Carry Me Away

I live alone. Not with anyone else. I live alone in my comfy little cottage, which is always warm and cozy. No one lives near me, I have acres of land that I don’t use. I like to sit in my cottage while drinking hot coco by the fireplace. It’s where I best come up with my ideas. My ideas for what, you may ask. My ideas for writing. 

Now, one particular day, I was sitting by the fire, drinking hot coco and typing on my laptop whilst a snow storm raged outside. It was a small sound that made me turn my head. Perhaps a peep or a squeak, but I turned my head immediately at the sound. 

Of course, no one was there.

Was I going insane after being alone? I lived alone. That was that. Shaking my head, I returned back to my story, taking a sip of my hot coco. But then, it wasn’t a sound, no, but a movement. My head whipped around, ready to see something, but I didn’t.

“Reece, stop scaring yourself.” I muttered to myself. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something in my little cottage…

“Peep.” 

“Wh-ah!” I screamed, startled. A small white…Thing floated on my laptop. It was translucent, like a ghost, a small ghost. It had bunny ears and two black adorable eyes. It had a small black twitching nose. “Who-er-what are you?!” You might think it’s stupid of me to scream at…A Ghost Bunny? But keep in mind, I was alone for most of my life. 

The Ghost Bunny stared blankly at me, as if I were the one who popped out of thin air.

“Peep, peep.” The Ghost Bunny said again, bobbing up and down. The Ghost Bunny was so small. It had to be the size of my hand. It was a bit cute, but I lived alone.

And that was that.

I attempted to grab the Ghost Bunny, but my hands just went right through. Maybe because Ghost Bunny was…Well…A ghost.

Wait, a ghost?! Reece, you’ve gone over the line. I shook my head in disbelief. This couldn’t be true, no, it was a dream. I slapped myself. Once, twice, three times. I didn’t wake. I felt the burning pain on my cheek.

I was staring at an actual ghost. 

After a few moments, I accepted the fact. I stared at the Ghost Bunny who stared back.

 “I’m not keeping you, so skedaddle.” I turned my head and marched into my kitchen, emptying out my mug. 

Annoyingly, the Ghost Bunny followed me, watching every move I made. 

“Can you-like-not?” I complained, staring at the Ghost Bunny. Of course, the Ghost Bunny blinked at me in response. After leaving my kitchen, I headed to bed. No, I did not make a mini-bed for the Ghost Bunny. I just crashed onto the bed, ghosts don’t sleep, right?

They do, and they snore very loudly. You’d think I was sleeping besides a lawn mower. Groaning, I tossed and turned, disrupting the Ghost Bunny. 

“Mrefw?” The Ghost Bunny asked, rubbing it’s eyes with it’s little paws. The Ghost Bunny is not shaped like a bunny, it’s shaped like..A genie. The end is thin and the front is…Well…Thick. I admit, the sound was cute. 

“Get out. This is my spot.” I say, not sleepy at all. “You snore loudly,” upon this, the Ghost Bunny actully looked offended.

“Mwererf.” The Ghost Bunny crossly said, which shocked me. Could the Ghost Bunny understand me? I grumble, adding in some swear words a bunny shouldn’t know. “Mrew!” I swear the Ghost Bunny scolded me, saying: You shouldn’t swear! It sounded exactly like my mom. 

“Great. Now I have a Ghost Bunny that sounds like my mom.” I grunt pulling the covers over my head. “Great, just great.” 

The next morning, I woke up, brushed my teeth, made my bed, then changed. I headed outside in the snow to say my blessings to Mother Nature. I did it every morning to show how grateful I was to be able to live in such a beautiful place. The Ghost Bunny followed me, floating above my shoulder. 

“Would you like to add something?” I asked, surprising myself. The Ghost Bunny gave me a glance before clearing it’s throat.

“Mrewf mrf mef rewef, mrmrf merf, wef wr mrf.” The Ghost Bunny confidently said, which I didn’t understand a single word. But I assumed Mother Nature could understand a Ghost Bunny, after all, it was an animal. Or a dead animal. 

I walk back inside my cozy cabin and prepared a cup of hot coffee for me, the hesitantly, I open my fridge and pull out baby carrots. I placed it in a small bowl and pushed it in front of the Ghost Bunny. 

Was I becoming attached to the Ghost Bunny? Do Ghost Bunnies even eat? 

I stared at the Ghost Bunny, and the Ghost Bunny stared back. 

“No, I am not keeping you as a pet,” I firmly declared, turning my back on the Ghost Bunny. “Go to where you came from, and that is not my bed.” 

“Mreww.” The Ghost Bunny sounded sad. 

“Don’t ‘Mreww’ me! You can’t make me change my mind, I’ve decided. I live alone. I have lived alone for a long time and I will continue to do so.” So why had I felt affectionate towards the Ghost Bunny this morning? Shut up, brain! Stop making me change my mind. The Ghost Bunny blinked at me, bobbing up and down. 

“Mfref.”

“Shut up.”

“Mrw.”

“Leave.”

“Mrewefewf!” The Ghost Bunny indignantly protested. 

“I feel stupid for arguing with a ghost bunny.” I concluded, taking a sip from my coffee. “Listen, bunny, I don’t have time for you. As I said, I live alone-always have and always will be.” The Ghost Bunny Just continued to stare at me as if I were the pest. It didn’t move. Irritably, I stomped off, carefully holding my coffee cup. Naturally, the Ghost Bunny followed me. Would you rather have a ghost bunny that follows you around and speaks an entire different language? 

I whipped around and attempted to slap the Ghost Bunny. My hand went through. How idiotic I was. 

Perhaps I was just going to have to get used to this Ghost Bunny around my house.

I could not, no, not get used to the Ghost Bunny-which I know called Ghost. Ghost kept on messing with the lights-knocking over cups and stuff like that. Worse of all, it could turn invisible-sometimes when I was in the shower, the shower would suddenly turn cold-and I would just wonder why. Of course, it was Ghost messing with the shower.

Smack in the middle of the night, when it was raining, Ghost opened the window and allowed the cold air and rain to come in. How sweet. 

Twice, I woke up in the morning to find my room upturned. 

This was just getting too out of hand.

“Ghost,” I called one day, sitting in my living room. Ghost floated down and sat-or levitated above the arm-chair next to me. 

“Mrewf.” Ghost snapped, clearly offended because I wasn’t taking attention of it until now-and before it started annoying me a lot. 

“Ghost, let’s make a deal.” I cleared my throat, straightening. Ghost cocked it’s head, blinking. “How about, you stop messing with the lights if I give you food. Good deal?” I remembered when I had offered Ghost the bowl of carrots it hadn’t eaten it. But, a few hours later when I came to check on the bowl of carrot, the carrots, and the bowl itself was gone. 

I swear Ghost was stroking it’s imaginary beard with it’s imaginary hands.

“Rrewf.” I assumed that was Ghost language for “deal.” I nodded and held out my hand, and then sheepishly retrieved it. 

So the deal held. Ghost stopped annoying me as long as I gave him food. I discovered it was a he-or maybe it was just instinct. 

I couldn’t believe it but I was used to Ghost now. On nights when I would sit on the couch by the fireplace with my computer and hot coco, Ghost would join me. Snuggling on my lap-which surprisingly brought warmth. I even made a small bed for Ghost to sleep in-but he rarely used it. When I was sleeping, he’d go outside and play in the snow or find berries. 

I was beginning to like Ghost. 

Woah, woah, woah. Hold it there me. Am I liking Ghost?

Well, uh, yah. Duh! Clearly your beginning to enjoy Ghost’s company. Why don’t you just adopt Ghost as a pet? Y’know, make it official. The other voice inside my head argued. 

B-but-I live alone! I’ve always live alone. I’m sure Ghost will leave one day, I mean, he has to, right? He can’t just stay here forever, can’t he? 

Oh, how wrong was I? Ghost stayed there for years, accompanying me. Even when I drove to the store (he would fly behind.) He came. Naturally, this made shopping a bit harder. It’s hard to catch things when your pet ghost bunny is knocking everything off the shelves. The manger hasn’t kicked me out yet, which I’m praying he/she doesn’t. 

On Friday, January 29th, the exact day I met Ghost- expect a few years later, I asked him a question.

“Ghost, will you stay by my side for as long as I live?” Ghost nodded vigorously, and I smiled. I knew my days were coming to an end. I was 87 after all. Ghost could sense my death. I could tell. He was getting worried about me and often gave me concerned looks when I fell.

Some days he’d fly to the grocery store and get milk, or food. I was happy, though, no, not sad that my days were coming to an end, but happy. I had lived a long and good life and served purpose to Ghost. I opened the door and walked outside. The frosty air welcoming me. Not harshly, but gently. I wasn’t wearing a coat, just a white t-shirt and shorts. I didn’t feel the cold, though. I lay down in the snow, Ghost flying to my chest. 

Ghost knew it was my time. He wanted to come with me-I felt it. Ghost turned into a white and black real life fuzzy rabbit, cuddling on my chest. 

“Mrewf.” Ghost said, burrowing as deep as he could into my chest.

“I’ll see you later, Ghost.” I whispered. Then, I closed my eyes and allowed the wind to carry my life-and Ghost’s-to somewhere else.