The Easter Bunny

 This is yet another experience of my friend, J's.

It was the eve of Easter. J was at an age when she still believed in Easter Bunnies and Santa Claus. So, like most children holding these beliefs, she would stay up late on these holiday evenings in the hopes of seeing one of these mythical beings. 

J was tucked in bed and her door was closed, as per tradition, so that her parents may hide gifts in secret. But when her door knob began to turn, she shut her eyes, squinting slightly. 

When the door opened a crack, J watched as a two foot tall rabbit-looking creature slipped in.

Something felt wrong. J may have maintained her belief of an Easter Bunny, but she felt certain that creature was not the Easter Bunny. 

It had the body of a rabbit, but its face was a grotesque attempt at imitating a rabbit. It was slightly warped and wrong.

The rabbit, as it was partway through the door, made an exaggerated gesture of slowly turning its head side to side, like a cartoon character that's making sure the coast is clear. Then, it seemed to shrink as it crouched down. It hopped across J's room, until it reached her closet.

Once at the closet door, the rabbit grew as it stood up on its feet again, so that it could reach the doorknob. 

It turned the knob and cracked the closet door open. Once again, it made the exaggerated gesture of glancing side to side, before slipping into the closet.

J laid motionless and awake in her bed until the sun rose. The moment it was light out, J ran to her mother, petrified, urging her to see what the Easter Bunny was doing in her closet.

Her mother eventually conceded and removed everything in her daughter's closet. No rabbit was found. 

This experience her daughter had was eerily reminiscent of one she had herself as a child. One she was too fearful to share until that day.