On a late August night in San Diego, California, a storm erupted outside of Derek and Diana’s apartment. More curiously, it ended at the same moment as Derek and Diana’s fight, a bolt of lightning striking so close it raised the hair on Derek’s neck, punctuating the last shriek. Derek, still fuming from the barbs exchanged, strutted to their empty kitchen, knowing Diana wouldn’t follow him. He opened the overstuffed fridge, bleary eyes searching through her stockpile of vegetables for what he really wanted: the last two beers from the case he bought the time they fought last week. He shotgunned the first one, ignoring the pain in his chest as the bubbles rose back up his nose, then grabbed the last. He slammed the fridge shut, the image of the vegetables making him sick.
But there was no avoiding them. As soon as the fridge closed, there on the counter was the picture of Diana, grinning proudly and cradling a white bunny with a royal blue ribbon tied around its neck in an oversized bow tilted sideways. Derek glared and used the beer can to hide the image, even for a second. But the beer wasn’t enough. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds. As the smoke mingled with the alcohol to slow him down, he glanced at his dirty fingernails. He wasn’t the kind of guy who usually cared, but cigarette dangling between his teeth, he scrubbed his hands thoroughly. Just in time to notice another little reminder of his girlfriend: a note.
Dear Derek,
It’s over.
-Diana
PS Enjoy your spaghetti.
Derek looked at Selene, the white bunny, locked in the carrier next to Diana’s luggage. He took a long drag and choked on the smoke. Coughing, he smashed the cigarette out into the note, scorching the right-end corner.
The white bunny stared at Derek from the bars of her carrier. He downed his second beer in one gulp and crushed the can into a ball. He threw it at a picture of him, Diana, and the bunny hanging on the wall. The picture slid cockeyed, and the glass cracked in the middle of Diana and Derek separating them in the photo. Derek shoveled spaghetti into his mouth. The bunny’s sapphire eyes were wide, and the blue contrasted the whites at the edges. Red sauce smeared on Derek’s face and hands, and each time he slurped a saucy noodle, the bunny’s ear twitched. The bunny crouched down and wiggled her cottontail.
She crashed her body against the door of the crate.
It didn’t budge.
She rammed into it once more and slammed into the metal door. She panted heavily. But Derek didn’t notice. It gave her time to form a new strategy.
Her paw slipped through the bar and scratched at the lever on the outside of the crate. But it wasn’t working. A noodle smacked against Derek’s lip and sauce dribbled onto his shirt, only agitating her more. The bunny blinked. She got onto her back and kicked the door with her hind legs.
Derek glanced at her and laughed with an open mouthful of pasta. Strings of noodles clung to the side of his lips. He finished his food, threw the bowl into the sink, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
He walked to the bunny’s carrier.
Derek crouched down to the bunny’s level and said, “Now, what am I going to do with you?” He squeezed his finger into the crate, speeding up Selene’s already hammering heart. She hated the smell of his fingers. She hated it even more tonight. But she waited. Let him bop her on her little pink nose.
Then she wrapped her teeth around the tip of his finger and bit.
Hard.
The sour taste of his flesh was too much. Before he could even realize what happened, Selene spat his fingertip back at him.
And when Derek did see it, he flung himself back, opening the cage as he panicked.
The white bunny leaped out, finally free. With tunnel vision, she bolted straight to the kitchen. She hopped onto a chair, the chair legs squeaking against the floor. She glanced back, just long enough to meet Derek’s wild eyes. She leaped onto the counter, but there was no safety as Derek came barreling in screaming, “Get off my counter you filthy fucking animal!”
Selene surveyed her options as the seconds dragged on. And there it was, a knife that Diana had left from making the spaghetti sauce earlier that day. Selene’s front toes gripped and tried to lift, but it was so much heavier than Diana made it seem.
The knife slipped out of her grasp, skittering to a stop with the blade hanging off the countertop. Within reach, but still impossibly far away.
Derek’s laughter filled the apartment. He walked over to her, each step making him seem even huger than he always did, his hands stronger as she imagined what he’d do to her. He reached out to snatch her, blood dribbling down his arm, but she hopped out of the way just in time. As she leaped out of his grasp, her back foot kicked the handle of the knife. It sailed through the air. For a vicious second the silver gleamed, then it landed, the sharp end down, and went right through Derek’s foot.
A crunch sounded through the air, met by Derek’s shocked silence. The bunny’s ears shot up and her whole body stiffened. Derek hugged his leg as red blended with the yellow cotton of his musty sock.
Then they both saw it: Derek’s big toe on the black and white checkered kitchen floor. Derek finally wailed out a string of curse words. He howled and screamed for his mom, hopping and clutching his foot in his hands. Tears streamed from his eyes, and he spat on the floor.
Selene was ready. She positioned herself on top of the fridge while Derek whined, waiting for him. Derek bent down to pick up his ugly big toe and Selene tore her teeth into the flour bag. An avalanche of white coated Derek and the kitchen floor. With nothing but one and a half feet and a bleeding hand, he slipped and fell onto his back with a thud even Selene felt.
“God damn it!” Derek screamed.
Blood clumped into the flour around the area where his toe used to be. The bunny froze from the top of the fridge and twitched her baby pink nose. Her fluffy, white cottontail wagged back and forth. Her ocean eyes were glued to Derek. Just one more step.
Someone knocked on the door.
The bunny’s ears perked up showcasing their length. She would wait for the knocking to stop. She could be patient. But there was one urge she couldn’t ignore.
Against all odds, Derek lifted himself from the ground.
“Shit.” Derek exhaled and frantically wiped the flour off him but gave up immediately. He limped to the door and yelled, “Who is it?”
“It’s Nancy. Is everything all right? I heard a lot of screaming and commotion going on.” Nancy was a 70-year-old widow who lived in the apartment next door.
“Everything’s fine. We were watching a horror movie, and the bunny accidentally knocked over some flour and it got it everywhere.” Derek grabbed the umbrella next to the door and kept his hand on the doorknob. “We want to finish this movie. We’ll try and keep it down.”
“Well, alright. Sorry to bother you at such a late hour, but better safe than sorry.” Derek listened to Nancy shuffle back to her apartment. Once the door shut, he exhaled.
Derek’s gaze whipped back to the fridge, but Selene was already gone. He put the umbrella down and hobbled to the kitchen. He picked up the knife stained with his own blood.
“Psp, psp, psp come out, little bunny. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Derek looked around the kitchen, but he was never going to find her. “I’ll give you a carrot. All you got to do is come out of your hiding place and this will all be over.” He staggered around the apartment. But no, he didn’t find Selene. Selene was in the one place Derek wouldn’t look.
He sat down, placed the knife on the table, and cracked open his last beer.
Selene nestled next to Diana’s body, her floppy ears pulled back.
She pushed her head under Diana’s inanimate hand and watched it fall back into place. She twitched her nose, crouched down in a downward dog position, and jiggled her tail. She wanted to stay here forever, close to the scent of her favorite human until death stole even that from her. But she had to finish what she started.
She charged at him. Her nails ripped up the threading in the area rug in the living room as she lunged into the kitchen and latched her claws into Derek’s leg. She dug her nails deep into his thigh, cutting through his jeans. Satisfaction curled around her as she sunk into his tender flesh.
Derek shook his leg in an awkward dance, and Selene lost her grip. She slipped onto the floor, her most vulnerable position against this evil giant. The rabbit’s body shivered. She flopped her ears side to side and beelined back to him.
She pounced onto his chest, knocking him onto the floor. His hand swatted the knife off the table as he fell. The little bunny scraped at his chest, tearing his shirt and skin. His blood seeped into her white paws, painting them crimson. Derek grabbed her paws and pried her nails out of him like a stubborn splinter.
Holding her by the neck, he threw her across the room. A pile of pillows broke her fall. The bunny shook her head and her big ears flopped left to right as her eyes enlarged. Derek grabbed the neck of a bottle of whiskey, took a long swig, and splashed his wounds with the amber liquor. He took another drink and growled like a drunken monster.
But Selene wasn’t going to quit. She hopped back into the kitchen and crept behind Derek.
The knife was still on the floor.
She toyed with the knife with her trembling front paws. She picked it up and it clinked back onto the ground. She froze and looked back at Derek, who took another swig of his drink. Her cottontail quivered. She picked the handle of the knife up with her mouth, gripping it with all her might this time. She hopped over to the chair next to the counter, the weight of the knife swayed in her mouth with each movement. She leaped up onto the chair and lost control.
The knife slipped from her mouth and grazed her ear as it fell to the floor. Blood trickled from the gash at the end of her long floppy white ear.
She yelped like a siren.
Derek turned around. His bloodshot, green eyes bulged out of his round, reddened face. His veins popped out of his skin like the roots of a poisoned tree. He reached for the bunny by the neck with both hands, but he clapped the air. Her claws scratching the chair, she leaped onto the dining counter.
Out of breath, her eyes darted towards Derek as he sped toward her. She kicked off the counter–
–and Derek caught her by the stomach mid-jump.
He screamed in her face and he squeezed her tightly. She gasped for breath and he gripped her harder. Derek’s lips curled into a smile. Her back feet dangled in the air frantically kicking back and forth, her eyes raced around the room, and her little tail shook feverishly. She let out a sharp, feral, high-pitched scream.
“Not so tough now, are you?” Derek said. When his gaze met the bunny’s magnified eyes, his own eyes amplified in size. He screamed at the bunny, “Don’t look at me like that!” Derek’s spit sprayed the bunny’s face, and his grip loosened.
She freed her legs from his grasp. She clawed left and right anywhere her short legs could reach. Her nails collected Derek’s skin like dirt. Scratch marks formed on his face like an abstract painting. Blood trickled down from his cheeks, joining the red mess the rest of his body and the apartment had become.
He dropped Selene, and her nails snagged on his shirt. She climbed up his torso, scratching him along the way. She perched herself on his shoulder. She screamed into his ear. Selene was quick and was out of his way before he could get her. She clawed her way to the other side of his shoulder. This was it. No more playing around.
She bit into his jugular as he wrapped his hands around the end of her ears. She tore through the muscle and spat out a chunk of his skin. His eyes widened and his body shook. Bits of Derek’s skin stuck to tufts of the bunny’s fur around her mouth and in her pointy teeth.
Derek’s grip slackened on her, no more sound emitting from his horrible mouth. She took another bite into his Adam's apple. Derek’s bones mixed with muscle and skin splintered out of his neck. A leak of blood uncontrollably squirted from Derek’s neck and sprayed the bunny and the picture on the fridge behind them. Her pink nose wiggled at the rusty scent splashed across her face. The blood-splattered red spots all over the bunny’s white fur mimicked the coat of a Dalmatian. Her cottontail was the only part of her body left that wasn’t tarnished by blood.
Derek collapsed to his knees and fell flat onto his back into a sea of flour and AB positive on the kitchen floor.
The bunny did not retreat. She shimmied her tail and bounced on his sternum. His eyes grew in fear, his last sign of life as it drained out of him. She slashed his face with her talons. Her nail pierced his right eye, and she dragged her claw down, ripped open his waterline, and scarred his face. Derek cried tears mixed with blood, but she didn’t care. Selene sliced his face until his heart stopped beating. When his body went limp, she hopped off him gracefully and stared at him with her big, crystal blue eyes lined with stained blood.
Her ears perked up when she heard a loud bang on the door and someone shouting, “POLICE! OPEN UP!”
Too little too late it seemed.
Her injured ear shuddered. She played with the flour with her left paw so close to Derek’s corpse she could smell it as it started to rot. But as the knocks grew louder, she backed away from his body and cowered into the corner of the kitchen. Her heart thumped loudly.
The police broke the door open. Behind them, Nancy, the elderly neighbor, followed the cops and froze in the doorway. Her doe eyes darted from Diana’s body in the next room to Derek sprawled out on his back. Then to his big toe, and finally to the panting, bloodstained bunny huddled in the kitchen with the bloody knife lying next to her. There were claret paw prints and flour all over the apartment. Selene was frozen in place, her cottontail wagging a mile a minute. Her big, round blue eyes pierced into Nancy’s. Nancy screamed.
“Oh my God, Diana!” Nancy, the elderly neighbor, wailed. “I should’ve called sooner. I’m so sorry.” Nancy sobbed as one of the cops directed her away from the scene of the crime and back to her apartment. Another young officer looked at the bunny and the kitchen floor.
“Officer Acker, you’re going to want to see this,” said the young officer kneeling next to Derek’s corpse. Officer Marina Acker walked into the kitchen. “Acker, stop moving! Look down and carefully come here.” The young officer ushered for Marina to come to his left side to investigate the evidence on the floor.
Marina looked down and gasped. The thunderstorm blew up again, gaining strength. Lightning crashed, illuminating the words scratched out on the floor in a shaky hand:
DIANA ALIVE, INSIDE BUNNY. HELP.
YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF THE CHAIN.
Come back every Tuesday… if you dare.
About the author
Sami Genevieve was destined to write as a natal Gemini sun and Mercury. She lives in New York with her two cats (Hendrix and Tsuki) and dreams of saving as many cats as possible. She is a tarot reader, a practicing witch, and your new favorite writer. She loves writing about witches, vampires, faeries, soul contracts, and the other side. You can probably find her drinking coffee, listening to music, crafting, reading a book, or writing in her journal.
Very descriptive writing. I loved the killer bunny
This story haunts me 🫣