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“Get out of here!” I shout and stomp my foot. It makes a defensive stance but doesn’t drop the bunny. I bend down and I grab a dusty rock sitting next to the tire of my SUV and throw it at him. It skids past his legs, and he drops the hurt bunny and runs off into the brush behind the house. I rush to the bunnies side and kneel beside it. It’s really hurt. Its ivory fur is matted with blood, with wounds piercing its soft fur. Scooping it up I go to find Kieran, we need to help it. I don’t know why I think he can do it, but for some reason my head says go to him, he’ll know what to do.
Just as I come around the front of the cabin he comes out of the front door, his hair in his face and dark eyes dropping to my bloody hands; his face furrows.
“A fox hurt it, can we save it?” I look up at him with hopeful eyes, my voice thick with emotion. I look back down at the cute little bunny wiggle its pink nose, its whiskers wrinkled from the altercation with the fox. It stares off into oblivion, causing tears to fill the rim of my eyes. It’s just lying in my hands limp, it’s not even trying to fight me.
Kieran walks up to me and takes it from me, looking it over carefully. He parts the fur to look at the wounds and tries to open its eyes wider.
“No, we can’t save it,” he says immediately. He’s mistaken, he’s not a vet, how does he know.
“What, yes we can,” I argue, trying to take the animal back from him. He pulls the rabbit out of my reach and bends at the knee to lay it on the ground. I look at it, noticing its breathing is labored, eyes half closed, and bleeding onto the grass heavily. That Fox did a number on it. Kieran is right, it’s dying.
“Its lungs have been punctured, it’s lost too much blood. It’s dying, Leona,” Kieran says grimly, and a sob escapes my mouth before I can catch it. Hands on my face, I begin to cry. If I was just a few minutes earlier, maybe I could have crossed the fox’s path and saved it.
Kieran stretches his arms out and pulls me to him, my head now against his chest as he runs his fingers through my hair. He smells so good, and I can hear the beat of his heart. “It’s okay,” he whispers into the top my head, the empathy in his voice taking me aback. I’m surprised he didn’t scoff at me and go back inside when I showed him the wounded animal. Maybe he’s not such a monster after all. Look at me balling like a baby over a wild animal I didn’t even know, and he’s not being an ass at all. He owes me nothing, yet he’s giving me exactly what I need. A hug.
“Go inside. I’ll take care of it,” he mutters, letting me go. He means kill it it’s suffering, so he’s going to kill it. Looking down at the rabbit one more time, I wipe a tear from my cheek, open the screen door and go inside.
“Everything okay?” Eddie asks, popping his head around the kitchen corner. I give him a look that says otherwise, my hands press against the back of the door when I hear the sound of a gun go off. I wince, my eyes clenched shut as the echo fades.
It’s done. Kieran put it out of its misery. I wanted to save it, to heal its wounds and set it free. But I couldn’t protect it, quite like I can’t protect my family. I ran here and left my family behind, only to have Kieran find me. I don’t know what my future holds for me now.
A dark sadness fills my chest and I instantly don’t want to do anything for the day but go to my room. I want to sink into a hole and feel sorry for myself and the rabbit. I head to the sink first and wash my hands, blood swirling with the fresh water down the drain, Eddie just side-eyes me not saying a word. When I’m done, I wrap my arms around my body, a chill runs down my back despite the heat and I head to my room, climbing inside my bed, and cry into my pillow. Why is the world so cruel? Why did I have to see that?
I love animals. Especially cute fluffy ones. When they look up at you it’s as if they just hug your heart. Something I don’t get to see much of in the city.KieranThere’s not a shovel around here to bury the rabbit so I pick it up and take over to the brush where I heard the commotion of Leona yelling. That’s where I’m assuming the fox ran off to. I lay the lifeless bunny in the brush a few feet so Leona won’t see, and the sound of sticks cracking has my head snap up. The fox is looking right at me, licking its lips. I set the bunny down and carefully walk away.
