Mipsy didn't partake in planning. She rarely partook in discussions regarding decision making, and most of the time, she didn't even understand a lot of it. All she knew was that these were her friends, and that these rabbits, Kevin and Gerry and Number Two, that they'd been the reason any of them had gotten out to begin with, so she stuck by them because she knew they would protect her, and given her issues now, she needed protection, much as it pained her to admit it to herself. So Mipsy stood idly by and she listened, and she watched, but mostly she just was there. She was there because there was nowhere else for her to be, and nobody objected to her presence.
But none of that hurt the most. What hurt the most was that she'd not been like this before. Before THEM. Before the poorly executed experiment. She'd been able to think clearly, she'd been able to blink in unison, she'd been able to form coherent sentences instead of fragments. That's what hurt her the most, was not what she'd become, but what she had been. Sitting outside and watching rain drip from the leaves of a bush, Mipsy couldn't help but feel like if only she were still who she'd been...maybe they'd...maybe they'd have more use for her. Maybe she could actually be of great help. She used to be smart. She used to be cunning, brilliant. After all, in her section of the lab, she had to be. She was one of the original Special Seven, after all. *** "We have the best spot in the lab," Meadow said, smiling as she looked over through her cage at Mipsy, who smiled back and nodded. "Indeed we do," Mipsy said, "We get the big window, the bright warm morning sun. I don't know how the other sections live in the darkness and steel, but I'd go bonkers without this light. It helps me feel like I'm still really alive." "It certainly cuts the dread," Richardson said, chiming in from across the table in his own cage, "You're not wrong about that. Makes things so much seem so much simpler, less menacing." Mipsy smiled as she curled back up into a ball and laid her head back down, flopping her ears over her face as she drifted back off into a light early morning doze. She didn't have any experiments planned for today. She could sleep all day if she wanted to, or head over to see Richardsons sister and play some games with her when THEY weren't around. Yes, Mipsy was going to have an absolutely wonderful day. *** "Mipsy?" a voice asked, distracting her from the dripping leaves as she turned and spotted Number Two coming up behind her; he continued, "What're you doing out here? It's cold and wet. You should come inside before you get sick." "I'm not child," she said coldly, and then, feeling bad, added, "Sorry. You...right, I just...want be....um...I like rain." "I understand. It gets a bit cramped in there from time to time," Number Two said, shaking himself off as he sat near her and watched the leaves, "Rain is soothing. Rain is calming. I can understand why you'd like it. Are you okay?" "...I am...stupid. Didn't use to be stupid, but I stupid now, and...hurts. Hurts me," Mipsy said, sniffling. "You're not stupid, Mipsy, and even if you were, that isn't your fault, that's THEM," Number Two said, "Why do you think you're-" "I used be able spell good," Mipsy said, tears welling up in her eyes, "I used...be one of...Specials." "You were a Special Seven?" Number Two asked, genuinely surprised by this news, as she nodded and sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her paws, before touching the wire on her head with a paw and looking angry. "Before this, I was special too, in other lab part, away from you guys," Mipsy said, "I was so smart." "You're still smart," Number Two said, "Please don't think you're not. You've made it this far, that alone should be telling of your intelligence. You've managed to survive despite all odds, even before the escape." "What THEY did to Number Four...THEY did to me, THEY monsters," Mipsy said, "THEY not kill Specials, but hurt us very bad. I miss..." "You miss Number Four?" Number Two asked, as Mipsy started bawling. "I miss me," she sobbed. *** When Mipsy awoke, eyes barely adjusted, she already knew she didn't recognize where she was. She stood up, wobbled and fell against the side of her cage. She glanced at the side to see a second cage beside her own, with another rabbit in it, a small rabbit, who looked very very young. She turned and looked at Mipsy, before looking back at the metal slab in the center of the room, covered in blood and fur. Mipsy began to regain consciousness a bit more now, and found herself startled by this visual. "Where am I?" she asked, her speech almost slurred. "I don't know," the smaller rabbit cried, "I don't know, I don't know but they killed him, they killed him!" "Killed who?" Mipsy asked, staggering around her cage in an almost drunken stupor, realizing THEY must've drugged her to bring her here without her knowing or causing a fuss, to make her more maleable to work with, "Who killed who?" "The rabbit, the one on the table, they killed him! He exploded!" the smaller younger rabbit cried, "He exploded!" "He...exploded?" Mipsy asked, finally finding her footing, shaking her head, "What do you mean he exploded?" "THEY blew him up!" the little rabbit cried, "THEY blew him up! I'm not...what'll they do to me?!" "They're not going to do anything to you, okay? Just relax, you'll be alright, I promise," Mipsy said. Just then the door opened back up and a janitor came in, wiping down the slab and mopping the floor. After that they sighed, shook their head and left. It was empty and quiet for a few moments, as Mipsy glanced around the room. She noticed there were no windows in this room. No sunlight. Somehow this made her feel even worse than she already did and she suddenly felt claustrophobic. She then heard the door re-open, and a pair of scientists walked in, holding a small metal device with a wire dangling from it. Mipsy looked at the cage with the small rabbit in it, as one of the scientists picked the cage up and carried it away, with Mipsy looking on in terror, until she noticed the other scientist standing over her own cage now. THEY pulled the top hatch open, reached inside and grabbed her, taking her out and walking with her over to the table, where they strapped her down and attached the node with the wire to her head. She felt an incredible surge of pain coursing through her skull, and she began to thrash, best she could given being strapped down, until she finally blacked out. When she awoke, she couldn't think clearly, her mind felt clouded. She looked around and noticed Richardson and Meadow talking, but she could barely parse what it was they were saying. Mipsy tried to stand, but she couldn't, and her legs just gave way. THEY had sedated her again, apparently. So she lay there, and she suddenly realized why she couldn't understand her friends. Because she literally couldn't understand them anymore. Whatever THEY had done to her had fried her brain so badly, and as she'd later learn, accidentally, that she'd forgotten how to speak. Mipsy spent the next few months teaching herself to talk again, and trying to rebuild her friendships, but she never really felt the same. Especially not among the other Specials in her lab section. So she just tried to stay in the pack, completely ignored, until finally, someone took notice of her. *** "You know," Number Two said, pawing the ground they were sitting at, looking at his paws, his one full ear half lowered, "I used to be afraid of myself. I used to be afraid of the rabbit that I could've become if I let myself. I worked so hard to think logically, to negate any emotions and only use reason to get through things that it didn't really let me connect to anyone else. That may be fine for others, I don't know, but it turns out it wasn't fine for me. I needed to feel things. I didn't go back to the lab to save everyone, I mean, I knew everyone was in danger but..." Mipsy cocked her head and sniffled, looking at him, tears in his own eyes now. "I went because I hadn't seen him in so long, and I knew that he would be in danger the moment they hit the grass because of Dodger, and yeah, I was worried and I acted irrationally, but my irrationality saved Gerald, and it saved everyone else, and it nearly got me killed, but I...I think there's maybe something good about thinking differently. Thinking differently may not have worked for me, but...it works for others. You see things others don't see. You comprehend things other don't comprehend. You're able to problem solve in ways nobody else can because their brains are so restricted to their way of thinking. Just because of what THEY did to you, Mipsy, it doesn't make you any less of a Special, you'll ALWAYS be special, with or without THEIR label. Because you're Mipsy, and you think differently, and that...that is the greatest superpower you can EVER have." Mipsy blushed and cuddled up to his side, the two of them sitting there watching the rain drip from the leaves. He was right. She WAS special. In fact, as they'd all soon learn, Mipsy may have been the most special rabbit of them all. *** MERE DAYS LATER Standing there, in the clearing with Number Two and Kevin, hot on the heels of Gerry and Dodger, Mipsy couldn't believe what she was seeing. There he was, in the flesh, right in front of her. Richardson. He was just standing there, looking all the worse for wear, but he was there. She locked eyes with him and walked forward, in front of Number Two and Kevin, and she glared at him, as he cowered under her. "You a BAD rabbit," she said coldly, and he nodded. "I know...I know, I'm so-" he started, but she interrupted. "I have LOT to say to you," she said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About
The Rabbit Collective follows a group of lab rabbits struggling with their purpose, and hopeful eventual escape. Archives
October 2020
|