Chapter 85

The white cleared. Sonic was inside the foyer. But the hourglass hadn't taken him through space only. He knew it had taken him through time, as they were transparent again. He looked to everyone else. Tails and Knuckles looked confused. Right. They hadn't done this with the hourglass before. There was a slight shine and brightness to everything, like a romance anime. There was a cherry blossom pink at the corner of all their visions.

Ramona was there. This was the first time Sonic got to see her eyes. His vision was in full color, and she had purple eyes. She seemed to be waiting for someone. And then that someone arrived. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled. Sonic almost felt that impossible, as he had never seen her smile once. He had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

As the elevator doors opened, Sonic saw... Miles! His glasses were now see-through, not fogged up. He had blue eyes like the ocean. "Hey..." Ramona said, shyly.

"Um, sorry, but... do I know you?" Miles asked. It didn't seem like Miles to apologize. Had he just been in a funk up to this point? Sonic also found this hard to believe.

"Oh..." Ramona gasped, averting her eyes. Her smile ceased, but soon came back. "I guess you don't. I'm Ramona... I'm Marilyssa's daughter. Well, adoptive daughter."

"Oh. Yeah, I've heard of you around the lab. Your mother talks about you a lot," Miles replied. He also looked to be getting shy. Ramona looked at him longingly as he averted his eyes. Looks like someone had a crush. But if that was the case... why would she kill Miles back in the guest house? "Look, I'd like to stay and chat, but I have to get home. I have to study for college if I ever want to get out of this little internship I have going on."

"Oh! I see!" Ramona said. "Would you like to talk later?"

"Well, I am pretty busy... but I could make time for you..." Miles sighed. He then realized. That came across as super weird! Ramona seemed to like it though. She smiled bigger. "I mean, I could maybe do that."

"Okay, I like that," Ramona whispered, a hint of a giggle in her voice. Miles smiled.

"Heheh..." Miles chuckled. He took a sticky note stack and pen from his pocket, and wrote something down on a sticky note. He pulled it off from the others and handed it to Ramona, and walked out the door, which automatically opened for him.

Ramona looked down, and smiled, blushing. She twirled around happily and held the note to her chest. Was it a love note? Sonic didn't know. Ramona stopped spinning, and looked at the door, a hint of melancholy on her face. Looks like she already missed Miles.

The sight faded to another. The front steps of the porch in front of the house. The wind blew by at an accelerated pace, like a timelapse. The sky turned day and night, the sun rising and setting. The moon rising and setting behind the mountains in the distance of Green Hill from long ago. Sonic realized there was no checkerboard rock or dirt. Ramona just sat on the stairs the whole time. She'd leave sometimes but be back in an instant from Sonic's perspective. Seems she only left for the bare necessities. But all her free time was spent sitting on that porch...

Miles would come by sometimes to talk. Every morning at the crack of dawn before going into the house, and every night at the edge of midnight after leaving the house. Did he work in the lab? That would explain what he's doing in the house, and why he was so busy. But whenever he wasn't there, Ramona always looked so sad... but hopeful. When he was there, it looked like she was having the time of her life.

One day they even kissed as the world around them seemed to slow down.

Sonic found himself being sucked into this scenario. This constant waiting, and then, the arrival of what you were waiting for. But it was temporary. But it would always come back. Right?

Maybe not. A while after the kiss, Miles didn't appear at the usual time. Ramona looked at her wrist watch, adorned with gold and displaying roman numerals. She looked less and less hopeful as the days went on. Sitting on that porch in the now dreary winter, drifting off to sleep but then waking up. Only going inside occasionally. Miles wasn't even showing up for work.

Then, Marilyssa came out and dragged Ramona inside. Ramona kicked and struggled, but to no avail. Everything went black.

Continue to Chapter 86