never miss another strange story subscribe and head the bell sit back and get comfortable I have a few stories to share with you welcome and good night happy Easter to all of you who are celebrating this holiday to some this is a happy day full of fun gifts and family time for others it is a day full of dreadful memories which type of day is it for you and with that said let's get to the stories all phobias are irrational but the one I suffered from throughout my entire childhood and young adulthood took the biscuit you're scared of rabbits people always scoffed the polite ones tried to look understanding but I could see suppressed laughter in their eyes I know how ridiculous it sounds where there was big eared fluff balls everyone else seems to find so adorable really creeped me out I stayed well clear of pet shops and the run-up to Easter was as scary as Halloween must be for people who's scared of witches I can pinpoint the date started to you see for many years I was convinced that the Easter Bunny ate my best friend it was Easter Sunday 1996 I was eight my family lived in a small traditional village where nothing much happened before that day it had probably never been in the national news at all every year mr. Anderson the old man who lay in the manor-house opened up his grounds for the local kids to have an Easter egg hunt I went along with my best friend since nursery Emily we had this sort of intense relationship that could only form in childhood when we met new people would tell them that we were sisters and everyone believed us at first our parents took us to the hunt that year was particularly well attended and by the time we arrived just ten minutes after the event started most of the obvious places had been raided already the grounds were huge with several acres covered with trees our parents kept calmly reminding us to stay close where they could see us where they seem pretty engrossed in their own conversations they didn't tell us off what we strayed slightly so we decided to go deeper into the trees and find some addicts that had been left behind by other kids it was a good choice at least as far as the egg hunt went we found several small brightly colored chocolate eggs hidden behind trees and underneath piles of leaves and added them to our haul in a tiny basket we've been given look Emily said excitedly pointing up at a tree there's a massive one up there she was right above us nested on a higher branch was an egg larger than the others it even included the mug I'll go for it I said feeling proud of the look of relief that filled my friends face I had always been the better climber and I fancied the braver one if the truth be known I think I just wanted to look cool in front of her with difficulty and disregard for safety that makes me cringe in hindsight I slowly started climbing the tree I barely managed to reach the egg but eventually was able to grab it and begin climbing down I reached the ground giddy with victory and found myself at first I thought Emily was playing a trick on me but after searching behind every tree around there and calling her name a couple of times to no avail I started to get scared I ran back to my parents fully expecting to see her there Emily's gone I told my mother I still remember the look of concern on her face before she composed herself I'm sure she's just gone to the toilet or something love what were you doing in those trees anyways she asked me the rest of the afternoon was a bit of a blur to me but I do remember the creeping sense of dread as the minutes tick by I remember all the adults running around shouting Emily's name I remember the police arriving I also remember being scared of them asking me where it went with her and what I'd seen in my final minutes with her I remember Emily's parents sobbing and hugging one another this loss image will stay with me until the day I die it was nearly dark by the time we left I was crying the entire time my father held me close and whispered his fine darling she'll be back soon she's just gone on an adventure with the Easter Bunny I recalled my mother snapping something in his ear about giving her false hope but I chose to believe him the alternative was too horrifying to imagine my family kept me sheltered for most of what followed but I've placed it together by looking it up Emily's disappearance was a national story for a few days but as the weeks and months went by nobody was found no new leads ever came out she slowly slipped away from the public's consciousness logically understood that Easter and especially a fictional egg delivering bunny had nothing to do with Emily's kidnapping but the emotional part of my brain couldn't fathom that and the two remained linked despite the therapy and that my parents got me I had nightmares about the Easter Bunny coming for me and my loved ones for years to follow I still get them to this day occasionally I never had or wanted an easter egg after that event years went by and I would love to say that I moved on to some extent I had to but at school I was an oddity a curiosity because of my connection to a semi-famous tragedy I found it hard to make friends even into adulthood and never quite trusted that my pals would stay around that they wouldn't be taken from me and the shortest notice it made relationships quite hard to say the least I tried to bury myself in academics and later work I was on my lunch hour at the office one day last year when my mother rang I answered always a bit nervous when she rang me at work and something happened to a family member I thought to myself and picked up I wanted to catch you before the news broke she said they found Emily's body at the manor house I swallowed tears stinging my eyes oh that's not all darling he well you know mr. Anderson died last week I hadn't heard but I made a noise in the affirmative they found her inside his house when they were clearing out his things she was in his cellar and sweetie I'm sorry to have to tell you this but it wasn't a little girls body they found she only died about a year ago they suspect they found her shackled to a wall the sick bastard had been keeping her there all along I dropped my phone and burst into long suppressed tears I'm not afraid of rabbits anymore but I'm more terrified of humans than ever [Music] [Music]