By: JacksTortugaLass
Disclaimer: I don't own Holes or any of the characters thereof but I do own Rachel. This deals with suicide, so it's a bit dark. Just a warning.
Summary: My thinking on how Zigzag came to have acute paranoia. Warning: Deals with suicide.
***
Zigzag tossed and turned in his sleep, mumbling to himself. Flashes of an autum day, one year ago, danced across his mind.
::It was early in the morning, that dreadful day, and he laughed as he watched his girlfriend, Rachel walk along a fallen tree log above a river, on her hands. "Come on, Zigzag!"
Zigzag? She didn't know him by that name...
A pillow hit him in the face, "Come on!"
X-Ray had been calling him, and in a desperate attempt to get him up, he had tossed a pillow at him. Zigzag just nodded, and got dressed for the day.
***
Pushing his shovel into the dirt, his mind ran back to her.
::Rachel would always lay her head on his shoulder when she became bored, and that would happen a lot. Nothing could satisfy her. She would do the most dangerous things and still be bored with her life. She would do those things for a thrill that she was always looking for and could never seem to find. She said that it was also for the life she wanted, one filled with excitement. Rachel would look constantly to him and ask if he ever thought that people were looking at them. "Why?" He would ask. She would just shrug, saying that it would be fun to have people always looking at you, it would make it interesting. He looked down to see her with a far away look on her face, he would sigh, and pull her closer, hoping that she would get over it. But she never did.::
::"Rachel!!" He yelled, pleading with her not to jump. She was standing at a bridge, her back to him. He had stopped her three times before, and prayed that she would stop. Rachel turned around, making him promise that he would live like that, like others were watching him, for her. He stared as she jumped, screaming her name. He was still screaming as the ambulance and police came. He kept hearing them say that she suffered from 'acute paranoia'. After a while of hearing this, he soon became to suffer as well, no one knew why...::
***
That night in laid in his tent, his hands behind his head.
The others of D-tent and the counslers said that he had 'acute paranoia' when really he was just keeping Rachel's promise.
He was no longer Ricky but Zigzag, still keeping his promise, thinking that by doing that rachel would stay alive. And by keeping her alive, he would to.
End.