Rabbit Hole by Tyrel Pinnegar
Paranormal Horror - 14,800 Words
This is the story of a lonely girl with an affinity for the macabre. Although she had never been the type to believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help but indulge fantasies of romance beyond the veil. However, when a cocksure spirit with a dangerous infatuation drags her deep into a private purgatory of blood and decay, what was once an innocent fantasy quickly becomes a precarious negotiation that could cost the girl her life.
I dusted off my childhood NES, plugged it into my vintage CRT television, and switched it on.
“Updating Firmware”
This is the story of a man named Leon Muskman.
Leon wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about things like anatomy, physiology, or even biology in general. But he did think that science was very neat.
One day, Leon went to the pet shop, where he saw a budgerigar. He purchased the budgerigar for forty-four dollars. This was far more than the budgerigar was worth. But while the other budgerigars in the shop were green, this one was blue. So of course, that was the one he wanted.
Once he arrived home, Leon made a declaration:
“I am the owner of this budgerigar now, so I am the one who will decide how it works!”
And so Leon set to work. He pinned the bird to a dissection tray, and made an incision to marvel at the intricate mechanisms inside.
He was very disappointed with what he saw. The intestines, for instance.
“Look at all this mess! Just squiggles and gobbledygook! What function could these possibly serve?”
And so he cut them out, and began to pull. Leon was taken aback by the utter length of the tract.
“Look at all this wasted potential! Imagine how much bird seed it would have cost me to maintain this, if I hadn’t caught it so quickly.”
He then turned his attention to the kidneys, and the liver. Now these he recognized. He had seen them before in the meat isle at the grocery store.
“Now these… I know what these are for. These are for cleaning, and scrubbing the blood!”
But Leon’s excitement quickly soured. Again, he began to think of the bird seed. These days, a bag of bird seed sold for three, four, or even five dollars! And this liver was so big, and took up so much space. It would certainly cost him dearly. So he cut them out, and tossed them in the bin.
Now it was time to evaluate the lungs. By his estimation, they weren’t doing their job very well at all. They huffed and puffed so weakly, and drew very little air.
“These lungs are not performing nearly well enough! I won’t have such lazy layabouts in my budgerigar!”
So they too, were tossed in the bin.
All that was left in the budgerigar’s chest was its heart. Now, Leon knew that hearts were a vital part of any living organism. But this one… this one was dark, and sickly, and it wasn’t beating. Not even a little bit.
“Goodness me, does nothing pull its weight in this accursed bird?”
And with that, he plucked the heart from the budgerigar’s chest and disposed of it.
Now here was an efficient, finely-tuned machine, Leon thought proudly to himself. But being a thorough man, Leon gave the budgerigar one last look-over.
The eyes. The eyes could stay. How could the budgerigar possibly see without eyes? He chuckled at the absurdity of the thought.
The feathers could stay as well, he decided. After all, appearances are important.
Ah, here it was. The brain. The most vital and important of them all. The leader of the organism. The most intelligent of all the organs.
Leon valued intelligence.
Finally, his work was complete. With a needle and thread, Leon sewed the budgerigar shut. He removed the pins from its ankles and wingtips, and held his handiwork delicately in the palm of his hand.
“Beautiful.”
And with that, he threw the budgerigar high into the air, to watch it soar gracefully through the sky.
But instead, it simply fell to the ground with a dull thud. Much to Leon’s surprise, the budgerigar was dead.
“Stupid budgerigar,” Leon thought to himself. “It must have been dying when I bought it.”
Rabbit Hole by Tyrel Pinnegar
Paranormal Horror - 14,800 Words
This is the story of a lonely girl with an affinity for the macabre. Although she had never been the type to believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help but indulge fantasies of romance beyond the veil. However, when a cocksure spirit with a dangerous infatuation drags her deep into a private purgatory of blood and decay, what was once an innocent fantasy quickly becomes a precarious negotiation that could cost the girl her life.
happy 3rd bday to half life funny u have been very important to my art journey
I thought I’d give publishing Rabbit Hole without bad retailer named after good rainforest a shot, but as a result it’s been difficult to gauge how many people I’ve reached, or hear their thoughts on the story.
If you’ve had a chance to read Rabbit Hole, please get in touch and let me know what you think!
Rabbit Hole by Tyrel Pinnegar
Paranormal Horror - 14,800 Words
This is the story of a lonely girl with an affinity for the macabre. Although she had never been the type to believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help but indulge fantasies of romance beyond the veil. However, when a cocksure spirit with a dangerous infatuation drags her deep into a private purgatory of blood and decay, what was once an innocent fantasy quickly becomes a precarious negotiation that could cost the girl her life.
Rabbit Hole has its first ever review, courtesy of @likegemstone on Royal Road! Rabbit Hole definitely has a little bit of Coraline in its DNA, so the thought of it sitting on a shelf alongside @neil-gaiman's work is a lovely thought. Perhaps someday.
(And yes, I took care of that typo. Thanks Gem.)
Rabbit Hole by Tyrel Pinnegar
Paranormal Horror - 14,800 Words
This is the story of a lonely girl with an affinity for the macabre. Although she had never been the type to believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help but indulge fantasies of romance beyond the veil. However, when a cocksure spirit with a dangerous infatuation drags her deep into a private purgatory of blood and decay, what was once an innocent fantasy quickly becomes a precarious negotiation that could cost the girl her life.
This is a REALLY good line.
Rabbit Hole by Tyrel Pinnegar
Paranormal Horror - 14,800 Words
This is the story of a lonely girl with an affinity for the macabre. Although she had never been the type to believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help but indulge fantasies of romance beyond the veil. However, when a cocksure spirit with a dangerous infatuation drags her deep into a private purgatory of blood and decay, what was once an innocent fantasy quickly becomes a precarious negotiation that could cost the girl her life.
