White Rabbit

She exhaled a small puff of smoke as she leaned back against the fading oak tree. She kept her eyes closed for a moment as she savored the feeling of the plant ash coursing through her body. Without sitting up from the tree she brought the small pipe up to her lips again to relit the plants inside.

“It’s my turn,” her sister said quietly but with force. Lazily, she handed over the pipe and lighter she had been balancing in one hand to her sister. “And it’s your turn to read.”

Alice pushed herself up off the tree and felt a slight spin in the world around her. A smile drifted across her face. She couldn’t think of a feeling better than this. She looked down into the bright green grass cluttered with weeds and dandelions until she found the textbook close to her sister’s feet.

Alice opened the book to the page her sister had marked. Nothing about the story of Charlemagne interested her in the least, but she pushed through her disinterest and dry mouth to finish the chapter and thus earn back the small pipe.

This had been her main study practice with her sister since she caught up and entered high school, and in Alice’s mind, there was no better way.

Abruptly, a large rabbit hopped onto her. It didn’t hurt Alice so much as surprise her but the rabbit seemed disoriented, to say the least. She studied the dark gray rabbit which was larger than any rabbit she’d seen before (not that she spent much time studying the size of rabbits or rabbits at all, for that matter). Its face also looked somewhat disoriented - almost like a horrific cartoon rabbit. Then, before Alice could even adjust or process, the rabbit screamed at her. With words. In English, with a slight accent.

“Move, you dumb girl! You’re in my way!”

All things considered, it actually might have been easier for the rabbit to just hop around her but Alice, being so startled, quickly stumbled to her feet and moved. The rabbit shook his head again and hopped off.

“What the fuck? Did you see that? What did you put into this bowl?” Alice asked with a slight laugh turning to her sister. But her sister was nowhere to be found.

“Helena?” Alice cried out in a worried whisper. But there was no reply. Alice walked all around the tree and looked out into the field. Where could she have gone so fast?

“Why are you just standing there? Maybe you really are just a dumb girl,” spoke the rabbit again, who had just appeared behind her.

“I’m not dumb, I’m just stoned, and I can’t find my sister. She was right here.” Alice answered, gesturing to the tree. The rabbit looked from her to the tree curiously.

“That’s a tree. Quite different from a human. How stoned are you?” The rabbit retorted. Alice groaned in worried frustration.

“I meant she was sitting by the tree. I know the difference between a tree and a human. Have you seen another girl here?” Alice asked. The rabbit looked at her suspiciously, and Alice bit her tongue. She didn’t need to prove her intellect to a drug illusion.

“I haven’t. Just you, bumbling around. Making me more late than I already am.” The rabbit grumbled before starting to hop off again.

“Late for what? If you were late, why come back just to further insult me?” Her mind was solely driven by her curiosity. Alice started after the rabbit. It seemed the closer she got to him, the faster he’d run. It was hard to run so fast when she was so high.

She tripped and stumbled a few times before she finally lost sight of the rude rabbit. Alice could barely keep her feet and didn’t even notice the giant hole in the ground until she was already stumbling through it. She was sure she was screaming, but she couldn’t hear any noise. Alice observed the hole around her and saw that there was actually other stuff falling through the tunnel with her. There were cards - playing cards with hands and faces. They were bloodied and bruised, they carried weapons, and looked as if they were trying to reach her. There were common household items like a candlestick and a rocking chair as well, but they were slightly broken and bloody. It was almost as if she were falling into some sort of war zone.

Alice fell hard onto the floor and felt a small pop in the back of her knee. Her vision began to blur, and her eyes turned teary. She sat up slowly, cradling the injured part of her head.

“Goodness, what the hell did you go and do that for?” called the familiar voice. Alice turned all around her, but everything was hazy, and she couldn’t get herself to focus.

“What?” she called out. She felt a small weight hop onto her legs and hop further up. The rabbit shoved something in her mouth that tasted like a shortbread cookie.

“You’re going to need this, you monstrosity,” he stated, ignoring her question. “You won’t be able to enter like that.”

The indistinct shapes around her started to swirl until everything was just a mass of color. The movement of it made Alice feel like she might throw up. Just as quickly as it stopped, her vision was clear, but she was eye to eye with the rabbit. Even though it had been quite larger than an average bunny, she knew she had been much taller before.

“What the hell did you do to me?” she demanded. The rabbit ignored her and pushed open the small red door she had just noticed. She looked beyond and saw what looked like a dead planet filled with ash and smoke. There was clearly a war still going on and fires bursting through distant points. The rabbit pushed her through. Alice stumbled into the new, unstable land.

“If you’re going to follow me, noisy girl, you can at least help. Though I’m afraid there’s not much hope for Wonderland now.”

Alice stared in horror as she saw creatures that were something like dragons soar through the sky, burning flame down below. There were puffs of different colored smoke coming up around the large battles in the distance. Around her, she could see creatures that didn’t hardly looked real and plants that were alive - like people, with faces and eyes full of tears. The rabbit reached up and took her hand, guiding her towards the dramatic mess.

“What a bad trip,” she muttered and followed him into the madness he called Wonderland.