Hauntings

It's been a year and a half since the infamous Night Howler case. Judy Hopps had finally moved into a new apartment after being persuaded by her good friend Nick Wilde to find someplace new. To think that when Bucky found a girlfriend her apartment would become three times louder; it actually became louder and more consistent like an everyday street opera. It became harder to work there let alone sleep there.

It has been her second day in her rewardingly tranquil apartment. She really had to thank Nick for opening her to move out of her noisy neighborhood. Finally she was at the grasp of something she had always longed for, silence. What could possibly go wrong?

Sounds of a melodious piano enclosed the bathroom as she laid in a relaxing tub of water listening to her phone. What a way to relieve stress than to have a shivering bath and uncomfortable silence. Like her ears on the tub, her mind had been floating away ignoring the perception of the visible world. The size of her bathtub would be enough to fit two adult bunnies without the discontent feeling of being cramped. She was at what she thought she was, paradise, everything felt so comforting on her own personal pool

At the moment of a rain drop, the darkness had visited her room. Even with her eyes closed she felt the presence of the light fade away. She opened her eyes at the sudden occurrence to see nothing but the color black in her bathroom. A blackout?

The sounds of her classical music haunted the room. To what was supposed to ease her mind and relax it, had filled it with dark and frightening thoughts. Judy was one to not believe in ghosts yet that wasn't enough to stop the fear in her erupt. Especially considering she was in her bathroom, at the dark, in the middle of the night and alone.

She couldn't leave the bathroom with her diminished vision, she knew the floors were wet when she jumped splashed onto her tub for the sake of fun. Accidents would be around the corner if she chose to walk in darkness. Instead she settled in with laying down, half her head immersed into the water while she waited for the lights to power to return.

The blizzard storming her mind only aggressed as time went by. This was her first encounter with a power outage ever since she moved to Zootopia. These occurrences were quite common in the bunny burrows. In a house full of 275 siblings, it would be a miracle if electricity could still supply to at least fifty of them.

Finally the lights awakened like the blink of an eye. The frightening atmosphere had been replaced with the late 90's music settings, as a bunny who once told a certain fox she is barely a coward, the first thing she had done at the return of light was flinch and shudder unnervingly, cuz why not?

Oh do I have a story to tell Nick, even if everything seems normal again, she could no longer savor her moment of peace. She still fostered the unpleasantness right beside her heart. Her lifting vacation in relaxation has expired. She yanked the towel hung on an iron bar right on top of her and exits her bathtub, with legs first.

With her next glance on her bathroom cabinet by her sink she discovers it was open. She gazed at it dumbstruck. That's strange I know I left this closed. As inconvenient as it may sound she is pretty much precise in memorizing trivial facts over important memories. She may stress herself to force a locked memory of a fugitive zebra's car's plate number and only remember the number of stripes on the car.

Examining the Cabinet to assure herself not one single item such as bandages or ear buds are missing, she didn't center too much on that peculiar fact. After knowing the lack of any burglaries she closed the cabinet and slept through the night with all lights closed

"Day Three"

As sharp as always, the first thing Judy notices when she enters the bathroom to shower was that the light on her bathroom was left open. This was the second time she felt she was neglecting her principles. She starts her bathtub preferring hot water over cold and reclines under the inviting warm water resisting uneasiness.

"Day Six"

In the previous day, she had noticed the water in the bathtub was left running. This was third time this happened. After all the strange occurrences strangely at only her toilet she finally came to the conclusion that someone has been visiting her bathroom beyond her notice. To solve this, she installed cameras at all corners of the ceilings of her rooms

With her Bathroom secured she sat alone in her living room enjoying a cup of coffee and a plate of microwaved carrots precisely satisfying to the budget she was under. She decided to use her day off to relax and solve the case of her mysterious bathroom.

A sudden coupled knocks on the door earned her attention and she directed a glance at the door before she approached the door to open it. Not surprised, the mammal standing behind her door was none other than a fox in his usual green Hawaiian shirt and a blue and purple striped necktie

"Nick?" She gave a quick glance at the time on her watch. "It's 9:46, what are you doing here so early?" she wasn't surprised it was him but she didn't really expect him to be here in the first place. Nick gives his signature, lazy eyed smirk "Just wanting to check on my favorite dumb bunny" he says acting all open and energetic

She sighs, well to say if the least, now she wouldn't feel lonely on a Saturday morning. She does hangout with Nick sometimes on Saturdays for late movies or amusement parks "Alright, come in" she mutters as she leads him into her room. Nick walked casually with his hands in his pockets as he scanned her whole house showing no expression of amusement

"It's a little small, but it's a lot bigger than your last house at least" He said. "I don't suppose you live in a fancier house, mr. Estate manager" She manages to make him give a soft chuckle. "Hehe, you will never know" The two settle down on the couch by the living room. The Couch was blue comfy and soft. If Nick laid on it he wouldn't have to curve his legs just for him to fit.

Judy waited for Nick to speak up but all he did was stare blankly at her room. "So..." She paused for a while just for Nick to look at her "What do you want to do?" Nick rests an elbow at the arm of the sofa. "Well, we haven't finished watching Moosebelle, you fell asleep just after the part the lioness paw got pricked with the sewing machine"

He smirked, had he more to say. "You know, you were really Adorable~ when you had your drooling head rested on my lap" her cheeks taint with blushes and his teasing tone made it no better, had I really done that? She thought. She tried to recall the events that happened last Friday Midnight

As usual after their shifts the duo drove to a quiet location to play a movie on one of their phones. She mentally shook her brain and squeezed it just for it to seep answers but all she remembered was waking in her apartment bedroom afterwards. Though one word from his statement echoed back into the center of her mind, drool

His smirking mouth only grew along her blush. "Stop That! And for the record, I Do Not Drool!" She shouted confidently. "Sure you don't" he tells sarcastically "So do you want to continue watching the movie, I had it paused on my phone last night" He offered

"Sure, let me prepare something on the microwave" She stands up but as she edges one foot on her green carpet floor a sarcastic voice halts her next step. "Right, microwaved carrots, my favorite" she ignores this and continues padding towards her kitchen.

"You know as one of your 275 siblings' older sister, you sure do not know how to cook" he taunts, "For a fox who was raised in a mansion of artic shrews you still don't know how to keep your snout shut" she teased back.

"hehe, Sly bunny" Nick mutters softly intending it not to be heard. Although due to Judy's radar ears had detected his groggy voice. She smiles and tells to herself, "Dumb fox". With all the bizarre incidents she had experienced the last few days, she was genuinely relieved she had a friend like Nick. Together they've done the craziest things when alone, it was like they had their own world, nonexistent of stress and hardship when the two are together.

She returns to the living room with a plate of steaming carrots and a small ceramic bowl of blueberries for Nick to enjoy only to learn his absence in the room. She sits on the couch and sets the bowl of blueberries by the lumpy spot he was sitting on.

A sudden voice captures her attention as a fox walks out of her bathroom, "What did I miss?" Nick asks before he finds a little treat on his seat. "Ooo Blueberries" he grabs the bowl and places it on his lap as he sits down. "I gotta hand it to you carrots, you really know me" he chucks a couple of berries into his mouth. She smiles at his declaration

Suddenly the glass had shattered, Nick came out her toilet, which means he had entered it. An astonishing image of Nick in bare fur appeared in her mind already. Nick notices the red on her cheeks as another blueberries enters his mouth, "Something eatin' ya?" he asked

She was too embarrassed to ask him but she knew she had too, it was what friends are for right? "J-just what were you doing in my toilet" she asks. "Why that all of a sudden?" as he asked the slightly redder she got. Nick chuckled as he spoke "If you have any secret shrines of me in your cabinet don't worry I didn't open it, you know what a guy has to do when Nature calls"

Nature calls, the red soft blushes in her cheeks exploded in her face until it was beyond enough to weird out Nick. "What's got you on hair trigger today carrots?" Nick asks nervously. "I-I-I…" the guilt of what Nick doesn't know had blocked her throat, she could barely mutter any coherent words. She had to confess it all out before he discovers himself

She covers her face with her ears as she says "There are cameras in my toilet at all four corners capturing all four angles". Finally Nick, Wide eyes, joined her in this blushing contest "Wh-WHAT!" the red in his face appeared in the blink of an eye

"Carrots I was just kidding about the Shrine thing, I didn't know you felt that way about me?" he asked forcefully pushing the red in her cheeks to an even brighter shade. "Sh-SHUT UP!" she yells burning away all the blush on her face

"I'll delete it I promise" Nick seemed skeptical, "No, no" he raises his paw up front, "You'll be the one to take them down" he pointed to her and then himself, "I'll be the one to erase them" She reluctantly agreed entering alone into her bathroom

The slamming of her bathroom door brought back sense to her, she was wide eyed when also remembered she was recorded in a bubble bath this morning. Her face can be confused as an apple already, what would Nick say if he saw her undressed!?

Acting on instinct she locked her bathroom door. The sound of the doorknob clanking caught Nick's full attention. "Hey carrots?" he tried to turn the knob but figured it was lock, "Carrots?" He continuously turned the door left and right at no avail. "Open Up!" he knocked on the door

This is crazy, he thought. He knew Judy wasn't really this strange type of bunny so why did she suddenly trap herself in the bathroom? Trying to force the knob open wouldn't work, he searched her whole apartment for pins and paperclips

Judy managed to get all the Camera's from the corners, she didn't want to invade Nick's personal privacy. She would take the choice to erase the videos probably containing the culprit in action without even watching a single glance on the video.

The abrupt sound of the door being unlocked sent lightning shock to her heart before she internally screamed with ear bleeding might. She managed to erase the memory of two cameras out of four at least. The door flew open and Nick found her siting on the bathroom floor with a pile of camera's sitting by her lap

"Enjoying what you see?" he asked sternly folding his arms. "Nick!" today has got to be the weirdest she admitted. She blushed with a taint of soft red. "Don't worry, I already erased half of them" She told. Nick took little paces towards her before he crouched with a sincere stare, hands dangling and arms resting on his knees

"Tell me carrots, what is going on with you today?" she averted her gaze from Nick to the floor. This kind of gaze from Nick manages to discomfort her constantly if she was hiding something insincere from him. But she knew it meant Nick cared.

"Judy, this is not like you" he said. The softness in his voice manages to unnerve her. She never heard him use her name since they fell from the sewer pipe during the Nighthowler case. Nick had been placing blocks of guilt inside the container of heart. The voice in her head had been shaking her mind to just do one thing, confess.

"Alright" she said in defeat "Strange things have been happening in my bathroom lately, I didn't know what was going on so I wanted to record my bathroom to uncover what has been occurring" Nick took sometime of silence to process what she had conceded by staring at her. Judy could feel uncomfortable from his gaze

He just continued to stare at her judging by the expression he showed he understood her situation. "Sorry for not telling you earlier" Judy was guilty and ashamed. Nick placed his paw on her chin to make her face him, "You don't have to blame yourself for what happened just now, I was only just messing with you"

The blush that grew on her face was enough to make Nick realize what he was doing, it was an instinct to immediately unhand her chin, just as it was to make her face him in the first place. Everything felt somewhat timeless. This was a strange but special moment shared between two friends

A special moment that is now ruined by a sudden coupled knock on her door. The two mammals returned to their senses before they opened the door to let in whoever was knocking. It was an armadillo lady and young leopard, one hand of each entwined. They were wearing casual clothes and look of worry, nothing too formal.

"Excuse me miss" the lady started, "Have you seen a small mouse anywhere, he just suddenly disappeared into the holes of my apartment" Judy stood numbly gawking at the mammal in front. She seemed to be 25 years old but her weak and slurred voice made it sound like she was at her elderly years "I'm his baby sitter" she included. She took a quick glance at Nick to see how he was reacting but he just seemed plain and normal. "No, sorry we haven't" she weakly said

"Miss Emma!?" a voice appeared from behind. With a distant glance from her spot to the open bathroom she spotted a young mouse emerging from a small hole in the walls of her toilet dashing to the armadillo lady between their feet.

"Oh Charla" she said sweetly with her dull and depressing voice. Her age and voice is very deceiving. The armadillo reached her hands out to the small animal. She weakly clasp her hands once the mouse jumped between the two. "I was worried sick about you"

"It's okay miss Emma" the young mammal said, "I was having fun messing with that dumb bunny over there" he pointed to Judy who was at shock at his proclamation "Oh Charla! Where Are Your Manners!?" she fiercely scolded the mouse which then started to feel guilty.

Nick abruptly chuckled at the scene, "I like him already" he continued his soft laughter which earned both a violent glare and a quick hard punch on the shoulder from Judy. He rubbed his arm after expressing his 'oww'

"I'm sorry Miss for the trouble he has caused you, I promised not for it to happen again" the armadillo lady told before she took off and left. Nick and Judy stood at the exit of the door like statues still trying to compute the scene that had occurred

"Well, I guess case solved" Nick finally broke the silence and went back inside her apartment. Judy was still dumbfounded, today definitely is the weirdest. She thought "Come on Carrots! We've got a movie to watch" Nick called.

"Coming!" She followed Nick inside. She could try to compare the moment she failed to cook pancakes for her parents or the time she caught Nick terribly singing "Try Everything" with today yet none of them were even three quarters close to the emotions she felt today, it something she doubt she'll ever forget

End

A/N: And that is the end of the first Chapter! I hope you all enjoyed reading this, I'm still trying to work on my writing pattern.

Oh Judy, today is just the beginning of a series of unusual events and speaking of unusual, stay tuned for the next chapter.

"Unusual"