Whilst looking in the mirror and styling my hair, I prepared myself for the worst part about being a zombie. It was dinner time. Every week I had the same routine: wake up, get myself looking human, go out, find sustenance and then spend the rest of the night trying - and failing - to keep my emotions in check.
I hated the fact that to survive myself, I had to kill another living being. After glancing at the clock, I took in a deep lungful of air and slowly let it vacate my body. Then I, slowly, made my way to the bathroom door. As I walked down the aisle to this, in a suit, with a beautiful girl hanging off of my arm. However, I knew that the memory had taken place long ago, so I did not hold out any hopes for the beautiful girl, in the white dress, still being alive. (It was more like a dream than reality).
Instead of focusing on the past, I focused all of my energies on to the inevitable task in front of me. As I left the church an unavoidable sense of dread coursed through my veins. 'Yes,' I thought to myself, 'this is the most definitely the worst part about being a zombie.'
When I reached the end of my church's driveway, I looked left and right, but there was nobody outside. I set off towards the park, my usual hunting grounds. Approaching the park, I could hear voices. I strained my ears to try and work out how many there were. As far as my ears could tell, there were two humans in the park, a man and a girl. I would call her a girl, and not a woman, because of the naïveté in her voice.
Quietly, I approached the loud couple. I went straight for the man's neck, all of my earlier hesitation forgotten. Whilst biting down on his neck, my hands crept around to the back of his head. When I found the soft spot situated there, I dug my fingers into it. After I had penetrated the skin, I pulled upwards, trying to crack the skull in half. It took me a couple of minutes to achieve this, but after I managed it and saw my lovely red star inside, I knew it was worth all of the straining.
I quickly devoured the beautiful red star and turned to my next victim. However, what I saw on this girl's face shocked me out of my blood lust. She didn't look scared at all; she just had a vague look of acceptance on her , for some strange reason, caused me to grab her around the backs of her knees and haul her over my shoulder.
In a daze, I set off at a sprint towards my church. Luckily, the streets were just as empty as they were when I had emerged earlier. As I ran, I tried to give my self a good enough explanation for my insanely, crazy actions. To my amazement, this girl did not put up any resistance, she just lay there on my shoulder.
When I reached my church's driveway, I slowed down to a walk. I walked up to my front door with a look of bemusement, plastered on my face. Questions ran through my head at a hundred miles an hour, but the one that kept repeating itself was: 'why did she not resist me?'. Of course, I didn't want to be resisted, but I thought that she would have at least tried to.
Still not getting the answers to all of my questions, I went through my front door and, unceremoniously, carried the girl down the aisle. When I reached the front of the room I set her down on the pew in the front. I looked at her face and saw the most beautiful girl in the world. She was a typical beauty. Her eyes were a deep, ocean blue and her hair was strawberry blond. Her lips were pale, but full and she had the cutest little button nose that I had ever seen.
As a result of my appreciation of her features, I had failed to notice her gawking at me as well. After a moment of staring at her, I recovered myself. I gave her a shy smile and softly said "Erm...hi? M-my name's Jake." I had spoken so quietly that I didn't think she had heard me, but after a moment or two she said, in a heavy accent:
"Hello. My name is Anna," then, after flicking her gaze between the floor and my face, said, "Has anyone ever told you that you have absolutely amazing eyes?"
I thought about this for a moment and then replied, "Er...no. I don't think anybody has. Anna I'm so sorry."
"For what?" she replied, still admiring him.
"For what I just did. Y'know," I mimed tearing open my head and eating the insides.
"Oh. Don't worry about it. I-I didn't really know the guy anyway. He just came up to me and tried to kiss me. Luckily, that's when you showed up and saved the day, my hero." Anna grinned at me and, for some reason, that made my heart pound in my chest.
We sat up for hours after that and just talked. We talked about everything and nothing. However, by about two o'clock in the morning Anna's voice started to fade and she slumped against me. Her trusting ways surprised me, but not as much as the fact that her proximity did not stir my hunger in the slightest bit.
I gazed down at this beautiful human being for what seemed like hours. As I stared at her I softly stroked her hair. In that moment a surprising, yet obvious thought hit me, I loved this girl. Even though I hardly knew her I loved her. I loved her cute accent, her stubbornness, and with that thought I drifted off in to a peaceful sleep.
The next morning I woke with a start. I searched the room for what had awoken me. When I looked down I saw the source of my unnecessary fear, Anna's hand was resting against the skin of my arm. I relaxed into the pew, trying not to wake her as I did, but it was too late. Anna's eyes fluttered open and she scanned the room with a curious gaze.
As soon as her eyes fell on me she did not move them again. After a second of gazing at each other, I heard a low rumble come from her stomach. Anna smiled sheepishly at me and said, "I think I'm hungry. What food do you have around here?"
It was my turn to look sheepish as I replied, "Well, I don't really have any food. Being a zombie, I don't generally need it."
She frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but I quickly interrupted her by saying, "But don't worry. I will just go now and fetch some for you." Anna smiled at me again and nodded at me.
Hurriedly, I rushed to the door and down the street. I marvelled at the look of the street, I had never been out in day time before. When I reached the shops, I braced myself for the blood lust to come, but it didn't. These humans did not make me feel hungry at all.
I shuffled into the first shop that I saw. In there I bought a range of foods and drinks including: lasagne, Haribo's, water and Mountain Dew. I bought enough food to last Anna at least a week. After I was happy that I had enough nourishment for her I all but sprinted back home. I was worried that when I got there she would be gone, but I needn't have worried because I stepped through that door to find her smiling at me.
Shyly, I handed her the bags of food and drink. She searched through them with a huge grin on her face. For her breakfast, Anna chose pringles and a bottle of strawberry milkshake. She took off the lid to the tube of pringles and offered me one. Usually, I would have said no, but I felt a strange hunger inside of me that was nothing like the blood lust I was so used to, because of this I accepted one.
When I put the crisp on my tongue I waited for the wave of sickness to hit me, but it didn't. Instead I chewed and swallowed the salty crisp with a look of wonder on my face. Anna smiled when she saw the expression upon my face. Matter-of-factly she said, "Your skin looks less grey today, in fact, I don't know how else to describe this, but you look almost...human."
Her bluntness shocked me into silence and I just sat there, looking - and feeling - absolutely bewildered. I knew deep down that she was right . I was beginning to turn human and it was all because of her love. On impulse, I leaned over and kissed her lips softly. To my amazement she kissed me back, with all the passion and devotion that I had for her.
~ Fin ~
