Help, I'm a Sonic Character 1

I sighed  and took another sip of my hot chocolate from the disposable cup on the table in front of me. The warm breeze blew through my long, loose hair, bringing with it the pleasant scent of spring blossoms. On a nearby table three girls gossiped about boyfriends and teachers and sleep-overs. Somewhere in the town a dog barked. I smiled wanly and sipped at my drink. I normally enjoyed this; sitting at a little wooden table outside my favourite cafe, listening to the birds as the gentle sun warmed my shoulders. But I couldn’t enjoy it properly, not today.
   “Hey, where’s mine?”
  I looked up to see a tall boy throw himself into the chair across the table from me. Typical. No apology for being late. Not even an excuse. I picked up a coke by my chocolate and handed it to him. He took it with only a grunt of thanks.
  “You’re late,” I said, unnecessarily. He rolled his eyes.
  “Sorry, ‘Mum’!”
  I tried again. “You could have at least sent me a text!” I grumbled, indicating my mobile phone on the table.
   “I didn’t see the point in wasting my money when I would see you in a few minutes,” he shrugged.
   I consulted my watch. “You’re 20 minutes late!”
   “So?”
   “What happened?” I asked indignantly. He shrugged again, drinking his coke straight from the can.
   “I forgot.”
   “You forg-?” I began, but broke off. It was futile arguing with him. “Oh, never mind! What do you want to do today?”
   He looked at me like I’d just said 1 add 1 makes 3. “You haven’t  got a plan? Then what are we doing here?”
  “I thought we could decide  at this cafe,” it was my turn to shrug. “I like to see my options before I decide what I’m going to do.”
   “Well I don’t!” he sulked, “I prefer to have a plan first.”
   I threw a suggestion into the air. “We could catch a film?”
   He mellowed. “Fine. What’s on?”
   “I don’t know. I figured we’d see what they have.”
   This time he really snapped. “You don’t know? That’s stupid! What if we get up there and find there’s nothing we want to watch? It’ll be a wasted journey!”
   “Hey, you’re the one who’s always out free running and skate boarding!” I argued back, “I thought you’d like the exercise!”
   He snorted and stood up. “Forget it!” he muttered, and stormed off.
  “Where are you going?” I called after him.
  “None of your business!” was his only reply. I sighed and sat back down. I should have known by now that such conversations with my brother never ended well. I picked up my drink and resigned myself to another afternoon alone.

"So you got my message then?"
   It was getting dark now as evening rolled in. The shops were closing down for the night, and the first orange glow of the streetlamps was beginning to cut sleepily  through the gloom. And there was my brother, practicing his kick flips and 360s by the fountain in the middle of town. He nodded as I mentioned my text, but he didn't even seem to notice the new outfit I was wearing. Typical. He did notice the bags in my hands, though.
   “What’d you buy?”
   “Just clothes,” I answered. I twirled on the spot, my new outfit dancing as I moved. “Do you like it?”
   He only grunted and went back to his skateboard.  “Do you have any money left to get home? Because I’m not paying!”
   I sighed. “Of course I do. Come on, let’s go before we miss our bus.” I led the way around the fountain, and soon I heard the clatter of wheels against the paving stones as he skated up on his board. The noise cut a rude wound in the quiet town, now that most of the shoppers had gone home.
   We walked on the silent streets for a while, concentrating on finding our way.  Well, I walked.  My brother hung close beside me, performing ollies now and then, and frequently bumping into me. I found that a little strange. He always rode ahead normally. But I was glad of his company: I didn’t like walking the streets alone after dark. I finally decided he was staying with me to protect me, even though he’d deny it profusely if I asked.  I was just drifting off into a pleasant daydream about this when  I realised that the noise of the skateboard’s wheels had stopped. I halted and turned around to see my brother standing a few paces behind, his board in his hands, gazing intently down a side street. I retraced my steps to stand beside him.
   “We don’t have time to hang around! We’re going to miss our bus!”
  He gave me a cold glare and pointed into the dark alley. “I thought I saw something...”
  “What was it?”I asked, suddenly intrigued, and a little frightened.
  “ If I knew that I wouldn’t say ‘something’!”  He turned back to the alley and took a step into it. I grabbed his sleeve.
   “What are you doing? You can’t go down there!” I cried, really scared now. “What if it’s a man with a gun?”
   He shot me a scornful grin. “You stay here if you’re that worried.”  And with that he walked off into the gloom and shadows of the side street. I waited for about 10 seconds, worrying about him and myself. But I felt more scared waiting out there on the pavement by myself. Eventually my nerve snapped and I ran into the alley after him.
  My brother snorted softly as I trotted up behind him, but I was thankful that he didn’t say any more. Together we edged forward, moving further into the shadows. Old boxes and bags of rubbish lay strewn about through the alleyway, and every now and then a rat scuttled passed, making me jump. But we carried on, right to the end. I could see it now. A pile of rain drenched boxes clustered at the far wall of the alley, but just visible behind them was a thin silver line. My brother must have seen it shine in the darkness. He moved cautiously over to the boxes and began to gently move them out of the way.
  And then we could both see it, clear and obvious in the night, like the moon in the sky. A silver disk, roughly the size of a manhole cover, actually in the wall itself. The colour was swirling and sparkling, and it looked like it went on for miles. But that was impossible...
   “What are you doing?” I cried, as my brother moved his arm to touch the disk. “We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not!”
   “What’s so dangerous about a silver circle?” he chided, and touched the disk. But as his fingers made contact with the silver they disappeared, vanishing into its endless depths. I gasped, and he pulled his arm out, his hand intact. “It’s some kind of...portal!”
   I shook my head quickly. “That’s impossible! You’re seriously suggesting that thing is a portal to another dimension? What’s next, Daleks driving the bus?” I scoffed sarcastically. In answer, my brother grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward to the disk. With one swift movement he thrust my hand into the disk, and it too disappeared. But I could still feel it. And as I pulled it out again it was completely intact. I wrinkled my brow in confusion. “But that’s...impossible...”
   “I wonder where it goes...?” my brother muttered, ignoring me. I dropped my shopping bags next to his skateboard and stood beside him, as fascinated by it as him, though probably more frightened. And that’s when it happened. The silver of the disk suddenly leapt out at us, tendrils of what looked like liquid metal grabbed our arms and began pulling us towards it. We shouted and pulled back, but the silver was too strong. It was dragging us in, forcing us towards the centre of the disk. We tried to fight it off, we tried everything, but we couldn’t escape. And then, with a sudden pull, it lifted us off our feet and swept us into the churning silver as it turned to black...