No Little Duck Came Back

"I've never said anything like that, Amber! You told me to count how many little ducks there were, so Dad would finally love me when I got it right!"

Amber could not see me. She finished the last of her ice cream, licked her lips in satisfaction, and grinned sweetly. "Dad, don't worry. Jesse is old enough to take care of himself. He'll come back."

My father nodded and gently draped his coat over her shoulders. "I know, sweetie. I'm glad I can always rely on you. Come on, let's go inside for the cake."

My parents and sister retreated into the comfort of their warm cabin. I could hear their muffled laughter and cheer through the thick window, yet I could not enter.

They cut into a massive three-layer cake. Amber fed the first piece to my father and the second to my mother. They broke into laughter, like one big happy family.

It stung. I never felt like I had a place among them.

I turned to the sea. My body bobbed in and out of the water, drifting alone toward the distant abyss, carried by the waves as fish nibbled at what remained of me.

I turned back to the cabin and shouted as loudly as I could, "Open the door! It's me! It's cold and dark out here! Someone, please bring me home!"

I shouted until I could no longer hear my own voice. No one answered. Only the sound of waves striking the hull filled the silence.

…

My father finally lost his patience. "Steer the ship back to shore! I've had it with his dramatic behavior!"

The superyacht's crew obeyed his command. Perched on the rail, I watched as we sped farther and farther away from my body.

"Don't go! Mom, Dad, I'm right there! Just there! You only have to turn around and look. If you turn around… If you could just turn around… you'd see me. I'm not hiding!"

The superyacht docked at the pier. It stood empty, save for a few dim streetlights. There were no fishermen in sight, and no sign of me.

My father refused to give up. He ordered Max to retrieve the security camera footage from the harbor officer, yet he still saw no sign of anyone returning from the sea.

"That brat's still out on the water?" he said in disbelief, his confidence beginning to crack.

He still could not accept that something might have happened to me. I had always been a stubborn, tenacious little pest. No matter how many times he kicked me or shouted at me, I kept running back to him.

My mother took out her phone and opened her tracking program. They had planted a chip in my watch so they could locate me at all times. It was the only act of care they had ever shown me.

"We'll find out where that brat is soon enough. And he's going to get a good beating for all the trouble he's caused us!" she snarled as she tapped the small red dot blinking on the screen.

A minute later, the map finished loading. The red dot blinked from the sea, 20 miles from the pier, and sank below sea level. It dropped from -5 miles to -10.

My mother's hand trembled with shock. She almost dropped the phone. "What's going on? Why is his watch sinking into the ocean?!"

My father glanced at the screen. His face went pale before he forced himself to recover and sneered, masking his panic, "That brat threw his watch into the sea! He knows we're tracking him! That little shit knows exactly how to play with our feelings, doesn't he? Looks like he's been studying how to piss us off in his spare time!"

That made my mother relax. Her panic hardened into embarrassed fury. "How dare he?! That watch is a limited edition! How could he throw something like that away for his childish games?!"

I hovered between them and stared at the sinking red dot.