Duckie

Chapter 2: 11 Years Later

I waddled down the stairs in my soft cotton nightgown, my ducky slippers dragging along with my tired strides. When I entered the kitchen, I was greeted with the scent of toast, which was already laid out for me on a plate at the counter. My eyes caught on Papa's, and I flashed him a lazy smile as I hopped up onto my stool. "Hi Duckie, nice seeing you this morning," he greeted me sarcastically as he poured himself a cup of hot black coffee, glancing at the clock that read 12:37.

My mouth was full as I flashed him another smile, downing some of the milk he had already set out for me to help me force the large bite of toast down my throat. "Hi, Papa," I answered, my voice squeaky from sleep. I heard a chuckle behind me followed by a hand plopping down onto my messy hair, ruffling it even further. I grunted and swatted Maddox's hand away from my head, shooting a glare his way.

He made a face at me and swiped a piece of toast from my plate. "Hey!" I whined, reaching over in a futile attempt to snatch the toast back. While I did this, Papa decided to make his exit to his office, sighing into the thick steam rising from his cup.

Maddox easily held the toast out of my reach and shook his head at me. "Ah-ah-ah, not so fast there, Pipsqueak," he taunted, tearing off a large chunk of the toast with his scary teeth.

When I had first begun living with them, Maddox's mouth was made up of more holes than teeth, but when they grew back in, his canines were long and sharp like a vampire's, making him even more beast-like, if that was possible.

"You dumb vampire," I mumbled, nibbling dejectedly on my last piece of toast as I slouched on my stool.

A familiar light laughter filled the kitchen at my comment, and I whirled around in my seat excitedly. "Marcus!" I leapt from my stool and bounded over to Marcus—who had been away from home for two months while on an internship—and wrapped his torso in my arms. I squeezed him with all the power in me, but he didn't so much as breathe out, only laughed as he untucked his hands from my bear hug and wrapped me in one of his own, which immediately had me wheezing for air. He lifted me off of the ground, which wasn't hard to do considering I was still three inches below five feet at the age of soon-to-be eighteen. I squealed as I giggled, wrapping my arms around his neck as he swung me around like a rag doll. "How's my baby sister?" he asked me, placing me on the counter next to my now barren plate. I had an inkling of where my other slice of toast went, but I was in too good of a mood to let it bother me now.

I swung my feet back and forth with my hands resting on either side of my legs as I rocked my head from side to side. "I'm doing okay," I flashed him a cheesy smile, "Better now that my favorite brother is back!" I turned to Maddox who was still in the midst of eating my toast and stuck my tongue out at him. His eyes narrowed and he chomped down on the toast rather harshly, snarling at me while he chewed. I rolled my eyes to hide my fear and turned my attention back to Marcus. "So how was your internship?"

He shrugged, reaching around me to grab my half full cup of milk and chug down the rest in two gulps. My eyes widened at him and I tore the now empty cup from his hand. I stared despondently at the bottom of the cup and my bottom lip jutted out in a small pout, "I needed that milk to grow!"

Maddox laughed like a madman next to me, almost falling off of his stool and choking on his toast simultaneously. "Yo–you think you're going to get taller? You?" he asks dubiously, his laughter causing him to stutter.

I harrumphed, crossing my arms over my chest as I puffed my cheeks out defiantly, hoping it would hide the blush creeping onto my face. "You never know. I mean, I was taller than you when you were eleven." It was true, I swear. I was one of the tallest girls in my class when I was nine, but then everyone kept growing while I stayed at this pathetic height.