FunnyBunnies

I found a jewel case in my garbage can six weeks ago, full of discs. 
The DVDs appeared to be in perfect condition last time I checked, with no scratches or markings present. The only exception was the case, as it was smudged by whoever had held onto it first. It made me wonder who would even consider tossing them out. Did the original buyer end up having no use for them, or did they contain some memories that he or she wanted to forget about? If that’s the reason, why were they put in my bin? 
Nevertheless, I took the discs inside and thoroughly inspected each one, but not without cleaning the case first. I thought these would be of use if I ever wanted to keep certain memories for an extended period of time. 
The first two were completely blank, the third one had this test video showcasing really shoddy special effects, and the fourth one actually had embedded recordings. Five, to be exact. 
All of them, for some reason, had two people dressed in Max and Ruby costumes. They were fuzzy, likely stitched with cotton or polyester material, and each limb was assembled onto their bodies like minifigures. Their eyes were reflective cutouts of plastic laminate with black lens pieces glued on the inside. Very awkward, but pretty much expected for a mascot ensemble. 
Inserting them into my desktop led me to a folder, listing each filename from the earliest to latest date it was implemented. I’ll do my best to describe the contents of each one.
FunnyBunniesPlay.vob. 
It starts off with a plain white screen, followed by Calibri text with a top left fly-in transition, reading “Funny Bunnies like to play!” Afterwards, the scene immediately opens to a kitchen setting, with stock Kevin MacLeod music. The two mascots ran into view, hopping in place with excitement before pretending to talk to each other, sometimes making hand gestures to convey what they’re about to do. 
Max sat at the dining table, while Ruby temporarily walked offscreen to bring in a tray of chocolate cupcakes. In an attempt to make each other laugh, Max drew a mustache under his nose with the frosting, and Ruby rubbed a cupcake all over her face to form a beard. The two have a food fight, throwing cupcakes at each other, before waving goodbye to the audience. 
One thing I want to bring up before I describe how the other videos played out, is that at the end of each one, a blurry screenshot from the actual cartoon would show up, coupled with the words “Subscribe to FunnyBunnies for more fun!” 
I researched the name for this supposed YouTube channel, and while I did come across many users with the same alias, none of them were what I was looking for. Hell, none were even related to Max and Ruby. 
FunnyBunniesPark-tbe.vob. 
Same introduction as before, except the text reads “Funny Bunnies like to visit the park!” instead. The setting was now a backyard, with a child’s play system filling up the grassy space. Max and Ruby hop in front of the camera, and eagerly point to the playground fit for a grade schooler behind them. 
The next four minutes just had them do regular playground activities, albeit much more exuberantly. Pushing each other on a swing and falling over, going down a slide, doing jump rope tricks, etcetera. 
Suddenly, as they were about to wave goodbye to the audience like in the last video, their heads jolted to the right and they stood completely still. The person wearing the Ruby costume booked it out of frame, while the one playing Max ran straight towards the camera and switched it off. No outro card came up. 
FunnyBunniesHair-tbe.vob.
“Funny Bunnies like to help friends!” It took place in a bathroom and started with Max and Ruby waving hello to the camera. Ruby impatiently gestures for someone behind the camera to come in. A child with disgustingly unkempt hair, likely a toddler, shows up wearing a paper bunny mask exposing the bottom half of her face. The two cosplayers wave their hand in front of their noses, indicating that the little one stinks, before they pull out some hygienic and self-grooming equipment. Scissors, some sort of three-in-one gel, a sponge, a comb, and a bucket of water. 
Max grabs onto the little girl’s hair and yanks it upward, aiming the scissors to her scalp. She kicks, and tries to forcefully pull his hand away, to which Max lets go out of frustration. He throws his arms in the air and points to the child. At this point, he and Ruby start arguing with each other while the girl shivers and visibly cries, as seen through her mask’s eyeholes, but there’s no audio from the recording to understand what anyone is saying. Only stock music. 
The scene suddenly cuts back to them showing the tools to the camera. The little girl is sitting still, but her arms are behind her back as the rabbits give her a very messy, quick haircut and washdown. They even end it off with Max putting makeup on the poor kid. 
FunnyBunniesDoctor.vob.
This one had no introduction. It cut straight to Max and Ruby in a bedroom waving to the camera, but Max’s movements made him come off as bored or uninterested with what he was doing. Max trudges out of view, and then leads a masked pregnant woman in. She had a purple bruise on her chest, just barely hidden by her dress, and based on her movements, she was having a very difficult time breathing. 
Ruby pats the bed, beckoning her to get on. The woman says something inaudible, causing Ruby to ball up her fist. This prompted the woman to shakily crawl onto the bed, before lying face down. Max pulls something out of the pocket of his overalls. 
A needle. Not a cartoonishly oversized needle, or a fake one made out of clay or plastic. It was real, and filled with dark yellow liquid. Seeing this, the pregnant woman tries to get up, but Ruby restrains her wrists, preventing her from leaving. Max presses down on her back thigh, and being unable to insert the needle slowly, he slips down the pregnant lady's pants and jabs it into her behind. An image of a cartoon crying face would be pasted over her head, and a high-pitched "oh no" sound effect plays. 
After Max removes the needle, Ruby turns the lady on her back and places a finger over her lips. Once the poor woman falls limp, Ruby gently sets her head on a pillow, before giving the audience a thumbs-up. Roll the outro. 
The video didn’t just feature that needle, however. There was also an M1911 handgun sitting on a nightstand.
Moneydoesntspeak.vob.
This video had no audio, intro, or outro. It just cut straight to what was supposed to be a video of them decorating eggs. Ruby hops with joy, while Max just stood there with his head down, barely waving. Afterwards, the characters sit down at the big, white table, stained with dye and food coloring. 
Ruby jokingly cracks an egg over Max’s head and laughs at him, but he doesn’t bother doing anything to retaliate. Instead, he squeezes another one until it bursts and drips between his fingers. 
The two each pick an egg from the carton and start painting. Ruby shows her egg to the camera, and it has a smiley face plastered on. She pets it, before placing it atop of a counter. Max shows his egg to Ruby, and it has a question mark drawn that is only faintly visible. She nods, presumably trying to dismiss his message. 
Max drops his egg, making it splat on the ground, and buries his head in his lap, hands tugging onto his ears. Ruby says something unhearable to Max, while pointing at the camera. She shakes him, trying to force him to out of his distressed position. 
That’s when shit hit the fan, and the actor playing Max attempted to unzip his costume. Ruby grabs his arm, but he manages to yank it away from her, and he flips the table, scattering the decoration materials. 
He lunges onto her and pins her to the ground. The head of Ruby's guise was removed and tossed over Max’s shoulder with uncontrollable fury, revealing the performer's face. Black hair, tan skin, riddled with acne and sweat.
He proceeded to pound her face in. 
I could see teeth flying out of her mouth, her nose snapping in a crooked formation. He'd squeeze his fingers tightly around her neck, slamming the back of her head against the tiled kitchen floor, causing a massive scalp laceration to open and spill out her vital fluids into a puddle. Her eyelids were turning purple, and they squinted shut from the impact of the welts. Bruise after bruise, blood loss after blood loss, it was brutal. Her face looked practically unrecognizable over the course of those few minutes. 
I couldn’t sit through all of it. The last thing I saw before I took out the disc and placed it back in the case, was Max grabbing a meat cleaver and brandishing it against the actor’s neck. I immediately dialed 911 to tell them what I had found. 
Fast forward six weeks later. The police weren’t able to find the suspect, likely because I cleaned the jewel case of any DNA but mine. I could’ve easily just watched the footage first, but no, I just had to think about myself at that moment. I’m such an idiot.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. 
One fortnight prior, my next-door neighbor moved into the area, and we got to know each other fairly well. Pretty nice guy. We occasionally go golfing or have a drink together, but today was the first time he ever invited me over to his place. His husband works as a plumber, and when he went to the house's crawlspace to do ductwork, he ended up finding something down there. 
I arrived over at his place to see what it was before we contacted the authorities yet again. A filthy, stained, besmirched pair of rabbit costumes. The same ones from the DVD I found, as a matter of fact. 
The tags on their tails were still attached, and while they were difficult to decipher from the grime, I managed to make out four words inscribed on each one. 
“Property of Easton Mall.” 
Category:Lafawnda's Reading Hour
Category:Max and Ruby
Category:DVD
Category:Computers and Internet