Don't be my Valentine II - Sequal to Wind's Valentines story - Around 1857 words
The bunnies surrounded Will, all staring at her with their emotionless eyes. All but one held a large red heart. The one that did not held a large Valentine’s Card, with Will’s name written clearly on it. Without a sound the bunnies stepped closer together, closer and closer, until there was only a few feet between them and Will.
“Mommy, Mommy…” the bunny with the Valentine’s Card said softly. The other bunnies opened their mouths to say something, but then…
“Mommy! Mommy!” a voice shrieked, and then Will was shaken harshly. “Mommy, please wake up!”
Will woke up with a jerk, her arm flinging out into the air. It waved about a few moments before slamming down on the alarm clock next to her bed. She peeked out sleepily from under the covers, trying to figure out who, exactly, had woken her up.
“You was dweaming about them wabbits again, huh,” the voice said. Her son looked down at her, his face serious. He was frowning slightly, and his deep blue eyes made his nose crinkle as he focused on her.
Will laughed lightly, amused by the look on his face. She nodded, hugging him close to her. She knew he didn’t understand why she feared rabbits, after all, that Valentine’s Day had been long ago. In fact, she usually forgot about it for most of the year. But as the year neared the Fourteenth of February… she started to remember.
She remembered the two years that the Bunnies ruled her Valentines’; making her dance with people she didn’t want to dance with, forcing her to drink gallons upon gallons of fruit punch, giving her Valentine’s cards whenever… and that wonderful day when she and some others rebelled, finally overcoming them with a batch of Papaya Juice.
She shuddered at the very thought of the rabbits, her breath coming out loudly. She frowned, and glanced up at the calendar. February 14. The date jumped out at her like a… well, rabbit. No wonder she had had that horrible nightmare. She shuddered lightly, a chill running down her spine, before turning to her son.
“Come on, then, Luka. Let’s get you ready for school, you’ll have fun today,” she said, smiling. “If you want to, you can wear that maroon sweater we got you for your birthday, would you like that?”
Luka nodded happily. He ran off to his room to grab the sweater, and returned wearing it, a proud look on his face. Will smiled down at him proudly, until she realized that he was wearing it inside out and backwards. She laughed and helped him fix it.
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“Jenna!” Luka cried out happily, greeting his fellow Kindergartener. With a squeal of delight, he ran up to the girl and hugged her.
“Oh!” Jenna proclaimed, surprised. Her mouth formed the ‘o’ shape for a second or two, then she grinned and hugged Luka back.
Will watched the two, amused. She folded her arms together and leaned against the wall, glancing to her left. A smile formed on her mouth as she saw who her neighbor was. It was Jack, the one that had helped free everyone from the enslavement of the Fluffy Lovely Valentine's Day Squad so many years ago, and had danced with afterwards no less.
“You see that sweater she’s wearing?” Jack asked, trying to start up a conversation. “I got it for her birthday awhile ago, and she wanted to wear it today. It’s pink.”
“I know it’s pink, I’m not color blind… Hm, that’s odd…” Will stated, a confused look coming over her face. “I got the sweater Luka is wearing for his birthday also. Quite ironic, is it not?”
“Yes… yes, it is. Well, I’d better get going. I have work, and can’t be late, you know…” Jack said, nodding. He glanced up at the clock, and frowned. Will looked up also, and nodded in agreement. Both of them turned to leave, however, their paths were blocked by someone they had both hoped they would never see again.
“Not on my watch, you won’t be leaving. Remember me? Of course you do. Who could ever forget me, Marilyn, once again Fluffy Lovely Valentine's Day Squad? You thought it was over with years ago, but I have once again gained control over the bunnies of Valentines Day!” she said, laughing evil. She snapped her fingers once, and immediately the room was surrounded with fluffy bunnies.
Most of the rabbits were white, with ruby red eyes. All of them were larger than average, however, and extra fluffy. The only one that wasn’t white was larger and fluffier than the rest. It was of a copper-brown color, and its eyes were brown. Its face was stern, as it glared down at Will.
“I am Cympathy,” the brown bunny said after a short silence. “And this is my army of rabbits. I’ve heard of you both, Will and Jack. Once you made my people betray M’lady Marilyn, but now we know better. No longer are we held captive to the evils of Papaya Juice! All who drink it shall be executed immediately!”
Luka and Jenna both frowned, looking over at Cympathy with the almost exact same expression. In fact, they looked so much alike; they managed to confuse the rabbit. The confusion was just for a short while, however, and only lasted as long as she was looking over at them, so the momentary advantage they might have had was disrupted.
Already Cympathy was looking over things, shaking her head in disapproval. “No, no… Fruit Punch! Fruit Punch, not apple juice… and no heart shaped cookies, or chocolate?! Have you no shame? Obviously, with us gone, you have lost all idea of what Valentines Day is about. Well, no worries. We can fix that soon enough. Cylence!”
“Yes, sir, lady sir!” one of the larger rabbits said, jumping to attention. She grinned sheepishly as Cympathy glared over at her, and then bowed low.
“Well. Cylence, if you weren’t my great aunt’s favorite cousin, I’d have to punish you. But you are, and I am not, so, you shall not be punished this time.” Cympathy said, frowning slightly before continuing. “Go to Marilyn, and get your orders directly from her. Do you hear me? And try not to mess up, please! We have a whole town we need to work on!”
“First of all, get that horrid Apple Juice out of here. What’s it even doing in this dreaded town anyways? I thought I got rid of it years ago! Come on then, rabbit! Hop to it, now!” Marilyn said, shaking her head sadly. She glared over at Will, a look of disapproval on her face.
Cylence took her order seriously. She hopped dutifully towards the bottle of Welch’s Apple Juice, and held it in her paws. She stared in awe at the drink for a moment, and then started to hop towards the door.
However, this classroom had a lot of tables, chairs, children, and some adults that hadn’t quite gotten to leave, as well as all the other rabbits. And Cylence was a very clumsy bunny, and probably shouldn’t have been trusted with such an important job. In fact, the only reason she had been trusted at all was because she was Cympathy’s great aunt’s favorite cousin, and that in itself is a great position indeed.
However, Cylence didn’t trip over the tables, or the chairs, or the children. She didn’t even trip over the adults or the other rabbits. No, she didn’t trip over those. In the center of the room, there was a crayon. A single crayon, broken and worked down with the wrapper peeled off as five-year-olds will do to a crayon. And it was that single green crayon that made her trip and stumble.
As she fell, the bottle flew out of her hands. As it landed, it split open, and juice splashed everywhere. As an automatic reaction, the rabbits licked their lips (where, miraculously, some of the apple juice had landed) and those that were sitting, stood. However, instead of yelling at Cylence, they started talking out loud in confused voices, wondering what this drink could be that was matched only by Papaya Juice.
After a few moments, Jenna and Luka looked at each other. They both seemed to be thinking the same thing, for both of them at the same time ran towards the cupboards where all the snack items were held. As they had thought, many bottles of juice were stored in side. Grinning, they got those that they could reach, and started passing them out to the rabbits.
As Cympathy got a bottle, she took a deep drink of one. She remained silent for a few moments, and everyone stared at her, waiting for what she would say. Marilyn watched the most carefully of all, for she had lost the bunnies once, and would not lose them again without a fight.
All of a sudden, the rabbit bowed down to Luka and Jenna. Her ears flopped over, and she looked up at them solemnly.
“M’lord, m’lady. You have brought to us the one thing that could take us away from the Lady Marilyn. We pledge our allegiance to you, oh young ones. And as a token of our allegiance, I shall have some of my most trusted,” as Cympathy said this, she coughed lightly, and looked away from Cylence, “Rabbits take Lady Marilyn out of town. They will escort her to where the Jackalopes live, and I assure you, the Jackalopes are not as honorable as us.”
Jenna and Luka giggled, enjoying this all very much. To them it was just a game; they did not understand any of it. It only made them wonder more why their parents were afraid of the rabbits.
Cympathy stood, and turned to Will and Jack. She motioned towards the two children, a look of hopefulness on her face.
“You are their parents, correct?” she asked, then continued without awaiting an answer. “You’ve been offered the chance to care for us once. You refused it then. Please, I beg of you, do not make the decision for your children. We aren’t bad, really, if we have the right caretakers… and if you teach your children right, they will teach us well, too. Please.”
Jack and will looked towards each other, and nodded. Their eyes told their thoughts to each other.
“Cympathy, we will grant your request. We will wait until our children are old enough to make their own decisions before deciding on anything else,” she paused a bit before adding something. “We won’t make any decisions for them.”
Jack nodded in agreement. He then looked towards Will, and opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it once more. He sighed out deeply, but Will knew what he had been trying to say.
“Yes, Jack. Let’s go out to dinner sometime. For um… food, and possibly a dance?” she said, smiling.
“Alright,” Jack said, looking relieved.
“Now this is what Valentine’s Day is supposed to be like,” Cympathy said softly, chuckling as she turned away to look for Luka.
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