One Last Time

ZenZen
Jun 14, 2017
4 min read

Hello again, I'm sorry you won't be seeing me upload any content on my account for now because I'm currently trying to get over something that's happened recently.

I don't really know where to start. I thought my weekend could have not been more greater than ever that is, until my friend's pet rabbit "Kuro" passed away on Sunday, June 11th right when I returned from con. I was speechless, and shattered. Back then 4 years ago, my friend brought in new born bunnies that a school friend had given to her since her rabbit had recently given birth to them. Kuro and Niko were so tiny they had to sleep in a small box when they were first brought home. Everyday was so much fun with them, we learned how they liked their food and how they would like to be played around with. They grew insanely fast and it only felt like yesterday when they were just tiny bunnies.

Niko was always the dominant and active one, and Kuro was more on the neutral side. The two never fought and got along pretty well. They shared their food and played with one another just like siblings. Then one day, Niko passed away after falling from our condo's balcony/veranda , 8 stories down. We were devastated and shocked. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it except build a fence to act as a barrier. When we saw Niko hopping towards the ledge we knew that it wasn't good. We calmly tried to get Niko's attention to come back but it only stressed Niko more and without another warning, Niko lost balance and fell. You see, our balcony ledge is very narrow and for scale, a pigeon could only fit.

I remembered the adrenaline rushing through me as me and my friend rushed down hoping nothing severe happened. It was too late, Niko died immediately from impact. We held a small funeral that night and it was just heart breaking. While we thought we were being affected, Kuro was deeply affected of us all. Kuro witnessed his own sibling's death (Note: at the time of Niko's death we never found out its gender but when Kuro matured we found out he was male.) Kuro showed obvious signs of depression, he stopped eating, stopped coming out of his cage, and just stopped functioning.

We were all aware Kuro was upset, so one day we decided to test an experiment. A doll was brought in and put into his cage. To our surprise, Kuro played and cared for the doll like it was a friend. He always licked the doll clean and made sure to cover it with its small blanket that we provided for him. Unbelievable as it sounds, it was the experiment that changed Kuro and helped him move on. We did place fences after the incident, but removed them shortly after Kuro showed no signs of staying near the ledge.

Even though Kuro wasn't my pet, he felt like one. At the time of my depression, Kuro would sense it and always stay near me. It felt like those animal kind of therapies they provide to help people ease their worries? As time passed, I healed and so did Kuro. I recall the time I had to take care of Kuro for a week while my friend and her family went on vacation for a week to Japan. It wasn't easy I'll tell you that. I had to synchronize with his insane hyperactivity of running and knocking things and causing a big mess. But between his deadly farts and demands for affection, he felt like my pet that I never had.

I always feared how long Kuro was going to stay here with us. He had many episodes of sickness and soon developed cataracts in his eyes causing him to be partially blind. He was obviously getting older, but he was still the same pet rabbit. When I was told he was gone the same way as Niko, I kept wondering: "What went wrong" I just never thought it would happen so soon. I cried for hours because I just saw him the day before and he was still hopping around happily. I tried my best to see it in a positive way, that now at least he can join Niko who was probably waiting for his arrival.

Kuro, you fought so hard for almost 4 long years even after Niko's death. You showed us how loyal of a pet you were. Even if your death was accidental or not, you will always be the best pet, both you and Niko. Thank you for cheering me up during my depression. I will remember the times you loved to hop on my back, or the time you ran on grass for the first time, I'll remember them all. I hope you and Niko have lots of fun together now that you have reunited. Thank you for everything.