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Shadow presented his ID at the front desk, stating his full name and who he was here to see. Of course, it wasn’t what he wanted to be doing on a Saturday, but his mom had made him. Only one more year of this bullshit before he could simply refuse to go.
He emptied his pockets and passed through the metal detector, used to the routine. A security guard guided him through a locked door and into the god-forsaken room he’d spent too much time in over the years. He sat down, trying not to touch the uncomfortable fabric of the chairs he hated. Everything about the visitation room was a sensory nightmare, be it the itchy chairs, the bright white hospital-esque lighting, or the uncomfortable eye contact the window provided.
Shadow heard a lock click somewhere on the other side of the window. He watched as a security guard led an unfortunately familiar figure down the hall and over to the prisoner’s side of the visitation window.
“30 minutes tops, no touching the glass, your call is being monitored. You guys know the drill at this point.” The security guard droned, listing off the rules Shadow could recite in his sleep at this point.
His dad sat down on his respective side, holding his hands out to be unhandcuffed by the security guard. Every visit was exactly the same. The security guard left the room, retreating to some security office or one way mirror to monitor the visitation. It wasn’t like anything ever happened.
Shadow’s dad picked up the phone, motioning for Shadow to do the same. Shadow lowered his gaze, his hooded eyes locking with his dads for a few beats before looking back at the floor. He picked up the phone with a groan.
“Finally showed up, huh?”
Shadow still refused to look his dad in the eyes again, instead glued to his shoes.
“Mom and the court said I had to.”
“Good to know she still cares about me.”
That ticked Shadow off, “She doesn’t, she just doesn’t want the judge on her case.”
Shadow heard his dad breathing through the phone, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. The glass wall between them wasn’t enough separation.
“I see you dyed your hair again.”
Shadow stayed quiet, knowing what came next.
“Every time I see you you look more and more like a queer, guess mom lets you do whatever you want now.”
Shadow didn’t move. He didn't want to give him a reaction, to let him get in his head.
“If she let me do what I want I wouldn't be here right now.”
“Well we don’t always get what we want. I’m in here after all.”
“Yeah, because you’re a criminal. Because it’s what everybody else wanted. For you to be as far away from us as possible.”
“Everything I ever did was for you ungrateful kids,” he snarled.
“You stole money, you threatened the police and you got Maria killed because you wouldn’t turn yourself in.”
“Those hijos de puta fired the gun, not me. I loved your sister.”
“She hated you. Hated the fact that her dad treated all of us horribly, hated the fact that mom and dad would always fight.”
“Don’t you fucking talk to be like that, I’m still your father.”
“Go fuck yourself. My dad is dead,” Shadow slammed the phone down, storming out of the visitation room.
He watched through a one way window as the guard quickly came back in and handcuffed his dad once again. His dad glared in his direction the whole time. Like he could see Shadow through the mirrored glass.
The thought alone made him shiver.
He passed back through the metal detector, picking up his stuff from another guard at the front desk.
Who did he think he was, talking about Maria or Mom like that? He thought.
Mama was always too forgiving of him. Maybe it was because she figured she had nowhere else to go. Maybe she was scared of his dad too.
Shadow got his skates out of his bag, changing shoes before lacing his inlines up. He popped his headphones in and headed down the sidewalk to another unfortunately all too familiar place.
He skated to a stop next to her tree, a small tombstone lying in the shade. He sat down, leaning against the firm yet comforting bark.
“Hey, Maria. It’s been a little while since I’ve been back. I’m sorry.”
He patted the gravestone gently, tracing her name in the granite.
“Mama’s doing fine, Dad’s where he belongs,” he trailed off for a moment.
“I’m doing better, I miss you a lot still. I’m trying not to let dad get to me.” He felt tears in the corners of his eyes start to fall down his cheeks.
“Who am I kidding, I can’t do this without you, Mari. Mama still thinks Dad is a good person and I can’t get away from him no matter how hard I try to.”
He wiped a tear from his eye, the bracelet Amy had made him catching his eye. He fidgeted with the beads, a small smile on his face.
“I guess I haven’t caught you up on what’s been going on outside of all this. You’d be proud, I actually made some more friends,” he smiled thoughtfully.
“Rouge and I made up with Amy and Knuckles. You would like Amy, she’s the nicest person I’ve met. And then Amy reintroduced me to Silver. Do you remember him from my races? I didn’t realize he was still competing, but he’s fairly nice. Blaze is quiet and I like her too.”
He placed his hand on the ground, eyeing the flowers and clover beneath him thoughtfully.
“I wish you could meet them all, especially the new kid, Sonic. He’s annoying as hell sometimes, you have that in common, but he’s really sweet. He actually helped me open up to everyone again.”
Shadow stood up slowly and carefully, getting to his feet before gently kissing his hand and pressing it to the headstone.
“Maybe I’ll bring him up here one day, you’d love him.”