The Beginning: New Notes on an Empty Staff (Fin)

"If you could follow me, we will leave the little one to rest up." Dr. Talis starts to make his way towards the door.

"I see… Thank you Dr. Talis."

I watch as Lynx starts to walk away before she pauses, turning to look at me one more time.

I'm still hugging my pillow in my lap, but under her gaze, I feel a little shy and trying to hide my face.

She chuckled slightly before she continued on her way out.

Not long after, Lydia and Kenny also leave the room.

Once again, I am alone.

Thinking back to what just happened, I suddenly feel embarrassed by my previous actions and bury my face into my pillow as if it would help ease these feelings of shame.

After calming down a bit, I sat there in quiet contemplation. My ears are laid back flat against my head and I cast an empty gaze to the space in front of me while resting my chin on my pillow.

Sitting there, trying to make sense of anything that I could from what I just heard, a discouraged sigh escapes my lips.

Even though I felt left out, it didn't change the fact that I'd lost my memories which made it impossible for me to understand the world around me.

Hearing the words of the conversation and understanding some- no, almost all of them but being unable to connect the pieces to make some sense of the situation left me having no idea as to what was wrong.

I wanted to ask for help or an explanation, but I felt unqualified to do so.

I let out another sigh while I sat in the room bored, bouncing my ears around and thumping my tail to an unheard rhythm to fill the silent room.

Because I was lost in my empty brain I didn't realize when Lydia had returned to my room.

"Hey, I brought you something."

I look at her with a bored expression, then glance down at her hands. She had brought a cloth bag filled with something I couldn't see.

She smiles and makes her way towards me.

"Look, I know you might be a little lost, but seeing as we now have a little information on your condition, we are going to help you as best we can."

'Yeah, I know that! You already told me that it was your job…'

I felt disappointed that I lacked to knowledge to put my input in the conversation regarding the possibility of my future. Hearing the people around talk about you as if you aren't there. It made me feel hurt even though I could not understand why it caused me to feel or think in this way.

If only I knew my past…

"But I can't remember anything about myself…" I mumble quietly to myself because I do recall that this is my reluctant scenario.

"Yes, while that might be true, not all is lost. You might not remember anything about yourself, but because of the way your amnesia is, you might remember other things."

'Please don't give me false hope…'

She starts by pulling out a small item. Somehow, I recognize what it is. Recalling that it is something that will definitely help in my present predicament. My eyes light up with the idea of possibility.

"Can you tell me what this is?" She puts it in front of me, which I accept into my grasp.

"I can recognize it, but I do not know what it is called. Only that it holds stories." I open it and look at it, the motion almost as natural to me as blinking.

"It's called a book, and yes these things hold stories as well as information. This is one of the ways we are going to use to try to jumpstart your memory. While this is specific one is usually for very young children since we don't know how much you remember, it would be best to start with this. Now, try to read or look through it while I go out for a second."

Lydia gets up and turns on the dim lights before she leaves.

Once again, I am alone.

It is oddly quiet, but the stillness and emptiness of the silence don't overwhelm me this time.

I throw all of my attention into reading and learning from the book in my hand. The book itself was very simple and contained very few words and more pictures. Strangely, I could read the words, but could only comprehend what very few of them meant.

'Why was the creature given the name biscuit and what did that name mean? Why was the spider so busy?'

Still, it made me somewhat happy, and I wanted to learn more.

I was on my way!

On my way to be able to do more and have control of my life. Not leaving my fate in the hands of others, and to never be taken advantage of or to be forced against my will ever again!

I paused, listening to the thoughts that were now echoing through my head, not understanding why they were there or what caused me to think in this way.

'Why would I think of being forced against my will?'

I feel something tickle my face, so I try to rub it off but notice my hand had become wet. I trace it back to its point of origin, my eyes. Drying my face completely, I ask myself why my face was leaking out through my eyes?

'I hope it isn't anything serious… I'll ask Lydia once she comes back.'

I go through a couple of books before I get the idea to try reading them out loud.

"In the lit of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf. One Soonday morning, the warm sun came up and -pop! -out of the egg came a tiny and very hangry chatterpile."

I stop and just stare at the pictures, trying to find out what a chatterpile looks like. I assumed that it was the green wavy thing with a redhead seeing as the only other thing on the page was the smiling sun and the grass.

"Does the sun even smile? Wait, does it even have a face?"

I hear footsteps stop just outside my door and smell a familiar scent, but I pay no mind to it because I'm way too into this book.

"There is the picture of the Chatterpile and there is the sun, but what does a Soonday look like? Did I miss something?"

I get closer to the page to see if I can find it. I suddenly hear laughing from my left near where the door is, so I put down the book and turn to confirm that it was Lynx because I was pretty sure that was who was at the door based on the smell. She chuckled and I notice that she has something new in her hand.

"Hey, can I come in? I asked if I could bring this to you instead of Lydia because I have something I want to talk to you about. Also, I am sorry about earlier..."

She holds up the new thing, but I can't tell what it is from here.

I still feel a bit shy about earlier, so I don't speak. Looking at her face, I nod slowly to affirm that she can enter.

She walks closer to me and sits on the bed with me, placing the new thing beside her.

I can see her getting closer trying to look at the page I was reading but it started to feel like she was too close, so I pulled the book towards me as if to hide it from her as I lean away.

She stops, realizing that she invaded my space, and pulls back. I see her face show something not unlike embarrassment as she rubs the base of one of the horns.

"I heard that Lydia brought you some books to see if you can read and remember some things. Can I look at what you're reading?"

I nod slowly and turn the book the show it to her. Pulling her hand away from her head, she places both hands on her lap as she gets closer to read the pages.

"Oh! You are reading 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar.' It was one of my favorite books when I was younger."

She laughed once more and rubbed my head, but this time I didn't feel averse to the contact and instead moved my ears in a playful manner in response.

"Your tail is wagging…" She gives me a teasing look and I instantly turn to hold it down, while trying to hide my embarrassment. I feel my face heat up as Lynx starts to laugh joyfully.

"You don't say it as Soon¬-day but Sunday, and that is just a name we give for a certain day of the week."

"Oh!"

She smiles but I can't exactly read the expression on her face this time. It is like she's fascinated by my character and enjoys the way I react to everything.

She pats my head once again and I sigh in my heart.

"Why do you keep patting my head?"

"Because you look so cute when I do it… Plus, your ears and hair feel very soft." She said as she continued with the action.

I just realized that out of everyone who has been touching my head, Lynx has been doing it the most.

After the realization, I tensed up once again like I did every time I realized someone wanted to touch me or my head. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable with her touch, but then gradually eased up because I no longer sensed any danger or hostility coming from my surroundings.

I felt very safe near her, and I realized if there was a person here that I could trust, it was her. It was like I knew she would care for me. I close my eyes and enjoy the foreign sensation.

Unbeknownst to me or her, this became a turning point in a relationship between a young, broken chamrosh and strong, heroic drake.

She showed respect for my personal space and my opinion.

She helped me calm down earlier, even if she was the one who caused me to freak out in the first place.

Her actions towards me caused me to subconsciously imprint on her, raising her already high value in my mind after she said she saved me, and it made me feel closer and more accepting of her and her actions towards me.

Her playful tone to my reactions gave me an odd sense of comfort and stability.

Looking down at the book which had fallen flat onto the bed, a question comes to mind.

"What does Sunday look like?" I look up at her. My curiosity was unsated, and I wanted to know more. She stops and places her finger on her cheek to think.

"Well, that's hard to say because Sunday is more of an idea than a thing because it is a name for something intangible. It doesn't look like anything in particular but instead can be associated with other things. For example, when someone says 'Sunday,' you think of the number one because Sunday is the first day of the week, or you think of an activity that a person will normally do on a Sunday like sleeping in because it is part of the weekend." She looks at me and grins.

I didn't know what kind of expression my face showed, but I did understand her words… well, kind of.

I mean, if Sunday is part of the weekend, then why is it the first day of the week?

"So, is this what a cha-, a cut- I mean a caterpillar looks like?" I point at the wavy green line with a red dot for its head.

"That is more like a picture or drawing of one, but I wouldn't say it looks exactly like one. Here, let me show you."

Lynx holds the thing that she brought with her. It looks like a flat box and was black all over but had one smooth shiny surface on one side. The surface suddenly lit up.

"This is a tablet. It is a type of technology that can be electrically powered or magically powered, and it allows us to search records stored and find info about what we want to know. It can show us pictures, videos, and other things. Look, here are some pictures of what a caterpillar is."

She turned it towards me so I would be able to see it better. At first, the light from the surface blinds me in contrast to the half-lit room, but my eyes widen as the images become clearer.

There were so many different types of caterpillars, not just green with a redhead. There were varying types in so many shapes and colors. They all looked similar but differed in numerous unique ways. Some were spiky, some were smooth, some fuzzy, and others were huge.

'Forget books! This looks cool!'

"Woah… They're so pretty! Show me more! Teach me more stuff, Lynx! Please, please, PLEEEEASE!?"

I couldn't stop the smile that was forming on my face, and I didn't want to.

This feeling…

It was like I had the world at my fingertips.

At this point, I was bouncing up and down. Lynx started to freak out because she was scared that I would open my wounds again and hurt myself, but I couldn't care about that, I was just so happy and excited.

When Lynx said she would only teach me if I stopped jumping around and then promise to listen to her so that I would heal properly and not hurt myself even more than I already was, I instantly stopped moving and patiently waited for her to continue.

She sat on the bed with me and read the books to me and I would stop her to ask questions about what I didn't know, and she would answer me, or we would look up if she didn't have the answer either.

She was very patient with me and all my questions and always tried her best to answer in a way I could understand.

Without notice, we spent hours together simply learning as I listened to Lynx read, and before I realized I found myself falling asleep on Lynx's lap.

Just as I am about to completely drift off, I swear I hear Lynx start to sing as she strokes my head. I try to hold onto my consciousness a little longer just to hear the sweet and silvery sound that she makes as she pets my head. I can't help but feel the song echoing in my soul.

Echo…what a serene word, I found myself enchanted by the word. For some reason, that word kept coming to my mind a lot today, making me wonder what it meant.

I had asked Lynx what it meant, and she said it can mean a lot of different things but is mainly known as the reflection of sound, the repetition of something. She went on saying it was like what she said about the word Sunday, it doesn't look like anything or have any certain shape but the word itself owns so many meanings and ideas.

The more I thought, the more I could make sense of the word.

It is not any single thing but resonates with a bit of everything. While it tries to mimic everything, an echo will change it and recreate it to make it something uniquely its own thing while it remains like the old that it came from.

I started thinking about that at any given time, when "a thought echoes through our heads," it was actually the idea that we don't hold the original but fragments of what we were given or had captured so that we can make it something of our own and build on it, reshaping what could be said to have been the original thought.

It is both something that is not real and yet, at the same time proof of existence. A ghost of the past in the form of the present.

It becomes a counterpart to both the silence and the sound, as it replies to both. A reflection of the world from a place that is not too far away.

The roar that responds to the whisper.

The answer to a question that has been searching, floating through space and time.

Can I then become an echo, something that changed from what I originally was and make it something new yet a continuation of the old at the same time? If I am to become an echo of the past… what, or rather who was my original sound? What was the song of my past?

I ask Lynx, as maybe she would have an answer. Pondering, we sit in silence as she stares at my face with a look of wonder. With a sigh she replies,

"Songs can be said to be like stories written from the past. If you can't hear the song you want to listen to, then write a new song from the past you create as you begin once again. Maybe, one day, you will be able to hear those melodious movements we call memories."

"But be careful, because the sounds you hear might not be the sounds you expected because an echo will differ based on where the sound reflects from. You must be strong enough the handle the unknown echoes of the past."

As I drifted deeper, I tried to listen for the answer, but the only echo that I could hear was that of the silence of my past.

A Soundless Echo.