It was a typical morning for Shac, he drank coffee and ate some bread before taking a shower and getting ready for school. “Man, why is it always cold at this time? Ah... If I could just laze around, that would be much better...” he murmured, as he was reluctant to go to school.
As Shac 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 notifications.
"An email? Might be some spam message.“ he immediately 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.
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 as 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!
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…" Shac 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.
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...”
... ... ...
Few minutes of walking have passed, and he still couldn't forget how he failed the quiz. He let out a sighed. “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?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
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 Shac 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 chuckled to 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 other 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.
Still, what’s up with the duck today? Something about the duck having an anniversary or something? He laughed to himself, finding it amusing to imagine a duck celebrating an anniversary. “Time to sleep.” He thought to himself as he settled into bed.
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.
As 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...
Trying to breathe, he was able to do it without any problems... "It looks like I'm fine?"
I'm glad... 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.
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?"