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“What did you think of Knuckles, Ginger? He didn’t make you uncomfortable, right?” Shadow asked, handing the orange cat a bowl of spaghetti. Her favorite food. Ginger smiled. “No. He was actually very nice. He does seem a bit mysterious, though.” She looked down at her food. “I can’t describe it. We did talk for a bit, and at least he liked my art.” She smiled, eating a few mouthfuls of spaghetti. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at Shadow, who was staring into space. “Aren’t you hungry?”
Shadow turned to her. “I don’t need to eat, remember? I’m the Ultimate Lifeform.” He sat up a little. “You said Knuckles liked your art?” Ginger nodded, and she watched as a small smile formed on his face. “I liked it too. That picture you made for me is up in my room, you know.” Shadow began to eat alongside Ginger. In the corner of her eye, she saw Luna stumble into the kitchen and sit next to her food bowl. “Shadow, I think Luna’s hungry,” she said as the black kitten let out a small meow.
Shadow finished eating, then put his bowl in the sink and opened the fridge to look for wet cat food. “I think it’s that time of the week she gets to eat her wet cat food. Don’t you think so?” He turned to look at Ginger again. “If I remember correctly, I think so.” She watched in silence as the hedgehog scooped the wet cat food out of the can and into the bowl. “Why did you even name her Luna in the first place?” She asked, putting her empty bowl in the sink and watching the tiny kitten eat. Shadow shrugged. “I always thought the name was pretty.” He said, giving Luna a few scratches under her chin.
“So it’s that simple, huh?” Ginger asked. “I guess so,” he replied, messing with his quills. They both watched as Luna ate, then padded away as she finished, and Ginger couldn’t help but squeak from the cuteness. “I need to draw Luna as soon as possible!” “You should. I’ll hang it up on the fridge if you do,” Shadow replied as they both stood up. “I’ll do it later. Wanna watch TV for a while?” Shadow nodded, and they both went into the living room.
Thirty minutes passed, and they were still watching TV. Luna was lying on Ginger’s lap, and she was petting the top of her head. She really liked how soft it was. Next to her, Shadow was playing around with a metal ball. He was performing different tricks that he taught himself to impress her. “You’re really good with that thing.” “It’s what I get for being bored.” Shadow said, smirking. After watching TV for a bit longer, Ginger picked Luna up from her lap and put her next to Shadow. “I’m going to go and draw now. Take care of yourself, Shadow.” She smiled, then got up and went into her room.
Ginger bounced, excited that she was going to draw Luna. She looked at her dresser. Her art supplies were not in their usual place. That’s weird. Maybe I left them in my backpack. She opened up her backpack. Nothing. No notebook, no crayons. No. No, no, no, no. Where are they? Confused, the orange cat looked at her bed. They weren’t there either. “Where are they?” She whimpered, looking under her bed in case she dropped them. Nothing but dust.
Tears welling up in her eyes, Ginger looked in her closet. She looked all over her room multiple times. Where did I put them? Where did it go? Oh god, I don’t want to cry. She punched herself in the head, trying not to cry. She tried looking in all the pockets of her backpack. That’s when Ginger made a horrible realization. She had left her art supplies back on Angel Island.
No! No, no, no, nonono… Sobbing, she shook her head and began to hit herself again. “Why… why…” She barely had the energy to speak a full sentence. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. All Ginger could do was cry. She started hurting herself more, scratching and biting her hands as her sobbing got louder. Eyes completely blurry, she looked down and noticed that one of her arms had begun to bleed.
Shadow was sitting on the couch, still waiting for Ginger. He was playing with Luna, using a toy mouse for her to pounce on. He smiled, appreciating the innocence that the kitten had. As he continued playing, Shadow began to hear a strange sound. His ears pricked up, moving to the source of the noise. Was that sobbing he heard? He sat up in alarm. What happened to Ginger? Was she hurt?
He started to hear kicking and growling, and it made his heart jump. Ginger was having a meltdown. He gave the cat toy to Luna and ran over to Ginger’s room. “Ginger?” Making sure his voice was soft and quiet, he opened the door. On the floor, Ginger was kicking the floor and holding her head while crying, and he saw blood on her right arm from a few scratches. Shadow walked up to her and crouched down next to her. “Shh. I’m here; it’s okay.” Turning away from him, Ginger began to bite her left hand. Shadow grabbed her hand in an effort to make her stop biting. “Don’t do that. You’ll only hurt yourself,” he said softly.
She listened, but was still crying as she lowered her ears. Shadow sat next to her in silence, a lump forming in his throat. “I don’t know what happened, but I want to help you, Ginger. Do you want me to give you a plush?” Whimpering, Ginger nodded. Shadow smiled and picked up a plush from her bed; it was a striped cat plush that she had owned since childhood. He watched Ginger as she hugged it, tears falling on the plush.
Shadow smiled. “I’ll turn off the lights so it’s easier for your eyes.” He went to the other side of the room and shut off the lights, so only Ginger’s Christmas lights were on. With the room now darker, Ginger looked around and flinched when she saw Shadow. With a look of guilt forming on her face, she buried her face in her legs, with her tail wrapping around her body. Shadow sat down next to the cat. “Are you feeling better?”
Ginger didn’t respond. Shadow frowned. He couldn’t tell if he had done anything wrong or not. Suddenly, Shadow had an idea. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. I’ll give you a pencil and paper so you can tell me what caused your meltdown. I’ll leave you alone after that to give you space. Deal?” Ginger’s tail twitched, and she finally looked up at him, her eyes red from crying. She didn’t nod or say anything, but her body language showed Shadow that she agreed to do it.
So Shadow eventually managed to find some paper and a pencil and gave them to Ginger. “Try to explain what led to your meltdown. You don’t have to add in every detail, just the important stuff.” Shadow sat down next to her again, his voice still quiet and soft. Shadow patiently waited, letting Ginger take her time. Not long after, she handed him the paper again, avoiding eye contact.
Shadow looked at the paper. There was a single sentence on it. It was simple and went straight to the point. It said, “I left my art supplies on Angel Island.” Below it was a drawing of Ginger feeling sad, though the lines were more wobbly than usual. Shadow couldn’t believe it. Ginger always kept her art supplies in the same place and lost them when she finally took them with her. He didn’t invite Ginger to Angel Island, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty for this.
Maybe if he could’ve made her double check, this wouldn’t have happened. But Shadow couldn’t change the past. He had to focus on the now. “I’m sorry that this happened. I’ll try to go back to Angel Island when I head to work tomorrow. It might be a while before you can use your art supplies again, but I’ll make sure you get to use them as soon as possible. I promise.”
Ginger turned to him slightly, then suddenly reached in for a hug, surprising Shadow. Shadow didn’t like hugs, but he didn’t care. Ginger needed him. After a moment, he decided to hug back. It was the least he could do to cheer her up. “I’ll leave you alone now. Give you some time to cool down.” He stood up and began to leave her room. But he turned back before he left, saying one last thing: “Take all the time you need.” He then left, closing the door behind him.
The next morning, Ginger was woken up by Shadow walking into her room. In his hands were her art supplies. “I was going to go to Angel Island on my way to work, and something happened. Knuckles was at the door holding these and was planning on giving them back.” He put the notebook and crayons back on her dresser. “You should thank him next time you see him. I think he’d appreciate it.”
Ginger didn’t respond and looked away, nodding. “I understand if you don’t want to talk yet. I’ll see you later, Ginger.” Shadow smiled and left.