The Corner

Oscar

  Oscar was a bunny rabbit. A stuffed one. Grey in colour with floppy ears and as soft and cuddly as a stuffed bunny could get. There was nothing real about him save the fact that he was a real stuffed bunny. Though, there was something special about him. He could sense things and feel emotions. That was about it though, he couldn't talk or move or anything of the sort. All Oscar could do was stare and sit wherever he was placed.

Before anything, he was manufactured in a stuffed toy factory. The process was nothing less than excruciating. Once it was done though, he was him. No name had been given to him then. He was moved along the production line, given a price tag of some amount of money. He'd then be packed in a cardboard box to be shipped to someplace else where he would be sold. To be given to someone.

It happened on a day when he'd lest expected. He was lying under the other stuffed animals not expecting much. It had been a little more than a year since he had been at the toy store since he was born. His wish of having a owner to love and care for him with warm hugs filled with love had long been gone. In a way, he was quite okay with where he was now. Suddenly he and a manta ray had been picked up by this stranger. He was looking to purchase either of the two. They both had the same price tag. They both had the same qualities that the stranger was looking for to buy - cute and cuddly.

A sudden feeling of want and to be wanted surged. The stranger looked at the bunny and then the manta ray. Deciding on the latter, the bunny was put down and the manta ray was chosen. The rabbit felt a pang of hurt, pain and rejection. The stranger walked away out of his sight. Wishing that never happened, the bunny tried to ease the pain. Ten minutes had passed and suddenly with a jolt the rabbit had been picked up by someone else and carried away to the counter to be purchased for the sum on the tag it came with. Placed in a plastic bag, he had finally been moved away from the toy store. He was going to have a home.

When taken out, he saw a girl. She looked at him with big eyes and took him in her hands. She put him down after observing him to her satisfaction and walked away. He didn't know what to feel. Loved? Affection? Neglect? Wanted or unwantedness? Hours passed by with no change in the scenery.

Then she came back. To him. She took him and went to her room, placed him on the bed and lay down on her tummy and stared at him in the eye. This was the first time that the bunny had been looked at this way by a person. He realized that this girl was his owner and the person who bought him was not. Her stare was intense and deep. It made him feel a little uncomfortable but then suddenly she broke into the most beautiful smile that he had seen a human give ever. His experience with smiles were not too vast nor filled with knowledge. He had seen children smile and laugh, young girls and ladies too and some boys and men at the toy store when they had got what they wanted or were looking for. This smile though was different. It was something that he could feel from inside himself, just because this girl was smiling. He liked it.

She sat up and took him on her lap and looked down at him and went close to his face. Her smile didn't fade. 

 "Oscar. Your name is Oscar. You're my Oscar and you'll always be mine!" she said and then did something that the rabbit felt for the first time in his life; a hug.

A feeling of warmth, love, being wanted and security came into him. He knew that this was where he belonged and this is where he wanted to stay; if possible, forever. This was also the first time that he felt greatly disturbed. Not because the hug was too tight or warm for his liking. All that was fine. This hindrance came from him not being able to move. Not being able to say anything, not being able to hold her back and lt her know that he too felt the same way. Despite this, he tried his level's best to let her feel what he was feeling. All he could do was hope that she could feel it the same way he was.