Empty Echoes

Flicker

Chapter One:

Flicker

Gears shifted, making quite little whirring noises, accompanied by the creak of rusted parts. There was the familiar sound of waves crashing against rocks, of the seagulls squawking in their nest, the sent of a salty wind blowing gently across the sky.

Fogged yellow eyes blinked open, taking a moment to adjust properly. A stone ceiling with wooden beams going to and fro met his sight, and his first thought was that his legs must have malfunctioned again, seeing as how he was on the floor.

Echo-Zane blinked, sitting up and looking about the lighthouse basement in confusion. How on earth had he gotten back here? Where had everyone gone?

A whir sounded beside him, and Echo turned to look down at Gizmo, the little bot gently bumping against his side. A small smile spread across his metal lips at the sight of his friend, and Echo reached over and patted him on the head. He climbed to his feet, relieved to find that his legs were in fact not malfunctioning, and took another look around the basement.

It seemed perfectly normal, just like it had been when that boy and girl (Jake and Maya? No, that wasn't it) had got him out. But where were they now? They hadn't abandoned him like his father had, did they?

Electric blue eyes flashed across his memory unit, lit up in awe and excitement as they locked with his own, embedded in a shiny titanium face, near identical to his own. Echo felt like there was a stone stuck in his circuits again.

Where had he gone?

Gizmo beeped, bumping against his leg, tearing Echo from his thoughts. He glanced down at the little bot, a frown on his usually smiling face. "Where'd they all go?"

Gizmo gave a confused beep. Echo turned to the stairs leading up to the secret door and into the main part of the lighthouse, his smile returning. "They must be upstairs!" Echo stepped over Gizmo and ran up the stairs, the boards creaking under his feet. Gizmo zoomed after him, giving off a loud chorus of beeps.

He flipped the switch and slipped between the doors before they'd even fully opened, running up the stairs and not even noticing the gears and parts clattering on the ground behind him.

Skidding into the room Jay and Nya (Was that it? He couldn't recall) had been sitting in when they'd spotted him, Echo looked around expectantly, his smile slowly fading. The place was empty, just like it had been this morning.

"Hello?" Echo called, starting to make his way around the lighthouse, "Is anyone here?" Gizmo clambered up the stairs behind him, struggling to hold all the parts that had been dropped, beeping.

Echo ignored him for the time being, running his fingers over the table his two rescuers had sat at. They had been the first people he'd interacted with ever since he was left in the basement.

He was a little sad to see them go. He didn't want to be alone again.

A nudge to his leg made him look down again, Gizmo holding up one of the gears he'd picked up. Echo took it from him, staring at it for a moment, running metallic fingers over its edges. He'd almost had friends.

Gizmo beeped again, and Echo gave him a small smile. "At least I still have you." The little bot gave a series of agreeing beeps, running circles around his rusty friend, Echo's smile widening. "Let's go have some breakfast, then."

And so they went about like any other day, Echo making two bowls of oil and unitchips for breakfast, and then they played a few rounds of Hide and Seek. It was just like any other day, the lighthouse wasn't even damaged from the attack. It was as though it had never even happened.