I looked.
I shouldn't have.
But I did.
---
The shape in the aisle wasn't what my mind expected.
Not sharp.
Not distorted.
Not wrong in the way I thought wrong things were supposed to look.
---
It was small.
White.
Too clean.
Like it didn't belong here at all.
Like it had fallen out of another world and landed wrong.
---
Hop, hop, little bunny…
---
My breath caught instantly.
But not from fear.
From something worse.
Recognition.
Deep.
Instinctive.
Like my body remembered it before my mind was allowed to.
---
The bunny tilted its head slightly.
Slow.
Careful.
Watching me.
Not like prey.
Like something being checked for damage.
---
Why won't you slow your pace?
---
I flinched.
The rhyme came softer now.
Not loud.
Not demanding.
Just…
close.
Too close.
Like it was standing right beside me instead of inside me.
---
The bunny stepped forward.
One small movement.
Soft paws against the floor.
No sound.
Not even ink reacting to it.
Like the world was making space for it to exist properly.
---
And I—
I froze.
Because it looked…
gentle.
---
Mud upon your snowy feet.
---
My chest tightened painfully.
That line didn't feel like warning anymore.
It felt like concern.
Like something noticing I was dirty.
Like something noticing I had been running too long.
---
The bunny moved closer again.
Not fast.
Never fast.
Like it knew I couldn't handle fast.
Like it had learned me.
---
Every trail you leave behind
Makes your flight complete.
---
My hands started shaking.
Not from fear.
From confusion.
Because this wasn't matching anything.
Not Lucan.
Not the world.
Not what I thought monsters were supposed to be.
---
It stopped a few steps away from me.
Then—
lowered its head slightly.
---
Hop, hop, little bunny…
---
This time the rhyme wasn't inside me.
It was around me.
Like it was being spoken with me.
Not at me.
Not to me.
With me.
---
A warmth spread through my chest.
Wrong.
Unstable.
Unwanted.
But familiar in a way that made my throat tighten.
---
The bunny took another step forward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then—
nuzzled against my leg.
---
I flinched so hard I almost fell.
But it didn't move away.
It stayed.
Like it was waiting for me to stop being afraid of it.
---
Will you make it through?
---
My voice came out before I could stop it.
"…Why…?"
Barely sound.
Barely anything.
---
The bunny lifted its head immediately.
And something in the air shifted.
Not aggression.
Not hostility.
Reaction.
---
Behind me—
Lucan moved.
---
Fast.
---
The bunny snapped its head toward him instantly.
And in that moment—
everything changed.
---
The gentleness didn't disappear.
It re-routed.
---
The warmth became sharp.
The softness became alert.
Like something inside it had decided:
Threat identified.
---
The ink on the floor trembled.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Like the world was suddenly unsure of its rules.
---
The bunny didn't look at Lucan like prey.
It looked at him like something that could take me away.
---
And then—
it smiled.
Not kindly.
Not cruelly.
Just certain.
---
The forest keeps its secrets well…
We hope it keeps you, too.
---
The rhyme stopped.
Completely.
For the first time.
---
And in that silence—
I finally understood.
---
It wasn't comforting me because I was safe.
---
It was comforting me because I was its.
The bunny didn't move at first.
It just stood there.
Between me and Lucan.
Small.
White.
Too calm for something that had just decided the world was dangerous.
---
Lucan's grip tightened around his sword.
Not fear.
Not hesitation.
Recognition.
---
I should've looked at him.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
Because the bunny was still there.
And I didn't understand why that mattered more than anything else.
---
Hop, hop, little bunny…
---
It came again.
Soft.
Close.
But now—
wrong.
Like something was trying to sing through broken glass.
---
The bunny shifted slightly.
Its head turned.
Not toward me.
Not toward Lucan.
But toward the space between us.
Like it was listening to something I couldn't hear properly anymore.
---
Then it stepped back.
Slow.
Careful.
Not afraid.
Just…
deciding.
---
My chest tightened instantly.
"No…"
I didn't mean to say it.
It came out anyway.
Quiet.
Broken.
Like my body didn't want it to leave.
---
Why won't you slow your pace?
---
The rhyme distorted slightly.
Not louder.
Not clearer.
Just… unstable.
Like it was being pulled in two directions at once.
---
The bunny took another step back.
Then another.
Its shape began to blur at the edges.
Not vanishing.
Not disappearing.
Just losing agreement with the world.
---
Mud upon your snowy feet.
---
My fingers twitched.
I reached forward without thinking.
I stopped halfway.
I didn't know what I was trying to do.
Hold it?
Stop it?
Ask it not to go?
---
It paused.
For a moment.
Just a moment.
And looked at me.
---
Not like prey.
Not like threat.
Like—
something checking if I was still intact.
---
Then it turned away.
---
Every trail you leave behind
Makes your flight complete.
---
The darkness at the edge of the aisle swallowed it slowly.
Not violently.
Not suddenly.
Like the world was gently refusing to keep it visible.
Like it didn't fit in this version of reality anymore.
---
I took a step forward.
My foot hit the floor too hard.
Too real.
Too loud.
---
The bunny stopped at the edge of visibility.
Half of it already gone.
Still facing me.
Still there.
Still—
watching.
---
Hop, hop, little bunny…
---
The rhyme stayed.
But it wasn't inside the supermarket anymore.
It was inside me again.
Only me.
Only me.
Only—
me.
---
And then it was gone.
---
Not with a sound.
Not with a break.
Just absence.
Like it had never fully agreed to exist in the first place.
---
Silence rushed in immediately after.
Heavy.
Empty.
Wrong.
---
Lucan moved.
Fast.
A shift of weight.
Sword raised.
But I wasn't looking at him.
---
Because I could still hear it.
---
Not clearly.
Not fully.
Not warmly.
---
Distorted.
Cracked.
Like someone trying to hum through broken teeth.
---
Hop… hop… little… bunny…
---
Lucan's head tilted slightly.
His expression didn't change.
But his eyes narrowed.
Not at the aisle.
Not at the darkness.
At me.
---
"…What is that?"
His voice was flat.
But something underneath it had changed.
Like even he didn't trust what he was hearing.
---
I swallowed.
My throat felt too tight.
"I—"
Nothing came out properly.
Because I realized something worse.
---
He wasn't hearing the song.
Not like I was.
---
To him, it wasn't a lullaby.
It was noise.
Broken.
Stretched.
Wrong.
Like reality itself was misfiring around me.
---
Hop… hop…
---
I pressed a hand to my chest without thinking.
Trying to steady something I couldn't name.
The sound didn't stop.
It just… changed shape.
Like it had nowhere else to go.
---
And even without the bunny there—
it didn't leave me.