" ...Jay might know what I really am. Is that a problem?" I wondered, thinking she would see it as an issue.
"Eh..." she casually shrugged in dismissal. "I wouldn't worry about it."
She then resumed back to walking and I simply stood there thinking to myself That was easy. For some reason, I unexpectedly felt a little worried but my concerns were now completely gone in the snap of a finger. Jay knew and I knew that he knew so there was no need to lose sleep over it because he's not that type of mammal. Since that was taken care of, I proceeded in following Judy back to the house.
As we strolled along, I kept thinking about predators and prey. Two sides of the same coin. In addition, I kept thinking about that picture... the one Judy showed me... it reminded me of the racial inequalities that existed back in my homeworld, especially because of the contrasting black and white colors of the two mammals.
As soon as our society put on the same military armor, racism gradually vanished because we all looked the same. While that indirectly ended racism for a time, it eventually led to other problems that we traded for. Humanity would always have stumbling blocks: War, disease, poverty, racism, religion, injustice, climate change, armageddon, and many other things. Take your pick. We can try our best to handle each of them in a delicate manner but we can never solve all at once. Don't kid yourself as those politicians once did, regardless of what side you're on or what side you think you're on.
Sooner or later, pride, power, and selfishness will eventually kick in, promises will be broken, and all will lead to the final demise, as it already did with us. Extinction: A common enemy and an ultimate enemy feared among common strugglers such as animals and humans. Humans were out of the game now.
Sometimes there's only one thing left to do. Embrace it. The end will come eventually, we can delay the inevitable, but there's no stopping it. Things may seem bad now, the world may be falling apart, all hell may be breaking loose, but it's not over yet. As long as we're breathing, the game's not officially over. Thus, be not idle, rise, stand, and step forward. There's still good in this world and it's always something worth fighting for. If there's breath in your chest then there's always a breath of hope somewhere...
Speaking of which, my breath reeked a bit.
Wait a minute, what was I thinking? That forest must've diverted my thoughts. I couldn't tell before but I definitely noticed it now since my helmet was off. It wasn't the cherry smoothie but rather it was the fact that I was slightly dehydrated from the morning run. Within the narrow compartment confines of my nano-suit, I actually had one last extra piece of Altoid that I stowed away while working my last day at the lab. It was a completely random find, I'll admit, but I welcomed it. It was one of those things that you experience as a human when you unexpectedly find an item hidden in your pockets, whether that be lint, a paper clip, a rubber band, a dollar bill, some change, headphones, fidget spinner, dice, or any other lost treasure.
I quickly plopped the wintergreen into my mouth and placed the helmet back on. My, that was the very last one in history! It was just as refreshing from my previous world and the revitalizing scent filled the entire helmet's interior as a curiously strong mint should. Here comes the new me.
Five minutes later, the Hopp's family home came into full view as we went over the final hill. It was about 4:17 pm and the house was just as we had left it only this time we had much more daylight. It was a calming time of the day, the neighborhood was peaceful, there was hardly a soul in sight, so everyone must've been out and about for the weekend. I squinted my eyes to notice that the light blue truck wasn't there so either Stu got it fixed or he simply forced the car to start for the day.
We made our way to the main wooden porch area and everything looked normal, at first, until we saw something unusually colorful all over the front wooden door.
I thought it was either a vibrant rainbow, some weird paint job, or an entirely new entryway but it was only a bunch of colored sticky notes. There were hundreds of them! But why?
Each of them had little individual notes written on the front with a wide range of different styles of handwriting such as old, cursive, transitional, neoclassical, didone, slab, clarendon, glyphic, and even some form of elvish on a couple of them. Those I couldn't read. However, most of them were fairly legible while the calligraphy on others was impressive for sure. It made my writing style seem inferior and that was mostly due to the fact that I hadn't written anything by hand in ages. Though, these notes weren't written by ordinary hands. Rather, they were written by little bunny paws.
There were far too many to look at but I quietly read a couple of them to myself as I panned my head from left to right.
'Went to go play Cribbage, see you soon'
'Went 2 Violet's play! C U L8R.'
'playin soccer w/ friends. brb'
'At the Carrot festival with Chloe. Be home at 6.'
'Taking karate classes at 5. Coming home late!'
'Workin' on science project. call if you need me.'
'Back in 30 min! Gettin snaks for tonight'
'Gone swimming.'
'Biology final study w/ Daisy. C U soon!"
'@ the craft store'
'out for a d8. plz dn't call.'
'Me fui al parque y el cráter grande con Trisha'
'mom, dad, omw to the farm'
'at the arcade'
'playing hopscotch at school.'
'Went for a run w/ Cherry.'
That last note must've been Judy's. So that's why all these notes were posted here on the door. They were there to keep everyone in the Hopp's family informed of each other's whereabouts for the day in case one of them came home wondering where someone else was. All of them even had their own well-designed signatures to uniquely identify who's who. That's pretty nifty, I thought. I suppose they could've used a phone app to keep each other informed but, hey, at least this method was more traditional and colorful.
I admired all the vibrant colors and as I counted the notes, it was probably safe to say that there were more than a hundred of them.
"Is that... normal?" I asked while turning to Judy.
"Only on weekends. My dad kinda likes to know where everyone is with one quick look. Plus, my family seems to enjoy it!"
"Today's Friday, right?"
"No, it's actually Saturday," she answered. "My parents are probably still out working on the farm. As for my brothers and sisters, well, here you go," Judy gestured at the sticky note door.
I continued to admire the number of notes. "You'll need a secretary to keep track of all this."
"That would be me." a random voice said from a distance. I turned my head back and forth until I noticed another young bunny on the porch with us. She was about Judy's height, had cream fur, was a little older than Judy, and appeared to be cradling a newborn.
"I'm Judy's aunt, the 'unofficial' babysitter for tonight, nice to meet you," she extended her paw, I lightly shook it with caution, and she widened her eyes. "Goodness! You've got big paws!"
"Aww, Chelsie, I'm so happy to see you!" Judy happily embraced her. "You finally made it!"
"Yeap, sure did! It was a looong drive for us but, by golly, we managed to pull through and now, aqui estamos."
While they both were talking, I zoned out for a minute to admire the newborn cradled in her arms. The little one yawned a few times and made sweet little raspy noises. To be honest, I never thought I'd see another natural newborn after my world's destruction, let alone a bunny, or any other animal. That thing was so tiny that it could've easily fit inside my palm. It was a little light cream-colored bunny with such big bright blue eyes that were much larger than mine.
" ...So who's your amigo here Judy?" "His name's Cherry." she answered.
"Cherry, huh? Very nice. More like White Cherry, the flavor of my favorite sports drink!" she nervously chuckled while the rest of us maintained steady faces. "So, what'd you guys do today?"
"We went on a run together,"
"Oh, my, did you? That's great! And... how was it?" she asked enthusiastically.
Judy turned to me with an awkward smile then steadily turned back to her aunt "It was...pretty eventful, I must say."
"Really? Well, I'll have to hear about it then," as she carefully tightened the blanket around the newborn. It was growing needy and started to make a low, impatient cry. "Hmm, but for another time." she continued. "Right now, you'll have to excuse me. I need to go put little Ryker here down for a nap."
"Alright lil Ryker, you sleep tight now!" Judy kissed him on the forehead then Chelsie rocked him back and forth.
"See you both later!" she calmly walked away into the house through the side door. Seemed like she would also take this opportunity to tend to the other little ones. Deep down, I knew they were cute little bunnies but I also knew to never say such an offensive phrase. Had I actually transformed into a bunny, as I dreamed this morning, I probably could've gotten away with it.
Initially, I found it kind of silly to be offended by such a compliment but, then again, I'd probably cringe too if someone else called me cute. I mean, what is one supposed to say after that? Thank You? Or, thanks, I like to stay in shape? No wonder the bunnies didn't take it well. It was too obvious and they were tired of hearing it. You might as well compliment a dwarf for being short so that you can lie on the floor groaning in pain due to the short-tempered kick to the groin.
Judy briefly pulled out her handheld phone to check the time, scrolled through a couple of text messages, and then put it away. "Well, I'm going to take a shower," she said. "You're welcome to relax a bit but you probably want to take one too."
"That would be nice." I nodded, realizing that this would be the first shower since my universe collapsed.
"Problem is, we definitely don't have a shower for your size," she scratched her head in thought. "You could give yourself a sponge bath but- "
No," I insisted against. "I'd rather not."
Judy pondered. "There's not too many options, I'm afraid."
Suddenly, an idea came to mind. "How about the forest waterfalls? I asked, realizing that they had a large volume of water.
Judy raised an eyebrow and propped up an ear. "Waterfall? You want to rinse under a waterfall?"
I shrugged. "Why not?"
She seemed hesitant. "It's a bit of a walk, are you sure?"
"Won't be a problem."
"Well, be my guest but.... please please be careful out there!"
"I promise."
"No more surprises, right?"
I nodded. I was done with surprises for the day.
"I'll get you a towel and shampoo," she said hurriedly as she kindly went inside.
I was alone on the porch to enjoy the quiet of the farmlands until I heard soft footsteps rapidly coming down the stairs.
That was quick.
I then held out my arms, ready to receive whatever Judy was going to hand me. Remembering I was much taller than her, I crouched down, and she handed me a neat stack of three fluffy pink towels with a large glass vial of bright purple shampoo on top.
Not my ideal colors.
The neon pink colors were not exactly masculine in appearance, but I faked a smile to ensure a look of gratitude. She couldn't see my face - of course - but she knew that I smiled in uneasiness. She had that look again.
"There you go! That should be enough to keep you dry. Feel free to finish off that glittering shampoo bottle."
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, Judy."
"If you're not back in one hour, we'll send a search party." she reminded.
"No need, I'll hurry."
Using one hand to balance the towels, I used the other to place the brown hood over my helmet. Just a little precaution in case someone drove by.
Behind me, I could tell Judy was watching to make sure I wouldn't do anything irresponsible like burn the forest down. She was certainly a perky little bunny but I could handle myself.
After four minutes, I made it to the hill again and made my ascent. While moving, I titled my head closer to the purple shampoo bottle and it smelled like...lavender. It would have to do.
I was lucky to not come across any cars so the coast was clear. I followed the same dirt path from this morning that led into the group of trees.
Alone at last until, out of nowhere, a group of young bunnies was racing down the dirt patch on their miniature bikes.
There were four of them, three boys and one girl who was lagging behind. The three boys zoomed past me, my head was behind the stack of towels so they couldn't get a good look at me. They took off down the road and the little girl was trying to catch up. She tried to get a good glance at me but I continued to hide my head behind the stack of pink towels.
While gliding downhill, she kept looking back, hoping to get a better view but I wouldn't show myself. Without warning, her distracted state caused her to hit a protruding rock chunk and flip over the handlebars. Oh great...
She was lying flat on the ground, bike atop her body, and was flinching in pain. What was I supposed to do without blowing cover? Instinctively, I ran over, dropped the pink towels, and got down on my knees to help her.
"You alright?" I asked while checking for any bodily injuries.
I peaked around and the other three bikers were long gone. Pitiful of them to leave a fellow biker behind.
She seemed fine but kept holding her lower leg in pain. I could tell she was a young bunny, perhaps a little older than Judy's niece, Cotton. She wouldn't talk to me but only stared in discomfort while trying to process what kind of creature I was. Using my two fingers, I lifted her paw off the lower part of the leg to see what the damage was.
Just a small abrasion, minor bleeding, nothing to worry about.
"Ow, ow, ow!" she exclaimed and immediately covered up the wound again with her paw.
I suppose this youngling wasn't used to a little pain after all. Ideally, I'd leave her to fend for herself. A better lesson in the long run, even if cruel.
But I decided to show mercy.
A corner piece of my cloak could've made a fair bandage if it sanitized. Instead, I tore off a small stip of pink towel fabric and carefully wrapped it around the little bunny's leg. She dared not to speak and frightfully froze in place while I helped her.
"Sorry about the pink," I said, hoping to loosen her up.
She stared with her emerald eyes, her nose twitched, and she was too scared to speak. As I finished tying the knot around her leg, I lifted her bike to help her mount up again.
"Stay focused," I advised while keeping the bike steady.
She frantically nodded in understanding and briskly took off.
In my opinion, she should've worn a helmet but I'm unsure how that'd work for bunnies. Either way, she pedaled off into the horizon to hopefully regroup with her friends.
Without further delay, I proceeded into the forest and walked for the next seven minutes until I was surrounded by tall trees once again. This time, I felt like being back in my original world because there were no talking animals nearby and I was all alone. Strangely enough, if I were to encounter any forest animals, then they wouldn't be wild and they wouldn't be permanently living here.
Except for anthropomorphic hobos, perhaps.
To me, that was humorous to think about because, for example, if I were to encounter a squirrel then it'd be verbally capable of telling me to back away from its nut stash. Now, If I encountered a beaver, held out my hand, and called out 'Here boy' then he'd give me a tilted look and reply 'Well, I ain't going to smell it if that's what you want.'
It took me a little longer to find the location and I was getting worried because I forgot to leave bread crumbs. Just when I thought I was completely lost I heard the best sound known to man.
Running water.
It was the sound that any dying traveler was longing to hear because it meant survival and hope. No more thirst, no more dryness, and no more death. In my case, I only cared about being no more sweaty and no more greasy.
Peaking through the pushes, I found the stream which led me through a large boulder field, weaved its way through a couple of oak trees until there was a drop-off. Here it was. I found the waterfall. It wasn't like the ones from Yosemite but it was at least two stories tall, sufficient enough to take a shower under. I set the towels down, took my helmet off, placed it on a rock, and turned on some music. Most MP3 files were corrupted from the dimensional jump but there was one song that seemed to work.
Very superstitious,
Writing's on the wall,
Very superstitious,
Ladders bout' to fall
Thirteen-month-old baby,
Broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck,
The good things in your past...
I checked the surrounding area to make sure no one was observing me. The music volume was kept to a minimum for safety in case any passersby came through. Unlikely, due to the size of this forest but it never hurts to be careful.
After completing 27 arduous pullups on a nearby branch, I collapsed the armor, removed the neoprene under-suit, and jumped straight into the crystal water. Goodness, it was cold! Nevertheless, it couldn't have been any better so I swam bare-chested, bare-arms, and completely submerged my head. All of it felt incredibly refreshing and awakened my mind to a whole nother level.
Swimming proved challenging due to the web-like, bio-metallic, 3D-printed, see-through structure of my lower prosthetic legs that had a hollowed interior. I missed my old limbs and wished I could've gotten my bare feet wet but I maintained gratitude for the upper organic limbs I already had. At least if someone stepped on my toe or If I stepped on a lego piece/nail then I wouldn't feel a thing so it wasn't all that bad. On the other hand, having real upper limbs meant that you could still get paper cuts, burn your hands, smash your fingers in a doorway, or contract disease with a handshake.
After being completely soaked to the bone I grabbed the vial of shampoo, popped the lid off like a bottle of champagne, and dumped it all over my head. The texture felt so foamy and the lavender scent filled the entire immediate area with a strong cleansing sensation. I scrubbed and scrubbed, kept an eye on the horizon for onlookers, and scrubbed and scrubbed some more. My hair felt smooth as silk, my skin was newborn soft, and my six-pack was now more presentable.
Now that I was clean, I realized that my armor had gotten dirty ever since I first started roaming this planet. It was all white-colored so a little cleaning would make it shine in glory again. I grabbed all the parts, tossed them into the water, and used the remaining shampoo to rinse off the outer surfaces. After a little elbow grease, the helmet and chest plate looked much nicer since I first found the armor stowed away in a dusty military storage container from my previous world.
While I was at it, I also tossed the dark brown cloak into the water to get that washed as well. Ever since I found it on day one It had been lying in the dirt so it deserved a good little rinsing. It didn't take long and the cloak came out of the water much lighter than before now that all the foreign particles were washed away. Finally, I exited the cool water, made sure no one was around, then I grabbed one of the pink towels to dry off by using two for my body and one for my suit.
I placed my armor back on, the nanoparticles reformed their tight bonds at the gaps, and I draped the damp cloak over my back. I examined my entire body of armor and, my goodness, did I look great! Because of how fresh and bright the armor appeared, I held out my hand and forced the nanoparticles to assemble themselves into the shape of a pistol. Rather, a magnum due to its high stopping power.
With the weapon in my hand, it had a brilliant bright white appearance to it and it felt pretty neat to wield it. In a way, it gave me a sense of power as I aimed down the sites to admire the holographic light-blue reticles. I had the pistol pointed at the tree in front of me and was tempted to take a practice shot until I reluctantly lowered it after remembering the close call events of this morning. "Maybe next time," I whispered to myself as I holstered the pistol into my thigh where the particles merged with the suit.
Overall, I felt worthy enough to march at a military parade until I remembered that I had three pink towels to carry home with me. Sigh, It would've been preferable to simply leave them here but I'm not a litterbug so I had to take them with me. Plus, Judy would likely ask for them back.
I draped them over my left shoulder and made my way out of the forest. There were no bread crumbs to follow but I remembered the way. The clock was ticking, I spent ten minutes extra showering than I should've so I had to jog a bit to make it on time. There was still plenty of light on the forest horizon so the pathway was well lit.
While jogging, the clean armor glistened in the bright sunlight, the cloak began to dry, and the pink towels flapped around on my shoulders. I cut through the thick bushes until I encountered a fallen log. I followed it lengthwise until it crossed a small ravine and then I jumped off it. The boulder field was directly ahead of me so I leaped from one rock to another until I found myself back in the dense forest where I was greeted once again by a large group of oak trees.
I encountered the same path Judy and I took earlier today so I followed it for a couple of minutes before I came across a downward slope that seemingly led down into BunnyBurrow. The trail was fading a bit so I must've taken a small detour without thinking. However, I figured it was close enough and should've led me back to where I came from.
After running full speed down the hill then applying the brakes, I found myself in a neighborhood area that was a bit unfamiliar to me. The houses were just the same as before, albeit with a different street layout, so I had to be close. Here, there were more bunnies out and about so I decided to remain high up in the hills to avoid detection from the dirt roads.
Each hill represented a house which meant all I had to do was find the hill with the bunny ears above the entrance and that would be the Hopp's home. Problem is, half of these bunny houses had bunny ears while the other half did not. Thus, that clue was useless
but I remembered the Hopp's family had a light blue truck so perhaps I could use that as an identifier, assuming Stu and Bonnie were home by now.
Time was nigh and my hour to return was drawing near but I couldn't find the Hopp's family home. I was lost, I didn't know where to go, and I started running to not waste any more time. I passed over a couple of hills and peeked over to see their entrances but no luck. I knew what the Hopp's home looked like but I couldn't find it anywhere. There was another hill in the distance, much larger than the one I was currently on, and it had a giant oak tree on top. This reminded me that the Hopp's home did have an oak tree so that was probably my best bet. I came over the hill from behind, climbed to the stop where the oak tree was, and then I ran downhill to see the entrance.
Not again! This wasn't the Hopp's home. It was someone else's home. Frustrated, I ran back up the hill to where the giant oak tree was, stood underneath it, and scanned the entire valley for somewhere else to go. All I could see were hundreds of hills in all directions which would've taken me hours to figure out which one was the correct one for the Hopp's family. The only clue remaining now was that they were within two miles of the forest but even that direction had hundreds of homes in it.
Feeling a little fed up with the situation, I threw my gauntlets up in the air in defeat and began walking away from the giant oak tree.
Out of nowhere, I felt a light object fall upon my shoulders which caused me to drop to my knees.
"Oof!" I exclaimed, not knowing what hit me.