Blackout

The Ugly Duckling

I laid down on the bed and grabbed a flattend piece of cardboard box to use as a fan. It was starting to get really hot.

I rolled around a few times in annoyance until I fell off.

"OUCH!" I complained.

I slowly moved my head to the side as I struggled to get up, then I noticed something.

Underneath the bed, was my old ugly duckling.

Now, it was literally ugly. I was all flat and dirty and the yellow color it once had was faded, covered in dust and tiny spider webs.

I pulled it out from under the bed and began to brush off the dirt.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING UNDER THE BED?" I asked as if the toy would respond to me.

I would've freaked out if it did, but then again, I guess I'd be rich cause I can sell it to the people who run the Internet.

I touched it's belly and noticed that the hard part the goes "quack! quack!" wasn't there anymore.

I was quite sad. But, then I remembered.

"OH YEAH, THIS RAN OUT OF BATTERIES YEARS AGO."

I was in middle school when the batteries ran out and we stopped changing them. I asked my dad to take that small speaker thing out of the plush so I could sleep with it without it going "quack! quack!" everytime it would fall or I'd roll on it.

I can't believe I still have this. I swear it had gotten lost as we moved houses over the years.

It sure has aged a lot.

It still had both of it's eyes, but one of them had already lost it's color and was now just a white oval.

The color isn't as vibrant as it used to be either and the feathers were all messy and sticky now too.

I stared at it, recalling even more memories of my childhood.

I missed my dad.

I walked over to my small wooden desk where the candle was lit up, next to it was my laundry bin piled up with my dirty clothing. I put the dirty plush toy there and decided to give it a wash once the power was back on.

This was a part of my childhood, a memory of me and my dad. I should probably be taking better care of it.