My Daughter Saw The Easter Bunny

I hadn’t been sleeping well for more than a month and after a concerned talk from my husband, William, I made a doctor’s appointment. Nightmares had never been a problem for me, but during that month of struggles, I was getting them a lot; creatures, wholly inhuman, plagued my dreams and I felt a deep separation from everything and everyone I loved. I felt that a minor lack of sleep wasn’t a good reason to see the doctor, but deep down, I knew it would help to put our minds at ease.

Sleep threatened to take me while I sat in the uncomfortable office chair, waiting for the doctor to decode my test results. He pulled no punches when delivering to me his diagnosis and the words struck my entire being like an abomination. It took less than a second for me to respond.

“Menopause?!” I blurted out, wanting to lunge across the desk, straight for his throat. He only nodded, silently referring to my medical file.

“It’s not uncommon for a woman your age” he stated.

“My age?” I gritted. “I don’t understand. Wasn’t my last checkup fine?” I desperately hoped that I was the rube in some cruel joke or that I had inadvertently nodded off and was dreaming.

“It was fine and I do not understand it completely, either” he said in a calculated manner, but honestly trying to calm me down. “Is it rare? Yes, but not unheard of.”

“Maybe it’s stress?” I said, praying for a more temporary diagnosis. My insides burned like they knew he was talking about them.

“Your estrogen levels are appropriate, Rebecca, but your oocyte count is basically null.” he said, closing my file and effectively ending any hopes I had to change his mind.

I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘oocyte’, but context defined it for me. “So” I began, feeling almost silly about it, “I have no eggs left?”

He nodded with smile they must only teach you in med school, then went on to lecture me about the female body. My thoughts went instantly to my five year old daughter, Amelia, and the eventual conversation we would have to have about why she would never get to be a big sister.

“It’s not the best news, but try to have a good Easter, Rebecca” he said as I walked out of his office. His sentiment was sincere, but it stung nonetheless.  

I pulled out of the parking lot and my tears were free to fall at will; I wanted to get them out of my system as much as possible before returning home.

‘How am I going to tell William?’ I asked myself a dozen times during my drive. And every time, it brought on another fall of tears, so I took the long way home. I trudged through the varying levels of grief at record pace and by the time I reached my driveway, I had convinced myself that everything was going to be all right. I had a diagnosis, but no cause. I had a million more questions, but they all ended up with the same answer. It tore at my womanhood and my sense of purpose, but I had convinced myself that we would make the best of it.

“Hi, honey” William said before I was fully through the door. Amelia greeted me with a wave from the couch next to him.

“Hi, guys” I smiled. As bad as things seemed to be, everything I was thankful for was sitting not twenty feet away.

“How was your checkup?” William asked, ignorant of the results.

“Fine” I shrugged, hoping to buy a little more time before I had to relay the news to them.

“Well, Ames here was just telling me an interesting story” he said, holding back a chuckle.

“Is that right?” I said, thankful for the distraction and taking my spot on the loveseat.

“That’s right” he said and gave Amelia a playful nudge. “Go Ahead. Tell mommy.”

“I saw the Easter Bunny!” Amelia shouted, nearly bouncing off the couch.

“That’s good, honey” I replied, trying to hide the fact that my mind was far away. She was too excited to notice.

“Yeah! In your room the other night” she finished.

“Okay” I said with a forced smile that caused hers to drop. I guess my response wasn’t exuberant enough for her liking.

I wanted to disappear into something mindless, so I turned on Hulu, and clicked the first thing in our Keep Watching list. It was obvious that William had been at the helm of the TV because, right away, it started playing some pedantic documentary about alien abductions and government conspiracies.

”Theories abound as to why these beings abduct mainly females” the narrator spoke, but I tuned him out. “… our physiology… reproductive systems… alien hybrids” he continued.

“Why was he here so early, Ames?” William, the eternal enabling father, humored her. “Easter is a still few weeks away.”

Amelia started to answer, but stopped and pointed at the television. “That’s him!” she belted out.

William and I looked at the television to see an artist’s rendition of the supposed ‘Gray Aliens’. It had the stereotypical bulbous head, almond-shaped, black eyes, and scrawny frame. We fell literally speechless, waiting for Amelia to laugh at what was obviously a joke.

 “He told me something, but I forgot” Amelia muttered. “He said he was looking for something.”

“Who did, Ames?” William asked. “The Easter Bunny?”

”To begin their hybridization program,” the narrator continued, “they start by harvesting eggs of the abductees.”

“Why do you think it was the Easter Bunny, Amelia?” I asked, more concerned than curious by that point.

Her eyes lit up with realization and she shouted, “Eggs! That’s what he said he needed!”

Side Note; This story was written by a talented Twitter writer friend of mind. Give him a follow - @BradDracV and thanks again for your submission.