by ERIN BEDFORD
Standing up, I noticed the rabbit had stopped next to the little pond my sister and I used to fish at when we were younger. It wasn’t a very big pond, and to our dismay, it had more frogs than fish in it, but it did have a great little hiding spot. There was a cave where water from the Missouri River trickled into the pond. Sitting right outside of the cave, taking his time as he enjoyed my carrots, was the long-eared fiend.
He munched away at one with every confidence he had lost me. I took a moment to try and get the jump on him and moved across the field toward where he was sitting. Luck was not on my side, however, because as soon as I was about to sneak up behind him he saw me in the reflection of the pool and panicked. He shoved the carrot into his mouth and darted toward the mouth of the cave.
“Shit.”
The rabbit was more trouble than he was worth and a lot smarter than he seemed. I had tried everything to keep him out of my garden. Animal repellent, traps, even wire fencing. It still didn’t keep him out. He had somehow even cut a hole in the fence big enough for him to get in and out with my carrots.
No clue how he pulled that one off.
I once mused he was a runaway lab rabbit and the government had been doing experiments on him and, as a result, he became a superfied genius rabbit. Though, if that were true, nothing short of a high-powered security system was keeping that rabbit out of my carrot patch. So, since I couldn’t afford that kind of tech on a librarian’s salary, I decided to take him out.
In order to not spook my prey again, I inched my way toward the cave's entrance. It wasn’t very big. At ten years old it had been quite easy to go in and out as I pleased, but as a moderately chested grown woman, it was a tight fit.
I tried to be as quiet as possible as I sucked in my stomach. Think thin. I was as thin as a rod, as skinny as a Victoria Secret model. This wasn’t making me claustrophobic whatsoever. Finally, I got through the entrance and blinked as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting in the cavern.
The cave I remembered was usually pretty dark with only a sliver of the moonlight coming through the opening, but to my surprise, it was brighter in the cavern than it was outside. As my eyes adjusted to the cave an ominous feeling washed over me. All along the walls were weird, neon-white painted symbols.
What the hell?
My fingers traced one of the symbols, and I realized it was not paint at all. It was as if they were part of the wall itself. I didn’t remember them being there the last time my sister and I had ventured into our little hideout. I would have remembered mysterious nightlights, wouldn’t I?
As conspiracy theories started to circle my mind, a sneeze from the back of the cavern reminded me of my purpose. I turned away from the mysterious symbols and moved toward the sound. Every step I took felt heavier than the last, and a chilling thought came to mind – what if something or someone, else was in the cave?
With that disturbing thought, my footsteps became more cautious, and my eyes darted around me. No one was going to get the jump on me. I had read enough horror novels to know I was a prime candidate for being abducted or killed by some lunatic with a skin fetish. I really should work on my sense of self-preservation.
The further back into the cavern I got, the more symbols started to appear on the walls. In the front of the cavern they had only been on the sides, but as I progressed deeper into the cave, the symbols began to run all along the ceiling and the floor. They were all angled in the direction of something in the center of the back of the cavern as if they were being drawn in.
I followed the spiral of symbols until I ended up in front of a basketball-sized hole in the wall. That had definitely not been there before. Turning around in a circle, I searched the walls for any other changes. There was not really anything different, besides the weird nightlights and the hole, and there was no sign of the rabbit anywhere.
I gave the hole a wide berth as I contemplated what to do next. I knew the only exit to the cavern was the one I came through, so the rabbit must have gone through the hole. Then again, I could be in a horrible version of some mummy story and the moment I stick my arm in that thing, it was going to get eaten off.
I wasn’t the bravest person. I didn’t agree to work in a library just because I love to read and, I’d admit, a little desperate. It was quiet, making it easy to get lost in one's thoughts, which I was known to do on a semi-permanent basis. There was also the seclusion from the lack of employees, which made it an anti-social's dream job.
Though, sometimes being so alone could have consequences, such as not being good with people, or, more specifically, guys. I usually became either a stuttering mess or a sarcastic ass hole when faced with an attractive specimen. That’s why I liked working with David so much. He was just that side of plain looking so I could be myself.
Mrs. Jenkins knew how I felt about men and people in general. She could be as bad as my mother when it came to me dating. I could just imagine what she would have to say about my hesitancy to stick my arm in that hole. "Dear, everything worth having comes with a leap of faith. Just hold onto your panties and take the plunge."
I had only been working at the library for a day when she said that to me. I had been so shocked I had fallen out of my seat from laughing so hard. Yes, she was a little eccentric. She takes the whole 'I'm old so I can say whatever I want' a little too far, but she had a lot of great advice, and I already loved her for it.
I took a deep breath and let it out. "What the hell."
I stepped back up to the hole and placed one hand on each side of it. Bending at the waist, I squinted into the hole to see what waited.
Darkness.
While the cavern was lit up with the glowing symbols, the hole was nothing but complete darkness. I couldn’t see a damn thing. I blew out a shaky breath between my teeth, all that lead up and nothing.
“Fuck it."
I threw up my hands and moved away from the hole. That rabbit was not worth becoming some creepy crawlies’ food. Studying the symbols as I walked away, I made a mental note to dig into the language section when I got back to work in the morning.
"Does Mop think Lady is gone, does Mop?"
I turned an ear back toward the hole at the squeaky voice’s question. I took large strides, well as large as my short legs would let me, back to the hole.
Who was that?
"I don’t know! Ye shouldn’t have led her here in the first place!" A low rumbling voice growled in return.
I inched my face down to the hole and peered in again. Instead of darkness, there was a fading light coming from inside the hole. Come home, whispered against my face. I twisted around to look behind me. As usual, no one was there. Shoving down every part of me that screamed to just go back to the house and crawl into bed, I reached into the hole.
The warmth of the light engulfed my hand and tugged me toward it. I tried to retract my hand, but it was too late, it had its hooks in me. I remembered wondering if this is what it felt like to be sucked through a straw before everything went black.
2
The Between
I LANDED WITH a hard smack, for a moment my head filled with miniature dancing cappuccinos. Coffee sounded good right now. I groaned at the damage my aching limbs had taken from the fall. Before I could assess the damage, the sound of a door slamming shut behind me caused me to jerk up and open my eyes. I slammed them shut again when piercing white light filled my vision.
My eyes! I was blind! I blinked my eyes a few times, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Okay, I guess I wasn’t. I was okay.
It wasn’t my eyesight that was the problem. It was the room, well not really a room as much of a big white space. Looking up, there was nothing but white. There was no way to tell how tall the room was or, from what I could see, how far it reached around me. There weren’t any walls or windows. The only objects were four doors, one in each direction.
Someone seriously needed to rethink the décor.
The door closest to me wasn’t anything extraordinary. I
t was made of plain old wood. I peeked around the edge of the door, and there was nothing. Besides the door frame, there was nothing that would allow the door to stand up on its own. There was no wall supporting it and nothing but more endless white space behind it.
I rattled the doorknob – locked.
Of course, it was. Why wasn’t I surprised? I beat on the door and shook the handle once more.
“Hello? Let me out!” I banged on the door harder and twisted the handle until my hand began to burn. My eyes darted around the room searching for another way out, but all I saw were doors and endless white.
I fought the urge to scream as I pulled on handfuls of my hair. What am I going to do? There was no one there and no way out. No one at home even knew where I was. They’d think I’ve been kidnapped or was dead. I had to get out of there!
I considered the other doors and took off toward the one to my right. Banging on it, I jiggled the knob and found it to be like the other one – locked.
Before I could think about it, I ran to the next door and found it locked as well. I kicked the door and turned my gaze to the last remaining door.
It was more beat up than the other ones with scarring all along the surface. My hand moved to try the handle only to find it was missing.
Great. I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this one.
I turned around in a circle and stared out into the white void. Good going. I was stuck in what was probably someone’s bleached butt hole with nothing but doors to taunt me forever.
Just when my eyes were starting to strain from the blinding white light something moved in the distance.
“Hello?” I stepped around the door, but before my feet could move in its direction a voice squawked at me from behind.
“I wouldn’t go out there if I were you.”
There, in the center of the room, where nothing had been before, was a circular reception desk. Behind the desk was some kind of bird. It wore a fuchsia-colored dress with a loud floral pattern. But unlike any bird I’d ever seen, it had not one, but two heads. One of the heads wore glasses on the brim of its beak, which it used it to tap away at the keys of a keyboard. The other one was watching me as if waiting for an answer.
“When did you get there?” I cocked my head to the side, looking back and forth where nothing had been before.
The head squawked and shook its head. “We’ve been here all along. You just haven’t been looking hard enough.”
“Oh.” Well, that made no sense whatsoever. I looked from the two-headed bird and back out into the white void where the black spot had disappeared. “Why shouldn’t I go out there?”
“You go out there you’ll never get back out again, not without a guide at least. Now if you’d just sign in here you can be on your way.” The one not wearing the glasses pushed a clipboard toward me with her wing.
I ignored the clipboard and focused on the receptionists. “On my way where? I don’t even know where I am.”
“Type!” She waved her wing in the air. “This silly chit doesn’t know where she is!”
The one called Type glanced up from her keyboard to give me a flat stare over the spectacles on her beak. Not finding me worth her effort, she turned back to the screen where it appeared she was watching an episode of Game of Thrones.
They had Internet? Go figure.
“As you can see…” The other head gestured toward the computer screen. “We don’t have time for you. So, if you would just sign in right here we can all get on with our lives.” She nudged the clipboard back toward me.
“But I don’t want to sign in! I want to go home.”
“Well, then, you shouldn't have come here.” She flapped her wing back toward the door I came through. “Go back out the way you came.”
“It’s locked. I can't get out,” I growled, digging my nails into the edge of the circular desk.
“Locked? Of course, it's locked!” Type glanced away from the screen for a moment before turning back. “Can't be letting anybody come in and out as they please.”
“What she said.” The other head nodded in agreement. “If you want out, use your key.”
“Key?” I patted myself even though I knew I didn’t have a key or pockets for that matter. “I don’t have a key.”
“Well, then, you will just have to sign in and we can issue you a temporary key.” She pushed the clipboard toward me once again.
I growled and yanked the clipboard from her grasp. Looking down at the clipboard, I poised the pen in my hand as I read the sheet. It was your basic sign-in form – asking for name, date, and place. There was only one entry on the sheet of paper, written in sloppy cursive. It read: Mop and Trip with today’s date and the human realm listed under place.
I almost wrote down my information and the human realm like the previous signers, but stopped. I wanted to go home, but the other doors bugged me. Where did they go?
“How am I supposed to fill this out if I don't know where I am?”
“Gripe, just tell the girl where she is already. I want to finish this season before lunch.” Type piped in without tearing her eyes away from the screen.
The head named Gripe huffed. “This.” She gestured around the room. “Is the Between.”
My eyes followed her wing as it circled the air. “Between? Between what?”
“Everything of course.” Gripe’s eyes rolled her eyes. “So, where will it be?” She held up the pen and clipboard once more, an impatient look in her eyes.
I sighed and reached out for the pen, but then I heard whispers coming from the other side of the desk. Those were the ones I had heard from inside the hole! I craned my neck around the large bird and saw the curve of the rabbit’s long white ears.
I stepped away from the desk and pointed toward the rabbit. “Um, I'm with him.”
Gripe sniffed, putting her nose in the air and turned back to watch the screen with her other head.
I made my way over to the door on the other side of the desk. In front of the second door, I had tried stood the white-eared rabbit and a brown little man. They were arguing. As I came into view, their voices became more urgent.
“Ye idiot! She followed ye here!”
“Trip is sorry! Trip was just ever so hungry and Lady's carrots are ever so good.”
No higher than my waist, the white rabbit wasn’t really a rabbit at all. It had the face of a rabbit, but its white ears hung all the way down to the ground. Instead of a little cottontail, it had a long short-haired tail with a tuft of hair at the end.
The other one was a little brown man with a pointed red hat and matching overalls. His large nose and ears seemed out of place on his small face. The beard along his chin was short and as dark as his onyx-colored eyes, which glared up at me as I appraised him.
“Please don’t eat Trip!” I jumped in place as the rabbit-like creature latched onto my knees. “Trip didn’t mean any harm! Trip just loves Lady’s carrots so much! Way better than other humans! Blech!” He spat on the ground. “They feel like worms and death in Trip’s mouth.”
I tilted my head to the side at the rabbit’s pleas. This was the rabbit I was chasing? No wonder he could get through all my traps. Any normal rabbit wouldn’t have sharp fangs and opposable thumbs. Then again, wherever I was, wasn’t on the spectrum of normal.
“What’s it gonna be, Lady?” The brown little man grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are ye gonna eat him or not?”
I wrinkled my nose at the thought of eating something that could talk. I had nothing against eating meat, I loved meat, but I never wanted to meet my food before I ate it. At least, not any that could beg for their lives.
“Uh, I guess I’m not.” The words came out slow and unsure.
“Oh, thank you, beautiful Lady, merciful Lady!” Trip, as he called himself, hugged my legs tight. “Lady won’t regret it, Lady won’t. Trip swears!”
“Calm down. That’s great and everything, but what about my garden? And stop calling me Lady, my nam
e is Kat.” I pried him off of my leg, holding him up by his ears. Shit he’s heavy. “How are you going to pay me back for all those carrots you stole?”
Trip lifted up his hands to show his empty palms. “Trip does not have anything to pay Lady with, Trip doesn’t.”
I shook my head at him. “I don’t want your money.”
I was about to say I just wanted to go home but stopped. Come home. The voices had stopped the moment I had gone into the rabbit hole. Could this be what it wanted?
I mustered the little bit of courage I had and pointed a finger at the door next to us. “Tell me about the doors and why is there a hole in the woods?”
Trip’s eyes became wide, and he struggled to get out of my grasp. “Trip can’t tell Lady that! No, Trip can’t!”
I fought to keep a hold of the little white devil, but he slipped from my hands and scurried over to the brown pint-sized man.
“Mop tell Lady! Mop tell!”
The brown man, known as Mop, stood in front of Trip blocking my path and glared once more. “Ye can’t be askin’ him that. We ain’t even supposed to be talkin’ to the likes of ye.”
I matched his glare with one of my own and headed for the door. If they weren’t going to tell me, I would just have to figure it out myself. Besides, I was a smart girl, and there was nothing I haven’t read – or Hollywood hasn’t already desensitized me to – that I couldn’t handle.
“No, Lady!” Trip chased after me, pressing his back to the wood of the door to block my path. “Lady mustn’t go in!”
“And why not?” I threw my hands up in the air with a growl. “You took my carrots, you led me here, and now I want to know what is in there.” I turned the door handle, finding it already unlocked when it wasn’t before. I tried to pull it open, but Trip’s weight against the door had been added to by Mop.
