Chapter 1: Trouble In Paradise

November 8, 1950

It was the beginning of winter. The eight rabbits had enough food in stock inside their hole to last them for the rest of the winter. She was happy, no. she was more than happy to be a part of such a great family with her mother, her father, he four sisters and her brother.

"Alright children, it's time for hibernation, you must get some sleep." The mother said.

"But momma, I'm not very tired to go to sleep right now!" Squealed one of the girls.

"I know sweetie, but we must be asleep if we want to be prepared for the next spring." The mother replied.

"But momma….." The girl whined.

"No buts Jenny, now go to sleep. Don't worry, we'll be safe in here."

Knowing she was safe and sound with them in their hole, she had a very pleasant sleep.

One morning, Jenny awoke at the sounds of loud chirping outside their hole. It also awoke her brother Thumper and her mother as well, but no one else.

"Momma look! "Jenny called out. "The grass is now filled with white and sparkly stuff!"

"Ssshhhhh, we don't want to wake the others!" Thumper whispered.

"Why yes dear." The mother said. "That is snow."

"Snow?" Jenny said. "What's it like?"

"Well, it is water that freezes due to the cold." The mother explained. "When I was your age, it was very fun to play in."

"Fun?" Jenny thought. "Can we go out and play in the snow then momma?"

"Yea can we please?" Thumper asked.

"Well, I suppose it is alright." The mother accepted.

"Yay!" Thumper and Jenny cheered.

Both of them started to run out of out of the hole, until their mother called out for them.

"Thumper, Jenny!" She cried.

Both of them stopped, turned around and went back toward her.

"What did your father tell you?" The mother asked.

"About what?" Thumper said exhaling.

"About leaving while we are not watching." The mother replied.

"Oh, right." Thumper said, as he was trying to remember his father's quote. "'If you wander around somewhere, you must know where you are at. But if you don't know where, you may not be able to find your way back.'"

"That's right, so stay close to here and do not go anywhere too far, or you might get lost."

"We understand momma." Jenny said.

"Alright then, you two stay safe." The mother said, as she saw her two children running into the snow.

As the two siblings were playing with each other in the snow, they came across a large clear ground.

"Wow, what is it?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know, maybe this is something also a part of winter like the snow!" Thumper replied.

"Step on it." Jenny said.

Thumper agreed and moved towards the clear ground. He took the first step onto it, and noticed how smooth it was. He then put his other foot on it and saw nothing happened. He then took another step, but slipped and fell right on his tail. His sister cried out in laughter after his brother's failed attempt to walk on the clear ground.

"Please, that was just an accident." Thumper said.

"Try jumping into it!" Jenny cheered.

"Hey, not that bad of an idea." He said thinking.

Thumper then went on top of a near hill and started speeding down from it. He then jumped onto the clear ground and slid all the way to the other end of the clear ground.

"That was so cool!" Jenny called out.

"It so was!" Thumper shouted back. "I'm going to go see if my friend Bambi is around, I want to try and show him this and my cool jump!"

And just like that, Thumper was off to find his friend. Jenny wasn't sure what to do while she waited, she went elsewhere to see what else there was to explore in the winter. As she was hopping around, she came across the wide meadow.

"Wow…." She thought, as she was smiling to the great view. "This is so amazing! A perfect and clear area with the entire path filled with snow."

She was even able to see a few other critters as well, as they were nibbling on some of the grass pointing out of the snow.

"Momma was right." She thought. "This truly does feel like paradise!"

After taking it all in, she decided to move on to try and find any other great things to see. As she was moving along further into the forest, she started to realize nothing she was hopping towards looked familiar.

"But wait, isn't this the way back?" She said to herself. "It must be around here somewhere, maybe the snow is the cause of why I don't recognize it, everything I do remember is blocked by it!"

Jenny continued to look for her family's hole, even anything that familiar to her that could lead her in the right direction, but to no avail.

"Big brother, big brother!" She called out, but no response. "Momma Poppa, anyone!"

She was starting to become scared after the continuous silence around her. She decided to continue hopping more in every direction she could think of that she assumed could lead her home, but nothing was ever seen as familiar to her. She even ran into other clear grounds, but none were the same as the one she and Thumper were just at. What's more, her brother was not in sight at and of the other clear grounds.

"Where am I?" She thought as she was shaking. "Where is home? I knew I should have stayed near the hole, Momma warned me to but I didn't listen. Why didn't I listen?"

"Someone please, I'm lost!" She called out once more.

But still no voices were heard, mainly because most of the animals were still in hibernation.

Tears started falling out of her eyes. "What if I never make it back?" She thought.

As she continued hopping throughout the forest trying to search for her family, she spotted an odd looking object in the distance. As she was moving closer to it, she saw there was blossoms inside it.

"Blossoms, boy am I starving!" She thought.

As she ran towards the blossoms, she tripped on a stick that was standing in front of her, causing the cages door close.

"What is this, where am I?" She thought.

She tried, to get out of the cage she was in, but it was no use.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" she yelled out loud.

There was still no response. Knowing that it was no use, she then laid down on the cage trying to keep herself warm until somebody would come for help.

The evening then came around and the mother started calling out to Thumper and Jenny for them to come back home.

"Thumper, Jenny, it's time to come back now!" The mother called out.

A few seconds later, thumper appeared as he was trying to keep his body above the large amount of snow on the ground.

"I'm here momma." Thumper said smiling.

"Where is your sister?" She asked.

Thumper shrugged. "I don't know. I went to go find my friend Bambi to play on that stiff water, but by the time I got back she was already gone. I thought she already came back to the hole."

The mother started to get worried. "Jenny, Jenny!" She called out, but no voice was heard. "I'm going to go look for her, Thumper you go back into the hole and try to go back to sleep."

"Yes momma."

Jenny woke up from the sound of footsteps coming near her.

"Momma, is that you?" She called out, but no response.

As the footsteps were growing closer to her, she was able to see a distant figure coming towards her. Only, this figure wasn't any kind of animal she recognized. As the figure got closer, her entire body shivered. It was man.

"Well looky who we got here Munchy!" Man said. "This one seems to be a baby rabbit." He then put his face closer to the cage to examine her. Jenny was frightened and had her back against the cage after seeing the horrible Man looking at her. "Hmm, she's female by the looks of it. I'm sure we can be able to make a mitten or two out of her, don't you think bud?"

"BARK!" Went Munchy

Man chuckled. "Well, we'll put her to sleep along with the rest of the animals later. For now, let's head on back home Munchy, I'd say today was a pretty good hunting day if you ask me."

"R-rest of the animals?" Jenny thought.

Man then picked up the cage with Jenny in it and began to walk towards the exit of the forest.

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny!" Her mother called out.

She looked everywhere she could that she could recognize, but there was still no sign of Jenny. She assumed Jenny may have gone somewhere she didn't recognize and took a wrong turn somewhere.

"I'm going to have to go talk to friend owl, maybe he can help." She told herself.

The mother then made her way to friend Owl to see if he could assist her with finding her daughter. As she approached his tree, she could already hear him sleeping from down the tree.

"Friend owl, friend owl!" She cried.

Friend owl then popped out of his tree.

"Ooooooh, what now?" Friend owl moaned. "Oh, why Mrs. Hare, it's great to see you again, but what are you doing out here during the beginning of winter?"

"I need your help Friend owl." Mrs. Hare pleaded. "My daughter Jenny, she still hasn't come yet back after I last saw her playing in the snow by our hole. Do you think you may be able to find her?"

"Hmm, well it sure is a pretty large forest, but I will see what I can do Mrs. Hare.

Mrs. Hare sighed in relief. "Thank you very much Friend owl, I really appreciate this."

"I'll fly over to your hole to give you the news once I'm finished."

Friend owl then flapped his wings and took off into the sky. Even with his help, Mrs. Hare still feared the worst for her daughter. Especially if she were to run into Man.

Jenny wasn't sure where she was going, but wherever it was, she didn't have a good feeling about it after hearing Man say he could make a mitten or two out of her.

"What is a mitten?" She thought.

The cage she was in was then placed inside a very large object that not even she could recognize. But whatever it was, she assumed it meant bad. Everywhere she looked, there was a tall wall above her, along with other cages like the one she was in.

"Momma, where are you? I don't want to be here, I want to go home!"

Just then, she heard a large vroom sound coming from the object she was in. as she was in the cage, she started to see trees above her moving.

"What's going on, am I moving or is the object moving?" She wondered. "Wait a minute, I'm moving away from home!"

She tried once more to get out of the cage. But every time and way she tried to, nothing would budge.

"MOMMA, POPPA, ANYONE HELP ME!" She yelled as high as she could.

Friend owl had been searching for quite a long time now, but there was still no sign of Jenny to be found anywhere throughout the forest.

He sighed. "Well, I guess I got no choice but to call it a night."

But suddenly, as he was flying back, he heard a voice crying out in the distance. As he looked to see where the voice was coming from, he saw a very vague moving object out in the distance. Friend owl flew faster than he ever had to see what the crying voice was all about.

As he flew closer, he saw what Man would call a truck that was moving out in the distance. As he continued to hear the cries for help, he immediately knew the source of the sound was coming from the truck.

As he flew in closer to the truck, he noticed a small little rabbit inside one of the cages behind the truck. He gasped.

"Oh dear, it's Mrs. Hare's daughter, and she being taken away!"

Jenny then saw Friend owl appear in the sky as he was getting closer to the truck.

"Friend owl, is that you?" Jenny shouted.

"Yes it is sweetie!" Friend owl shouted back. "I'm gonna try and get you off of this blasted truck as best as I can!"

"But how?"

Friend owl thought about that for a moment, and then had an idea.

"I'm going to try to hook my claws onto the cage, just stay still!"

"Okay!"

Friend owl then flew in closer to the back of the truck, trying to position his feet so he could grab the cage Jenny was in. The first time he went for it, he missed. He knew he had to increase his speed in order to hook onto it at the right time. So he picked up his speed to get to it.

"Almost there and…." He mumbled. With his second try, he was able to hook onto it. "Gotcha!"

Jenny smiled. "Way to go Friend owl!" She cheered.

"Thank you dear." He replied "Now then, I'm going to try and lift this out of the truck by the side so we don't get any further as we are now."

Friend owl then flapped both of his wings to the side as hard as he could to try and get the cage off the truck. He had half of it in the air and had it hanging on the right side of the truck.

"Alright Friend owl…" He mumbled to himself. "Just a little bit more-"

"BAM!"

Friend owl was then hit in the head by one of the trees to the side passing by.

"NO!" Jenny shouted, as she saw Friend owl falling to the ground.

Friend owl could only hear Jenny's last cries for him, after closing his eyes from being knocked unconscious.

"FRIEND OWWWwwwwl….."

Ten minutes later, he awoke.

"Oooooohhh, my head." He moaned.

After he was able to stand back up, he gasped remembering what happened before he was knocked unconscious. He flew high into the sky looking in every direction, as he was trying to spot the truck that had Jenny trapped in it. However, every way he looked into the farthest sight, there was still no sign of the truck

"JENNY, JENNY!" He called out, but no reply.

Sadly, he knew she was nowhere in sight. He sighed and then decided to fly back, knowing that it would be impossible to find her now that she was far, far away from the forest by now. He definitely knew it was going to be hard the break the truth to her mother and the rest of her family.

By the time he returned to Mrs. Hare's hole, it was already night time.

"Mrs. Hare?" He called out, sticking his head into the hole.

"Coming Friend Owl, I will just be a second!" Mrs. Hare called out.

Mrs. Hare then came out of the hole.

"Ah, Friend owl." She said. "Well, have you been able to find little Jenny?"

Friend owl knew there was no other way in saying it, so he simply said it.

"She's gone Mrs. Hare." He said silently.

Mrs. Hare's eyes widened. "Friend owl…. Are you telling me my daughter is…. Dead?" She asked nervously. "Please don't tell me Man got to her, was it an accident?!"

Friend owl shook his head. "She's just gone."

I've always loved the works of animation, especially the classics like Bambi. Even though those movies have been around for like sixty to seventy years, it really feels like those movies just never get old! One time when I rewatched Bambi and Bambi II, I noticed something that was a bit different between the two. In the first movie Thumper has five sisters, but in Bambi II, I learned that number went down to four sisters without any knowledge of what happened to the fifth one.

So ladies and gentlemen, old and new readers of this story, welcome to my second story, The Missing One. Just to be clear, I do not own any of these characters besides the ones that I make up, it all belongs to Disney, the end. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!