Autumn Memories

Amy walked into her backyard, and breathed in deeply. She detected the scent of autumn, and heard the crisp leaves rustling in the soft breeze, and saw the small white puffy clouds in the sky. She walked over to a maple tree, and sat down on the old wooden swing attached to a large branch. She thought about how wonderful everything was. Her thoughts then turned to Sonic, her wonderful boyfriend. His large, bright smile, and the thought of his warm green eyes immediately made her happy. She gazed at another maple tree. She looked at its orange leaves, bright in the golden light and beautiful against the deep blue sky, and smiled as she thought of her first love.

Approaching footsteps at her front gate interrupted her thoughts. She got up and walked towards the gate. She saw Sonic standing there, handsome as ever. He caught her eye and smiled. She jogged towards him and opened the gate, giving him a hug. She ginned.

“Why so happy, Amerz?” he inquired.

“Because I like you”, she replied, smiling. He kissed her gently on the cheek and hugged her back.

“I like you too. Hey, remember, around this time last year, we got together?” he asked innocently.

“Uh huh. Tomorrow, it will be a year”, Amy said shyly.

“Oh really? So that’s why I bought you this”. He said, pulling out a small black box from his pocket. Amy smiled and opened it. She gasped, and tears of happiness came to her eyes. Inside the box was a small gold locket in the shape of a heart, with the word “Amy” engraved in it. Small diamonds framed the edges. Amy opened the locket delicately. On one side of the locket was a picture of her and Sonic on their trip to Sun Beach. Amy was hugging Sonic in that picture. On the other side of the locket was a picture of both of them on their trip for Snowy Peak. They looked cold and like they were having the time of their lives skiing and snowboarding.

Amy looked into Sonic’s eyes and smiled. Sonic laughed and asked her,

“Do you like it?” She gave him a look that said everything. He kissed her on the cheek again and said, “Glad ya like it”. She kissed him back on the cheek. “Aw…that’s it? C’mon, that’s all you’ll do for me?” he said unhappily. Amy giggled and kissed him on the mouth.

“Does that float your boat?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

“Yup”, he replied.

“Good. It better”, she replied playfully. “So…whatcha wanna do?” she continued in a more normal tone of voice.

“How about we pick some of those peaches over there? I’m hungry”, Sonic said, pointing to a peach tree in the corner of Amy’s backyard.

“I was going to do that anyway!” Amy said, so they got two stepladders and made their way over to the group of peach trees. They began to pick peach after peach, until they had to get huge buckets to hold all of their peaches. “Take as many as you’d like. I’ve got plenty”, she said, and they continued to pick the ripe fruits. At one point, Sonic fell off of his stepladder. Amy laughed, while Sonic collected himself, trying to look enraged at her laughter. As he stood up, he grabbed a peach and tried to throw it at her (not quite aiming at her, of course). It missed her by at least a foot. “Ha!” she shouted. They continued to talk and laugh, until they had been picking the peaches for about half an hour.

“Let’s take a break”, Sonic suggested, panting slightly.

“’Kay”, Amy agreed, and they stopped and sat under the biggest peach tree. Sonic grabbed a ripe peach from the tree’s branches, and began to munch it. Amy did the same.

“So”, Sonic said between munches, “how are you?” Amy laughed.

“I’m just fine”, she said. Sonic noticed how pretty the light was, and he was hit with a sudden inspiration. He set his peach down on the grass.

“I’ll be right back”, he said. Amy nodded, so he tore out of the yard and went running off. Amy curiously watched him run off. About 30 seconds later, he came speeding back into the yard. He had something behind his back. Amy looked at him in wonder.

“Yes?” she said. He grinned, and pulled a large white flower from behind his back. Amy gasped happily. He smiled again and tucked the flower in her quills, behind her ear. Amy lifted her hand up to the flower, a blissful expression on her face. “Wow Sonic! How did you do that?”

“I ran up to that little park about a mile away and picked it for you”, he said, breathing hard. He smiled, and then lifted his peach back to his mouth and took another bite. Amy felt extremely happy.

“That’s so sweet of you!” she said, grinning. She gave her a warm smile, and clasped her free hand between his. He grinned.

“Amy-chan, why did I ever hate you?” he said, more asking himself than her. She smiled sweetly.

“I’m not sure, why did you?” her expression changed to be more of a saddened one as she remembered the hurt she had felt from his rejection. Sonic felt the smile leave his face.

“Amerz…I’m sorry…I never meant to hurt you in any way”, he said softly. Amy looked at him, and for the slightest moment, he saw doubt in her deep green eyes. But then the doubt turned to a look of belief, as if he trusted him. She suddenly felt scared for no reason. Sonic saw it in her eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked her suddenly. She shook her head.

“I don’t know”, she told him truthfully. He looked worried. She then smiled. “I’ll be fine”, she reassured him. It didn’t seem enough, so then she said, “Can you imagine me ever not loving you?” He thought for a moment. He couldn’t. She had been tagging along after him for so long, it had almost seemed like that’s all she had ever done. Amy smiled again. “See? You have nothing to worry about”.

“If you say so”, he said, opening his arms for a hug. She immediately moved into them, nuzzling his shoulder.

He was content knowing that she loved him for himself, and for a fleeting moment he was sure they’d always be together. They would get married and spend their lives together for the rest of time. It was an instant realization that hit him, and sort of frightened him. Then he realized why Amy had looked afraid. She had had the same realization. He hugged her even tighter. She had just been shocked like him. Feeling much better, he planted a kiss on her mouth, and she giggled.

He turned to her and looked deep into her eyes. She didn’t flinch, as most people would do. She looked right back at him, her green eyes reflected in his own. And they both knew that the other was having the same realization. Amy’s eyes grew wide. Sonic smiled a tiny v-shaped smile, and then Amy grinned. He took both of her hands in both of his, and then raised his arms. Amy giggled. He dropped their arms, and then wrapped her in a hug. She laughed out loud, and kissed him sweetly.

“You’re something else!” she told him

“And you? You’re out of this world” he told her back.

It was a memory that neither of them would forget; a memory of Autumn; an Autumn memory. For that fleeting moment that both of them had experienced would change their lives forever more for the better.

Fin,

June 24^th, 2002

Idea created in Autumn 2001