A Cursed Jewel

By: SonadowIsLife

Chapter One: The Greedy Woman

“Outta my way.” People who rushes by says the same thing over and over again to a poor little blue hedgehog. He wasn’t needed on this street. He wasn’t needed in this town. He wasn’t needed in this Country. He wasn’t needed in this world. He, the azure hedgehog with green orbs of delicacy, wasn’t needed at all. He was a waste of space.

“Stupid rodents...” They would mutter as they passed by him. But that was after kicking him aside, scraping him, adding just another cut or bruise to hundreds of what was already on his weak body.

Rarely, but it still happens: A Nicer  kind of people passes by him by accident. They would kneel down in front of him and say, “Hi there!” After that they would go ahead and try this mindless move, called ‘petting’.

“Ow!” They would exclaim, and look at their blood stained hands.

They would look back at the hedgehog and snarl, “Why you...” And get ready to kick him just like all the people. But before they ever had time to do so, they would always somehow notice his quills.

“Here, let’s make a deal. You give me a quill of yours and I’ll go and buy you some food?” They would say.

The hedgehog, despite being tricked so many times, would always convince himself to believe. He was already hurt and damaged so much, physically and mentally, he just didn’t care anymore.

The person would smile and hold out their hand, waiting for the hedgehog to pull a quill from himself and give it to him/her.

The blue one, on the other hand, hated taking a quill out because it hurt to badly and would bleed for such long times that he hated to think about it. It was just like little boys about the age of six and those broccolis their moms would make and force the kid to eat. But...The spiky creature did it anyway, and it popped off with a yelp and some blood. The person would smile again and wave good bye. He, himself would stay and wait for the person who promised him food. But he didn’t know that he would never see the person again...Or did he? If he did, then why did he give him his quill? He has his own reason.

One day, he found a newspaper on the ground and decided to see what was on it. He couldn’t read, so he just looked at the pictures. And there it was, he wasn’t surprised, the very person that asked for a quill from him and said that he would give him food, and yet never did, his wife dead on the floor with one eye open. In the eye was his very own quill.

Bad things has happened to every person that had one  quill, or maybe just a little dust made out of it. And would  happen.

He would sigh and throw the kind of paper kids have no interest in reading away and turned and look at the wall his back rested on. He would take a finger and lightly touch the bleeding part of his body, and make a fresh new tally mark made from his painful blood.

He sighed and said, “The one-hundred and twenty fourth time...”

There were 24 completed tally marks (multiply 5 and 24. You’ll get 120). Off to the side stood the new line of blood that signaled the new number, four.

*XXX_XXX*

The man walked into his house and called for his wife to see the quill. The woman’s heavy steps indicated that she heard and was coming.

“Terrance, what do you have now--Oh!” She said. “What in pink elephants is that?”

“This, honey, is a blue quill. You see that? A blue  quill! AND from a real hedgehog!” He held it out in front of the woman who’s eyes were wide and her mouth agape.

“Impossible!” She exclaimed. “Let me see it.” She said as she snatched the unnatural colored quill.

“Well?” Terrance said.

“This...This is quite unreal...” The woman’s hands suddenly shook uncontrollably. “We can sell this for a lot of money, Terrance.”

“Yes, we could. But...Are you alright dear? You’re hands are not really stable.” Terrance asked in concern.

The woman however, doesn’t seem to notice and kept on examining the blue object.

“It’s beautiful.” She cackled.

But a scream shortly followed that comment.

“Alyssa!” Terrance said and took a step forward to his wife.

One of her eye was currently bleeding and holding the blue quill, while the other eye closed, making tears fall down because of the weight (of her eye lid)

“Take it out!” She screamed.

“But honey, you’ll have to hold still!” Terrance told her.

He was right. She was thrashing around, making it hard--almost impossible--for him to take the quill out.

“I don’t care.” She didn’t bother following what her husband had said. What was wrong with him? Can’t he just pull the quill out?

“But--” The man said.

“Enough! Are you going to take it out, or not?!” The poked-in-the-eye-Alyssa asked, her patience evaporating.

“Well, it’s really in  there, so you’ll have to stop moving arou--”

“Then that tells it.” She cut him off.

She opened her other eye and headed of to somewhere else, probably a place with a mirror.

She walked in front of the mirror and started saying something before actually looking in the clear glass. “Stupid Terrance and his reasoning that doesn’t even make any bit of--” Her comment was seized by a sharp gasp that came out instead.

Alyssa tried to keep the horror to herself, but it was just too much for her.

“AAAAAHHH!!!” Her shriek was heard all the way from their little house to the owner of this precious blue quill.

-----------------------

Sonic looked a bit sad and said, “Oh well. I guess they won’t give me the food now.” And laid his blue spine back onto the hard brick wall.

Then a small smirk settled in place as he closed his eyes.

“Serves them right...” He mumbled.

But in the end, he would know deep inside his heart that it was his fault. His fault for being cursed.

-----------------------

To Alyssa’s horror, her left eye was bleeding terribly; with the quill seem to be stuck in there.

She grabbed the quill and tried yanking it out, but it was too slippery, and the quill slipped out of her fingers every time she made a pull for it.

“Curse this...This...Whatever it is!” She yelled.

She got frustrated, for this quill just won’t get out and seems to be playing some kind of trick on her. It stayed in her eye without giving off any signs of being loose as if saying, ‘ha, you didn’t even get me loose! How are you going to ever get me out? And don’t think this is bad. I’m staying here as a mark.’

“A mark?” She asked.

How foolish. The quill didn’t speak to her at all. She just got this feeling that there was something about this quill that felt like something...Almost like a flag you would stick into the ground to say that your country has been to this place. In fact, it felt just  like that. Like she was a piece of land--a prey--and the people--the predator--was after her. Well, they’ve made their mark now...

Actually, Sonic the Hedgehog had made his mark on the poor woman that died the next morning.

-----------------------

‘I’d just killed a person.’ Sonic thought.

He thought the same thought for the one-hundred and twenty fourth time.