In an empty void, a figure of a white
duck could be seen. Its eyes were fixated on him. “Your name is Shac.”
the duck said, its eyes were looking straight at him.
“S-Shac?” he muttered, confused. “It’s my name?”
The duck nodded in response. “That’s right.”
He tilted his head, not sure why a duck
is naming him. He then noticed the place where he is, “Where is this?”
he said as he looked around. “Why’s everything white?”
“You’re where you are supposed to be.”
× × × × × × × × × ×
He woke up. He blinked and get up from the bed. “What’s that dream?”
he murmured. He shook his head, “That was one of a hell of a dream.”
He looked at his small clock beside his bed. Luckily I woke up at the right time. Just enough to get ready.
It was a typical morning for Shac, he drank coffee and ate some bread before taking a shower and to get ready for school.
As he goes inside the bathroom, the soft breeze of the air from the
window made him shiver, “Man, why is it always cold at this time?” he
murmured as he look through the window.
“Ah… If I could just laze around, that would be much better…”, even
though he was hesitant to go to school, he can’t do anything about it.
As a student, he is supposed to go to school no matter what, it is
given.
After 20 minutes of bathing, he hurriedly fixes himself so he
wouldn’t be late. As he was about to go out of the house, his phone
vibrated, and he received a notification. Picking up his phone, he was
welcomed by an email in the notification. “An email? Might be some spam
message.“ he thought.
Knowing he had been receiving tons of spam messages from various
websites where he used his personal email, he thought there’s a chance
it’s just another spam message. He decided to check that email, but to
his surprise, he was greeted by an unusual message:
—[ Don’t forget about the Duck. ]
“Don’t forget about the Duck… Huh?” Surprised, his eyebrows raised
after seeing an unusual message early in the morning. “What’s this?”
A Duck? What? Who would waste their time typing and sending this
message so early in the morning? And no sender, Is that even possible?
Noticing that there was no sender included, Shac scratched his head
and dismissed it as a troll message. “Shit! I’m about to be late!” He
was running late, and he didn’t give it any further thought. He slipped
the phone back into his pocket and hurried out of the house.
As he was running along the sidewalk, he saw a yellow figure
approaching and immediately recognized it, it was a yellow duckling. In
his rush to get to his morning class, he quickly passed by it, knowing
how slowly it was walking on the side.
A duckling, that reminds me– Oh!
But instead of wasting time thinking about it, he decided it was
better not to be late. Running as fast as he could, but running with his
backpack made it hard for him to dash any further. “Haaah…” Taking a
deep breath to catch his breath, he realized he was still a few minutes
away from the school.
“Still far… Time for round two!“ he exclaimed, as if he were in a
race, hyping himself up. He sprinted as fast as he could, trying to make
up for lost time in the few minutes remaining before the morning class.
× × × × × × × × × ×
After a few hours of spending his time for the morning and the afternoon class, the school day had just ended for Shac’s class.
“Can’t say I’m a fan of this…” he said with a sad expression, facing downwards, failing to score a passing score in the quiz.
“Don’t worry about it,” his classmate reassured him, tapping his shoulder. “There’s still the next quiz.”
“But it’s also my fault this time. I underestimated today’s quiz.” Shac admitted.
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His classmate laughed softly. “You’ve got to hit those topics, or you’ll fail this semester.”
“You’re right.” Feeling disheartened by the situation, Shac walked
out of the school premises with a heavy heart.“This is what I get for
not taking it seriously…”
I guess I should have at least did a short review before going to the school, but that’s impossible considering how lazy I am. He thought as he continued walking towards the stairs.
And few minutes of walking have passed, he still couldn’t forget how
he failed the quiz. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh.“What am I
supposed to do with this result…” As he walked along the sidewalk, he
spotted a familiar figure on the road.
“Oh?” There it was, the same yellow duckling he had seen in the morning. “It’s still here?”
It’s been 8 hours already, and it’s still walking on the road? Considering how slow it is, maybe it’s normal? Thinking how surprising to see the very same yellow duckling from early in the morning, he didn’t expect to see it once again.
“That might be the case.” Amused by the sight of the yellow duckling,
he momentarily forgot about his earlier quiz score as he walked past it
happily, leaving his problems behind.
× × × × × × × × × ×
It was evening, and he had just finished his chores. After completing
his nighttime house chores, he immediately went to bed. “Haaah… I can
finally rest now.” he said as he lay on the bed, then suddenly
remembered the duckling he saw earlier.
Still… how did the duckling not travel that far and still end up
close to the school? Even though it’s walking slowly, it should have
covered more ground by now.
“A little faster than a snail, I guess.” he told himself. He found it
odd how the duckling remained in such a small area, considering how
long it had been there. ”Perhaps it took a detour?“
Well if that’s the case, then it didn’t walk straight and probably walked in different
directions before it arrived at the front of the school. Because if it
was walking straight, it should have arrived at the school more quickly.
That seemed to be the only logical explanation he could come up with.
As he pondered the question, his thoughts drifted back to the
mysterious email he had received earlier that morning. Upon checking it
once again, he was welcomed yet again by the same message:
—[ Don’t forget about the Duck. ]
It doesn’t really have a sender, huh… Nevertheless, the email had shown no sender. It was still a mystery who sent it.
Still, what’s up with the duck today? Something about the duck having an anniversary or something? He chuckled to himself, finding it amusing to imagine a duck celebrating an anniversary.
But for a day to be all about ducks, this day seemed more special than usual huh?
Well enough of that, it’s time to sleep. He thought to himself as he settled into bed, and it didn’t take long for him to drift off into sleep.
× × × × × × × × × ×
“A-“ Wha- “Argh—uuh” He choked on his words as he struggled
for air. Gasping, he struggled against the pain of not being able to
breathe and the heavy pressure in his chest.
Ah… I can’t… A small tear of pain flowed from both of his
eyes as he stared fixedly at the ceiling with his mouth hung open,
desperately trying to breathe in oxygen.
He desperately tried to breathe in, the air seemed to thicken around
him. But his lungs felt as though they were unable to expand, as if his
airways had suddenly locked shut. U… ah… ugh…
Slowly… slowly… slowly… until finally, as his grip tightened, his breath abandoned him, and darkness closed in.
× × × × × × × × × ×
Shac let out a cough. “W-what… was that about?”
Was it a dream? he thought as he looked around the house.
“It’s morning already? What’s happening?” Confused about what he just
saw, Shac found himself sitting on the floor.
“How did I end up in here? I was sleeping and…“ He remembered that he was not able to breathe during the middle of the night.
For some reason I ended up in here… Feels like I just woke up out of nowhere…
He tried to breathe, and he was able to do it without any problems… “It looks like I’m fine?”
I… I thought I just died… It looks like everything is fine? He let out a sigh of relief.
“Still… what am I doing here? Did I just daydream or something?”
Feeling disoriented, he found it odd that he seemed to be waking up
suddenly in the middle of the day.
His phone vibrated, and he checked it. Once again, he was welcomed by the same message:
—[Don’t forget about the Duck.]
It’s the same email as yesterday. It’s the very same email he
received yesterday. “Huh? What is this… the same email?” Surprised from
what he saw, he checked the contents of the email, and it seems to be
the same as the email as yesterday.
“Heh…” Scratching his head in confusion, he decided to walk out of
the house and head to school while thinking about his current situation.
After a few minutes of walking, he thought, What can I say? It felt real. It’s my first time experiencing such a dream. He couldn’t shake the memory of that odd dream where he couldn’t breathe and felt like he was being choked to death.
He took a deep breath, slowly until he realized that everything was fine. It looks like I’m fine, but what was that about? But, It sure feels great to be alive. he thought to himself.
Knowing he was able to breathe properly, he smiled as he headed to
school. He was relieved to find that he could breathe properly without
any problems, thinking about how devastating that dream was. Still, did I just die in the dream? he couldn’t help but wonder.
I couldn’t think straight that time, the pain felt too real to be
a dream. That’s got to be one of the worst dreams I’ve ever
experienced. He thought, sighing in relief.
I’m just glad to be here, hopefully I won’t have to experience that thing again.
As he walked along the side of the road, he immediately noticed a
familiar figure up ahead. “Oh?” His eyebrows raised as he draw closer,
he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How is it still here, roaming
around?”
There, in plain sight, was the yellow duckling he had encountered yesterday.
“You’re still here?” he muttered, surprised by the sight.
