Popular list...yay?

Man, this was an odd one. Probably the slowest and worst start to a story I've ever had, and here I was thinking some eventual romance, mystery and intrigue made enticing stories. I mean, I know the long and short descriptions, while very alike, are done well enough where it should get a few more folks to be like 'ooh, what's this?' and check it out. I suppose the fact that it's not saccharinely sweet or silly or cloppy is working against it, but I know I can produce quality either way. At least it made it to the popular list for a while and the green thumbs eventually outdid the red ones. Like I've said before, I wish the downvoters would at least have the courtesy to say what they didn't like.

Perhaps it's the introduction of Cottontail and not knowing who or what she's about (yet). But that's the thing – it's intended that way. I'd frankly think her strange and seemingly contradictory (in some instances) behavior would make people want to know exactly what's up with her as well as how and why she terrorized DT and SS. Obviously, I know where the story is going to go; the readers, of course, do not yet. Perhaps it's because most of the action seems to revolve around a character that isn't the M6 or CMC, even though it's still too early in the story for the reader to know the whole plot of the story?

At the end of the story, I'm hoping to leave the reader not only understanding what happened, which will be obvious by then, but also to almost make them want to go back and pick out the nuances so they could see it in a new light. Am I worried about how this one started? Not really. Am I disappointed? Sure, I'm allowed to be. Besides, the last story started out slow too and eventually was able to get featured on its own merit because more and more people decided to read it.