Elf!

Story by Annie Mao

| SHORT WRITING CONTEST

Wh-where am I? Olive blinked and looked around. It was dark, and the smell of damp moss and trees drifted around her.  She heard rushing water in the distance and suddenly her throat began to feel parched. Olive stood up and headed towards the water’s sound, leaving footprints in the wet grass as she moved. Reaching the bank, she knelt to dip her hands in the water. Suddenly, she felt the ground beneath her shift, and as she fell, she could make out the silhouette of a short funny looking man with pointed ears and a knit hat. 

The water around her suddenly turned angry and Olive went under. Frantically, she fought the rushing current and was able to grab onto a log. She drifted with the log until the water threw her onto a bank where Olive collapsed in exhaustion. 

 Olive stared up at the sky. Puffy white clouds dotted the cold blue sky. The cold weather made her shiver.

 I must be dreaming, thought Olive. She pinched herself as hard as she could. Perhaps I can feel pain in dreams too. 

Olive's stomach grumbled. She looked down at herself. A small patch of red could be seen on her torn khaki pants, and her feet and her red t-shirt were covered in mud. As she walked, Olive examined her surroundings. The wood was covered with queer-looking mushrooms and the trees seemed to look at her as she walked.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two long ears and a small brown body — a little brown rabbit. 

“Why, hello,” said Olive, reaching for the rabbit. The rabbit turned, took one look at Olive, and shrieked. 

“Elf! E-Elf! Elf!” hollered the rabbit as he ran away.

Olive ran after him, all the while thinking, I must be going insane. I can understand the rabbit speaking!

“Ready the poison!” Suddenly, hundreds of rabbits popped out of nowhere and began throwing poison at her. All the while they shouted, “Begone, elf!” 

“What!” Olive shouted.

They all missed. 

Then the first brown rabbit shouted, “Bring out the catapults!” and so they were brought out and fired. Olive, clueless, picked up one of the ‘poisonous’ pieces and discovered the ‘poison’ that the rabbits were throwing was chocolate! Olive’s stomach grumbled, so she picked up a piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth. Suddenly, the firing ceased, and every rabbit, except for the youngest rabbit, stopped shouting. 

“Wow, the elf ate poison and is still standing!?” cried the youngest.

Now, Olive was very much annoyed and said, “I am not an elf!” 

“I know you’re not an elf, honey. Wake up!” Olive recognized her mother’s voice.

Olive sat up, rubbed her eyes, and glanced outside her window. She spotted two long ears and a small brown body.

Bunny. Olive smiled to herself. The rabbit looked at her through the window. Then it widened its eyes and stumbled backwards. It jumped away, all the while seeming to yell, “elf!”