submissions

Submission: Francis Rabbit
Date: April 28, 2023
Submitted by: Initial W

Me and my friend, I’ll just say “H” were thrifting for dorm stuff. We found some little rabbit in the kids’ section with an ear torn off, I guess we kinda felt bad for him… so we took him home. I joked about it being haunted after we had already taken him home and named him, H got pretty pissed off at me for that.
Francis Rabbit wasn’t doing anything too weird at first, he just moved around a little and stuff, like his pose changed. Sometimes his head was turned towards me when I woke up. H wouldn’t let it stay on his side of the dorm, so I kept Francis on my desk. One day I stayed over at my girlfriend’s house and when I came back H just started yelling at me. Asking me how I could prank him like that when I knew how superstitious he was about that ghost stuff. I was super confused… I left the dorm how it normally is, I even cleaned before I left. He grabbed my arm, pretty hard, and showed me his side of the dorm. Francis Rabbit was sitting on his bed, in the corner up next to his pillow. I tried to tell H that I wouldn’t prank him like that, that I left Francis on my desk like I always do. After that he sarcastically yelled something along the lines of “Oh so Francis just got sad you left and decided to cuddle with me?”
I’m definitely not as superstitious as H is but I do believe in ghost stuff, so that kinda gave me an idea. I told him maybe Francis did move on his own.
H turned white as paper; it was the first time I said something about Francis being haunted without saying it just to tease him. Me and H decided right then to sleep at a friend’s place for the night. To see what Francis would do, neither of us had been out at night until I stayed at my girlfriend’s… we don’t have great social lives.
We got back to the dorm a little after lunch the next day, H made me open the door to our room. The goddamn rabbit fell face-first on the floor in front of us. It was leaning against the door. H and I jumped back. I went to grab the stupid stuffed animal, maybe throw it away? I’m not sure what I was planning to do, but when I looked at its face I stopped. The fabric under the buttons was wet, it looked like he was crying. I didn’t even want to show H, it freaked me out so bad. I just told him that I’d lock Francis in my closet at night just as a precaution.
H is a heavy sleeper so he doesn’t know this, and he can’t find out. But ever since we decided to lock Francis in the closet, it bangs on that door every night. I rarely sleep, and when I do, it’s only when I open the door. I can only sleep if I grab that rabbit and let it stay in bed with me.

Addition: W and H included a photo of Francis Rabbit in their dorm (not shown), we also got the opportunity to come and visit Francis for ourselves, his unnerving aura is undeniable.

Submission: My Sunshine
Date: June 3, 2019
Submitted by: Anonymous

Honestly, now I’m not so sure he ever wanted me to be happy. Why else would he plague me like this? I can’t do anything now. I can’t get out of bed; I can’t stop thinking about it.
My Sunshine was there when he was alive, it was just… managed better. His death set something off, in me or it I’m not sure. I never told him when it was there, it never did anything anyway. It would just stand there, so I figured it was harmless. I never told him the name I gave it either, which is how I know it can’t just be in my head.
The night before his death we got in a fight. It was my birthday. We spent it together because I didn’t want a big thing. I was sitting in my kitchen; I don’t remember what I was doing. Then he came in holding two cupcakes. I smiled. He started singing, not the normal happy birthday song. He started singing “You are My Sunshine”. My Sunshine. I asked him how he knew that name. He was confused, he had just chosen a different song because he knew I thought the happy birthday song was stupid. It was too late for those realizations; I was already spiraling. I got mad at him, he got mad at me, and I asked him to leave.
I’ll spare the details of his death, of the phone calls, and the funeral. It’s the aftermath that matters. My Sunshine has teeth. And it sings. It sings with his voice. Every time I’m alone I hear that song, coming out of its toothy grin. At first, I tried to surround myself with people. So, he couldn’t keep torturing me. Eventually, I just gave up. Now I just hope I’ll go deaf soon, so I don’t have to do it myself.