"I can't do this anymore, Honey. I haven't seen my daughter in a month and it's driving me crazy!"

"Missy, we see her every week."

"It's not the same, Dale!" Missy cried. "I'm sick and tired of sharing my daughter with everyone else! I carried her for eight and a half months, I raised her and she's my daughter!"

Dale sighed in frustration. "We can't go see her. We need to give her time to heal."

Missy dropped her head on the table. "I miss her so much," she said miserably.

Dale wrapped his arms around his wife and hugged her close and tightly. "I miss her too," he said. "But we have to do this. We need to be strong for her."

"Missy? It's late, you still aren't dressed."

Missy took a long and drawn out sip of her morning coffee. She put down her mug—one she hadn't touched in years—then answered her husband. "I took the day off," Missy explained. "I can't operate this way. So I'll go with you to work and to Seabrook High to pick up Zed. And who knows, maybe I might see Addison."

Dale sat down in the stool beside his wife and sighed. He placed his hand over hers and rubbed the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand. "Maybe we could talk to Dr. Jankowski. See if she'll let Addison come home for a day or two."

"I want to see my baby now!"

"I know, I know," Dale sympathized. "We have to stay strong for her, Missy. We have to."

Missy leaned into her husband and cried into his side. She couldn't bring herself to speak anymore and just reached into Dale for comfort. After a few minutes of crying she sat up and looked at him with red eyes. "It's so lonely here without Addison. She used to cartwheel around the house and cheer up in her room. I'm not ready for her to be gone yet, Dale."

Dale nodded and said nothing. He was afraid if he tried to say something he'd break down, and he had to stay strong for his wife and his daughter.

"She was so happy when she was young," Missy said with a sad smile. "I…I can't believe I didn't notice the change. I didn't notice that my baby hated her life. I-I didn't see the signs."

"We should go out," Dale decided. "On a date. We haven't done that in a while, right?"

"Dale…"

"No, it'll be good for us," Dale decided. "Just the other day I told Zed to go out on a date with Addison. I could tell you a lot of things about Zed and Addison, but mostly Zed. Hearing about Addy from his perspective is good! I think you'll enjoy everything I can tell you."

Missy tried her best not to smile but failed. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and said, "That sounds nice."

"We can be cute, that's not just reserved for young couples y'know," Dale teased.

Missy nodded. "That sounds really nice."

"And, if we have a little time, I'm sure we can have a little more fun. If you can catch my vibe."

Missy broke into laughter. "Yeah, that sounds really nice."

"Missy dear, what are you doing?"

"I saw that Addy was posting on her Instagram and I wanted to see," Missy explained.

Dale sat up and looked at her curiously. "Addison let's you follow her on Instagram."

"Don't be ridiculous," Missy scoffed. "She's a fourteen year old girl; she blocked me on her Instagram. This is the page she runs for Zombietown."

"Addison's runs an Instagram for Zombietown?"

Missy grinned and giggled a little. "Yes dear, she does. It's a huge thing, she has two hundred sixty two point two thousand followers at this very moment. And it gets bigger every day!"

"That's good then," Dale said. "What does she post about?"

"Zombies."

"Figures."

"She's also been raising money for that cheer program she wants to start," Missy added offhandedly. "I've been donating, just something you should know."

"How do you think that's going?"

Missy shrugged, helplessly. "I know she's been in and out of city hall. If I could check her emails I'm sure I'd find exchanges between herself and someone at the state government. And of course the NCCA."

"Naturally."

Missy sighed and laid back against the pillows. She tilted her phone toward her husband, showing a selfie of Addison all bundled up in her coat and scarf with the tip of her nose all red. Missy lifted her finger and the video began playing, zooming out to show both Addison and Zed and two others (they were twins, as far as Missy was aware).

"I'm freezing my butt off," Addison complained with a laugh. "Rizzo and Zeph keep laughing at me too! It's like I'm the only one who gets cold around here!"

All three Zombies in the video chuckled and said, "You are, Addison."

The girl twin leaned in and said in a rush, "It's 'cause your human and your heart beats fast so your vasoconstricting and—"

The video ended, promptly cutting her off. The next video began, this time focused on the girl twin. "Science lesson! Humans vasoconstrict and vasodilate in response to heat and cold respectively. Zombies don't because how blood flow is controlled by the electrical impulses of the Z-Band—" cue three Z-Bands coming into frame. "So the Z-Band can make us more warm or cold and we don't need to bundle up as much as humans do."

The video ended again and the next was Zed. "That doesn't apply to younger Zombies. The Z-Band is all weird with them so they need to be treated almost the same as humans, like wearing more or less based on the temperature and stuff like that."

The boy twin jumped behind Zed and smiled at the camera. That video ended and then cut to a boomerang of the three Zombies laughing and goofing with the caption 'The More You Know!'

The next one was of Addison. They were on the human side of the barrier now, probably close to school. "If you haven't guessed, today's Instagram takeover is by the amazing twins Zephyr and Rizzo. Rizzo's the girl and Zeph's the boy. Zeph's younger and also plays football and anything else you wanna know you can find out from them. I'll see you later!'

Missy then swiped out. "She doesn't do it everyday but that usually how it goes down," she explained. "I'd much rather just see her, but alas she's blocked me."

"We can see her later," Dale reminded her. "It's nearly time for driving. You just need to get dressed."

"You do too."

Dale put the car in park outside of Seabrook High School. "They don't get out for another seven minutes," he told his wife. "Then Zed and Addison will walk out a few minutes after that."

Missy nodded. "I take Zed driving for an hour then take him home. Then repeat on Wednesday and some Fridays."

"Do you think she'll come talk to us?" Missy asked hopefully.

Dale nodded, though he knew that Addison skillfully avoided him whenever he'd pick Zed up for driving practice. They wait in almost silence for the school bell to ring, then another few minutes for students to start streaming out.

It wasn't hard to spot the white haired teen walking out, hand-in-hand with her Zombie boyfriend. "Oh look at her," Missy gushed. "Her hair is so long. She's so red. Should she be that red?"

"They have gym last period," Dale explained.

Zed and Addison stopped walking a few feet outside of the main entrance. They were talking and smiling and it was all so sickeningly cute. Zed opened his backpack and passed a water bottle to his girlfriend, to which she refused at first, then reluctantly took after he continued to insist. Zed looked over at where Dale had parked and said something to Addison. He leaned down and kissed her before walking over, waving at her as he left.

"Are you moving to the backseat, Dear?"

Missy nodded and climbed out from the car. "Afternoon Mayor," Zed greeted with a grin. "It's a surprise seeing you here."

Missy put on her best smile. "I took the day off today, thought I'd see how things are going with you and driving."

Zed grinned and moved around her, popping the trunk and dropping his bag inside before moving to the driver's seat. He noticed how Missy's attention was somewhere else as she stood there, her hand on the door handle and a little wistful expression on her face. He followed her gaze until it landed on his girlfriend, then softened his smile.

"You wanted to see Addison, huh?" Zed asked.

His words snapped her from her haze. She ignored him and blushed, then climbed into the backseat. Zed frowned and moved to open his door. He peered down inside the car and said, "Um, I'll just be a sec. I forgot something." Then jogged off toward Addison.

"What're you still doing here?" Addison asked.

"Give me one of your notebooks," Zed said. "I said I needed to get something and can't go back empty handed."

Addison slipped her bag from her shoulder and started feeling around inside. "Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to tell you that your mom is here too," Zed said.

"What? My mom doesn't do this sort of thing."

Zed nodded. "I think she really misses you," he said. "Like, really badly. To the point where she's going to drive around with an inexperienced Zombie for an hour."

Addison shook her head. "My mom's perfect, she wouldn't make it obvious if she missed me."

She slipped out a spiral notebook and handed it to him. "Addy—"

"Ah, don't 'Addy' me," she stopped him. "If anything, we can finish this later."

Zed frowned but nodded, not wanting to push the subject further. "Love you, see you later." He leaned down and pecked her lips, then turned to head back to the car.

"Bye!"

The entire time he was driving, Missy pestered Zed with questions. All of them were about Addison and how she was doing and if she was eating or cheering or if she was happy.

"How often does she go to the bathroom and is her urine clear or dark yellow? Sometimes she get juice happy and has a lot and not enough water and it really slows her down."

"That all made me uncomfortable in many different ways," Zed stated. "I don't pay attention to her urination patterns. I just make sure she showers and brushes her teeth?"

"Twice a day?"

"Shower or brush?"

"Both."

"Yes ma'am."

"Has Addison been sick?" Missy asked. "She usually gets a bad cold around this time of year and gets really miserable and also really needy which I love because I love having my baby girl need me."

"Addison doesn't appreciate it when everyone refers to her as a baby," Zed stated. "Just throwing that out there. Like when her cousins call her 'Baby Cuz' she gets really ticked off."

"I'm her mother. I gave her a name."

Zed shrugged. "I'm just letting you know is all. I know you miss Addison a lot, so I'm just sharing what I've learned."

"How's her hair?" Missy asked.

"Her hair?"

"When she was a baby she'd get bad eczema on her scalp and I'm worried it might come back. She cleans it everyday, right?"

"As far as I know," Zed said. "I can tell you that it's thick and curly, and like pretty long too."

"I saw her at the banquet."

"I'm just saying."

The rest of the drive went about the same. Eventually Dale had Zed drive into Zombietown and parallel park on the curb outside Zed's house.

"Your actually pretty good," Missy commented. "I wasn't even terrified for my life, like I know I'll be when Addison starts driving."

Zed chuckled, knowing how impulsive Addison was and how much worse it was getting as the days went by. Sometimes she'd take off down the street when they were walking Puppy or on their way to school. And when Zed would catch up with her, it'd be just in time before she did something insane like scale a five foot wall to knock down a sign (vandalism).

"Since you think I'm doing better," Zed said. "I think now is a good time to mention that I can't do this three days a week anymore."

"Why not?" Missy questioned with genuine curiosity.

Zed smiled nervously. "I, uh, need to spend more time with my tutor," he explained. "I'm not very good at school. And before going to tutoring wasn't as bad because it'd leave school then do tutoring then go to football. But now I only go three times and I really need to bring up my grades." He glanced down and said in a shy voice, "Don't be mad."

"No, I'm not upset with you," Dale said. "I'm actually a little proud. You have very good communication, and you're always honest."

"If you need to focus more time on school, we understand," Missy said. "It's fine anyway. At the pace you're learning, your hurt need a little more practice then you'd be all set to take the test."

Zed let out a breath. "Thank you."

"Just let me know when you're available for more practice," Dale said.

The two humans exchanged a look. "We were gonna wait until your birthday, but it seems like a good time," Missy said, reaching below the seat and producing a vibrant pink bag. "It'll come in handy."

Zed looked at them with wide eyes. "No no no," he insisted. "I can't—there's no way—you guys don't even like me!"

The humans looked at him oddly. "It's a gift," Missy insisted. "Besides, it's not like you'll be the only Zombie with a cell phone. The folks down at Zombie Development will be raffling off twenty phones just like this—fully paid for, that is."

"And we do like you," Dale insisted.

Zed continued to shake his head. "It's really sweet and all but I couldn't possibly—"

"We want you to have it," Missy insisted.

Zed looked between the two of them for confirmation, then slowly took the bag from Missy's hands. He kept it closed, afraid to look inside.

"Thank you," he said earnestly. "I-I don't know how I could ever repay for—for everything."

"Just keep making our princess smile," Missy said with a soft smile on her face.

Zed felt his lip quiver. "Oh don't cry," Dale said. "Go on and get your homework done. See you later."

"Thank you," Zed said again.

"They bought Zed an iPhone," Addison complained. "And to make it worse, it was the iPhone X! The X! They bought my boyfriend a phone!"

Dr. Jan nodded along, then looked at Addison's parents. "Is this really what we're gonna talk about today?" Dale asked. "Don't you think there are more…important things?"

"No," Addison stated. She folded her arms over her chest and slumped back against the couch. "We won't talk about anything until this is over. Why would you buy Zed the iPhone X? I want the X! I've had the 6 for years. I drop hints about a new phone and you've done nothing! Then you go out and buy my boyfriend—who isn't your flesh and blood—a one thousand dollar phone!"

"We didn't buy him a phone, specifically," Dale pointed out. "There was a surplus of money in Zombie Development so they decided it'd be nice for Zombies to have other ways of communication. They bought one hundred iPhones—"

"Apple was a partner in the Z-Band initiative," Missy supplied helpfully.

"They're giving out twenty this weekend," Dale told his daughter. "The rest are gonna be put in stores."

"What Zombie could afford an X?"

"They're giving out all of the X's for free and selling all the other models," Dale explained. "Is this settled now?"

Addison frowned, then slowly nodded. "I want an iPhone X still. My birthdays in July so you can start saving now." Her tone was light enough that they knew she wanted it to sound like a joke, but also that she was completely serious.

"Anything else you'd like to vent about, Addison?" Dr. Jan asked.

Addison nodded and sat up. "They keep stalking me," Addison said. "Dad picks up Zed after school and takes him driving and yesterday he brought Mom with him and they just sat there and watched us."

"I miss you!" Missy exclaimed. "Is it so wrong to miss my daughter? My baby girl who I carried for eight and a half months."

"Yeah, right and a half because you couldn't wait to get rid of me."

"That's not true!" Missy whined. "You were three weeks early because sometimes things happen. But you're my precious angel and you were so small with big blue eyes and so cute. I just wanna squeeze your face every time I think of you! I miss you, Addy Cat. I want you to come home."

"We both do," Dale added. "You're our only kid, Addy. And you'll graduate and move out officially before we know it. You grew up in the blink of an eye. I wanna spend as much time with you before it's too late."

"You aren't getting it, then," Addison said. "To me, it's been too late for years. I don't like being around you both because…I just…I feel like I can't be myself with you guys. I like to sing and dance and just have fun! But when I'm with you, it's like I have to be this cookie cutter girl who's seen and not heard. Like I have to dress a certain way and hide all these things about myself."

Missy sighed sadly. She understood exactly what Addison was saying. She remembered all those times she'd force Addison to be perfect as she grew up.

"Missy? Dale? Do you have anything to add?" Dr. Jan asked.

Missy frowned and dropped her face in her hands. "I'm a horrible mother."

"I see this type of thing a lot with families, especially from Seabrook," Dr. Jan said. "It isn't unnatural for children to feel like they have to hide who they are around their parents and family. As kids grow up, they begin to eventually separate themselves into different personalities. A poised and prim personality when they're around their family and elders, and a loose and wild personality when they're with their friends.

"Usually what I say is to be completely honest with each other. The less secrets the better. Missy, Dale, you may not like certain things. And Addison may like them. But the key to a relationship is accepting different interests and respecting those interests. Maybe even partaking and learning more about them. Addison, you mentioned singing and dancing?"

Addison blushed at that. "Oh, yeah," she said. "I mean, it was just an example is all. We could…we could do something else."

"Do you have any ideas? Anything specific you'd like to show us?" Dale asked.

Addison shook her head. "I mean, the only thing I'm doing right now—besides school—is trying to get this whole cheer camp started," she said. "And Mom, you can't help me with it because of 'conflict of interest'."

"What do you do with your friends?" Dr. Jan asked.

Addison laughed at that. "I do my school work and hang out with Zed. That's how every day is."

"Well, what's something you'd like to do with either your parents or your friends?"

Addison shrugged. "Um, me and my friends are going to the carnival next month. We're trying to set someone up, so we plan on isolating the two of them. It's gonna be fun. But I also have to run my booth for Zombeans—it's the name me and Zoey picked for the cheer camp—and we need some funds. Shit's expensive."

"Addison," both her parents scolded.

Addison giggled lightly. "Sorry. But, you could help me with the booth. And we could work a little together on getting this started. I finished my homework for today, maybe we can do something after this?"

"Really?" both Dale and Missy asked simultaneously, incredibly hopeful.

Addison nodded. "Let me think. Um…Zed and Zoey are making dinner tonight. Maybe you can…come over. And we could eat it together."

"Dinner?" Missy asked. "With…Zed?"

Addison nodded. "I may want to spend a little time with you, but I don't think I could handle it without Zed. I've become very dependent on him." She turned to Dr. Jan and said, "I know that's a problem in itself. We're taking it one thing at a time here."

"So dinner?" Dr. Jan asked. "Everyone here and there okay with that?"

"You're right, I should text Zed on his brand new iPhone X," Addison said pointedly. "Yes, I'm not over it. He doesn't even know how to work it!"

"He can learn," Dale said defensively. "And you're acting like you haven't helped him already and filled his camera roll with selfies like you do on our phones."

Addison frowned and blushed. "That's besides the point! Zed definitely needs hundreds of pictures of his cute girlfriend in his phone. He doesn't need the girlfriend's parents buying him a one thousand dollar phone."

"We didn't buy them, they were gifts," Dale explained again.

"It still hurts my feelings."

"I know baby, now text Zed."

Dr. Jan smiled at them. "I think we're making great progress here. Lots of open communication and honesty between you all. Now I would like to point out that, while you are starting to spend time together outside of our appointments, it should only be when you're both comfortable with it. Addison, you shouldn't force yourself to spend time with them when you know you can't. And Missy and Dale, you shouldn't spend time with Addison when know you can't, like when you're slammed with work."

The three nodded together. "Yes ma'am," Addison agreed.