<BGSOUND SRC="swanlakeopening.mid">

Duckling

or

A story about a plush duckling, a plush penguin, plush dog and a Goth that is not meant for children.

David was walking down the street; it was a cold drizzly autumn day. David had just done his groceries and was walking home. Then he noticed an orange and yellow object lying in the middle of the street. David stopped to look at it. It was a plush duck, very dirty and wet. "A child must have lost it" David thought while he put the bag of groceries down. David wiped his wet black hair out of his face and picked up the duck.

Duckling sat on the hand of the man who had just picked him up. Duckling was lost, cold, wet and dirty. His owner lost him, a nasty little girl who always threw him around the room and twisted his neck. The man who just picked him up was very different. "He looks a little funny," thought Duckling. The man had black hair just reaching his cheeks, a pale face, black lips, black smudges around his eyes and he only wore black clothes.

David put Duckling down in the bag of groceries on top of a box of frozen spinach and walked on to the bus stop.

Duckling peeked over the top of the grocery bag; he saw a forest of legs and umbrellas. Duckling realised the man was taking him home. Duckling felt better and crawled back inside the bag.

Once he was back in his apartment, David took the groceries out of the bag and put them in the correct places, he put Duckling next to the kitchen sink. When he was done he filled the sink with lukewarm water, and then he put Duckling in the water and began to clean him. When Duckling was clean David let him dry next to the central heating.

When Duckling was dry David put him on a drawer with his childhood memories, a tiny box filled with milk teeth, photographs, and two plush animals. Duckling got to know the other two plush animals; there was Dog, an old brown plush dog that reached from one end of the drawer to the other. Dog was very old, she knew David from when David was still a little boy. Then there was Penguin, Penguin was very important; he didn't come from an ordinary toy store like Duckling and Dog. No Penguin came from a department store. A department store was a very big building where lots of very expensive and important items where sold, or so Penguin said. When David was away Penguin crept behind David's computer and went looking for financial news on the Internet. Duckling didn't understand why. "Its just what he likes to do" Dog said one day. Duckling just nodded, Dog was very old and wise so she understood things better the Duckling.

One day Penguin was looking out the window, "now that sucks" he said. "What does" Duckling asked. "Windows" Penguin replied. Duckling didn't understand that either. "Hasn't David been gone for very long now?" Duckling asked Dog. Dog sighed and said: "sometimes he stays away a little longer." "Where does he go then?" Duckling wanted to know. "Outside" Dog answered. But David stayed away a very long time.

A few days later strangers appeared in the apartment. "Those are his parents" Dog whispered to Duckling. "What are they doing here?" Duckling asked. "Hush and listen" Penguin said. The parents where talking about David, his mother was crying, they said he was gone. "Where has David gone that would make his mother so said?" Duckling asked. "Moscow" said Penguin, "it is a very bad place, communists you know." "Nonsense" said dog. "We need to find him," said Duckling. "Why?" said Penguin surprised "David always comes back." Dog shook her head; Penguin hadn't been there yet when David's mother explained that grandfather had gone. Dog knew this was the same type of gone. "Duckling is right," said Dog. "Where do we go look?" asked Duckling, "are we going outside, by ourselves?"  "No" said Dog in a sad tone "he is further away then that." "You two are mad" Penguin said, I'm staying right here." "Fine" said Dog as she leapt of the drawer followed by Duckling, "but if David doesn't come back, you will be a second-hand toy." "A second-hand toy!" screamed Penguin, "never!" And Penguin hopped of the drawer and waddled after Dog and Duckling.

The parents had left the door open and the three plush animals sneaked outside and into the hallway, they came upon a slope that went down straight then a flat bit and straight down again, and this lots and lots of times. "What is it?" Duckling asked while looking down. "Why, it's an escalator of course" Penguin said and hopped on the first flat bit. "You just stand here and you go down automatically I have seen it a million times." Penguin stood there but nothing happened. "Oh curses its broke" he muttered. Dog chuckled softly, "it's a stairs you silly, you have to walk down by yourself." "You don't say," Penguin said while frowning, "who ever invented something that silly." Dog began to hop down the stairs en both Duckling and Penguin followed.

After a long times they came down in a very dark room, the only light came from the doorway behind them. "Where are we?" asked Duckling. "The basement" said Dog. "What on earth are we doing here?" Penguin inquired. "We are going to David" Dog said in sad voice, "over there, that's where we have to go. Dog pointed in the direction of a large metal object with a small door in it. "And what might that contraption be?" Penguin asked. "Our way to David" Dog answered speaking with a sad voice still. "Dog must miss David very much" Duckling thought. Dog helped Duckling and Penguin climb up the metal object and then climbed in herself. "And what is it we do now?" asked Penguin. "We wait" Dog answered.

It was a cold day and Miss. Petunia complained about it to the genitor. "I'll light the old stove down below" the genitor said, "pump some heat into this building." And he went down and lit the stove.

The flames came all of a sudden and burned fast and bright. Dog caught fire first being old and tattered. Her inside caught fire as well it was made of some kind of wool or cloth, only her plastic eyes did not burn but melted away slowly. Penguin and Duckling burned at the same time, both where made of the same materials. There insides where filled with grains of plastic so they where washable, the grains melted as their outsides burned away. Then there was darkness and nothingness.

The End

The end of the darkness came as sudden as it had come. "Fire!" Penguin screamed. But there was no fire nor a metal object or a basement. They where outside, the sky was dark and grey and all the buildings where made out of grey stone. "Where are we now?" Duckling asked Dog. "This is where we will find David" Dog announced. Penguin looked around still scared out of his wits. "Its gone" Dog reassured him. Dog got up and began to walk down the grey street, sniffing the ground. Duckling and Penguin followed.

It took some time before Dog caught David's scent, but finally they where on his track. "Where are we really Dog?" Duckling whispered so Penguin would not hear. "We are beyond outside" Dog answered. "Beyond outside?" Duckling frowned. "Yes where things go when they are gone," Dog said wisely.

They walked and walked for hours on end until they came upon a part of the city that was darker and gloomier then the rest. "Are you sure he went here?" Penguin asked in a scared voice. "Yes" Dog said, "he has gone in there." Duckling huddled close to Dog. A cold wind blew through the streets and a dirty grey drizzly rain came falling down from the black clouds.

The buildings around the three plush animals loomed upwards, as if they tried to touch the sky but where doomed to fail. Then when they where walking down a particularly dark alley they heard the barking of dogs. Real dogs, and vicious ones judging by the way the barked. "Hurry" said Dog, "we must run." But the dogs where already running round the corner. The three plush animals ran as hard as they could. "In there Duckling said" as he ran towards a tall building. "Maybe we will be safe inside." And they ran into the building, but the dogs came after them. Penguin looked around quickly and noticed a chain that operated the door; he jumped up and pulled the chain. The door fell down when the first dog was just entering the building and the heavy steel door landed on its head. The door cracked open his skull and blood and brains seeped out of its head, giving colour to the otherwise dark grey floor. "The only way is up" mumbled Dog as she looked up the stairs. Duckling was shivering and Penguin looked a tad ill. They walked up the stairs that seemed to go on forever and ever.

Finally they came at the roof of the tall building, around then the city reached as far as the eye could see. It was like a maze of alleyways, buildings, bridges and walls. "We'll never find David now" Duckling said and began to cry. Dog looked around sadly and shook her head. Penguin sat down and sighed, "I told you, we should have stayed home." "There is no home without David" Dog said and nuzzled Duckling to comfort him. "Now I have lost my owner again" Duckling said softly trying to fight back his tears. They sat on the roof huddling close together while the rain fell down as the softly cried themselves to sleep.

The next morning if it could be called such saw the end of the dirty drizzle. Penguin got up and looked around. Then began to waddle contemplating his situation. He looked down, it was very tempting to just jump, forget everything and end it all, just jump. Dog was still sleeping and Duckling was too sad to get up. Penguin sighed, "sweet oblivion." Then he noticed a figure down below a few streets away from the tall building. "It's David!" yelled Penguin at the others. Dog woke up and Duckling waddled over in a hurry to see. They all looked at the figure; it really was David. He was walking down the street away from the tall building. His pace was fast and he was getting out of sight quickly. "How do we get to him?" Duckling said anxiously. Dog took a deep breath and said "hold on to me." Duckling and Penguin climbed on Dog's back and held on tight. "I saw a dog do this in a movie once" said Dog as she leapt of the roof stretching her big ears as far she could. "That wasn?t a dog" Penguin screamed, "that was dragon, besides you only bring bad luck."

They landed near the street where they had seen David. "How did you do that?" Penguin gasped. "I just did" answered Dog. Dog began to sniff the ground again looking for David's scent and after a minute or so she found it. They where back on David's trail.

They came upon a building with a big arched door and lots of broken arched windows. "What is it?" Duckling asked curiously. "You ask a lot of questions," Penguin said. "It's a church," said Dog, "a place where people go on Sunday mornings." They went inside, except for the pillars that supported the roof it was empty. "He went that way" Dog pointed to a doorway that led to a stairwell that seemed to go deep down into the earth. They followed it down.

After some time they reached a deep pit with a single wooden beam over it. They crawled over the wooden beam to the other side. Then when they wanted to go on a figure appeared round the corner of the hallway that led on. It was a black shadow formed like a ragged cloak. It hissed and came at them. The plush animals scrambled trying to get away from it. Duckling froze in terror. The shadow came at Duckling hissing louder and louder. It slowly reached out with fingers that where like black tentacles. Dog looked around and found a rope, she tied it to her tail quickly and ran at the shadow. "Cowtip!" yelled Dog as she jumped at the shadow. The shadow turned around but it was too late Dog jumped at it and it tumbled backwards into the pit. It managed to grasp Dog though; she hung by the rope on her tail in the pit. "Run you fools!" cried Dog. "Oh enough with the quotes" said Penguin and threw a rock in the shadows face, she shadow moaned, it let go of Dog and plummeted into the pit. Duckling and Penguin heaved Dog out of the pit and they walked on through the hallway that lay in front of them.

The plush animals where still following David's scent, they had gone up a stairs again and where now in a lighter part of the city. They where getting tired, it was probably late too. "He could be miles ahead of us" Penguin complained. "We can't give up now," Dog said. Duckling was too tired to argue. He huddled in a corner and fell asleep. "We could be walking forever and ever and never find him" Penguin went on. "Hush now and go to sleep" said Dog.

Duckling was lifted into the air; he woke up slowly and opened his eyes. Then he was looking at a face; he recognised the black lips and black smudges around those grey eyes, and the black hair that reached down to the face's cheeks. "David!" Duckling said. Dog and Penguin woke up too and looked at David. David petted Dog and Penguin and kissed Duckling on his small brow. "Come on, we have a long way still to go," said David. He put Duckling on his shoulder; Penguin climbed on Dog's back. Then they walked on again to where the skies where getting ever lighter, at the horizon Duckling could see that the skies where clear. "What lies over there?" Duckling asked David. "It's beyond the beyond," David said. "Some people call it heaven, but it has many names." Duckling lovingly rubbed his beak against David's cheek. He couldn't wait to get there.

One day they would reach the place where the skies where clear, but before they did they had many adventures. But that's another story.

Back to the Story Page