at the school anymore. She wasnât anywhere that sheâd ever been before. She wasnât anywhere that sheâd ever heard about before.
She sat back down on the ground and tried her best to ball herself back up in the way she had been before, crossing her fingers. But when she looked back up she didnât find herself magically back in the classroom, she was still in the barren abyss. Pushing her head back, she let out a long wail. The sobbing had returned.
âWhat should we do today, Sonic?â, Sara Beth asked her prickly friend. Sonic looked up at her, but failed to answer. The sky had undimmed and Sara Beth could make out the familiar splotch of gray that appeared almost directly over the spot she liked to sit in, the same spot she had been sitting in when she arrived.
âIâm so glad I have a way to keep track of youâ, Sara Beth continued, âYouâd be so easy to lose hereâ. Indeed Sonicâs grayish colors would act like natural camouflage if it werenât for the ball made of light pink plastic that he lived in most of the time. When it got close to dim, Sara Beth would often take Sonic out and let him walk around the circle of ground enclosed by Sara Bethâs arms. She figured he needed his exercise, although he never stretched the way he used to when she took him out of the ball. Maybe he wasnât as stiff.
It had been about a 2 weeks since Sara Beth had arrived. In that time sheâd progressed through several emotional stages. For about the past 3 day/dim cycles sheâd been mostly stable, and now found that talking to Sonic relaxed her.
âMaybe today weâll go for a walk againâ, Sara Beth proposed, âWeâll go see that spot that looks like a dinosaur before we come back here and wait.â
Waiting was all she could think of doing. If somehow she had been taken to this place, then somehow she could be taken away, right? It seemed so simple. The universe dumps you in a strange land youâve never seen, somehow it should dump you back out. Maybe this was a crazy dream.
âYou know Sonic, we have to wait right here, so that theyâll know where to find usâ, she said with a forced smile, âWhatâs that? No, theyâll come back! Iâm sure they miss us. Yes, even her – sheâll come back soon, and Iâll even let her be your Aunt again – I know she just made a mistake when she rolled you that last timeâ.
Sonic hadnât eaten in 2 weeks, but of course, neither had Sara Beth. Sonic hadnât slept, but neither had Sara Beth. Sonic hadnât wept, but Sara Beth certainly had. Even on her âgoodâ days she still spent a good deal of time crying in some way. The long wails and sobs had subsided, but now the subtle tears of loss and longing had taken over.
Sara Bethâs parents were both busy people who loved her, but had very little time for her. Her father, an overworked police officer, was one of the most dependable people on the force. This meant he often was corralled into taking on double shifts, arriving home either right as Sara Beth had to go to sleep, or right as she was leaving for school. Every 9 weeks, when the school quarter ended, provided she got good grades, she got to ride along with him in his police cruiser for a special date with her handsome police officer dad. That was supposed to be three days ago, but the date never happened. She imagined him looking for her, missing their special ritual just as she did.
Her mom worked as a line supervisor at a local factory. She got off work around 5 PM daily and would pick Sara Beth up and go run errands. Some nights theyâd go to the pet store to pick up something for Sonic. Other nights theyâd just go home where Sara Beth would help her mom make dinner. She was old enough to start learning the sacred recipes her mother guarded with her life. Yesterday she was supposed to learn the secret to her motherâs sugar cookies.
âThey wouldnât leave meâ, she told herself as the sky dimmed each night, âTheyâre looking for meâ
âTheyâll find me.â
Three statements sheâd repeat time and time again, only to see the sky brighten each morning without a visit from her parents. The memory of them the only thing she could hold on to. Sometimes if she listened really intently, sheâd hear something that sounded like voices in the distance, but they never came closer.
Sara Beth and Sonic had begun their daily walk, out over the small hill toward the place in the sky that looked remarkably like a T-Rex, if you looked at it the right way.
âItâs safe, Sonicâ, Sara Beth would reassure her little companion as he rolled alongside her, âTheyâll certainly wait at the spot for us if weâre not there, besides, itâs good to get outâ. She had no idea if that were true – maybe it was good, maybe it wasnât. Maybe it was the only thing that stopped her crying.
When theyâd reached the T-Rex, Sara Beth noticed something she hadnât before. The T-Rex was changing color. It was almost brownish, as opposed to the gray it had been.
âSomething must be happening today!â, Sara Beth said to Sonic, âI bet itâs Mom and Dad! I bet theyâre coming to find me. The T-Rex is telling me thatâs trueâ. Sara Beth needed no further proof that this was true. What else could it be?
Sara Beth raced back to her spot. But all that awaited her was a rain storm. She picked Sonicâs ball up and held it close to her chest, keeping him dry from the rain as it poured forth. The rain started slowly, but it gradually increased in magnitude and force.
âWhat if this is punishment, Sonic?â, Sara Beth said, as water streamed down her cheeks.
âWhat if this is what happens when you push away your best friend? I wish I could tell her that I was sorry. I wish I could tell her that I didnât mean what I said. I wish I could take it all back and see her again. Iâd let her play with you – I know she wouldnât be too rough. Iâd invite her along with Dad and I – sheâd be so excited to ride in a police car. Iâd teach her how to make Momâs cookies. It could be like it wasâ
Sonic looked up at Sara Beth, but even Sara Beth couldnât infer emotion in his little face. As Sara Beth thought about her friend, momentarily focusing on their friendship and the fight, the ran slowly stopped. The sky returned to itâs normal shade, and Sara Beth looked out from her huddled mass covering Sonic and his ball.
It was at that moment that the most magical thing happened. It was the thing that would keep Sara Beth from almost certain insanity in the days to come. It was the thing that gave her hope that this world wasnât as bleakly depressing as it appeared.
As she sat there, Sara Beth began to feel a warm feeling from within her. It was as if she was covered in a warm blanket. All of her worries about her parents and her friend evaporated along with the rain, and she swore that when she looked down at Sonic, he was smiling at her, his little snout pointed up so she could see the curve of his mouth. Suddenly she didnât care if her parents ever found her. She didnât care if she were stuck in this world forever. In that moment, everything seemed perfect and right, to the point she even wondered what she had been worried about moments earlier. The sky brightened, and Sara Beth could swear that it looked like a glorious yellow sun might come out from behind the thick gray wall. Slowly Sara Beth stood up, extending her arms out. She prayed this feeling would never end.