The rabbit didn't respond. It stood outside the office, motionless, and stared at him. Its face was rotted and vile, stuck in a permanent wide grin. For a brief moment, Ted thought he could see its eyes moving, twitching ever so slightly within their sockets. Something was different about them, though. Ted stared at the archaic rabbit for a good two minutes before he recognized the change.
Its eyes glowed.
Ted had at first thought that it was just a trick of the light; a reflection on the window in just the right place, or maybe the inside of the eye itself, like getting red-eye in a picture, but the light wobbled and wavered as the rabbit's eyes twitched, shifting the shadows in the office ever so slightly. The glow wasn't bright, by any means, but it was still there, boring into him with a frightening intensity.
"I didn't know you were turned on." Ted spoke again, "Guess Jon got you working," Ted paused, staring at the desiccated machinery, "somehow." It seemed like it was something right up Jon's alley, to be honest. Ted could easily picture Jon giddily delving his hands into the rotting antique and fiddling with the nuts and bolts of the thing.
"You looking for some kind of repairs?" Ted asked. That's what he'd be looking for if he had a face like that.
No response came from the grinning face in the hallway.
"I mean, that's what I'd want if I were a robot." Ted explained. The rabbit continued staring at him, smiling silently. "Well," Ted continued, not sure why he was still talking to the old thing, "don't think I can help you there. I'm not a, um," Ted raised his hands, pantomiming the action of using a screwdriver before the word came to him, "mechanic."
Still nothing.
"Well," Ted continued after a brief pause, "you are in a haunted house now, so maybe it'll-" A loud electric bleating cut Ted's next words off, and a bright red light began pulsing in the office. Ted started, remembering the night before, when the same alarm heralded his brief descent into insanity.
"Just a sec." Ted glanced at the rabbit again and regained his composure. He flipped up the screen on the ancient laptop, greeted once again by the flickering green letters. Four lines of text were displayed on the screen: Cameras, Audio, Ventilation, and Reset All. The word 'error' was flashing next to both 'Cameras' and 'Ventilation.' Ted quickly selected the 'Reset All' option and hit enter. The laptop began beeping softly as an 8-bit progress bar slowly grew next to the words 'Reset All.' Ted drummed his fingers impatiently on the laptop, humming quietly to himself.
Suddenly, an ugly yellow hand swooped down from behind the laptop. It grabbed the top of the screen, cracking it in an instant. Ted stopped humming, his eyes widening as far as they would go. The hideous hand ripped the screen clean off of the laptop and hurled it to the side, where it smashed against the wall, breaking into pieces. Ted looked up at the ugly yellow rabbit that now towered over him. It glared down at Ted, its head twitching angrily. A violent, muted, electric garbling was now coming from the animatronic suit, and the glow in its eyes was bright and menacing.
"Nice creepyface." Ted whimpered.
The hideous rabbit's arm shot forward, grabbing Ted by the throat and hoisting him in the air. Ted clung desperately to its rotted forearm, trying to take the weight off of his neck, which now screamed with pain. The rabbit lowered Ted slightly, pulling him closer to its glowing eyes. It regarded him for a moment before its whole face split open at the mouth. The jaw dropped down, hanging limply from unseen joints, while the top of the face peeled itself up and off of whatever lay beneath.
Leaving Ted face to face with the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen.
A skull, broken and covered in a thin layer of grotesque, rotted pink flesh stared back at him. The whole face was pitted with holes and slick with what Ted sincerely hoped was just water. Two brightly glowing eyes stared daggers at him, and the flesh around the neck of the corpse was torn to ribbons. Its mouth started moving, a weak, shaking motion. It struggled for a minute, its jaw working furiously, before any sound could be heard.
"Do you know the joy?" it asked. The voice was barely audible. A harsh, tortured sound. Its hot, rancid breath washed over Ted, making his eyes water. Ted stammered for a moment before he managed to get any words out of his mouth.
"Joy?" Ted blurted out, trembling, "What joy? I know a girl named Joy."
The terrifying skull nodded slowly, as if expecting his response.
"You will." It said with finality. The rabbit turned toward the window and swung Ted, head first, into it. Ted hit with terrifying force, sending a massive crack through the thick glass. The rabbit hurled him into the window again, and it shattered. Shards of glass cascaded around Ted as the rabbit let go of his neck. He sailed straight through the window and crashed hard on the checkered floor outside, cut in a thousand different places.
As his vision faded into darkness, the last thing Ted saw was the rabbit stepping through the empty window frame and reaching toward him.
