The Little Rabbit's Guardian
The steady uniform ticking of the clock echoed in the room as the little snowy white bunny padded quickly across the room; her small hind paws resounded in soft yet urgent thumps upon the floor. Her front paws grasped hastily at the door knob before her, flinging it open and entering the room swiftly; crimson orbs darting behind her as she closed it nervously.
The rabbit fiddled with the red ribbon that wrapped so daintily around her furry neck, taking a step forward with shaky breaths and trembling legs. Almost instantly after the first step towards the next grey door, pounding resonated in the tiny area she was in, giving the little bunny a start. Her slender ears drooped in fear as she turned to face the source of the noise with clammy paws before inching backwards with her carmine eyes still fixated on the door. Her clothed back hit the door, and the bunny swung around to open it up, this time slamming the door shut in a fit of anxiety.
Barely after she closed the door, the hammering came back with gusto, and the snow white rabbit was definitely sure it was nearer and louder than before. In a panicked frenzy to get away from the door, she almost let out a piercing scream when she felt contact behind her, only to realise it was the entrance to, hopefully, the exit out of this terrifying place. She reached for the knob and twisted in hard, tears beginning to prick her eyes from the fear of the terrors waiting behind her.
The door didn't open.
With a sharp intake of oxygen, she continued to twist and turn the knob, each one starting to be more frantic, but each one leading to the fact that the door was positively locked. She gave a desperate whine, pleading in her little mind as she turned her head to the even harder slam upon the door. With two more twists and still no verdict, the little bunny wanted to scream her heart out. She didn't want to die yet, not now. All she wanted to do was to see her parents and-
Click.
Looking behind her, she could have nearly cried in relief as she heard the door creak open. Quickly, she scrambled inside before immediately turning away to close the door shut.
And when she finally turned around, she swore her heart stopped beating.
The little snowy bunny didn't realise that the pounding came from the front, not the back.
Slowly advancing forward, the red fox agonizingly trudged forward with little help of its black paws, what with the golden embossed frame trailing behind in substitution of half of the fox's body. Its lips pulled back into a snarl, revealing small yellowing yet razor sharp teeth; tawny cat-like eyes honed on the prey before it with a hunter's aura.
Out from the corner of her left eye, she saw a mannequin in the shade of the black night, wearing what looked like a plain and simple cerulean dress, matched up with a pair of equally coloured shoes. The little rabbit would have admired it, had the mannequin not raised its hands like what a bear did when it reared up to claw its prey down in the forest. She was sure that she wouldn't be able to escape the glint of the claws if the mannequin got any nearer.
And to top it all off, there was an albino wolf head that was posed in the stance of the wolf baring all of its canine teeth, drool dripping from the incisors to the floor. How it moved so easily across the carpeted floor, the white bunny didn't know; all she wanted was to leave the room so she didn't get torn to shreds.
She hurriedly moved back to the door, the thought of getting out the only sole thing in her mind as she twisted the door knob.
The door didn't open.
Plunged in a moment of déjà vu, the tears really did roll down her face as she continued attempting to open the door in a crazed frenzy. She could literally feel the presence of the monsters getting closer and closer as the door still refused to give way, resonating a ka-chuck sound each time the knob turned.
Trembling hard, she turned around only to see the red fox licking its lips right in front of her face before opening its maw to engulf the head of the little rabbit. From the left came the swish of the claws and from the right, the teeth of the wolf was just about to sink its teeth into the little bunny's right paw.
The little bunny let out a single cry before her life disappeared like the flame of a candle.
"Mommy-!"
Ib instantaneously shot up straight from her nightmare, clenching her paws hard from the adrenaline of the horrible dream she had. The red eyed rabbit was coated in sweat, her white uniform clinging to her pure white fur as she let out a shaky sigh of relief that the dream wasn't real. Her ears still twitched, signaling her jumpiness as she huddled up in what she realised was a familiar torn-up jacket in front of her. With the image of the cloth in mind, she turned to see if the owner of the coat was here.
And he was.
He stood gangly and tall in front of the mahogany bookcase, a rather thick book about paintings in his greyish paw. The rat looked completely different without the cloak he wore; only instead donning a pale green singlet and his navy blue jeans, where his long tail swished out of. His stormy blue eyes flicked through the contents of the book, before glancing to her; a warm smile creeping on his face as he saw the now awaken bunny.
"Ah." He let out a noise of realisation before inserting the book back to where it was and strolling nonchalantly to sit down in front of Ib.
Red orbs watched his movement as he finally was in front of her, a gentle smile coating his pale face as he folded his legs to comfortable position himself upon the floor.
"Good morning, Ib. How are you feeling?" Garry asked, giving a slight tilt of his head in a quizzical manner as he did so.
With a slight hesitation on whether or not she wanted to tell him about the event that aspired in her little land of dreams, she gripped upon the fabric of the jacket harder, burying her pink nose into it for comfort.
"I don't feel good… I had a nightmare, Garry." She mumbled out, her crimson orbs flickering to look somewhere else, not wanting to even think about the nightmare any longer.
The smile washed away from his face, replacing with a concern frown on his lips and knitted eyebrows. His nose twitched as he processed the information said from the bunny before him; his 'wormy' tail waving behind him almost gracefully.
"I see… you poor thing… though, I can't really say I'm surprised…" He rubbed his pointed chin with his small paw, closing his eyes before giving a huff. "To be exposed to such frightful sights in this gallery… you know?" he quietly said with a tone of pity and slight… regret?
The rat opened his uncovered left eye by a slight fraction before letting out an almost inaudible sigh.
"I guess it's a good thing you woke up. I'm sorry that I didn't notice it earlier…" he uttered an apology that wasn't needed; Ib knew that it wasn't his fault that the disaster of an event happened in her sleep.
Silence hung in the air, filling the room with it entirely. The elder's eyes switched to the small bump in the pocket of his ragged jacket, a small smile being lured out from his lips.
"Ib, would you please take a look in the pocket of the coat?" he gently probed, pointing to the bulge with his paw.
The bunny blinked; one of her ears going lopsided before shuffling her paws through in the insides of the pocket, feeling something hard and flimsy; something that made a rustling sound when she felt what seemed like a plastic wrapper. She eventually pulled the object out and presented it to her eyes and the rat's.
It was a piece of candy wrapped in a yellow square of plastic wrap, and from her sharp nose, she could pick up the scent of a lovely lemon flavoured candy.
Ib stared at it for a few moments before looking up at Garry, her ears giving an adorable quiver as one of the ears shifted to be crooked and the other jolted straight up again. The rat only responded with a wider smile, his paw moving to curl the rabbit's paw on the candy.
"You can have it. Feel free to eat it anytime you want too." he patted Ib's head softly before getting up to get back to his reading. "Let's rest here for a while longer before we set out again, okay? Tell me when you're ready to go." He said with a bright beam before his shoes clacked on the floor and returned him to the bookshelf before him.
The little snowy white bunny stared for a moment before she squirmed out of the long raggedy coat, gently bundling it up in one of her paws as she nuzzled it into her face. It had a lingering scent of the rat, and it smelt of lemon candies and lavender.
Her free paw slowly inched its way towards the bump in her red skirt pocket, feeling it and etching the memory of it upon her mind. And for once in this place, she gave a faint smile before moving towards Garry.
After all, he was her guardian in this place, right?