Sonic - 'Run Away'

Run Away



I’m not certain if any of you really know what it’s like, to be considered important in someone’s life. To be respected, just for living. The whole concept of popularity, just for the fleeting moment, you are considered ‘A Hero.’

Traveling along, doing what you normally do best… Your daily life suddenly becomes the very thing that drives peoples’ interest. You put your best face forward, facing them around every corner, as they always seem to be waiting. Running away from the faces, to try and find someplace new where nobody knows you. You end up running right back into the ever-judging eyes of your fans.

Heh, sure. It may sound silly at first. A Hero trying to run away from his adoring public. Wherever you go, people recognize you. Scrutinizing every little thing you do. You’re well known, and everyone knows it. They think they know who you are, how you act and they expect that when they see you. Finally, when you think you’ve found a small bit of peace, someone points to you, knowing full well who you are… The first thing they do? They yell, as if nobody else knows you’re standing there, stating what you are well known for, then their proclaimed love.  

It’s all fun and games, to start with. You work yourself up from the bottom, not really trying to prove yourself but what you do begins to get recognized, and when you finally start climbing, you realise how dangerous it really is.

Offering a warm smile to their bright face, nodding, not really listening to what they start babbling on about as you’ve heard it all before, remaining modest about what you do. Though, when trying to leave yourself from them, and hide from the same crowd, it becomes more than just pleasantries. It’s a chore.

For once, I sort of wish that I wouldn’t be this Hero everyone makes me out to be. I just want to be a normal person, like anyone else. I don’t want to walk into a room, having all the eyes in the area turn to look at me. Unnerving, as it is, every time I hear someone call out the name ‘Hero’, my heart sinks that much lower. Being a Hero isn’t making me happy, to change the world has been one of my dreams, but I don’t want to be singled out in the process. I don’t know how anyone can be happy, always being the center of attention. I almost wish everyone would ignore me.

Seems a bit drastic, eh? Perhaps, but you might not be able to see the world the way I do. Hiding myself behind various forms of disguise, trying not to be noticed. Running in my own shadows, being forced to live up to a lie of what everyone expects. Though who I am seems to come back and bite me in the ass. ‘Hey! You’re that Hero! WOW! You’re so cool!’ My heart sinks yet again.

I can’t seem to explain it, but all I know is that I have to run away. That’s all I have ever done in my life, and it’s what I’m good at. Running away. Never turning back, always facing the future. I wonder if this is how those celebrities that fake their deaths, or vanish from the face of the earth, feel like? Little wonder, there.

Every one of my friends, when I first met them, I wanted to lend them a helping hand. They were troubled, it seemed. For whatever reasons were their own, but I wanted to help, and make new friends in the process. Hard to believe, but it seemed like they changed, and grew stronger, once we became friends; I knew it was for the better. Each had their own talents, and those were what caught my eye. Maybe I changed to?

Unintentionally hearing conversations between my friends and the locals, held shocking results. ‘Hey, you’re a friend of that Hero. What are they really like? You’re so lucky.’ Never have I ever heard the people talk about my friends, and what they did best. I’m sure it hurt them a lot, to just be considered hanging onto my coattails all the time. In all truth, it hurt me as well. My friends deserved to be in this limelight that I had been ‘blessed’ into. They deserved it more than I ever did, and ‘hanging around me’ didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere. I ran again…

Wanting to run so far away, like I had in the past. Oh, that’s right. You don’t know, do you? That’s all right, though. My past is unimportant for the most part, but it started very much similar as this winding river is going. Life repeats itself, making the world a lot smaller than it really seems. I never talked about it with any of my friends. My real past they never cared for, and that’s what I love them for. They didn’t care who I was before, and I’m sure it would not have mattered one bit to them. Thanks guys.

Starting over… finding a new identity, someone else to hide beneath. The mask I had previously worn for you, my friends, is wearing thin. The same mask, for so many years that I had shown while being ‘This Hero’ everyone thinks I am. It disgusts me. The happy, cheerful, always brave, never-a-care-in-the-world type personality. How cliché.

The friends, who had first turned to me for help, now become my guiding light for assistance. Whenever they had troubles, I listened, and I tried to do something about it. What about my own troubles? Didn’t want to let anyone know I had any, and I certainly didn’t want to burden my friends with my troubles. A Hero isn’t supposed to have problems, right? Hah.

All I can think of is running. Why do I keep thinking of it? Like I said, it’s what I do best. The first and last resort I turn to. Maybe, someday, I’ll learn to stop running. Stop leaving my old life behind, and actually keep my old friends. They’ve grown up so well, now, that they don’t need me.  They never really did, they just needed someone to be their fan--to call them the Hero. Even the smallest delight would make anyone feel important, and they are to me. So this is why I must run. To run from their lives, and let them go on living without following in my shadow. I’m sorry guys…Forgive me.

A new hair color or perhaps a new attitude? Or some new clothing and new scenery. Something to start over with, where nobody recognizes me. Ahh, why be different. The best way to blend in is to be the same as everyone else. Though that will be difficult at first, just like it had been before I met my new friends. It’s a shame no one else ever got to see the real me, only what I portrayed for them. I wonder if I would have still been considered a Hero, if they had known? No wonder I always ran off to be by myself, so I could be myself.

It’s quiet now, the beginning of the new day, and the new path for my next life. Tails, Amy, Knuckles…Yeah, even Eggman. I’ll miss you all, my friends. I’ll come back and visit, though you won’t know I’m here; I will be someone else, someone you might not recognize. I’ll be that someone to call you a Hero. Live your lives to the fullest, and make lots of friends.



Take care,

Sonic the Hedgehog