>Sam let’s out a panicked squeak, both his hands on the handle of the bat
>He swipes it to the right…
>… Catching his dad on the wrists with a louder-than-you-could-believe *thunk*
>Your jaw unhinges as you see Sam, his eyes glued shut, his face twisted up in panic, waving the bat from side-to-side like an over-sized fan
>And his dad — a look of shock plastered across his aged face — looks at his knuckles, which glow red with pain
>You shake the scene from your head and focus back on the situation
>There’ll be time to digest Sam’s actions later
>Now is the time to run
“SAM!” You shout, grabbing him by the ears
>You tug hard and he falls backwards
>With a tremendous effort, you try to whip him back towards the window
>It doesn’t work, but he gets the message
>In half a second, Sam’s already crawled out the window, his poofy tail disappearing over the ledge
>You hear him crash into the dirt below
>He’s safe
>And that’s all that matters-
>-And then he does something you wish, for the rest of your life, he wouldn’t have done
“A-A-A-Anon!” He cries
>Your heart hurls itself against your ribcage
>You can see the look of realization on his dad’s face
>It goes from pure shock, to glowing rage
>”SO YOU LIED ABOUT YOUR NAME?” Sam’s dad’s face twists into a horrible smile. “But you fucked up. Because now I know.”
“Sammmmm,” you call behind you. “Go find Comrade Alexi…” You try to remain calm and take a small step backwards, towards the window
>He starts laughing. Real, painful, rib sucking, hateful laughter
>”I never wanted to kill a man like I want to kill you, man!” The words explode from his mouth in a spray of spittle and whiskey heat
>He lunges forward, his powerful legs exploding underneath him
>He covers the distance fast, even for his inebriation…
>… Which you suspect is the only reason you’re able to jump back in time
>Your hands grope behind you, finding the ledge
>Your brush up against the hard surface
>You don’t look
>You throw your weight behind you, tumbling headfirst and backwards out the window
>Your eyes shut as the ground rushes up to meet you-
>But you never feel the ground
>Instead you feel a bone-crushing vise around your ankles
>You cry out in pain and look up to see a furry hand clutching your ankle, and Sam’s dad halfway out the window himself, straining to hold on to you
>”Get back here, you coward!” He grunts
>His other hand shoots around your ankle, and you can feel his unkempt nails biting into your skin
>”You fucking window jumping co-“
>Your other foot seems to have something to say to that little statement
>Without your mind’s consent, your other leg smashes into the rabbit’s face
>And you drop like a stone into the dirt and dry grass
>You land on your back with a loud ka-thump, staring up Sam’s dad as he peers out the window
>His shape disappears as he bolts for the front
>Sam is still there, gawking at the spectacle of you kicking his dad in the face
>The only thing you can think of is escape
>You’re on your feet in the space between heartbeats
>But Sam won’t move
>His whole body is locked up
>Useless rabbit-loaf!
>You grab his tender wrists, squeeze hard, and break into what amounts your version of a sprint
>Sam tails behind you, legs stumbling and struggling to gain footing
>He wraps the bat in his hoodie and presses them against his chest
”ALEXI!” You scream, throat scalded and hoarse
”ALEXI GET TO THE CAR!”
>You look behind you to see Alex in a dead sprint, powerful legs pumping, arms wheeling as his lanky body brings itself closer to you with each stride
>And behind him
>A pair of crooked, chestnut brown rabbit ears, trailing in the wind, the sound of rabbit-feet pounding into the loose Earth
>A train whistle blows somewhere
>The rustbucket is so close
>Sam finally finds his footing and keeps up with you easier than before, though he still lags, attached only by your solid grip on his soft, fuzzy wrists
>The contrast is something to marveled at, but now is not the time
>But you can't afford to carry his weight right now
>You let go of Sam and break for the door, keys in hand
>It feels like it takes forever for the lock to go, but when it does, you throw yourself into the seat, jam the keys into the ignition, and twist like your life depended on it
>Sam is next
>You grab him by his t-shirt and tug hard
>He slams painfully against the open door, but gets the hint
>Your body clearly understands nothing but survival
>You pull the little rabbit on top of you and shift into reverse, the bunny’s weight against your legs, his feet blocking your view of Alex
>Alex, GOD DAMNIT!
>Alex is in a dead sprint, but Sam’s dad is hot on his heels
>”ANON!” He screams
>”DRIVE!”
>Sam is still trying to sit up
>Your hands fly onto the wheel, but your foot hovers over the pedal
>You can’t just leave him, can you?
>The gap between Alex, Sam’s dad and the car becomes even smaller, and the voice in your head tells you to leave now to make sure you can get away
>Sam throws his bat and hoodie into the back, his legs now jutting out the door
>You need to move
>Your feet press down on the accelerator
>YOU NEED TO MOVE!
“ALEX!” You cry
>But you don’t need to say anything else
>Because he does exactly what you’d expect
>Alex bounds forward, and with a tremendous leap, he throws himself on top of your car…
>… Right as a pair of angry hands snaps at the empty space where he used to be
>That’s all the excuse you ne-
>Sam’s dad smashes into the hood of the car, his mighty stomp crumpling the metal where he lands
>FUCKING RABBITS! GOD DAMNIT!
>That's a $1,000 repair job!
>You stomp down on the accelerator
>Your car peels off, but the rabbit remains attached to your hood, holding on to the open door frame—
>Reaching for Sam
>Sam screams and grabs onto your leg as his father tries to pull him from your moving car
>Jesus fucking Christ!
>Sam’s father is clearly not intimidated when you hit 25 miles-per-hour
>In fact, his face only grows more strained — excited even
>His eyes split wide even as his floppy ears begin to trail behind him like streamers
>You can feel Sam slipping from your lap
>You anchor him by grabbing his wrist, being sure to keep one hand on the wheel
>Alex, who is still on the roof, flattens himself against the top hood, fingers dug in to the rails where your top rack storage would go
>He’s fairly secure… you hope
>Sam, however, is already halfway out the door, and no matter how fast you go, Sam’s dad only seems to get closer to raking his son off your lap and onto the street
>Unless
>You recall driving across town
>How the rustbucket is so top heavy
>You grit your teeth
>Summon a deep breath
>Block out Sam’s screams
>And crank the wheel to the right as hard as it’ll go
>The car squeals in protest, its rubber wheels screeching as you throw the ol’ girl into a tight spin
>Sam’s dad goes tumbling off the car hood and onto the raw pavement
>You slam on the breaks, and Alex rolls forward onto the hood of the car as well with a loud metal *thunk*
>He recovers quickly and dives in to the back seat, shouting something about your ass and how he’s going to kick it
>But you can’t take your eyes off Sam’s dad
>He’s motionless in the road, his body splayed out like a discarded doll
>Oh god
>Oh god
>He’s dead…
>Sam squirms in your lap, lifting his head from where he’d buried it in your leg
>”I-I-I-Is he gone?” he stammers
>You don’ know what to say
>’Yeah dude I just killed your fucking dad’ might sufice
>How do you even broach this? Do you need to call the polic-
>Wait
>No
>You see his body start to move, slow and dazed from the impact
>With a great effort he sits up
>Smeared with blood and gravel, his face is set in a hard line, all sharp angles carved out of his fine bones
>There’s no shock there, no pain
>He levels his gaze at the front of your car, squinting from the blood that trickles into his eyes
>His amber eyes lock with yours
>And suddenly you’re a little kid again; weak; afraid; scared
>But not alone
>Calmly you bend Sam’s legs,
>You turn the car around, breaking his dad’s steady gaze
>That invisible conversation you’ve had for what felt like hours
>All the language you can make out of looks
>In the rearview mirror you can see Sam’s dad stand up on two unsteady feet and glare down the dark street at you, his eyes flashing in your rear lights like angry candles
>Sam sits up and looks behind the headrest, fingers anxiously dug in to the old and shitty fabric…
>… And begins to shake when he sees that his dad is up on his feet
>You calmly press down on the accelerator and point the car deeper into town
>You have a long road ahead out of the slums
>No turns
>In the distance a train rolls on
The Leaves of Fall Act 2: Fear the Nobodies (Part 6)
You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.
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About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
5 years ago
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Estimated reading time
8 Minutes
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