Short Story: Euphoria
This is kind of a rewrite of an old story i had to write in grade 11. Write a story where you were the hero. Though admittedly i changed most of it, about the only thing that remains the same is the setting and charlie. also the idea of this quest to get to the city. in the original story there were a lot more characters. the main character, i changed her name to kara rather than using my own like i had to before. her friend vanessa, the mother, charlie and another being in the dream world. he was a dog made of shadows named zacariah i think, but i don't remember his name too well. it might have been noah. i had to cut out a lot of the quest parts because admittedly i don't remember them much, and originally the story was like 15 pages long, and i had to finish this one up in 10 for my creative writing class.
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i don't like this as much as the ghost story. maybe because it's old hat for me, or because i just don't enjoy the setting as much. i like the flow of it, and the oddity of it. perhaps that's why i chose to rewrite it. i thought it was a tale that could do with a second look, and would easily translate into something shorter. plus i got the idea in my head of rewriting this story, and it just wouldn't go away...
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The woman sat with her back to the wall, nervously picking at swollen nail beds. Her entire body tingled with anticipation of the decision she would soon have to make. Months had passed, and still no change. It was obvious to her now that whatever light her daughter had once had, was now gone. As she stared at the body before her, it was with morbid fascination and sadness. She couldn’t look away, yet she feared losing what remained, even if it was just a body. Tubes and wires deformed what was once beautiful; as the constant beeping of monitors replaced the voice she had taken for granted in the past.
She rose from her chair on the opposite side of the drab hospital room. Moving forward and taking the limp hand of her daughter with a sigh. “What would you want?” She asked, knowing the answer but refusing to acknowledge it. Kara would hate having to be so still.
She opened aquamarine eyes to a sky of lime, taking her time in stretching out in the grass with a satisfying yawn. She had lost count of how long she had been here. It was hard to concentrate, like being in a dream. She was aware of her friends and family and that they probably missed her greatly, but she didn’t know how to leave.
Kara rolled onto her belly, burying her nose in sweet smelling grass. She looked out over fields of lavender and smiled at a familiar figure in the distance. Briefly she considered the idea of trying to explain Charlie to those she had left at home, but shook the thought from her mind with a soft laugh. She wasn’t yet confused enough to believe Charlie was real; he was a figment of her imagination. But it was nice to have company.
Kara sat up; waving to her friend as the eight foot jack rabbit walking on his hind legs briefly shook a paw at her. Given her earlier passing fancy, the idea of talking about Charlie to her everyday companions was all the funnier now that he was before her.
“Yodel” he cooed. The greeting was familiar, but had confused her the first time she had heard it.
Kara nodded in return. She rubbed her hands over her arms as if she was chilled, the electricity in the air tickling her skin. The girl knew there was something coming, and as she stared at clouds of candy floss moving slowly across a wrong coloured sky; she awaited it with baited breath.
“We be needin’ to talk” Charlie chirped. “Somethin’s going.”
“I know I can feel it” she answered flatly, looking around as if the answer to the change could be in the scenery around them. “Do you know what it is?”
Charlie nodded, clicking his blunt claws against one other in a nervous twitch that reminded Kara of her mother. “’Phoria’s open, leasts will be’s.”
“What’s that?” Kara asked, having never heard the word in all the time she had been here.
“Place… City. Be off, downs the road” Charlie nodded his head in the direction of a gravel path Kara hadn’t noticed before. “Sometimes close, sometimes far. Nevers know ‘ow close is being. Changes” Charlie purred with a soft shrug. “This times be few days walkin’. Two, three maybe.”
“Should I go?” She asked, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them as she stared worriedly at her friend.
“’Ave to, can’t stay heres too long. Humans like ‘Phoria, you’s like it.”
“You sound so sure” Kara scoffed, unsure if she wanted to give up the growing familiarity of this place for anywhere but home.
“Humans like ‘Phoria, my Kara be human, my Kara like ‘Phoria” Charlie stated with conviction.
“And if I don’t?” A hint of venom in her question at the pressure he was putting on her.
“Shushin’, I don’ mean no hurt. Jus’ ‘Phoria is place for humans. Know you miss humans, miss friends. Can’t stay here with jus’ lil ol’ me to be talkin’ to’s” the rabbit comforted, an odd, crooked smile twitching his lip.
Kara sighed, biting her lip to conceal the grin Charlie’s own had inspired in her. “Two or three days you said?”
Charlie nodded, crossing the front legs he used so clumsily as arms over his chest. “Yep, can’t tell fir sures ‘ow long, only guess.”
“Alright” Kara nodded, she was reluctant to admit she held out some hope that this strange, new place might also be her way home.
The woman stared blankly out the window, watching the street below idly. Cars passed in and out of the hospital parking lot like insects milling about a hill. She counted them mindlessly, hoping to distract herself from the problem at hand. She had been told many times that day to go home, to get some rest. She knew the nurses and doctors were only trying to help, but she found it patronizing. Her irritability grew with each passing hour, her fear with every minute. There was no time limit that she needed to abide by, but that which she put on herself. Things could not remain as they are for much longer. The stress of it all was too overwhelming.
Kara bit at her nail beneath the shade of a silver leafed tree. She watched as Charlie sat in the distance, doe like eyes closed as he meditated. She didn’t know what he saw, if it was anything at all, but every time he did it he came back with a better idea of how far they were from Euphoria. The girl rose, brushing purple petals from her backside as she jogged back down to the blue gravelled road. Charlie moved as well, finishing up and coming down to meet her.
“Need be moved. ‘Phoria open soon, won’t wait fir us ta get there” he informed with a worried look.
“And if we miss it?” She asked, suddenly curious what something like that might mean.
“You’s stay here, dunno fir ‘ow long. Hafta wait till ‘Phoria open ‘gain.”
The possibility of simply waiting around for an indeterminate amount of time seemed like hell. This place was pretty, but nothing changed. There were no seasons, no days or nights. Everything was simply static, and it was numbing.
“Charlie?” She choked out, brow furrowing as she reached forward and took hold of the other’s wrist. “What if it doesn’t open again?”
Charlie didn’t say anything, simply looking down at his feet. It was then that she knew the answer to her question. There was no guarantee that she would have this chance again.
“Guess we better get moving then” she said with a weak smile, trying to conceal the fear she felt bubble up.
Charlie sighed, nodding slightly as he drew her into a gentle embrace with frail arms. “Will, will be makin’s it my Kara.”
The girl wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, trying not to be obvious as she stepped out of the hug. “Thanks Charlie” she murmured, offering him a true smile before turning from his velveteen face and heading down the road with new vigor.
The woman sipped from her water bottle, washing down the hard bread of the stale sandwich. It was two o’clock in the morning, but nightmares had kept her awake. The hospital was as silent as a morgue, the comparison sticking like a lump in her throat. She set aside the rest of the sandwich, her appetite lost as blue eyes flickered to the still body of her daughter. Kara’s face had haunted her dreams. Memories like photographs floated by her mind; dragging out till they mingled with the images of that twisted hunk of metal that had once been Kara’s car.
“I love you” she whispered sleepily. “I love you, I love you, I love you…” She repeated the words like a mantra, unwilling to stop for fear that the night would end too soon.
Kara had walked till her legs ached, Charlie seemingly unaffected by the distance. The girl paused, and to his credit the rabbit didn’t complain when they had to take yet another break. She collapsed at his dainty feet, watching his twitching nose with mild amusement.
“Charlie?”
“Yes’sm?”
“What happens when we get there?” She asked, biting her lower lip. Kara wanted the change of the city, but also was worried about what to expect.
“Yous go. Yous know what be ‘ere, what’s this is.”
“A dream” she said flatly.
Charlie nodded with a crooked smile, glad he didn’t have to chase the girl’s understanding. “’Phoria the city where all humans be goin’. In ‘Phoria, be no more dreamin’.”
“Euphoria is home?” Kara asked, something desperate jumping up inside of her.
“’Phoria is yours. Dreamin’ gotta ends. ‘Phoria be home, if end means home.”
“That doesn’t make much sense” Kara chided.
“Knows, sorry” Charlie chuckled with a faint shrug.
Kara eyed him for a moment, feeling a hint of friendly annoyance. Charlie couldn’t answer the question of what Euphoria was, all he could do was tell her it was different then where she was now.
The rabbit watched her intently, keen on any trace of reaction. His care was evident, as was his hope his answers wouldn’t make her cry once more.
Kara held out her hand, allowing her companion to help her to her feet. “Better get going” she stated, now with new things to contemplate as she stared down at the way the blue chalk of the road stained her toes.
“I love you Charlie” she murmured, standing as tall as she could to press a quick kiss to his soft cheek. Even then the rabbit had to duck in to meet her. “Thank you for helping me.”
Charlie smiled, brushing a blunt and clumsy paw over her back. “No times fir goodbyes yet. Loves you my Kara.”
Dawn came far too soon for the woman, her eyes heavy with fatigue. She watched the golden light crest over the tops of the buildings below before turning to mindlessly flip through the channels of the television. She grew frustrated when nothing kept her attention long enough. She knew she should sleep, but feared those familiar nightmares. The red numbers of the digital clock glared their stagnant call that not once seemed to heed her prayers and turn back. The woman looked to her daughter, making a great effort not to let her eyes rest on the unfamiliar face; wrapped in gauze and brutally mangled with tubes that breathed for a body that could not. Tears filled her eyes as she smoothed the blanket across Kara’s lap, quick to pick up a fallen stuffed toy. The woman tucked the small brown rabbit back under her daughter’s elbow, hoping that the childhood staple would offer her some sort of subconscious comfort.
The woman looked up as a doctor entered, sucking in a breath at the stack of papers in his hand.
Kara looked out over the cliff, seeing the glimmering pearl bricks of the walled city. “So what happens when it’s not open?” She asked, looking to Charlie as the rabbit simply crouched down next to her.
“’Phoria closed, no roads to be walkin’. ‘Phoria open, roads be takin’ yous there.”
Kara’s brows rose at the admission. It didn’t make sense, yet so little did. Here she sat with an eight foot tall rabbit that she had imagined as a child, looking down at a purple field and a pearl city.
“Charlie, you can’t come with me, can you?” She asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.
Her companion shook his head, looking to her with sadness in his eyes. “Will be’s missin’ yous” he chirped.
Kara smiled weakly, feeling the impending parting with a sore heart. “Not the time for goodbyes yet” she chuckled, repeating the other’s comforting words. “We still need to get to the bottom of the cliff.”
The woman signed her name with a shaking hand, pushing the pages away as soon as she was done. She could feel the tears sting at the corner of her eyes as she fell back into a chair. It was hard for her to speak, or even breathe as nurses and the doctor flitted around the bed like crumpled pieces of wrapper in the wind. They pressed buttons and turned switches; none of it made any sense to the woman that had to bear witness, but she refused to leave.
Kara held Charlie’s wrist, taking deep breaths as they neared the gate of the city. She found her body growing heavy with fear of the unknown, her steps coming harder as she stumbled a few times. Charlie kept her on her feet, walking her ever closer to the end of her dream.
Her hands gripped the other’s furry elbow tightly as she took in breath with large gulps. Kara’s brows furrowed as images passed through her mind. All this time the beauty and stillness of this place had calmed her enough to forget.
The night was dark, so black it was as if someone had painted it with ink. The hail had caught the light like tiny stars as they pounded against her windshield. Blinding light poured in as she gripped the steering wheel with tight fingers. Nothing was still, nothing was calm. Her tires screeched and the sound deafened her, she could feel the crystals of glass as the windows shattered and burst beside her.
Kara paused, causing Charlie to double check she hadn’t grown weary enough for a rest once more. But her eyes were trained on the small gap in Euphoria’s gates.
She smiled, slipping out from the rabbit’s grasp. She patted his furred shoulder, letting her fingers enjoy the luxury of his soft pelt before she looked to his face. “I’m not going home am I?” She asked, tears stinging her eyes and blurring her vision.
The rabbit shrugged gently, saddened by the pain he saw in his friend’s gaze. “Dunno” he answered honestly. Such answers would never be given to him.
“But you don’t think so do you?”
Her questions were hard; they made his heart ache right along with hers. He shook his head gently, a sadness overwhelming the usually boisterous being. “Cans’ only know whats you know my Kara.”
“Because you’re not real” she murmured the reality of the remark finally sinking in. The rabbit was a figment of her imagination, a friend she had played with as a child. He could know no more than she did.
“Yous lonely when come ‘ere. Yous be needin’ company. I’s come fir yous.”
“Thank you” she whispered, reaching forward and squeezing his delicate wrist. She turned from him, aware that although he was something she conjured from the recesses of her mind, her childhood friend still could not follow.
The woman cried, the machines slowly shutting down as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was forgotten for the moment as the doctor looked to the body, waiting for the second hand to pass firmly before he shut off the respirator. She wanted to scream the girl’s name, to wake her up; but she was so still now.
Kara felt the warmth of the gate, like rocks left out in the sun. She turned looking to the fixture of the odd creature she had left behind. She waved to Charlie with a smile she hoped seemed braver than she felt. The rabbit looked to her, his nose ever twitching as he nodded solemnly. She knocked on the side of the walled city, wanting to delay further so she could just sit and stare at him, but something within her protested. Some internal alarm clock rang, and Kara knew that she couldn’t remain any longer. She slipped past the gate into the city, the postern closing with a deafening boom behind her.
The woman lifted her coat to her lips, muffling the racking sobs and screams as the last of the machines flat lined. The doctor turned to the nurse at his side, looking once more to his watch as he matched it with the clock on the table. “Time of death 1:3o pm.” He recited grimly.
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not much else to say about it i guess. decided to post it up here just for shits and giggles. figured i had posted my last one, this might as well go up too. hope you enjoyed the read. i'm kind of nervous to read this out to the class. it's such a strange story, and the presence of a giant talking rabbit make me a little scared. hopefully it all goes well.
Chu,
Britt
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i don't like this as much as the ghost story. maybe because it's old hat for me, or because i just don't enjoy the setting as much. i like the flow of it, and the oddity of it. perhaps that's why i chose to rewrite it. i thought it was a tale that could do with a second look, and would easily translate into something shorter. plus i got the idea in my head of rewriting this story, and it just wouldn't go away...
✄-----------------------------------------------------------
The woman sat with her back to the wall, nervously picking at swollen nail beds. Her entire body tingled with anticipation of the decision she would soon have to make. Months had passed, and still no change. It was obvious to her now that whatever light her daughter had once had, was now gone. As she stared at the body before her, it was with morbid fascination and sadness. She couldn’t look away, yet she feared losing what remained, even if it was just a body. Tubes and wires deformed what was once beautiful; as the constant beeping of monitors replaced the voice she had taken for granted in the past.
She rose from her chair on the opposite side of the drab hospital room. Moving forward and taking the limp hand of her daughter with a sigh. “What would you want?” She asked, knowing the answer but refusing to acknowledge it. Kara would hate having to be so still.
She opened aquamarine eyes to a sky of lime, taking her time in stretching out in the grass with a satisfying yawn. She had lost count of how long she had been here. It was hard to concentrate, like being in a dream. She was aware of her friends and family and that they probably missed her greatly, but she didn’t know how to leave.
Kara rolled onto her belly, burying her nose in sweet smelling grass. She looked out over fields of lavender and smiled at a familiar figure in the distance. Briefly she considered the idea of trying to explain Charlie to those she had left at home, but shook the thought from her mind with a soft laugh. She wasn’t yet confused enough to believe Charlie was real; he was a figment of her imagination. But it was nice to have company.
Kara sat up; waving to her friend as the eight foot jack rabbit walking on his hind legs briefly shook a paw at her. Given her earlier passing fancy, the idea of talking about Charlie to her everyday companions was all the funnier now that he was before her.
“Yodel” he cooed. The greeting was familiar, but had confused her the first time she had heard it.
Kara nodded in return. She rubbed her hands over her arms as if she was chilled, the electricity in the air tickling her skin. The girl knew there was something coming, and as she stared at clouds of candy floss moving slowly across a wrong coloured sky; she awaited it with baited breath.
“We be needin’ to talk” Charlie chirped. “Somethin’s going.”
“I know I can feel it” she answered flatly, looking around as if the answer to the change could be in the scenery around them. “Do you know what it is?”
Charlie nodded, clicking his blunt claws against one other in a nervous twitch that reminded Kara of her mother. “’Phoria’s open, leasts will be’s.”
“What’s that?” Kara asked, having never heard the word in all the time she had been here.
“Place… City. Be off, downs the road” Charlie nodded his head in the direction of a gravel path Kara hadn’t noticed before. “Sometimes close, sometimes far. Nevers know ‘ow close is being. Changes” Charlie purred with a soft shrug. “This times be few days walkin’. Two, three maybe.”
“Should I go?” She asked, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them as she stared worriedly at her friend.
“’Ave to, can’t stay heres too long. Humans like ‘Phoria, you’s like it.”
“You sound so sure” Kara scoffed, unsure if she wanted to give up the growing familiarity of this place for anywhere but home.
“Humans like ‘Phoria, my Kara be human, my Kara like ‘Phoria” Charlie stated with conviction.
“And if I don’t?” A hint of venom in her question at the pressure he was putting on her.
“Shushin’, I don’ mean no hurt. Jus’ ‘Phoria is place for humans. Know you miss humans, miss friends. Can’t stay here with jus’ lil ol’ me to be talkin’ to’s” the rabbit comforted, an odd, crooked smile twitching his lip.
Kara sighed, biting her lip to conceal the grin Charlie’s own had inspired in her. “Two or three days you said?”
Charlie nodded, crossing the front legs he used so clumsily as arms over his chest. “Yep, can’t tell fir sures ‘ow long, only guess.”
“Alright” Kara nodded, she was reluctant to admit she held out some hope that this strange, new place might also be her way home.
The woman stared blankly out the window, watching the street below idly. Cars passed in and out of the hospital parking lot like insects milling about a hill. She counted them mindlessly, hoping to distract herself from the problem at hand. She had been told many times that day to go home, to get some rest. She knew the nurses and doctors were only trying to help, but she found it patronizing. Her irritability grew with each passing hour, her fear with every minute. There was no time limit that she needed to abide by, but that which she put on herself. Things could not remain as they are for much longer. The stress of it all was too overwhelming.
Kara bit at her nail beneath the shade of a silver leafed tree. She watched as Charlie sat in the distance, doe like eyes closed as he meditated. She didn’t know what he saw, if it was anything at all, but every time he did it he came back with a better idea of how far they were from Euphoria. The girl rose, brushing purple petals from her backside as she jogged back down to the blue gravelled road. Charlie moved as well, finishing up and coming down to meet her.
“Need be moved. ‘Phoria open soon, won’t wait fir us ta get there” he informed with a worried look.
“And if we miss it?” She asked, suddenly curious what something like that might mean.
“You’s stay here, dunno fir ‘ow long. Hafta wait till ‘Phoria open ‘gain.”
The possibility of simply waiting around for an indeterminate amount of time seemed like hell. This place was pretty, but nothing changed. There were no seasons, no days or nights. Everything was simply static, and it was numbing.
“Charlie?” She choked out, brow furrowing as she reached forward and took hold of the other’s wrist. “What if it doesn’t open again?”
Charlie didn’t say anything, simply looking down at his feet. It was then that she knew the answer to her question. There was no guarantee that she would have this chance again.
“Guess we better get moving then” she said with a weak smile, trying to conceal the fear she felt bubble up.
Charlie sighed, nodding slightly as he drew her into a gentle embrace with frail arms. “Will, will be makin’s it my Kara.”
The girl wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, trying not to be obvious as she stepped out of the hug. “Thanks Charlie” she murmured, offering him a true smile before turning from his velveteen face and heading down the road with new vigor.
The woman sipped from her water bottle, washing down the hard bread of the stale sandwich. It was two o’clock in the morning, but nightmares had kept her awake. The hospital was as silent as a morgue, the comparison sticking like a lump in her throat. She set aside the rest of the sandwich, her appetite lost as blue eyes flickered to the still body of her daughter. Kara’s face had haunted her dreams. Memories like photographs floated by her mind; dragging out till they mingled with the images of that twisted hunk of metal that had once been Kara’s car.
“I love you” she whispered sleepily. “I love you, I love you, I love you…” She repeated the words like a mantra, unwilling to stop for fear that the night would end too soon.
Kara had walked till her legs ached, Charlie seemingly unaffected by the distance. The girl paused, and to his credit the rabbit didn’t complain when they had to take yet another break. She collapsed at his dainty feet, watching his twitching nose with mild amusement.
“Charlie?”
“Yes’sm?”
“What happens when we get there?” She asked, biting her lower lip. Kara wanted the change of the city, but also was worried about what to expect.
“Yous go. Yous know what be ‘ere, what’s this is.”
“A dream” she said flatly.
Charlie nodded with a crooked smile, glad he didn’t have to chase the girl’s understanding. “’Phoria the city where all humans be goin’. In ‘Phoria, be no more dreamin’.”
“Euphoria is home?” Kara asked, something desperate jumping up inside of her.
“’Phoria is yours. Dreamin’ gotta ends. ‘Phoria be home, if end means home.”
“That doesn’t make much sense” Kara chided.
“Knows, sorry” Charlie chuckled with a faint shrug.
Kara eyed him for a moment, feeling a hint of friendly annoyance. Charlie couldn’t answer the question of what Euphoria was, all he could do was tell her it was different then where she was now.
The rabbit watched her intently, keen on any trace of reaction. His care was evident, as was his hope his answers wouldn’t make her cry once more.
Kara held out her hand, allowing her companion to help her to her feet. “Better get going” she stated, now with new things to contemplate as she stared down at the way the blue chalk of the road stained her toes.
“I love you Charlie” she murmured, standing as tall as she could to press a quick kiss to his soft cheek. Even then the rabbit had to duck in to meet her. “Thank you for helping me.”
Charlie smiled, brushing a blunt and clumsy paw over her back. “No times fir goodbyes yet. Loves you my Kara.”
Dawn came far too soon for the woman, her eyes heavy with fatigue. She watched the golden light crest over the tops of the buildings below before turning to mindlessly flip through the channels of the television. She grew frustrated when nothing kept her attention long enough. She knew she should sleep, but feared those familiar nightmares. The red numbers of the digital clock glared their stagnant call that not once seemed to heed her prayers and turn back. The woman looked to her daughter, making a great effort not to let her eyes rest on the unfamiliar face; wrapped in gauze and brutally mangled with tubes that breathed for a body that could not. Tears filled her eyes as she smoothed the blanket across Kara’s lap, quick to pick up a fallen stuffed toy. The woman tucked the small brown rabbit back under her daughter’s elbow, hoping that the childhood staple would offer her some sort of subconscious comfort.
The woman looked up as a doctor entered, sucking in a breath at the stack of papers in his hand.
Kara looked out over the cliff, seeing the glimmering pearl bricks of the walled city. “So what happens when it’s not open?” She asked, looking to Charlie as the rabbit simply crouched down next to her.
“’Phoria closed, no roads to be walkin’. ‘Phoria open, roads be takin’ yous there.”
Kara’s brows rose at the admission. It didn’t make sense, yet so little did. Here she sat with an eight foot tall rabbit that she had imagined as a child, looking down at a purple field and a pearl city.
“Charlie, you can’t come with me, can you?” She asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.
Her companion shook his head, looking to her with sadness in his eyes. “Will be’s missin’ yous” he chirped.
Kara smiled weakly, feeling the impending parting with a sore heart. “Not the time for goodbyes yet” she chuckled, repeating the other’s comforting words. “We still need to get to the bottom of the cliff.”
The woman signed her name with a shaking hand, pushing the pages away as soon as she was done. She could feel the tears sting at the corner of her eyes as she fell back into a chair. It was hard for her to speak, or even breathe as nurses and the doctor flitted around the bed like crumpled pieces of wrapper in the wind. They pressed buttons and turned switches; none of it made any sense to the woman that had to bear witness, but she refused to leave.
Kara held Charlie’s wrist, taking deep breaths as they neared the gate of the city. She found her body growing heavy with fear of the unknown, her steps coming harder as she stumbled a few times. Charlie kept her on her feet, walking her ever closer to the end of her dream.
Her hands gripped the other’s furry elbow tightly as she took in breath with large gulps. Kara’s brows furrowed as images passed through her mind. All this time the beauty and stillness of this place had calmed her enough to forget.
The night was dark, so black it was as if someone had painted it with ink. The hail had caught the light like tiny stars as they pounded against her windshield. Blinding light poured in as she gripped the steering wheel with tight fingers. Nothing was still, nothing was calm. Her tires screeched and the sound deafened her, she could feel the crystals of glass as the windows shattered and burst beside her.
Kara paused, causing Charlie to double check she hadn’t grown weary enough for a rest once more. But her eyes were trained on the small gap in Euphoria’s gates.
She smiled, slipping out from the rabbit’s grasp. She patted his furred shoulder, letting her fingers enjoy the luxury of his soft pelt before she looked to his face. “I’m not going home am I?” She asked, tears stinging her eyes and blurring her vision.
The rabbit shrugged gently, saddened by the pain he saw in his friend’s gaze. “Dunno” he answered honestly. Such answers would never be given to him.
“But you don’t think so do you?”
Her questions were hard; they made his heart ache right along with hers. He shook his head gently, a sadness overwhelming the usually boisterous being. “Cans’ only know whats you know my Kara.”
“Because you’re not real” she murmured the reality of the remark finally sinking in. The rabbit was a figment of her imagination, a friend she had played with as a child. He could know no more than she did.
“Yous lonely when come ‘ere. Yous be needin’ company. I’s come fir yous.”
“Thank you” she whispered, reaching forward and squeezing his delicate wrist. She turned from him, aware that although he was something she conjured from the recesses of her mind, her childhood friend still could not follow.
The woman cried, the machines slowly shutting down as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was forgotten for the moment as the doctor looked to the body, waiting for the second hand to pass firmly before he shut off the respirator. She wanted to scream the girl’s name, to wake her up; but she was so still now.
Kara felt the warmth of the gate, like rocks left out in the sun. She turned looking to the fixture of the odd creature she had left behind. She waved to Charlie with a smile she hoped seemed braver than she felt. The rabbit looked to her, his nose ever twitching as he nodded solemnly. She knocked on the side of the walled city, wanting to delay further so she could just sit and stare at him, but something within her protested. Some internal alarm clock rang, and Kara knew that she couldn’t remain any longer. She slipped past the gate into the city, the postern closing with a deafening boom behind her.
The woman lifted her coat to her lips, muffling the racking sobs and screams as the last of the machines flat lined. The doctor turned to the nurse at his side, looking once more to his watch as he matched it with the clock on the table. “Time of death 1:3o pm.” He recited grimly.
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not much else to say about it i guess. decided to post it up here just for shits and giggles. figured i had posted my last one, this might as well go up too. hope you enjoyed the read. i'm kind of nervous to read this out to the class. it's such a strange story, and the presence of a giant talking rabbit make me a little scared. hopefully it all goes well.
Chu,
Britt