That Little Pink Bunny

Cason stepped into the room with great reluctance. It seemed so deathly cold now...

No! It's just my imagination. It's not deathly cold... Just a little chilly because the window is cracked. It is snowing outside after all...

It was the first time he'd been here since Katlin had ended his life.

Dammit... I told myself I wouldn't cry...

A small, lone tear traced a path down Cason's cheek as he took in the utter emptiness of his boyfriend's former room.

I should have been there for him... I knew he was having problems... I should have been there...

A second tear followed the first, but Cason quickly swiped it away with the sleeve of his jacket.

I came here for my things. Not to cry like a baby...

Steeling himself a bit more, Cason took the first step into the room.

He stepped toward the dresser first to take up the picture frame that housed a picture of Katlin and himself during the summer at the local lake. Katlin's shaggy bronze hair had fallen into his face and Cason had reached up with pink tipped fingers to brush it away. They're best friend Jess had taken the photo.

Next were the jacket's Cason and Katlin would always trade off so that they could always smell the other even when they weren't actually together. Jess had called them "such girls", but had always smiled sweetly with her dimpled cheeks and bright blue hair giving away her real innocence behind the "smart" remark.

CD's from the computer desk.

A long forgotten borrowed movie.

A game Katlin had originally rented from Blockbuster.

I can at least take it back. I doubt his mom or dad will be thinking too much about such a trivial thing.

There were several books that lay scattered on the floor and around the room. Katlin had always been an avid reader.

Cason gently picked them up, brushed off any dust, straightened any pages that had been bent, and placed them back in their places upon the shelving units hanging in random spots on the walls.

That should be it...

Now Cason stood in the middle of the neat room with it's soft carpet and organized walls of adventure and knowledge. He was about to call his errand done and return to his grieving, alone and away in his own dark, cluttered room, when a small shape resting silently on the bed caught his eye.

It was Katlin's little pink bunny.

Cason stepped softly over to the bed and sat on the edge, hesitantly reaching out to the soft plush animal.

He really loved you, you know...

The shining black eyes, droopy ears, the little pink ribbon, Katlin had loved the bunny so much. It had been a gift from his grandmother when he was first born. She had died when he was four. He slept with it every night. It was the most taken care of item in his entire room. Even his books came second when it came to that little pink bunny.

This little pink bunny...

Cason held it in his lap, pondering it's oddly bright black eyes and stroking it's soft, comforting, fuzzy stomach thoughtfully with his thumb.

He'd never thought much about the bunny itself. It always seemed to just be an understood attachment to Katlin. Now, though, Katlin was gone. The bunny was alone.

Yet... It feels like, when I hold it, he's not fully gone... Like this bunny was so much a part of him that...

For the first time in weeks, a small smile crept onto Cason's face.

A few minutes later Cason bid farewell to Katlin's parent's and began his long, sluggish stroll through the snow back to his warm home.

Along with him, head poking out of his backpack, ears flopping about with the bounce of his step, was that little pink bunny.