Daisy calmly plucked blades of bright green grass from the ground as she watched a rabbit hopping about in front of her amidst the tulips and daffodils. She sighed as she dropped her book on the grass beside her. It was good to finally be outside, breathing in that fresh spring air like her dad had been nagging her to do. She had only been living with him for a week and he had already driven her crazy with his constant nagging to go outside, him treating her like she was still 9 years old and his complaining about the rabbits. Oh the rabbits.
Daisy didn’t understand why her dad hated the rabbits so much. They were just so small and cute. They weren’t creatures of destruction like her dad was making them out to be. He didn’t know what he was talking about. Yeah, they had created a lot of holes in his garden but that’s just what rabbits did. They had to build their own homes just like him.
‘Hello there.’ She looked around as she heard a high-pitched voice speaking to her. ‘It’s rude to not look at someone when they’re talking to you.’
‘If I knew where you were then that might help.’ Daisy slowly got to her feet. ‘Seriously, where are you?’
‘Down here.’ Her mouth opened in shock as she glanced down to see a small brown rabbit at her feet. ‘What? Surprised to see a rabbit.’
‘No. Surprised to see a rabbit talking.’ Daisy hesitantly took a step back. ‘Please tell me I’m dreaming. It’s either that or I’ve gone crazy.’
‘Well, you’re not dreaming’
‘Right so…’ Daisy fearfully looked around her. ‘What do you want… Mr Rabbit?’
‘It’s Peter. My father is Mr Rabbit.’
‘Of course your name is Peter. I should’ve known that’s the name my brain associates with a rabbit.’ She nervously rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. ‘My stupid crazy brain. I bet it’s this place. It’s finally driven me mad.’ All of a sudden Daisy felt herself falling backwards and landing with a thump on the ground, the grass only partially cushioning her fall. ‘What was that?!’ She cried.
‘Sorry for pushing you over but I had to stop your bothersome rambling.’ Peter hopped closer to her. ‘I am talking to you because I need your help.’
‘This can’t be happening.’ Daisy lay back on the grass and covered her face with her hands. ‘A talking rabbit needs my help.’
‘Well… I don’t understand why you’re saying this can’t be happening because it clearly is. I’ve just told you.’
‘Someone’s got an attitude.’ Daisy let her hands fall and rolled over onto her side to look at Peter. ‘And why do you want my help? Of everybody you could have asked why did you ask me?’
‘I’ve seen you. You look nice.’
‘How have you seen me? This is my first time outside.’
‘There is such a thing as windows.’
Alright.’ Daisy sat up and glared down at the small rabbit beside her. Who knew something so cute and fluffy could be so sassy? ‘What do you need my help for anyway?’
‘I can’t tell you here.’ Peter sat back on his hind legs. ‘They might hear us.’
‘Who’s they?’ Daisy watched as Peter hopped over to a rabbit hole. ‘That’s not very far away. It’s like 2 steps for me.’
‘Down is even further away.’ Peter glanced back at her.
‘What on earth do you mean by that?’ Daisy watched in amazement as the hole at her feet slowly began to grow bigger and bigger. ‘So that’s what you mean.’ She glanced up and gasped in shock. Peter had grown massive and was sat in front of her. She could feel his breath brushing against her skin. ‘You’re enormous.’ Daisy looked around as the realisation hit.
‘Well how else did you expect to get down there?’
‘YOU SHRUNK ME!’
‘Of course I did. You humans are so stupid.’ Peter shook his head. ‘Did you really think you were going to fit in the hole when you resembled a tall tree.
Peter watched as Daisy ran her hand along the top of the grass which was now dancing in the breeze at waist height instead of her under her feet like it had been a couple seconds prior.
‘This is so weird.’
‘You’ll get used to it. Now you can come down with me and meet my family.’
‘Do you have 3 sisters and a cousin?’ Daisy smiled to herself.
‘Of course not. I have 13 sisters, 7 brothers and many, many cousins. Why do you ask?’
‘Never mind.’ Daisy shook her head. ‘Is it safe down there?’
‘That’s my home. I wouldn’t live there if it wasn’t safe. Now, walk down very slowly. I don’t want to have to fix anything you break.’ Peter disappeared down the hole. ‘Hurry up. You’re too slow.’
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Daisy looked around her at the kitchen she stood in. The little green and yellow cabinets and the small wooden table with its assortment of rainbow stools that sat around it. The floor was dirt, the walls were dirt, the ceiling was dirt but apart from that it looked to her like a normal kitchen.
‘This is so cute.’ She grinned. ‘I wish our house looked like this. Instead, it’s all modern and… clean. This is homey.’
‘How can a room be cute? If you said I was cute I would understand. I mean just look at me.’ Daisy glared over in Peter’s direction as he sat down at the table. ‘I would show you the rest of my homey home but my family are a little afraid with what’s been going on recently.’
‘Are you going to tell me?’ Daisy asked as she hesitantly stepped deeper into the room.
‘I will. Come sit down with me.’ Daisy tried to stifle a giggle as Peter plonked down on a stool, his fluffy tail sticking through the bars.
‘How do all your family fit around this table? I only live with my dad and we have more seats than that.’
‘We don’t all live in this burrow. There’s many of us all throughout this garden.’
‘Yeah, I can tell. My dad is constantly complaining about the holes you’ve left all over the grass. I have only lived with him for a week and he’s already driven me crazy with how much he talks about his grass and the holes that litter it.’
‘You didn’t live with your father?’ Peter gave her a weird look as she sat down on one of the stools beside him.
‘My parents split up when I was younger. I did live with my mum until she passed away 3 years ago. Then I lived with my aunt and uncle until my dad finally decided that he wanted me to come and stay with him.’
‘Were your aunt and uncle nice? My 4 aunts and 6 uncles are.’
‘She’s very strict. I felt like Harry Potter.’
‘Harry Potter? Who’s that?’
‘It doesn’t matter. I was just using that as an example to explain how they always regarded their own child as a much higher being and I had to sleep under the stairs.’
‘But was it a cupboard?’
‘I thought you didn’t know who Harry Potter was.’
‘I didn’t. I just thought that was a good question to ask.’
‘Why?’ Daisy burst out laughing. ‘And no, it wasn’t a cupboard.’
‘Then it must be better living with your father then.’ Peter hopped to his feet.
‘Not really. We’ve not seen each other in 6 years. Only through video calls. We don’t really get along very well. Every said that this was going to be a new beginning for me. A fresh start in a new place out of the city but I don’t really see it. Enough about that though. What do you need my help with? When can I leave here?’
‘There’s a monster trying to kill my family.’
‘Right. You couldn’t put it any other way.’
‘You asked why I needed your help so I told you. Now you shouldn’t be put in too much danger. Apparently according to my brother, this monster won’t hurt you. It likes your kind.’
‘Just when I thought it couldn’t get any weirder.’ Daisy held her head in her hands. ‘But I will still help you. Only because I want this nightmare to be over. Can you tell me anything about this… monster? What have they been doing?’
‘They’ve been trying to destroy our warren. Every day we would find new places that had caved in. Luckily, we haven’t lost any one yet. We almost lost our cousins Fiver and Hazel the other day. They were making their way through a tunnel when it just started raining dirt on them.’
Could it be an animal of some sort Daisy thought to herself. It must be something really scary looking if these rabbits are this scared. Or at least scary looking to them. Maybe’s it’s a dog?
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘We heard this… thing saying that they were going to get something to stop us for good. We need you to stop them and take this thing they’re going to use against us.’
‘Why me? Why can’t you?’
‘I’m a rabbit. I can’t grab anything. I don’t have opposable thumbs. Now we need to come up with a good plan. You might not get a second chance with this. You need to stop him to save me and my family.’
‘What’s the plan then?’
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‘Are you sure you want to be here? If this monster is trying to kill you then is right beside me, the person who is trying to stop them, really such a good place to be?’ Daisy glanced down at Peter who was sat by her feet.
‘I’m backup.’ Peter hopped behind her.
‘Backup that is trying to hide behind me.’ Daisy crouched down beside him. ‘It’ll be fine.’
‘You say that now. You have to remember that you might not get a second chance at this.’
‘Might not?’ Daisy questioned. ‘Why do you keep saying that. It’s either I don’t get a second chance or I do. Which one is it?’
‘You might have a second chance. Rabbits work in mysterious ways you know.’ Peter sat back on his hind legs. ‘The thing should be back soon.’
‘What does this thing even look like? Is it like your size or slightly bigger?’
‘It’s more like your size or slightly bigger.’ Peter looked her up and down. ‘Thinking about it now, this thing looks like you.’ He made his way under a bush. ‘I can see it coming. I’ll hide here.’
‘Where?’ Daisy looked around and spotted her dad walking about in the garden. ‘You cannot be serious. That is my dad, Peter!’
‘I know!’ Peter cried. ‘That’s why I asked for your help. You’re the only one that can stop him.’
‘This whole time you didn’t tell me.’ Daisy dropped to her knees in front of him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘You would have refused otherwise. There is no way you would have helped us.’ Peter backed up to try and get away from Daisy’s angry gaze. ‘You’re the only one that can stop him. Some other one of your kind tried to and he wouldn’t listen.’
‘Fine.’ Daisy sighed deeply as she got back to her feet. ‘Wait here.’ She quietly made her way closer to her dad and stopped as she spotted a bottle laying on the grass a short distance away from him. That must be what I’m supposed to get. The thing that he is going to use against us. I have to get rid of that. Then I can try and talk to him and save those rabbits.
Slowly she walked over, trying her hardest to keep quiet and not let her dad see her. She ducked down behind a bush as her dad spun round. Don’t see me. Don’t see me. Don’t see me. Daisy held her breath until she was confident that her dad’s back was turned again. She continued to inch her way forward until she was standing above the bottle. Definitely poison. Let’s hope I’m a fast runner she thought to herself. At least faster than dad.
She quickly grabbed the bottle and raced off across the grass.
‘Daisy?’ She heard her dad say.
‘I’m not going to let you kill them!’ Daisy screamed. She tore along the grass, leaving squashed daffodils in her wake as her dad shouted after her.
‘Daisy slow down!’ He shouted. ‘We can talk about this.’
Don’t listen to him. He’s never going to give up on this she thought to herself. She spotted a bridge to her left and ran over to it. The water rushed along under the bridge as she stepped onto it.
‘Daisy, careful! You’re going to fall!’
She looked back over her shoulder just as she felt her feet slipping out from underneath her. Daisy screamed as she felt herself falling off the edge.
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Daisy sat up suddenly as she felt the car pulling to a stop. She looked up to see her dad running down the driveway towards her.
‘Daisy, it’s so good to see you.’ He threw the car door open and pulled her in for a hug. ‘You’ve gotten so tall since the last time I saw you. I can tell how tall you are in those video calls.’
‘Yeah. It’s been a while.’ Daisy looked around her worriedly. What happened? Was that all a dream? Did I hit my head or something? It must have just been a terrible dream. She looked round and saw a small brown rabbit hopping about on the grass. Or is this my second chance to save them?
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