Chapter 48: Sleep

"Hello...Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me?" Judy's sound echoed through the empty, snow-white hallway the doe was in. The blank, sad walls echoed, carrying on into the infinity of time practically never ending.

"Where am I anyway? What is this place?" Thought Judy looking around her. Behind her she could see a black space that looked like some kind of abyss that could suck in anything that got in its way. Rabbit turned uncertainly towards the corridor. She couldn't see the end of it, it was as dark there as it was behind her. She was wearing her police uniform that she always wore when she went on patrol.

"This looks...a bit like a hospital," Judy considered. Although she couldn't see much detail, she noticed pale, slightly yellowish lamps on the ceiling of the corridor which resembled the lamps that were usually found in hospitals. She didn't see any doors or windows, she didn't smell anything, she didn't feel cold or warm. She was in some kind of enclosed room that seemed to be some kind of simulation that forced Judy to go ahead. Even though she couldn't see anything she felt some kind of anxiety, a fear that prevented her from going forward even though she felt she had to. After swallowing hard, she headed deeper into the dark corridor, which seemed to be an endless room.

Walking slowly forward looking around at every step she realized that there was nothing around her, she was really alone, the question was where? The place looked completely alien, she did not recall having ever been in a similar location before, this looked like something completely new to her.

After walking forward a few metres there was a bang of a door closing behind her back, causing the rabbit to shout turning around behind her.

"Yeez!" Shouted Judy turning around behind her. The sight of the steel hospital door behind her caused her heart to work at practically top speed, the successful surprise caused Judy to revert back to her fear of walking forward, but she had no choice. Touching the door handle and pushing on it she realised that the door was locked and she would not be able to force it open. She moved on towards the darkness, which began to recede from Judy's perspective. It seemed to her that the end of the corridor was moving backwards, away from her. It was strange - even though she had no idea where she was, she wasn't afraid to keep moving forward, even though she didn't know what awaited her next.

After walking a dozen meters or so, she noticed a glass door on her left, with light coming from it, which caught the doe's attention.

"Maybe I'll find something interesting here" thought Judy. Trying not to make any noise she headed towards the slightly ajar glass door through which the light was coming. As time passed, she thought she could see the end of the corridor, but that was not the most important thing for her now. She approached the door, where she could see very little due to the glass, which was cloudy. Leaning out from behind the door she couldn't see much either, just a piece of equipment, most likely a lamp, which was most likely the source of the light coming out of the hall.

'I think I need to come in here' thought Judy. Her heart was working fast all the time, stress combined with nervousness causing her paws to shake slightly as she pushed the door open so she could get inside.

As she stepped inside the room, she noticed a hospital bed on which lay what was probably an object covered with a white cloth reflecting the light from a lamp hanging over the bed. Seeing no other way out, Judy headed towards the bed, distrustfully glancing around her watching her every step. Her instincts told her to be careful and, if anything, to be prepared to run quickly. The feeling of unease was still the same, maybe even greater when she was closer to the bed and noticed that there was a figure covered on it. This caused Judy to approach the bed, which was in an empty room, with even more anxiety. Upon approaching the side of the bed she couldn't tell who was lying under the fabric and her fear prevented her from touching the fabric, she couldn't even extend her hands to the height of the bed, she had them at her hips the whole time. However, she soon turned her attention to a protruding tip in the middle of the fabric, shaped like a snout, the snout of a fox.

"He's dead," came a voice behind her. Judy turned abruptly behind her, it was too dark to see anyone. Her strong legs were already ready to run, she wanted to do it already, but something wouldn't let her. Her heart was probably working as fast as it could, she grabbed the bed rail looking for the source of the voice with her crocus eyes.

"He's dead" repeated a low voice in the background. After a few moments Judy turned back to the bed on which the body lay. Judy reached her hands over the cloth in disgust, then with half open eyes began to remove the cloth. After removing about 5 inches of the material seeing the red and white figure she jumped off the bed covering her mouth with her hands desperately screaming.

"Nick!"

"Nick!" Shouted Judy abruptly rising. She quickly looked around the displacement she was currently in, it took her a few moments to process the information that she was in her room. The wardrobe, the desk, next to the bed, everything was in its place, as it should be, and she was lying on her bed under the warm duvet. Her heart finally slowed down, and she felt a gigantic sense of relief when she realized it was a dream...a very strange dream.

"Uf...it was just a dream...it was just a dream" thought Judy once everything was back to normal and she realised that it was just a dream. A dream that was very strange for her to explain. An abandoned hospital filled with darkness, an empty room with a single bed with a corpse on it, and this voice that didn't belong to anyone she knew.

"There was definitely a fox lying on the bed...but I don't know who for sure...so why did I think of Nick?" Judy thought. The red-haired figure was one hundred percent a fox, the question was why did she think of Nick? It bothered her, but she didn't want to stress about it, it was just a dream. She curiously looked at her alarm clock, which stood on her bedside table. The clock only showed 2.15 a.m. which disappointed Judy, even though she had expected it to be very early.

"It's only 2.15 a.m.! What am I going to do...it will be hard for me to fall asleep again " thought Judy. The dream she had just had kept her awake. At one moment there was a knock on her slightly ajar door, which startled her. A moment later her sister, Suzanne, entered her room.

The girl walked into the middle of the room with slight confusion seeing that Judy was also embarrassed to see that she had gone to her room without permission. She sat down on the edge of the bed and didn't say anything for a while staring at Judy who seemed a little embarrassed not knowing what to do. She didn't want to ask her out, but she also felt awkward.

"I heard you moaning from the other room. You can't even imagine how thin those walls are," Suzanne said quietly so no one could hear their conversation. It was still night and neither sister wanted anyone else awake yet.

"Groans?" Judy repeated with uncertainty. Suzanne confirmed the information with a shake of her head.

"Damn, it must be the dream," thought Judy. She didn't know what to say, her sister's caring gaze wasn't helping her, though she knew her intentions were good. However, she couldn't confess the whole truth of who Nick was, it was still too early.

"You kept repeating Nick's name and saying he was dead..." Suzanne added. Judy sighed heavily nodding in agreement. There was no trace of doubt, in her sleep she must have called his name when she dreamt he was in some hospital. A slight red blush appeared on Judy's face. She could no longer lie to her sister and pretend that nothing had happened. She could probably trust her.

"I had a nightmare. I couldn't sleep, that's probably why," Judy replied after a moment's thought.

"Who is Nick to you? Who is he anyway. You said he was your friend, but you didn't mention him much, practically at all. No precise information," Suzanne pointed out. Once again Judy found herself in the throes of awkward questions that were not in her favour, but the way her sister was carrying on the conversation was causing her to urge herself more and more to reveal who the friend hidden under that name really was to her. Though she felt that no one should know, her intuition told her that for her, she could trust.

"Would you be able to keep a secret? It's a rather...heavy subject," Judy asked. Her violet eyes looked with complete seriousness at her sister's eyes, which seemed not to lie

"A friend is a heavy subject?" Suzanne asked.

"Not at all...but tell me, if I tell you something now, can you not tell it to anyone?" Judy asked again. Suzanne immediately nodded with a motion of her head. Judy thought before she decided to say anything else whether she was sure she wanted to do so, Suzanne's gaze urged her on. It was sure, it was believable, it gave her the impression that she could be trusted. Judy was already feeling a kind of fatigue keeping it a secret so she decided that this was the moment. Correcting herself on the bed, she looked behind her sister's back to be sure they were alone.

"Ugh, well then I'll say... anyway wait, why are you so interested in this?" Judy asked curiously. Suzanne laughed lightly taking her phone out of her sleep trousers pocket showing it to her.

"I saw your media profile and the picture you tagged Nick under, you never introduced him to us so I'm curious as to who he is" explained Suzanne.

"Ah, okay...well, so... I don't know sort of as if to say. Nick is a friend of mine, and a rather...special one at that. I haven't told you this because I'm a little afraid of your reaction to hearing about his species," Judy started with a little uncertainty. She kept staring into her sister's green eyes, which kept looking at her with seriousness.

"Come on, it's not a fox after all is it?" Suzanne asked ironically with a giggle. Then Judy's gaze along with her ears dropped downwards, a moment later her head also bowed forward a little. It took Suzanne a moment to realise that she had probably hit on the answer and guessed who Judy's friend was. She opened her eyes wider in surprise, then touched Judy's hands tucked under the warm quilt.

"Did you... befriended a fox?" Suzanne asked with uncertainty. Judy didn't answer. All she did was raise her head slightly and nodded with a motion of her head. Suzanne herself didn't know what to feel. It really was quite a surprise, practically a shock that Nick was a fox! On the one hand she was all for Judy's peeps and also thought that foxes shouldn't be called the worst things, but imagining a rabbit befriending a fox and vice versa didn't see it. It sounded...strange.

"How did this happen?" Suzanne asked.

"When I was solving the wild boar case in Zootopia I met him, he was the first witness in the case. He wouldn't help me, so I threatened him with jail. When he agreed he had to participate with me in the investigation, even if he didn't want to. As time went on, we found that we had a lot in common and we got along, which is how he joined the police academy and works with me. I even remember once he saved me from losing my job hah... And so he became my friend" Judy explained. Although the situation was quite serious, Judy seemed pleased, even a little amused recalling memories from a few months ago.

"So this is a longer acquaintance?" Suzanne asked.

"Quite a long one. Known each other for over six months, we know each other very well. Quite a little, he's not my friend, he's actually..." Judy's statement was interrupted by a light switched on in the room by a figure standing in the doorway. Standing in the doorway was Bonnie, their mother who was awkwardly motioning for Suzanne to go to her room. The two sisters looked at each other with perplexed eyes, they expected that Bonnie was not pleased by this sight.

"What are you two doing up at this hour? Judy is supposed to be getting plenty of rest. Suzanne go to your room" Bonnie ordered.

"Yes Mum" replied Suzanne obediently. The girls gave each other communicative glances and then Suzanne got up from Judy's bed heading for the exit.

"You two will talk later in the day. Good night," said Bonnie.

"Good night," replied Judy.

"Good night" added Suzanne. As Suzanne disappeared into her room, Bonnie left the room where Judy was sleeping by turning off the light.

Judy, when left alone wondered if she had done the right thing by discovering the truth in part. On the one hand she trusted for her sister not to betray her, but on the other hand seeing her reaction she expected that she wasn't entirely happy about it.

'Luckily I didn't manage to tell her he was my boyfriend' thought Judy. Had she heard it it might have caused even more emotion, possibly the negative kind. Nevertheless, the doe felt relieved in her heart that she could finally share this with someone familiar. These were small preparations for big steps.