Afraid of the Dark
Fluffy the little rabbit lived in a burrow with his family. During the day time, they slept and stayed very quiet. When night fell, they came out of their burrow and hopped all over the field. They searched for food and played in the moonlight.
But there was something that bothered Fluffy. It was the darkness. Fluffy didn’t like the darkness at all. It made him feel very scared. He was happy when the moon was out, shining bright, bathing the whole field in a soothing gleam. But some nights when Fluffy looked up at the sky, only a part of the moon was visible. It was like someone had taken a bite out of it. It still gave light; but not as bright as the full moon.
Then there were those nights Fluffy didn’t like at all. Nights where there was no moon to be seen in the sky. It was like someone had stolen the moon. The field was covered in darkness. Everything looked like dark patches. Everything felt so different too. Fluffy felt very scared, even to open his eyes and to look around. So he kept his eyes tightly shut and hopped around clinging on to his mother.
“Fluffy, you have to stop doing this!” his mother said. “You’ll never grow up to become a brave rabbit, if you’re going to be this scared of the dark.” But Fluffy couldn’t stop being afraid. “If there is danger, we need to quickly hop back into our burrow. But how can I do that when you cling on to me like this?” his mother often told him. “How can you spot danger in the first place, when you keep your eyes tightly shut?”
So Fluffy’s mother stopped him from staying too close to her and asked Fluffy to get used to being on his own, because he was not so little anymore. But Fluffy was still scared. So he stayed very close to the burrow on dark moonless nights. Even when a leaf fell, Fluffy quickly jumped into his burrow because everything scared him, when it was dark.
Fluffy’s friends started making fun of him, seeing how scared he was. Sometimes they came from behind and frightened him, making poor Fluffy jump straight into the burrow. “Everyone is making fun of you, Fluffy. You need to stop being so scared!” his father told him. But Fluffy couldn’t stop being afraid. The darkness seemed pretty scary for some unknown reason. Fluffy shuddered thinking about moonless nights.
One night, it was a very dark night, Fluffy came out with his family in search of food. The rabbits hopped all over the field, nibbling at leaves and playing with each other. It was pitch dark and Fluffy could hardly see his own feet. The air was cool and it was very quiet. Fluffy felt too scared to even move. “I’ll stay right here!” he thought standing near the entrance of their burrow. “I’d rather stay hungry than having to hop about in this darkness.”
Fluffy saw a tiny light from afar. It came closer and closer. He felt scared and was about to jump into his burrow when a tiny voice asked, “Why aren’t you with the other rabbits?” Fluffy looked carefully. It was a firefly. He looked down sadly. “I am scared, that’s why!” he said. “Scared of what?” asked the firefly.
“The darkness,” said Fluffy. “It’s so scary. Everything seems so different in the dark!”
“There’s nothing to be scared about,” said the firefly. “Easy for you to say,” said Fluffy. “You carry a light everywhere you go. I don’t have anything like that. So I have to move in this pitch darkness. Things seem very scary in the dark!”
“Well, actually,” said the firefly, “there’s nothing to be scared about because what is out there in the dark is no different than what is out there during day time.” The firefly flew closer to Fluffy. “Here, keep me on your paw,” he said. Fluffy carefully held the firefly. “Now tell me what is over there during the day time,” said the firefly pointing forward. “A grove of bushes with tasty leaves,” replied Fluffy. “Well let’s go and see if it’s still the same or not when it’s dark,” said the firefly.
So Fluffy went forward holding the firefly and stood in front of the bushes. “Has anything changed?” asked the firefly. “No, it’s still the same bushes,” said Fluffy, hungrily munching a few leaves. “Come on, let’s walk around and see if everything is the same or not!” said the firefly.
So, the two of them went all over the field, checking out everything around. Fluffy noticed that everything was the same. The only difference was that it was dark and a little difficult to see very clearly. That was all. “So do you see that there is nothing to be afraid of? Everything is still the same in the dark. Only, it’s not very easy to see things,” said the firefly.
“I’ll come and take you out every night, till you feel that you’re not afraid anymore!” promised the firefly. Fluffy thanked the firefly, feeling happy. He was already feeling fearless. And in a few more days, he knew that he’d be brave enough to hop all over the field with the other rabbits without being scared of the darkness anymore. After all, Fluffy now knew that there was no reason to be afraid of the dark.