The end is near 1

A bottle of wine and some pictures

The hallway outside of Theo's nursery was even more somber than it had been before, making it troublesome to spot the stuffed rabbit. Maria contemplated going back to her room and grabbing her phone to use as a flashlight, but she decided not to since she didn't plan on being out of bed long. She toured the upstairs landing, working from left to right, from the washroom to the stairs. Still with no understanding of the whereabouts of Theo's rabbit, Maria considered starting her search downstairs when without warning, she barged into something sizeable and solid. The force of her encounter not only caused her to scrape her shoulder, but Maria heard something plummet to the floor with a thud. She let out a gasp in shock, as well as wishing that whatever had fell wasn't impaired in any way. Her family had a reputation for keeping a lot of antiques that were probably worth a great deal of money... She knelt down and sifted around in the gloom, feeling for the item that fell off the mantle. After a while of stroking the wooden floor Maria's fingertips brushed against a bulky, rectangular object. It wasn't exactly smooth to the touch but nevertheless it contained some other materials inside it. As if by a miracle, the moon made a grand appearance from behind a viel of clouds, illuminating the hallway, and providing light for Maria to inspect the box. It's contents were a collection of old photos, most of them were wonderful memories of her relatives, like the time her aunt Clara bought a Mercedes. She had been saving up for years to obtain one, and when she finally did it enabled her to visit Maria, Theo and their parents whenever she wanted. Their aunt Clara used to struggle financially quite a bit, so you can imagine how joyous she was about having enough money to afford a car and finally be able to attend family events, such as Christmas.

Maria dived deeper into the box and pulled out a less recent photo. Upon closer inspection she realised the person in the photograph was non other than herself with her father. She remembered that time, when both her parents booked the day off work to take her to the zoo. Maria was supposed to go there on a school trip but she had unfortunately came down with chicken pox just a day before it was scheduled. So her parents took her instead. Her father was shown lifting her up so she could see the penguins, whilst her mother held the camera, they were her favourite animal and the other visitors were blocking her view. It happened way back, before Theo was even conceived and Maria was only 7 ( 7 and a half years younger than her current age). When Theo came into the world her parents slowly began to drift away from her and his needs were always first. Whenever Maria wanted to talk to her parents their response would always be: 'Gimme a minute hun.' wich was their language for: 'Sorry can't talk at the moment Theo needs his formula / nappy changing'. She could never understand why it was so difficult for them to abandon their screaming bundle of joy for 2 minutes, in the interest of their only daughter, their first born! Nowadays she saw no point in trying at all. Maria could feel the acrimony surge within her, so she forced herself to take a deep breath before she lost it completely. As much as she hated Theo for taking her parents away from her, she couldn't help but love him at the same time. Maria picked herself up off of the floor, positioning the box of photos back on the mantle as she did. Her consciousness gradually drifted back to the task of finding the stuffed toy so Theo would sleep. Slightly more aggravated than she was before, Maria proceeded towards the stairs before descending into the blackness.

During her descent, Maria's mind provided a flashback to the disturbing creature that she had encountered in her dream. As much as she knew what she saw wasn't real, the thought of it gave her the jitters. Maria rejected the thought of entering her living room without observing it beforehand, as a precaution to ensure that nothing was in there. Her eyes examined the silhouettes of the furniture from the safety of the stairs scanning for anything unfamiliar, but everything looked how it normally did. With nothing bizarre-looking in sight, she proceeded from the bottom 2 steps into the living room keeping her eyes skinned for the toy, and vigilant in case her observations were false. She tiptoed around her father's armchair and then towards the stand up lamp in the far right corner. Maria investigated behind their 2 seater sofa which also displayed no sign of the stuffie. Surely the only place the damb rabbit could be now was the kitchen? With that thought In mind she vacated from the living room into the less unsettling environment of her family kitchen. Maria used to enjoy baking with her mother on rainy days, before Theo took over her life. They would make splendid batches of cookies for her father to sample when he got home from work. Those were the days when only 1 of her parents needed to work in order to pay the bills. The kitchen was a kind of comfort to Maria, given how much fun her and her mother had cooking Sunday Roasts and lemon cheesecakes at the weekend's. And in winter they would attempt to make Yule logs as a Christmas treat for the whole family. This room wasn't just a part of the house, it was a core part of her childhood and the memories that came with it were just as cherished... Maria took a few strides into the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of a pale white atop one of the counters. As she got closer she realised that it was Theo's stuffed toy she had been seeking out. She scooped up the rabbit and held it close to her as a sigh of relief escaped from her mouth. She circled around the kitchen still focused on the toy in hand when she ploughed into a display cabinet (one of many her parents owned).

The cabinet wobbled precariously, barely standing up anymore. Maria hastily tossed the rabbit onto a nearby counter and put her hands out to steady the case. Within seconds it's rocking ceased, a startled Maria still holding it's frame firmly for dear life. She knew this cabinet in particular held some vintage china plates and cups that she dared to make hash of. In distress she gently opened its glass doors to validate if anything had been damaged or broken. Maria didn't hear anything smash at the time but she thought maybe the impact might have chipped a few teacup handles. Her parents were NOT going to be happy about it when they got home. To her surprise everything appeared to be intact but she noticed something had fallen over behind a tea pot. Maria cautiously pushed it to the side and grabbed the heavy object that lay fallen behind it. Although it was a tight squeeze, she managed to manoeuvre it out of the labyrinth of china.