Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: Legacy Forgotten

Chapter 5

"Oh, C'mon! You're just being lazy!" Mickey joked, yet when he grabbed for Oswald's hand again he pulled it away.

The rabbit rubbed both hands over his forehead, stopping at the base of his ears. "No, I'm not. I don't think I'll be focused enough to work today. Mickey... I had a nightmare last night, worse than the usual ones." The way this seemed to click with Mickey showed that he wanted to know more, out of concern. "It was when I fell asleep in the office... It started like any other, with the dark ghost town and the Partners statue. But the other character, which could've been either you or me, was completely crumbled down. I climbed up the base of the statue and grabbed Walt's open hand, then a rope dropped his pointing hand. Then it tied itself into a noose, and... I think my subconscious was trying to suggest that I shouldn't be alive."

"What? That's ridiculous! Of course, you're supposed to be alive! And you have a lot to live for." Oswald sat up in bed as Mickey sat down near the foot of it. "With these new cartoons, you'll be making your way back to stardom in no time. You have me and Minnie and all the studio workers as your friends, and I'm guessing plenty more to come. Besides, it's just a dream, I'm sure it doesn't mean anything that big."

"I suppose... but do you think my subconscious would suggest offing myself if it wasn't serious?"

"Oswald, I'm sure that's not what it meant. It was probably just something caused by stress." Oswald still seemed suspicious and disturbed, so Mickey sighed and thought it over a minute. "Okay. If you don't think you'll be up to it, you don't have to work today. I'm sure the others will understand. But if you're certain you can handle it, just go to the office and I'll meet up with you there." Once he got a nod of agreement from the rabbit, Mickey smiled and got up, then walked out of the room to start his day.

While Oswald spent most of his day off sleeping and trying to clear his thoughts, he eventually did get up and start making his way to the office. He wasn't certain he could handle the work with all the stress like Mickey said he should be, but he had nothing better to do. When he got there, while he was ready with his key, he found that the door was propped open slightly. However, he ignored this and headed inside anyway. He only walked in a couple of steps before he was soaking wet and he could hear laughter coming from somewhere. It didn't take long for his stress and paranoia to take him over, and as the laughter faded out of his hearing, being overtaken by a loud ringing, he could only see the water dripping off his hands as thinner. After a moment of tense silence, he let out a shriek, pressed his back against the open door, and slid down it, raising his hands to his head and closing his eyes in an attempt to get it to stop. He could feel the room getting darker and colder, and the looming presence over him was nearly unbearable. For a moment he thought he could hear a voice before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Mickey kneeling in front of him, and someone else behind him. With a closer look, Oswald could see that the other person was none other than Donald Duck. But he wasn't concerned with that right now, and it didn't help that Mickey redirected the rabbit's eyes onto him. "Oswald, are you okay? I'm very sorry about that, but you don't have to freak out. It's just water. It won't hurt you."

Oswald was panicked, but just hearing Mickey's voice seemed to calm him down. "It's... water?" He looked down at his hands and legs, and while he was still soaking wet, he didn't appear to be harmed in any way. "Y-yeah... It's just water..."

Donald kneeled next to them as well. "Oswald, was it? Sorry about that, it was just a joke. And it was meant for Mickey... I didn't know there was anyone new in the studio."

Oswald could only nod, then Mickey stood him up and started walking him away. "We'll be right back, Donald. I should get Oswald dried off and calmed down." And that was exactly what he did. The mouse led Oswald to the nearest washroom, then as he handed him a towel his expression became surprisingly serious. "Alright, Oswald, you can't keep this from me forever. Something is going on with you, bigger than the nightmares. Why don't you tell me what was going through your mind when that bucket of water fell on you?"