gomi #8

~ about a bunny ~

once upon a time, in a forest far, far away, there was a cute, furry bunny. one day he was hopping around in a spot he’d visited a thousand times. as he jumped over one particularly big root, he caught sight of a flower more beautiful than anything he had ever seen standing just a few hops away.

distracted, the cute bunny didn’t notice the rusty trap a hunter had placed the day before next to the big root. as its jaws shut around the cute bunny’s front paws, the pain was so intense the bunny blacked out. when he came to day had become night. pain was shooting up from his crippled paws and all through his body; his vision was hazy from the heavy blood loss. but the bunny was not only cute but also strong – he understood that this was the way of the forest. he hated having to die slowly, but at least he wouldn’t be torn apart alive by a wolf as so many of his friends had been.

now at peace with his fate, the bunny lifted his aching head and looked around. it was too dark and his vision was too hazy for him to see anything… except for one spot where the full moon’s light shone down through a gap in the heavy foliage. the bunny remembered that the flower he had seen stood right around there somewhere, and he squinted, hoping to get one last glimpse of its beauty.

but the flower he remembered was no more. although he never realized it in his months and months of hopping around, the most beautiful things die the quickest. once standing gracefully, the flower was now stooping as if the force of the cold winter air pressing down on it had become unbearable. its petals had wilted, and their shining whiteness had become a tired, lifeless gray. seeing this, the bunny found his resolve to stay strong suddenly crumbling. he found himself wanting nothing more than to just cry.

but bunnies can’t cry.

and so he just lay there, staring at the dying flower. he kept staring even as the moon’s light weakened. he kept staring even as his eyes grew blind. the morning after, as the hunter was checking his beartraps, he found the cute bunny lying with his beady eyes still wide open, staring out at something… that was no longer there.