Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

         “Hey Mari… it’s sure been a while huh?”

         The pinkette lost track of her thoughts. She visited here so many times yet nothing seemed to change for her. She felt as if she’d gotten closer to moving on, and yet, her life wasn’t getting any better. Her mother only grew worse with her dreadful habits, the scrape on her leg from when she had chucked a glass bottle at her only reinforced that idea. She still hadn’t made any new friends outside of rare talks with Kim, who was just an acquaintance at this point. Her grades were dropping, school life had become hell even after it finally ended.

         Life is just so stupid isn’t it?                                                         

         She wished her problems never existed, that she could be without them completely, free to live and do as she pleased. Was that too much to ask for? All of this nonsense with people shunning her for the way she dressed to just be gone? Forcing mountains of homework on her when she clearly wasn’t intending to do any of it. Her stupid mother. Maybe she’d be better off running away.

         The idea of life outside of Faraway still seemed unreasonably bleak, even though she’d thought it through so many times. But how long could she stay here and just… rot? This whole town was constantly suffocating and trampling her ruthlessly without as much as a glance in her direction or a second thought? Do people even care about each other in the first place or are they all just… faking it?

         “Lost in thought I see”

         An echo, reminiscent of the sound of her own voice beckoned her, with no specific direction as to where it came. She frantically looked about. Sometimes she felt like she was hearing voices, but this felt all too real. She remained quiet in case it was just her mind tearing itself apart again.

         “Look at me.”

         Somehow she knew exactly where the voice was coming from. A gravestone behind her, right across from Mari’s, bearing a mask hanging on the carved slate from its string.

         It was white, with pink lines and swirls adorning it, and a thin layer of cyan circling around the eyes. It seemed to resemble a bunny, something she had wanted for a long time but wasn’t sure if she could afford to feed it considering how little she could manage to feed herself. The tips of the ears were coated in sky blue, and there was a little cotton candy pink swirl in the middle above the eye holes.

         Frankly, it was probably the most suspicious looking thing she had ever seen, but it beckoned to her, as if her mind knew it was safe. A place of comfort, something she’d been looking for, for a very long time now.

         “Don’t worry, I am what you seek. You’ve been hurting for a long time now. Why don’t you come and take a little break?”

         “Shut the hell up.”

         She did her best to keep up a cold demeanor around most people, especially anyone who was hitting on her, which this seemed to remind her of a strange amount. She wasn’t sure it was the smartest idea to turn her back to it considering how uncanny the situation was. Was she dreaming?

It reminded her greatly of a peculiar raven haired boy’s fantasies. He’d talk to her all the time about these mystical stories he came up with or read involving mysterious and powerful artifacts that could change the user’s life, for a price of course. His little fantasies always had some sort of dark twist, even though most kids would just settle for it being as simple as possible, like a fairy tale where everything goes well.

         “Are you okay with the life you’ve been living? Your mother always torturing you? All of that school nonsense, even if it’s finally summer there’s still three more years left, and that’s bare minimum. A life of constant turmoil and work? Come here and try me on. Why don’t you take a little break? You deserve it after all.”

         The offer was tempting, to say the least. What was the worst it could do? If that somehow was that freaky mask talking, it certainly wasn’t wrong. She relented and apprehensively snatched the mask before darting back out into the open, afraid someone was going to ambush her or something like that. Making deals with a talking mask wasn’t something she was expecting to happen, but she’d be a liar if she claimed she wasn’t interested in this “offer”.

         “What am I supposed to do?”

         “Just try me on and be free of your worries?”

         “What’s going to happen when I put you on?” She was desperate but she wasn’t stupid enough to shove it onto her face without knowing what was about to happen.

         “It’s simple, you will become a rabbit!”

         What?

         “Yes, that’s right. I am a mask that will allow you to transform into an adorable little bunny rabbit, free of charge!”

         “What’s the point in that then? How does that fix all my problems?” She was stalling at this point, waiting for logic to kick in and tell her not to. Somehow she felt relieved at the thought of trying it on.

         “Does a rabbit have to do school or care about her mother? Or some careless friends that left her behind?”

         That last one really hurt.

         Despite how far fetched this situation was, it couldn’t hurt to just try it on, right? And if this was just a dream, which it almost definitely was, then why not have some fun with it?

         She took a hold of the thin elastic strap and raised the front of the mask up to her head, lining up the eyeholes with her own. She took one deep breath and released the strap from behind her, letting it snap into her disheveled pink hair as she began to lower the front of the mask pressing it onto her face. She felt it tap against her skull, submitting to the urge it gave her to close her eyes for a moment.

         Somehow, in that instant, it did exactly what it said it would.

         What the hell?

         It didn’t even require her to look around to confirm what had happened; the anatomy of a rabbit feels noticeably different from a human’s after all. She could sense her petite tongue scrub against a set of lengthy and sharp teeth. Although her vision would take some getting used to, she could practically see all around her now, although it gave her a headache to concentrate on stuff. She gently rubbed her fluffy little paws against her face, then bracing as she plummeted forward and landed on her front legs.

         She really was a rabbit.

         If this was really a dream, this might just be the most interesting one she’d ever come up with. And she felt so alive too. She was tired just a moment ago, but now the sun was beginning to set and yet somehow she was so full of energy. Frantically she frolicked around a little bit, messing around with her fluffy new form; such as seeing how high she could jump, or sprinting around on all fours. Running without tripping over your front legs isn’t exactly easy, but she got the hang of it after a short while.

         She happily dashed in a loop around the outskirts of the church, passing by a random couple she’d never seen before who met her with an auspicious gaze and a cheerful gasp, one of them yelling something to the other about a pink rabbit.

Wait, pink?

         Somehow she hadn’t stopped to look at herself, although it wasn’t like she had access mirror or anything. She joyously shrieked. She must look so adorable right now she could hardly contain herself, not like she could contain herself to begin with when she was like this.

         It took her long enough to recall what had been going on earlier: her trip to Mari’s grave. What would Mari be thinking if she truly was watching what was going on? That thought was… embarrassing, to say the least, but it didn’t convince her to return to being a human quite yet. Wait.

         How was she supposed to get back?

         Suddenly the world started to cave in unnervingly on her as she blamed herself for her carefree arrogance. She hadn’t a clue how to return to being a human again, not like she really wanted to in the first place, although her mother might get upset if she isn’t back to cook dinner in time.

         During the school year they lived mostly off of snacks and microwave meals because Aubrey could rarely find the time to actually cook, and God knows her mother certainly wasn’t going to. She wasn’t excellent at cooking, nothing she made would ever compare to Hero’s eccentric talent for it, not to mention she wasn’t sure what any of the spices actually did for the flavor.

She was, however, quite tired with those disgusting microwave meals and the uncomfortable feeling they’d leave in her stomach. Her father used to lecture her forever about the benefits of eating healthy and all that, and since she didn’t dislike her father at the time she listened and eventually the information was ingrained into her mind.

Since last year she had a promise with her mother that she’d focus on making sure they were both eating healthy, the only reason that couch hoarding grump agreed was because it would make her more “marriageable”, a subtle hint that she wanted Aubrey out of the house for good, and for herself be taken care of so she could sit on the couch all day and drown herself in alcohol without having to worry about work.

         She shook her head rapidly to ground herself back in reality.

         Focus Aubrey, you need to get this thing off.

         “I’m just a mask right? You can always simply take me off.”

         Great. Apparently the mask was reading her thoughts now too, as if she wasn’t starving for privacy already with her mother snooping around her room looking for money.

         She figured it would be a better idea to take the mask off at home, there’s no sure answer on how she’s going to suddenly reappear as a human. The last thing she needs is someone to accidentally see that.

         She sprinted down the pavement as the sun began to set. The walk, or rather run in this case, didn’t take very long at all since she lived on the same street as the church, where she’d been for what may have been an hour longer than she intended to. Hopefully she didn’t have to face an earful from her drunken animal of a mother when dinner was late.

         Finally when she reached the rotting smelly nightmare that was her home, that nasty scent only worsened by her sensitive new nose, she had to consider how she’d get inside to take in off in the first place, her initial thought being to simply enter through the front door and scamper past her mother as quickly as possible hoping she wouldn’t notice her.

         The door itself wasn’t locked, in fact her mother had broken the handle on accident so you didn’t even need to be able to push down the doorknob in the first place; all she had to do was find some kind of way to pull it. She attempted to force her miniscule paws into the crevasses around the door but struggled to gain anywhere near enough leverage to pull it open.

 Quickly realizing that it was utterly impossible for such a tiny rabbit to open a gargantuan front door like that, she understood that she needed a plan B. Unfortunately, there was an easy solution.

         She scurried her way around to the left side of the worn-down house and into a hole in the side, finding herself in a dark and cramped crevasse between the inner and outer walls, walking along a path of splintery wood and dirt. She didn’t know what creature made this hole, but a group of raccoons managed to break into their house a few nights ago through a hole hidden inside of a kitchen cabinet that she temporarily sealed up with a weighty box of trash. It felt light enough when she put it there that she might be able to push through, even as weak as she was. She just needs to figure out if this tunnel is connected to it or not.

         Suddenly an intimidating set of shimmering yellow eyes beamed at her like a car’s headlights. Every instinct in her body commanded her to run. She was thankful for such heightened reactions, embracing the adrenaline and bolting out of the tunnel as hastily as she could before even thinking about what was standing in front of her. Perhaps things wouldn’t be easy outside for her seeing as rabbits are considered prey just about everywhere.

Oh crap, are there foxes in this neighborhood?

         The only viable option at this point was to unmask herself in her backyard. Hopefully nothing weird would happen.

         She stroked around her head, pawing at her neck for a minute until she found what she was searching for. What felt like an elastic band covered in her pink fur was resting attached snugly to the back of her head. Even after she discovered where it was it was still almost impossible for her to remove until she had the idea of wedging a branch from a bush in-between the strap and her skin.

         When she opened her eyes this time she was back to normal, though covered in prickly leaves, twigs, and dirty grass. Her long pink hair was somehow even more matted then it previously had been, and her clothes were slightly torn up. She reached down into the bush and plucked the peculiar rabbit mask from the branch it was now hanging off of, clasping it gleefully between her index finger and thumb.

         “Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.”

         She sniffed for a moment.

         “I should definitely take a shower though.”

         Every night since then after she’d gotten home from doing whatever she pleased, she tried on the mask for a little while, though after her experience inside of her own walls on the first day she didn’t dare attempt to leave the questionable safety of her own room. She did however manage to check out her own appearance finally, which was just about, if not even more adorable and endearing than she had expected.

         Having placed a ruler lying on the ground next to her before putting on the mask, she discovered that she was about ten inches long, excluding her pointy ears of course, which stuck up probably an additional few inches. While she certainly did wish that she could be at least a little bit bigger, she wasn’t complaining.

         She also took a trip down to the bathroom to check herself out in the mirror of course. She noticed that her fur was exceptionally fluffy, though still matted, perhaps due to the fact that she had hardly brushed her own hair at all, and appeared to be mostly snow white, yet tinted ever so slightly with pink, just enough to be noticeable if you were paying attention. She also bore brown beady eyes and a playful hint of cyan on the insides of her rosy ears. Happily Aubrey adored almost everything about this, outside of the fact that she wasn’t a rabbit from the start.

         Although she struggled from slipping on the hard wooden floor in her room, she eventually did manage to get a little more comfortable running around on all fours. The worst part about being a rabbit however was definitely chewing on things.

         Being a bunny seemed to come with a set of instincts or urges. Aside from the urge to randomly start digging through her bedsheets, as they were the only soft things in the room, she also needed to use her teeth constantly, eventually surrendering to the bizarre compulsion and gnawing into the white wooden molding separating her walls and the floor.

         It certainly felt nice to take a break from all of her worries and be someone, or rather something, completely different, even if it wasn’t actually a solution to her problems, if such a thing might even exist. Even still, she found herself bored rather quickly off all of this. She needed to run around, since being a rabbit caused her to be way too full of energy.

         Those nights she had gone to bed thankful that summer had only just begun, meaning that she had all the time she could ever ask for to do whatever the hell she wanted, well, for a few months at least. Tomorrow in specific, she already planned to take the opportunity to leave the house as a rabbit this time and see if it’s more interesting that way, finally getting a break from all the resentment and the vulgar treatment she was used to. Perhaps, if things were interesting enough, and if she didn’t get attacked by anything trying to eat her, she could stay that way. She was in the end, starving for entertainment as she rotted away slowly in her crumbling house.

         Aubrey giggled to herself as she bounced about through the front door, more confident than she’d been in a long time in fact, anxious to begin her plans for the day. She didn’t really have much in mind, but it would be the first time she’d actually get to explore outside wearing the rabbit mask.

         Yesterday she even took the time to check around for signs of foxes or anything else that might attack her and found nothing at all, meaning it should be perfectly safe for her to lose track of her worries and race about as she pleased.

         As soon as she had shut the heavy door behind her, which had thankfully now been fixed, she skipped over to the bushes and trees in her backyard so no one might see her.

         “Alright mask,” She excitedly declared, “let’s go on an adventure today.”

Chapter Text

         “Let’s go on an adventure today!”

         Again she lined the embellished mask up to her face, fastening the strap tightly to the back of her hair, which she took the liberty this morning to properly brush for once, and releasing the front of the mask onto her face as soon as she was ready. She excitedly shut her eyes tightly and felt it lock into place comfortably upon her head, giddy when she heard that familiar clicking sound of it crashing against her face.

         Opening her eyes she was faced with a world of excitement as she took in the sights around her. She couldn’t remember ever being this tiny in her life. The menacing barky trees surrounding her felt like skyscrapers, she was so petite she even had enough room to hide under the protruding roots of a few of them. She’d finally gotten used to her new vision as well, able to track things going on all around her with only the slightest movement of her head.

         Readily she stomped her hind legs against the soft dirt, feeling what it was like to not slip constantly on smooth floors, but rather have a firm grip on the pliable ground.

         Though she’d only managed a small breakfast this morning, she was ready to go out today and see what things were like for her as a rabbit in the outside world.

         With no clear destination nor plan in mind she began to trek through the gigantic forest, staying contentedly on a path she had planned out for herself the day before, where she was at no risk of being ambushed by the chance of any predators, until she reached the street behind hers, where Sunny and Kel lived. Of course, she wasn’t going to go over to them or anything, Hector would probably hunt her to the ends of the earth if she was spotted. The park was a bit further on. That seemed like a good place to check out. She could use the shade of the rest of the trees on the way there too, considering that already the sun was raining down harshly on her fluffy back. The summer heat in Faraway, despite the fact that it’s far enough north to bear a myriad of snow when winter comes, was usually unbearable, and being covered in fur certainly didn’t help a single bit.

         She’d gotten used to licking herself by now as well, it helped her stay clean; another random instinct she now had to deal with, though lately it had felt as if her house would make that essentially impossible. Even now she could still smell the nauseating scent of booze and bagged snacks all over her.

         After checking to confirm the street was clear before crossing, she leaped off of the sidewalk and landed perhaps a little too harshly on the concrete road. Maybe she packed a little too much force into that one. Quickly though, she regained herself and skipped her way off of the street before any cars came.

         After repeating the same process of following a trail through the trees that she knew to be safe, and crossing the street again, a little more practically this time, although she did leap off of the sidewalk again, she reached her destination. Being that it was the summer, the park was fairly crowded, as it was one of the few places in Faraway to go whenever you’re bored, save for a few spots where she might be able to doze off, or just take refuge from the scorching sun.

         The moment she arrived she was bombarded with delightful looks which she had never seen before in her life, since usually parents would be quick to bombard her with distasteful gazes as they asked their kids to come close to them and hold their hand. No one liked what Aubrey had become, though no one really liked her before then either outside of her friends. Even though she went outside almost all day whenever she could get the chance, she was almost as isolated as Sunny had been these past few years in terms of actual friends.

         Suddenly her thoughts stopped as the clamor of thunder bellowed in the distance, a rainstorm would be coming soon enough, though it did seem she still had some time to kill before then.

         Gradually the hours changed into mere minutes, did time pass faster just because she was a rabbit? All she’d done was sprint around and hide under the giant metal cat to catch some rest until a kid found her and she’d scramble away. Normally she’d feel like she had been hanging around the park for an eternity before she finally had enough of avoiding her dilapidated house and having to care for her alcohol loving demon of a mother.

Would she ever think of her without such hostile feelings?

         Truthfully she did worry about her mother often, she hadn’t always been like this, though her father had been the clear favorite from the start. He stuck by her side for a while after Mari’s death, but when she kept refusing to go to his church, and finally dyed her hair pink, he gave up all hope in her. He was deeply religious, apparently her mom used to be at some point, but fell out of it or whatever. When she was little, none of that stuff mattered at all to her so she didn’t pay much attention.

         It was the kind of religion where you’re only allowed to marry someone who is of that same belief, and if your child doesn’t believe it, you disown them, and all that stuff. Absurdly strict. She went to his church for most of her early years until her mom stopped going. Forcing someone into such a devoted lifestyle when they’re that young was an idea she couldn’t understand at all. Honestly it’s surprising her father stayed in that family as long as he did with how much he often complained about how they had stopped going. To Aubrey, it seemed less like he cared about God, and more the idea of upholding that same standard he always had for his family. She couldn’t stand it.

         It was mostly because of his influence that she started going to church on her own after Mari’s death. She enjoyed how relaxed it was compared to her father’s, even though to her it felt like they taught the exact same stuff. To be fair, it had a positive influence on her in the end, although the people there were some of the worst she’d ever met.

         Even still, she felt like God didn’t understand her problems somehow. Everyone else’s lives seemed so simple to her, they didn’t have all this emotional baggage or inability to move on. Their solution was always to pray, believe, and read the bible. And somehow that always worked for them. She’d overhear them conversing with one another about the effect God had in their lives, how he’d helped them out through another rough time. Yet, no matter how many times she found herself crying on her knees things never changed for her. Maybe He just doesn’t want to listen to some people.

         The storm approaching slowly reeled her back from basking in the weight of her worries. She still had a lot of time left before it would be overhead, although, the sun was beginning to go down already, she needed to get back otherwise she’d get an earful from someone significantly less responsible than herself. She had fun today though, that was for sure. It wasn’t easy to describe how, but she felt so content just lying and rolling around in the warm and cozy grass. Doing nothing for so unbelievably long would normally make her go crazy. The mask allowed her to let herself and her anxieties go for a time, only returning them when it was time to take it off.

         Was she wrong in how much she enjoyed being a rabbit and doing absolutely nothing?

         After a long pause she began to trek home along the same path she had taken earlier though the trees. Still contemplating that part of her, she was heavily disappointed that she enjoyed being a stupid rabbit more than anything else right now, but it made complete sense somehow. At this rate she might consider never taking the mask off if all she was to return to was the dreary state of her collapsing home-life.

         “Hey mom, sorry I’m late.”

         Weird.

         The TV was still on, it looked like she was watching some kind of cop show, though nothing too interesting. She’d usually pause it if she was going to the bathroom. What happened?

         Besides the TV which Aubrey went over and turned off, something her father used to lecture her about endlessly when he was still around, the house was unusually quiet, especially if the TV was still on. An empty bag of potato chips sat on the other side of the room from the couch on top of a box.

         “Mom, are you home?”

         Aubrey called around the house, knocking on the door to her mother’s room, acknowledging the bathroom wasn’t currently in use either. Where could she be? A slight rattling came from her own room, hopefully it was nothing more than just a mouse. If her mother had been snooping around for money again she wished she had the strength to beat the hell out of her.

         Ascending the ladder cautiously and pushing open the trapdoor she encountered just what she was most afraid of seeing. No, worse.

         “Mom what the hell!” She beamed irritated, looking at the disheveled monstrosity that now was her room. The TV she managed to find at a thrift store now had a round hole beaten into its center, leaving glass shards strewn about the floor beneath it. The precious photo album had been chucked across the room and against the wall so violently that the binding itself had become damaged, not to mention the photos had been scattered everywhere because of it. Almost everything in her room had been beaten up or moved somehow, aside from her bed, though the sheets were tossed in a pile on the floor, upon which furiously sat her mother, more pissed than she’d ever seen her before.

         She’d never noticed such a fierce and burning glare from her mother’s eyes, her scowl demonstrated only drunken, or in this case sober, rage, not even a hint of care for whatever she was about to say or do to her daughter. Was all this because of a late dinner? Her arms and legs were crossed over each other, tapping her fingers irritably against her arms until Aubrey finally stepped fully up the ladder, her face plastered with confusion mostly, bearing a hint of resentment as well.

         She already knew that her main priority would be protecting the photo album, her money was already safely hidden, not to mention split into three different places just in case so that she didn’t risk losing it all. Instantly after planting her feet on the floor she rushed over to grab the-

         She was too late to notice the deathly creaking of her squeaky bed frame as her mother shot up. A ruthless pain forced itself into the right side of her stomach, flinging her and sending her crashing up against the wall. She winced in agony, clutching her hands over it as she fought to breathe. All life was forced out of her in that instant, she felt like passing out already.

         “You’re late! You didn’t even bring me my drinks like you were supposed to!”

         She’d forgotten today was a “grocery run” day, her mom probably noticed since she didn’t ask her for the fake ID. It was her system of making sure she was actually going out to get it for her after she tried lying about it once.

         “I’m sorry okay!” Aubrey squealed back. It ached her stomach to speak so soon after that. She knew completely that was the opposite of what she really felt, but arguing back never got anywhere, in fact it always made things worse between them. Not like she could either way right now.

         “Sorry doesn’t cut it you bitch! Take a look at all I do for you!” She kept beating her leg rapidly into Aubrey’s side, which Aubrey did her best to cover using her arms until she finally got the chance to turn around having realized the album was a lost cause. If her mother saw her try and protect it worse things would end up happening. “And you can’t even…”  She grunted, “Get back home on time to cook dinner.”

         With how aggressively she was moving she was obviously sober, an awful thing indeed. While she couldn’t bear to watch her pathetically drown all her problems in the stuff, it certainly helped Aubrey out a lot when she wasn’t livid like this all the time.

         “I bet your friends all take good care of their homes.” She bent down and pulled Aubrey’s head up by her long pink hair, forcing both of them to remember the many things she said when Aubrey had dyed it, one of them smiled, the other recoiled at the thought of the memory. “You know how hard I work every day to pay for all this crap!” She gestured furiously towards the now shattered TV on Aubrey’s desk, which her mother probably didn’t even know she had until now, “The least you could do is show some respect to your god damn mother!”

         She let lose a stomp directly on the center of her daughter's back, causing her to bend and yell out crying from the pain. Finally, she’s getting what she deserved, that brat…

         She finally relented her kicking at Aubrey as she wiped the snot and drool oozing from her face with her bare arm. Instead she yanked her daughter by the hair which she still held tightly in her grip, tossing her as hard as she could towards the trapdoor in the corner of the room, leaving some strands entangled in her own hand as she shook them off.

         “I’m tired of all of this crap partying out with your damn friends and acting like a spoiled brat this whole time. You don’t deserve any of this shit!” She strode over to the other side of the room and yanked the TV off of Aubrey’s desk and onto the floor, “Now apologize and show some fucking respect to your mother who works hard to take care of this house. Then go downstairs and cook dinner like you’re supposed to since you’re not gonna get your shitty grades up anytime soon!”

         Still clutching her chest as she struggled to breathe she hurriedly scrambled to open the trapdoor and flee as fast as she could. Her tear covered face gasped for air as she kept going, past the dirtied kitchen and throwing open the front door before slamming it shut behind her.

         She reached despairingly into her jacket pocket, thank God the mask was still alright. With no other choice she shoved it on her head and scampered to a nearby bush to hide.

         Her mother threw open the door, even more enraged than earlier, did it shock her that her daughter was done with her abusive bullshit?

         “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

         She checked around frantically, Aubrey was nowhere in sight, not even bearing a hint of where she may have gone off to. She stamped her way forward until she reached the sidewalk and promptly gave up. There wasn’t any chance she’d go that far just to look for that brat, and she’d be back in the end, she had to come back, that spoiled brat, she could probably hardly go a day without all that shit in her room. Proudly, she strode back and banged the door shut. She’d have to get her drinks tomorrow on her own then.

         Aubrey, in her rabbit form, whimpered, mourning to herself inside of the relative comfort of a bush. It didn’t take her long to realize rabbits can’t shed tears, but she certainly felt she would. Why did things always have to be this way for her? Was just the idea of a peaceful life too much for her to ever have, when others seemed to get it so easily that they hardly realize how much it matters? Does God just decide to hate some people? To say that those people have to starve and fight for something others achieve naturally?

         All her life it’s been this way, the only time it was ever different was when she met her friends back then. The only real positive thing to happen to her. Did it only exist to be taken away in the end?

         Ever since then things kept falling apart, forcing her to pick sides and choose what she wanted to protect and what she had to abandon. She was so afraid of losing things, yet it came so naturally in her life. She knew everyone would leave her one day, so why did it feel so bitter when everyone did? When Basil acted like their memories together with Mari didn’t deserve to be remembered and black out all of the photos?

         When everyone abandoned her four years ago…

         Even Sunny. The one person she thought would be the exception to that unavoidable rule. The one who should have been hurting the most when they lost Mari.

         And now, after all of this, after losing so much again and again, here she was, a fucking rabbit now. What even happened to get to this point that she’d willingly wish to live out her life as a bunny? Her relationship with her mother had been crumpling for a while now, she knew it wouldn’t last until she was able to leave and be on her own. Maybe she was just praying it wouldn’t be so soon, not to mention so harsh and violent. Her stomach and back were still sore, forcing her to relieve the pain again and again.

         To be fair, it was just kicking. She’s been hurt worse. Although, pulling at her hair like that was probably the most painful thing she’d ever felt. The sting of that didn’t feel like it would ever go away, and the tiniest rub from the leaves above upon her head would give that same tugging sensation all over again.

         Suddenly she lost her focus as a lukewarm droplet of water landed softly upon her back, followed by a few more trickling down the leaves of the bush.

         Oh. I guess it finally started raining now.

         There was really only one option. After peeking outside of the bush at the onslaught of seemingly pitch-black clouds, the storm coming seemed to be awful enough. She hadn’t a clue how to survive on her own but she needed to. There’s no way she’s returning to that hellhole she lived in unless it’s for the photo album, or her money she’s been saving up.

         Still, that can wait. She’d have to find a way in there once her mom fell back into her alcohol driven slumbers and habits of doing nothing all day. Her money was safely hidden, and to her mom, that photo album was the least interesting thing in the room.

         Leaping out of the bush she began racing down the slippery sidewalk, up towards the park. Maybe she could hide inside of the big metal cat. It should be almost perfect, but perhaps too perfect. If anything else was in there she’d need to fight for it somehow, though unfortunately rabbits stand almost no chance in a fight with anything.

         By the time she made it as far as even the first crosswalk she was completely soaked, drenched in the rain which seemed to grow colder the longer it lingered on her body. The storm had only begun to pick up at this point, followed by the intensifying winds, shaking the trees like some menacing dance. It was probably only a matter of time before she’d start hearing thunder out in the distance.

         Another option came to mind, the treehouse out behind Sunny’s backyard. If anything, it would be the perfect place to hide, and she could turn back into a human in there as well. She didn’t quite know if it would be suitable for waiting out a storm in, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying if her current plan ended up failing.

         She kept trekking forward through the heavy rain, taking shelter from it by traveling on the dirt, which was slowly beginning to form patches of mud in places where the leaves of the trees hadn’t fully covered, or where the water had finally bounced between enough leaves and made it to the last one before trickling off. Of course she did her best to avoid such patches, however by the time she finally reached the crosswalk neighboring the park she was nonetheless soaked in gooey mud and rain.

         The giant metal cat seemed to her like the safest option to get some rest, without giving up her pride and trying to take shelter in someone else’s home or backyard. What the hell do rabbits do in this type of weather?

         She carefully neared it and peeked her head inside from a distance. Nesting inside already were two orange-coated foxes sleeping, curled up together placidly like a yin and yang.

         Shoot.

         If she wasn’t about to be eaten alive if she awoke them, she’d probably be in glee of how cute they were together. Once she even ranted to Mari about how she wanted a fox as a pet when she grew up, although that was when she was a lot younger, before her obsession with rabbits finally kicked in.                                  

         Aubrey did her best to reel back as slowly and softly as possible to avoid making any sort of sound.

         Carefully.       

         The bellowing sound of thunder filled the air far ahead of her.

         She kept backtracking until she was almost in the clear, thankfully the foxes shouldn’t be able to hear her in the heavy rain, and her footsteps would almost certainly be unnoticeable within the midst of the downpour. She turned around and started to push forward to the treehouse, her last resort, when she was interrupted by the sound of fur brushing against metal.

         An awful chill shot down her spine, overpowering her with the urge to immediately start running if she was going to have a chance at escaping. She bolted away as hurriedly as she could as she watched one unnerving fox creep out from behind the rusty walls of the amused metal cat from the peripherals of her vision, bearing a cunning and content grin as it licked the edges of its lips. Followed by another doing the same.

         The predators didn’t waste a second in letting her escape, instantly beginning to chase her down faster than she could manage to go with her miniscule and famished body. Even with her considerable head start that she somehow managed, they were beginning to pull closer. They were already within a few yards of making her their prey by the time she crossed the street and leapt onto the sidewalk.

         Her best option was to try to lose them in the woods somehow, maybe there’d be a hole she could hide in, but at bare minimum she could at least avoid her feet slipping so much. She wasn’t exactly in a position to care about it, but the concrete was growing unbearable with how much she had scraped away at her nails and paws, she even noticed blood smearing across the ground in the form of her own paw prints behind her.

         She leapt about between the trees as she struggled to regain the distance she’d already lost, the foxes still pursuing close behind, in fact even closer now, to the point where she could smell them without even having to pay attention at all.

         That gave her an idea, the faintest bit of hope for her right now if she didn’t want to be eaten whole. The mud covering her should already be masking her scent somewhat, if she could cover herself enough they might lose their ability to track her.

         Thankfully the storm had soaked the ground enough for this to work. But she still couldn’t get any distance between them.

         She reflexively sprang up to dodge as one of them leapt its jaws straight at her, realizing too late she had lost all of her balance in the air, sending her sliding across the mud as the other closed in.

         Her starvation was getting to her, not to mention the faint trail of crimson she left when she planted her feet into the ground to halt her momentum forcing her to accept she wasn’t going to get much farther.

         The other fox assertively slowed down its pace and attempted to circle around her, creating a trap for when the other was up. Aubrey could hear the muffled barking of a dog inside of its house. She must be close to Sunny’s backyard in that case, assuming that was Hector.

         She didn’t realize for a moment that Hector had managed to distract them, but the instant she did she took the opportunity to flee, with both of them pursuing her the second they realized she had escaped. Her attempt to abscond from their trap had given her some distance, but would it even be enough?

         She hurdled behind the widest tree she could find and forced herself to a halt as she attempted her last effort to survive, rerolling herself in the mud to make sure she was covered completely.

         The foxes rummaged around the area around where she had disappeared, but she was right that they wouldn’t be able to smell her like this. Hector’s frequent barking also kept them nervous of the one thing they had to fear right now.

         She silenced her breathing and rotated around the tree as one of the foxes circled around it, making sure to be as far on the opposite side of it as she could.

         After nearly a minute of her heart beating out of her chest, a minute that didn’t feel long, but she wasn’t sure if it would ever end, they gave up and dejectedly staggered back to the park. She waited carefully an extra few minutes to make sure they were gone.

         After giving herself a relieved mental high-five she tried to keep going until she reached the treehouse, but her tiredness started getting to her, her empty stomach eating itself from the inside, her aching paws trembling as they battled to keep standing.

         Entering Sunny’s backyard she was met with a hideous sight that brought her to a complete standstill.

         She forgot the reason she couldn’t bear to come here as she watched her mind’s vision, a remembrance of something grotesque, dangling from a tree with her limbs slack so that they danced as she swayed in the wind, staring at her.

         Staring at all of them that day.

         It’s not real. It’s not…

         Her heartbeat quickened, she felt like throwing up. Eventually the illusion faded and all she was faced with was a stump which had belonged to that very tree. A tree she had laid under many times before then.

         She could feel her weakness setting in, she hadn’t eaten all day, she’d been abused, scraped herself rushing about the concrete. There wasn’t a chance she would ever make it to the treehouse like this.

         Each time she tried to think she was confronted with Mari’s ever present image that she left them with. Wrestling with the thoughts of what had happened that day. How could Sunny even bear to live here with that thing in his backyard?

         Wait, Sunny.

         She stumbled up to the sliding glass door and began pawing at it as a sign hoping to be let in, marking it with her bloodied paws in the process as they tore open even more, hoping she’d be heard. He was her only hope at this point, even if she didn’t want to ever see him again.

         A small boy sat on the couch, barely visible in the dim lighting, cloaked by a heavy blanket with face buried in it. He was awake. She might be able to reach him. She kept scratching the glass as frantically as she could until her little frail body gave up.

         She fought to stay awake even if it was no use. She could feel herself collapsing onto the concrete steps, covered in rain and mud, bleeding slightly from her gashes.

         What a terrible way to go out. This is all so stupid.

         She gave in and shut her eyes.            

         I don’t want to die yet, but does it even matter?

         She realized how hopeless she’d been for so long that she’d give in so easily, that her own death wasn’t such a bother for her.

         A screeching emanated from the sliding glass front of her, as a trembling set of bony hands enclosed themselves around her frail body. They squished against the mud that surrounded her. She could feel herself being picked up slowly before consciousness fled her completely.

Chapter Text

         Sunny sat soundlessly to himself, timorously huddled up inside of the warmth of a blanket as he curled up on the couch. Whenever it got stormy like this he seldom wanted to be in his room otherwise he’d be confronted by the aberration of it being scooped up, torn apart from the rest of the house and flying away with the wind, or he might gaze out the window to see a black inky creature standing creepily on the stump in his backyard.

         He usually had trouble falling asleep on the couch whenever this happened, although he didn’t exactly want to in the first place otherwise his mom might overreact to him being out of his room. Despite how often he slept, he was distinguished when it came to falling asleep. He always thought it must’ve annoyed Mari to death with how often he’d restlessly shift back and forth to find the right sleeping position each night. He kept imagining that she would end up yelling at him for that, even though she was the kindest person he ever knew. For whatever reason it was always inside of the piano room that she would yell in his head.

         Thankfully she was at college now so he didn’t have to worry about upsetting her.

         Mixed into the sounds of the occasional thunder and the relentless rain were scratches, resonating from in front of him. He watched something tiny concealed in brown smear thin bloody trails across the glass. Was it trying to spell something?

         The petrified boy clamped his hands over his ears to stop the awful scratching in front of him. He couldn’t bear to close his eyes, so he watched as the muddy brown creature, not even a foot tall, clawed unsettlingly at the glass door to get his attention.

         He couldn’t stomach being in his room during storms like these, he preferred the living room because the thunder wasn’t anywhere near as loud, and he wouldn’t have to put up with the clamor of rain which often sounded like it was playing some kind of harrowing tune. Thankfully the power hadn’t gone out yet, otherwise things would have become even more nightmarish. He had turned most of the lights in the house on, with the exception of areas he didn’t need to go, and his room, being that the light bulbs themselves had all stopped working but he was too afraid to bring that up.

         The thing kept clawing at the door, letting its unnerving, scraping sound echo about the room, occasionally screeching like the sound of bare skin rubbing against a mirror.

        Why is it still here?

         The ominous dark creature kept striking the glass door. Sunny could feel his heart beating out of his chest. Pounding, pulsating rapidly as he kept staring at it, his face mostly absorbed in his blanket.

         He couldn’t deny that it was real at this point, this thing, now that he gave it a chance, seeming to resemble a bunny, though not the roundish ones he was accustomed to seeing inside of his dreams.

         Yet, it made no sense for a bunny to be acting like that, pleading to be let inside of his house.

        “Look at you, you’re sick. That rabbit is dying out there and you’re looking for excuses to think it’s fake.”

         Sunny took a deep breath, trying to suppress his emotions and drown out the voices in his head, even though they were right in what they said. The muddy rabbit kept battling to get his attention until it had eventually slowed down so much it began to wobble.

        “You just don’t want that thing to rely on you. Or if it dies in your arms, because of you, that you failed to properly care for it, that it’s your fault? Afraid of failing like you always do?”

         His inner voice hardly mattered to the boy anymore, even if it was just his own thoughts repeated bluntly in ways he could understand. The best thing he could do was ignore it, though that didn’t mean any of it wasn’t true.

         Eventually he gave in. No matter what he’d have a guilty conscience from this, whether it died out there, or in his arms, he’d never escape that guilt.

        “Selfish.”

         Yes, he was. The only person he could understand was himself, in fact he was the only person he had really known for as long as he could remember, and he hardly knew much about himself at all. He didn’t want to.

         Sunny got up from the couch and paused briefly before sliding the door open enough to fit maybe a few fingers. He stared at it for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for some kind of inky tentacles to burst out of it and attack him or something of the sort.

         No, it just stayed there, collapsed on the ground, helpless. Startled, he fully open the door, then reached down and clasped his hands around it, bringing it up to his chest to hold it easier, closing the door behind him with his foot.

        Umm. What now?

         He knew that if he put its mud covered body on the couch his mother would give him an earful, so he set it down on the floor while he ran to grab anything that might help, returning with a first aid kit and two beach towels that were covered in dust, one a wrinkled design of Captain Spaceboy, and the other of Humphrey the Whale.

         He folded the beach towels and placed the unconscious bunny on top of them so it would at least have something soft to lay on.

         Unconfidently he scanned the contents of the first aid kit, something he’d never used before in his life, being that Mari or Hero were always the ones to take care of people’s injuries back before she left for college.

         After deciding not to use band aids, not because they wouldn’t work but because he deemed them too childish to use in an actual situation, even if they’d probably get the job done, he pulled out a roll of bandages instead, and a plastic bag filled with even tinier bags of ointment.

        Can this stuff be used on rabbits?

         Regardless, he shakily wiped down the wound with a wet paper towel which he had to grab from the kitchen to remove the dirt from it, then spread some of the ointment on it, for whatever it’s supposed to do.

         Sunny’s stomach snarled, all this frantically moving around seemed to be making him hungrier than usual, but if he has to take care of this rabbit all of the sudden he may not be able to go back to sleep until it’s able to move around on its own. Either way the storm is still raging, so even if he tried it wouldn’t go well.

         Carefully he wrapped the bandages around its petite legs and paws until they were snug but not too tight. He did his best to repeat the same for all four of its legs.

         He hadn’t a clue what he was doing, simply following memory of a subject he didn’t care much about, and his own intuition, which never once served him well. In fact the only reason he remembers any of this is because of stupid embarrassing fantasies where Aubrey would get hurt and he’d kindly use his “amazing” first aid skills to help her.

        I hate you.

         Whenever he thought of embarrassing things he’d tell that to himself, though sometimes he’d add a few other words in there about how he should die. Maybe later, when he didn’t have a bunny to take care of.

         He only noticed the bunny’s pinkish white fur when he was wiping some of the mud off of it. Up until now he had just assumed it was brown. He’d have to give it a bath later when it wakes up, unless it would rather run off on its own.

        Is it a boy or a girl?

         Eventually he grew uninterested of simply staring at it as he waited for it to wake up, but he didn’t want to leave it alone so he settled for bringing it up to his room. Meanwhile he did a bit of research on his computer on how to give it a bath among other random things about bunnies.

         Aubrey squinted her beady rabbit eyes, peering from the corner of a room with the only light source emanating from a small window and computer opposite of her, at which a raven-haired boy seemed to be clicking and scrolling through videos and articles at an alarming rate.

        Where?

         She did her best to recall what had happened, eventually leading to the realization of her pounding at Sunny’s door begging to be let in, seeking shelter from the storm among other things perhaps. She was desperate, that was for sure. She’d have to be in order to turn to one of her old friends to help.

         Her reactions to Sunny were often forced, striving to hate him just as much as she bore malice towards Kel and Basil, who either moved on as if nothing had ever happened, or abolished their memories together with black permanent marker as if they were somehow worth forgetting. Sunny didn’t fit into those categories, in fact during the week after Mari’s death that he kept going to school, he was obviously the most miserable out of all of them. However, her attempts to interact with him back then… didn’t exactly go well.

         She didn’t truly believe the scornful things she said about him, perhaps because she didn’t know at all what was going on with him these past few years. Still, he wasn’t there for her back then when she needed him. But shouldn’t it have been the other way around?

         He was the one hurting the most after all. He was the one always doing his absolute best to help everyone else.

         Was it really right to blame him so harshly for the one time he wasn’t there for her? Like he didn’t care about any of the other times that she was hurting?

         She realized Sunny had been staring at her for quite some time now, he seemed confused more than anything. A video of a rabbit was playing on his computer.

         Aubrey attempted to stand up but skidded around before detecting the tightness encasing her legs, checking them to find out there were a heavy amount of bandages wrapped securely around all four of them. They weren’t tied well, in fact she pondered if she could have done better herself as a bunny even, but at least he tried his best. She was still starving though. Maybe he had some food she could snatch before running off again.

         The meek boy stood up from his chair and timidly stepped over to her like he was tip-toeing.

        Geez.

         It was only now that she actually managed to get a good look at him, and it was beyond concerning. His feet shook and stumbled as if he were hardly used to walking at all. His arms and legs seemed even thinner than they used to be, practically all bone, and he didn’t seem to have grown much at all. His skin was essentially paper-white, and the shaggy mess of hair on his head was a mess of grease and knots. Behind a tensing blank expression hid a noticeably terrified face. Terrified… of a bunny?

         She wasn’t about to let him get any closer to her, she didn’t need his help, well, maybe she did, but she can’t expect to rely on people like this when they’ll all betray her in the end. She attempted to shoot up and dart away under his bed when she began to slip on the towel she was laying on earlier again and again like it was some sort of trap.

         Even when she finally escaped the quicksand pit that was the combination of a towel and bandage covered feet, a sudden realization that she wouldn’t be going anywhere quickly met her as she slipped and landed on her chin immediately after making contact with solid floor, leaving a trail of fairly dried up mud where she had fallen.

        Damn it, the door’s shut too.

         Sunny had retreated by now and withdrew back to his desk, picking up something green and shiny, a piece of lettuce to be exact, which Aubrey could somehow smell from where she was, letting out an excited gasp before shutting herself up promptly.

         He brought the feather-like vegetable over to her and placed in on the ground in front of her mouth before retracting his hand away immediately. She nibbled it at first, and then began to chew voraciously at the leaf until she was almost halfway done with it.

         She was interrupted by the feeling of a shaky, bony hand rubbing against her back gently, although to her it seemed at first like a wall of nails. She wasn’t sure what to think of the sensation, her being so neglected and touch-starved fed into that feeling. Having someone else rub her like this was uncomfortable, especially when they were so massive in size quite literally compared to her, although frankly, she could probably beat him in a fight even as a rabbit given how frail and diffident the boy was.

         At the same time, a part of it felt nice, but she wouldn’t accept that feeling.

         She resumed her consumption of the lettuce, letting him keep stroking her back smoothly until her meal was completely devoured, then she paused for a brief moment.

         She’d somewhat come to enjoy the sensation of his hand, a stark contrast from her mother’s violent slapping, even when her dad would rummage his hand through her hair, the way he so aggressively shook her head like he was scratching a dog. It didn’t remind her of physical pain like most contact did, the warmth of his hand was yet to make her feel like her mother putting out cigarettes on her, or her burning herself on the stove or the oven because her parents rarely cooked for her. She was at least used to it now, but she couldn’t make up her mind on whether or not she actually liked it.

         This random display of care shifted her heart quite a bit, reminding her of when they would talk on the swings, or just general interactions with him when they were little. He was always so kind to other people, it seemed to come naturally to him, though the same couldn’t be said for the way he treated himself.

         That said, his current state was beyond concerning. He’d stopped petting her by now and placed his hands upon his lap but she still remained deep in thought, wondering just how long he’s been like this.

        Was I the one that abandoned him?

         “I should umm… go to sleep now.” He muttered, sounding raspier than an old man. It seemed his voice had hardly been used at all, at least not above a pitch higher than he would use to talk to himself like she occasionally caught him doing years ago.

         It was definitely getting extremely late, later than Sunny was used to staying up due to this odd change in his routine. He’d just have to keep the bunny in here for now until the bandages could come off, lest his mother might find out and lecture him about how he can’t be taking care of animals. Were its wounds fine already?

         When it came to anything medical, he had minimal experience, in fact the most experience he had originated from his own habits of self-harm.

         He watched as the bunny tried licking itself before spitting and coughing in disgust, it must have ingested some of the mud. He wasn’t confident if he was knowledgeable enough yet, considering all he had done so far was scroll through google asking semi-random questions concerning rabbits, but he didn’t feel okay with watching it sit there and keep trying to clean itself when it was already so disgusted by it.

         Recalling one of those videos in particular, he slowly slid his hand under it, grabbing its rear end with the other and hoisting it up.

         Aubrey was so utterly confused with what was going on she completely failed to react. Now she was standing what felt like a mile off the floor in the bony arms of the shyest person on the planet. She squirmed her feet around to at least feel more comfortable, basically correcting his improper form for picking up a rabbit as she did so.

         Sunny brought the brown covered rabbit into the bathroom and placed her in the sink. Aware of the fact that he didn’t know if they owned any soaps that might be safe for a bunny, he simply figured it would be ample enough to just rinse the dirt off of it.

         Firstly he did his best to untie and remove the bandages, which he failed at, instead using a pair of scissors which he had to grab from his room, which terrified Aubrey half to death as she noticed slight marks of blood red lining the blades. Once the bandages had been undone he checked the wounds which seemed to be healed, at least good enough for now.

         Surprisingly enough it didn’t squirm at all for the most part, even though the videos he had watched explained why you should rarely give your bunny a bath because they could injure themselves fidgeting and fighting against you. Being that it was just a quick rinse it didn’t take very long, but he was shocked at how much the rabbit’s appearance had shifted.

         After drying it off he gazed upon the rinsed bunny in its fully tiny glory, its arms and legs scrunched up together so that its back looked like a snowball. Its fur was almost purely white, with a tint of pink, strange for a rabbit, but he didn’t mind it much considering he hasn’t seen the outside world in years, he wasn’t qualified to judge. Even more peculiar was the cyan adorning the inside of her ears, something that seemed to be ripped straight from his imagination, along with teal eyes.

         The rabbit began licking itself, satisfied with the new cleanliness of its fur. He watched it for a bit until it seemed to become conscious of that fact and backed away slowly with a fighting instinct.

         “Oh, umm… sorry.”

        What?

         Sunny was obviously in a pathetic state right now, but that was the first time she’d ever heard someone apologize to a bunny, for staring at it of all things too. Has he even interacted with another human being these past few years? His reaction to everything she did was so drastically different compared to the kids at the park, even when they were little he was at least a little more sensible.

         It reminded her of when they were at the hangout spot one time, Mari and Hero were out on a date, and Sunny had gone into the bushes chasing after something. When he returned he held a rabbit in his arms, she was often jealous of how many adorable little animals often swarmed him for attention. She got to pet it for a little while before it squirmed out of his arms and dashed off thanks to Kel becoming too aggressive with petting it. That brief experience marked the beginning of her obsession with bunnies.

         She wasn’t exactly sure what to do next, compared to living completely in the wild, her house was somewhat of a luxury as she began to realize, even if it was a waking nightmare. Of course, she wasn’t intending to become a house pet in Sunny’s home either.

         She was interrupted by Sunny darting out of the room and then returning to pick her up again, easily the most random and bizarre thing he’d done all day without context. The scrawny boy carried her out of the bathroom and very slowly and carefully down the rather large set of stairs into the living room.

         “I’m sorry but mom will be getting home soon and I don’t think she’d be very happy to find a bunny in here.”

        Sunny don’t forget you’re still talking to a literal rabbit you dork.

         It seemed she was fighting for every way possible to find negative things about him like she did everyone else, hating the fact that he was an exception to all of the friends that abandoned her.

         She didn’t exactly want to leave him alone again, but at the same time he wasn’t supposed to be her responsibility when she could hardly take care of herself. She didn’t need anyone else and that was final.

         Well…

         Every thought to hate him or abandon her life seemed to get promptly shut down for some reason. She was stubborn as usual, but she wasn’t completely stupid, not to mention that she now realized she did care for Sunny to some extent, still more than anyone else in her life, which wasn’t exactly a high bar. Not to mention it was obvious that he needed someone to at least check up on him every now then. The boy’s cliff-faced expression was drastically different compared to how it used to be. Back then if you stared hard enough you’d see that his lips tilted ever so slightly upwards, not to mention sometimes you might catch a sparkle in his beady eyes. Now it was the exact opposite, like he was trying his hardest to be plain and uninteresting. It was like the painful farce she did her best to keep up around others, the only differences being that it was his natural state, and that he was even better at it than she was.

         As he was walking into the living room, standing just below the door frame for a brief moment, he heard the heavy doorknob of the front door begin to shake itself a little, and then some more. He leapt back to take cover behind the wall, still clutching the silver rabbit firmly in his arms. If he was caught things might get bad, his mom always freaked out whenever she encountered him outside of his room, often resulting in a painfully tiresome lecture about things he didn’t understand.

         The door creaked open, a voice which always sounded menacing to him, yet completely normal to everyone else, yelling “I’m home!” from the other side of the wall, accompanied by grocery bags flapping against each other and the jingle of a set of keys.

         Despite the fact that the person he was avoiding was his own mother, Sunny needed to make sure he wasn’t caught. Fearing that being out of his room would already lead to unfortunate events regarding the… complicated relationship between him and his mother. He didn’t feel terrified nor panicked, all he knew was that he really didn’t want to be seen by her.

         For some strange reason that lady made a tremendous deal about these things.

Chapter Text

       The pitter patter of encroaching footsteps beckoned his anxiety further like the rhythmic ticking of an old clock in a dark and unfamiliar room, flaunting a timer to an unknown demise. He fretfully attempted to calm himself down to meet his surroundings with a clear perspective, only to be met with mounting fear, anxiousness.

       His mother’s footsteps kept approaching, based on how loud they’d gotten… she wasn’t stopping at the kitchen. She seemed to be heading straight for the doorway where he was, clutching a wild rabbit gently against his chest. It seemed unsure of what was going on. Was it worth his mother freaking out?

       Left with no other option he fled to the only nearby room that might offer him shelter, one he seldom visited, so infrequently in fact that he couldn’t recall what was in there, other than the shadow of a wide and intimidating black figure; bearing a row of white teeth frowning at him. Surely it must’ve been his imagination, right?

       Fearfully, he darted through the doorway, the bunny cuddled up closer in the safety of his arms, perhaps due to fear of being dropped. Or perhaps it saw that thing too? That eerie creature looming in the center of the unlit room.

       From the light that crept in through the hallway, specks of dust illuminated the still figure like glitter, stars in an endless night where the moon had forgotten to come out.

       Steady footsteps still encroached on his hiding place, certainly having passed the doorway by now, still accustomed by the plastic bags jiggling along with a set of blaring metal keys. He couldn’t bear to close his eyes as the world distorted around him.

You hear the sound of someone yelling. You can hear anger in their voice, but you cannot make out the words.

       His heart began to beat out of his chest, startling the rabbit even further, who peeked its snowy pink head, adorned with colorful ears of moonlight, up out of his tensing embrace.

       The daunting black object grinned its massive set of glaring teeth, grinding them together as it spoke in a comforting voice, like that of his older sister.

Strangely like that of Mari’s own.

       “Focus Sunny. I know it’s scary, but don’t lose sight of what’s there in front of you.”

       He steadied his breathing and narrowed his eyes on a target at the bottom of it all, designating that as the legs of the uncanny beast. His eyes began to feel as if they were zooming in, honing his formerly blurred sight on it and blocking out the noise of the footsteps in the background as well as the spontaneous movements of the petite creature in his arms. He focused everything he could on the creature as it let out a faint smile before almost disappearing into mist showered with dust.

       A piano, sat on a lone red carpet, lined with gold along its edge. It was old and dusty; the keys hadn’t been touched in a long time. The wooden bench in front of it blended its colors into the darkness making it almost invisible.

       He couldn’t see it, but he recalled the word “Omori” being etched across the center in white letters.

       Suddenly Sunny felt a rhythmic breathing growing against the bottom of his cheek, realizing the surprisingly thoughtful bunny in his arms had attempted to come to his aid somewhat; stretching its thin and tiny body up as it leaned against his neck to rub its forgiving nose against him. The way it breathed tickled him, the air flowing around the diminutive snout like a set of playful hands rubbing his face.

       He petted it back, basking in the calm and thoughtful moment as if it were the only comfort he’d felt in years. Truthfully, it was somewhat, although that didn’t matter right now. His breathing steadied itself and his vision found it properly adjusting to the unsettling blackness of the room. His mother’s frightening footsteps seemed to have ceased as well.

       “Sunny! Can you come help me with the groceries honey?”

       She called in a voice meant to be heard all the way up in his room from the bottom of the steps, despite the fact he was usually asleep at this hour of the night. He’d have to get up there quickly to hide before she found out. Thankfully it seemed she was yet to notice his door creaked open.

       The pair of steps found their way back into the living room and perhaps the kitchen, noises of crumpling and clinking demonstrating to him that she was putting her things away, this would be his only chance.

       Carefully, he tiptoed down the hallway as his eyes readjusted themselves to the shimmering yellow light, stopping in front of an endless and terrifying set of stairs.

“It’s not as scary as you think…”

Out of desperation for comfort, perhaps like that of someone he hadn’t seen in a long time, he turned to the fluffy creature still nestled in his grasp. It seemed a little confused, but… it was familiar to him almost. Comforting in a way. Perhaps, those feelings would all fade if he thought about them too much.

One foot at a time he ascended the stairs, remaining close to the railing as a form of comfort and to minimize the creaking that might emerge from below him, no matter how gently he climbed.

       Something was tearing him apart from inside of his chest, ravaging his thoughts but he couldn’t identify it. Every time he walked these stairs he felt it, sometimes worse than others. So much worse sometimes.

       Eventually he had made it to the top without being noticed, immediately racing into his room and silently closing the door to avoid making a ruckus and ruining all of his progress. At long last he twisted the lock shut. He was safe, even in the uncanny darkness of the room, the lights having been broken for a while now, which he still put off the idea of fixing due to the anxiety of having to interact with someone else to tell them about it.

       It’s not like he needed them anyway, he could see fine in here and… it’s not like he enjoyed being awake.

       Perhaps it was his company that repelled his usual dread of the despairing darkness of the room, the unlikely rabbit still clinging close to him even as he wedged himself into the corner between his wall and the door to bask in the thin veil of light which crept under the door as his safety. The creature’s unmistakable compassion was unmatched by even the people around him somehow, it seemed to desire to help him more than anyone else in his life. Either that or it was just hungry? It felt needed in his mind to find something to shift the matter onto After all it wouldn’t make sense that something could be so attached to him of all people. Not to mention that it was just a rabbit.

       Was he that needy for care the way he wanted it that he’d think of a bunny is such a way? Or was there a reason it seemed so caring and familiar?

       Suddenly another tickling sensation shook him from his trance, looking to see that the peculiar rabbit was licking at his hand; its miniscule tongue sliding like a piece of wet rubber across his skin. He couldn’t handle how much it tickled, how much the gesture warmed his frozen heart that had shut everything else out completely. It stopped abruptly the moment he acknowledged it.

       The two of them both became unexpectedly alarmed by a familiar set of shoes creeping dramatically up the stairs. Sunny listened as they kept approaching the room, desperately hoping she hadn’t noticed.

       Even if she didn’t, this still wouldn’t be all that enjoyable.

       Normally he’d be in bed at this time, so he wouldn’t have to hear any of this.

       No one understands. They just act like they do and force things upon him that are supposed to help.

       I’m not hurting, I’m doing just fine.

       Everything is fine. It gets worse when she does these things.

       Familiar phrases which he couldn’t tell for sure if he actually agreed with played in his mind as a defense of sorts. Even though he had the privacy of the locked door, it returned memories of when he didn’t. When he’d have to hear her ramble for hours sometimes.

       The encroaching footsteps halted themselves in front of his door, the shadows of two legs stretching themselves in an enormous stature through the light which crept underneath. Her fist knocked at the wood gently as if she were confronting a baby, the same way she always treated him.

       “Hey Sunny, how are you doing?”

       He didn’t respond as usual; he’d hardly responded to anything she’d ever said in a long time. In the end responding just made things worse. She’d inquire question after question, not understanding that he simply wished to be alone. Occasionally he’d nod back or mutter a response when it was needed, but other than that, it was pointless.

       She worried too much over someone who didn’t want her concern.

       “Alright then.” She followed it up with an exaggerated sigh and an audible click from her lips. “I have to go out again tonight, and I’ll only get home late in the night so don’t be scared if you hear the door open. I’m leaving tomorrow in the morning, so don’t forget to give mommy a big hug goodbye if you’re up by then.”

       Another painful pause followed as Sunny started stroking the cottony back of the baffled rabbit in his arms, like roaming them through a field of the silkiest grass in the word. Even such a trivial thing helped calm his unsettled nerves in this moment, relying on it like he would normally resort to fidgeting with his fingers; only it felt more relieving in a way.

       “Do you want to try to see any of your friends tomorrow maybe? I’m sure Kel would love it if you paid him a visit. You could try seeing Aubrey as well if she’s still around. You don’t have to though if you don’t want to, dear.”

       Why does she do this to me?

       It makes me feel like a monster.

       Although, I probably am anyway.

       “I’m not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to, dear.”

       He shifted slightly, unaware that she’d hear it in the end. It didn’t matter anyways. He’d just continue this same routine. She didn’t press him to go outside like she used to anymore. She’d give up as usual. Then try again later. It was an endless cycle, but there was little point in trying to change it.

       “Hey Sunny, can you please come out of your room?”

       Even though she’d press it again and again, he wasn’t forced to leave his room thankfully. Maybe he would be if dad was still here, but…

       What did mom say happened with him?

“I can hear you rubbing against the door you know.”

       He could hear sobs beginning to emit from her side of the door. “I know it’s hard for you, but I keep trying and you don’t seem to want to get better…”

       Somehow, she always seemed to get emotional; meanwhile he just sat and wondered whether or not to listen most of the time. Perhaps having the bunny in his arms made him a bit less disconnected from reality this time around. For once he paid some attention to her words, although it wasn’t enough to convince him to open the door or anything of the sort. He’d forget everything she said soon enough.

       It didn’t matter much. They had interactions like this too often for it to matter to him anymore.

       For some strange reason, he couldn’t look anywhere near his mother, let alone look her in the eyes. Her presence cast a shadow of disappointment in himself, self-hatred for what he had become, and how he must seem to her in the end.

       Time flew by as she spouted out bits of her troubles with him, all things that he was the cause of. She never seemed to understand that it didn’t matter to him. There wasn’t any point in her idea of getting better. After all, he liked things the way they were now. There was nothing interesting whenever he was awake, and… he’d get to see Mari in his dreams. All of his friends again.

       If he went outside now… what would they think of him?

       “I’m leaving in just a bit, but please open the door so I can at least see your face this time?”

       He felt guilty, and his mind would continue to guilt him even more for it later if he didn’t simply block it out like he usually would. Guilty for disappointing his mother like that, to the point where she’d gotten used to crying to a door like this. She used to complain endlessly about that, but now it was like it didn’t even matter.

       Part of him wished to do something to ease her crying and constant worry, but it would only make things worse. She’d never understand him, how he felt so much safer in dreams that in reality. Showing her any sign would only leave her wanting more from him or turning it into a big deal.

       Instead, like a robot he just remained against the door with his head tilted down, expressionless as can be, clutching the tender bunny in his arms for a lingering feeling of safety from the darkness on his half of the door.

       “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

       He heard the ruffle of her clothes as she presumably hoisted herself off the ground, sniffling as she probably wiped the tears from her face. The sound of shoes tapping themselves in place against a hard wooden floor.

       There were no thoughts left in his head, none that mattered at least. The only things of interest were his inner fantasies, where he and his friends might go next. They could join Captain Spaceboy on an adventure perhaps. Maybe he’d get to spend some time together with Aubrey.

       “There’s food on the counter if you’re hungry… goodnight honey, and if I don’t see you tomorrow then goodbye for now. I’ll call you when I’m about to get back. Don’t forget to call me if you ever need anything.”

       “I almost forgot; I’ll need you to put away the groceries. Can you do that for mommy? Alright, see you soon.”

       After another solemn pause he continued stroking the bunny as the footsteps descended down the flight of stairs meticulously. Was all he could do feel nothing in these situations?

       It was even more uncomfortable news for the alarmed rabbit to hear, processing what must have been going on in this house for who knows how long. Reading Sunny’s expression he seemed so dreary, tired of all of it, conveying to her that this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just the relationship between him and his mother.

       She’d always been a kind and caring woman, sometimes even to a fault according to Sunny, but the kind of mother Aubrey dreamt of having for obvious reasons.

       Aubrey waited, huddled up in his embrace until they eventually heard the vibrations of the front door slamming itself shut, prompting Sunny to let go of her and slowly lift himself up from his position.

       It seemed for a moment as if he was contemplating going outside before he hastily dropped back down, a look of anxiety lightly painting itself over his expressionless face as he curled his arms and legs up; burying his head into them. His trembling head rubbed back and forth against them.

       Why is he so afraid?

       Unfortunately, there was little Aubrey could do considering her own physical state. Even if she were a human right now, she still wouldn’t have the words to say.

       Instead, she resorted to simply cuddling up against his leg, headbutting into his shin and grazing past it until it caught his attention. The smooth feeling of rubbing up against his leg even felt relieving to her somehow.

       It wasn’t exactly a feeling she was used to, although she used to be like this when they were all still friends. Part of her wished to be just like that again, but she stayed away from her old self for many reasons which had grown over the time since Mari’s death.

       Still, it was really the least she could do, seeing as she only now realized how much he must have been going through, being Mari’s own brother after all. But… even that didn’t explain the sorry state he was in. The quivering mess of frail limbs thin enough to snap apart with even a little force. Shaggy black hair that hadn’t been properly cared for in years. The situation with his mother and… whatever else must be going on inside of his head.

       Initially he seemed dazed as she rubbed up against his leg, as she was trying her best to catch his attention in some form, but he quickly accepted it, petting her back some as well. For the both of them, it felt pure, even if they weren’t used to touch at all.

       A feeling that, if you thought about it too long, maybe it wouldn’t make much sense anymore. So they did their best not to.

       A realization hit him, prompting him to restart his unfortunately pathetic attempt to do so much as leave his own room, this time in a slow and unsteady manner. Once the door was open, he slowly placed his arms under the rabbit to pick her up, resolutely carrying her down the enormous flight of stairs and through the living room.

       Eventually he stopped at the sliding glass door through which she initially came, both of them staring fretfully into the endless night. Clouds concealed the array of stars behind their thick blanket, small hints of moonlight shining through. It was almost pitch black out there, and something was staring back at the both of them.

       “So umm… I can’t keep you here… you’re a wild bunny after all.” He muttered gloomily, setting the confused creature down on the floor. He despondently slid the glass door open, hissing like a car’s tires skidding on a road. “I hope you’re feeling better now at least.”

       Right.

       It was her time to leave after all. She didn’t exactly have intentions on running away from home just to become a house pet, but she did seem to grow a sort of fondness for him. Oddly enough for her, it didn’t appear simply out of dread and worry for his physical state, but also, from the care he’d so effortlessly shown her; his kind hand caressing her head and stroking her behind the ears.

       That’s a little weird to think about. I guess it’s probably normal for a bunny though.

       Her tiny paws clicked against the hardwood floor as the approached her path back into the struggles of the wild, something she’d have to find some way to deal with. She’d be in a lot of trouble if those foxes were still around. Taking a brief look at the dismayed boy behind her, thoughts began to shift in her mind.

       Was it even okay to leave him alone like this? He was the only one she didn’t feel betrayed by; he never forgot about her or moved on. Never disgraced her memory. Just the opposite in fact, he was in agony, worse than she was even. Everything about him seemed to scream that it hurt him more than he could handle. If she let him stay this way, what would happen?

       She watched him fiddle anxiously with his thumbs, switching between looking towards and away from her as if he didn’t want to seem pushy. Even still, gazing into his eyes she could sense his utter hopelessness; those blank, seemingly pitch-black eyes of his; adorning his face with a look of misery like an inactive string of lights on a Christmas tree. It wasn’t right to simply leave him like this.

       He never betrayed her, he never moved on from everyone. In fact, maybe she betrayed him, by not being there for him when it happened. For acting like some damsel in distress half the time thinking they’d come and lend her a hand again like the time she met them. Having not realized he’d be like this and forced her way in the few times she tried to see him, or that dreadful week of school where he was more miserable than anyone she’d ever seen before, even amongst all the stories she’d read.

       It's not like good things would come to her outside. Realistically, she’d starve or be eaten. Her way of getting through life would serve no purpose in the wild like that.

       Fine then.

       She slowly turned around, pointing her furred face towards the trembling boy in front of her, confused by her sudden action.

       He stepped back in shock when she began to approach him. “Goodbye… I’m sorry that you had… to see all that.”

       Hoping to communicate in some form, she shook her head, deciding to ignore the implications that might bring; that a rabbit could understand such an expression, let alone what he’d been saying. Strangely enough he didn’t find the reaction surprising at all, in fact she stared as his posture began to loosen slightly, his hands clasping together instead of fidgeting.

       “Oh… in that case I guess… you can stay… if that’s what you mean…” He coughed, instead of covering just his mouth he ended up covering his entire face in his hands for a brief moment. “But… there’s not much for you to do around here…”

       They exchanged one last look, convincing him to go and shut the sliding glass door, closing the curtain so he wouldn’t have to stare into the creepy void; a canvas for his imagination’s crude depictions.

       Perhaps he was simply imagining things, or maybe he had only come to such a hurried conclusion due to how tired he was. But… it seemed as if it understood him somehow.

       Aubrey realized how thrilled she felt all of the sudden, prompting her to begin racing around him in circles with glee. It was easy to do such strange things as a rabbit, there was no reason to care about any sort of judgment after all. It was almost like being eleven years old again.

       And she was with Sunny again too, just like back then. A bliss she hadn’t felt in what seemed like an eternity, or rather a past life even. Memories of someone she wasn’t any longer. Someone she thought she could never again be.

       At least some things haven't changed since then.

       Suddenly he tumbled backwards, startled as usual from her erratic behavior and joyous movement, landing thankfully onto the carpet without making much of a crash.

       She slid across the floor and darted over to check if he was okay, pouncing on top of him and standing on her hind paws on top of his bony chest.

       Suddenly he burst into a quiet chuckle, another thing she hadn’t heard in so very long. A faint sparkle made its way into his bleak eyes, if only for a moment as he softly caressed the back of her head, padding down her ears.

       Hopefully she made the right choice by choosing to stay. Maybe, like this, things weren’t so bad after all.

Chapter Text

          After quite an eventful day, she watched the frail boy sleeping soundlessly on his bed, or rather Mari’s old bed to be specific; the one she used during sleepovers, since Sunny would always volunteer himself to sleep downstairs on the couch, even if it was painfully obvious that he never once slept well down there.

       It was strange, even at sleepovers with the boys of the group he still apparently awoke worse than before he went to sleep most of the time. Sometimes according to Mari, he’d spend a long time simply trying to fall asleep. Even then he’d have awful nightmares so frequently that he’d often have to cuddle up alongside her.

       She seemed concerned for him, about what would happen when she left for college and all that, if he’d be alright. And if not, who would take care of him in her place?

       In the end it was as Mari said, whenever he was asleep, he barely even looked alive, hardly even releasing the faintest noise as if he were hiding from someone. He didn’t even seem to roll or move around at all, something else she’d forgotten about; the serene picnics with all her friends, most importantly Mari. The sight of watching him sleeping adorably on Mari’s lap like a stuffed animal was something she missed about him strangely enough.

       She herself managed to catch a fragment of sleep, lying comfortably on the fluffy cushion of a spare pillow Sunny grabbed from his closet and placed against a wall for her. He even went as far as to find her a small and fluffy white hand towel to act as a reasonable blanket considering he couldn’t find anything else that might work for a creature her size.

       Considering that she was covered in fur, she didn’t need it at all, in fact she could have simply slept on the carpet and it would have been an upgrade from her bed at home. But the feeling of sleeping upon a pillow soft as a blanket of clouds, knowing that it was prepared just for her when she didn’t even need it, felt… unusual to her. In a nice way. Maybe it would take her some time to process whatever it was that she must have been feeling, but for now she at least welcomed it.

       Rising up and stretching her limbs, she was aware that she shouldn’t continue lying around for much longer.

       It wasn’t exactly a great realization to put into words but… well, a rabbit has to… use the restroom, significantly more often than she would as a human. Thankfully she hadn’t eaten much today, especially since she was uncomfortable doing that outside despite the fact that such things would be perfectly normal for a rabbit.

       The only real hindrance however was that Sunny had shut the door, so there was no way out unless she changed back, outside of perhaps waking Sunny up to do it for her, however she simply couldn’t bring herself to do that to him with how peacefully he slept, not to mention how long it had taken him to do so, just like what Mari told her.

       Taking the mask off was a straightforward routine at this point. She’d already spotted what she’d use to do it in fact; the springy metal doorstopper, being that it was nearly perfect for sliding under the tight string of the mask, assuming that she removed the rubber casing around the tip first.

       Unfortunately, it took a while of struggling to do so, her teeth left with the repugnant taste of dirty rubber afterwards, but she eventually detached the cap and successfully slid the string under it within only a few attempts. She was reluctant to admit it, but the mysterious mask that she relied on seemed to be growing tighter all of the sudden, even if she couldn’t at all feel the string clenching the back of her head.

       As usual once she eventually removed it, she was back to normal within an instant; thankfully the process wasn’t flamboyant or anything to the point where it might wake Sunny up all of the sudden, perhaps the main complement she could give to the sketchy magical abilities that resided within what looked awfully like a children’s toy.

       Longingly stealing one last glance at him, she silently slid out of the room and lightly closed the door as carefully as she could, finding herself left in the haunting darkness of the sinister hallway.

       She never found even her own house this terrifying to look at somehow, even if this place should have been more comforting to her in every plausible way. No wonder Sunny was such a wreck right now.

       She’d assembled a brief list of tasks for herself tonight while waiting for rest to find her: Brushing her teeth, perhaps grabbing a snack beforehand that wasn’t a leaf like she’d be sentenced to for however long she’d be here, and cleaning up his incompetent mess he left in the kitchen earlier. All he was trying to do was put away the food like his mother had asked of him, and yet somehow, he’d misplaced just about every object, not to mention having decided not to remove most of the food from their bags and simply dumping mostly all of it in the refrigerator.

       The other concerning thing was the amount of microwave meals and other unhealthy foods she’d thoughtlessly purchased for him, basically all miscellaneous things that must have been offered at a discounted price, including a steak that would expire tonight.

       After sorting through the convoluted mess, he’d left behind down there, having only taken her a few minutes, most of which spent simply checking all of the drawers and cabinets to discover where everything went, Aubrey let out a reluctant sigh. There weren’t any snacks like she’d been hoping, even her own mother bought more appealing things somehow. Most of it was all premade meals for kids, in fact there was only enough to feed maybe a ten-year-old for about three days, four to five if rationed properly. Nor were there even any healthy things, or foods that a rabbit might be able to enjoy, or be able to ingest at all for that matter.

       Defeatedly, she returned upstairs in that case, using the restroom before checking around the cabinets under the sink for a spare toothbrush. Worryingly enough, the old one she used to use at sleepovers, marked with her first initial using a sharpie pen, still remained inside of a plastic cup with the others below the sink.

       That couldn’t convince her to use it however, considering that its bristles were brushing up directly against the one Kel used to use for some reason, almost causing her to immediately gag at the thought. Alongside that, considering the murky atmosphere adorning the cabinet below the sink, icky mold growing about in the corners, she simply opted to keep searching, until she came across a completely unopened one, clean inside of its box.

       Using the same cylinder that Sunny had used just before he went to sleep, she smeared on some toothpaste, before turning completely still, hoping desperately she was just imagining things.

       She was, right?

       Her two front teeth looked as if they’d grown somehow, something she found almost offending her with how much pride she took in her teeth having been basically perfect since birth. She was extremely fortunate in that sense, considering that her parents would never have been able to afford braces for her, let alone a visit to the dentist more than once every two years or so, only thanks to her father having some sense of care.

       It even brought back a few memories of when Mari had braces, though it wasn’t for very long. Sunny was scheduled to have the same treatment, planned for a few months after the recital. Obviously, Mari teased him relentlessly over it, in her own special way. He didn’t smile often, and when he did, he never showed his teeth. Mari insisted however that they’d look so much better after he was done with having braces to the point where he might actually feel confident in his own adorable little smile.

       Sometimes it pained her, so many thoughts leading back to Mari for what felt like no reason at all. It was as if each thought wandered through a labyrinth designed to only have one endpoint for every path, always winding up in the place she didn’t feel comfortable returning to.

       After a while she finished brushing her teeth, dishearteningly setting the toothbrush down inside of a drawer so that Sunny wouldn’t notice, wrapping it up inside of a towel just in case.

       She couldn’t release the thought of how incredibly off-putting their house had become, especially when it got dark. Sometimes it seemed as if she was being watched, if by anyone then it was likely by Mari herself. Every miniscule detail piled up into an unsettling pain in her stomach, even the sticky-notes placed on the mirror reminding Sunny to brush his teeth somehow contributed to the unrelenting queasiness. She didn’t know who had put them there, but when she read the words, it was in Mari’s comforting voice.

       Suddenly her thoughts abruptly ended by the nerve-wracking din of a door creaking open, overcoming Aubrey with dread.

       She immediately raced to the light switch and shut off the bathroom lights to stop Sunny from noticing the yellowish white creeping under the door; leaving her terrified, alone in a dark bathroom with no way out. In fact, she’d be done for if she didn’t…

       She didn’t have the mask.

       It only now occurred to her that she’d left it on the rusty metal door stopper without noticing, meaning that she had no way to hide if Sunny was about to try to come in here.

       Should she explain herself?

       “Yeah, I was your new bunny the whole time… haha”

       Yeah, there wasn’t any chance that would ever work… well… honestly considering his current mental state from what she’d witnessed up to this point, aka a complete wreck, it actually might. In fact, he may have even told her a story like this once before.

       Although, he wouldn’t even recognize her anymore, would he?

       She was better off remaining as a bunny for sure.

       Listening alertly to the rhythm of the nimble footsteps, somewhat of an impossible feat considering how inaudible he was, she toiled to piece together where he was headed; something she’d become quite accustomed to doing from her own home, wondering what days her mother felt like ruining her life on. Of course, there was a drastic difference in terms of the situation, but that same awareness remained.

       Suddenly the footsteps stopped, a good distance away from her in fact. At… the stairs maybe from the sound of things?

       It didn’t make much sense at all what he’d be doing there, not to mention that he wasn’t moving at all after that, but this may be her only chance to escape. Waiting for him to go downstairs felt too risky with how much he’d changed, albeit only in worse ways compared to the person she knew, but even then, it seemed plausible for the old Sunny might to pace about and wander arbitrarily.

       She had to stop herself from overthinking things and losing her chance.

       Sunny stared down the endlessly expanding void of steps, watching as they lengthened further and further down like dropping a rope ladder off a cliff, as shaky rung after rung appeared from the infinite congregation of decaying rope and rotted wood.

       A thought that he could never get past, like some made up memory from years ago.

       In the back of his mind, something terrible happened here. But that didn’t make any sense.

       In the back of his mind…

       Mari was hurt…

       Or even something beyond just that…

       Right here…

       But why? Why Mari? Why the stairs? What did he have to do with any of it? Mari was at college, she was fine.

       So, what was the point in any of this? And why did it seem so real?

       Suddenly, a nimble volley of footsteps sprinted from behind him and towards his room, sounding quicker and more realistic than he was accustomed to. Unaware of what to expect, he snapped his head around, watching the door to his room push open, a strange trail of pink mass, resembling some kind of hair or string, flowing into the room at the speed of a ghost, moving like an eel swimming in the ocean

       The shadowy pink mass swirled around the door, hiding behind it. Hiding under the door remained a pair of what seemed to be feet, only visible by two faint shadows.

       Pink…

       He often tried to piece together what any of his nightmares meant, but nothing could relate itself to what just rushed by, followed by a faint breathing sound he could hear emanating from the darkness in his room, leaving a terrifying fear ingrained in his mind.

       He didn’t want to move, even if he was more comfortable with his back to the wall, at least then he could see what was going on without worry. But if he moved… would that thing see him?

       His focus shuffled back and forth between the strange blur and pair of feet hiding behind his door, and a growing black mass of tendrils and branches accumulating at the bottom of the stairs; both creatures seemingly waiting for him to come close like some sort of trap.

       Suddenly the shadowy feet obscuring themselves behind the door vanished, or rather morphed into a longer creature, at least at the base, being the only visible part under the door.

       He suddenly shifted to discovering any idea of what it might be, perhaps the bright color he’d just encountered could be some sort of clown, and now it had dropped its ball on the ground and stood on top of it. He could picture it clearly, peeking its rainbow covered head out from behind the door, sparkly red crosses in its bleak eyes.

       The moment he could imagine himself trying to run it’d cast the door aside and chase him down, rolling atop its ball and chuckling like it was having fun in any of this. His only way out would perhaps be to lock himself inside of the bathroom for safety.

       He was already prepared to make a break for it, waiting for the moment the creature turned around.

       Wait-

       The bunny’s still in there isn’t it?

       Did…

       Suddenly his breathing spiraled out of control, the amalgamation of inky black tendrils starting to crawl its way up the steps, having gotten bored of waiting for its lonesome prey. He imagined what might have happened already to the poor rabbit, and it was all his fault.

       The clown, bearing teeth as sharp as knives, digging into its flesh like corn from the cob, letting the juice drip out from the cracks between its jagged teeth.

       What must have been the ball the creature was standing upon began to roll out from under the door until…

       What?

       Instead, he locked eyes with a tiny creature, the bunny he’d just saved a moment ago, treading its way over to him, fearful as well of its surroundings.

       Oddly enough, one of the first thoughts he had was that he had to give it a name sometime soon.

       Once it found itself fully in the hallway the rabbit hurried over to him, headbutting and then nuzzling against his arm. But suddenly it froze up, jerking its petite and petrified head towards the creeping tendril mass, almost halfway up the stairs already.

       Could it… see it too?

       Suddenly the inky creature began to rise up, growing taller and thinner, resembling an image he’d seen too many times to count. Not just here, but in his dreams as well, in fact, it was the reason he’d woken up just now.

       He could feel the white rabbit tugging desperately at his shirt, trying to pull him away like it would somehow have the strength to do that, prompting him to stand up and run away himself. Normally he wouldn’t try to escape from it, simply wait instead for it to come for him, there wasn’t any point in feeling from that thing. He never could.

       But… it was real the entire time?

       Immediately upon reaching the room he slammed the door shut with enough force to cause a ringing in his ears, also causing the horrified bunny to leap back, perhaps due to rabbits having more sensitive hearing. Locking the door shut he retreated to leaning up against a nearby wall so he could make sure there wasn’t anything else lurking within his room.

       He couldn’t shake the devilish clown from his mind for some reason, nor the idea that there would be something else lurking inside of the room as well.

       It was too dark at this point to check inside of the closet without fear of something leaping out at him, so he instead nudged the door a few times, making sure it felt normal. If something was in there, it’d be cramped against the door with how little space there was he told himself. It wasn’t entirely sensible reasoning, but he knew he just needed to go until the point where his mind was satisfied. Logically, nothing’s ever attacked him, so why would it now?

       Perhaps that wasn’t actually a logical way of thinking, but putting off his worries to the next day seemed to work just fine, for now at least.

       It’s not like things hadn’t been this way his entire life. His thoughts on it were the same as they’d always been to the point where he didn’t bother to contemplate much, instead just going on with his routine to satisfy his mind and little more.

       Going to sleep was never a simple task, no matter how endlessly he’d lie in bed it varied how long it would take, even with the process he’d developed for keeping his surroundings in check. Laying on his back for instance, made it so he wasn’t completely open from behind him like he would be resting on his side, although it wasn’t like he could defend himself if something attacked.

       Once more, it wasn’t that it had to make sense why he did the things he did, only that it would content his thoughts enough to give him a break.

       Aubrey on the other hand, couldn’t manage to sleep at all. She’d definitely seen something just then, a daunting figure of ghostly white looming over a creepy dark void. Long black hair stretching down to its waist, serrated nails growing out from its hands like ragged talons.

       Mari…

       It didn’t comfort her at all seeing how Sunny seemed to have some kind of a routine to deal with this stuff, how long had this even been going on anyways?

       She wasn’t a hypocrite, considering that she was somehow magically able to transform into a bunny, she wasn’t exactly going to act like it was impossible for ghosts to exist, to haunt this very house; especially after everything that had occurred here, not to mention how petrifying the atmosphere was.

       Was it a normal occurrence then that Mari was haunting her own home, her own brother? Why would she do such a thing in the first place?

       Even more chilling was the constant nagging thought that any moment now, Mari could float right through the door, or slide under it even. The idea of staring down her ghostly appearance was haunting, no matter how desperately she wanted a chance to see her again.

       Instead, she realized that being an innocent little bunny had its perks, as she leaped up onto the nightstand and crawled into Sunny’s bed, prancing around for a short while until she found a cozy spot to lie down against his arm.

       It felt like something she’d do when she was younger, yet there was no need to explain the perhaps clingy behavior. As far as she was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted and it would be completely normal. She always wanted a bunny who would do stuff like this anyway, even if she knew she couldn’t afford to keep it well-fed and taken care of.

       After a moment of hesitation, she shuddered as he began to stroke her back and behind her ears, slowly accepting the soothing sensation as if it were completely normal for her. Even if she still felt scared from earlier, Sunny would protect her. While she didn’t particularly enjoy the thought, he was used to all of this occurring, he knew how to deal with it.

       As her beady eyes began to shut, she stared at him, watching as his own eyes darted across the corners of the room, checking around every spot where something might be hiding, including under the door just in case it seemed.

       She felt guilty that she took comfort in this when he was hurting so much all the time. She didn’t even realize it until just now that she should have been there for him.

       If she’d just been there to look out for him, maybe she wouldn’t have to be a bunny either, not like it was all that bad.

       In the end, she could feel her drowsiness getting to her, but thankfully, there was still a tomorrow for the both of them.

       “Goodnight, Sunny.”

       Eventually, they both awoke to the clamor of someone knocking gently on the door.

VERY BIG THANKS to a friend of mine, Yuyu, who drew this for Bunbrey a while back and I just felt the need to share it with you all