BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT Excerpt: White is a Human Construct

Laura Lascarso's short story takes readers into a Wonderland and adds a dash of darkness to BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT. The following is an excerpt from that story.

White is a Human Construct

The October sky was as crisp as a red apple. The morning light sliced through the overgrown yard, causing every shape and shadow to stand out in high contrast, including the white rabbit.

At first Alice thought it was a stuffed animal propped up inside a ramshackle hutch with a piece of roofing nailed to the top and hardware cloth stapled across the front. But as Alice approached, she saw that it was, in fact, alive. Its whiskers twitched, its mouth moved as if nibbling a blade of grass, and one ear fell forward rather sloppily.

“Curious and curiouser,” Alice whispered and glanced toward the house. Mrs. Miller had passed away months ago and the house had been vacant ever since, or so Alice had thought. The weeds grew to the tops of her navy kneesocks and tickled the backs of her legs as she hurried past the rabbit and onto Bradford Hills Preparatory School.

At school Alice kept her head down in the hallways and her nose in a book in class. The rumor mill still churned out stories about Alice’s stepfather, Congressman Shipley, each one more outrageous than the last. The circumstances of a high-profile politician leaving their small town so suddenly, and in the midst of a campaign for re-election, proved too mysterious for anyone to let fade away.

“I heard her mother caught him with another woman.”

“I heard it was Alice who caught him, and it was her mother’s sister.”

Alice didn’t elaborate upon or deny the stories, for as terrible as they were, their speculations were much safer than the truth.





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BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT Excerpt: Mustang Alice

The following is an excerpt from Medeia Sharif's short story for BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT, our Alice-in-Wonderland inspired anthology releasing April 14th. 

Mustang Alice 

“Come on, Alice, stop daydreaming. Out, girl. Let’s get us some snacks and be back on the road.”

Alice looked at the speaker, Maizie, the most aggressive girl in their group. Maizie had long, curly strawberry blond hair and fierce freckles. She also wore a frown. She didn’t care too much for Alice.

“Ugh, don’t blame me if you’re hungry and need to pee hours later,” Maizie said. “Loser,” came out under her breath.

Alice frowned. Folding a corner of a page from a book she was reading, she closed it and looked out the window. The group of fifty classmates and four chaperones was headed to Orlando for a fun weekend stay. Alice wasn’t looking forward to getting there. She wasn’t interested in water rides or roller coasters. She was happy being a homebody, studying hours a night. That’s how she ended up on this field trip. Their school was rewarding students for top grades. Alice had never wanted to sign the field trip form, but her mother smiled, thinking it would be a good idea for her to go.

“You never go out much,” her mother had said. “Something’s missing in your life. You need to go out more often.” She’d even hand delivered the field trip form to the main office to ensure that they received it on her daughter’s behalf.

Alice cracked open the window. Sitting next to Maizie had been no easy task. The first hour, Maizie had been asleep. Many of them had been, since they’d arrived at the school to board the bus at six that morning to get to Orlando before noon. Then the second hour, Maizie had been nasty, giving her snide looks and making remarks about Alice’s mousy hair, pale skin, and nose in a book.

It was a cold February day, with one of those rare cold fronts that descends on Florida. People wore sweaters and jackets. A line formed outside both restrooms, people hugging themselves and even shivering. The bus driver also got off the bus to go to the restroom. They were somewhere in Central Florida. The thrum of cars driving over the speed limit caused vibrations at the service plaza in the middle of the highway.

A yard from the bus, a driver of a shiny black Mustang parked next to a fuel pump. A middle-aged man with a paunch stepped out. He pulled his jeans up, but didn’t manage to yank them across his middle. The belt slid down and settled underneath his stomach. He wiped his nose with a finger, adjusted his sunglasses, and walked inside.

Alice admired the car, her eyes scouring back and forth the onyx length of it. On the dashboard was a stuffed white rabbit, which didn’t match the man who exited the car. Her eyes narrowed on it, because it looked familiar. It reminded Alice of her own stuffed white rabbit from childhood. She carried it back and forth between her parents’ homes when she stayed with her mother on weekdays and her father on weekends. She took it with her to elementary school. Then in the third grade, during recess, someone stole it. A boy with a wicked smirk and mad eyes knocked her to the ground and grabbed it. She cried and complained to a teacher, but no one did anything and she never saw the rabbit again.

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BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT Excerpt: Undercover Alice

This excerpt from Jennifer Moore's short story (included in our Alice-in-Wonderland inspired anthology) features Alice as an intrepid young reporter on her way to discovering a much weirder story than she expected!

Undercover Alice

WELCOME TO WONDERLAND, says the glittery banner stretched across the entrance. THE HOME OF HAT COUTURE. Wow. This place looks even bigger and swankier in real life. And the short, scared-looking girl staring back at me from the mirror
ed windows seems even more terrified than the last time I looked. Maybe just one more equipment inspection to steady my nerves:

Swanky new camera phone?

Check.

Embarrassing lucky troll charm from an old cereal box?

Check.

Courage to actually see this thing through?

Damn it, I knew I’d forgotten something. Maybe I should just turn round now and forget all about it. There must be a hundred other stories I could be reporting on instead, a hundred other ways to impress Jason.

Alice, if you can get us the inside scoop on the Maddy Hatter launch at Wonderland, it’ll be the biggest story since the skinny-dipping scandal of 2012. Bigger maybe. After all, if there’s one thing the students of Dodgson High like even more than naked Spanish teachers in the school pool, it’s celebrity gossip. And gossip follows that woman round like a bad smell. Get me the lowdown on her new hat range and a picture of Dana Duchess and I’ll be your slave for life.

Heart beating twice as fast at the merest thought of Jason Hopper?

Check.

Okay, deep breath. I can do this. I can. Just walk right in like I’m supposed to be there and see how far I get.

I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?

Ready to get the whole story along with Jennifer's Alice? iTunes, Smashwords and Amazon are accepting orders now for BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT!