Do You Like Sonic?

Freshman year I met Mike. He was Indian, chubby, and was usually shy most of the time. Most of my other friends used to make fun of him because his obsession (yes, that’s the best way to put it) with Sonic the Hedgehog. Everyday, and no, I’m not exaggerating, he would ask the same question: “''Do you like Sonic?''” As you’d expect, it was annoying, but I had P.E. with him so I was forced to talk with him. I should have just ignored him. I should have made fun of him like the others did. Being the nice guy I’d like to think I am I made friends with him.
I personally hate Sonic, but whenever he’d ask I told him Yeah Mike, I love it!, and others lie to make him stop asking. His favorite game was Sonic Colors. The reason I remember this is because he also told me that every day. After asking the horrific question which is “Do you like Sonic?” he told me he loved Sonic Colors, and then he would tell me how great of a game it was. He was saving up his money for the game “Sonic Unleashed”. According to him, it was supposed to be the greatest game ever made, after the original Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic turns into a werewolf to defeat Dr. Eggman in this game. When I saw the reviews, the first one I saw said “Everyone knows you never go full werehog” along with a rating of 4.5. I shouldn’t have lied to him- I told him it looked great and I’d buy it when I saved up for it, too. He smiled and moved his head up and down like he was a.. a… hedgehog. It was scary.
Like I told you, we shared the same P.E. class. One day, we had to run five laps- four is equivalent to a mile. We were freshman, so this was a lot for us. I got to the third lap and I was suffering. It was at least 95 degrees out, and it was difficult to walk let alone run. But running up behind me I saw Mike, he was running, drenched in sweat, like he was just taking a shower in his clothes. You could smell his filth from far away like… a hedgehog. I looked at him, asked him “Lap?” and he put up five fingers to me to show he was on his fifth lap. I was worried, he was so unfit. I looked at him as he passed me “Hey Mike, how about you take a break? You look pretty tired.” He looked at me with his dark, blue eyes and said to me while he was out of breath “I gotta go faster, I gotta go faster”. He said this a few more times as he passed me. One day I screwed with him and dropped a package of yellow rings, one at a time, that I bought at an arts and crafts store. Every time he saw a ring he would make an annoying “Cling” noise. It was pretty hilarious.
A month passed, and Mike never asked me my views toward the blue hedgehog on crack. It was October, and our school was having a costume contest. I was never into dressing up, but Mike apparently was. I was sitting next to the catwalk where the contest was taking place, and a blue figure was walking down it. It was Mike with a blue shirt and pants, his hair spiked up, and his whole body was completely painted blue. He was smiling. As he walked past me he looked at me with green eyes now.
That day I wanted to avoid him- he scared me. I tried to run away but he was too… fast. I felt him tap my shoulder and I shuddered. “Guess who I am? Just Guess!” he said to me in a voice which was not his own. I told him “I don’t know, um…, Tails?” Mike’s happy face turned into an angry one. He spoke with a voice that resembled Satan’s. “Tails is yellow you motherf***ing son of a..” “What?” I asked him to stop him from cursing me out. He smiled and said “Noooooooooooooooooooooo I’m Sonic the Hedgehog, you know from Sonic Colors, one of the greatest games ever created!” I smiled a fake smile “Just kidding bro, I know who you are. You did a good job!” “Damn right!” he whispered again in that Satanic voice. I told him I had to leave, and that I would see him at P.E. tomorrow. Later that day, I saw him again. There was someone dressed up as Amy and he was right behind her. She turned around in shock, he was breathing heavily down her back. Mike looked her in the eyes and asked her “Do you like Sonic?”. The Amy look-alike made a disgusted face and ran away. He yelled at her as she ran away “Give me your Chaos Emerald!”. She didn’t give him her Chaos emerald...
Mike didn’t come the next day. I asked him the day after that why he wasn’t there and he told me he finally saved enough money to buy the Sonic Unleashed game he always talked about. He was left burrowed up in his home like… a hedgehog. He also said he was going to live stream it on Twitch that night, and sent me the link by email. I told him I’d watch it, but I didn’t want to see his live stream. He figured out the next day that I didn’t watch his live stream because he had zero views and he was upset with me. He was as angry as… a hedgehog.
That night I knew I needed to see his live stream. I didn’t have an account so I tried to make one with the username “Ilovesonic” but it was taken… by Mike. Instead, I put “tailsgetssometail97”. When I joined the stream Mike was already in the middle of Sonic Unleashed. He looked down and saw someone joined. He looked directly at the camera “Is that you?” He asked me my name. When I told him it was me he got excited and screeched out like… a hedgehog. The stream lasted six hours and he made me watch the whole thing, while he explained the game mechanics. Sonic plus werewolf equals exactly as it sounds, that is all I’m going to say. When the stream got to the six hour mark I saw him go down on his knees and pray. “Dear lord Sonic, I thank You for all Your wondrous games. I love you. I see that few people respect You like they should, and You punish them. They're just Eggmans. They will never get your gracious gift of the Chaos Emeralds. But there’s my friend. He’s praying with me right now.” He turned to the camera. “You’re praying with me aren’t you?” I wasn’t, but I typed “y3s”. His face filled with rage “YOU LIAR!” he screamed “How could you type that if your hands are supposed to be together when you pray?” He jumped toward the camera, I saw snow and the inside of a throat- he was eating the camera. I logged off immediately, I didn’t want to see any more.
Nothing unusual happened for the rest of the year. When I got back sophomore year I saw Mike- he looked horrible. He was obviously malnourished, his skin was a light tint of blue. He smiled when he saw me. “I went on a diet over the summer. I’m so skinny, I bet you I can run faster now too. I’m so happy now! Do you like Sonic?” This scared me, and I tried to avoid contact with him. The next day he came up to me and lent me a game- it was Sonic Colors. He told me how great it was, like usual, and that I should play it.
When I got home I inserted the disk into my Wii. It started up like normal (Or, normal enough, I know nobody actually played that shit). I finally thought it was time to play after the intro, but my character, Sonic, looked at the screen. He told me “I am the based god now!” I jumped back in my chair. “My followers travel around the world asking the simple question- Do you like Sonic?” This scared me, but I chuckled a little. “You fool! You're just another Eggman!” Sonic pointed directly at me. I felt warmth on my chest when he did this. “I am a merciful based god, however, I shall grant you another chance! A redemption, like Red Dead Redemption except in this ending, you won’t die! I have to ask you the simple question once again, to prove your loyalty- do you like Sonic?” I looked Sonic straight in his eye and told him “Yes, I do like Sonic!”. Sonic was not fooled by my ruse, he yelled at me “You lie, I gave you the chance to gain the Chaos Emerald, but you refused!” After he said that the game shut off.
I no longer go to my school, I live the homeless life like… a hedgehog. My friends told me that Mike left the school, I presume he is going to spread his religion elsewhere. Good for him. I am forced to run from Sonic, he chases me, I see him everywhere. Whenever I see him I run, while I keep telling myself ''gotta go faster, faster, faster…''