A beady eye bore into my own, though I wasn't sure what message it was trying so hard to convey. The other eye was sloppily covered with a black eye patch. We engaged in a silent staring contest until I could feel my eyes begin to water.

“Is everything alright, sir?”

I straightened my back and looked up to the worried expression of the shopkeeper. His eyes looked a bit red behind thick lenses and the dim lighting of the shop, but they bore no ill will. Reddish-black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that had bunches hanging over his shoulder. “I-I'm good, thank you! I'm just browsing.”

I couldn't sound more out of it if I tried.

Thankfully, the shopkeeper either failed to recognize my nervousness or chose to ignore it. “I see.” He smiled and turned to return to the front desk. “Please take your time. Let me know if you need any assistance.”

I thanked him and turned back to the object of my interest. In the very center of the store was a box with all its sides labeled “Clearance”. I had originally planned to enter the store to buy the latest SquishPuff plushie that was out, but something had pulled me to this very spot. In the box were some mismatched toys; a couple of those Barbra dolls, a toy from some popular franchise, a worn shark plushie, and so forth. There were also two patchwork animals; a cat and a rabbit respectively.

It was the rabbit that seemed to call out to me. It looked thin and flimsy; more for a rambunctious child than a plushie enthusiast. The ears drooped over its face, attempting to hide its gaze. But there was still something a little unsettling about it. It definitely belonged in this recycling bin the rest of them.

Its cat partner didn't look much better, but cats were infinitely better than rabbits. If asked to pick between the two, there would be no contest.

I finally managed to rip my gaze from the clearance box and made my way to the back of the store, where SquishPuffs lined the shelves in an array of bright and pastel colors. I found a baby blue cat and picked it up. I raised it up, admiring the softness and design.

“Aren't you just the cutest thing~?” I resisted the urge to hold it close to me, but only barely. Then my attention went to a panda bear that was sitting beside the cat, and I switched over to that. Then to the next one, and the one after. After a few minutes of fawning, I finally realized what I was doing and calmly put the dog plush I somehow managed to grab in my reverie back on the shelf.

This store was a couple of towns over from where I lived, so I didn't expect to see anyone I knew. If a classmate saw me here, gushing over the adorableness of plushies, it would only invite a new wave of bullying that I didn't want to deal with.

No.

The last thing I needed to do was stand out.

After mulling over my choices for a few minutes, I decided to take the blue cat plushie I'd found first. I held it tightly in my arms and starting walking up to the front desk.

But of course, I had to make the mistake of looking back at particular spot.

The patchwork cat had apparently been picked up by someone, so now the rabbit was the only thing left. It's single eyed gaze seemed to be calling out to me, begging me to come back for it. I wanted to turn my back to it. I didn't want something so weird sitting in my collection.

I wasn't sure why I was even assigning emotions to that misshapen collection of fabric.

Just turn away, Ryan. It'll be fine.

I tried to turn around, but I stopped. I tried again, and found myself spinning around again. Resigning myself, I strode over the the clearance box and grabbed the rabbit by one of its arms before taking my place in line. I grumbled over my lack of restraint, but there was no point crying over it now.

Once I found myself at the counter, the shopkeeper gave me a gentle smile. “Did you find everything okay?”

“Uh... yeah. I think so.”

“I'm glad.” He took the cat and rabbit from my hands and began to scan them and put them into a bag. His hands worked swiftly and skillfully. Once I paid, I took the bags from him and started to make my way to the door. “Have a good day!” he called out after me.

The trip back home was uneventful, most of it spent sitting on a mostly empty bus. By the time I arrived at the bus stop close to my house, the sun had long since set. Backpack slung over one shoulder and a bag of plushies in the other hand, I ran back to my house and was going to run up the stairs when a voice stopped me.

“Where were you out to so late?”

Mom stood by the doorway, arms crossed tightly over her chest and a stern expression on her face. She saw the bag in my hand and seemed to sink a little in exasperation. “Please don't tell me you were at that toy store again.”

“I only bought two this time.” I thought that I had exercised a lot more self restraint than usual.

“That's not the point!” She sighed and put her head into her hands. “Ryan, I... I can't talk to you right now. Please go to your room.”

Way to make a guy feel bad about buying something for himself. Not feeling like starting an argument, I did as she said and walked up to my room. I closed the door behind me and took the two plushies out of the bag. The adorable cat plushie naturally went onto the bed, along with the dozens of similar ones.

I looked down to the patchwork rabbit in my hand, standing out against the more cutesy plushies. Seriously, what had come over me to make me grab this thing? It wasn't like I had an especially keen interest in rabbits.

“Really...” I muttered to myself. There really was no reason.

It was tossed unceremoniously onto my desk before I flopped down into my bed,

I knew that Mom wasn't as upset that I was out late than at the reason I was out. She was not subtle about her dislike of my more “feminine” interests. “Boys don't like this sort of thing,” she'd always tell me. “No girl will want to date a boy that's girlier than them.”

Joke's on her; I wasn't even interested in dating.

I took my phone out of my pocket and stared at the reflection on the screen. Dirty blonde bangs were starting to cover my eyes. Green eyes stared blankly ahead, giving off the impression that I didn't care much. I surely didn't look the part of someone who would be interested in cute and cuddly things.

My classmates certainly wouldn't think so either. They made that fact very well known every time they caught me doing something that they didn't agree with. And since I wasn't strong enough to fight back, that only seemed to encourage them to keep it up. It only made me dread going to school.

If it was really too much to be myself around my family and peers, maybe it would be better if I wasn't around.

A loud thud jolted me out of my train of thought. Looking for the source of the sound, I found one of my textbooks had fallen to the ground by my desk. It rabbit doll was laid out next to where the book had been. It almost looked as if the doll had knocked the book over itself.

In any case, it was time to stop dwelling in my dark thoughts for the night. I reached over to turn off the lamp beside my bed and buried myself under my blankets and plushies. The last thing I saw before falling asleep was the single eye of the rabbit doll, staring deep into my soul.

“Please take out your textbooks and work on the equations from pages 57 to 59. You can work in groups, but don't be too loud.”

The sound of chairs scraping against the tiled floor filled the air as students went to group up with friends. I propped my head up with one hand and used the other to pull out my textbook and pencil. Unzipping the bag revealed a beady eye.

What?

I felt a wave of panic wash over me.

Why was that damn rabbit doll in my bag? I was pretty sure that I didn't try to slip it in!

Trying to play it off and not attract attention, I pushed the rabbit aside in the bag and grabbed what I needed before quickly closing it. The last thing I needed was for someone to see it and start teasing me.

“Hey Rylie!”

Too late.

Materializing behind my back was none other than Gary Thornman. It wasn't much of a stretch to say that he was my most enthusiastic tormentor. He kept his brown hair cut short and spiked up, as well as shaved on the sides. It brought about the image of grass growing on his head. Flanked on either side of him were his lackeys. They were only really there to agree with whatever came out of Gary's mouth and to sneer menacingly at me.

I decided to try to ignore him and continue to work on my equations. He didn't seem to like that, because he decided to lean all of his weight to my right side, sliding the pencil across the page and marking the desk as well. “Don't ignore me, you girly boy.”

The lackeys snorted over his comment.

Trying not to met his eyes, I tried to calm my nerves. “I'm trying to do my assignment. Please leave me alone.”

“Oh?” The weight on my side was lifted. After a moment of silence, I chanced a sideways peek at him. One eyebrow was up, as if to wonder if I had really just tried to talk back to him. “You know, we've only been nice to you up until now.”

So pushing me around in the halls and classes, calling me icky names, and threatening to cause me pain was them being nice? I suppressed the urge to snort at those words.

He ignored me and continued, “But if you're gonna be like that, then so be it.” His smile he shot at me was full of nothing but malice. Before I could move, I saw him grab for my backpack and forced it open. Then he held it over my head and shook its contents out, hitting me with textbooks and a pencil case.

I watched in horror as the rabbit doll fell out with everything else, bouncing harmlessly off my head and landing in the center of my desk.

Silence filled the classroom.

Classmates who had been absorbed in their own group project paused to stare at the scene unfolding before them. My desk neighbor, a guy who normally looked dead-eyed all the time, looked over in worry.

What broke the silence was shrill laughter. Gary was bent over my desk, laughing his vile heart out. The lackeys stood dumbfounded for a moment before they belatedly joined in on the laughing. As my ears began to ring with the sound, they finally calmed themselves enough to speak.

“What a cute doll you have there, Rylie!”

“It's my little cousin's,” I blurted out. “She came to visit last night. She must have put that in there. It's not mine!” Panic was rising in my chest as I rambled on.

I'd tried so hard to keep this away from my classmates for this very reason!

As I reached up to grab the it away, Gary just held the rabbit out of my reach. “Look at this, guys! He plays with dolls!” A few people snickered, but the rest of them just stared at us. No one was going to get mixed up with this.

No one was going to help me.

Something was beginning to bubble up from inside.

“You know it's not very becoming of a man to carry around dolls like this, right?” Gary sneered down at me.

It splashed around inside, scorching everything it came in contact with.

“We're only trying to help you, Rylie. We don't want people getting the wrong idea, you hear?” He tossed the rabbit to the right hand lackey. Right lackey didn't know what to do for a second, so he just held it in his hands and stared at it. Seeing me reach my hand out for it, he quickly chucked it over the Left lackey. It became a back-and-forth between the three of them.

Soon, the rabbit returned to Gary. He held its arms in either hand, pulling on them slightly. “The only people who play with dolls are girls and gays. So let me fix the situation for you.”

“Gary, don't you dare--!”

But I was too late.

I was forced to watch as Gary yanked on either side with all his strength, ripping the right arm off the rabbit. Then the two pieces were dropped onto the ground. Deranged laughter rang in my ears.

It took a moment to realize that it was my own.

The next moment, I flung my entire body into Gary's, slamming him into the ground. I sat up and began punching him with as much strength as I could muster, landing hits to his face and chest. The resentment that had been building up over the last couple of years was boiling over, turning my entire world dark.

Gary was the reason that it had come to this. From day one of my freshman year, he singled me out and went out of his way to cause me humiliation and discomfort. It caused people to make fun of me in the hallways and avoid me during gym or free periods. No one would dare approach me, much less try to be friends with me. He had ensured that my high school existence was a living hell.

And why? Because I liked plushies and dolls? Because I liked my hair a little longer? Because I didn't care about sports or cars or whatever the guys were into this week? Why did that make me an acceptable target?!

Hot liquid anger escaped through tears, streaming down my face.

“It's.. all... your fault!” I put even more force into my punches. Gary was strangely still while I continued my barrage, but I didn't care at that point. “Go to hell! I don't want your 'kindness'!”

I was forcibly pulled off and to my feet. Our math teacher, a man standing at a towering 6' 2”, looked between me and Gary. Gary slowly sat up, covering his face with his hands.

“Someone explain what's going on,” the teacher said simply. But it was not so much of a request as it was a demand.

Gary lowered his hands, exposing the small bruises I'd managed to leave on him. “He just attacked me, sir! We were just chatting and having fun, and then he just went crazy!”

I pulled away from the teacher to glare daggers at Gary. “You dumped my stuff and destroyed my cousin's rabbit!”

“You're not fooling anyone with that. And no I didn't! It was already like that!”

“Everyone saw you rip him up!”

The teacher held a hand between the two of us. “Enough,” he said. He looked over to the rest of the class. “Did anyone here see what happened?”

No one responded for a moment.

Finally, a girl three desks over raised her hand. “I... I saw them talking. Then Ryan attacked Gary. That's what I saw.” There were murmurs of agreement among the other classmates. I looked to my neighbor, hoping he would refute these claims. He looked like he wanted to say something. I had the slimmest hope of being saved.

But then he looked down and said nothing.

With that, my hopes were shattered into a thousand shards.

The teacher sighed and addressed me. “I don't know what happened to cause this, but picking fights is not the answer. If you had a problem with a classmate, you should have told me.”

That ignited another spark of anger. If this could have been solved by telling the adults, this would have been resolved ages ago! But no one bothered to follow up or watch for themselves. They gave me empty promises that they'd “look into it”, but nothing but more bullying came of it.

The teacher continued, ignoring my reaction to his words, “I'm going to have to let both of your families know about this. You'll need to come with me to the office while we contact your parents.”

Great. I needed another reason to disappoint my parents. And when they realize what the fight was actually about, their opinion of me was going to drop even more. They might even pull me out of school in shame and put me somewhere else. Not that the prospect was a bad one, but to do it because they were ashamed of me left a bad taste in my mouth.

With no recourse and no one to back me up, I resigned myself to my fate. I collected my things from the floor, including the rabbit and his torn right arm. Then I followed the teacher and Gary out of the classroom and down the hallway. Our heavy footsteps echoed in the otherwise empty hall. My thoughts were in disarray the whole time, and I could barely hear anything that was going on around me. Eventually, we reached the office and were directed to sit down.

Gary's family was the first to be contacted. As he walked past me to go into the principal's office, he sneered victoriously.

As I sat in the reception room, my hands became sweaty against my knees. Now that the rush that compelled me to act had fizzled out entirely, I was left cold and afraid. Trying to distract myself, I looked up to stare at the receptionist from across the room. She sat behind a metal desk, typing away on her keyboard. Her light brown hair was tied back tightly into a bun, giving her a stern look.

She suddenly paused, startling me. “Rare to see you here, Ryan.”

“Um... yeah...” I didn't know how to respond to her attempt at conversation.

“I assume he started this?”

I paused for a moment to think about my response. “He did... but I hit him first.”

She nodded, as if confirming something to herself. “I see. I'm glad.”

“Huh?”

I was left dumbfounded. What kind of adult is glad that a kid threw the first punch? She noticed my face and chuckled. “I don't usually condone violence. But that kind of kid won't listen to words.”

At that moment, Gary reemerged from the principal's office, still smiling. It seemed that things went well during his call home. He strutted past me and left the office. My math teacher stood by the door, waiting for me. The receptionist shot me one last reassuring smile as I marched towards my doom.

“Best of luck, kid.”

To say that my parents were utterly pissed at me would be a massive understatement. They promised that this incident would be “properly dealt with”. My only comfort was that Dad was kind of proud of me for standing up for myself, but he had to change his tune quickly when Mom got after him for it.

No one approached me for the rest of the day. Even Gary and his goons kept their distance, although they were probably warned to keep away by the teachers. I used that solitude to mend the rabbit's arm and sew it back on.

I did not want to go home and face my parent's wrath. But time was cruel and ticked away steadily, bringing me closer and closer to my demise.

And then, like a trumpet announcing the end, the final bell rang out. With unsteady steps, I made my way out to the front of the school and boarded the bus. Without any input, my body was on autopilot. It was going to bring me home regardless of what I wanted.

I was going to be punished for being pushed around like a lifeless doll. For exhausting my options for getting help and losing my cool. It wasn't fair, and it was even less fair that no one seemed to care at all.

Get out and run away.

A voice rang in my head, different from the ones currently ricocheting around, Its words left me eerily calm.

But rational thought was still present. Where would I go if I were to just run off? A hundred or so dollars wasn't going to last me long.

That's a future-you problem. Or do you want to face your parents now?

Well, the voice had a point. I took a deep breath to strengthen my resolve. The bus stopped, and I hopped off with some random people. It was three stops earlier than the one by my house, but that was the point. I allowed myself to just walk, not knowing where I was going or caring what would happen next.

After a few blocks, I ducked into an alleyway. The sun was still up in the sky, casting golden rays down onto the street in front of me. I sighed and slumped down. I then pulled off my bag and placed it on my lap. My hands opened the bag and pulled out the rabbit doll, freshly mended from its earlier abuse. Looking at it, I felt a wave of emotion wash over me. I held the doll tightly against me.

“Hahaha... What am I even doing...?” What in the ever loving hell made me think that running off to some random neighborhood was going to help me? I laughed at myself, pulling up my knees and leaning my head against it. I just wanted to disappear.

Stand up, my good sir! Moping isn't a good look for a man! That voice was now admonishing me. Just what I needed.

“Shut up. I'm not in the mood.” I answered without thinking.

Look, I can't properly help you if you won't let me. The voice sounded a little peeved.

“Help me? With what? And who am I even talking to?” I looked around, expecting to see some creepy guy standing by the entrance to the alley way. But I was the only person here.

That was even worse.

“Great. I'm talking to myself.”

Relax, you're not crazy. As for who I am? The voice seemed to ponder this for a moment. I guess you could consider me your friendly guardian angel, determined to help you get back on your feet.

Then where were you earlier, I wanted to ask. But there was no point in asking.

But it seemed to hear my silent inquiry. Yeah, that's on me. They had me pinned.

I sat in silence for a few moments, watching the sun slowly sink behind a pair of houses. The rabbit was still clutched to my chest, so I relaxed my hold and held it out in front of me. The red thread I had used for the quick mend contrasted greatly with the worn brown fabric that made up the bulk of it. A bead made up one of its eyes, and the other was still covered with that eye patch. Without thinking about it, I removed the eye patch.

What greeted me was an 'x' stitched in, made of the blackest thread I had ever seen. It was neat and compact, shining in comparison to the rest of the doll. I stared at it in awe.

Who said you could do that?! The voice practically yelled in my head. In my panic, I threw the doll away from me, slamming it into the concrete wall. But what it did next made the blood drain from my face.

The rabbit clumsily stood itself up, propping itself with the fence post. It turned to glare at me, somehow conveying annoyance with its single bead eye. My mouth hung open like a dumb goldfish, trying to find words and unable to come up with anything.

“You know it's rude to stare. I'm sure your parents taught you that, at least?” The rabbit's mouth didn't move, but it was surely coming from it. It made its way over to me in tiny little steps, stumbling around every so often. It almost tripped on a rock, but it managed to stay upright. Once it reached me, it went for the eye patch I'd removed and slid it back on. “Wow, not even a comment on how I suddenly became sentient? You're kind of boring.”

That's it. I've officially lost my mind.

There was no way that a flimsy rabbit doll should be able to walk around and talk to me like it was a person.

“Boooo! And after I went and picked you specifically.”

That broke me out of my silent trance. “What? Picked me?”

The rabbit jumped a little. “Yes! A response!” It did a little twirl on my legs. “And yes, picked. I could have gone home with any random kid. But I saw your potential and had to go with you.”

Now it was spouting nonsense.

“I don't think you had a choice in the matter.”

“Oh?” It titled its head and tried to look quizzical. It almost looked adorable. “But I'm pretty sure I had to use my powers to draw you to me. You're the kind of person who likes the cutest and fluffiest animals. A raggedy rabbit like me wasn't going to have a chance. And,” it added, pointing its paw at me, “you even said you'd take my cat partner over me if forced to chose! What was I supposed to do?!”

So it heard my little rant at the toy store. I tried to look apologetic. “S-Sorry you had to hear that. I wouldn't have thought that if I knew you were listening.”

The rabbit shrugged. “It is what it is. No use crying over it now.”

But you were crying over it. I kept that to myself, hoping that it wasn't listening. It either didn't hear my remark, or chose to ignore it.

“But we need to get to know each other! Who wants to work with someone whose very name you don't know? Not me, for sure!”

I waited for a moment, before realizing that it probably wanted me to go first. “Oh, sorry. I'm Ryan Warren. Sophomore high school student. Um...” I tried to think of something interesting about me. “I... like plushies and sometimes sew stuff?”

The rabbit nodded its head. “Good enough. As for me, I am the legendary and amazing Cuddles, the world's cutest rabbit alive! I don't care what you refer to me as; male, female, or whatever. My job is to be the source of your power and motivation!”

I doubted the first claim, but the second part gave me pause. I'd never met someone who flat out didn't care if you called them a guy or girl. But then again, this was a sentient rabbit toy. It kind of made sense when I thought of it that way.

Reading my mind, Cuddles nodded at me. “That's right. I really don't care. Not sure why that's the part you're getting hung up on. You humans are weird creatures.”

“Says the doll.”

I burst out in laughter, with Cuddles breaking not a moment later. This whole situation was just silly. An hour ago, I was dreading going home and facing the consequences of my actions. Now I was casually chatting with a small rabbit like it was the most normal thing in the world. I still thought I could be hallucinating, but if I was, this wasn't too bad.

Once we calmed down, Cuddles hopped off of my legs and walked over to stand by my right side. “Now that we've got the introductions out of the way, let's get down to business!”

Of course my brain immediately supplied the lyrics to that childhood movie. To defeat the--

“Stop that.”

Cuddles was clearly not amused. I took control of my thoughts so that they could continue. “Your world is infested with all sorts of evil monsters that your untrained eyes can't normally see. They can cause terrible natural disasters, and sometimes even compel ordinary people to do the most awful things. Clearly, they need to be stopped.”

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. Monsters? Where had this come from? “I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe. Monsters? In this day and age? I'm more likely to believe in talking animals than scary monsters.”

Cuddles stomped their feet in irritation. “Of course you say that! You can't see them!” They suddenly stopped their tantrum and looked up at me. “But I'm happy to remove that limitation, if you'd like.”

“You can?” Somewhere in my mind, there was a voice chiding me for going along with this. Trying to escape from reality like this wasn't going to help me in the long run.

But there was another part of me that wanted to latch on. It wanted to believe that there was something more than what was on the surface. I was living a life where being me was worthy of being scorned or ridiculed. I was tired of living that life.

Cuddles almost looked like they were smiling. “Let's work together to stop the monsters, Ryan.” They held out their right arm, inviting me to take it and shake it. I reached my hand out, ready to take it.

BRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNG

A loud ringing noise pierced the air, forcibly bringing me back to reality. Looking around, the sun had almost set entirely. The neighborhood was flooded in a dark gold light. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, wondering who could possibly want to talk to me. Looking at the caller ID, my blood chilled.

Caller: Mom

“Don't answer that.” The rabbit made to push the phone away, but I was frozen to the spot. My resolve was quickly faltering, and the fear that ringing brought made me shiver. Cuddles waved at me to get my attention. “If you work with me, I'll keep you safe from everyone who wants to cause you harm. Even if they're blood.”

I looked between the phone and Cuddles; between reality and an escapist fantasy. I could be the bigger person and accept that I was in trouble, potentially lose my plushies, and even get pulled out of school to protect the image of my family.

I could go along with Cuddles the sentient rabbit doll and defeat some evil monsters that plagued our world. It was more of a premise for a make believe world, but it sounded a lot better.

I took the phone in my hand and switched it off. Then I turned back to Cuddles and grabbed their hand. “Let's do this.”