Kill the White Rabbit

The scary sounds of the night made me shiver, my bones and teeth rattled both from cold and fright. Everything in that jungle was dim, dingy... unreal. It felt so heavy to breath, the thick and dampened air, tingled on my skin as it smelled like decomposing leaves and moss.

After walking for hours through the dense forest, I was hungry and exhausted. My stomach rumbled empty and a mix of frustration and despair overpowered me. My face banged against a dreadful reality as there were no plants to feed of, or a clear stream to quench my thirst.

"Oh God, how I hate this doomed place! Cursed be the day I ran after that stupid white rabbit that made me fall into the bottomless burrow under the big old oak tree... Stupid rabbit, stupid burrow... Stupid place! Stupid me! Why I am lost!" Tears rolled down my cheeks, mumbling with more anger than fear.

Feeling defeated, I sat on a muffin-shaped stone that solitary lied on a clear in the woods. My teeth clenched with the sardonic coincidence of finding a not edible muffin that made my stomach to protest again. Bizarre, hideous and nonsensical! It's all the flowers' fault. How I could believe them good and gentle? After spending the whole morning in the garden with them, at their request... Silly daisies! Silly and annoying! All of them, the pansies and the roses... the dandelions too. How did they dare call me a weed! You'll see when I get back to my human size!" Shoes off I massaged my tired feet and wimped, every time more hungry. I hadn't eaten since the tea party at the Mad Hatter's Place. Lots of tea, cookies and loads sugar sustained me until now... for how long I wasn't sure anymore. Sun rose when it wanted, the moon too, sometimes both shining in the sky at the same time.

"Oh, Wait!" Suddenly I remembered the pieces of mushroom that obnoxious caterpillar gave me in the morning. I had them in my pockets all this time. It shrank me the last time, but it was good to eat. Having nothing else to lose, I took one of the pieces out of my pockets and chewed a mouthful. As it melted gradually, an explosion of flavors and textures bursted in my mouth: butterscotch, grape jam... then licorice, sweet chocolate.

As I licked my lips and fingers, I started to feel funny. Everything around me swirled, colors changing, mixing in a turmoil of light and shadows, of greens, yellows and reds. Above, the silvery moon smiled first and then laughed mischievously. The rock I sat on shook me off making me fall to the grassy floor that cracked below my feet. Terrified, I crawled back and holding myself to a tree stem I managed to stand up. My legs wobbled and I felt dizzy.

Howling and shrieking, the trees extended their skeletal branches towards me and I hustled out of that place. Engulfed by the horrid sensation of being chased and having a thousand flickering eyes stared at me, I couldn't do more that keep running. Screeches and cries and my own pulse throbbing in my ears deafened me while I raced to nowhere, unable to find the way out. Finally, I spotted a nook between two huge trees, a gap to squeeze through. Hundreds of colorful bats flew out the darkness, flapping frantically their wings above my head. My arms bled as the lower branches scratched my arms.

A ray of light altogether with a ray of hope shone when I found myself I had escaped. Still feeling dizzy, I tried to focus on the place I was now. It was a clear meadow, a little cottage painted yellow and thatched in blue straw stood in the middle. Like in my most delightful dreams, the trees around the house danced and the flowers hummed intangible melodies.

Tripping on each step taken, I managed to walk straight but I failed miserably. "Wicked mushroom!" My tongue felt heavy, "That devilish caterpillar drugged me!"

"There! There's the White Rabbit!" I heard someone talking to me, the voice coming from behind me.

"What! Where? Who's there?" I scanned all around the clear and I saw nothing, nobody.

"I told you. The White Rabbit!" The voice once again spoke, right next to my ear. 

"No! You! I'm talking about you? Who are you? Where are you?" Turning around, I felt so lightheaded.

I stopped walking, resolving to stand still, when it materialized little by little in front of me. First his huge and wicked grin appeared, then his purple stripes and funny ears. The long and puffy tail was the last thing to pop out, curling up and down. It was the Cheshire Cat!

"Oh, it's you again", my shoulders dropped, disappointed to see the hideous cat and I walked away to hide behind some mulberry bushes. The feline was right, there was the White Rabbit and I didn't want him to notice I had found him.

Dressed in his hearts and diamonds vest, he looked at his gilded clock and watered the flowers in the garden. The hare hopped here and there singing a catchy and merry tune.
The Cheshire Cat babbled behind, taking me out of my nerves. "Shhh! Can you please shut your mouth up!"

"What! Don't talk to my like that young lady! It's not my fault you are hungry, tired and lost... It's all his fault." Cheshire Cat clung his tail to a tree's branch next to me and hanging upside down, he pointed at the White Rabbit.

For the first time the fiend was right in his argument. "Yes, I know." I shrugged, turning again to stare at the hare.

"It is not fair... think about it. He's so happy in his cozy little cottage with lots of food to eat and sleeping in his warm and comfortable bed... and where are you Alice? Stuck in this horrible place and nd it's all the White Rabbit's fault. He was the one that brought you here in first place, knowing that you would follow him."

"Yes. True! How I hate that rabbit!" My fists clenched and my face flushed with anger.

"And... You don't plan to do anything!" The cat stabbed me with that statement.

"Anything like what?" I faced the Cheshire Cat, looking at him with bewilderment.

His grin glistened in the shadows. His big and round eyes swirled like demonic bulls eyes. I was feeling dizzy again. "Kill him. Kill the White Rabbit!" He commanded.

"Kill the white rabbit." I repeated, all baffled, like hypnotized fixed at the cat's eyes that swirled and swirled...

"Kill that stupid Rabbit and end with this curse! Here, take this. Do it!" A golden dagger hung from the Cheshire Cat's tail. I grabbed the blade in my shaky hands and studied it for a moment. It was beautifully carved in gold with rubies and diamonds, like one of those ancient daggers you see displayed in a museum. "Kill him!" It's now or never!" It was like a choir of Cheshire Cats chanting all together. "Kill the White Rabbit!"

"I will kill the White Rabbit." I whispered as I headed headed to the Rabitt's cottage, dagger in hand. I could hear the Cheshire Cat's voice fading in the distance, "Kill the White Rabbit." and I repeated after him the phrase once and again.

My sight narrowed ahead of me, targeting only the animal that after entering his house, closed the door behind him. In the way I got closer, everything changed colors to a monochrome red.  My heart throbbed inside my vacillating chest and I grabbed the dagger so tight the stones on the grip incrusted on my skin.

After reading the 'welcome' on the orange rug at the entrance, I knocked the door three times. Ceremoniously, the White Rabbit opened the door, there was surprise on his face, yet a genuine smile. His big frontal teeth showed as his mouth curved up. But it ended soon and his smile vanished away being replaced with a pure expression of terror. The golden lustrous surface on the dagger's blade mirrored his expression, his black dilated pupils as it went up in the air and stroke down with strength... Repeatedly... I stabbed the animal one time after the other. Blood gushed everywhere... And darkness engulfed me.

🐇🐛🍄🌹🐇🐛🍄🌹

I woke up to a high pitch shriek. Panting, I jerked up and sat up straight, my face crossed with confusion when I saw the terror on my governess' face. "What have you done, Alice!" She cried, her blue eyes beaming terror.

The acrid smell of blood hit my nostrils and I looked down at me, at my clothes... I was all covered in blood. A gilded knife rested on my lap, dripping in red next to the rests of a headless white rabbit. The head laid by my feet, his pink eyes staring empty at me.