Kessie's Short Stories

[Ducktales 2017] Phantom Pain

Originally published 12/16/2019

I was a firecracker, baby, with something to prove;

But now I gotta contend with the living blues.

I could've missed it, I never knew;

Chain reaction but you're holding the fuse.

-Die Young, Sylvan Esso

. . .

Page 121 of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook shows and states how one should go about amputating one of their own limbs. Of course, that doesn't mean that you should go chopping off your buddy's leg with no problem- but Della Duck was in a situation where she wasn't going to chop her buddy's leg off for the fun of it. Oh no, her situation was much, much worse.

It was all a funny story -probably to someone other than her right now- what with the 20-something duck under the wreckage of her crashed spaceship. It became quickly evident that she couldn't get her leg out from what force she could give in her position. Della looked from the looming exhaust to a piece of metal, still hot from the crash.

"Oh phooey..." she grumbled to herself. In order for her to get home, she could either bite the bullet or amputate her own leg. Of course, being part of the Duck-McDuck family meant that, even if you bit the bullet, you better spit it right back out and laugh.

Taking the piece of metal in her hands (and dropping it for a moment because of how hot it still was), Della carefully tried to measure where she would cut. It would be easier to go above the knee, right? Wincing at a moment for the anticipated pain, Della once more mumbled, "This is gonna smart..."

. . .

In present day, at the wee hours of 12:13 in the morning, Della Duck woke up with a start. A pain worse than any she could imagine was surging from her left leg.

"Ssssweet Yensid, that smarts!" Della cursed as threw her covers off to figure out what was wrong with her leg. For a moment, she stared at the spot in shock. Despite the persistent feeling of her leg being crushed, nothing was there. Her leg was just... gone.

And that was when she remembered everything.

Della flinched -more from the pain than in her own recollection- before starting to work herself up. She gave a small, dismal look to her handmade prosthetic leg, and with a hard sigh she put it on. Della got off of her bed to make the short journey to the bathroom. Even with the prosthetic on, the pain did not subside any- Della all put flinched every time she put her weight on it.

McDuck manor was awfully quiet tonight. Usually you'd hear someone (Donald, of course) snoring, but tonight? Nothing. Dead silence. Della didn't pay much mind, easily making her way to the bathroom and opening up the medicine cabinet for the pain killers. Moving like she was sleepwalking, Della unscrewed the top of the medicine bottle, took out a pill, and swallowed it without so much a sip of water. Placing her hands on the sink, Della gave a small sigh as the pain from her no longer existent left leg subsided.

"What is wrong with me?" Della asked herself. "I've never gotten phantom pains before."

Shaking her head, Della closed the medicine cabinet and looked up at the wrong time to see her own reflection stare back at her. Della stood frozen as she and her reflection just looked at each other.

Slowly, her reflection started to put on a nasty grin. "Maybe it's because you're weak." it taunted. "You're a bad mother, pilot, and now your poor planning is causing even more trouble for you. What were you even thinking that night, Della? Only an idiot would leave her only children behind and cause a ten year rift between her loving brother and uncle."