The Rabbits

~Connie~

Connie hurried down the hallway, her eyes darting back and forth. This part of the building made her nervous. It’s where the new middle school wing connected to the original, century old, school building. There were two separate staircases at the core of this junction. The old and new alongside each other seemed like a grotesque double spine, with long rib-like hallways protruding out in all directions. She turned left. Her blood tingled through her body as she rounded the corner. The light in the next hallway had gone out. She felt the darkness stretch towards her. Like it was beckoning for her. Within the spine and ribs, where heart and light should be, she found darkness. Yet, she continued forward. Pursuing the abyss.

The further she got, the more she had a sense that there was something waiting for her in that darkness. Lurking, prowling, stalking… and she swore that whatever it was wanted to Swallow. Her. Up.

~

“Alright! There she is!” He exclaimed as he clapped his hands together and lurched towards her. As she started to speak, he wrapped his hands around her shoulders.

“Dad…What’s going on?” She turned her face towards him, fear immediately penetrating her. The abyss was stalking her… and now it seemed as though it was watching her through her Dad’s eyes.

“Rick, thank ye…” he said in his smooth South Tennessee accent “…better get on the road before…. May God…” She felt his voice was louder than it needed to be…

In the car, the friendly demeanor her Dad withheld in the office disintegrated. He drove erratically, back and forth across lanes. He looked disheveled, tired, unfamiliar.

Connie gathered enough courage to… “Uumm… What’s going on…”

“It’s

Y-2-FUCKIN-K

CONNIE”

He yelled as he smashed the steering wheel with his hand. She jumped and jerked her face towards the window, regretful she had spoken to him.

“…there still exists a general state of either denial, complacency, or even apathy about both the reality and potential effects of Y2K…”

He turned up the radio as Leonard Nimoy’s voice filled the car…

“at the stroke of midnight January 1^st, 2000… credit cards and atm may cease to function, airplanes and trains may come to a halt…”

Connie closed her eyes.

Finally, she felt them take a left into their driveway. She got up the nerve to look, and to her great relief, Mom’s car was there…

~Anna~

“Honey… I’m sorry but this is overwhelmin… He keeps callin and callin… Why don’t you head on for the day?” Mrs. Davenport cooed.

“I’m so sorry, he’s scared about the New Year, Y2K and all…” Anna’s voice got smaller as she spoke eventually erupting into quiet, desperate tears. Mrs. Davenport pulled her close and embraced her. While Anna wept, she said, “God will protect you darling, go forth with faith, and hug your babies”. Anna nodded and gathered her things. She had to get Tyler and find Connie… quickly…

~

Matt always had an edge to him, but Anna chalked it up to a stoic nature. He had been sober for going on five years and he had quieted a lot in that time too. He’d always had a temper, he could be so cruel, but he could also make her feel so loved. There was such a duality to his nature. For a decade now, he had kept her abused and confused. Back and forth.

Not anymore. Anna had finally gone to a lawyer, a friend of a friend. With a secret savings account and some financial help from her parents, she had made a plan to leave. She had to.

Y2K had tipped him over the edge. He believed that the whole computer system would collapse, that airplanes would fall from the sky, that hell would befall the Earth…  

But Anna felt like Hell had already found her. She walked right into it yesterday when she had to go into the shed… His cave… She didn’t want to but the neighbors had been complaining about the smell. Delilah threatened to call the authorities if it didn’t get sorted out.

She couldn’t hold herself together as she climbed into the car, recalling what she had seen…

~

Anna pushed open the door to the shed, the stench was unbearable. There were flies everywhere, their loud buzzing sounded like a chorus humming a devilish chant.

It overwhelmed her but she let her feet creep closer and closer inside... Sunlight pooled into the center of the wooden shack. Casting light on the horrific reality of her husband’s mental state.

She stumbled back and caught hold of the workbench as her mind tried to process the scene in front of her.

Six rabbits were hung in a circle from the low rafters, fileted open from their chest to their groin. The fileted skin safety pinned behind their back exposing their entrails and allowing them to dangle over a pentagram drawn in salt on the ground. The entrails were

Shriveled.

Dark.

Rotting.

Dripping…   .          ..         .          …       .          ..         .          

Y2K was written in black wax in the center of the star with a large picture in the middle. Blood soaked the persons face, but Anna could tell it was a photo of Connie. A black candle adorned each point of the pentagram. Photos of Anna were in each of the triangles that made up the star. The hearts of five rabbits had been stabbed into the center of her photos with long nails, pinning her and the organs into the blood-soaked ground.

The last heart and a pair of testicles he nailed to the large picture of Connie, the heart nailed to her chest, and the testicles over her womb.

She felt faint.

Something sticky was on her palm.

What is that?

She turned around in shock and horror as she came face to face with the head of a large, black goat. The goat’s eyeballs had been pulled from their sockets but left dangling from the skull. The beasts’ huge testicles had been removed and shoved into the back of its mouth. Its tongue left dangling from the dislocated jaw. The flies and maggots were everywhere. Eating the tongue, what was left of the creatures’ eyes, crawling in and out of its ears and nose. The bugs gave the illusion that the head, was moving, it twitched and vibrated as if it were living.

Anna’s vision blurred.

The flies turned their attention to her. They crawled all over her face. They bit her skin. They swarmed her like a dark force flooding in to devour her. She tried beating the flies off as her eyes traveled across more photos of Connie. They were all over the “altar”, red candles strewn haphazardly around them. He had taken the reproductive organs of the rabbits and had placed them in small clay bowls around the altar- the blood, organs, and fleshy mush mixed with clippings of Connie’s hair.

Anna gasped as her eyes lost focus. The Flies swarmed into her mouth, choking her. She coughed and gagged. She fled and cried and cried and cried.

~

Anna filled with panic as a thought crept into her mind… What if he… knows? What if he knows I was in there? What if he knows I’m leaving? Ever since she left the shed, she had felt stalked, watched. Was it her own fear or...

What if…?

  ~Connie~

Inside the house Connie screamed “MOOOOOMMMMMM”. She felt tears swelling up inside of her.

Her mom ran quickly out of the kitchen to her. “Connie…” she sighed with relief.

“What’s going on?” Connie asked as her younger brother zoomed past her, he had a gym bag and was hurriedly collecting toys. “Is Tyler packing?”

Mom kissed her forehead… “Dad’s insisting we go to MeeMaw’s. He thinks we will be safer out there in the middle of nowhere and wants….”

“ANNA DAMN IT ANNA…”

“Yes…?” Mom breathed.

“I want to be out of here in five fucking minutes” he said as he pointed his finger in her face.

“DADDY, Dad! I’m ready!”

“That’s my boy, Ty, go to the car, get buckled in”. Dad turned back to Connie, “Get packed NOW”. With that he walked through the back door, and with a heavy slam he was outside- heading for his shed.

“Connie, go… pack for a few days, just in case”. Why couldn’t Mom tell him no? Connie wanted to be mad at her Mom, but she couldn’t. Her Mom looked so shaken and exasperated…

Almost as if Mom was reading her mind, she said “We’ll be alright with MeeMaw. She knows how to handle your Dad”.

Connie rushed upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door. Her heart began to race as hot tears fell down her face. She didn’t want to leave. She was supposed to go to Liz’s birthday party tonight! It wasn’t fair. Still, she packed and headed outside.

Mom was packing bags into the car, Tyler was in his seat playing with his new Tamagotchi. Connie put her bag on her seat and hurried inside to get her iPod. She approached her backpack and saw Dad. He was standing at the kitchen sink singing to himself…

“Are you washed in the blood?

In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?”

~

MeeMaw lived outside a small city in the Appalachian mountains. She was at least four miles from her nearest neighbor. She was a loner, a doomsday prepper, but not a very good one. She’d gotten lost along the way and was really just a hoarder. The closed, tight spaces of her dirty house made Connie feel like she was trapped in a maze, but at least it would be easy to disappear in the maze.

MeeMaw always seemed to have a way with Dad too. Maybe she could help…… Her favorite song by the Goo Goo Dolls came on. She closed her eyes and took refuge in losing her thoughts to its familiar sound.

She woke up some time later, surprised she had fallen asleep. Mom was sternly exclaiming “Why aren’t we going to the house?” Connie looked at Tyler who was already looking back at her.

Dad ignored Mom and continued down the dirt road that ran the perimeter of MeeMaw’s property.

~Matt~

Why couldn’t she just shut the fuck up? All she does is complain. Complain. COMPLAIN.

She expects me to lay down and abide by everythin she wants. Well, I don fuckin need traitors like her.

The radio turned to static so I shut it off. It was light outside but not for much longer.

She’s still fuckin talkin?! Her voice gettin quieter, like she’s tryin to pacify me. Treatin me like I’m a fuckin child. YES MASTER. YOU HAVE ALL THE POWER. MASTER. YOU DECIDED EVERYTHING MASTERFUL “ANNA can you JUST shut the fuck up”.

~Connie~

After an eternity, the car came to a stop.

Dad sat wringing his hands back and forth on the steering wheel. Then he…

he...laughed…

“You wanna know what the fucks goin on… THIS IS IT” he said with alarming volume as he burst into laughter once again. “YOU’LL SEE WHAT I’VE BEEN DOIN AND YOU WILL THANK ME AND CALL ME SAVIOR” Her Dad’s words came spitting out of his mouth like a Cobra inflicting venom on its prey.

“I DID ALL THIS FOR YOU.. AND WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING FOR  ME… WHAT HAVE YOU EVER DONE FOR ME ANNA?” he screamed the last words so loudly that Connie’s ears rang then he slammed the door with such force that the car rocked. Back and forth.

Mom hurried to get out of the car, looking back at them as she stood up.

The children were abruptly left alone. The rage left ringing in their ears.

~Anna~

Matt walked to the back of the car, started taking things out, then walked into the clearing and stooped over a metal door protruding from the ground.

Anna heard herself yelling, crying, and begging him…

“THIS IS NOT OK MATTHEW… KNEW WE SHOULDN’T HAVE COME… YOU CAN’T MAKE US… WE CAN’T TAKE THE KIDS IN THERE… TERRIFYING... NOTHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN… TRUST IN THE LORD FOR HE IS OUR STRENGTH… WE HAVE A LIFE …. PLEASE”

She caught hold of his right shoulder and as she did, he grabbed her arm. She looked up into his eyes and saw only darkness. His pupils were huge, his typically blue eyes had no color. An eclipse in his soul, the only light he had was pushed behind darkness. He pulled her closer, his face twisting and contorting beyond recognition.

“Bette told me you went to Lucas’s office… you fuckin leavin me”. Anna shrank, every part of her body was shaking, and she felt nothing but terror.

Sensing this fear her husband laughed and laughed. Delighting in the panic he was causing her.

~Matt~

I squeezed her arm tighter, I could feel my fingers pressing together between the bones in her arm. Has to hurt, I mused.

I closed my eyes. It’s finally time. I squeezed Anna as tight as I could before shoving her to the ground. Who’s the master now, stupid cunt. I unscrewed the top of the flask and drank until my mouth burned.

“You really thought…. You REALLY FUCKING THOUGHT I WOULDN’T FIND OUT….” Anna was pleading, she stood up and wrapped her arms around her chest as she started backing away.

If it weren’t for the New Year creepin in, I think I would have enjoyed keepin this fear goin. Torment her like she’s tormented me.

“Ungrateful bitch I was going to show you MERCY. LET YOU HELP CONNIE RAISE PURE CHILDREN OF THE EARTH”

“BELIAL SAID YOU CAN’T HAVE LIGHT WITHOUT THE DARK. CONNIES A WOMAN NOW.

HE CAME TO ME THROUGH THE GOAT. HIS SERPENTS THROUGH THE RABBITS. Y2K WILL CLEANSE THE EARTH OF THE SINS OF MAN. WE ARE CHOSEN TO BRING THE LIGHT BACK TO THIS EARTH. AND THAT’S WHAT I INTEND TO DO”.

They told me to stock the bunker for two years. Enough time start raisin a new Child of God. A King who will walk amongst the rubble and resurrect the honor of mankind. I turned my head to the sky. Raindrops. Stoms here, just like they said. I couldn’t help but laugh, raising my arms to the sky. BUT the darkness had to be tended to so that the light could prevail…

~Connie~

Connie watched in anguish as a gun was aimed directly at her Mother. Dad had his head facing toward Mom, but his eyes were still fixed straight up at the darkening sky. He started shouting as loud as he could…

“MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD"

BOOM

Connie felt herself leap out of the car. Dad ran to her and caught her. He threw her over his shoulder, and carried her through the field. Then he stopped...

She heard coughing, choking, wheezing. A horrific almost other worldly sound. She pressed her face into his jacket and prayed.

“LOOK AT HER FACE COOONNNNIIIIEEEEEE”. He bellowed. She felt her father put her on the ground, she couldn’t hold herself and fell to her knees. He gently put the gun to the back of her head. Unwillingly, she turned towards what was left of her mother.

Half her skull was gone, blown away by the gunshot. Her Moms remaining eye fixed on her. She was gurgling… convulsing… foam sprayed from her mouth. Her hand reached out to touch her daughter one last time. Her chest lurched, twitching up and down towards the sky. Connie could see blood pooling around her head like a halo, the hot blood steaming in the cold December air. What was left of the right side of her brain was starting to slip down through the hole where her right eye and ear used to be.

Connie tried to grasp her hand.

“…can’t be toleratin nonbelievers… out of time for…”

She was lifted up again. Connie looked back to see her Mother’s hand laying on the grass, abandoned. He forced her through the metal door. She fell down a ladder and onto a platform, the back door to a school bus was open behind her.

What the…?

The door crashed shut. Connie was in complete darkness. She wasn’t sure if it had been a minute or ten minutes, but the door flung open again and Tyler was tossed inside. Her Father came in. Click. Click. Click. Three Padlocks.

Then Light

She grabbed for her brother.

In a corner of the room was a rocking chair, Dad leaned over it, rocking it

Back and forth

Back and forth

it looked like someone was in there… 

The endless horror continued as she saw MeeMaw. Her hair was standing up on end. Her mouth had been sewn shut and her eyes sewn wide open. The dried blood ran from her eyes and mouth down her neck and looked black against her ghastly white skin. Tyler screamed and fainted, unable to handle the unimaginable horrors surrounding him. Dad found this hilarious. His laugh came out with an evil and raspy resonance.

He grabbed MeeMaw and kissed her on the cheek. She squealed. “I knew you’s’d want her here… Come on… sit on her lap…” He howled louder with laughter as he slapped her leg. She tipped forward, ropes tying her to the rocking chair preventing her from falling.

“NOW WE ARE READY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM”. Dad pointed at Connie, “WE WILL BE ADAM AND A PURE EVE”. He lowered his voice and moved towards her.

“WE will bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth”. Connie closed her eyes. She wished she could have disappeared in that hallway at school. The abyss had followed her, and she watched in extraordinary horror as it staggered towards her. “HAPPY Y2K” her Dad’s voice echoed.