The+Pink+Rabbit

The Pink Rabbit I ran towards the strangled cry coming from my brother, Arnold. When I got across our huge green tree-filled backyard, I was disappointed. He was still playing with his toy cars. Still pushing them with one finger, still making the sound effect I’d heard across the yard as the six-year-old car overlord named Arnold stepped on a green dump truck. His black hair was messy as usual, hazel eyes lit up in enjoyment as the plastic was crushed. Arnold looked exactly like me, except my hair was long and not sticky. Also, my eyes were not happy right then. He smiled up at me. “Hi Kat!” he said. I sighed. My real name was Katerina, but Arnold thinks it’s too long so he insists upon calling me //Kat.// Just to get back at him I call him Arnie because he hates it almost as much as I hate the name Kat. Almost. I knelt to be at his level, and was just about to tell him not to destroy his toys when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something… was it pink? I looked closer and at the edge of the forest was a little pink rabbit, munching away at some grass. Arnold saw it too and started to race towards it. It bolted into the forest and of course Arnie //had// to chase after it. Naturally I didn’t think about my dad’s tales of the “Forest with the Hungry Wolves” as I followed Arnold deep into the woods. Abruptly he stopped, sat down, and began to cry, and I (being the big sister) was obliged to comfort him. “What happened?” I asked. He started sobbing harder. Eventually he calmed down and I asked again. “The rabbit ran away! Kat, why did he run away?” he asked. Darn. I was lost with a hysteric six-year-old in the middle of a huge forest in which there may or may not be hungry wolves. I thought about how we were going to get back to the house. No great plan came to mind. We might be anywhere, because I hadn’t paid attention to where we were going and Arnold definitely hadn’t. To add to that, it was getting dark. I sighed for the second time today. I felt like kicking that pink rabbit, and probably would’ve if I knew where it was. Stupid thing had to lead Arnie and I to wherever we were. I told Arnold we were going to find our way back, avoiding the question of why that darn bunny ran. I led him towards where I thought our house was, but we got even more lost. Suddenly, the pink rabbit came in front of us. Arnold got mad and started chasing it. We ran for what seemed like hours through the dark trees. Through the sound of my heart pounding and twigs snapping as we ran over them, I heard a noise; as if someone- or some//thing//- was dashing through bushes behind us. We ran faster and faster, anger at the rabbit and fear of the crashes behind us fueling our energy. Something close behind us howled, making us practically jump out of our skins. We ran even faster. As fast as it came, the rabbit disappeared. We were terrified and just kept running even though the rustling had stopped. Sudden light blinded Arnold and I and we couldn’t hear anything over our breathing. After regaining our sight, we saw that in front of us was our house’s back door and talking to us was our mother. “…and //what// do you think you were //doing// out there this late? I called about //ten thousand// times! Didn’t you hear me? It’s too late for you to be out there! You could’ve tripped! Broken an arm or leg! It’s much too late! Running around in the dark, what were you thinking? Come on now, you go brush your teeth. Both of you! And then to bed! You know it’s almost eleven o’clock? //Much// too late…” she continued muttering to herself as she left us to our brushing. I looked out the window and sighed again. There was that pink rabbit back where I saw it first, munching away.