The Waiting

 the waiting

I sit and watch as they come closer to where I wait.

She is the first to speak.

"Where are we?"

Her voice sounds wavery and uncertain here in my realm.

She sounded stronger in their original domain.

"I don't know."

He sounds curious.

Uncertain.

Scared.

And still, I sit on my box and wait.

Finally, they emerge from the mist.

I can see them now.

Humans.

Again.

Always humans.

She is small, thin, fragile.

He is tall, muscular, fearful.

I blink at them, slowly.

They blink back at me, rapidly.

"What is that?" she whispers.

I am not insulted.

I continue sitting still.

Waiting.

Waiting for them.

"Let's talk to it," he suggests.

I am it.

"Hey, you," he calls.

He tries to sound friendly.

His voice is thick with the kind of hostility that he can't hear.

Now he has addressed me.

Now I am able to speak.

"I am Echo."

My name resonates within this small enclosure.

They pause, uncertainly, hesitantly.

"Echo?" she repeats, slowly.

"But what are you?" he asks, quickly.

His voice overlaces with hers.

"Nothing you would understand."

My voice is a cold dismissal.