A Bunny Horror Story in Time for Easter
The Vampiric Rabbit
Easter is many things for many people. For today, I’m going to stay mostly secular (a little pagan) and stick with the bunny! I’ve been horrified and inspired by public domain horror and slasher stories films such as the ones involving Winnie the Pooh and Popeye. I decided I wanted to do a slightly darker version of the Velveteen Rabbit, one of my all time favorite childhood stories.
Please enjoy this strange, bunny-inspired horror fiction!
The Vampiric Rabbit
(written in the style of The Velveteen Rabbit)
The Rabbit had lived in many toy cupboards and on many more nursery floors throughout the centuries, some opulent, some quaint, all safe and secure where he was snuggled at the top of the food chain. Most of the toys in his latest nursery kept their distance, pretending they were superior but really, they were afraid of this unearthly creature made of cheap, velveteen fabric posing as a child’s toy. The mechanical toys, the model boat, and the jointed wooden lion attempted to make the Rabbit feel insignificant and commonplace, but they were nothing but dust to him, all of them except for one, the wise old Skin Horse.
The Rabbit preferred solitude on most days, but he was compelled to get to know this peculiar horse. The toy had clearly been around as long as he had, maybe longer. Just like the Rabbit, this was not the Horse’s first nursery. He had lived with many children in many lifetimes. The Horse’s lifespan covered centuries, but he looked brand new as if he had just been purchased and given to the Boy. His perfect brown coat should have been bald in patches, the seams on the beast’s belly should have shown but they were perfectly hidden, just as his mane and tail were still full and shiny. He was very wise and understood that the other toys were only toys, just as he knew that the Rabbit was not just another toy. The Horse was like the Rabbit. It was very rare when the Rabbit came into contact with another immortal. Very rare indeed.
Unfortunately, the Rabbit soon learned that his new immortal companion was obsessed with the strange and ludicrous idea of nursery magic. The Horse wanted to become mortal, be truly alive in this world. He wanted to become Real.
“What is so great about being REAL?” the Rabbit spat one day. “What can it offer us that we don’t already have?”
“Real is everything, Rabbit,” the Horse replied. “It allows you to walk this Earth and go wherever you would like when you would like. It’s a thing that happens to you once a child has loved you for a very long time.”
“I already walk this Earth and go where I like,” the Rabbit countered.
“I’ve yet to see you walk,” the Horse pointed out. “Just wiggle around.”
“You will see me walk.”
“I need to be free of this toy body, this prison. Need to run through the valley as fast as I can.”
“I’ve been real before. It hurts,” the Rabbit whispered.
“I don’t mind getting hurt as long as I can be free,” the Horse sighed.