When we heard that Thomas would be gone for the weekend, we were all on the edge, wondering whether we would be all right after the recent attack of the stork. Especially with the recent hatching of their young. Day in and out they would chirp from atop the big birch. For whatever reason, they would not come back down and eat us. Whether it was due to the constant human presence or the reinforced net that Thomas had put in place, I did not know. That didn’t mean, however, that I was feeling comfortable.

“No need for some weird apparatus this time,” he explained on the morning he left. “I asked Dad to feed you and he accepted. It’ll only be once a day, but I suppose that’ll be enough. There’s plenty of grasshoppers and other stuff in the garden.”

Weird, I thought. Why would his father feed us? That is so unlike him.

Thomas was in a better mood than several days prior, when he sat in the garden chair (he had explained what that white thing was afterwards) days before. Apparently, he and his girlfriend had reconciled after he had apologized. For what, or why, he never said. He seemed a little embarrassed about this whole ordeal.

“If there’s anything you need, knock on the door, and ask Dad, okay?” he laughed, skipping around the pond, shaking the can of worms like they were petals of flower drifting down. “Just kidding. I know you can’t knock, silly me. Speaking of silly!”

Thomas skipped to Mrs. Whibbles’s enclosure and threw grains in the air. Because of his little dance, the goose’s food went all over the place. And she didn’t like that. At all. She showed that by hissing loudly, extending her neck towards him.

“Oh, shut up, silly goose,” Thomas giggled, throwing the grains even further apart. “You’re always being lazy, sleeping around your dirty, dirty pond and waking only to eat. Here.” He ran, passing both our ponds and the big birch, until he was at the end of the enclosure, where he threw the rest of her food. “Now you’ll have to walk over there and strengthen your legs a bit.”

If looks could kill, I think Thomas would have been dead right there and then, so furious Mrs. Whibbles was. But Thomas seemed oblivious to her reaction.

“Take care all of you and see you on Monday. Or maybe later, I don’t know. It’s summer vacation after all! Bye!”

Thomas hopped away.

“Well,” said Figgug, looking up at the stork nest. “I surely hope that they won’t cause us problems. Because if they do, I doubt Thomas’s father will lift a finger for us.”

“I think you’re right,” I said. “Something tells me he’d even enjoy seeing us die, one by one.”

“Or maybe he’ll shoot them and eat them like last time,” Figgug said jokingly. “Thomas won’t touch those birds anymore, but his father could. He hates all animals.”

“All animals?” I asked, eyeing a certain goose.

“Well, almost all of them.”

With an eased mind, we went on our day, lying in the sun, eating various insects, talking with each other. Soon after the sun had descended behind the wall, the door creaked open, sign that Thomas’s father had come to feed us. And he did.

“Here you go, little frogs,” he said with a smile. “Come, come. Eat your worms.”

At that moment, I was inside the second pond, with many other brethren. Because of how new it was, the duckweed hadn’t had time to spread as much as in the first pond, and anyone could see right through the clear water. Even hiding at the quad rocks didn’t help much, especially not white me.

But that didn’t matter, as it wasn’t a predator that had come, but a friendly human – or so I thought.

When we swam near the surface, a giant blur of blue swept us from the water, leaving us sloshing inside the bucket. The next instant, the sky disappeared and we floated in total darkness.

“What’s happening?” one of the frogs squeaked. “Where are we?”

“We’re in a bucket,” I replied calmly. Somehow, I knew that I would be fine, since Thomas loved me so much. I wasn’t completely calm, but for most part, I knew I was going to be okay.

“But why?” he said, staying close to me, while others were kicking their legs hard in the water, trying to escape from this place.

“I have no idea,” I admitted. “Maybe he wants to transfer us to the original pond for some reason?”

“I really don’t like it in here.”

“Neither do I.”

Another swashing sound and a thud. It seemed like the father had grabbed another bucketful of water and frogs.

Slushh.

And another one.

What is happening out there? What is he doing?

Then, the water began to move around. There were constant tremors, and I knew we were being brought somewhere.

Thud.

He had placed the bucket down. There was a creaking sound, after which I heard shrieks and howls of pain of my brethren.

“They’re being killed!” one of the frogs said. “Listen to their wails!”

Impossible, I thought. Thomas would never forgive him if he hurt any of us. There must be another reason…

All we could do was stay put while we heard cries of anguish and desperate moans. Whatever calmness remained in me was now completely gone. My heart was pounding as fast as when I was I tadpole, and my surrounding brethren moving erratically didn’t help either. I thought the best course of action was to remain low at the bottom, just like Ghrruk had advised during the last stork attack.

Time was passing slowly in this wet darkness surrounded by the constant muffled screams. I wished I was with a more familiar frog, like Ghrruk or Rhugug or Figgug. Then again, part of me felt relieved that none of them were around. If they were, I would have to worry about their safety too. Now, it was only me, those other brethren, and whatever was awaiting us.

Finally, the wailing subdued. The ceiling cracked open, leaving only some light in from a very small hole in the center, as well as many stripes forming a bigger hole.

“Light! Freedom!” one of my brethren exclaimed, trying to get her fingers to stick to the edge of the bucket.

I was surprised to see that it actually worked. She was moving up, up, up, and arrived near the lines of light. As she touched them, a triangular shape seemed to sink down, letting even more twilight in. More brethren imitated her climbing, when a giant hand passed through those triangular shapes, smacking the climbing sister down and grabbing one of the frogs in the water.

“NOOOOoooooo…” his voice trailed. It was the one who had asked me all those questions before.

He disappeared, almost resealing the ceiling. Then, there was a sickening noise, a blend of a squelch and a crunch followed by the most horrific cries I had ever heard.

The hairy hand returned and plunged into the water. Its fingers spread wide, frantically scrabbling around the bottom like a grotesque creature, until it barely touched a frog, and, with frightening speed, seized him. In an instant, the hand pulled back through the hole as swiftly as it had appeared.

The same gruesome noises invaded my ears, after which the hand reappeared again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Only three of us remained inside the bucket.

“We’re all going to die,” one cried, desperately trying to dig through the bottom. But it was pointless. The ground of the bucket was solid as rock.

The hand returned. I tried to move to the side, but this time, it found me. I was being squeezed so hard I thought my heart would burst out of my mouth. After the constant darkness, the outside light was blinding. It made the father’s wrinkly face all the more terrifying.

The other hand appeared, grabbing onto my body, while the first kept pressure on my legs. From up there, I could see that he was seated on the same white chair as Thomas was sitting on before, using a light-emitting manmade object on the table. Then, below, dozens of frogs, brothers and sisters I knew, crept on the ground in their own gore, bodies torn in half. Every single one of them was legless. Some had already perished, while others were trying to crawl away – in vain.

I knew my fate, yet I didn’t utter a single cry. All I could think of was Ghrruk, and how she would react when she’d found me in that half-dead state without a chance of survival.

The pressure on my leg and body increased, and I let myself go, certain of my fate, when –

“Wait a second,” the father’s voice growled. “What are you doing here?” He grabbed me with his right hand and eyed me with his large, bulging eyes. “You’re that disgusting white frog, aren’t you? Well, well, well. I’m really tempted to flush you down the toilet. But I know better. Thomas would never forgive me for flushing you down or eating your delicious legs.”

I was barely able to concentrate on what he was saying, partially due to the tight grip that pained my whole body, partially due to my brethren laying on the grass, whimpering and wailing.

“Eh, guess I have enough legs without you,” he said. “Three buckets should be enough. If only you could grow faster – I love frog legs and it’s a shame to keep you all here without a good taste, eh? Lucky you.” He lowered me near the grass without letting me go, flying me around the corpses of those I knew. “Look at all those frogs I ripped apart, ha ha!” His laugh sent shivers down my whole body. “But I won’t do that to you. Not now. You can consider yourself lucky to be white, stupid frog. Let’s keep this little secret between us, okay?”

Next thing I knew I was floating high in the air, then, as I was falling, I knew the drop wouldn’t be gentle.

SPLASH

By some miracle, I had been thrown exactly into the home pond, the water likely absorbing most of the shock.

“Ha, ha, ha.” The father’s laughter lingered in the distance. “What a great throw.”

Even though I fell into the water, it was a strong hit. I let myself sink slowly, until I safely arrived at the depths, still unable to process all that had happened. I was shocked by the gruesome ending my brethren had to endure. I couldn’t believe how cruel humans could be. Predators, at least, would kill to eat them. Even the cat ended up killing the frogs.

Ghrruk swam towards me with Rhugug. Before they arrived, I dashed back up. Emerging from the water, I saw Thomas’s father pick up the corpses of my brethren and throw them in a black bag before returning home.

This time, I didn’t wait for safety. I hopped to the place of massacre to witness everything myself. Blood and gore were sticking on the grass, but no frog had been left behind.

He’s trying to hide this from Thomas. I can’t let that happen.

I searched through every piece of grass, walking on the dead remains of my brethren, until I found one of the corpses. The father must have overlooked it when he retrieved the others because it was dark and near Mrs. Whibbles’s enclosure. It was with much pain that I looked at this poor, half torn brother. It was too horrible to describe.

My mind was racing, plotting how to let Thomas know. The answer soon came to me.

I have to hide this body until Thomas is back. He has to see this.

Using my little mouth, I grabbed onto an arm and painstakingly dragged the body away. When I neared the first pond, Ghrruk and Rhugug were waiting there for me.

“What are you – oh no! What happened?” uttered Ghrruk, devastated by the scene.

I quickly explained everything, how the father snatched us and killed them all – except me.

“But… what are you going to do with this body?” Rhugug asked.

“I’m going to carry it to the corner where the white flowers grew,” I said, losing no time to keep dragging the corpse with me. “There, it’ll be safe from most predators until Thomas comes back home. I hope.”

“And what then?” Ghrruk asked.

“Then I’ll find a way to guide Thomas there so he can see what his father did.”

“You can’t communicate with Thomas,” Ghrruk reminded me. “Even if he’s back, he’ll never find his body. And even if he does –”

“Leave it to me,” I interrupted. I knew exactly what I had to do. I knew it would work. I just knew.

Ghrruk and Rhugug left me with the corpse, slowly pulling it through the grass, under the many stars shimmering above. Mrs. Whibbles was, fortunately, already asleep when I passed through the fence, as were the sparrows.

“There,” I said, tired of hauling the body for such a long distance. It was right in the corner, hidden within a patch of grass. “Let’s hope that nobody will find you until Thomas returns.”

I hopped back to my original pond, wondering how those events would unfold.

I’m such a weird frog.

When I thought about it, no other frog would drag a dead body so far away. In fact, no frog would even touch a dead brethren unless they had no other source of food. Neither Ghrruk nor Rhugug had even gone as far as to offer assistance. I was all alone performing my task.

No, not alone, I thought. I have Thomas.

Me, who despised Thomas more than everyone, who built several hideouts to avoid him, to keep him away from me to the best of my abilities. I was now hoping that Thomas would soon return so I could show him the atrocities his father had perpetrated on my brethren in the hopes that we would be protected in the future.

The future…

After that, we had to escape through the hole. It was our only route to freedom.