Easter Eggs and Bunny Boilers: A Horror Anthology

by Matt Shaw

  'Toblerones?'

  'Yeah, the ones like a pyramid.'

  I can't help but smile. I clap slowly, and flick my gaze to Kay, the smile disappearing from my face. She's watching me with nervous anticipation, breathing steadily, her eyes burning a hole through me.

  I wipe the sweat from my face. 'I bet your mummy is very proud of you.'

  'I am,' she says, all too quickly. Not taking her eyes off me, she tenses in her seat. 'Shaun, honey, I need you to stay here, okay? Put your seatbelt on.'

  Shaun did as he was told. I nod. Excellent parenting.

  Kay nods too, smiling. 'Good boy. Now, I need to get out of the car, okay? Mummy needs to talk to the Easter Bunny.'

  'Okay, mummy.'

  Kay unlatches the door and backs out of the car. I feel the cool air washing into the vehicle. It's bloody hot with this suit on. I slide across the rear seat, the leather swishing against my makeshift rump and tail, and exit on the same side. I turn and wave to Shaun, who ignores me. As soon as I stand up and close the door, Kay hits the fob and relocks it, shutting Shaun away safely. For now. She quickly pockets the keys.

  'What do you want, Lee?'

  I reach up and lift the rabbit head off, placing it on the ground beside me. The cool air is a relief to my dripping face. I knew I should have shaved this morning. I begin to scratch my chin feverishly. 'I want to give us another shot.'

  Kay laughs. 'Another shot? No way. You blew it.'

  I shake my head, disbelieving her initial stance. 'I want us to be normal again. These past months have been terrible. I can’t live without you, Kay.'

  'We were never normal to begin with. Not…not after what you told me. Our whole relationship was a lie.' She said it with certainty, absolute clarity.

  'It wasn't. What we had was great.'

  'We had nothing. I dread to think what was going on in your sick mind the entire time. I never knew what you were thinking, not once. In hindsight anyway.' She looks me up and down, studying the suit, which is now dirty and soaked with sweat. Her eyes narrow. 'I still don’t.'

  'Don't you get it? This is the solution to all our problems.'

  Kay takes a step backwards, which disappoints me a little. Doesn’t she get that I'm trying here? I close the gap again, and she backs off once more. She's now level with the bonnet of the car. Her eyes wearily watch Shaun. 'Don't come any closer, okay?'

  I feel my stomach drop an inch, which makes me stagger. "Why?'

  'Lee, you're not well, you haven’t been for some time. You need help.'

  'I don’t need help, I'm perfectly normal. We can be a family again.'

  Kay shakes her head. 'We were never a family, let's get that straight. I can't believe you. I can never trust you again. The deceit, the…the…it's disgusting.'

  'Like I said, this suit solves our problems.'

  'Fuck the suit, okay? What the fuck is wrong with you?'

  'Kay? Don’t swear, okay? I'm only trying to help. This solves our problems, why won’t you listen to me?'

  Kay held a hand to her mouth. 'You deceived me for so long, with those horrible thoughts in your head. To think you…for so long you…you were thinking of that…urgh.'

  'Thinking of what? How much I loved you? How watching you made me happy, gave me butterflies? How I admired you? Got hard just watching you, thinking of us in that way?'

  'Stop it!'

  'What?'

  'Stop saying those things, it's not right.'

  'Why not? We had something special. Don’t you realise I love you?'

  'And I love…loved you too. But not anymore, too much has changed. I can't be around you, it's not fair on me and it's definitely not fair on Shaun. He shouldn’t be exposed to that…to you.'

  'Kay please? Give us a chance. I've worked for this, put a lot of effort into it.'

  'What, a rabbit suit?'

  'It solves our problems…'

  'Why do you keep saying that?'

  'Because it means we can fuck! Okay? We can finally have a normal relationship, be together in that way. It's normal now. It always will be…' I find my sentence trailing off.

  Kay said nothing. A tear rolled down her face. Then, she gagged and vomited, bright yellow bile spattered the gravel. Right at my feet. I stepped back a little. She backed away, a hand out to keep me from her. 'I want you to leave.'

  And there it was, the same five words that started it all before. The sentence that ended it between us. It was starting all over again.

  I'll be honest – I was a little pissed.

  Ungrateful bitch.

  'I'm not leaving, not this time,' I muttered.

  Kay coughed. 'You need to leave. Now.'

  'Fuck you, Kay. Not this time. This is our second chance, so we do things on my terms. We're destined to be together, okay? And I'm not losing you again.'

  Kay cried. It took me a little by surprise. The tears trickled down her face. I saw her face sag a little, as if a great worry was lifting from her shoulders. I took it as a good sign. I'd worn her down, convinced her. The suit worked!

  Now, I needed to tell her why it was so important.

  But I didn’t get a chance.

  Kay stepped forward. 'What would Mum and Dad say?'

  That stumped me. 'Huh?'

  She grimaced. 'If they were alive, if they hadn't left the house to us in the will, in both our names, what would they say?'

  'They'd be happy; parents should want their children to be happy.'

  'They'd be happy that their son was an incestuous little bastard who fantasized about his little sister. Happy that for three years, three horrible perverted years, you eyed me up and imagined me naked, and imagined being inside me, and imagined…fucking me. I dread to think what you did on your own, in our house. You're a sick bastard, Lee, and it needs to be sorted. You need help.'

  I smile, which must have shocked her. 'That's why the suit can help. Rabbits fuck their own siblings; they can have sex with their own, mate and be happy together with their own. Don’t you get it? This suit solves our problems.'

  Kay said nothing. She closed her eyes and shook her head. It made me a little sad.

  'Come on, Kay, I'd make you so happy. Why not give us a chance? I'd be the perfect father for Shaun, the perfect lover for you. We know each other so well. I can make you so happy.'

  Kay opened her eyes, those wonderful brown eyes. Her face looked like it had aged thirty years in a heartbeat, the wrinkles amplified by her tears, her cheeks a sore, puffy red. She swallowed, looked to the sky, and then looked at me.

  'It's over, Lee. Over.'

  I shake my head. 'No. It can't be. I worked so hard. Give it a chance.'

  Kay steps towards me. 'It won’t work. When you tried to kiss me? On that night? That ended us. You're no longer my brother. A brother doesn’t think of his sister naked, a brother doesn’t hit on his own flesh and blood. A brother doesn’t rely on his wealthy sister to get by, and then try to take advantage of something that seems like one thing, but it quite another. I loved you as a sibling, nothing more. You can't think it was anything else, it will never be anything else.'

  I stand there, shocked and gutted. The bottom fell out of my world right there, on the gravel, with a four-year-old boy in the car beside me, and the love of my life inches from me. My head spun, my life collapsed. Tears formed behind my eyes for the first time in six months.

  Everyone I wanted in my life was right there, close enough to touch and cuddle and savour.

  And I couldn’t have any of it.

  'I want you to leave,' she said again.

  I lunge for her, my inhibitions shattered, my common sense no longer controlling me. Kay isn't the love of my life; she just made that perfectly clear. She abhors me, despises me.

  Which means she's just like the others; a victim.

  But before I know it, I'm pinned to the ground, gravel scattering round me and digging into my knees, bouncing up and hitting me in the face. I have the weight of two men on my back, pinn
ing me down, restraining me. I look up.

  Security. They must have been curious about the suit. I curse myself for the obvious flaw in a plan obscured by emotion and feelings, by the urge to reclaim my one true love. I see Kay step back, behind the two men dressed all in black.

  I realise I may never see her again.

  *

  I don’t know when I blacked out. It must have been a combination of the heat, the anger, the utter shock of Kay cutting me off. I will win her back one day. There are other methods. I'm beginning to think the bunny suit wasn't the best way.

  The bunny suit.

  I kick the head at my feet, hands restrained in cuffs. It clatters against the bench beneath me. I look out into the police station, which is empty and dark for the night. Everyone has gone home. I see shadows of empty desks and idle monitors. A clock ticks patiently across the room. No one is here, just me and my cellmate and the silent darkness.

  That's the problem with a small police force, no night workers. In this neck of the woods, they are on call from home. Which means we're alone for the night. I'll be here for twenty-four hours, maybe more.

  The cell is empty bar one other person. A giant of a man, a walking redwood in clothes. He's looking at me suspiciously, a leer on his pockmarked face. He's rocking a giant black beard, which covers most of his barreled chest. He's wearing some kind of band t-shirt, the name covered by the beard, but I recognise the design, the fit, faded black cloth taut over a bulging beer belly. He taps his green wellington boots on the concrete, the rubber squeaking, his jeans rustling on the wooden bench beneath him. I notice the wellington boots have white smears down them.

  I look up. Say nothing.

  He leans forward. 'What you in for?' A gravelly voice, as if he recently gargled with barbed wire and acid. I see his stoic eyes are bloodshot, and there are flecks of dried blood on his shoulders. A strange fellow all in.

  I consider an answer. No longer give a shit. 'I tried to kidnap my…sister.'

  'Why?'

  'I love her,' I said, truthfully.

  'That's sweet, but stupid. Ain't no one gotta kidnap a sister to declare that. Send her a card or flowers.' He scratched his knee and flicked something invisible from it. 'Me, I don’t like me no woman. Too many hassles and politics. I prefer someone who can't talk back. Give me a bit of butch cattle ass any day.'

  I look up. See the menace in his eyes, the animalistic rage there, one unbound by society's rules. It comes to me in a rush, one that makes me flinch. I feel my stomach tightening.

  Realise the bars are going to be a hindrance. There's no escape.

  Then it clicked. I now know why Kay was so distraught. How she had felt when I confessed. The taboo of the situation, the shock, the imminent fear, the awkward uneasiness. I feel my eyes roaming to my cellmate.

  He grins. 'And I never fucked me a giant rabbit before.’

  THE END

  Bio

  Stuart Keane is a horror/suspense author from the United Kingdom. Currently in his second year of writing, Stuart has started to earn a reputation for writing realistic, contemporary horror. With comparisons to Richard Laymon and Shaun Hutson amongst his critical acclaim – he cites both authors as his major inspiration in the genre – Stuart is dedicated to writing terrifying, thrilling stories for real horror fans.

  Stuart currently has several works on Amazon – The Customer Is Always…, Charlotte, All or Nothing, Whispers – Volume 1: A Collection, Whispers – Volume 2: A Second Collection, Cine and Grin. He also featured in the #1 best-selling Behind Closed Doors anthology with several other authors, including Matt Shaw and Michael Bray. He recently signed a publishing contract with Matt Shaw Publications to bring his work to the masses.

  He is currently a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and an editor for emerging UK publisher, Dark Chapter Press.

  Stuart was born in Kent, and lived there for three decades. A major inspiration for his work, his home county has helped him produce numerous novels and short stories. He currently resides in Essex, is happily married, and is totally addicted to caffeine.

  Feel free to get in touch at www.stuartkeane.com or www.facebook.com/stuart.keane.92

  He can also be found on Twitter at @SKeane_Author.

  “Little Bunny”

  Glenn Rolfe

  “Little bunny,” Marlow Shuman whispered. “Where the hell are you taking me?”

  A fluffy brown hare the size of a cat zigzagged across the path before Brenner’s Woods. These woods had been off limits as far back as she could remember. The haunted place was full of snakes and spiders and ghosts. When they were little, one kid from her neighborhood, Tommy Schafer, ignored these warnings by invading the grounds daily. While he came back each and every time, poor Tommy never came out quite the same. He was arrested years later and found guilty for the abduction and murders of nine children.

  And yet, knowing what she did, that this was a place of pain and scars, a patch of this spoiled earth to be avoided, here she stood at the precipice of its promised darkness. And why? Because of this snuggly little rabbit?

  Alice chasing down a fantasy.

  I’m asleep. That’s it. I would never….

  “But you already have,” said a voice smooth as silk and slippery as a dream.

  “Hello,” she said.

  The little bunny was gone.

  Marlow no longer stood on the roadside gazing at the entrance to Brenner’s Woods--she stood in the thick of it. Her heart raced. Dead trees reached for the moonlit sky above. The moist soil beneath her sneakered feet reeked of rotten eggs.

  “Are you there?” she said.

  A shadow shaped like a man moved into view. When he stepped forth, his wrongful grin on full display, she ran.

  Skeletal branches raked her arms and face. She could hear him panting, feel his warm breath on the back of her neck, hear him in her mind whispering of the awful things he’d done. As impossible as it was, Tommy Schafer’s fingertips caressed her throat.

  “Marlow, what are you doing?”

  Marlow stood at the path’s entrance. The blinding daylight shocked her.

  “Come on, are we going in or not?” Jenna said.

  Marlow brought her hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun. Her fifteen-year-old sister, Jenna, dressed in cut-off jean shorts and a Ziggy Stardust t-shirt, her long brown hair pulled in a tight ponytail, stood in front of her with her hands on her hips.

  “I…,” Marlow tried.

  “Are you all right? You look sorta pale.”

  “I’m…I’m fine. It’s just that… you can’t be here.”

  “Don’t be silly. You wanted to come.”

  “I just stepped out for some fresh air…”

  Marlow craned her head. Their house was nowhere in sight.

  “What the--”

  When she turned around, her sister was gone. The little bunny hopped toward her, gazed with its queer, dead eyes, and hopped back onto the path.

  Why had she thought her sister was here? Jenna had taken her life this past Easter.

  “She’s with us. Come see,” the voice said.

  Marlow scanned the trees. They were in full bloom, no longer the horrifying dead things she’d seen before. Beams of golden sunlight shone through the given spaces between perfect green leaves and fell across Jenna’s blue eyes.

  Marlow stepped forward.

  “Jenna?”

  Feet shuffled and then padded down the path.

  The little bunny bolted out of sight.

  “Wait!” She felt stupid calling out to her dead sister.

  “Maaaarrrloooow…”

  “Jenna.”

  For the second time in her life, Marlow entered Brenner’s Woods.

  Life’s colors withered. The trees and path were drenched in blue shadows.

  Impossible.

  “Maaaaarrrloooow…”

  She followed her sister down the trail.

  She’d chased Jenna down this path this
past winter, a few months before her sister’s suicide. Jenna had confided two things to her that night: that she was a lesbian and that she’d been raped. Marlow’s world tipped off its axis. Her little sister’s revelations were a sledgehammer of truth straight to Marlow’s guts. A whirlwind of questions dismantled her worldview. Marlow had reached out to hold her baby sister, but Jenna had shrugged her off and lit a cigarette. There were no tears, no fallout. Just Jenna by the open window, gazing out at the forest, this forest, her sister’s favorite singer crooning about the spiders from Mars, and smoke drifting out into the cold afternoon toward the setting sun.

  “I’ve been there,” she said.

  “Where?”

  “The woods.”

  “When?”

  “Last summer. I heard…a voice.”

  “In there? Are you mad? You shouldn’t have.”

  “I have to go back.”

  “What?”

  “There’s something I need to see. I need to know for sure…that I’m not going crazy.”

  Jenna turned to her.

  “Will you come with me?”

  “Into the woods?”

  Jenna walked over to the record player by her bed, lifted the needle from the black circle, silencing David Bowie, and grabbed her jacket.

  “You don’t have to understand, in fact, it might be better that you don’t, but I can’t go back alone. Please, come with me.”

  By the time they had got to the path, the sun had set and the temperature dipped below freezing. Jenna had produced a flashlight and shined the light into the dark. Tiny animal footprints--rabbit footprints--led the way.

  Marlow recalled the sour smell in the air, even on that frigid afternoon. The turning in her stomach brought visions of maggots eating their way out of a fresh carcass. She wanted to stop and found herself trailing behind as Jenna rounded a corner and vanished. As the clearing came into sight, Jenna ran into her and began shoving her back the way they had come.

  “Go,” Jenna said. “Run.”

  Marlow shook the reverie from her head.

  What am I doing?

  The trees around her were charred. The earth squished beneath her feet. The stench of rotten eggs returned.