1 Fri, 03/1999

The sound of the old clock echoed loudly in the dark. The hoots of the owls integrating into it making the normal sound eerie, but perhaps it was just intensifying what it already was.

The low voice of a person could be heard following a dark hallway. In the barely opened door a stream of light was seen. One could not decipher if the low voice was a woman's or a man's.

In that room a child was clutching a bunny doll. The child's eyes filled with with confusion but also horror as the low voice continued to speak, or perhaps one could say read.

The person was holding a book but their eyes were entirely on the child. The child clutching the bunny doll more tightly looking at the cover of the book. The book cover was of a white bunny, soaked in its blood. The picture was so vivid that one could see the life draining out of it as the blood caresses the grass.

The person smiled looking at the horror in the child's eyes. The smile was nothing but predatory. The person looked outside the window to the moon shining high and dull. The clouds giving it a gloomy aura. The barely crested moon looked like it was mirroring that person creepy smile.

The gaze of the person slowly went back to the child's tear filled eyes. The child's eyes begged the person, but it only added fuel to the person's glee.

"Don't you want to know the end of the story, little bunny?" The person's low voice trailed out, as if savoring every breath wasted on the words.

The clouds gathered around the moon darkening every second as if anticipating the outcome. The trees swayed in answer to the clouds anticipation, the wind whistled cutting through the night as if calling its friends. The eyes of the child finally let the dam break, the tears that looked like crystals falling and soaking the doll.

The hands of the person outstretched and caressed the child's head ignoring the look that crossed the child. The child curled as if wanting to disappear, clutching the doll as a lifeline.

"But the little bunny wasn't that lucky. Do you know why?" The person continued, completely ignoring the child's terrified screams. The smile on the person's becoming more and more pronounced, more and more.....sinister.

"Because, little bunny, Because....." The person spat out, the voice becoming venomous. A thunder clapped as if on cue to the words.

The person slowly got up from the chair putting the book on the chair and rearranging the pillows on the child's bed. The person easily took the bunny from the trembling hands of the child and patted the doll.

"Because, after all...." The person said, twisting the dolls head, "after all a bunny is always a prey."