BITTERSWEET (part 1)

It was still dark outside when Zed woke up, wide-eyed and staring at the ceiling. January fourteenth. He sat up and wrapped his hands around his knees. He could feel it coming just like it did every year, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The memories always came. He closed his eyes and just tried to wait it out.

He woke up and jumped on to the bed with Eliza. "Eliza wake up! We get to go meet my little sister today!" he said excitedly, hitting her with his stuffed puppy, Zander.

Eliza was always grumpy in the morning, but not today. She opened her eyes and grabbed her stuffed puppy, Zandra and Zed's hand and pulled him out of bed. "I can't wait, I'm tired of being the only girl!" she said with a giggle.

They raced down the stairs still in their pajamas. When they reached the den, Aunt Jozie told them that breakfast would be ready soon and that they could watch cartoons while they waited. Eliza's house always had the best TV channels. They were watching Sponge Bob when she called them into the kitchen. As they sat down eating scrambled eggs and cauliflower brains, the phone rang and Uncle Zohn got up from the table to answer it. Zed couldn't make out what was being said, but he could tell the person talking was upset. The phone call was quick and when Uncle Zohn hung up, he had tears in his eyes. Aunt Jozie asked him what was wrong and he motioned for her to go upstairs. Zed and Eliza stayed and finished breakfast while her parents went upstairs. A few minutes later, Aunt Jozie and Uncle Zohn came back down.

"Hey kids, are you two finished eating?" Uncle Zohn asked from the doorway.

"I am, Daddy," Eliza said as she stood up and grabbed Zandra from the chair next to her.

"I am, Uncle Zohn," Zed replied as he grabbed Zander and stood up. "Can we go see my Mommy and the new baby yet?"

Uncle Zohn let out a sad sigh. "Zed, Aunt Jozie and I need to talk to you. Why don't you come into the den."

Zed and Eliza followed him into the other room. When they walked in, Aunt Jozie knelt down and wrapped him up in the tightest hug he had ever felt. Uncle Zohn did the same.

"Why are we hugging Z? Eliza asked.

"Come here, Eliza," her dad said, pulling her into their hug as well.

Aunt Jozie pulled away and dried her eyes. "Zed, I don't know how to say this," she grabbed Uncle Zohn's hand. "While your Mommy was having the baby something happened with her Z-Band and it made her really sick. The doctors tried everything they could to make her better, but they just couldn't save her. I'm so sorry, Zed."

Zed put on a button down shirt with a pair of dark slacks. He pulled his black tie out of the drawer and pulled on a warm sweater. After he was dressed, he walked down the stairs as quietly as possible and slipped outside. He picked up the small pot of pink roses he had bought the day before and a small hand shovel and began the familiar walk across town.

It was still dark as he entered the gates of St. Jude's Cemetery. He walked along the worn path towards and turned left by the large willow tree in the center. Next to the path, he found the headstone he was looking for. Getting down on his knees in the frosty grass, he used the little shovel to dig a hole big enough for the roses. He pulled the flowers out of the plastic pot and planted them to the right of the headstone. Leaning back on his knees, he took a deep breath as he ran his hands through his hair. He shifted a little and sat down in front of the headstone and pulled his knees up close to his chest.

"Hi Mom," he said softly. "I brought you your favorite flowers." He cleared his throat and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I'm sorry I don't come see you more often." he reached up and wiped a tear from his eye. "So...I should probably fill you in on everything that's happened since Mothers Day…"

He sighed and blinked back a tear. "Pops finally bought a new car last May. I asked him for the old one, but he told me no and made me get a job. Something about 'appreciating it more if I worked for it,' I don't know. But I did get one. I worked all summer as a lifeguard down at the beach. I'm still working when I can between school and sports. I should have enough to buy my car soon... School is going pretty well. I'm taking a few AP classes and I'm keeping an A average... I even got elected Senior Class President... I was also made Captain of the football team again this year. We went undefeated again and we won the State Title."

It started to snow, but he barely noticed.

"Addison and I were crowned Homecoming King and Queen, and we're both going to Shoreline University in the fall on full scholarships. I actually got to announce my commitment on National Television earlier this month when I played in the All American Game... We had a pretty bad scare with Pops right before Thanksgiving..."

His tears began to flow freely.

"We almost lost him…I'm so glad I don't have a Z-Band anymore...Oh, I should probably explain that...I had a crazy experience when I went in for my annual check. Addison came with me and I actually didn't completely Zom out. I did, but at the same time, I didn't...I was still in control. Pops and I talked about it after, he thinks that it's because Zombies go through such a strong internal change when they find their other half that they physically can not hurt that person...Now that I think about it, he told me almost the exact same thing back around homecom…sorry, back to my Z-Band, I had this new procedure done where they place an implant in your heart that communicates with a ring on your hand…It's been awesome. I even have a 'heartbeat' now…I only missed one basketball game while in recovery...Basketball season just ended. We didn't go to State, but we did really well. I was co-captain this year. And now I have baseball try-outs in a few weeks."

Zed took a deep breath and wiped some of the snow from his hair.

"I...um...I made a pretty big decision a few months ago...I'm going to ask Addison to marry me. I hope you don't mind, but I'm asking her with your ring... I asked Pops and Zoey, and they were both okay with it... I'd like to think you'd have been okay with it too. I promise I'm going to ask her the right way. I've already talked to her Dad. I just need to come up with the perfect proposal... I love her so much."

He reached out and ran his fingers over the letters carved into the stone.

"I wish you were here. You'd know exactly what I should do."

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against her headstone. He could feel the indentation of her name against his skin.

"I miss you so much, Mom," he whispered.

He didn't know how long he sat there for. As the sun started to rise, the snow had begun to warm, turning into slush and soaking through his clothes. The cold mid-January air chilling him through.

"Zed?"

He didn't move.

"Zed?" This time, the sound of his name was accompanied by a soft touch against his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find Eliza crouched down next to him and Bonzo standing beside her. "Come on, Z. Let's get you home."

They walked silently back through town. When they reached Zed's house, Pops was standing on the porch with a cup of coffee in his hand. He waved to Eliza and Bonzo as Zed made his way up the porch steps. He set the cup down and hugged him as tight as he could.

"Your Mom would be so proud of you, Son. She loved you more than you could ever know," he whispered in his ear.

"Thanks, Pops." Zed dried his eyes. "Is Zoey up yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Good, I'm going to go make her favorite blueberry muffins."

"She'll love that. But do yourself a favor," he said as he picked his coffee cup back up and took a sip. "Go change first, your clothes are soaking wet. I don't want you getting sick."

"Will do, Pops. Breakfast should be ready in about forty-five minutes."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Next up...Zoey's birthday! I should have it posted some time Thursday.

Posting Schedule Update: Given that the majority of votes last week were for two shorter chapters posted twice a week, I'm going to try to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If for some reason I can't split a chapter up, I'll post it on a Thursday.

So I got really excited when I woke up Saturday morning to an email saying that OUR YEAR had 51 new reviews….until I opened them up and realized they were all spam. Any one else have that problem? Speaking of reviews… I LOVE the real ones!

And totally un-story related….OMFG MILO IS GOING TO BE ON DANCING WITH THE STARS!