Old Memories

Footsteps in a room oversaturated with time.

Gears in a mechanism of unbridled complexity.

A single command uttered from a mouth unseen.

“Save them.”

⯁ ⯁ ⯁

Camden Valaraki looked out of the open passenger side window of the car, taking a sip of his coffee as trees and houses passed by at a rapid pace. The town was a bit more run down than he had remembered, but maybe that was just time taking its toll on things, as it always did. The same way it had on him. Once a child prodigy back in elementary, people had told him he would thrive once he reached the higher grades. And look at him now, just another burnt out gifted kid, barely scraping the 70% mark. Drifting aimlessly, with no real aspirations or end goal for his life.

The outfit that he wore was the same as usual, that being a simple desaturated blue t-shirt and boringly grey cargo pants. He liked to claim it was efficient not to have many different options of clothing, but in reality was just covering up for his lack of motivation to look for something more stylish. The wind blew through his charcoal black hair, and he could smell fresh air and the petrichor of the previous night's storm rushing past him from the outside.

“So how does it feel?” Maya asked, hands still on the driver’s wheel, as she glanced at Camden.

“H-huh?” Camden replied, broken from his trance. He’d been spending a lot of time lost in thought as of late.

“Being back here after all this time. Must’ve been, what, 8, 9 years?”

Camden sighed. “Just about. After my grandmother disappeared, my parents thought it best to pack up shop and ship us halfway across the country.”

He glanced at his old friend before pausing, and looking down. “Didn’t think I’d ever have to come back.”

If that comment bothered Maya, she didn’t let it show, letting only a beat pass before deciding to press on a different subject.

“Did you know her well?” she asked.

Camden thought back to the times he'd gone over to his grandmother’s house. Either for family gatherings, or for when his parents dropped him off so they had the house to themselves. His grandmother had always been kind to him, even giving him an old mechanical watch that he still wore to this day But there was something else. Something off. Something he could never quite put his finger on, even back then.

“...no. I didn’t. Well, not really. She was good at keeping her secrets. I’ll bet you that automaton knew her better than any of her actual family.” he said, a hint of resentment creeping its way into his voice.

“Automaton?”

“You’ll…” He paused. “You’ll see it when you get there.”

“Huh. And your grandfather?” Maya asked curiously.

“Passed before I was born. Never knew him.” Camden replied absentmindedly.

“Jeez, sounds like you’ve had it rough.”

Camden scoffed. “Tell me about it. And now my parents are selling again. Decided to downsize and kick me out. Which meant either finding my own place, or, well…” He trailed off.

“Coming back here.”

“Yeah…” Camden replied, taking a deep breath in, and out. “Back to the old house.”

An uneasy quiet fell over the two friends once more, leaving only the sounds of the motor and the wind. It’s not like they had much to talk about anyways. Not after so long.

Maya spoke first, breaking the silence. “Well it’ll be good to have another friendly face around town. Lemme know once you’ve finished settling in. Maybe we could grab a coffee, hang out or something.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Camden replied, feeling a hint of guilt. Him and Maya hadn’t exactly kept in contact after his family moved out, so going out for coffee after their time apart felt like too little too late. But at least it was something.

“Thanks for picking me up from the airport, by the way. I owe you one.” He said, a slight smile on his lips. He wouldn’t admit it, but it felt good to be spending time with her again.

“Ehh, don’t sweat it. It’s good to have you back.”

⯁ ⯁ ⯁

The old house looked much like the rest of the town, though it seemed that time had been particularly cruel to this abode in particular. Vines crept up the cracked red bricks of the walls, reaching for a sunlight currently obscured by the clouds of the afternoon sky. The roof was missing a fair amount of shingles, and the cobbled path leading up to the porch was overrun with moss. Evidently, the house hadn’t had any residents beyond the birds and squirrels for a number of years.

The two friends pulled into the driveway, the tires of the car settling on the gravel. Maya stepped out of the car first, taking a look at the abandoned residence that stood before her. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a rough ponytail, it blowing in the wind from the outside. Her current wardrobe consisted of a standard purple V-neck shirt with a cropped black bomber jacket overtop, and with simple blue jeans for her bottoms. She used to pass the house daily, when the two of them would walk to school together, but she admittedly hadn’t been back down that route since the Valaraki family moved out of town. She wondered why Camden’s parents hadn’t decided to sell the property, even if just to help them recoup the cost of the move. Camden soon exited the car as well, caffeinated beverage in hand, hesitating before he spoke.

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” he said, making a halfhearted joke in an attempt to take his mind off of how poorly the house had fared over the years since he’d last seen it.

“Uh, no, it’ll be a home once you actually make it habitable. With the house looking like this, I doubt you’d last a week without contracting some sort of weird never before seen virus.” Maya replied, only half joking.

They walked up to the front door, carefully avoiding the cracks in the porch’s worn wooden planks. Camden rummaged through his pocket, pulling out a set of brass coloured keys. He unlocked the door, and opened it, the hinges creaking in complaint.

The interior wasn’t entirely dissimilar from the exterior, the same wear and tear and disarray holding the house captive. The once beige carpet had turned a mix of ash grey and earthen brown, whereas the green floral wallpaper had sagged and peeled. With the rather older style of decor and the general state of it all, the whole house felt like it belonged in a Halloween themed amusement park, filled to the brim with fake cobwebs and bad jumpscares. The most notable aspect of the house, however, had been there since Camden was a child, and still remained to this day. A series of different sized copper and brass pipes that ran along the ceiling, some leading off into other rooms, some routed through the floorboards. And more yet ran to sets of gears and pulleys, their use indeterminable from what little was exposed.

“I see your grandparents were fans of the ‘living in a creepy factory’ aesthetic,” Maya said jokingly, looking around. “Really brings out the grime.”

Camden closed the door behind them, and right as the latch clicked in place, the two friends heard some pulleys begin to spin in the farmost room, followed by a hiss of steam. Maya looked perplexed, turning to Camden, who had a tired look on his face. He held up 3 fingers, silently counting down, 3, 2, 1. And as if right on cue, out came rolling what could only be described as a steam-age robot, built out of the same brass and copper gears and pipes that sprawled the rest of the house. It was constructed of what looked like the barebones torso of a humanoid animatronic, bolted securely down to wheeled platform, with two oversized wheels in the front next to the torso, and two smaller ones in the back holding up the android’s boiler.

It rolled up to them, gears turning with a steady click, click, click. Once it reached the two friends, its head clicked down, and then to the right, seemingly looking at Camden’s coffee, before extending out one of its metallic hands. Camden begrudgingly handed his cup to the machine, and after the hydraulic fingers slowly closed around it, it turned and rolled back to where it came from, which Maya now realized was the kitchen.

“And that’s the automaton, I take it?” Maya asked.

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner,” Camden replied, with all the enthusiasm of a dead tree. “Yeah, no clue who or where it came from either. It’s just… always been around.”

“Realistically, probably from the same person who installed the rest of the pipes.” Maya figured. “And your grandmother had it around because why, exactly?”

“Maybe it was a gift, maybe it’s a butler, maybe she was lonely, I don’t know.” Camden said, frustrated at his lack of understanding. But his frustration soon mellowed. “Either way, it’s not like it matters anymore. Mind helping me unpack? Then you can get back to your day.”

“Hah, trying to kick me out already?” Maya asked jokingly. “I’m kidding. But promise me you’ll at least try to make this place habitable, okay?”

Camden chuckled, and responded. “If that’s even possible. But yeah, I’ll try.”