short scary stories

Run Rabbit Run

I was awoken to rattling sounds coming from downstairs. I checked the clock on my bedside table to see it read 5:13 a.m. I could hear the sound of rain drizzling and falling to the ground outside, but it wasn't the rattling sound I was hearing.

I stepped out of bed and the cold wooden floor welcomed me. I walked out of my room, the rattling sound still going, and down the creaky old stairs. The rattling finally stopped when I reached the bottom step, and by the time I rounded the corner into the kitchen I saw the back door open. The thin screen door was swinging back and forth as the early morning air rocked it and the rain forced itself in with it.

A voice spoke from beside me, "Good morning, dear."

It was my mom. She was wet from the rain with a bit of a tangle in her hair from the wind. She had little dirt scuffs on her hands and cheeks, like she was just out gardening.

I smiled at her familiar face as I walked up and embraced her in a hug. She looked a bit younger and was certainly a little skinnier, but that didn't matter because I knew she was still my mom.

"Would you like some breakfast?" She asked still in my embrace.

I nodded and released her from the hug. She guided me to the living room and told me to sit as she made her way back into the kitchen. I could hear her rummaging around as pots and pans clanged together. The sounds of sizzling food soon began and I could hear her humming the tune of Run Rabbit Run, the song she used to sing as she tucked me in each night.

After some time she called me into the kitchen. I got up and went into the kitchen to see two of my favorite breakfast foods: pancakes and eggs. My mom sat across from me and just smiled as she watched me eat. Her food was always delicious. There was nothing she could make that was bad.

"Why don't you go wash up while I make you a nice apple pie." She said as I finished my breakfast.

She took my empty plate and I got up. She smiled at me as I left the kitchen and headed towards the stairs.

"Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run. Bang, bang, bang, bang goes the farmer's gun. Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run, run." I heard her gently sing as I walked upstairs.

I made my way back into my room and checked the clock and to see it say 6:32 a.m. I went into my adjoining bathroom, turned the water on, and lifted the valve to divert the water to the shower head.

I hear my phone ding from my bedside table and walk out of the bathroom. I unplugged my now fully charged phone and checked it as I went back into my bathroom. It was a text from my dad.

I unlocked my phone and read the text. "I'm about to leave work. I assume you're already up playing those video games of yours like you always do. Did you have breakfast?"

That reminded me. He works the night shift so he doesn't even know that mom came home yet. I had to tell him the good news.

I typed out my reply, "Yes I ate, but the most amazing thing happened!"

"It's only 6 o'clock in the morning. What amazing thing could've happened this early?" He replied.

"Mom came home and made me the most amazing breakfast ever!" I typed with excitement.

The three little dots at the bottom of the messages showed up indicating that he was writing his response. The dots kept showing up and disappearing again as if he didn't know what to respond with. Finally he sent a reply.

"Did you take your medication last night?"

I furrowed my brow in confusion, wondering why he would ask the off topic question. "Of course I did, why?"

"You know why. I know you miss her. I do too, but you know she's dead. She has been for a month now. I know this is hard for you. Your medication is probably making you see things that aren't really there."

Dead? Why would he say my mother, his wife, was dead? This all made no sense to me. "That doesn't explain anything!" I typed out angrily. "She was really there! She talked to me and made me breakfast! I hugged her! That was no hallucination!"

"Honey, that was not your mother." He replied. I could sense his exhaustion. It was as if he had already explained this multiple times to me before.

"Then who's the woman downstairs?"

And through the sound of the shower water hitting the ground, I heard the creaking of the stairs and the same Run Rabbit Run tune being hummed; the smell of pie came creeping up along with it.

And in the midst of my confusion I remembered it all. I had attended my mother's funeral and was taking medication to help with my depression after her loss.

But if my mother is dead then who's—

The sound of three slow knocks resonated from the other side of the door, and to my fear, the door knob started to turn.
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Word count: 898

i wrote this one back in late december for an english assignment but i never ended up turning it in because he forgot about it when we got back from winter break. he probably would've made it extra credit though :(