As a seven year old girl, I was playing
outside with my dog; and while crawling around I saw a little bunny
poke its nose out of the base of a tree. I reached in and pulled out
five velvet soft bunnies. Their eyes had barely opened. I cooed
internally and had the strange urge to feed them. I ordered my dog to
watch them and ran inside, but they wouldn't take any of the milk
from our fridge. The bunnies hopped nervously around me as I
corralled them towards the tree. Finally, I put them back in their
hole and went inside for dinner.
The next morning, I rushed through
breakfast and quickly went outside to check under the tree for the
bunnies. I pulled them out one by one, and realized there were only
four bunnies in my lap. Horror struck, I began searching all over the
immediate area. When I couldn't find a trace of a fifth bunny, I
began to question myself and if there ever was another missing bunny.
I went inside for part of the day and decided to check on the
bunnies one more time before bed.
As I approached my dog's house in the
dimming light I heard a gentle rustle in the fallen, brown leaves. I
glanced over and saw the tiniest movement and slowly walked closer. I
brushed the leaves aside and saw, shivering in the shade, a tiny
bunny. I returned it to the den, making sure to feel all five
bunnies before I went inside. Laying in bed that night, I had a feeling it was my fault the bunny was outside the den. I was sure it had bounced away from the group when I went inside and I had just failed to notice. Knowing the bunny was back home though, made me proud
of myself for fixing the problem and I fell asleep excited to see the
bunnies again.
At daybreak I was already making my
way to the tree. I reached in to pull out each little bunny, more
energetic and stronger now. When the last bunny came out it was flat
and limp in my hand, obviously dead. I panicked with a squeal and
tossed the bunny away in front of me. Once I regained my composure,
the morbid inner human needed to examine the body. I determined it
was probably the one I missed and didn't put back in the den and I was sad.
The other bunnies looked healthy, however, and that made me happy.
A couple days passed and I thought I
had better not meddle with the bunnies anymore, but my curiosity over
their well-being won. As I approached the tree, one of the bunnies
came out and began to hop away. I grabbed it and put it back under
the tree to keep the same mistake from happening, but then another tried, and soon all four bunnies were
hopping in four different directions away from me and I realized they
were leaving and they wouldn't be back. I just stood there and
watched as they hopped between the trees and out of sight. All was quiet. Lingering there a moment before I went back to the house; the morning sun streamed through the leaves.
