Judy the Bunnpire

ATTENTION!

Dear reader, it is my duty to inform you that the story written below will leave you a deep mark, will show you an unknown reality, will upset you to the point that you can no longer sleep at night... because is at night that she strikes.

Dear reader, between the lines where you are dangerously adventuring you'll find the frightening gestures of a rebellious nocturnal animal, the images of a hairy creature with sharp teeth, the chilling story of... Judy the bunnpire! And how she made a human her slave.

It all started a year ago.

The weight of depression, the sense of loneliness, had reached unsustainable levels. The feeling of peace of the mountains that surround the small town where I live no longer reflected on my person, no longer affected me, no more. And although I was rarely alone at home, the malaise increased week after week. Getting out of bed was the first challenge of the day. I had no purpose, no reason why I had to step out of bed, let alone out of the house.

The days passed before my eyes, and I sat and watched. Other times, however, I didn't even notice it; I slept to have the sweet illusion that time passed faster.

And then, one day, at the umpteenth call that forced my mother to get up from the table and leave the lunch, I had an idea. A lighting.

I’ll get a dog! I thought.

No wait. Mom never wanted to keep a dog...

A cat!

Ah yeah, I’m allergic...

Why not a rabbit then?

Rabbits are small, cute and harmless. It’s perfect.

Why didn’t I think of that before?

That’s how I asked my mother if, for my birthday, I could have one of the most docile creatures in the world.

Then I didn’t know what I was going through, but that "yes" I received in response gave the green light to a drastic change in my destiny.

A few days later, my father came to take me in the car to accompany me wholesale of animals, plants and much more in his areas, and we took advantage of that opportunity to be together after time, to talk face to face, laugh and joke like we long.

Things seemed to be going well. I felt almost at ease.

When I arrived at the shop I catapulted into the animal section. And there I saw her.

I laid my two eyes on the black one of the little bunny squatting in the corner. I never took them off.

As if I were enchanted, I slowly headed towards the glass that separated me from touching that soft white hair, spotted of gray by the ears raised to the tiny ponytail against the wall.

I knelt. And there I remained, for several minutes, without looking away from the tiny creature that had called me.

She didn’t move. Although she had the butt of one her peers sitting on her little head, she didn’t move. She didn’t seem bothered by the behavior of the other rabbits crammed into that corner, she let them do it.

She turned her head, pointed her nose in my direction, and I've discovered that her other eye was different, clearer, than an ash-blue color. I was happily surprised.

We looked at each other and everything else around disappeared. I felt nothing but the power of her gaze upon me.

When I dared to lay my index finger on the glass, she licked it. She showed me a tiny little tongue that went over the same spot on the transparent wall that divided us.

There, at that moment, we had chosen each other. Or rather, she had chosen me.

A month later, on a rainy October evening, the new family member arrived at home.

Locked in a rectangular cardboard box, Judy was hiding. This was the name I chose, like the Zootopia bunny, because I wanted her to teach me never to give up, as the protagonist of the film - I still didn’t know if and how she could show it to me.

She seemed to have no intention of leaving that little refuge. But, after long moments of waiting, the box was emptied of its contents.

Judy explored the environment I had set up for her: she smelled the soft blanket on which she was hopping, tasted the food I had prepared for her, bit a wooden toy I had bought her.

I stood still, motionless, watching that scene.

Her teeth, the appearance of which I had not yet seen, were carving the wood with extraordinary speed. Her eyes were so wide open that it gave way to the white, which made her look even crazier. The mouth didn't come off for a second, it continued to gnaw furiously at the object, showing several headshots as if she were barking at it. Her attention was totally turned to that piece of wood; a toy of which today there are no more traces.

I found myself sitting on the ground watching a docile creature turn into something else, into something I wasn’t able to define at the time. The only creatures I saw biting like that were predators in the documentaries and vampires in the movies.

But I passed that episode and I started a new chapter in my life.

At first, the bunny was cold, detached, with a look that would electrocute you every time you walked past her. She was quiet, she didn’t cause any trouble.

Then, day after day, Judy seemed to place her trust in my hands.

As the weeks went by, however, our relationship became more united than I expected... and problems began to appear...

Judy became increasingly unmanageable. With time her needs became orders. And everything around her became her daily bite. She had a bad habit of crunching parts of the house, items left unattended, clothes she didn’t need, and much more.

Several times I tried to prevent this from happening, but I paid the consequences on my skin. Even today I bear the fear of her growling and the scars left under her little paw. The mark of the beast will remain forever imprinted.

Judy was so uncontrollable. I had to close the fence to stop her from escaping like a prison fugitive.

During the day she remained inside her soft den, indoors, always occupied by some strange object found somewhere I don’t know when and by the remains of other things I couldn’t say belonging to.

She’d stay there, resting until the sun went down.

And when it got dark, Judy would attack.

I keep hearing inside my head the noise of the bars that are shaken, grabbed with teeth and slammed several times on the bare floor of the blanket that she had removed, to be heard, to call.

I continue to see in the darkness the infernal red light of her eyes surrounded by the eyelashes of silk reflected on my figure, who look at me, studying my every move.

Don’t be fooled by her kind appearance, because... who said that rabbits are only prey? Apart from the food chain. And some books. And a few documentaries.

Anyway, Judy proved to be able to break out of the box.

But now I don’t have much time.

I’ve been bitten.

It’s all clearer now.

From nightlife to daytime rest, from red eyes to sharp teeth, from super speed to endless hunger.

Now I realize that what I thought was a normal rabbit is something more.

Her teeth bit my flesh. It’s done. At sunset, I’ll become a bunnpire. I’ll become her slave... for eternity...

So beware of you, dear reader. Beware of appearance. Don’t be fooled. Don’t let her bite you. Be on guard in the darkness of night, because is at night that she strikes... Judy the bunnpire, and will make you human her slave.