Tears on Easter

A/N: A very special thanks to Dragoscilvio, author of "Ghost Stories and Other Tales", for helping me with this. I would not have the courage to post this if it weren't for her!

Ah, Easter! It was a certain bunny's favorite time of the year again, and with a little hope it would be even more perfect than last year. Bunny's ears perked up at the distant sound of someone sobbing. It sounded a lot like—

"Sophie?" Bunny's heart raced as recognition dawned on him, and he raced toward the heartbreaking sound. Was she hurt? Please don't let this be another Easter ruined! Oh forget Easter, Sophie is more important.

The pooka opened up a hole in the Bennett's backyard and sniffed the air, his ears twitching as he tried to locate Sophie. He didn't need to look far, for he heard a muffled sob from behind the woodpile.

"Sophie?" Bunny cautiously approached the woodpile before peeking over to find Sophie, and thank God she didn't look physically hurt but this didn't decrease Bunny's worry for her. She had been his special friend and favorite believer for some years since that fateful day in the Warren. In all the time Bunny had known this child, he had never seen her appear so sad. "Sophie what's wrong?" he asked.

Sophie turned tearful eyes on the pooka – never had he seen such heartbreak on a child's face before – and wiped her eyes with a brightly-colored shirtsleeve. "I'm just upset about something stupid. It's nothing," she insisted.

"Nothing that upsets you could be stupid, Sophie." The girl didn't budge at Bunny's words. "C'mon, Ankle biter, you know you can tell me whatever's on your mind."

Sophie shifted a bit. "It's just…" she started, then she looked hesitant for a moment before continuing. "I just found out that my friend is…"

Pause…

"That your friend is what, Sophie?"

Sophie let out a deep sigh and the tears renewed themselves. "I found out that she's gay... and she's made friends with a group of muslims." The last words came out as barely a whisper – not quiet enough for Bunny to miss – before Sophie burst into another round of sobs.

"Oh Sophie," Bunny pulled the grief-stricken child into his lap and stroked her hair. "It'll be alright, kiddo."

"No it won't!" Sophie sobbed. "Because I can't be her friend anymore!"

"Why not?" Bunny asked.

"Because she doesn't want to be my friend anymore!" Sophie was inconsolable now, her tears soaking into Bunny's fur.

"Why on earth would she not want to be your friend?" Bunny struggled to hide the anger in his voice, but he was sure Sophie heard it anyway.

"I told her that what she's doing is wrong," Sophie sobbed. "I tried to tell her the truth! But I think she's been peer-pressured to believe that she has to be gay and wear a rag on her head in order to be popular."

Oh, Bunny knew so well how this would go. Long gone are the days where traditional values are held with any sort of regard. Bunny had been around for millennia, but he had never seen a social movement so strongly influence how people think. Traditional values were being quickly replaced – with terrifying speed – and immorality was quickly taking over. And now it was affecting the children. The children he had worked so hard to protect. Children being peer-pressured by the sin-loving, terror-loving world they'd been thrust into, doing harm to themselves and others… Bunny protectively embraced Sophie, who still had more tears to shed for her friend.

"Sophie, I'm so sorry," Bunny said tenderly.

"I tried to tell h-her the t-truth!" Sophie sobbed. "B-but sh-she wouldn't listen to me! She said she wouldn't be my f-friend anymore if I didn't accept her as a normal person."

Bunny shuddered at the thought that people would literally abandon loved ones just because they don't agree on something. What was this world coming to?

"Oh Sophie," Bunny said sadly, "You must not give up hope on her. Some people just get so brainwashed by society, and they get so set in their ways but you can still be in their lives and try to save them…" Bunny sighed, "Your efforts may not amount to anything, because sometimes people like her just don't have much hope left. But at least you could say you tried."

"I want to save her," Sophie mumbled, sniffling quietly.

"I admire you for that, and you can still try to, Sophie," Bunny nuzzled the girls hair in a comforting gesture. "I said she doesn't have much hope left, not that she doesn't have any. You just have to be more upfront with her, thas'all."

"What can I do," Sophie asked, wiping one of the last tears from her eyes.

"Well, you can write her letters and stick them in her locker at school." Bunny searched his mind for more suggestions. "Remind her of Jesus' love for her. Tell her that she can do better someday. Tell her that if she renounces worldly temptations, renounce bad religions and only embrace the good, she can be a light in this world and change it for the better if she does so through God."

Sophie looked a bit weary at Bunny's words. "What if she doesn't listen?"

"Well..." said Bunny, "it'll be a difficult existence for her, and unfortunately I've watched so many children grow into that lifestyle, in the last few decades, all because of peer pressure. It's almost a trend these days."

"But I don't want her to go to Hell," Sophie's lip trembled as she thought of the worst.

"Sophie, if it makes you feel better, once you go to Heaven, the people who don't make it there with you won't matter," said Bunny. "In fact, you'll probably be so happy to be with our Lord and Savior, you won't even notice she's not there with you. But hopefully, if you can convince her that being gay, and that following the wrong religion, is against God, then maybe she won't ever have to go to Hell."

Sophie nodded in sad agreement, but at least she wasn't crying for her lost friend anymore.

"Ah!" Bunny's ears perked up as he reached for his basket. "Well since you've got a long journey ahead of you, I think you're gonna need all the hope you can get." Bunny handed Sophie several of his brightly-colored googies, all painted with her in mind. The little stripes and polka dots matched the one that the girl wore so often. She gasped in delight as the little eggs danced in front of her. She picked one up and cuddled it close.

"Thank you," she said, a soft smile blooming over her features, "for giving me my hope back."

"It's no problem, Ankle biter."

Flash forward one year later!

The year went by even quicker than the last, and Bunnymund found himself in Burgess again, delivering eggs to the kiddos.

"Bunny," a small voice piped up behind the pooka, catching him by surprise.

"Sophie!" Bunny cheerfully greeted, but once he caught sight of Sophie's sad expression... "Sophie, what's wrong?"

"Well," she started, "I tried following your advice about how to deal with my friend."

"Oh?" Bunny's ears perked up with interest. It had been a year since Sophie found out that her friend had converted to an awful way of existing, and going by the girl's sad face he had a feeling that things hadn't improved much.

"I tried reminding her everyday that homosexuality was wrong, I tried reminding her of 9/11, I tried telling her the Truth of God, I prayed for her, my other friends and I even tried to use force on her, but..." tears welled up in Sophie's eyes. "She hasn't changed. She's still gay and she refuses to convert to Christianity; she said 'Islam is peaceful' or something," Sophie spat bitterly, remembering that awful September morning. "She even accused me of being a bully!"

"Oh Sophie, I'm so sorry it didn't work out," said Bunny. "Not everyone is going to listen to you, and people may even be cruel to you."

Sophie just sniffled in response.

"Sophie, there's still hope that your friend will change her ways and get better," said Bunny. "You might just not be the person to save her. Keep her in your prayers; keep reminding her everyday that she's doing wrong, and one day she might realize that her ways do not match up with what God had planned for her."

"But now people are calling me a bully," a single tear rolled down Sophie's face. "What do I do?"

"Sophie," Bunny kneeled down to wipe the tear from her face, "2014 years ago, today, Jesus rose from the grave. He was tortured, brutalized, and murdered for being the Son of God. He was not the first or last to be brutalized for being a child of God, but it is because of Him that we are saved from evil. There are evil forces in the world today: people who murder, people who commit bestiality or homosexuality, the pedophiles, terrorists, the adulterers, the slanderers, the greedy, the people who use their bodies to make money. There are evil forces that must be combated by those few of us brave enough to stand up for what is morally right. It will not be an easy road, and the chance of failure is real, but we cannot go down without a fight. You must fight; you must actually, physically fight and tear down buildings and set them on fire if you find yourself faced with queers or terrorists. Change never happened without a little bloodshed. People will have to die, Sophie. You might find yourself face-to-face with a queer or some other terrible thing, and you should not be afraid to end them if you have to. They can no longer be a problem after that, because only the good will achieve eternal life. People will accuse you of being a bully or a bigot, but only you know who you really are. In the end, we will enter the Kingdom of God, and the evil we battled against on Earth will not matter anymore."

Sophie grinned when Bunny handed her a brightly colored egg, and then she tackled him with a hug. "Thank you for giving me my hope again, Bunny!"

"Any time, Sophie."

END.

A/N: Since Easter is next weekend, I just thought I'd write something to bring hope to a few people.

I deleted the second chapter because it was an author's note, and I guess that's against the rules so I'll just tack it on here. Anyways, thank you for reading!

UPDATE 4/19: I'm so pleased to see many of you support this story. I really put my heart into it!

Someone sent me a PM asking how they could deal with a friend of theirs who recently came out to them (after trying everything I wrote about in this story). I figure this advice could be useful for many of you readers out there so I'll post my response here:

If your friend is young (under 18) do not fret. It is most likely a phase that they will get over. However, if you do fear that you know a gay person, you should take steps to intervene!

Tell their parents, or whoever their guardian is. That way, the job is out of your hands, and you can rest assured that your friend is under good care. This is how I handled one of my ex-friends. Sadly, she was so set on being a homosexual that her parents ended up having to kick her out of the house and we haven't heard of her since. I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes it is necessary to do this to someone to show him or her that his or her behavior is unacceptable. In the best case, he or she will realize that they were wrong for pursuing the gay lifestyle, and they will return as new, straight individuals.