Zed's left side was killing him. Red veins ran up his arm, a stark difference from his regular black. He shouldn't have swiped right on his Z-Band, he should have listened to Eliza, but all he could think about was Addison. All he could worry about was impressing her parents, making sure they knew how much he cared about her, how much they belonged together.
Pins and needles ran over his body, making his skin itchy and muscles twitch. He felt like a caged animal, looking for an escape, a way out. His eyes scanned his surroundings quickly, over and over again, looking for any threats that may lie waiting. Swiping right may have made him look human, but it made him feel worse.
He was usually at an in between state, not alive, but not dead. He had never fit in, always longed for a place to belong. If he could just flip a switch and be human, be normal, he would. Which is how he thought swiping right would be. But this, this was different, this felt horrible. But he had to do it, for Addison.
As he walked up to the cheerleaders house, a pain overcame him. He couldn't describe it, other than the worst thing he'd ever felt. A burning fire ran up his side and made home in his heart. The zombie hunched over in the front yard, gripping at his chest. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move. His senses were overloaded, his undead heart beating loudly in his ears.
He was going to die here, he could tell, could feel it coming. He was finally going to be really, truely dead. Looking like a human, away from his friends and family, being someone he's not. But as quickly as the pain came, it went. Tears filled his eyes as he took deep breaths.
What was that? He'd never felt something so painful in his fifteen years of undead life.
Shaking himself out of his stupor, the boy stood upright and straightened his pink suit. His body was still reeling from the experiences, but he was meant to pick up Addison any second now. Taking a shaky breath, the zombie ran his hand through his hair and made his way to the girls front steps.
Zed rang the doorbell and heard Addison arguing with her parents. He couldn't dwell on what was said for long though, because a few seconds later, the door swung open. Standing in front of him were Addison's parents, and he couldn't be more nervous. He realized too late that he had dropped the tulips during the attack.
"Handsome." Addison's mother said, looking him up and down.
Addison frowned when she saw him, and ran up behind her parents. "You look-"
"Dashing." Her father cut her off.
Despite the pain he was in, Zed smiled at his girl's parents. He held his hand out to her father, shaking his hand. Dale, he believed, basically squeezed all the life out of his hand. If he hadn't have just been attacked by his own body, he would have probably winced.
"So, how do you know my daughter?" The man asked him, letting go of his hand.
Zed brought his hand back to his side, subtly trying to shake the feeling back into it. "She's a cheerleader, and I'm on the football team."
The older man smiled widely. "No, really? You know, I used to play a little ball myself."
Addison's mother fawned over her husband, grabbing his arm. "He did!"
Zed could see Addison roll her eyes, but Zed focused on her parents. He needed to make a good impression. "Really?"
"Really! Yea, I was a fullback!" He father said, proudly, puffing out his chest.
Zed smiled widely, this was his chance. This was how he was going to win over her parents. "Get out, I'm a fullback!"
Dale's eyes widened. "No!" He held out his fists, getting ready for their football cheer. "Let's do this."
The zombie smiled widely and brought his fists out as well. The two men performed their chant. Zed could once again see Addison's look of bewilderment and discomfort, but he couldn't seem to care. He had bonded with her father, and he had never felt so high.
That feeling was short lived, however. When he connected his hand to Dale's for a high five, agony shot through him. He cried out and quickly brought his arm back against his body, hunching over, protecting himself. The animal inside of him wanted to react, wanted to be let loose, to hurt this man. But he knew he couldn't, knew this man didn't mean to . No one knew the kind of pain he was in, what he had to endure for Addison.
He was brought back when a firm hand was placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he could see the look of worry across the human's faces. "Are you alright, son?" Dale asked him.
Zed let out a nervous laugh and stood up straight. "Yes sir, I seem to have hurt myself more than I thought during the last game." He lied quickly.
Addison's look of concern only grew, as she frowned. She quickly pushed herself past her parents, and grabbed her boy by the arm. He winced, but otherwise smiled at her. The two teenagers parted ways from the adults, and made their way down the driveway. Addison saw the discarded tulips in her yard and picked them up, looking to Zed questioningly.
"Zed, is something going on?" She asked her zombie.
He smiled his signature smirk at her, trying to charm her into letting it go. "I'm fine Addie. I just accidentally tripped up your driveway, and the tulips took a tumble. I was running late, so I just dusted myself off and rang the doorbell."
Addison's frown deepened, but she didn't say anything. She sat the tulips back down and the pair continued on their way.
When she grabbed his left hand, he had to try his hardest not to react. The pins and needles turned to fire at her touch. His breath quickened at the pain, but he was otherwise stoic. He could do this. If being "human" made it easier on him and Addison, he would do it all day.
He could only hope that swiping right on his Z-Band wouldn't be as detrimental as Eliza made it out to be. Pain he could handle, but danger to his friends, to his family, that was a different story.
Their date went almost according to plan. They had their froyo, and the zombie almost had no pain interruptions. But Addison was pissed. She couldn't believe what he had done, what he had done for her. All he wanted to do was make her happy, and she was mad.
He dropped her off at the cheerleader's dressing room, making sure not to be seen. They didn't say goodbye, didn't hug, didn't really look at each other. Zed would have thought they were fighting if she hadn't squeezed his hand as she disappeared into the room.
The zombie didn't head to the locker room immediately after, no his teammates would have seen him as a "human." No one was supposed to know about this except for Addison and her parents. No the first place he went after dropping off his girl was the basement, the boiler room.
He opened the door, glancing around, making sure he was alone. Quickly shuffling into the room, the boy locked the door behind him, and went into the furthest darkest corner. He knew what he was about to do was excruciating, and he didn't need anyone knowing.
By now, his body was numb, from head to toe. The pain was just a nagging in the back of his head, something that he could control. That was about to change.
Zed took off his suit jacket, and rolled up the sleeves of his white button took a deep breath, readying himself. He brought his right hand over to his Z-Band, and swiped right.
The feeling was immediate. It was like his earlier attack, but 100x worse. His body was returning to its undead state. Lava flowed through his veins, and all of his nerves lit on fire.
The boy dropped to his knees, letting out a loud wail. Nothing he did could stop the pain, it seemed everlasting. His breathing came labored, in and out, eyes squeezed shut. Zed curled himself into a ball, sobs slipping through his mouth, tears streaming down his face.
When the agony finally subsided, the zombie couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't see. He had given himself up to his zombie somewhere in the middle, and his zombie graciously made him forget. When his Z-Band came back online, the boy let out a whimper.
He could handle a lot of things, hatred from humans, hatred of himself, but he couldn't handle that ever again. He would find a way to be with Addison, no matter what. But he didn't think he would ever do this again. He should have listened to Eliza, she was always right.