1. Katelyn: Dead and Maybe Alone
Katelyn Hazard's bed room walls had always been blank. She had told herself she would eventually change that. One day she would tack a poster up of some band, or hang a painting. She would stare at it for hours, trying to figure out what to do with the blankness of it. Her parents had said she could paint it. She could do whatever she wanted with it. She had bought multiple things she could hang on it or paint it with. Whenever she had placed something on the wall, a little voice in her head had told her to take it down. Nothing really seemed right. Nothing she had ever really represented her. Maybe it had to do with the fact that her parents had supervised whatever she had bought.
They were the conservative lot. If they didn't think it was appropriate, she couldn't get it. All the stuff she ever wanted her parents wouldn't approve of. She was forced to wear pants and shirts that showed not cleavage. They thought that was inappropriate. She didn't have any dresses or skirts though. Her mother had never worn them. Therefore, Katelyn didn't either. It had taken her all her life up to her sophomore year of college to realize she was modeled after her mother's image. No wonder her mother had kicked Hailey out the moment she began to be her own person. They thought that Katelyn's older sister by five years was an abomination. Right along with the living impaired. Right along with Katelyn.
Now she would never be able to personalize her walls. That chance ended the moment she fell off the bridge out of town and fell twenty feet into the chilly water. Katelyn didn't know if she'd died on impact or after. She had been knocked unconscious and then thrown into the water. Some idiot new to town thought her could get away with murdering the silky haired, golden eyed girl with the pigtails. He was in jail now. Sentenced to death. He was three years too old to come back from the dead as she had. Katelyn knew she'd get a kick from visiting him in jail.
Katelyn's eyes moved from her blank wall to the closet. Of course her parents were kicking her out. She was surprised that they had even let her in the house. They sure as hell had ordered Matthew to stay in his room. No reason to see the dead sister. At least they let him call Hailey once a month. But no, the only time Matthew had to see Katelyn was in school. He probably wouldn't see her at all. Matthew had always been a parent pleaser. He was a sucker to them. He would make it a habit avoid her at all costs.
Her so called mother had said she only had 30 minutes to get all her clothes and any possessions she wanted to keep. Looking at the clock on her bedside, she only had 15 minutes left. Katelyn wasn't going to even look in her closet. All she wanted were the clothes under her bed in a bin. The ones that her sister Hailey had secretly bought for her in the past year. There were clothes and jewelry. Her sister had been very supportive. She had even taken her to a tattoo shop so she could get three more addictions to the one ear piercing she already had. Her parents hadn't even noticed.
She slid off her bed and knelt down. It was really weird, her smoothness. She was a lot quick than any of the other living impaired kids. She could talk without stuttering, and she could move without the usual jerkiness. She was quicker too. Just minutely slower than she had been when she was alive. Katelyn didn't know what was different with her. She even looked a little different. Her eyes had kept their lightness and her caramel colored hair was just as shiny and silky. Her parents still didn't want her, but she knew she'd be able to function just as fine.
It was dark under Katelyn's bed. She stuck her hand under and felt around for the plastic edge of the bin. It was pretty far back, because she didn't want her parents to find it. She pulled it off and dusted off the top. It was now only a matter of stuffing all of it into her duffel bag. That was pretty easy. All the clothes were folded and the jewelry was in little baggies. She didn't need to get shampoo or a toothbrush. She wouldn't need it. That didn't stop her from getting out the expensive perfume in the bottom of the tub and putting it carefully on the top of her clothes. She zipped it up and stood up in one smooth motion. She still had it.
She slung the bag over her shoulder and headed to the door. Katelyn was a little happy to leave this life behind. She had always pictured this when she turned 18. Not now, when she was 17. But leaving was leaving. She didn't even look at her parents as she left. There was a huge amount of stuff she wanted to say to them. But she didn't because she knew they wouldn't listen. They didn't even listen to her when she was alive. I clutched at the wide strap tighter. She really did want it to be different. She shouldn't have even hoped. Her parents didn't even talk to her. They made Sharon, the social services lady, tell her the time limit.
Sharon was waiting by the car. Katelyn felt sadness weigh her steps now. She was walking like a normal dead kid. She couldn't really stop herself. A frown we plastered to her face. Sharon had a look of pity on her beautiful face. She had the kind of face that people craved, with large blue eyes and perfectly sculpted lips. Katelyn had felt like she was going to look like that when she was older. Her friends had all told her she looked like a model in the making. She would never be a model now. She would never be anything. The best she could try to do was sort of be un-alive.
"So, Katelyn, I'll be taking you to my house. I have a few differently biotic living there and I think you'll fit in just nicely. Normally we would wait a few weeks before we sent you back to school, but I think you can adapt nicely. What do you say?" Sharon had an expectant look on her face. Katelyn stared at her blankly, just to see if she could crack Sharon's cheerful mask. No such luck. Katelyn didn't see any reason not to. Why not start school with the rest of the school? She would feel weirder than she actually was if she waited. Plus, she'd get to see if her friends would accept her.
"I don't see why not. I don't have a backpack, though." It would kind of be hard to do school work if she didn't have pencils or pieces of paper. She didn't want to carry around any books either. She pushed a strand of stick straight hair out of her face. She really needed to take a shower. She still had river dirt in her hair. She was not going to school for the first time as a zombie with dirt in her hair. Her bangs were crazy too. Just because she was dead didn't mean she was going to let her hair run wild.
"Good. I am so glad. Most don't want to. I knew you were different. I already have a bag with things you need for school already." Sharon was still as perky as ever. A small part of Katelyn wanted to take that smile off Sharon's face. The other part wanted to smile back. She let a little corner of her mouth tilt up. Sharon took that as a moment to beam. Katelyn repressed the urge to actually take air in her lungs and sigh. She didn't need to breathe, so why make the motions?
"Cool. Can we leave now?" Katelyn didn't want to be around what used to be her house any longer. She wanted to get introduced to these zombies before she changed her mind and bailed into the forest. If she didn't need to eat or sleep, why not just take off. She could survive. After all, she was no longer alive.
"Of course, let's go." Sharon grabbed the duffel and shoved it in the trunk. Katelyn opened the passenger side door to some pop song. The song spoke of summer and leaving behind old times. Katelyn didn't know the band. The song reminded her of hanging out in her maybe-ex-best friend Tully Sullivan's basement. Down there you could play music as loud as you wanted and upstairs never heard it. Tully was always the perfect lady around Katelyn's parents. She told them that Tully was her great grandmother's name, instead of one her mom came up with when she was drunk one night and decided one day a daughter would me named that. Tully got the name, and loved it. It was unique, and Tully loved unique things.
"Let us go meet the dead kids." Katelyn whispered while Sharon still outside. Let us see how dead they are.
"Katelyn, this is Andrea, Monica and Daniel." Sharon introduced Katelyn to the three zombies she was going to live with for however long Sharon was going to keep her. Julia was a tiny little thing that couldn't be more than thirteen. Her eyes used to be brown, but were washed out now. She was still adorable. She looked more like a china doll that got its coloring wrong than a dead girl. Her hair looked like it used to be shiny but now was dull. So she was a china doll that got left in a closet for ten years. Monica looked a little better than Julia. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and blue eyes were actually looking at Katelyn. She looked fifteen. Daniel…he looked dead. There were marks on his neck and his eyes were glassy. They didn't look like they actually saw Katelyn. His hair was messy and lank. It looked like he hadn't cut it in a few years. Katelyn felt sorry for all of them.
At least she could pass for human.
"Hey guys. It's nice to meet you." Katelyn held out her hand, waiting for one of them to reach it first. Daniel's hand struck out, catching Katelyn's fingers. She almost expected him to be the last one. It looked like Monica was having the hardest time moving. Katelyn had it all wrong.
"Nice to…meet…you too." Katelyn could tell Daniel was trying to smile. His lips curved up but there was no warmth. There was a little bit in his eyes. Katelyn decided that he was okay.
Andrea reached her next. Her smile was perfect. It almost seemed like she had practiced. Practice made perfect. Monica was the last, and Katelyn got nothing from her. She didn't even reach out to shake Katelyn's hand. She just stared at Katelyn with unblinking eyes. It seemed like she was fighting to break the surface, but couldn't. Katelyn had gotten it really wrong. Maybe she would try to help Monica. Overall, Katelyn could tell she was the oldest and the more progressed one.
"I can tell we're going to get along." Katelyn really had nothing else to say. She was just thankful that years of working at a summer school for kindergarteners had made her patient. You couldn't talk to most of the living dead without being patient. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of the worn jeans someone at the morgue had given her. She really wasn't going to run around naked.
"How do…you talk so…clearly?" Daniel asked, staring at her with those glassy eyes. Katelyn really didn't know why. When she had awakened she hadn't even realized she was dead. Well, until she noticed she was in a morgue. She had practically freaked out. Sharon was the one that calmed her down. Katelyn still screamed "I'm not dead! You have it wrong! I'm not dead!" at the top of her lungs despite the fact that her heart no longer beat.
"I honestly don't know. I can't really say long words without pausing but I'm good with normal ones. I can't say Mississ…ippi. Good thing I don't live there." Katelyn shrugged. She just thought of herself as fortunate. Whatever she had done in her life had bided well on the fates. They thought it was just fine if she could talk in complete sentences. The truth was, though, she could say Mississippi just fine. She just didn't want the other kids to feel bad about themselves.
"Yeah…that's good. I don't…say big…words… if I can… help it." Daniel actually smiled. It was a little ghastly, but that was expected. Katelyn found herself smiling back. That was the first time she had actually smiled since coming back from the dead. She could tell she was going to like Daniel, despite his unruly hair and glassy eyes.
"I never really said big words when I was alive. Why use them now?" Katelyn noticed that Monica was slowly inching away from her. She didn't know if that was the way that Monica walked, or if she just didn't like her. Monica's eyes were on Daniel as she slipped away. Was there something between them? Daniel wasn't looking at Monica. Then again, he'd have to turn around to see her.
"I liked… using…big words." Andrea finally spoke, her high voice sounded like it was muffled, as Daniel's and possibly Monica's did. Andrea still had that so-cute-you-could-die look on her face.
"Really? I knew big words but never used them." Katelyn found herself using her baby voice, the one she used with the kindergarteners. She felt bad about. All the living impaired were teenagers. They couldn't be any younger. Yet she was treating Andrea like a little child. She tried to get her face to get serious. It was nearly impossible.
"I have…always…had a…problem…with my age. People…thought…I was…younger than…I actually was. Using…a big…vocabulary…made me…seem older." Andrea did seem a little mature. But how could you tell with her monotone voice? Katelyn's face sobered up. She wouldn't like if people thought she was younger than she really was.
"How old are you?" Katelyn couldn't help but ask that question. For her, Andrea's age was in flux. One moment she seemed 13, the next she seemed older than Katelyn herself.
"I died… when I was… fifteen. I… should be…sixteen." Katelyn couldn't believe Andrea should have been sixteen. Katelyn tried not to seem shocked. Andrea seemed older than that and looked younger. Katelyn was happy that she looked and acted like she was seventeen. At least people could guess her age. Well, if anyone wanted to anymore.
"Um…Sharon is there anywhere I can put my stuff?" Katelyn wanted to be alone. A sudden weight fell on her shoulders and she found herself moving like a zombie again. She was dead. She wouldn't have friends that were actually alive and she wouldn't be able to be anything.
"Sure. I'll show you to you room upstairs." Sharon seemed to sense Katelyn's sudden depression. It must have been obvious. Sharon had obviously gone through all this before with Andrea, Daniel and Monica.
What was the point of living when you were dead? What could a dead person do with their un-life? What the hell was Katelyn going to do with hers? Katelyn ducked her head and stared at her feet. Un-life sucks.