For Love of Mister Cotton Tail: An Apocalyptic Fairytale (Single) by Serena Walken Page A

Big Bunny made her feel funnier the longer she was around him in that form. Rabbit to rabbit, it must have been something to do with that. Surely she didn’t really see him as anything more than her sweet pet.
    Surely. “I would have been a hen.” She looked toward Big Bunny. “If I had been a creature, right?”
    “Maybe. Maybe a duck. Who knows?” Big Bunny moved closer to her. She felt his warm, soft furry lip tickle against her floppy ear. “Although, I think you make a fine rabbit.”
    A fine rabbit. She doubted rabbits should be getting that warm beneath their fur or it’d catch on fire.
    “Are you okay, Candy?”
    “Fine.” How warped was she? Cotton was right. She was obsessed with her rabbit. She might even be . . . “I-I really need to get out of here soon.”
    “Sure, we can go home if you are ready.”
    We. Yes. When she was human and he was just the cute little rabbit, she was much better off.
    * * *
     
    “Good morning, Cotton.” Candy welcomed him into Sweet Meats to his usual table. They’d been seeing each other for more than two weeks now, every night and every day at Sweet Meats. Cotton didn’t say whether marriage was on the table, but boy did Momma Sweet disagree with the thought.
    “Back again?” Poured came over to the table too with a snicker. “Can’t you just go on a date instead of stalk my sister at work?”
    Honestly. Cotton was a thousand times better than Darren. They even did the traditional dinner and a movie. He was always a gentleman. Although, he was often too much of a gentleman, almost afraid to show her who he really had been. She’d seen it a couple of times though, and the more they saw each other, the more his true self came out. “The usual?”
    “It’s about all I can afford,” Cotton teased. “Yep, five, twenty nine.”
    “The most expensive way to get laid I’d ever seen,” Poured said as she left the table. Cotton and Candy both ignored h er. Neither Momma Sweet, Darren or Poured were going to stop him being a customer.
    “Do you think your sister will ever like me?” Cotton asked before Candy left with the order. Candy simply shrugged. She knew if she picked Cotton, Poured and Momma would be looking at tougher times.
    Candy headed toward the back to get the water. Tonight she’d make up for it when he came over for a date. Although it was understandable that Momma and Poured were angry over Cotton choosing to try to marry her, she tried to understand Big Bunny.
    From day one he hid from Cotton. He never stayed in the same room. For six months, Candy had raised Big Bunny alone, and she thought maybe he was scared Cotton would ruin everything. Maybe he was jealous Candy wouldn’t be able to show him the same amount of attention?
    Or, maybe, Big Bunny being next to her as a real bunny was confusing him too. As much as she liked Cotton, she couldn’t stop thinking about Big Bunny’s idea too. There should be no way that she’d rather sit in a hole, work on a conveyor belt and make baskets every day. Yet, every time Big Bunny took her down that rabbit hole, he showed her more. He showed her deeper parts. He even showed her one of the ‘city’ dwellings where rabbits just like him had socialized and lived at.
    Candy would bet about everything she owned that she’d already seen more than there was room on Big Bunny hill. The holes kept extending downward and upward into different hills.
    She also learned how they protected themselves. When everyone knew Big Bunny was coming, it was easy to come through the holes. There were actual rabbit guards and hen guards though with massive steel (yes, steel) doors. Each hole inside the dwelling was guarded heavily so no chance hunter might try to stick poison or smoke down there to make anyone come out.
    Although he shared so much though, he still held secrets. So many secrets. He refused to tell her his real name. He refused to tell her if he transformed to a human or what he looked like in his other form.