The room was small, very small. They had no idea how long they had been kept inside. Nor had they any idea what had become of their comrades. One of them had his long furry ear pressed tightly against the old wooden door of their cell. The cell was not locked. In a place like this, there was really no need for locks. Well, maybe just for one inhabitant. The long furry ear was picking up no sounds from the outside. Even though the wooden door was thick, it was old and cracks were starting to appear, making the job easier for Ozzy. He pressed his nose to the slight gap between the door and the frame. His whiskers twitched in the cold dank air but again there was nothing to be detected. He sat up on hind legs, grabbed one of his ears and began to stroke it gently. His little tail bobbing from side to side as he did so.

"I think we're all clear." Ozzy said, as he turned round to his cousin who was cowering in the corner of the room.

Although it was dark, Ozzy could still just make out where Alice was in the room. Of course it helped that Alice was wearing white. He lay huddled into the floor with his front paws over his nose.

"Come on, Alice. I really think this is the right time to make a break for it."

"I don't know, Ozzy. None of the others came back." Alice replied to him timidly.

"Maybe they got out. After all, it has been a bit quieter in here recently."

"But what about, you know who?"

Ozzy turned his head to look at Alice with his good eye. "I think she's back under lock and key. She got out for a while and caused complete havoc. Some say she even got off the complex for a while."

"Okay," said Alice as he crept ever so slowly towards the door.

They both placed their paws near the gap between the door and the frame and extended their claws, digging into the now soft wood. They pulled and pulled with all their might and eventually they were rewarded with a little groan as the wood woke up. Ozzy gasped as cold, frigid air poured into the little room. Undeterred, he and Alice returned to the task with renewed vigour. Millimetre by millimetre, inch by inch, the door gave way with a groaning and a grunting, and a heaving and a swaying. Eventually, after much effort, the door lay ajar about six inches.

"That should be enough," puffed Ozzy.

They paused for a second or two to catch their breath. As they were doing so, the darkness started to edge its way into the room. It was black and sinister, as dark frequently is. It was beckoning Alice and Ozzy to join it, goading, tempting, and cajoling.

Alice squirmed back, afraid, "I thought you said she was locked up!"

Ozzy paused thoughtfully, his whiskers twitching alarmingly quickly, "She is. This is just her residual ether. Let's go before it's too late."

And with that, both bunnies hopped into the corridor. The corridor was cold. Ice cold. Alice looked back at their room but could no longer see inside. It was already filled with the darkness. There was no going back. It was either get out now, die, or worse.

Slowly and softly, they hopped up the corridor trying to stay in the middle of the walkway in an attempt to avoid anything untoward happening. Alice struggled to see Ozzy unless he was almost touching him due to his dark grey fur. Both rabbits continually moved their heads from side to side with both sets of whiskers twitching frantically, searching for any sign of misdeed. Presently, they came upon a 'T'-junction. Ozzy's first thought was thank goodness it wasn't a crossroads. No deals with the devil for them.

"What we need," said Ozzy, "is a sign post that says 'Certain Death' one way, and 'Freedom' the other," in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. Not easy in a place like this, and it was at this point that Alice involuntarily left a little trail of hard brown nuggets in his wake.

The nuggets rolled down the walkway they had just traversed. They came to rest against a large metal door, with an almost imperceptible, soft little bump. Just a little, light, nudge. Nugget on metal. Behind the door, something stirred. An orange eye lazily opened and struggled to find focus in the gloom. A hairy ear pricked itself up, followed by a huge dark muzzle encased in dried drool. The beast licked its chops showing a row of razor sharp teeth. It moved its gigantic shimmering bulk into a crouch and inched towards the door, moving its head left and right as it went. A noise. Out there. Most unusual. It pressed its nose to the miniscule gap between the door and the floor and sniffed. Something strange. Light, no, GOODNESS. It must be stopped! It lifted its long slobbering snout and started a low pitch howl.

The howl rolled around its cell gathering momentum and force. It tested the walls and the door, seeking a way out. The beast did not stop. The howl grew louder and angrier, more punishing with each passing millisecond until it burst from the cell into the corridor, reverberating down the hallway, past the two now cowering bunnies.

"What did you do?" Ozzy inquired impatiently of Alice.

"I don't think it matters, anymore." Alice sheepishly replied. He was trembling all over. Every ounce of fur standing on terrified end.

"Alice!" shouted Ozzy, "RUN!"

Both bunnies took off as fast as they could, half hopping, half running through the labyrinth of corridors. They could not escape the howls. There were more of them now gathering force and taking over them as if in some sort of macabre race.

* * * * *

The howls made their way down to the very bowels of this hideous institution, where even Fear and Dread were loath to venture.

The locked room.

In total darkness sat a room, suspended by some supernatural force. It touched neither wall, ceiling nor floor with no obvious ties to bind it to that place. It just simply was. The door was nailed shut. Each nail overlapped the one beside it. There was no lock within the door but it was bolted shut from the outside by five heavy duty iron bars. Each bar held two padlocks with no key holes. The room was locked tight and while it contained her body, it could not contain her reach.

She heard the howls. They echoed in her head and she smiled. From her cell she could see, smell, taste and touch. All she needed was her vessel, whether inside or out. She reached out with her mind and piggy-backed the reverberations to their source. The interlopers were so small she almost missed them. More bloody rabbits. She thought she had seen the last of them after their last attempt at influence. She smiled in the darkness and thought, time to unleash the fury. It's going to be a good one tonight.

* * * * *

As they skittered through the walkways and corridors, Ozzy and Alice could hear the howls pounding around them. Then, all of a sudden, the howling ceased. Total silence. Nothing at all. All the bunnies could hear was their own ragged breathing and their hearts beating wildly in their chests.

"Did we outrun it?" asked Alice nervously.

"I have a bad feeling about this," replied Ozzy.

The two bunnies backed up the corridor slowly and warily. As they peered down the way they had just come, it appeared to get darker before their eyes. Ice started to form on the ends of their little twitching whiskers. Alice went to lift a paw off the ground but it wouldn't move. There was something sticky on the floor. Both bunnies looked down and could just make out a red sticky mess with patches of fur.

"Is that..?" Alice didn't finish the rest of his question as something fell from the ceiling, startling him.

Ozzy and Alice both looked to the ground. It was a foot. A rabbit's foot.

A female voice echoed off the walls, "Not so lucky for them."

Without another word or sound, the two bunnies took off again, slipping and sliding at every turn, careening off walls and tumbling over one another in their haste to get away. Behind them, there was a thundering of noise as doors flew open, and all manner of beasts and beings erupted ferociously from their resting places. There was snarling and growling; shrieking and wailing; moaning and groaning; and howls of hideous laughter. Panting, scratching, fighting they came after the two frightened bunnies. Literally all hell was breaking loose.

And in her prison, she smiled. No escape. Not now, not ever.

Alice and Ozzy, wide-eyed and panicked blindly ran on. What else could they do? Many had tried to escape or influence a lighter touch before but not for long. And then they saw it. Two pinpricks of muted light up ahead. Ozzy started to fall behind. Alice risked a quick glance at him.

"Keep going!" he shouted.

Alice ran his little heart out, straight into the light. He bounced off with a dull thud. He heard Ozzy do likewise beside him at the other light source.

"Again." shouted Ozzy, "Just keep trying!"

The two little rabbits kept hammering away at the filmy barriers as the ground shook and trembled behind them.

The voice spoke again, making them prick up their little ears and turn around,

"It's over. He'll always be mine."

Ozzy and Alice heard a tap, tap, tapping coming from out of the darkness. The click clack of claws was loud in the air. Out of the dark came all sorts of freaks and geeks. Twisted souls, and ghostly shapes moved and gusted through the space. Blood dripped from the walls, and Fear stalked through the ranks. The air was thick with brimstone but deathly icy cold.

With every ounce of strength left the bunnies hurled themselves at the light. Over and over again while the motley crew behind them moved slowly and steadily forward, enjoying every single second of their morbid advance.

* * * * *

Dean awoke with a pounding headache. The kind you get right behind your eyes. He rubbed his eyes, glanced at the clock on his bedside cabinet. It was only 03:35 but he rushed downstairs anyway, into the study and powered up his laptop. He sat down and began to write.

"I thought I was done with this," he muttered to himself.

Deep in the recesses of his mind; in a small locked room; sitting in its own space, she smiled and whispered,

"You'll never be done with this."