4
Joline finally got home at around one in the morning, exhausted, after chasing her dog into someone else's front lawn. After setting out Poe's bed she let herself fall into her own bed. The memory foam mattress that usually brought her warmth and comfort now only filled her with sorrow over her late lover. She fell asleep with tears in her eyes and Olivia on her mind.
_
Shadow awoke before the sun was up and spent the next few hours walking around the town, knowing no one would see him at this late hour. There was one house in particular that caught his attention though, it was a two story house with a patio and big backyard. The top floor was a faded navy blue color while the bottom floor was an off white cream color. The steps leading to the door were cement with black railings, and all the windows were bare, no curtains no blinds. He lifted himself up to see into one of the windows and saw an empty living room, nothing but dust and boxes inside. Maybe he could stay here, it was a bit cold out and that fort wouldn't hold for very long, the nice lady surely wouldn't return after one nice gesture, it would be a waste. Opening the window quietly he climbed inside the house and looked around the room, no pictures on the walls, no television, and no furniture. Upon venturing further into the house he entered the kitchen, there was a single empty 'cup ramen' on the counter and a fork in the sink but was otherwise empty, less dusty than the living room though. There was a hallway off to the side of the kitchen that had three doors, one open and leading to the bathroom and the other two closed. He opened one of the doors and was greeted by dust to his face, he coughed a bit before catching his breath and looking around the room. There was nothing in the room but two windows equally as bare as the ones in the living room. The carpet had a single water stain on it but was otherwise clean and mostly unused. As he shut the door to the room his attention was dragged to a whiny sound coming from the other side of the last closed door. He crouched by the door and listened as some kind of animal scratched and whined against the door.
'maybe they're trapped' he thought as he reached up to the door handle. When he opened the door slightly a fuzzy face peeked it way through the gap in the door and looked at him before letting out a more high pitched whine. He opened the door a little more and the thing, which he was now finding out was a dog, jumped at him, licking his face and wagging it's tail.
"Gross" he grumbled as he grabbed the dog and stood up, setting it down by his feet. "Go, I helped you out now shoo." In response the dog just sat at his feet and tilted it's head at him. Shadow sighed and picked the dog up, walking towards the front door before a voice made him freeze in place.
"Poe." The voice sounded sleepy and it was coming from the room he just got the dog out of. "How on earth did you get out buddy?" The tired voice stumbled out of the room and froze when it made eye contact with shadow. He's sure he looks creepy in the dark, his fur blending in, making it look like two floating eyes were just staring.
"Hello?" The voice called, rubbing it's eyes with it's fists.
With his eyes already adjusted, Shadow could see that the voice belonged to a woman probably in her thirties, with a stained T-shirt, and sweat pants on. Her black hair was folded into a messy bun on top of her head and bright pink slippers covered her feet. Her green eyes blinked at him a few times before seemingly adjusting to the dark as well.
"Oh. Hello" her voice didn't sound scared but her eyes betrayed this.
"Hello," he replied, his voice seemingly confusing her for a second. Before she could speak again he continued, " I apologize, I was under the impression that this house was empty and uninhabited. I will leave now." He set the dog, Poe his brain supplied, down and was about to walk away when she started talking again.
"You could stay."
That was all she said, calm and quiet but still spoken, the words shocked Shadow.
"But you have no idea who I am." He turned to her, confusion clear in his expression. "Why would you trust me to stay in your home?"
"I do know you. I saw a video about a couple days ago, you're that hedgehog that tried to destroy the world right?" Her words hurt him for some reason.
"I don't mean that in a bad way, I know you changed your mind. You sacrificed yourself to save the world, thank you."
"How do you know all this about me." He kept his head down and his eyes on the floor.
"My wife, Olivia s- she loved to keep up on all the news and tell me about it, she read about what happened before the government could delete any evidence. She kept telling me about these 'adorable animal human hybrids'." Shadow was unsure why anyone would call him adorable.
"She loved talking about you guys and then when I went on a walk earlier, Poe led me right to two of em'. A little fox guy and a bigger red guy, they looked so cute, and now you're here. She would have loved to meet you three." Her words were sad and Shadow didn't miss that she was using past tense for this 'Olivia' person she was talking about.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He muttered
"Thank you." She sniffled before wiping her eyes. "You can stay though, if not for your own safety then for her. Unless you have someplace to stay," Shadow didn't miss the 'which I doubt' she whispered to the dog, whom she had picked up while talking.
After a minute of silence he finally spoke "Thank you for the offer though I do not wish to burden you with my presence or the reminder of your late wife." With that he climbed back out the window before she could stop him and used the last of his energy to teleport to the small fort behind the clinic. He lost consciousness just as the sun was rising over the trees.