This choice: “What happened? Who are you?” • Go Back... The purple drake grabbed the rabbits limp hand and gave it a gentle shake. “My name is Tyler.” He introduced himself. “But to be honest, I have no idea what happened. I was just walking past your house and it sort of… exploded. I pulled you out of the rubble just now.” Tyler explained, before adding “You didn’t have a pulse or anything.” He knew it was an unnecessary and immodest addition, but he couldn’t help himself.
The rabbit didn’t seem to respond as he expected though. His brow simply furrowed in confusion as he tried to take that in. “The house exploded?” he asked uncomprehendingly. Tyler nodded and gestured to the pile of rubble that was barely visible in the streetlight through the dispersing dust. Tyler was suddenly aware of the figures standing visible in the distance around them.
Well, Tyler guessed that you would expect some onlookers to come out if they heard a house explode. “Hey, can someone call an ambulance for this guy?” He called out to the onlookers in general.
“No!” the rabbit said suddenly sitting up, grabbing Tyler’s knee. “No, don’t do that. I can’t afford to go to hospital. I’ll be fine, don’t call anyone” he pleaded.
Tyler was seriously taken aback. “But… it’s your health man, You weren’t breathing or anything, and you’re bleeding a bit, and your lungs would be caked in dust, there’s be little bits of plaster and glass and god knows what else in your lungs…” tyler trailed off. That last bit probably applied to him too, he thought dimly.
“No, I’ll be fine, please tell them to stop.” The rabbit pleaded. Tyler sighed, and instructed the crowd not to bother.
“It’s too late, we called a long time ago… the police will be here too I imagine.” A woman called from the haze. Tyler couldn’t tell if she meant to shout that threateningly.
The rabbit looked panicked. Tyler couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on man, this isn’t the worst thing to happen to you today. Come on…” He sat up prone on his knees, offering a hand to the white Rabbit. “Lets get out of this damned dust, there’s plenty of clean air down the road.”
The rabbit groggily got to his feet and lent heavily on the purple Drake as they made their way past the strewn debris that littered the street. The rabbit was truly short, his head only reaching Tyler’s shoulder. “So man, I still don’t know your name.” Tyler prompted as they made their way towards two of the onlookers. They were a middle aged avian couple of some kind.
“Rob.” The rabbit coughed. “My name is Rob, sorry I’ve forgotten yours.” The rabbit apologised, before sheepishly muttering “sorry, I’m bad with names.”
“Tyler.” The purple drake repeated. “And don’t worry about it, I’m sure that you’ve got a lot to take in, and my name wouldn’t rank very highly.”
The female bird asked if they wanted water or a blanket. Rob nodded and she disappeared inside. Tyler realised that he was actually very thirsty. And hungry. And tired. And Dirty.
They had another moment trade dialogue with each other. Rob was 19, and just got in from overseas a few days ago to start at college. He was still catching up on the time zone and was sleeping when his house exploded. His face lit up when Tyler mentioned that he was attending the same campus. That ignited another round of discussion until they were interrupted by the approaching sirens.
It felt like a very small, very serious circus quickly set itself up around the street in the moments that followed. Representatives from the Police, ambulance, fire brigade, council, news casts, and onlookers from neighbouring suburbs swarmed the street, and the processions from that evening quickly degenerated into a sensory blur.
Police Interviewed Tyler, at times very aggressively. He was walking home from his shop. Yes, he had ID and could verify his shop and house address. No, he didn’t see what started the explosion. No, he didn’t have a clear view of it. He found Rob under debris when he pulled him out. No, he didn’t see anything suspicious in the debris. No, neither he nor Rob had any opportunity to tamper with anything after the explosion. Because Rob was unconscious and not breathing.
Tyler felt a bit cheated. He thought he was a hero, but the way the police were grilling every aspect of his story made him shake in intimidation. Then the ambulance treated him. There was nothing wrong with him, but they hooked him up to some sort of breathing machine for a time anyway. The street was flashing red and blue from the fire engines that blocked the narrow suburban street as firemen illuminated the lot with floodlights as they carefully searched the debris.
At some point there was a camera in his face. He recoiled but the camera just got closer. Someone was asking him a question. He didn’t hear it. His eyes darted between the lens and the light that blinded him.. “um…’ he began as his mind tried to ground himself. “There was some sort of an explosion, and the house exploded” he offered dumbly.
“What do you say about reports of a missile launch? Was this a terrorist attack?” a reporter desperately demanded from the darkness. “…what?” Tyler asked dumbfounded. “Several eyewitnesses claim a missile struck the house, can you confirm this?” The reporter asked so quickly he could hardly parse the words, let alone sentence. Tyler stood a moment with his mouth open . “uh… no, there was… I just saw an explosion.”
Then the police stepped in between them and it was over. He was ushered behind a van. Someone offered him a hot chocolate. Where was Rob? He hadn’t seen the rabbit since the first flashing light arrived.
The night seemed to last forever, but eventually the crowd finally started to thin. By midnight there was only a single fire truck and a handful of patrol cars. A handful of figures still searched through the rubble or idle doing who knows what, but for the most part the circus had left.
Finally Rob appeared, being guided out of a neighbouring house by two rather tall German Shepards. They walked him over to a rather fat looking beaver that was leaning on his patrol car. “Ok, so he’s been briefed.” The beaver was informed by one of the dogs accompanying Rob.
“So you understand that you’ll be reporting in regularly? And the consequences of failing to comply?” the fat beacer asked the rabbit sternly.
Rob could only manage a weak nod. He looked exhausted – both physically and psychologically. He pointedly avoided eye contact.
“Do you have anywhere else to stay at in the mean time?” The beaver asked rather formally. Rob shook his head.
“Well, we can take you to a hotel if you have the funds to pay it.”
Rob’s eyes darted to where his house used to be. “No, sir. I think it’s all gone now with everything else.”
“You don’t have any bank accounts you can draw money from?
Rob shook his head again. “Not in this country sir, not yet.” Not once did he look at any of them.
“Well what the fuck do we do with him now then?” The beaver demanded impatiently to the two shepherds.
One of them half shrugged. “Well, we can move some people around and clear out one of the lockups for him if he’s happy to spend the night at the station…” he suggested.
“No!” Tyler interjected. All three of them turned to the purple drake simultaneously, but the angle of light obscured their expressions. “He can stay at my place.”
There was a brief pause. “You’re statements say you don’t know each other…” one of the dogs began. “For safety reasons of both parties, we would only recommend his stays with close friends or family…”
“Hey rabbit, is that alright with you? “ The beaver interrupted impatiently. “Are you happy to stay with the dragon over there?”
Rob looked nervously up at Tyler.
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