Just Keep It Together (Part 2)

Sonic woke up and looked at the clock. It was 12:00 PM. The time had come for him to face his fear. He was really nervous about it. What if the trip goes wrong? What if he falls right into the water? What if-

The blue hedgehog shook his head. He had to go. He agreed with Tails to do it. There was no turning back now. He couldn’t break the promise he made to his best friend. 

Sonic stood up and did a few stretches, just like any other day, but this time he was really frightened about what was going to happen. 

He put on his socks and shoes and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. Usually, he does it with no problems, since his fear strikes at the sight of huge bodies of water, but not after that nightmare he had. It was so scary for him that even there those paranoid thoughts began to roam his mind.

The Blue Blur tried to comfort himself. It’s not going to hurt me… It’s NOT going to hurt me…

With those words in mind, Sonic opened the faucet and splashed some water on his face with shaky hands. The sound of the liquid being poured from the faucet kept his fear ignited, but at least splashing it on his face helped him to calm his nerves.

He turned off the faucet, picked up a towel and dried his face. But when he looked at the mirror…

He couldn’t stop a gasp from coming out of his vocal chords as he took a step back in fear. The hedgehog saw that scene from his nightmare. All over again. The tentacles emerging… surrounding him… merging themselves together to form the wave… and splashing on him mercilessly.

After the scene was gone, Sonic stood still with wide eyes and breathing quickly. Was his fear playing with him? Was it making him see things that are just in his head now? He rubbed his eyes, just to be sure, and all that he saw in the mirror was… his own reflection.

To make sure that he doesn’t look too overwhelmed by the time he meets with his friends, Sonic repeated the same process he did when he woke up in the middle of the night: he closed his eyes and took slow and deep breaths.

“Relax, Sonic. It’s alright. The water is not going to hurt you,” he said while opening his eyes. “Don’t worry. Nothing bad is going to happen. But if it does, your friends will be there to help you."
Sonic took another deep breath. "Have courage. You can do this. You CAN conquer your fear!”

After that, the hedgehog put on his gloves, stepped out of his house and prepared himself to run to the river that the canoe trip will occur. He crouched low, closed his eyes, and once again took some few deep breaths. The Blue Blur decided to repeat that process one more time to prevent -or at least decrease- any possibility of turning around and running back home in fear. He shuddered a little bit when an image from his nightmare popped up in his mind, but reminded himself that there was no time to be scared. He needed to push his fear away for as long as possible.

Okay. Here goes nothing.

And with that, Sonic’s eyes shot open and he blasted off, determined to conquer his fear once and for all.