Chapter 6 - A Duckling and A White-Haired Girl

Fuck… What was that about?

Shac shakes his head in confusion from the dreams he’s been having this past few days. A chill ran down his spine this early in the morning. None seems to be make any sense, but he knew it’s about the ducks, it’s the only thing he can remember.

“A pile of dead ducklings…” He muttered, thinking deeply from the scene on his dreams. The image of the scene is burned in his mind, each lifeless ducklings are piled up to each other, staring at him as if he did something.

Shac sighed heavily. “Hah… I know there’s something bound to happen after eating the egg.” Shac looked at his body, most specifically his forearms. Being a skinny person, he immediately noticed the changes on his body. His forearms suddenly widened, as if it grew within a few days.

He looked at it closely, turning his hand sideways, his body indeed changed. Shac chuckled nervously, hinting his fear of the sudden change. And that’s not the only thing that he noticed…

“This looks like it’s only going to get worse.” He thought, as he hurried and brings himself out of the bed. He rushed to get ready for school, heading straight to the bath if he was running late, even though he was not. He grabbed a piece of slice bread from the kitchen before going out, there’s something he need to try.

He took a deep breath, calming himself before anything else. The very same road he’s been walking countless times is in front of him. It’s not something new, but there’s something different about today.

He dashed away, running at a very high speed. “I knew it.” He muttered, continuing to run without feeling any indifferent. As if he was walking, he could breathe without any problems.

“AHHHHHHH!” He shouted, running at full speed, without any difficulties. He kept on shouting, over and over, but nothing changed. No mater what he tried, trying to turn back, sprinting forward, even running back, nothing has changed.

He immediately stop from his tracks, pausing from the constant running. “W-what is this…” He whispered, his voice is trembling as well as his hands. Clutching his face, a sudden wave of sadness arrived. His body felt different, confused, he wasn’t sure what to feel if he was afraid or was simply lost

He shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling. “Alright, enough of this. There’s no time for being sad.” He paused. “Beside this is what I’ve chosen. I’ll see it through.”

“Now…” He looked up the sky, lost in thought. “Not only that I am able to breathe without any trouble, but my body also changed. I’ve definitely gotten bigger this past few days.” He glanced down and rubbed his stomach. “You’re still the same, huh?” He muttered, rubbing his stomach again. Something felt off about it, his stomach didn’t change, but he for some reason he didn’t felt any hunger, he hasn’t eaten anything for days now.

All I can think of is that this must be the after effects of eating the egg… I mean, he did say that eating the egg will curse me, that makes sense.

“I mean, not being able to crave for food sounds like a curse. ” He paused, then he added, “But, it also means I can also save up more money.” He chuckled, trying to laugh off the situation.

With nothing to do, he decided to continue his sprinting, with his destination being the school. It didn’t took him too long to reach the school, what seems to be far from on any other day, now felt like a walk in the park this time.

Standing in front of the school, he couldn’t help but reflect on how much he has changed. He looked down at his hands, wondering what other changes the egg might have brought to his body.

I should tell Ivan about these changes…

Thinking about it, he didn’t tell me anything about to happen to me this time.

Sigh. “What a jerk… Well, I’m not too sure how far Ivan knew about this curse. He might knew, or he might not.”

As he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a pain in his head, dropping him down to his knees. “Aghhh… What?”

“quack! quack! quack!” The noise echoed in his ears.

“What?” Startled from the noise, he glanced from his surrounding, trying to find where the sound is coming from. As he searched for the source of the sound, he noticed something unusual…

Everyone was gone. The students had vanished without any trace.

But the sound continued. “quack!”

“This doesn’t look good. Where’s everyone…“ He whispered.

Wondering what just happened, he stood up and slowly walk towards the school building, he glanced left and right, but not even a single soul was in sight. “quack!”

Sigh. The sound of the duck couldn’t be a good sign.

This must be mean there’s another duckling in here… But, it doesn’t make sense for everyone to just vanish suddenly like that.

“quack!”

“Arghhh!!!” Shac scratches his head in confusion.

As the quacking didn’t stop, he decided to follow where is the source of the noise of the duckling comes from.

He first looked for their room in the second floor of the school building, hoping to find Ivan, but he failed. “I see, so no one really was left behind.”

“quack!”

He continued to follow the sound, until he reached the fourth floor, where the sound is starting to get louder and more clear.

From this room?

Shac slowly peeked through the window and tried to locate where the sound was coming from in the room. What he saw sent a child down his spine, a white-haired girl sitting in a chair, and a guy holding a duck by its neck.

Shac immediately hid, his heart is racing. What? I thought the students vanished...? Or not?

He noticed that both of the person in the room doesn’t seem to be wearing a school uniform. They are probably not even a student here?

The guy held the duck up to the girl. “You’ll find yourself in this position.” he taunted.

Hearing his words, the girl laughed. “Why are you like this...” she sighed, slowly approaching him and holding his chin. “You know what? I wouldn’t mind killing you multiple times.”

What are they doing...? And what are they talking about? They are trying to kill each other?

The girl suddenly seized the guy’s head. She then slammed his skull against the ground with brutal force. Crack. Thud. The sound echoed through the room.

What the-!?

The guy couldn’t react, as his face hit the floor hard, creating a crack on the floor. He tried to fight back… But no matter how he struggled, she remained unmoved, she wouldn’t budge.

With her left hand, she grabbed the duckling from the guy’s hand and placed it on top of her head. “You really are a pain in the ass.” She muttered.

“Huh?” Suddenly, she froze, she sensed something and looked at the window. Luckily, Shac barely managed to crouch immediately.

Oh shit! Shac felt his heart about to burst. “What was that about?” he thought to himself. I should get out of here fast!

Shac slowly hid and walked to the side, then started to run away.

This is not normal… There are more people who knew about the ducklings? And what is with her strength? She slammed that guy’s skull strong enough to create a crack on the floor!

He tried scratching his eyes with his arms, but it didn’t seem to do the trick… he was still there, at the place.

Shit! Where the hell is everyone?

As he ran away, he looked from side to side but couldn’t see a single person. He tried to rush to the school gate, running until he managed to reach the exit. Just as he was about to get out, he was greeted by the white-haired girl, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Yo!” she greeted, grinning.

What the…? “Uh… I’m not an enemy…” Shac whispered, his voice trembling.

The girl chuckled, seeing how nervous Shac is. “Where’s my Yo! at?”

Shac, confused and didn’t know what to do, hesitated for a moment before he decided to greet the girl back. “Yo…”

“Good.” she said, smiling. “Sorry about earlier. It’s just I’ve been fighting the same face for a while now, so it’s starting to get boring.”

“I see.” He nodded, that was the only response Shac could imagine. The girl suddenly started to clench both of her fists and took a fighting stance.

Huh!?

“So, would you like to fight for a minute?” The white-haired suggested, as she positioned herself perfectly, ready for a fight at any second.

Don’t tell me she want to fight me too?

Startled at what he was seeing, Shac immediately took a defensive stance and stepped back slowly. “I don’t know what you want, but I don’t feel like there’s a reason for us to fight.”

There’s no way I can beat you!

“Oh yeah I forgot.” The girl scratches her head. “Looks like you’re not familiar yet.” She then releases the fighting stance, shifting from aggressive to calm.

“So instead…” Suddenly, she raises her right hand, forming a finger gun.

A finger gun? Wait… no no no no!!!

As she raises her finger, she aims directly at Shac’s heart. Time seems to slow as Shac registers the threat from the white-haired girl, he tries to move, to dodge, but he’s too late…

Whoosh. A fast and compact burst of invisible force of air erupts from her fingertip.

“Wha-” His voice is too low to be heard.

Splat. Hearing the sound that it made, he looked at his chest, a small perfectly round hole has appeared. No blood flows, just a dark, empty void where his heart should be.

Not my heart…

For a moment, Shac stood frozen, his mind struggling to comprehend what’s happened, it didn’t take too long before he collapses. He collapsed, his body hits the ground with a dull thud, eyes wide, staring at the figure of a girl who’s sitting and looking directly at his eyes.

“I’ll see you later.”

Later? What did she meant by th-