It Can Only Be Considered A Miracle

"Alright…hang on for a second…"

I'm more than out of breath having run to my apartment and up three flights of stairs to reach my room.

I place the soaking and freezing rabbit on the counter as I run to the bathroom to set the water. The room has the bare necessities: a toilet, a sink, and a tub with a shower. It usually takes a bit of time for the shower to warm up, so I grabbed the small creature and huddled in the corner of the bathroom.

"It really was a close call there, huh?"

I don't receive a response, but its shivering continues. I can still only barely feel anything myself and the clothes stuck to my skin aren't helping. Yet for this small body no larger than a soccer ball in my arms, the little heat I can provide is crucial.

"Sorry I didn't find you sooner."

Too much time was spent in hesitation. Just a few seconds later and the heart beating rapidly against my own would have fallen still.

For the first time since I first brought it into my arms, I feel the rabbit stir. You can usually only see rabbit eyes from a distance, so they always just look like some kind of black or brown colour. However, the one looking up at me is a beautiful blue. The large pupils are still occupying much of the space, but that water-coloured iris shines like a gemstone peeking out from stone.

If this small creature could talk, I wonder what it would say. If I were optimistic, I could imagine it offering gratitude before leaving to return home. If I were realistic, the rabbit would make a run for it at its earliest opportunity. Those were my thoughts when my brain finally got its bearings, but maybe I'm wrong. In this weakened state, it's using its little remaining energy to look towards me. That must be worth something.

"That should be good enough. Just give me a sec."

I place the rabbit on the ground before removing my bogged down clothes. The creature doesn't make any major movements, just watching me as I throw my clothes to the side and pick it up once more. Moving to the other side of the curtains, my body immediately loses all stress the moment I'm beneath the warm water.

"Thank goodness for hot water!"

The chilling feeling from before might as well have not existed. I feel like I've been injected with entirely new life.

I shield the rabbit's eyes as I allow the water to stream down my body and onto its fur. The floor of the tub is painted brown for a moment and I finally catch a proper glimpse of its true colours.

"Haha! That's quite the coincidence."

Its body is primarily white. If it weren't completely soaked, I can easily predict the snow white gradient across its body wholly unsuited for the wild around here. What stands out most to me are the markings along its back. Blue. The same as the one I saw barely a few hours ago. I want to say the markings themselves are exactly the same as that particular rabbit, but I don't think I can claim to have remembered it exactly.

I hold the rabbit up away from both my body and the rough shower water. Its head is primarily blue at the top aside from the white muzzle and a patch of white by its right eye. The blue floppy ears also contain white tips at their ends.

"I thought I told you to stay safe? This is what happens when you're careless."

The rabbit stares back at me. I can already tell that it has gained much of its energy back as well with the warm water.

"Do you need like, shampoo or something?"

With a rabbit in one hand, I examine the shampoo I normally use. It's a general use men's shampoo with an added scent of lavender, Mom's choice of course.

"I mean, it doesn't say that it isn't animal tested. What's the worst that could happen?"

I apply a very small amount of shampoo to the rabbit's back and proceed to gently caress its body. It doesn't struggle, but I still can't tell if it enjoys this process or not. I don't know anything about rabbits.

I neglected to apply any amount of meaningful bathing to my own body by the time we exited the shower. The small creature is now wrapped in a towel on the couch whilst I grab clothes for myself to wear.

"The place is kind of small, but I hope you don't mind. I'm sure it's nothing compared to your outside territory."

The rabbit doesn't even try to flee as I return to the couch and place it back into my arms. As I hold it up to get another good look at its figure, I see it looking somewhere off behind me. I turn around and follow its gaze to the still unopened bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter.

"I guess you did spend a lot of energy. Alright, wait here."

I place the rabbit back onto the cushion and head over to the kitchen. Tearing the wrapping, I remove a red apple from the assortment and take a seat at the table with the knife. Before I even have a chance to cut a piece from the fruit, the rabbit jumps onto the other of the two dining chairs and watches me.

"Well aren't you already full of energy? Don't worry, you get the first slice."

I shift my chair so I'm to the side of the rabbit instead of across the table. Unsure as to how large to cut it, I only remove a chunk the size of my small finger and hand it to my patient guest. The rabbit munches away as if it hasn't eaten in days. I barely have the time to cut a new piece before it's looking up at me for more.

"At least you still have your appetite uh…what do I call you?"

My blue and white guest doesn't even try to pretend like my question is as important as its meal.

I was not prepared to name a rabbit, I've never even had a pet to name. A few generic names come to mind before I realise that I don't even know if this is a boy or a girl. Does that even matter when naming animals? People name pets after random food or objects all the time. Our meeting was so sudden that I don't even know anything about this little creature. It can only be considered a miracle that we're even here sitting at the table and sharing a meal together.

"Mira…"

It was a miracle that brought us together. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this rabbit from here. This apartment charges a fee for keeping pets, and I'm sure my parents won't be thrilled to spend an extra couple of hundreds for something like this. Despite this uncertainty, I can't bring myself to part with it. Not today at least.

"Mira."

To my surprise, the rabbit actually looks up as I call its new name. A half chewed piece of apple lays on the chair as it tilts its head at me.

"I'm Noa…ah, you can continue eating."

Mira dips back down to continue eating. I hand it the last slice before getting up to throw away the core. As I place the remaining bowl in the fridge, the pale purple ribbon catches my eye. I grab it as I return to the table where the rabbit has eaten the last of the fruit.

"Here, just in case you ever get lost."

Mira doesn't put up resistance as I tie the ribbon loosely around its neck. After scratching at it a few times, Mira eventually accepts its new accessory and looks back up to me.

"Doesn't that look nice? You actually look like you belong in here now."

My appraisal is cut short as my body forces a yawn. When my eyes refocus, I see the rabbit scratching at its eyes as well.

"It has been a long day hasn't it?"

I pick up my new companion and head over to the bed, whose plain white sheets are still a mess from the night before. After turning off the lights, I place Mira on the part of the bed hugging the wall and lay down on the remaining space. I pull the sheets up and the rabbit readjusts its position before eventually settling on a spot against my shoulder.

"Good night, Mira."

I obviously don't receive a response, but the soft breathing is more than enough for me. All of the complicated stuff can wait for tomorrow. For now, let's rest and take the future one step at a time.

The exhaustion must have kicked in, because I found myself very quickly drifting to sleep.