"Are you okay!?" Ember ran up to me and knelt beside me. "You can't break through the door, it's too strong! You gotta break the glass itself. Daddy would be so mad if he knew I was doing this…" she looked at the truck again, and I slowly stood up. I glared at this truck; it was beginning to irritate me. I glanced around my surroundings, and then I noticed a large rock. I walked over and picked it up. It was quite large and heavy. I looked back at the truck and smirked. Well now… let us try something else shall we? I walked back to the truck, rock in hand. I began to slam the rock on the glass forcibly. At first nothing seemed to happen, but my anger began to well up and I hit it harder. Suddenly the glass shattered into tiny pieces. I pulled my hand away quickly, to avoid injury.
"You did it!" Ember squealed in delight. I smirked.
No human made contraption shall get the better of ME.
Ember ran up to the truck.
"Now you gotta unlock it. There's a button on the other side of the door you gotta push so it clicks."
Sounds simple enough… I leaned over and looked inside, careful not to touch the shattered glass. I found the button on the door and clicked it.
"You did it!" she reached over and touched the truck again, and this time the door opened. I backed away slightly and she carefully crawled into the truck, after brushing away some of the glass. She went deep inside it, and I heard things being moved around. I stepped closer to get a better look inside. She began tossing things out of the truck. Many clothes, and many strange objects before she came out of the truck.
"Here, you gotta put these on." She held up more large clothing.
Was what I had on not enough? I wondered. Though I suppose she knew more about humans then I, so I allowed her to assist me in putting on these strange clothing. Ember stepped back and looked at me. I looked at myself as well.
"What…iisss…. Tthhh…tiis?" I asked, completely confused. Ember giggled.
"You're wearing blue jeans, a black sweater, socks, and hiking boots. Daddy always carried a full extra set of clothes in the truck… but you can make better use of them now…" she smiled slightly.
I felt awful for this child, yet thankful she was helping me as much as she has. I looked at the truck. Ember had said that this thing could transport us, but how?
"drr..ive..?" I pointed at the truck.
"Drive? Oh no we can't drive… You don't know how and I'm to little." She replied.
"Lii..little? Why?" Why did her size have anything to do with it?
"I'm too young, I'm only 12! Sides, there's no keys… we need the keys to drive." She looked disappointed.
I see these 'keys' are important to humans and their trucks. I looked around, now at a loss for what to do next.
"But on the good side," she held up a small pouch like object. "I found mommy's wallet, there's lots of money in here! This can get us home!"
I turned my head sideways quizzically. This little pouch contains the means to take us to her home?
"Don't worry, we'll get home. Oh, but you better carry this." She handed the 'wallet' to me. "Put it in a pocket and make sure you don't lose it, it's important. Oh yeah, a pocket is on your jeans." I looked at her confused. She took the wallet from me, and then slid it into a little pouch on my backside of my 'blue jeans' that I had not noticed before.
Ah, a pocket. Very interesting. I shall not lose this 'wallet', if it is that important.
Ember began to look around, and spotted something. She ran off to a large object, which I guessed was a machine. She picked a strange thing within, and put it to her face. I watched in curiosity. She pulled a shiny thing from her pocket, and put it in the large machine, then proceeded to push many little things on the machine. She stood quietly and waited, as did I.
What is the point to this???
Suddenly she began to talk, but not to me. I was surprised by this.
"Hello taxi? …I need a cab at the south docks… uh huh… please hurry… We'll be by the telephone… 10 minutes? Okay… thank you…" she put the object back on the machine.
"What waaass that?" I asked.
"Oh this is a telephone. Humans use it to talk to other humans. I called us a cab to take us home, and it'll be here in 10 minutes." She replied.
Fascinating! Humans can talk to each other through a machine!? I looked around. What an amazing place! All these strange machines and objects do humans bidding? I kept looking around in awe. Perhaps this child did not need my help after all? With all of these things at her disposal? A pain of sadness flowed through my body. Perhaps she did not need me at all…I looked down sadly. I felt my face suddenly feel warm. Perhaps this was just another cosmic joke… and I have wasted my time… these humans appear to have all they need… why would she require my assistance now…? I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. I was never one to cry, but my anger was building.
"Ecco? Are you okay?" her words snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Yes… I..aamm…fffffine." I replied shakily.
"That's good, look the taxi!" she pointed, and a machine much like the truck came into view and stopped beside us. I looked at it in surprise. Ember ran up to it and opened the door and crawled inside. "Common Ecco, sit on the seat next to me!" she pointed to the place next to her, and I slowly crawled inside and sat beside her and closed the door. While this machine appeared large on the outside, within was quite tiny and I suddenly felt claustrophobic. Ember leaned towards the front and I looked. Sitting in the front was another human. Caution flooded my body, but I sat and watched as Ember told this human a set of numbers and letters. He nodded, and suddenly the 'taxi' began to move. This startled me, and I clung to the seat tightly.
"Ehh… what's with him?" the human in front of used asked. His voice was low and husky, and I did not trust it one bit.
"It's okay; he's just not used to taxis." Ember said quickly. She leaned close to me and whispered to my ear. "It's okay don't worry, everything will be okay, just relax."
Relax!? I am in a moving machine with a strange human in control! How could I possibly RELAX!? I clutched the soft material underneath me and held on as the taxi began to twist and turn through roads at an amazing pace. I looked at Ember. She turned to me and whispered.
"Please relax… it's okay. See, this is a taxi, and that's the driver. He's gonna take us to my home." I looked at her. I didn't know where to start; I wanted to ask so many things. She pointed out the window. "lookit!" I looked, and my mouth dropped open. There were buildings larger then the largest coral reef! Human made buildings that toward so high, I felt like a guppy compared to a whale! "Those are skyscrapers, and see those? Those are buses. Oh and those are trucks, and cars, and vans." She pointed to many different moving objects. "It's not as busy because it's so late at night, but in the day it's very busy." I continued to look in awe and wonder at all of this, my mind taking in as much as possible. I became so busy looking at everything around me, I failed to notice when Ember had fallen asleep.
"Hey yous." The humans spoke to me. I snapped out of my wonder and looked at him. "You do knows that dis is gonna cost yas big time right? We already been driving for an hour, and we gots another half to go before we gets to that place she asked." I looked at this human and thought for a moment.
"Mooney… yes. I haavee money." I told him, and he snorted.
"What are you? Some sorta retard? I haaavee moneyyyy." He snickered.
How DARE you mock me!
"Thhaat waaass NOOT humorrrrrousss!" I snapped.
"ohhh…. Nooooooot eh? Hehehe I can see why the girl called me, you retard. Well as long as ya gots de money, I dun care if yus was a drag queen." The driver laughed then fell silent. My face burned with rage.
How DARE this human mock me! Is this how all humans treat others!? I fumed silently in my mind. Oh how I wished to leave that taxi right then, but I could not, for Ember I had to remain. So I sat quietly, then pulled the wallet from my pocket and looked at it. After fumbling with it for a few moments I finally managed to open it. Looking within I found many different objects. They reminded me of leaves, yet they were all the same size and similar color. I held one up and looked at it. Then the drover piped up again.
"Ah, goods ta see yous got the money, cause we be here." The taxi slowly came to a stop. "Now hands over the money." I glared at him, and tossed two of the strange money at him and opened the door. I put the wallet back in my pocket, and looked at Ember. She was sleeping soundly. "Well? Picks up yous kid and git outa here, I have other jobs ta do!" the driver snapped. I snarled at him, the awkwardly bent down and picked up Ember in my arms. It was difficult to hold her. Not because she was heavy, but because I was not completely used to using my arms. The driver promptly slammed the door, and the taxi sped away. I looked around the surroundings. I saw a few large buildings, but it was still dark so it was difficult to see. The light trees however helped to illuminate the area. I looked in front of me and saw the building ahead of me. I looked at Ember and gently shook her.
"Ember…Ember… wwake up…" She slowly began to stir.
"huh…? Daddy…?" She looked at me, and then her expression saddened. "oh… hi Ecco…" she looked around. "oh… we're home…" she began to move, and I gently set her down. She stood up, and began walking to the building while yawning. "This is my house Ecco… common." She wearily walked to the building, and opened the door. I followed her inside. Within was much different. There were plants and MANY human objects everywhere! I looked around, I was so very curious; I wanted to learn everything about this place! Ember suddenly cut my thoughts short.
"Ecco… I wanna get some sleep… the living room is down that way, you can sleep on the couch of you like. I'm going up to my room, night…" she slowly walked away, rubbing her eyes. I wanted to ask her so many things, but after the past events I agreed rest was best. I watched her walk away and then turned to look in the direction she had pointed. I walked down the hall into a larger room and looked around. It was so very interesting! I noticed a large item in the center of the room. Walking up and touching it I discovered it was very soft. This must be the couch on which I can sleep… I walked around to it, and then sat on it. It was very soft indeed! I lied down on it and stretched out. This is much more comfortable then the taxi… I yawned, and soon feel into an exhausted slumber.