Prologue
Bright
red blood grew pregnant on the giant white rabbit’s fangs. It growled deeply with every hot breath. It stared down at the girl. Eyes of a dark red iris encircled in pink.
Kayla
stared back.
She
had to run.
She
knew she had to run, but something in her didn’t want to let her body take
flight. Fear tensed every muscle. Her feet kicked at the ground crawling her
back away from the beast, the earth lifted her shirt up and scratched her
back. Grey eyes watched the pregnant
bubble of red engorge itself on the end of the fangs. It was as if she couldn’t move until
something happened. She stared at the
blood and held her breath.
The
blood dropped.
It
disappeared into the fur of the rabbit’s belly staining it all pink.
Kayla
was off.
Leigh
rolled onto her front.
The
family dog opened one eye to check on what she was doing. Its paws stretched out from where they had
been scratching Leigh’s back. It closed
its eye again and went back to snoring.
The
girl ran and ran as fast as she could. Arms
pumped at her sides. With every step
Kayla felt twenty pounds heavier. Her
chest hurt. Her heart pounded in her
ears. She looked back over her shoulder
at the white rabbit following her. She
was only ten.
There
was tall grass and overgrown walkways. Trees
were taking it back. There were
waves. Light in the distance behind
trees and blackness.
Leigh
knew this area, she had been there before.
But
Kayla never had. Where was it?
Her
legs couldn’t go much longer. No matter
how hard she ran the rabbit was getting closer. It was like in a scary movie. No matter how fast she ran the walking bad
guy, boogie man, was getting closer.
More
blood dripped from his fangs. The pink
of its chest was brightening to a brilliant red.
Leigh
completely twisted around as she tried to get comfortable in her sleep. Her face went next to the dog’s getting the
animal’s hot breath against her nose and eyes.
The blankets bound up under her thigh.
Kayla
tripped.
Her
body flew through the air, hands stretched out like a super hero reject. Her thigh hit something hard. Pain shot through her leg. Her body was instantly chilled from the wet
ground. Auburn hair matted to her forehead. There was no other emotion inside of her
except fear. It was overtaking her. She heard something behind her.
It
was the rabbit.
It
was there. She didn’t want to roll over
but had to. She had to.
Kayla
rolled onto her back. The giant rabbit
was there. The blood had run and stained
it a red bib beneath its chin.
Where
was the blood from? Who’s blood was it? Was it her blood?
The
rabbit bent at the waist and breathed its hot breath into the girl’s face. She closed her eyes from the snorting air. It smelled like a mixture of earth and meat. She wanted to scream, but nothing would come
out. She had to scream.
She
had to scream.
The
rabbit opened its mouth, “little girl.”
Leigh’s
brown eyes opened wide.
For
one second she laid in bed staring straight up at the splash of light sprayed
across the ceiling from somewhere outside.
She
sat up.
She
looked first at the window then at the picture on her wall beside the
window. The street lamp light glinted
off the glass covering the picture of a red coated Mountie on a large black
horse. Her father and Handcuf. She realized she wasn’t breathing and started
up the rhythmic act that usually didn’t require thought. Frix laid beside her. The old Springer Spaniel’s sleep was barely
interrupted by her sudden rise. Her
nightlight lit up the space in the room between her bed and the door. She was eleven, too old for a nightlight, but
two years ago a man, a killer had been in her room. He had been in the entire house. He was the reason for the state of the art
security system and the bars on their windows.
Her hand pushed her long brown hair from her face.
Why
was she suddenly awake? A dream? She couldn’t remember what it had been
about. Someone had been running. Something had been chasing. There was screaming.
Kayla?
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