I stood in my regular clothes in our yard. Around me lay a ton of firewood, which I'd chopped by hand. It had been quite a while since I'd last eaten frosty carrots, and it had already gotten much warmer. Even the snow had begun to melt.
I adjusted the bandage on my arm and began gathering the pieces of wood around me. One by one, and having collected six pieces, I placed them in a pile. I took one stack of firewood with me and left the other in place.
I carried them into the house, threw them in the stove, and went outside to finish collecting firewood.
The wind was blowing, but it wasn't as cold as it had been just a moment ago. My red hair fluttered in the wind, and it was simply a wonderful feeling. I straightened the collar of my shirt and continued cleaning.
I picked up the half-rusty axe in my right hand and was about to go back. But my gaze was drawn to the stream. It flowed so quickly and serenely, surrounded by earth and the remaining snow. My heart fluttered at how beautiful it was.
-Where are you going, my dear stream? ...Well, I won't be long, right? I'll definitely be there before she does.
The stream flowed downwards, and I followed it. It kept changing its course, and it was very amusing. And the trees in the daylight didn't seem as scary as they usually did. The birds sang a beautiful song, although sometimes there were birds that didn't fit the overall melody, but that didn't spoil the overall picture of this composition.
I walked along, happily bobbing my head to the rhythm of the birdsong. Then the stream ended, and I saw a huge river. It was calm and seemed not to flow, although small waves still washed onto the sand. On the other side stood trees exactly like the ones behind me.
As far as I remembered from the book, such streams usually contained water you could drink without fear of getting sick.
Now I simply stood and enjoyed the view. I wished I could just stand there forever and watch. But I knew I had to go back. I turned around and headed back.
But a rabbit blocked my path. Only he was a little unusual. The horn on his head was dangerously sharp. And he looked at me with a less than friendly expression.
-Hey, rabbit... Well, I'm several times bigger than you... Are you sure you want this?
I slowly began to back away. My legs were shaking a little from the fact that he could literally kill me right here and right now, and the axe in my hands didn't inspire confidence. My gait wasn't the most steady, and I almost tripped as I walked. If I had tripped, I think I definitely would have died.
The rabbit turned its head to its shoulder and literally in that same second ran at me, threatening to impale me. Its small body was actually moving at a slow speed, but at that moment it seemed to me like a flying comet.
I was simply frozen with fear and couldn't move a muscle. Once again, the fear of death paralyzed me, and I couldn't do anything.
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I saw the rabbit push off from the ground and begin to fly slowly toward me. Very slowly. I could see every inch of its white fur and look at its sharp white horn.
And then it flies toward me. For a very long time. As if an eternity were passing...
Wait... It's not him flying slowly, but that same thing I felt once again. Could it really help me this time? My heartbeat and breathing were exactly the same as before. Apparently, it really was. Then for me, this means I still have a chance!
And then, feeling hope, I tried to move and yes... I could move freely. I pushed off with my legs and flew to the ground to the right. And time seemed to flow again; the rabbit flew past at high speed, not finding me. Falling to the ground on my hands, I had to quickly get up to clearly see where my opponent was. The rabbit had slammed its horn into the ground and was pulling him out.
Taking advantage of this brief pause, I gripped my axe tighter and managed to clear my thoughts of any thoughts of death. Now, all I had was courage.
The rabbit pulled out its horn and glared at me. I just had to wait for its next move, when it would strike me with its horn, and then, catching it in its mistake, I would definitely win!
The rabbit charged at me again, pushed off the ground with its paws, and... This time, it decided to attack with its claws, which were truly large for such a small creature. Unexpectedly, it wouldn't use its horn, and I simply pushed off again and fell to the ground, landing slightly worse than last time.
I lay there, looking down at the ground. Once again, it seemed as if time had slowed down as the blades of grass beneath me simply stopped swaying. I realized my life was in danger again. Realizing there was no time to see what was happening above me, I simply rolled to the right.
This time, I quickly stood up and watched as the rabbit slashed its claws at the spot where I'd just been. The rabbit decided not to rest for long and immediately raised its horn, preparing to impale me.
It ran and leaped at me from above. And then it was flying above me, its sharp horn poised to pierce my head. Just managing to get my axe under its blow, I watched as the rabbit fell, its body landing on the blade of my rusty axe. My arms clenched, feeling its weight. I almost buckled, which would have meant death for me. After all, its horn was just a few centimeters away. I used all the strength in my two arms to push the rabbit away, hoping to slice it in half.
But unfortunately, I only pushed it to the ground, leaving a deep gash across its abdomen. Even with such a wound, the rabbit refused to stop and wanted to finish the job.
It lunged at me much more slowly than before, and red blood flowed relentlessly from its wound. Just like before, it leaped at me. Its speed was incredibly slow.
It flew right in front of me. I could have dodged it to finish it off later. I could have blocked it to deflect the attack and finish it off. But now I was overcome by a special feeling. The rabbit's movements were incredibly slow. My breathing was even and my heartbeat was perfectly steady. It was just like when my life was in danger. But... there's still a slight difference between this state and what it was before. If I had been in mortal danger before, now I just wanted to kill it.
It was as if everything around me slowed down specifically so I could see the blood flowing from the rabbit. How I quickly raised my bloody axe. And how I quickly swung it horizontally, chopping off the rabbit's head. I saw everything. Every drop of blood, its veins, its bones. I saw it all with pinpoint accuracy. And it wasn't disgusting; on the contrary, it was so wonderful.
I dread to imagine what my face looked like at that moment. A terrifying smile at the sight of the rabbit's entrails. A crazed gaze that watched all this cruelty. And my two different eyes, watching it all with a slight trepidation. I wished I could see the rabbit's blood flowing, but my icy right eye prevented me from seeing the whole picture.
Finally, everything returned to normal, and the headless corpse of a rabbit fell before me. My trepidation from the whole scene also instantly vanished, and I couldn't even look at the body.
The smell of his dead body filled my nostrils, making me gag, and I had to quickly back away from the rabbit.
This fight was monstrously dangerous and terrifying, but on the other hand, killing someone so easily was a new emotion for me. Perhaps I didn't fully understand what it meant to take someone's life, and that's why it was so easy. But on the other hand, all that blood and the severed head filled me with horror, because it could have been me.