FREAK

Amber

Noah stayed quiet for most of the walk there. He looked shaken up. Most of them did. They snap out of it when they receive a job at about age thirteen.
I noticed him staring at something off in the distance.
"Something wrong, bud?"
Snap! "Hm? Oh, yeah," he pointed at a weathered stuffed rabbit, "what's that?"
My face twisted into one of concern. How could a kid not know what a stuffed animal was? I then remembered that stuffed animals could confuse the altercation proses. When kids had them, parents couldn't figure out if they should alter them after a talent or their favorite stuffed bear. Poor kid...
"That's a stuffed rabbit. Back when kids used them, they used them for comfort. Like if they were scared of the dark or something."
"Why is it here then? Shouldn't it have been destroyed by now?"
I sighed, "they don't exactly get rid of everything, bud. A few things blow out from the dump and into the woods before they're disintegrated. That's why this road is sometimes littered with trash. You can take it if you want. But it's going to be pretty dirty. It's probably ages old."
Noah hesitated before letting go of my hand reluctantly and jogging over to the rabbit. He picked it up and seemed to relax a bit. He then ran back over to me and stumble over himself. This sent him crashing onto the asphalt with an, "oomf!"
You alright, bud?"I asked.
He stood up and giggled a bit. He was covered in dirt.
"Well, I guess we need to give both of you a good bath, don't we?"
He smiled and continued jogging over to me. We joined hands again and he held up the rabbit.
The rabbit had navy blue beads for eyes. The nose was made from a sky blue thread stitching. The majority of the rabbit was lilac purple. It had a few sky blue spots of fabric on its chest, the inside of its ears, and on the under side of its paws. The tag looked like it had been bleached white again. Written sloppy on the tag with black Sharpie was the word, "Lucky".
"Whatcha, going to do with that?" I asked curiously.
"Well, you said it brings comfort, right? I feel like I need all the comfort I'm going to get right now," he looked up at me with teary blue eyes and I swear my heart had just exploded.
"You'll be ok, bud," my face relaxed a bit.
"I know, Miss Amber..."