The drawing room of Warner Brothers Studios was a dark cubicle filled office building. It had been ever since 1989. The building itself a testament of a time long forgotten by most, save for those who took the time to look inward and outward, underneath bridges and over mountains to find the truth. The only employees of the studio besides Bob and Ted Warner, the owners of the company, were ironically the Looney Tunes themselves. It was the summer of 1998; when the Looney Tunes were forced to do the most humiliating thing possible...draw their own cartoons.
Bugs Bunny sat at his desk staring at a blank piece of paper surrounded by pencils, pens and a single ruler. The desk lamp was starting to burn a hole through the desk itself it had been on for so long. Bugs' eyes were bloodshot red from lack of sleep, his fur was ragged and his teeth were cracked and yellowed, in short Bugs looked terrible. Bugs picked up a pencil and brought the tip to the paper for what would have been the 156th time that night and remained motionless. He was practically begging the pencil to move, to draw. Bugs started to shake, the pencil began making little scribble marks as a result of this. Without warning, the rabbit burst into tears, slamming his head on the desk as he threw the pencil to the ground in shame and disappointment.
"Why can't I do it?" he cried, his question unanswered for he was alone, "How do they expect us to do this? Draw our own cartoons. Who do they think we are?" A lighter flicked on in the corner of the room, the faint glow of a cigarette followed soon after, the lighter revealed the smoker to be Wile E. Coyote, who was calmly looking out the large window on the left side of the room, saying nothing. Bugs turned around, hoping that Wile E. would have some words of encouragement or advice to give, but he found none. "What are you doing here?" Bugs asked as he walked over, Wile E. remained silent, "You can speak you know" Bugs continued, "It's okay. No one's watching you." Wile E. snubbed the cigarette out and pulled out a 40oz of liquor, "Geez man!" Bugs exclaimed as he grabbed the 40 and threw it to the ground, "One sin or the other, not both." Wile E. hung his head in sadness and nodded in agreement. Bugs stared at Wile E. with confusion, "Aren't you goanna say anything?" Wile E. shook his head in disagreement, "You're weird doc, real weird." Wile E. laughed to himself and picked up his coat which he had strewn on the floor before walking towards the exit.
Wile E. stopped in front of a mural that was just before the exit door on the right wall. The mural was of the Looney Tunes and Mel Blanc. In the center of the mural was Mel, to Mel's right was Bugs, on his left was Daffy. The top and bottom occupied Sylvester and Foghorn Leghorn images respectively. Branching out from the center were several still pictures from various cartoons spanning the length of the wall, until it got to the drawing room. Bugs walked over, remembering the day that the mural was first erected, "Remember the Golden Days Wile E.?" Wile E. said nothing, Bugs nodded in understanding and moved closer, now next to the coyote. "Can I ask you something?" Wile E. turned towards Bugs and lifted his ears up, to let Bugs know that he was listening. "Why don't you speak Wile E.?" Bugs continued, "I mean I've never, not once heard you talk. Is something wrong?" Wile E. smiled and patted Bugs' shoulder and walked towards the door.
Bugs stared at the mural for what seemed like hours but was only five seconds. He gently moved his hand over Mel and said nothing. Bugs then looked around the drawing room, "I think I finally have an answer to the age old question: What's up doc?" Bugs laughed to himself as he headed towards the door and out to the parking lot.
Outside, Bugs noticed that Wile E.'s car was still parked outside. Looking around Bugs saw no sign of the coyote, to be sure he called out his name, "Wile E.!" he cried, "Where are yah buddy?" Silence. Bugs shrugged and walked over to Wile E.'s car to find the windows fogged, putting his ear to glass, Bugs' heard the following. "You know as well as I do that we can't keep doing this..." The voice was Wile E.'s, he was alone. "What am I doing? What are we doing? I don't know. But I can't do this anymore. It hurts too much." Bugs ran around to the driver side of the car and started banging on the glass, "Wile E.! Open up man, open up!" Wile E. shook his head and started to breathe shallowly. "I'm sorry Bugs" Wile E. replied, "But this isn't life. It's not...we keep doing the same time over and over again. They wanted to kill me...the Warner's...even worse still they wanted me to draw it. What's the difference if I die there or I die here? It's all the same to them. If I make that cartoon I'm finished. I'll never step foot in the studio again and I can't do anything else Bugs. I'm a coyote for Christ's sake! I'll be sent off to a nature reserve or wander aimlessly in the wilderness alone." Wile E.'s breathing slowed even more as he slipped further and further into unconsciousness. Bugs began frantically searching for something to break the window with. Running to the back of Wile E.'s car, Bugs pulled out a tire iron and began to smash the driver's window. "I miss them Bugs" Wile E. continued, "I miss Mel and Chuck and Friz and all of em. I miss the guys we never see...Daffy, Sylvester, Foghorn, they're all gone, off to do better things. Meanwhile you and I are left here to rot, you because you can't let go and me because I got nothing more to offer the world. There's nothing for me and nothing for you. We're dying. Slowly...Each of us alone and with no one, not even each other for company. Both of us reaching and hoping for a past that is long over." Bugs' finally broke the window and pulled Wile E. out of the car.
Bugs gently cradled Wile E.'s head as he knelt down on the ground looking up at a sky which would give no answers. "Tell me!" Bugs cried, "Show me, anything! What's up doc?" Bugs began crying, barely able to produce words as he lifted Wile E. off of his feet and carried him away towards Bugs' car. "You were supposed to give us something" Bugs continued shouting towards the heavens and still getting nothing, "Did that something include us rotting to death! Here we are just sitting here, watching the world go by and for what? So that you could just ignore us...I don't think so, oh no, we're not playing that game. There's no way in hell that we're goanna sit here while you just step on us like we're a load of nothing." Bugs turned towards the studio and said words that he never thought he would say, "You ruined my life! All of my friends, every single one of them left, gone because you forced us to do the unthinkable. You killed us! First it was Pepe, then Foghorn and Porky. Speedy, Lola, Marvin, Sylvester, Tweety...Then you killed Daffy. You made us write our own death sentences and then made us carry them out. After that...we walked out, each of us swearing that we would never set foot in this godforsaken hellhole again. Now you got Wile E. doing it. And I suppose I'm next right? You goanna kill me off too? No. I ain't going out like that. If I'm going out, I'm going with what little dignity I have left." Bugs got in his car and turned towards Wile E., only to find him resting comfortably in the passenger seat, fast asleep. "I promise you Wile E." Bugs said softly, "I'm getting your life back. Even if it kills me. I owe you that much." With that Bugs drove off, never to step foot on studio ground again.