Chapter #5Vanilla the Rabbit by: blader   “click click click” the mechanical sound of keys rang out through the office space as Michael’s grey eyes scanned the document in front of him, while it was a simple legal document it was important nonetheless. Groaning and stretching to relieve his tired muscles he was about to return to the document when “tap tap” someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hey workaholic” turning to face the voice Michael came face to face with Evan, his co-worker and friend. Evan unlike Michael was adored in a more casual outfit rather than business-wear. Michael’s white shirt with black dress pants, polished shoes and a suit jacket was a stark comparison to Evan’s much more casual outfit of long-sleeved black shirt and matching black jeans, a pair of sneakers adorning his feet.
“Was there something you needed Evan?” Michael asked, his voice while friendly held a hint of annoyance, while it was true he could be called a workaholic it was only because he held a certain standard to his work, one which sadly few people in his department wished to maintain, as demonstrated by his friend’s choice of attire.
“Yeah, your shift ended 15 minutes ago Mr. brown-nose” Evan replied smugly. Glancing down at his desktop’s Michael found that it was indeed 5:15. Chuckling slightly in embarrassment Michael quickly saved and closed the document he had been working on before grabbing his suit jacket from his chair and slipping it on.
“Thanks Evan, I owe you one, I might like working here more than someone like you, but I don’t like giving any more time than I need to, same as everyone else” Michael said clapping the man on the shoulder.
“Ohhh, so does this mean we can finally go get a beer together? Maybe check out a few girls and if the night goes well…” Evan let the sentence trail off but Michael knew his friend’s implications all too well. Evan couldn’t exactly be called a womanizer, to be one of those you had to actually have success with a woman, but Evan was the most “appreciative” man in terms of the female form Michael had ever met.
“Pfft, I don’t need alcohol to have a good time, and I’ve got no interest in going bar crawling, nor picking up some random woman who’s too drunk to realise what we did last night” Michael replied.
“…Seriously man I know it’s rude to ask but are you gay or what? You turn me down every time I ask to go drinking” Evan replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked Michael up and down like he was trying to find some distinct characteristic.
“Nah I just have a head on my shoulders, that and I don’t want to end up in jail because some chick regretted her actions the night before, you want to risk that be my guest, but I’m heading home” Michael replied. Pausing for a moment Michael quickly opened and reached into the middle drawer of his desk, his key card in his hand as it exited the desk. “See you on Monday Evan” Michael stated as he turned and walked towards the elevator.
“See you on Monday Michael” Evan replied as a sigh exited his lips although as he walked away Michael was sure he heard his friend mutter “wreck my fun, only losers go drink out on their own…” the rest fading from his hearing as he exited the office his department used and made it out into the main hallway.
Humming to himself Michael walked briskly to the end of the hall ‘alright, I have plenty of time to get to the bus…and I’m 15 minutes late’ Breaking into a sprint he skipped the elevator as they were only a few floors up and bursting into the staircase catapulted himself down 3 stairs at a time. Rushing past the building’s secretary he sprinted down the street, his bus coming into sight as he rounded the corner. Watching it start to pull away, he began to wave and holler like an idiot hoping to catch the attention of someone on the bus. He was sure someone saw him as the bus driver turned to face his direction, then turned back and the bus pulled out into traffic. Michael was sure he felt a vein pop out of his head, due to the way the city’s transit system worked there wouldn’t be another bus for a full hour.
‘Guess I’m walking home’ he muttered to himself, while it wasn’t a mile trek or anything, it would still take a good 20-30 minutes to walk home. Sighing in defeat he began his trek as block after block of pavement passed under his feet, he tuned out all but the most important features around him, the traffic lights he needed to keep focus on and the sounds of traffic, just in case some idiot driver decided a pedestrian wasn’t worth the few extra seconds of waiting.
Slowly the cityscape began to change, buildings beginning to spread out as he moved from the city proper to the suburbs, grass appearing beside him instead of concrete as the buildings eventually stopped all-together as he walked past a children’s park. The park being made up of a large expanse of grass for kids to run around and play in, a sandbox area with some jungle-gym equipment, a swing set and see-saw as well as a few benches scattered around so parents could watch over their kids, this late at night the place was completely deserted.
“WAHHHHH!!!” The shrill piercing scream came out of nowhere, Michael although he wouldn’t admit it jumped several feet into the air, his head whipping to where the sound was coming from. Of course it was coming from the park, but that wasn’t right, as far as he could tell the place was empty, everyone having heading home to eat. Yet he could still hear the sound of crying, from the pitch he had to assume it was a young kid probably female. Looking around he couldn’t help but sigh ‘this better not bite me in the ass’ he muttered before taking off for the playground at a light jog. Spending a few minutes searching Michael finally found the little girl in one of the play-structure's tunnels, what surprised him was the fact the little girl was a Mobian as he could count the number he'd seen in person on one hand.
Her outfit was ordinary enough, a bright orange dress with a blue tie, orange and yellow shoes and white gloves, aright the gloves were a bit strange. She was a little lop-eared rabbit girl. Orange fur covered her eyes, the tips of her ears and streaked down the back of her head starting at her forehead. The rest of her head and ears were covered in cream-coloured fur except for around her mouth and small brown nose. Looking down at her legs and arms he honestly couldn’t tell if they were simply covered in a very fine fur or she had skin but he wasn’t going to touch to find out.
She seemed to not have noticed him so as gently as he could he coughed into his hand, the little girl’s ears and head swiveling to face him revealing her tear-stained cheek and reddened eyes. “Hey there…I” he never got a chance to finish the sentence as she suddenly leapt towards him latching onto his chest.
“I…I lost my mommy” she wailed pitifully, her breaths coming in small hiccups as her fingers dug into the fabric of his jacket leaving him at a loss for words or what to do. The obvious thing would be to hug this little girl, tell her everything was going to be okay, but from the sound of her voice she couldn’t be any older than 8 years old and considering whoever took care of her was probably freaking out right now, he really didn’t want to do anything that might be “taken out of context” and used against him.
As she kept crying, tears streaming down her face he knew it was cruel not to provide some comfort, his hand gently falling on top of her head as he began to gently pet her. “It’ll be alright, we’ll find your mom” he said as soothingly as possible, and much to his surprise she stopped crying, after a few last sniffles anyways. Gently crawling out of the tunnel he felt her grip his hand tightly as if the little girl expected to lose him too, shrugging to himself as it’d make keeping an eye on her easier he knelt down to look her in the eye.
“I haven’t asked yet but what’s your name? I’m Michael” he stated, knowing this was the easiest way he’d get her to cooperate.
“I-I’m Cream” she replied, it was definitely a different name but he’d certainly heard worse.
“Cream, do you know where you live?” Michael asked. A wordless point was all he got in reply, thankfully it was towards his suburb rather than the city, his suburb was do-able, trying to find her mom in the city would have been next to impossible. “Alright, just hold onto my hand and I’ll take you home, although I might need you to help me a little alright?”
“O-ok” she replied, whether the nervousness came from realizing she might be in trouble or the fact that he wasn’t someone she knew well was unclear to him.
They set off in silence which continued until they actually started to have houses passing on either side Cream speaking up and giving vague yet helpful directions like “turn left” which Michael would usually have to have clarified by her pointing where she wanted them to go. What surprised him was how well-behaved Cream was, she didn’t tug, shout, or pull she simply led him to the best of her ability. After ten minutes and travelling several blocks the two reached a cul-de-sac, Cream getting slightly antsy. Smiling Michael gently pushed her forward Cream running to the house on the exact opposite end of the street.
Jogging to catch up Michael just heard the sound of a ringing doorbell, by the time he reached the door he heard the sound of heels on tile for a moment before the door was yanked open revealing a rabbit woman who looked just like Cream except for a few differences, her ears were longer and thinner, rather than orange markings a single tuft or orange fur sat on top of her head and she wore a lavender dress with a crimson vest covering it.
“Mommy!” Cream shouted as she raced forward, the woman quickly scooping her daughter up, tears on the edge of both mother and daughter’s eyes as they embraced.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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