A feeling pounced at me like the world was falling.

I felt dizzy, desperately wadding to the low area of the lake to search. I can't believe she's GONE! Where could she be?

" PRINCESS!" I screamed as loudly as I could, bringing back the energy that was to sleep. My wet feet soaked the grass which looked convincing to nibble but not now. I can't be alone, what will happen to me? Is Princess okay?

I scrambled to the spot where I last saw her and scanned the water, following the orange horizon. My breaths were drowned out by my heartbeats.

The water moved so smoothly and peacefully as if it didn't know what I was going through right now. If water could tell me where she went, I swear I would NOT drink water anymore! ( okay- maybe not... but still!) .

Was she still mad at me for losing her creature? Maybe she drowned trying to look for it. No... I couldn't have possibly been turned away for more than a minute. Or did I? Ugh! I wish someone would help me out right now. If only StraitTail was here.

The cattails danced in the last breeze the sunset provided, making a small burrow visible from the angle I was standing in. Vines twined around the entrance, leaving bits of it dangling mysteriously in front of the entrance hole. A few thin broken sticks, about thin as my thinnest claw broken around the cattails, and some floated in the water. She better not have gone in there I thought worriedly. Sometimes, as I said, she can have unexpected reactions but I don't know if she is really THAT crazy to do something like that.

The darkness inside the burrow seemed to capture all the light that was outside of it. All I needed to know is that if she was in there or not. How should I know... I can't go in there. What if it is really deep and I end up falling? Worst of all, what if I see her blood down there? One of the biggest things I can't dare to see. Overall, after all this time wasted, I know I have to see what's in there myself.

I took a step closer and my foot squelched in the mud. I wadded through the water enough so I was on the deep side; in the middle of the lake. I fought the strong waves that sent me floating away and I shook the water off myself as I made it to dry land. Nothing felt better than knowing you were under the safety of floating away. Now that I swam in a real actual lake. Wow, I feel so much like a wild adventurer.

I, bold and mighty took trembling steps closer to the front of the burrow. Okay... maybe I'm not that much of an adventurer. My main goal was to save Princess and see if she wants to go home. I definitely want to go home. She BETTER says she wants to go home or else I will convince the duck life out of her. Without harm.

The edges of the burrow were damp with mud as I scooped some up with my beak and peered at it with my eyes crosses, I flung it off and put on a fierce scowl.

" You are a full-grown duck! Not an old one yet! You got a few harsh years uh head of yuh DUNKIN! Your homes have been in Tractor's Supply, in a box, enclosed by a cage, and finally in the coop and you don't call yourself GROWN? You can do it!" I chanted. I paced around with one of my wings spread and the other on my heart.

I cleared my throat and looked around nervously. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that aloud... but... it DID make me feel better!

I once more peered into the empty hole of darkness just as I heard a faint murmur- an echo down the darkness. I cowered back into the now moonlight. It was too risky... too dangerous.... but all I know, I have to do this.

I took a step in.

I thought the dirt would feel dry and crumbly but surprisingly, under my webbed feet, it was revealed as wet and mushy. Princess might have gone down there. Although I didn't hear any noise I was positive she was there.

Under my belly, there were her little footprints! You'd never know how joyed I was to know that I was right. Her footprints went in a trail down into the burrow, deeper and deeper. So much deeper than the darkness faded her marking.

" Here goes nothing..."

The next step in the burrow shaded my white body with black. My head bumped into the roof and crumbling dirt sprinkled on the ground. I shook my head and kept going. The darker and darker it went and I was afraid. Afraid, of what was down there and if it would hurt me. Or Princess. If she was down there which I really hope she is because I am practically risking my life!

As I went down, I could tell it was getting deeper... and it was taking me a heck of a lot of time to get down. Maybe that's because I was cautiously taking small steps.

Suddenly my quiet breathing was interrupted by a mumbling little squeak, coming from deeper in the burrow. It wasn't far, it was close. I scanned the view ahead of me and I could see long shadows that were spread, stretched on the dirt walls, along with light from inside to make it happen.

Light? Why is the day in there? I thought it was night.

I was sure it was night. I jumped when the shadows represented a few figures among a larger one. A figure is similar.... maybe to Princess? I can't be sure until I find out. But at the same time, I don't want to. It's just so... creepy!

As I kept taking small steps down the long tunnel I often step over my feet and nearly trip. I hold my breath every time I almost. The shadow figures kept twitching in the light and I don't know if I was imagining things or something... but I think they were talking.

Really, talking! But one of the voices felt so familiar. It was a voice I know at heart. Well- I know everyone's voice back at the coop. Even each of the chickens too, but I don't really pay much attention to them unless I need to.

I craned my neck over the edge and I could almost see whatever was speaking there. Until the little sounds formed to little voices, soft voices, a familiar voice... taking turns speaking with a one I never heard before.

" Well that's cruel"

" I know it is," The different voice paused for a second. " but I really need him back"

After a while, I finally realized the different voice was a female.

" Same here, you know you should always fight for who you need"

" I'm just so nervous"

"Yes, that's what I want to hear!"

The conversation went on for a little while. I, listening in and Princess ( I hope), and whoever is in there. However, I can't be standing here for long, what if Princess is worried sick? but why did she run off in the first place? And worst of all she didn't tell me where she was going. Did she even want me there? The questions lay painfully in my chest and I leaned in closer.

" You know you shouldn't give up on your goals," Princess said.

" Yeah"

" Of course, you can! You're very smart and-" There was a long pause for a moment. I could hear slight shifting in the crumbly dirt and the light from farther down flickered. I never saw the sun flicker. Only if you don't count the time when the owners come in at night to close our doors so we're locked, they always bring a container with the sun trapped inside. A small sun. I guess it helps them see because the grass looks more visible at night when the trapped sun is close enough to me.

But who was Princess talking to? I was having an urge to know but fear held it back. Will I be in trouble? I never knew any duck besides Princess, StraitTail, and Gill. Well, maybe you can count on me, Dunkin. And why is she talking to whoever she was supposed to say to me? What duck is she talking to? It's not StraitTail. Or, Gill. But if it somehow was then I have no idea where the high voice came from.

I kept thinking and thinking for a long time. So long that I forgot I was inside an actual burrow, not something I heard in stories also I was hiding from somebody. Trying to be quiet and trying not to get killed and survive in this new world. It seemed like the care of it flew away. Which was a bad thing because I didn't realize I wasn't standing normally and I started to stumble a few steps forward.

" Is anyone there?" The female voice asked.

" Hmm, I'll check," Princess said.

Oops.

Although I was joyed to see her again, maybe get the softness of her feathers dug into mine, but how she said, " Hmm, I'll check". It was like I was some evil predator who was sneaking its way down here. But I wasn't one!

" Oh, please don't miss, really, I don't think you want to look"

" What? Who says I can't look?" Princess asked firmly.

Whoever she was talking to didn't say anything after that. It or she was all silent. Perhaps shaking in fear of what she warned Princess not to do. Only I didn't have to worry because she was going back into my wings again. This time I was never going to let her go.

Princess's shadow grew and stretched on the dirt wall, making its way to me. It wasn't long until I saw a little pinkish little beak peek behind the dirt wall, that must've separated my view from them. And also it wasn't long until I saw her little head poke out. Once her eyes greeted me, I thought she'll jump for joy that I was actually alive and here. But no, she looked as if I was a late guest she had been expecting for a while.

" Dunkin! You're finally here!" Princess said, taking my wing and pulling me into the light.

I squinted and winced as a sharp beam of light cut into my vision. Everything went pure white just for a heartbeat. I was used to getting my wing pulled to come forward many times. It was mostly Princess who does it.

When my vision cleared, a curled lump on the ground sat beside the beam of light. The thing looked as if it was almost alive and stole brown camouflage and put it on herself. The burrow was actually kind of big and had an arch shape. In the corners of the burrow were dried plants and weeds. Some were the length of my whole neck and others had the width of my leg. Most of them were twined and knotted into a heap in each corner. As if they were saved or the one who dragged it all here didn't want it and was too lazy to throw it outside the burrow. I get that.

The little fuzzball that seemed to be breathing on the ground uncurled its... ears? If I'm not mistaken. Its ears stood directly up in the air as if it was absorbing information. Its little nose twitched and wiggled. From what I was seeing, this was not a duck. Not a chicken. A deep heavy midnight black set a dim glow from the trapped sun that was stuck in a long tube in the middle of the burrow. The eyes, I thought mine was pretty handsome but seeing this, it felt like the world I believed I was in, dumped me in a new position.

The eyes were held with a thin brown circle surrounding the complete darkness. It was like seeing a thousand midnights but in a version of complete sorrow. Although it was kinda fascinating to see a creature like that, something in those eyes pained me. As if it had been through a loss, saw a loss. I wondered why I felt so bad for it even though it was a different type of creature. Or how sad it really was. The voice I heard, I know it has to be her. It tucked its little- okay, first I got attacked by a four-legged, hairy, monster. I wonder if all animals I will meet in my future will have four legs; this one does.

" Dunkin, meet Tulip, Tulip, meet Dunkin," Princess said. Tulip stared right into my eyes.

"H-hi?" I said, I tried to shake her gaze away but it was almost impossible. Tulip's eyes almost seemed to flicker with attention and she looked down, almost to say a word but regretted it quickly.

Princess dipped her head to face her. Did I hurt her feelings? What creature was she actually?

" It's okay, don't be shy" Princess quietly whispered.

I waited for a long moment before making my next move. Finally, after a while, Princess got up with a sad smile on her face and shook her head. " Sorry she's pretty shy"

I mustered up my courage and I took a step forward. I forgot what the feeling of dirt under my feet felt like since I didn't take a step at the last minute. A cold sensation lifted me into the conversation as I began my first words to Tulip.

"Hey, it's okay, you can talk to me. You don't have to be afraid" I said in a soothing voice. Or I tried to anyway because she hesitated for a moment. I fiddled with my wing before looking into her eyes to see a response.

" Hello" She quickly got out.

Her voice was nothing like I expected. It was cold and shake and unbelievably soft. It almost had an echo to it. But silly me, I know it doesn't but it left me in astonishment. I definitely thought I heard a different voice when I was farther away.

I sighed and gestured my head to the moonlight spilling in from the entrance. Eyeing Princess, she took a look at Tulip before going off with me.

We walked up and out of the burrow and Princess's feathers, located at the bottom of her wings tinted in the moonlight. My stomach made a few backflips before I joined reality again. How could I just lose Princess? Not too long ago I thought I lost her and now she is facing me, back again, at this very moment.

" I'm so sorry, I can explain" She started. Princess fiddled with her flight feathers as she avoided my hard stare, almost about to speak. I bowed my head for a second to think about what I was going to say next. Then, before she could say a word, I substitute the voice Tulip was probably overhearing.

" You know what? It's okay. I'm sorry I took your- um, thing away. I shouldn't have done that in the first place" I admitted. To be honest, the way I took her thing away from her own beak still ached. Who does that?

Princess let out a small chuckle and shifted. " Aw Dunkin, it's not just that. I mean I was a little annoyed until I saw some light coming from this burrow, here" She explained. That reminded me not to speak as loud. I wonder was that creature would think if she heard what we were saying.

I cracked a small smile. I guess she forgave me after all.... but just being in this conversation was making me cringe.

After a while of looking into her adorable eyes, I finally spoke.

" If you don't mind me asking, why does that creature look so sad?" I asked as if the word creature tasted too awful to describe it.

Princess lowered her voice and looked both ways and finally whispered, " Tulip is a rabbit, and her brother has been taken by Humans"

Rabbit? I never heard of a rabbit before. Is she related to a duck in any way? Sorry- I shouldn't be focused on that.

" Humans?" I echoed.

" No, we were wrong about owners. They are actually called Humans, according to Tulip" Princess explained.

" H-humans... hmm" I tried the word in my own mouth. It was different. Suspicious. As if it was a masked question waiting to be uncovered. Almost as if it had a dangerous turn to it. So the thing I feared my whole life wasn't called what I thought it was? This was too much for me to take in. I must have taken a while because Princess interrupted me.

" Ahem," Princess shook her head playfully and rolled her eyes. " The point is that Tulip's brother is lost," Princess said, I could tell she wanted me to do something about it.

Instead, I rudely questioned her. " And?"

For the moment we were talking, I didn't feel as scared as I was when I realized Princess was missing; I waddled over and took a few sips from the noisy river. The water crashed against my beak as I tried to fight it and take a beautiful, most glorious sip.

That sip was probably the best one I ever took. The water swished in my mouth before I let it go down my throat. The creamy but different taste of river water soothed my dry throat. I stood there for a while trying to tackle big ripples in the water to drink. As I took my last sip I knew Princess was waiting for me so I held some water in my mouth to keep me from not going back.

" Kweep, Murghf, Gwoing-muff" I tried to say with water in my mouth.

Princess rolled her eyes again.

" What I am trying to tell you is that we can cheer Tulip up by bringing her brother back!" Princess chirped with her wings flared in joy. " What do you say?"

It went all so fast. Before I was apologizing about losing her creature and now she was about to send me on a dangerous mission to get someone's brother, back?!

I spit the water I held in my mouth and coughed. I hammered my chest with my wing until I looked up:

Princess was soaked head to chest with my water. Drops hung on and dripped from her face. I almost found it hilarious in a way because many of her feathers were molded straight up or to the side of the water. She didn't bother to shake it off. She gave me a funny questioning glare at me.

" I-" I began. I reached for her face to brush a hanging drop away.

" Don't,"

" Let's go to bed and forget this happened," Princess said all choppy. She shook away the water drops disgustedly.

We walked back to the burrow and we saw Tulip. She looked warm and happy. The light started to flicker a lot and she didn't seem to mind. At that moment, I realized the rabbit had a white fluffy pom at the end of its rear end. She shook it comfortably as she lay snuggled, but a worry still hugged her expression.

"Hello" She greeted. She still didn't face us, maybe just a little but I could tell she was still shy.

" Hey Tulip, we are leaving now, it was nice meeting you," Princess said.

" No, you can spend the night here. I got some blankets in the corner that you can use. Besides, it is much warmer and I could use some company" Tulip said, she started to talk like she was a whole other person. Dang, that was a lot of words for such a small thing.

"Are you sure?" I interjected. " We wouldn't want to take up so much space"

I looked around and realized how big I was and how much smaller the rabbit was. To Tulip, maybe the burrow is pretty big for one rabbit but when two ducks AND a rabbit.... may be crowded.

" It's fine," Tulip said quietly.

After that, Princess waddled to a corner before I could ask what a blanket was. With her beak, she pulled out a cloth I saw before, back at the coop. The ones back there are always crumbling with dirt and all brown. Also, they're always stuck underground and have multiple holes here and there. But the blanket she pulled out, wasn't as dirty as the ones I saw but, it looked amazing.

Instead of brown, it was a bright red color. The color I see in some flowers. And it didn't have any holes! ( maybe one small hole) It was dusty but it looked soft and comfortable. I can't believe Tulip had this, and where did she get it? What plant did it grow from?

Ugh! Questions!

Princess gestured for me to snuggle with her, and that's what I did.

As I lay in that blanket, there was no way of getting me out. It was like sitting on very tall moss but on a whole other level. And the best part, it instantly got warmer as my body was on it.

I soon stretched and rolled my head on my back to dig in my feathers and begin my slumber; the first slumber in the wild. My first slumber was far away from home, far away from my comfort zone, and far away StraitTail and Gill. ( and the chickens) I wondered what our owners think now. ( or should I say, humans?)

Does that mean more watermelon for everyone else? Did anyone see our escape? Will the humans go looking for us and take us back?

But the biggest question that didn't leave was, where did the blanket come from? Thinking about it now, I don't think it came from a plant.

Did the humans make it?

If they did, that means Tulip must have stolen it. Is that why her brother was stolen?

As I was thinking, Tulip got up and revealed that she hopped to the corner of the burrow. Not waddled... hopped. Wow- life is full of surprises. After that, she circled around once and sniffed the ground. Then she sat down with her head leaned against the wall and her eyes squinted shut. She was sleeping.

That reminded me to do the same thing.

With the river crashing and the water swishing around outside, it kept me awake. What if something was out there? Maybe Tulip was used to it, she is a survivor. And I'm not. I needed to get used to things before I really judge who I am.

I turned over, almost flipping the small mass that was on my side, Princess. She was sleeping too and honked quietly in her sleep. Her body rose and fell, rose and fell.....

I snuggled deeper into my feathers, knowing sleep was a long time to come.