“Dreaming about a Rabbit means prosperity and a positive phase in your life. In the near future, you will need to pay more attention to your family and don’t forget to beware of those who you consider a threat to your life.”

— What happened then? — asked Doctor M. — What have you found on the book?

— Nothing. I couldn’t read it.

— No?

— No… Everything that was written in the book was encoded in some way. I tried to break the encryption but… No matter how many letters I could identify in the middle of that mess, it was nearly impossible to understand anything. I could figure it out some ‘satanic’ images, a pentagram, candles, and images describing a ritual, where people ended consumed by a huge mouth. Nothing beyond that. If I was able to bring the photos of it from the past, maybe I could try to decode it at a Technical Library… Just look, can you see that?

The image in front of them was enlarged and the text in the book showed thousands of written letters one over the other.

— Quite confusing, may I say — said the doctor. — Was it frustrating for you?

— Yes. I was facing my fears and I wanted to get something out of it. I did, but… it wasn’t something useful.

— How did you deal with it?

— I couldn’t if that’s what you are asking. I was trying to find anything that could help me with it, but with the disappearance of the cook, the director wouldn’t let anyone enter his room at all unless they would be called. Nobody saw him walking around the orphanage anymore. If that wasn’t enough, James turned 18 years old while I was there and, not long after that incident, he was already the new cook. He was complaining about everything exactly the same way the older cook did. It was like seeing the older cook all over again. Moreover, before I forgot, they searched for the cook’s book, but I hid it in the small room in the backyard. I guess if they didn’t move anything there, it would still be there if the Capital had not been nuked so many times in the past wars.

— I see. You haven’t any time to spend after that.

— Yes. Some months after that, between three or four months, a new shadow appeared…

__________

It was night, we were having our dinnertime and it was raining outside. I remember the food being way more disgusting than ever and no one was feeling good eating it. Then I heard someone saying:

— They put something on this soup! — And that soup was a vegetable one, with no beef stew on those days.

— Yeah! — Said another boy.

— I don’t want to eat this! — said one of the girls.

With the voices complaining about it, James came out of the kitchen and tasted some of the soups himself.

— There’s nothing wrong with this your ignorant brats!

— Here! Try mine! — Said one of the first boys to complain.

James tasted all of them still saying there was nothing wrong with them. Then he went back to the kitchen, taking all the plates with him and brought back a huge pot with what he said was rabbit stew. The smell was delicious and it made my mouth salivate. Everyone was drooling over it. The first boy who complained about the vegetable soup tried the rabbit stew with his own finger and he couldn’t simply stand that flavor, moaning out loud with pleasure. Soon every kid was eating it fiercely. When it was my time to prove it myself, James said:

— Oh, poor boy… It’s over! — And he giggled at me, licking his own dirty finger with what was left in the pot.

— Who you killed this time? — I said without caring what he had just said.

— Who? No, no… What! Just a little rabbit I found jumping around — he said grinning and he even showed the cut rabbit's paw in front of me. — Wait for more next week. Every Wednesday we will have rabbit’s stew, but there’s plenty of vegetable soup in the kitchen if you don’t mind.

— No, thank you, I already had my vegetable soup — I was the only one.

— I doubt that — he grinned again. — Well, you can’t say that I am a bad cook. — He turned to go back to the kitchen and remembered something. — I already send some of the rabbit stew to your cousin.

He couldn’t help himself and he laughed out loud. I ran to where David’s cousin was, to see if everything was all right with him and if that nothing different had happened.

— Did you eat the rabbit stew? — I asked.

— Yes. That was the greatest meal I ever had! — His face, that was sad for years, finally showed some happiness.

— Did you feel something? Anything?

— No. I’m feeling good, better than ever!

— He made something… I’m sure James made something with our dinner today… It wasn’t supposed to be rabbit stew; it was a vegetable soup!

— If he wants to kill me, I prefer to die like this, eating well! — Gabriel’s said openly.

— Is that all you think about it? That you really should be killed?

— Party pooper… — He said without looking at me.

— What?

— Leave me alone!

— But… Gabriel!

— Go away!

— Did you have any nightmare lately?

— No… They finally stopped…

— Or the shadow just got tired of you… and now it’s planning something else.

— Just let me sleep…

Gabriel wasn’t a friend anymore. I don’t have any idea if it was really me or if it was the rabbit stew. All I know is, on the morning of that same day, he was still sad and grateful for my presence.

That night, I tried to see if there was anything different happening in the kitchen. I even tried that old empty room where I was grounded. Nothing. I went outside through the window and it was getting smaller for me to pass through it. Still, it was an easier way to have some air while living in the orphanage.

In the dark, under some cover provided by the house, I reached out my arms to let them get wet with the rain. Then I saw something curious. A small yellow floating light was flying around the backyard. I was happy seeing it, almost as if it was radiating some heat, a comfortable one, like my sadness was being taken away.

Suddenly, something dark came out of the ground and held the little light. I ran to help it and the shadow thing ate it before I could reach it. In the silence of that night, I heard someone screaming and, this time, it was the little light…

On the following day, a new boy came to the orphanage and his name was Felix. He had light skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. When they showed he would be staying in the same room as Gabriel and I, I saw he was pretty worried about something. When he was alone in the room with us, I asked him what was worrying him.

— My luck! — He simply said. — My luck! I can’t find my luck!

— Your luck…? — I couldn’t understand at first, as he was as young as David was when I arrive at the orphanage. — How did you lose your luck?

— I don’t know… I was worried about coming here… and them my luck came here to see if the place was good or not… but my luck didn’t come back! — He said almost crying.

I swallowed it dry.

— Was your luck… a small yellow floating light? — I asked.

— Yes! It is! — He said excitedly. — Did you see it?

— Unfortunately… yes… — I didn’t want to look in his eyes. They were so happy at that moment. We stayed in silence until I look back to him. He was weeping.

— Something bad happened… I’m so unlucky I even lost my luck!

— I’m afraid… something has… ate it last night.

— No… my poor luck… Did my luck said anything?

— I’m afraid not… I just saw it flying on the backyard and then… a shadow thing got it… Did you see those shadow things before?

— No… only luckies… — He laid on his bed, still weeping.

— I’m sorry Felix… this isn’t a good place.

— David, right?

— Yes.

— How you got here?

— First, my mom died on a car accident, I was with her and I ended up like this after surviving. Then, some years ago, my dad had a heart attack and he couldn’t survive it.

— They said Gabriel was your cousin… Is that right?

— Yes. His father died while working and his mom died not feeling well about it… He came here first, and then my dad died, so I was sent here.

— My parents are still out there… but they didn’t come back home yet.

— Or maybe they died… — said Gabriel, pretty annoyed.

— Gabriel! — I shouted.

— I’m so unlucky even my parents left me… — Felix said turning to cry.

— No! That’s not how it works! — I tried to calm him down.

— There are shadows eating people in the dark! — Gabriel said trying to scare him.

— Gabriel! Stop! — I shouted at him once more and he just giggled at me. At that moment, I saw his eyes glowing with a green light under the shadow formed by the bunk bed.

— No… — I got to my knees, still looking at him. — They got you…

— What are you talking about, David? — Gabriel said, ignoring me as if something possessed him.

— You know my name… Say my name…

— Haha, you really got mad at me!

— Gabriel, you are out of your mind!

— Duck you! I don’t care!

— What happened to him? — Felix asked. — Is he always like this?

— No… He was still pretty sad about losing his legs to one of the shadows until yesterday, but then they give everyone this rabbit stew and he is acting like this. — Gabriel made fart noises with his mouth. — He never did something like this and it’s being almost four years we have been here!

— Shouldn’t he see a doctor? — Felix suggested.

— They don’t care about us here. They never cared.

— What will we do then?

— I have no idea… I was able to escape from the older cook, but I was only able to do that letting one of the shadows eat her.

— … eat her! — Gabriel laughed out loud, still making some fart noises.

— Please — I asked Felix — don’t eat the rabbit stew if you don’t want to end like this.

After that, Felix understood what we should be doing. We tried to avoid being seen together and to tell each other if we saw anything strange, as Felix was supposed to be someone like David. I couldn’t tell anything about being an android to him, unfortunately, and we didn’t eat any rabbit stew as long as we were there. On the other hand, we were getting skinny, while the other kids were getting fatter. Our strength was drained and the others were increasing. Our bodies hurt a lot and we avoided doing some heavy exercise for some days and, at the end of the same month, Felix found something in the backyard while the other kids were inside.

— Look, David! It’s so cute! — He said, holding a white rabbit with strange vivid green eyes.

— Oh no… it’s a rabbit! — I said thinking on the rabbit stew. — This will not bring us any luck!

— Can you help me hide it?

— I… can try… but that doesn’t mean we will be able to keep it forever! Tomorrow is Wednesday again, Felix! If we don’t feed it, we will just kill it… and…

— Please, David… It will give us some luck!

— Okay… but the rabbit needs to stay hidden until Thursday. I want to see what they will do without their rabbit.

I tried to caress the rabbit in the same way Felix was doing and the rabbit bit me.

— Ouch! This thing is crazy! — I said, seeing the blood from my pointing finger dripping.

— You must have scared him!

I looked to my hand and I saw the scar made by the butterfly years ago.

— Felix… — I said. — Let this rabbit go… now…

— No! It’s mine! You don’t understand! It will give me luck!

— Felix! Please! Look at my hand!

— It’s not its fault!

— No! Not this bite! This other one! I got it from a butterfly!

— What? — Out of his curiosity, he looked at my hand.

— Can you see this?

— Yes… it’s ugly… but… how a butterfly bit you?

— It wasn’t an actual butterfly… it was a shadow thing… and the last time I had let those things touch a person, they ate him whole…

— No! My little rabbit is just scared!

— No Felix… the shadows… they got you… this rabbit is a shadow thing and it will kill you… I’m sorry…

— No, you are lying…

— I wanted to be lying! However, this only means… it already got you… You will not be able to let it go anymore… I’m sorry…

— No… I just wanted some luck… — Felix let the rabbit go and it ran away from us, stopping at James’ feet.

— Thank you — said James, with a grin on his face, holding the rabbit by the ears. — I was looking for this little pest!

— So… is that how you are making people feel so weird lately, cooking a shadow thing? — I asked.

— Shadow thing? — Said James. — These things don’t exist! Even if they did, I wouldn’t cook them! They would kill me first! — And he laughed out loud.

I saw Felix about to cry seeing the poor rabbit going away. I thought for a moment and I possibly would be mistaken. I quickly searched for something on the ground and I found a good stone to throw. I got a little closer to James and I threw it at his head. I missed it and it got on his hump, but it hurt way more than I thought it would. The rabbit ran away again and James looked at me furiously, showing all the greenness in his eyes.

— YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT! — He said with a twisted hoarse voice.

I stepped back, turned around and ran away. He didn’t follow me outside. I looked for Felix, but I couldn’t find him. I felt that creepy feeling that something was happening again and I shouted his name around the house. All I could find was the rabbit and it let me carry it this time.

I took the animal to our bedroom, already losing my hope about Felix and I found him there.

— Where were you?! — I shouted at him.

— I ran when I heard what the cook said… Thank you, you got my rabbit! — He ignored me and just hugged the animal.

— This thing will still kill you.

— No! He knows that we saved him!

— It doesn’t matter… Those things need to be fed and they simply eat people… — Looking at it so closely, I could see something. — Look at its teeth!

Felix turned the animal and showed its muzzle carefully, showing that, rather than normal rabbit teeth, the little animal had normal human teeth.

— I… I think its sick… Where are your cute teeth? — said Felix, asking the rabbit.

— This thing isn’t an animal, even less a rabbit… — I explained. — It’s a human being…

— A human? It’s impossible… or can it?

— I don’t know anymore. The way James said those things… I don’t doubt he made something pretty crazy here…

— Can we still keep it?

— Whatever happened here, it will not end well Felix. I’m sorry.

— Can I keep it?

— Yes… — Felix shouted with excitement after I said that. — I’m sorry Felix… It was good to meet you…

Felix ignored me:

— I will call you Luck! — He said, holding the weird rabbit in the air. — You will bring luck to me!

James didn’t bother us the rest of the day and we didn’t go down to have our dinnertime.

Next morning… Next morning…

Next morning, I got out of my upper bunk bed to wake up Gabriel. I found blood and his neck was all bitten up… I looked into Felix and the same bites were all around including his hands and his face.

Someone broke into the bedroom. It was the police… and I had blood in my hands… and my mouth…