GYWO Yahtzee 2023 1/4

[reneescarted]

Title: Lost Duckling
Fandom or Original Universe: original
Rating: General
Word count: 566
Summary: A little duckling is lost in a park, looking for his mother. Inspired by a real Dutch park.
Warnings/triggers: -
Writing Prompt: chirp

He was just a tiny little duckling in a huge, huge world.

At least, the world was supposed to be even bigger than this park, though it was plenty big already. There was a seemingly endless carpet of green grass, only broken by the hard dark path the two-legged giants walked on, some trees, and smaller patches of enormous flowers. Then there was the lake, which was almost as big as the greenery. The water was cool and made his legs involuntarily start paddling, his soft, yellow body floating around like he was a mere fluff of tiny feathers. There were no fish - but why should there be? -, but there were plenty of tasty morsels left behind or even donated by the giants. The water was green and sometimes held cold, metallic objects. It was all the little duckling has ever known, yet why did he have the feeling that there was so much more to life than this?

He tried to ask. He walked up to an adult, then the next, then the next, but the adults were geese with long necks and deep honks, their goslings twice his size, their chirp a bit raspier than his own clear, high-pitched one. He really wanted to play with the goslings, to swim with them in formation, huddle close together with them and the mama goose for the warmth and comfort of family, but the adult geese hissed at him like he didn't belong and chased him as far as his tiny little webbed feet could take him.

He sat in the grass, seeing the geese swim around or graze from the long grass, and let out the occasional questioning chirp. Why was he alone? Why would no one take him, allow him among the other baby birds? Being alone was not good. Being alone could cost him his life, he knew. The two-legged ones tried to approach him, mostly the shorter ones, squealing in an ear-shattering manner and chasing after him with something he thought must be glee in their species. The truly big ones just shook their heads, drawing the smaller ones away, saying something about what a pity it was.

The day was slowly turning into night, even the geese herding their young towards the denser bushes to retire for the night, and yet he was still alone. A chill started to creep into the air, and his chirps were starting to get desperate as the cold and the loneliness filled him with growing terror. And then... Could that be it? An almost familiar quack with the undertone of tiny chirps, getting closer and closer until he finally spotted the little family. And now he remembered everything.

It was his Mama, his soft, attentive Mama and his small, yellow, chirping siblings obediently following her. He would've as well if not for the four-legged beast that scared them all and scattered them, forcing him to fend for himself. It was his Mama that told him of the vastness of the world, that it was much bigger than the pond and the grass with the streaks of concrete, but spending such a long time separated, his memory started to fade until he almost forgot them completely.

His Mama quacked softly in happiness to have found her last lost duckling, and he happily mingled among his chirping siblings in a sea of yellow and unity.