I do not know how long I slept, but I awoke to a scream. I flailed, and fell of the side of the couch. At first, I could not remember WHAT I was, so I thrashed like mad. My senses suddenly hit when I heard the scream again. I bolted to my legs, and though wobbly, I ran towards the noise. I rounded a corner and was surprised to see it suddenly slop upwards, but I did not care. I ran up until I reached the next floor, and then ran towards the screaming. I can upon a door which I shoved open. Inside was Ember, ling atop a large, what I thought was a strange couch. She was covered in what I guess strange clothing, and thrashing wildly, screaming.
"MOMMY DADDY!!! HELP ME HELP ME!! DON'T LET THE SHARK GET ME MOOMMYYYYY!!!"
I panicked and rushed towards her, pulling these strange coverings off her small body.
"MOMMYY!!! DADDY NO!!! DADDY SWIM DADDY!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" she shrieked as I pulled away the coverings.
"EMBER!" I cried out to her, not knowing what else to do. She suddenly stopped thrashing and looked at me, breathing heavily, her eyes wide. She cried out, and lunged at me, grabbing and holding me tightly. She began to sob, and all I could do was sit there.
"It iss aallrrite…. It is alright…" I gently reached down and held her, saying the words over and again, in a hope to soothe the terrified child. Ember sobbed for some time, before she finally calmed down. Finally, she looked up at me, her face tear stained.
"I want mommy and daddy back Ecco" she sobbed.
By the almighty… how I wish I could grant you that desire…I looked at her and held her in my arms and gently rocked her.
"What will I do now Ecco?" She placed her head against my chest, looking ahead at nothing. "I'm all alone now…"
"Nooo… not all aaalone." I told her. "I ill bbbe ere foor you…" I continued to rock her gently.
"Really Ecco?" She looked at me again. I nodded to her.
"Aaaas looooong as you need mmme." I assured her. I begun to ponder how my pod was faring, but this child did truly need me more, I was not about to abandon her.
"Thank you Ecco…" she held me tightly, and sobbed quietly. "I'll miss mommy and daddy… They were all I had…"
We sat there for a long time, just rocking back and forth. I remained silent, allowing the young child to cry. She needed the time to grieve, so I did not say anything to interrupt her. I scanned the room quietly, and my eyes fell upon a image sitting on a large wood object. The image was of her and her parents. They looked so happy in the image. I had to tear my eyes away from it, it hurt to look at the image. Finally Ember pulled away from me and sat up.
"I… I guess we should get some breakfast… I'm kinda hungry." She said and stood up."uhm… Ecco… could you go wait downstairs in the living room while I get dressed?"
I looked at her confused for a moment, and then I remember how she averted her gaze from me the night before. But she is wearing clothes right now… I wondered, but instead of asking, I complied with her wish and made my way back to the living room where I had slept the night before. This house was much different in the daylight. I felt now I should explore this house a little bit. I started in the living room, walking to different things, looking at them, touching them. One thing that peaked my curiosity was a large box shaped object, two smaller boxes on either side. The boxes on the sides had round circles in them, and they felt somewhat soft on the front. I walked up to it and inspected it. I began to touch it, and noticed there were many buttons on it. I pushed on of the buttons but nothing happened. I went beside one of the fuzzy boxes and inspected it closely. Suddenly it began to vibrate, and then suddenly flared to life. The noise was deafening!
In my sudden shock I leapt backwards and hid behind the couch. I covered my ears as tightly as I could. Ember suddenly ran into the room and over to the box. I did not see what she did but the noise suddenly silenced. She ran to the back of the couch, where I remained cringing, ears covered.
WHAT BY THE ALMIGHTY WAS THAT!? What sort of beast was within that box!? How did I anger it so!?
She knelt beside me and pulled my hands away from my ears. I looked up at her, shaking badly.
"Are you okay?!" She asked me in a worried tone.
"Wh-what was that b-bbox?! What mmmosstter was within!?" I cried out as I jumped up to looks at the box. It has once again been silenced, and was unmoving.
"That was the CD player Ecco! I'm sorry I must have left the volume up too loud on it." She sounded concerned, but then she stifled a giggle. I looked at her, still shaking slightly.
"A..A what?" I asked.
"A CD player. It's a machine that plays music." She giggled.
"THAT was muuusic!?" I exclaimed.
"Yeah… it was just way too loud. I'm really sorry Ecco." She helped me up, and led me to another room. However I continued to glare at this 'CD Player', until it was out of my sight.
This new room I was led to had many objects, and I soon forgot about the CD Player and became fascinated on this room instead. She had me sit on what she called a chair, and she went to a large machine and opened it.
"See Ecco this is a fridge, we keep food in it. And that's a Stove, where we cook food, but mommy said I was too young to use it alone… oh and that's a sink, and that's a dishwasher…" she continued one about all the different machines in the room, explaining each one and what they did. I listened to her in complete attention, utterly fascinated with everything. Eventually she explained it all to me, and then began to sort through the fridge. She pulled out many different kinds of food, and started mixing things together. Once she was done, she set what she called a bowl in front of me on the table, and one in front of herself. She sat down, and used a shiny thing, called a spoon, to eat the food in the bowl. Rather then ask I just mimicked her movements. When I took a bite of the food I stopped.
"What? You dun like it?" She looked at me.
Not like it? This is FANTASTIC! Never before in all my travels to all the oceans have I tasted such a thing!
"What is it?!" I asked suddenly.
"It's fruit loops and milk." She replied, looking at her own food.
"Wonderful!" I exclaimed, and began to eat more. Ember giggled at me, then went back to her own fruit loops.
After we had finished our meal, she took me back to the living room and sat me on the couch. She sat beside me, and picked up a small object. She pointed it at a giant black box with glass on the front and suddenly the box came alive!
"Humans!" I exclaimed, pointing at the box.
"no no, see, this is called a TV, it shows us people, but they're not really there, they're far away, we're only getting a video of them." I did not understand all of this, but she went on to show me how the TV can show many different things, and that each thing comes from something else. I was fascinated by this. She caused the TV to move through different 'channels' before suddenly stopping on one. I looked at the image, and realized it was the beach from the night before! Ember clicked a button on the 'remote' and the TV became a little louder. We began to watch and listen to what it had to say.
"…yet another vehicle break in here at the Jackpot Fish Docks and Boat rental, however this time the vehicle was not stolen, only a few items removed. However officials are concerned that this break-in might be connected to the disappearance of a young family who disappeared on a fishing boat three days ago. The family, a mother, father and one daughter; left for a day on the ocean Friday morning, and had made arrangements with the local Jackpot workers to be back by sundown, however they never returned. Officials are invest- hold on. We have just received news that the Fishing boat the family rented has been discovered sunken approximately forty miles of the coast. Only remains of the mother and father have been recovered though, the daughter's whereabouts have yet to be determined, though it is probable, she did not survive the shipwreck. This is-" suddenly Ember shut the TV off. I looked at her in sadness. She stared at the now silent TV, tears once more rolling down her cheeks.
"Ember I…" I tried to say something to sooth her, but no words came.
"Ecco…" she whispered.
"Yes?" I replied quietly.
"We gotta tell the police… that I'm okay… but I dunno what would happen if we do… they might wanna take me away… and give me to a foster family…I'm scared Ecco…"
No… No one shall take you away! Not while I am here! I shall not allow it!
"You stay with me Ember…" I said quietly. "I will pro…protect you…"
"How Ecco? You're not a human… maybe you should just go back to the ocean Ecco… be happy with your family…"
"No!" I suddenly yelled. "I ave no ffffamily! Oonnly a p-p-pod who t-takes me for grrranted! I do not wish to g-go back! I want to help you Ember, p-p-please let me help!" She looked at me with tear filled eyes, then threw herself into my arms.
"Oh Ecco! Please don't leave me you're my only friend! I need you Ecco!" I held onto her tightly.
I will not leave you Ember. Only if you wish me to leave will I do so. I will remain with you as long as you wish me to. My pod can live without me, you are more important to me now. I will stay and protect you Ember, I shall not fail you.