Ruby's Nightmare

"Alright, Max!" said Ruby in her nightgown as she escorted her little brother in his Super Bunny pajamas to bed. "What story do you wanna read tonight?"

"Hmm," Max said as he thought about it, holding his red rubber elephant. "How about..." He gasped and then displayed his signature cunning smile "Lost."

"Lost?" Ruby said with a surprised look on her face. "That story is for bigger bunnies. It's pretty scary and it might give you bad dreams."

"What's it about?" Max asked with a curious look.

"It's about a little bunny that gets lost deep in the forest at night, and several bad things happen to her. Here." She picked up another story book. "How about we read Sisters, Sisters, instead."

"I don't think it'll give me bad dreams," said Max. "I go into the forest with you and the Bunny Scouts all the time, even at night!"

"But the thing is we don't get lost," said Ruby. "We stay on the path. The girl in this story doesn't. She gets, well... lost, hehe."

"I wanna find out what happens to her!" exclaimed Max. Ruby simply sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Okay..." said Ruby. "But just let me know if you want me stop reading, or it'll be too scary and you'll be up all night."

"I'll let you know if it gets too scary," said Max, nodding his head. He got comfortable in his bed, nuzzling up beneath his covers, and he held his red rubber elephant tight as Ruby picked up the book.

"Alrighty... Lost," Ruby read. She opened the book and began reading.

"It was a dark and peaceful night in the forest, as two best friends were enjoying a nice fire in their fireplace inside their log cabin."

"It doesn't seem that scary," said Max.

"Oh, you haven't heard anything yet," Ruby assured him with a deceptive smile. She continued reading.

"At some point they ran out of firewood, and one of the friends volunteered to go fetch some more. 'I'll do it,' said the other friend. 'I want to go collect some firewood for once.' 'Okay,' said the first friend. 'But if there is no more wood in the pile out back, don't worry about it.' With that, the other best friend went out and around the cabin to the pile. There was, in fact, no wood left, but it was getting awfully chilly that night, and the girl did not want her best friend to be cold. So she took the dare of venturing further into the woods to go collect some more firewood."

Max's smile turned to a slight frown as she kept reading.

"Deep into the forest she ventured into, on the lookout for more firewood. She forgot her flashlight, but was determined to keep searching. However, as she walked further and further, she realized something: the cabin was nowhere to be seen. She had lost sight of it, but her first instinct was to retrace her steps. However, it became much harder for her, because just as she had started following her tracks and making her way back, she heard thunder. It then started raining, and it rained so hard it turned the ground to mud, and it washed her footprints away. She was now cold and wet and truly lost."

Max partially hid his face as he was now slightly scared.

"Just as it could not get any worse, she heard howling. Then, she heard growling. And the growling got louder and louder as she saw pairs of eyes within the trees glaring at her. Then, she felt heavy breathing on her shoulder."

"Should I stop, Max?" Ruby offered.

"What's the heavy breathing? I wanna know!" Max said.

"Okay, if you say so," taunted Ruby as she continued.