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

everyone followed Cotton’s mother. Eh, might as well call him by his real name. When her family said they were going by prophecy, she knew it was Cotton Tail. Odd name, unless you were a rabbit. She never saw him transform, but there were bigger areas in Bunny Hill that they could pass through. Something humans could move through. The fact that Big Bunny never came out when Cotton came around. A part of her, maybe an inkling, always had suspicions, but when her family revealed they did it for the prophecy, that was it.
    Cotton Tail was Big Bunny. He tried so hard to save her from the wolf, but that rabbit didn’t understand. She watched another kid come running out of the house, miraculously not falling on the ice.
    The concept had been brilliant. People still didn’t know who sent it, but everyone did comment on the large chocolate bunnies. It might take some time for the branding to seep through, but people would soon associate those Easter Bunny baskets to Easter Bunnies. All those magical rabbits. For a short time, she even got to be one.
    She dismissed the thought though and watched as Darren came toward her. Momma and Poured Sweet were wrong, the rabbits had the real prophecy. Candy’s world had never made sense, just loose translations. The rabbits though, they had more concrete pieces. Maybe the whole thing used to be one long ago when everyone had been the same? She didn’t know, nor did she care. Candy stopped as Darren came up to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Darren.”
    “I was on my way over.” He rubbed his hands together while his breath hung in the air. “You got the fifty fifty contract? Because Posh was willing sixy forty. You are beautiful, but I’ve got to make sure. My family begins cutting me off next year.”
    “ Suing for currency rights may have been a bit showy I suppose?” He didn’t answer back. “Fifty fifty,” Candy agreed. “Walk with me, it’s only a few more blocks.”
    “Are you sure you don’t want an extravagant ceremony?” Darren asked.
    “No need to, that’s just wasting money.” Candy shrugged. They both walked side by side. The snow was coming down harder, but it made no difference to her. Her mind was set.
    She put the ball in Cotton’s court, whether he knew it or not.
     
    * * *
     
    Cotton moved as fast as he could heading down the blocks to the court. If Candy was going to marry Darren she wouldn’t bother having a big ceremony. Signed papers, that was all it took. The weather didn’t make it any easier. The snow had become a blizzard again and the sidewalks were getting buried. He kept his eyes open though, knowing she would head to the closest place.
    Candy’s family made her mad, and when they did that, she tended to beco me reckless and not think things through. Seeing how having a successful magic basket day didn’t do a thing for the weather, Candy’s recklessness may result in the ending. It wouldn’t be the first ending Cotton had seen, but he’d never lost anything precious in them. Not since he was young and went on his first dimension skip.
    Holes. Holes in the ground , spread out all around found the dimension holes faster. If the weather didn’t fix itself, his kind would be heading out again. Candy would be left behind. “Candy!”
    There in the distance hiding by a building with Darren was Candy. Cotton hurried even faster, knowing the weather would prevent her from doing anything else. “Candy, I said we need to talk and I meant it!” Cotton raced with everything he had. In this form, he couldn’t run half as fast, but he had to make it to her. “Candy.” Now bent over, catching his breath and staring at her feet, he was nearly at the finish line. “I’m sorry about what happened. We can give it another chance.”
    He looked up toward her, but she didn’t have love shining back in her eyes.
    “You need to stop this. You made your choice,” Candy answered. “I made my choice. There is no going back.”
    “There is