Lost in the Echo

Joshua Hale, a young boy by the age of six, was sleeping in his room. The date, April 5th, 2525. He lived with his parents on the human colony of Vectas.  His father, Jerimiah Hale, was a professor at New Malagio University. His mother, Kerryatah Hale, was a scientist at the New Malagio UCF Science Facility, where she helped develop new vehicular transports for military and civilian use. His younger sister, Megan was only three, but today was her fourth birthday, and he wanted to make sure his sister got the best birthday ever!

Joshua woke up at around 9:35 a.m. He quickly got dressed, putting on a light grey t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and black sneakers. After he was finished getting dressed, Joshua quietly walked to his sisters room and opened the door. He walked in and saw Megan sleeping, she was snuggling her dolphin plushie, with a smile on her face.

The smile melted Joshua's heart. He loved his sister dearly, and would do whatever it took to make her happy. He silently tapped her shoulder,"Megan," Joshua said in a soft voice, "its time to get up"

Megan slowly opened her light purple eyes, and smiled at her older brother,"Good morning, Joshie"

Joshua giggled at his sisters nickname for him,"Guess what today is?"

Megan looked at him blankly, causing him to snicker,"Its your birthday sis!"

Megan smiled with glee and hugged her brother,"Thanks for reminding me!"

Joshua laughed and returned the hug, he told his sister to get dressed and meet him in the kitchen with mommy and daddy. He closed the door to her room to give her some privacy and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He saw his daddy sitting at the table reading his tablet and drinking a cup of coffee, while his mommy was cooking scrambled eggs and pancakes, his sisters favorite.

"Morning Mommy! Morning Daddy!,"Joshua said to his parents, his mother hugged him and his father gave him a light noogie, ruffling Joshua's brown hair. A little while later Megan came into the kitchen. She was wearing a cyan t-shirt, a hot pink zip-up jacket, denim shorts, and a pair of dark purple sneakers.

After breakfast, they went to the local shopping center at around 10:48 a.m., that's when everything went to hell in a a hand-basket. Because, at that moment, every humans life; man, women, or child, took a turn for the worst. Because exactly two-hours from now, humanity will go to war.

Two hours later...

Joshua and Megan were trembling near a military APC, while soldiers fought against aliens of an unknown nature. Joshua had just seen his mommy and daddy killed right in front of him. He was all Megan had left now...Joshua began to cry, and Megan soon followed.

The sound of clanking metal drew his attention, and he slowly raised his head, and was staring straight into the eyes of one of the aliens. Joshua's blood ran cold as he looked into the aliens red-visor. The alien spoke in a strange language, raised its weapon to Joshua's head...and fired.

............

Joshua opened his eyes to see that he was in an ally of some sort. It was nighttime, there was a glittery white moon shining bright in the sky. A shuffling of movement disturbed him from his thoughts, and he looked down to see Megan hugging him tightly. She looked at him, He looked at her, and together they cried.

"Hey there, are you two alright?"