The day the light

The day the light

The sun the night

The air the breeze

The cold the freeze

The stars the moon

The song the tune

The heat the fire

The truth the liar

The water the wave

The dark the cave

The pain the fear

The laugh the tear

 

Flight of Icarus

The sun was at its most glorious point of the day. Fire and warmth spreading over the ground as it slowly started to sink into the Earth. It had been a good day for the duck and her flock, food had been bountiful. Flies, beetles and dragonflies had filled their stomachs to the brim, leaving them without want of more. Now to head home, back to the nesting site, for a good nights rest. The ducks and drakes waddled in their usual formation of pairs. Two in front and two behind, this added a bit more protection from any predators lurking in wait. The duck waddled slowly beside her male partner, pleasantly knowing that they were nearly home, for it had been a long day and she was tired. The flock emerged from the growth of trees and arrived at the black rough ground. This ground was different from the brown dirt and the green grass. This black ground was burning hot on her webbed feet and wasn’t as soft. This ground always had big monstrous creatures soaring by on it, but this was the path they followed everyday. Even though the duck was terrified of these creatures, she would never leave her flock. The formation of the flock slightly changed into a line, one after the other as they crossed the black ground. The first two companions of her flock crossed the black ground, the large creatures roaring by as they passed. Her companions reached the green grass and waited patiently for her and her partner to cross. They both waddled quickly for the sun was going down.

Mystery sat in the car beside her friend as they turned out of his street and proceeded to make their way back to her house. It was a nice afternoon and the sun was gently setting on the horizon making her feel happy. This good feeling needed music to go along with it. Mystery reached for her Iphone, connected it to the cars stereo and hit shuffle. The first song to come up was Iron Maiden’s Flight of Icarus. It had an upbeat melody and seemed to suit her mood exactly. The chorus sang: ‘Fly on your way like an eagle, fly as high as the sun, on your wings like an Eagle, fly and touch the sun.’ Mystery was singing along to the song with a big grin on her face. It had been a great day, but it was slowly coming to an end. Mystery started to day dream, as she was gazing out of the front window she could see an array of grey, white and brown feathers floating slowly across the sky. That’s weird she thought. Her friend suddenly covered her eyes and said “Don’t look.” Her smile instantly faded. She knew what ‘don’t look’ meant. Some poor animal had been hit by a car. Mystery couldn’t count how many times growing up that these words had been spoken to her while she was travelling in a car; every time an innocent creature had been hit by a car and left behind to die a painful death. They pulled over to the side of the road. From what Mystery could gather it seemed that the car ahead of them had hit two birds and had just kept driving. They both got out of the car to see if the birds had been injured or could be saved. As Mystery and her friend got closer it was evident that these birds were ducks; brown, white and grey feathered ducks. One was dead in the middle of the road, but another had been thrown free and was lying on the side, struggling and fluttering. Mystery’s heart sank. Another car pulled over to the side and two men got out and asked if Mystery and her friend needed any help. One of the men picked up the lifeless limp bird in the middle of the road and threw it into the bushes as if it was a piece of garbage that needed disposing of. Mystery’s friend yelled at her to go fetch an old gym towel from his car so he could wrap the injured bird in it. She ran quickly to do as she was told as there was still hope that they could somehow save this poor duck. As she ran to the car she tried to envision herself as the duck and how scared and confused it must be. She could only imagine. She also wondered what kind of person could hit a couple of ducks and just keep driving. Holding the towel and running back to her friend and the duck, she could see two other ducks on the grass walking back and fourth. These ducks were making loud quacking sounds and fretting. Mystery could see that these ducks knew something bad had happened and that their friends were gone. With tears in her eyes Mystery handed the towel to her friend to wrap the duck in. The ducks neck looked broken, but it was fighting for its life.

What had happened? The duck couldn’t move, she was in shock. There were strange creatures standing around her. She had seen them before but had always tried to keep clear of them. One of the creatures started to approach her and that is when everything turned black. The duck was scared. She couldn’t see anything. What’s happening? She started to struggle and flail. Every part of her body hurt, but maybe she could break free and escape.

Mystery held the towel and the duck in her lap. The duck struggled for a little while and then went still. Mystery didn’t want to look under the towel