The park was quiet under the winter sky. Snow covered the swings, the benches, and the frozen pond beyond the trees. Every step made a soft crunch beneath little Emily’s boots as she walked beside her mother along the narrow path.

Emily’s red scarf fluttered behind her while her small hand rested tightly in her mother’s glove.

“Stay close,” her mother whispered gently. “The snow is getting heavier.”

Emily nodded, though her eyes wandered everywhere. She loved the park in winter. The trees looked like giant white skeletons, and the falling snow made the world feel soft and sleepy.

The wind howled quietly through the branches.

Then Emily saw it.

Near a bush beside the path, two tiny black eyes stared back at her.

A rabbit.

Its white fur almost disappeared into the snow except for its twitching nose and long ears poking upward. Emily’s face brightened immediately.

“Mama, look!” she gasped.

But the moment she pointed, the rabbit darted away into the trees.

Emily laughed.

Without thinking, she let go of her mother’s hand.

“Emily—wait!”

But the little girl was already running after the rabbit.

The snow crunched beneath her boots as she hurried between the trees. She could still see the rabbit ahead, hopping deeper into the park where the shadows grew darker.

“Come back!” Emily giggled.

The rabbit stopped for only a second beside another bush, staring at her silently before disappearing again.

Emily slowed down suddenly.

The park path was gone.

The trees around her looked unfamiliar now, taller and darker. Snow drifted endlessly through the air, thick enough to blur the world into white fog.

“Mama?” Emily called softly.

No answer came.

Only wind.

Far ahead, she spotted the rabbit once more near a cluster of dead bushes. It looked perfectly still, almost waiting for her.

Emily took another step toward it.

Crunch.

But this step felt strange.

Her foot sank deeper than before.

Emily frowned and tried pulling it free. Snow climbed halfway up her boot before releasing with a wet sucking sound.

She looked down nervously.

The ground here wasn’t solid anymore.

It looked like snow, but underneath it felt loose and hollow.

The rabbit stared at her.

Then it hopped backward into the darkness between the trees.

“No, wait!” Emily cried, stepping forward again.

This time both feet sank.

The snow swallowed her boots almost instantly.

Emily gasped and struggled to pull herself out, but every movement only made her sink farther.

“Mama!” she shouted louder now.

The wind swallowed her voice.

Snow crept up to her knees.

Panic spread through her chest. She tried turning around, but her legs felt trapped beneath the freezing weight.

The rabbit was still there.

Watching.

Its black eyes never blinked.

Emily’s breathing quickened. Tears rolled down her cheeks, warm for only a moment before the cold touched them.

“Mama!”

She reached outward with trembling gloves, hoping someone would appear between the trees.

Nobody came.

The snow beneath her shifted again.

Slowly.

Hungrily.

It pulled her deeper.

Up to her waist now.

Emily cried loudly, twisting desperately while icy snow packed tightly around her body like frozen hands. Her scarf disappeared beneath the surface first, swallowed without a trace.

The trees stood silently around her.

The rabbit vanished into the darkness.

Emily could barely move anymore.

The cold spread through her legs until she could no longer feel them.

“Mama…” she whispered weakly.

Far away, she thought she heard someone calling her name.

But the storm carried the sound away.

Snowflakes landed gently across her hair and eyelashes. Her tiny fingers clawed at the surface, but the snow kept dragging her downward inch by inch.

Up to her chest.

Then her shoulders.

Emily cried harder now, small broken sobs lost beneath the wind.

The forest seemed darker than before. Even the sky above looked distant and fading.

The snow reached her chin.

Her lips trembled violently.

She tried screaming one last time, but the freezing air stole her voice.

Then she saw movement ahead.

The rabbit again.

Standing between the trees.

Still watching.

Its eyes reflected strangely in the darkness, almost human.

Emily stared at it helplessly as the snow climbed over her mouth.

Over her cheeks.

Only her frightened eyes remained above the surface.

Then slowly, silently, the snow covered those too.

The forest became quiet once more.

Nothing remained except falling snow and endless white beneath the trees.

Moments later, Emily’s mother burst through the woods, breathless and terrified.

“Emily!”

She searched wildly between the trees.

But there were no footprints anymore.

No scarf.

No sound.

Only a single rabbit standing far away in the storm.

Watching her.

Any similarity to real people, living or dead, is purely accidental. This story is entirely fictional.

Writer : Alireza Hazareh

Before You Leave… Read This:  The Bed Beneath Her