If you fell down a rabbit hole, what do you think you would find?
There comes a time in one’s life where you have to look at your achievements and ask yourself, ‘Is this all there is?’
Alex had been circling that drain for the better part of two years when he saw the rabbit. Calling him simply ‘the rabbit’ doesn’t do him justice at all. From his crushed velvet jacket, to the pristine miniature pocketwatch he was holding. From a consideration of species, he was a rabbit, but from his state of dress he was clearly something quite different than the floppy eared pet you may have initially thought of.
“Escuse me?” the rabbit shouted towards Alex as he bound towards him. A soft lisp to his voice, that Alex questioned if it was due to the creature’s elongated front teeth. “Escuse me, sir.. do you happen to have zhe time?”
Alex glanced at his watch. “4:30.”
That was not what the rabbit wanted to hear. “FOUR SIRTY! FOURRR ZHIRRRTTYY! I am quite quite quite quite late!” And in a blink the rabbit was bounding past the stunned Alex.
Is this all there is?
His life felt empty. Boring. Devoid of interest. He barely felt connected with this world most of the time. As the rabbit was just cresting the horizon, Alex charged after him. “Mister Rabbit!” He yelled, and where he was sure the rabbit had heard him, he gave no sense that he would stop or pause for a moment.
The average rabbit, the sans coat and pocketwatch kind, are notoriously fast. This one though was running not with the same bounding leaps you imagine, but on two legs which made him fast, but not as fast as he could be if he was on all fours. Alex, giving chase now, was certain he was catching up by inches every second that passed.
They toured through the woods, around trees, over fallen logs, and then at least, he watched as the rabbit simply disappeared. Within the span of a blink, the rabbit was nowhere to be seen. Alex kept running and skidded to stop when he saw where the rabbit must have gone.
A hole. A giant hole.
At least five feet across, this hole fell into darkness, and Alex was certain his new puff-tailed friend had taken his leave down there.
“HELLO?” He shouted.
There was no sound in response.
The young man tried to think about whether he had been into this area of the woods before, but the more he looked around for context of his exact location, the more he realized he was completely lost.
From somewhere deep within the hole he heard the lisping voice of the rabbit, “Are you zhoining me? I’m laaaate!” The voice echoed off the walls, and it took him until the second report to realize that somewhere beneath the earth the rabbit was speaking to him.
Is this all there is?
Alex sighed. Finally, a moment of unique experience. A moment that few, if any, had ever experienced. It was the beginning of a grand adventure that was surging through his bones, and that was what pushed his feet from the ground and sailing through the air. It was the potential of flights of fantasy and a new world that lay at the bottom of this hole.
—
The rabbit, Morris, listened as the excited yawp from above ground grew closer. He glanced at his watch again, a nervous tic he had since he was in the warren with his dozens of brothers and sisters. His foot tapped impatiently. He wasn’t as late as he had let on, but he found it was the easiest way to not have to answer questions.
Morris had gone through this so many times, he could tell from the pause in the excited yelp that there were only a few seconds left.
3…
2…
1….
Morris took a step back as Alex landed, spraying ichor and gore to every corner of the small landing chamber. He glanced at his watch, wiping the watchface of liver or spleen on his vest. From a connecting passage, Morris’ wife dressed in a powder blue sundress entered the anti-chamber and gasped as she saw the sight of the young man, with the growing pool of colors that his body lay in the center of.
“That’s the third this week. You are doing wonderfully this season.” She commented, leaning over and kissing her husband on the cheek. Morris looked and smiled as there was a touch of pink just beneath her twitching nose. “Now come on, sweetie. I put dinner on the table just a few minutes ago.”
Morris’ head tilted to the side. “Oh, darling, I apologize. I really am late.”
Their laughter filled the halls as they headed home, thrilled at the life they had built together.
