Rabbits

Just as it ended, it began. Blood swirled down the drain in the floor, the soapy water causing a pink foam to rise. She had followed a white rabbit down a hole and her name was Alice. It had taken some time to find the rabbit. On the whole she was disappointed. The more she thought about it, the less she cared. The water ran clean. She turned it off and closed her eyes. She had followed a white rabbit down a hole.

***

Alice waited three months before venturing back through the looking glass. She watched from the shadows as the rabbit stepped from the cab and walked to the doors of the large high-class apartment building. The desk clerk smiled as the rabbit approached. The two exchanged words for a time before the clerk handed him his mail and the went back to his crossword puzzle. Alice watched and waited. Soon a light appeared in the rabbit’s window. She moved from the shadows to the back of the building and crawled into the basement through a broken window. Moments later she crested the stairs of the rabbit’s floor.

The blood washed clean from the knife as she held it under the tap. Crimson drops beaded the floor from the bathroom where the rabbit lay, his throat mutilated by the knife. She had followed a white rabbit down a hole.

***

The Cheshire Cat smiled as Alice approached. His sharp teeth glinted in the street lamp’s glare. From a pocket he pulled a small vial of white powder and handed it to her. Alice put the roll of money in his hand and quickly left. Behind her, the Cat began to laugh, his voice empty and fading.

***

Days later, Alice sat, red-eyed though alert, at a cafe across from a motel, her tea steaming in the crisp autumn air. Her eyes rested on a rabbit walking from the check-in desk at the motel and followed him as he made his way to the elevators. Alice smiled a secretive smile and finished her tea. She had time to wait. There was always time. She paid for her tea and followed another white rabbit down a hole.

***

Just as it ended, it began.