Horror Story: Patches the Rabbit

The playground was bustling with children. Kids were pulling stunts on the monkey bars, going up and down on the teeter totters, taking turns on the slide, and playing an exciting game of freeze tag. One of the girls who went by the name of Alice wandered around the playground, searching for a group of kids to join when she noticed that a boy was sitting alone on the swing set. He wore a dark purple hoodie with black stripes and he looked as though he was in the highest grade. In his arms he cuddled a stuffed, white rabbit plush with glossy black button eyes and glittering blue stars on its paws and ears. He had this rather bored look on his face while he fiddled with the rabbit’s ears, like he was lonely and needed someone to play with him.

Alice made her way over to him and greeted him with a smile, “Hi!” She waved to him, but he was too interested in the plush. “Hello?” she questioned.

His head slowly rose and he gave her this disconcerted look and clutched the rabbit tightly. “What do you want?” he asked coldly. “Can’t you see I’m playing with my friend?”

Alice eyed the patched plush. It was a single-zip backpack covered in dirt and it was grayed with age. The most notable feature was the wide, stitched-in smile. She winced a little at the sight of it, and continued slowly, “Don’t you want someone else to play with too?”

The boy simply stared and ignored the question, oddly cocking his head to the side, listening into her proposal. “Like what?”

“We can go play freeze tag with them!” Alice pointed towards the group of kids at play.

The boy craned his neck towards the crowd and shook his head as he turned back to Alice. “We don’t need anyone else.” He groaned, scratching his nose. “It’s just Patches and I.”

“Is that the rabbit?” she pondered.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “What’s she to you?”

“Can I see her?” asked Alice, already reaching for the plush.

The boy cringed away from her, squeezing the rabbit tightly. “Don’t touch Patches!” he snapped, peering over his shoulder with a searing glare wringing its way into her eyes. “She’s mine and no one else’s! Do you understand?”

To her wonder, the rabbit’s arm snaked its way onto the boy’s shoulder, patting him on the collarbone. Her head turned towards her, eyeballing her with her button eyes and a strange smile that never stirred, almost as though its mouth was sealed shut to prevent it from speaking.

Alice’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe her eyes. The plush was actually alive. She was like something that would come out of some enchanted story, but she was wasn’t some fiction, she was real. Delighted by the sight, she responded, “Your rabbit just moved!”

“Yeah, so what?” he questioned as if there wasn’t an issue. “She always does that.”

Patches lifted her other arm and waved at the little girl. Alice reluctantly waved back, realizing the rabbit was welcoming her, before she let out a thrilled giggle, which was cut short when Patches made an   offbeat clicking sound, and the boy leaned over to whisper into the rabbit’s ear. Alice tried to listen in, but the boy shoed her away, denoting that the conversation was private every time she got close.

They continued exchanging hushed communication between each other before the boy finally got excited. “You really think she’s cool?” he beamed.

Patches nodded to him and he whispered into her again. Annoyed, Alice interjected, “What are you two talking about?”

The boy looked at Alice, then back at Patches. The rabbit nodded, approving his response. He answered, bowing his head slightly, “She wants to show you something special.” His voice trailed off. “In fact, something so amazing, that she thought it up specifically for you! You know, since you’re so cool.” He paused, his voice trailing off again. “What do you say, Alice?”

Alice looked at the ticking clock attached to the school building. There was fifteen minutes of recess remaining. “There’s not a lot of time left, won’t we be late and get yelled at?”

“It won’t be long. We shouldn’t be late.” The boy chuckled, “If we run, it will be faster, and we’ll have plenty of time for our performance.”

“Performance?”

“Patches is a performer. She knows so many tricks and it’s amazing! You have to see it! Come on!” The boy sprung to his feet, forcefully grabbed her hand, and guided her across the playground with Patches cradled in his other arm.

Seeing as he was excited to show her what Patches could do, she agreed, “All right.”

“Name’s Giver by the way. Sorry that I didn’t introduce myself before.”

Alice was a bit puzzled by the unusual name, but she didn't ask him about it just in case it hurt his feelings. “It’s fi–”

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” he teased suddenly before she could give a full answer. Giver smirked and giggled, let go of her hand, and broke off towards the back of the field.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” she shouted after him.

Giver rushed over to the fence, the bunny ears on the back of his hood flopping as he climbed up and threw himself over to the other side, and slipped into the woods. Alice followed in suit, making sure no adults were watching, before mounting the fence. She ascended up more slowly than him, losing her footing as she reached the top, and falling over to the ground on her flank.

Alice quickly got to her feet, and ran in the direction that the boy had gone. He was far ahead of her, the purple stripes on his hoodie barely visible. She called for him, “Giver, wait up! Giver!” but he couldn’t hear her pleas. His head disappeared as he ran down a steep hill. Alice picked up her speed, her breaths growing shorter as she grew more exhausted. The girl didn’t watch her steps as she pursued Giver.  She tripped over a root extending itself from the forest floor and tumbled down the hill.

A throbbing pain ached in her side as she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself onto her feet. She heard hiccuping chuckles as her eyes slid towards the laughter’s owner.

“You lost,” he sung, jubilant tears staining his cheeks. “You fell. Ouch! And then I beat you! That’s a double ouch!”

Alice wanted to yell at him, but ended up laughing along with him when she realizing how silly it was that she fell.

Patches’ clicks interrupted their reunion.

Giver calmed down and said, “Patches says she’s ready.”

“Okay.” She smiled.

He went over to a clearing and set the plush on the ground and gestured to Alice to come and sit on the ground with him. She obeyed and joined him. Patches cocked her head to the side, examining Alice for a minute before wobbling off and bringing back a medium-sized stick. She began to break the stick into pieces, the snaps of each crack reverberating in her ears as the wood splintered.

“What’s she doing?”

“Just watch.”

Patches peeled away at the three pieces she’d made, making sure there were no splinters, and juggling them. Impressed, the girl clapped for her. If Patches’ lips could have moved, she would have given a cocky smirk. She threw the three sections of wood into the air, silencing Alice’s praises, bending her head back, catching the first piece on her nose, the second on her paw, and the last on her hind leg.

“Bravo! Bravo!” The boy burst out in cheers while giving the plush applause.

Alice joined in. “Bravo!”

Her tools for entertainment fell to the ground when she took a showy bow. Patches rushed over to Alice, embracing her with a hug with her soft arms. For a good while, Patches was carefully observing Alice’s stunned face with her inexpressive button eyes before she looked over at Giver, giving him a few whimpering clicks as though she were asking him a question.

The boy smiled, sighing in defeat. “Just for one day, Patches,” he told her. “Then you have to come back tomorrow.”

Patches let go and childishly jumped for joy.

“Really?” asked Alice eagerly. She couldn’t believe that Giver was going to let Patches spend the night.  It would be like a sleepover! “I can keep her?”

“Just until tomorrow,” he repeated. 

*** 

The moment Alice got to her bedroom she unzipped her backpack and took out Patches, gently placing her on the carpet. The rabbit turned her way, cocking her head to the side in confusion. Patches carefully watched Alice as she took her backpack and chucked it onto the bed. Patches’ buttons wandered over to the box of Legos by the nightstand. She pointed to them with her stubby paw as Alice finished disposing the bag.

“You want to play with the Legos?”

Patches nodded and she wandered over to the Legos. She brought them over to the center of the room and dumped the entire box on the floor. Patches jumped back a little when some of the pieces came her way. She was watching Alice separate the colors and didn’t even bother helping her organize the piles. She just stood there and watched her intently with those emotionless, inert button eyes.

Alice was troubled. “Aren’t you going to help?”

Patches shook her head defiantly.

“At least help me build something!” she whined.

Patches pondered for a moment before nodding and getting to business. She hogged most of the space as she began setting up the base they were going to build on. For someone who didn’t want to help before, she was sure enthusiastic now. Alice joyously played with the content Patches, taking turns with each piece. They finally figured it was best that they worked on their own individual rows and they played with the Legos until they completed their creation – a colorful miniature castle. There was an opening resembling the entrance to a drawbridge. Patches had included little windows in the towers and on the upper halves of the castle and even miniature keeps.

They were proud of their work. Patches and Alice high-fived as the plush went into the castle and examined their creation, gesturing to Alice to take a look inside. Alice squeezed her head into the small doorway and smiled at Patches. That smile quickly faded when Patches’ legs went limp and she fell over.

“Patches?”

No response.

“Patches, are you all right?” she asked, more panicked now. 

Suddenly, Patches’ jerked and something could be seen moving in her body. Alice panicked and tried to get her head out of the castle, but it was stuck in there. She gasped as the zipper opened, revealing a white, furry claw. It happened so fast. Its arms slinked out of the rabbit’s compartments, and a twisted, unspeakable white creature leaped at her face and hooked its blood red talons into her cheeks. Lego pieces broke off from the castle as she jumped backwards, taking the castle with her and crashing to the floor, the bricks scattering everywhere.

While the little girl was stunned from the impact, the creature used its muscles to open her jaw and enter her mouth. Her throat collapsed as it slithered against her tongue. Tears poured from her eyes and she struggled for air as its claws tore the inside of esophagus as it made its way inside her body. She screamed as pain surged in her abdominal area, her body quivering like a broken doll as the creature attached itself to her insides. Alice rolled over to her side and clenched her teeth as she grasped her aching stomach.

Her parents came rushing into the room and comforted their daughter. Their expressions were terrified as they saw their little girl suffer.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” asked her mother.

She whimpered, looking at her mother with broken glass eyes. “It hurts.” Alice wanted it to end. She wanted this thing out of her. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and blood and bile came gurgling from her throat. “Mommy,” she muttered. Alice closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see it anymore.

“We need to get her to the car,” said her father, scooping up his daughter in his arms. He rushed her downstairs and into the garage. “Get the door.” Alice’s mother opened the door for her father and he gently placed his daughter into the car and buckled her in.

The two of them got into the car and her father wasted no time leaving the garage, breaking the neighborhood speed limit. They went from road to road, listening to their poor daughter squeal in agony, sprawling as blood continued to pour from her mouth. Until they saw it.

“Alice!”

Her father slammed on the breaks as his daughter roared in pure torture.

BAM!

A car slid into the trunk, the rear window shattering into shards that landed onto the back seat, cutting away at Alice’s skin. The car spun off the side of the road, landing in a ditch on its side. Gallops of tears welled in her struggling eyes as the creature made its way out of her body. It was appalling. Its blood-covered fur was like spikes and its claws were like razors. Alice’s remains were stuck in-between its teeth.

“Alice!” He unbuckled his seat belt and launched himself at the creature.

It quickly eyed him with its glowing red eyes before scurrying its way out the shattered window without turning back.

Alice’s eyes faded. She could have sworn she heard her parents’ voices calling her name, but the sounds were practically mute to her as her vision went black.

***

"Ah, it's you Patches!" 

Patches had returned to her cheery-faced owner at the front of the victim’s house, greeting him with a few cheery clicks.

He checked his watch. “You’re not too early and not too late.” Giver smirked as he picked up the creature, stroking its bristly fur. “You’re just late.”