One Foot in the Grave: An Almost Zombie story

Chapter Forty-Four: A Life by Any Other Name...

I'm so tired I feel like I can sleep for days. And I pretty much do. I crawl into bed and leave it long enough to eat, then crawl right back in again. My mom's come in a couple of times to check on me, but other than that, she's pretty much left me alone. For which I'm intensely grateful.

The phone rings. I answer it. "Wha?"

"It's Friday, Isis." It's Father Moss on the phone. I wonder how he can hold the receiver.

"Ummm...Okay." Maybe my brain is misfiring due to fatigue, but I have no idea what's so special about Fridays, other than being the start of the weekend.

"It's movie night," the gargoyle elaborates. "You are planning on coming, aren't you?"

"Sure, all right," I mumble, only half paying attention. I drop the phone back onto its receiver and close my eyes again.

This time it's the persistent knocking at my apartment door that does the trick and forces me out of bed. I glance at the window on my way to the door. It's dark. Crap, I slept the entire day away.

I peer through the spyhole in the door and my breath catches. It's Andrew. What's he doing here?

He knocks again. "Come on, Isis, open up. I know you're there."

This is not who I want to be dealing with dressed in pajamas. "I—uhhh-I can't open the door, Andrew. What're you doing here?"

"Father Moss sent us," my erstwhile boyfriend says.

I crack the door open. "Who is 'us'?"

"Him and I," Ink flows out of the darkness of the hallway.

I smile. I like the vampire...and if she's there, I can focus on her and not on my feelings for Andrew. I can deal with that. "Okay, come in and give me a few. I've got to get dressed." One of these days, I'll ask Ink if the whole thing about vampires having to be invited in is real or not. But not tonight. I leave them in the living room and shut the bedroom door behind me. It doesn't take long to get dressed and rejoin them.

"So what's the movie?" I shut the apartment door behind me and lock it.

"Newbie's choice," Ink replies.

"Have you been to one of these things before?" We follow Andrew to the elevator and it opens immediately.

"Yes, even though I'm not one of you, Father Moss allows it." She smiles at me, her fangs long and sharp.

I nod and even manage to conjure up a smile when Andrew glances my way. He looks phenomenal. Eating regularly definitely agrees with him.

The cab waiting for us is, of course, an Angel cab. What a shocker. We all slide into the backseat, Ink sitting in the middle to keep Andrew and I separated.

"I'm Ezriel," the cabbie says. "Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. It shouldn't take me long to get you to the church. Traffic's usually pretty light at this time of night."

I take him at his word. I'm still bone tired, and don't have a clue why. Maybe it's just the exhaustion of dealing with everything. After all, since Andrew turned me I haven't had much of a chance to just be. I let out a breath, close my eyes, and feel my shoulders relax.

The taxi slows and I open my eyes. Wow. That was fast. Maybe the cab has some angel power or something I don't know about. It's not likely, but I giggle at the thought and Ezriel glances at me in the rearview mirror. He winks. "We're here. Enjoy!"

We pile out of the taxi and file into the church. Everyone's crammed into the sanctuary. Even Maxx, who's taken up a semi-permanent housing in one of the cemetery's tombs, is there. I try not to think about it. I still want him to live with me, but I get why he opted for the church instead. There's no way I could keep him a secret from the apartment manager. Honestly, I spend so much time here, I still see him a lot.

Someone's lowered a huge white screen where the altar would be at a normal church, and there's an array of DVDs spread out across the steps. Ink nudges me forward. "Go, choose."

I smile. There's only one movie I'm interested in...I just hope it's one of the options in front of me.

Noelle grins at me when I hand her the DVD. "I knew there was a reason I kind of liked you." She puts it in the player and pushes 'play'. The opening scene is innocuous; a car driving up a dirt road, with a farmhouse in the background, all in black and white. Then the name of the movie appears and groans erupt from the pews.

"That's the movie you pick?"

Popcorn flies over my head. I laugh. Someone needs more practice throwing stuff.

"Really?"

"George Romero! That's an awesome choice, Isis!" Much to my amazement, that last comment comes from Andrew, of all people. I smile and take a seat close to him. I'm not sure how he'll take it, but it's time to say something. I nudge him gently in the ribcage. He turns to face me.

"I miss you," I murmur, knowing full well there are at least a handful of people who'll be able to hear me over the opening credits.

His gorgeous blue eyes widen. "You do? I mean...you don't hate me?"

I shake my head, finally realizing it's completely true. I don't hate him. Far from it, in fact.

He takes my hand in his and something finally 'clicks'. Everything's starting to make sense. I look around. I've got a bunch of supernatural half-breeds as friends. I've also got a lot on my plate; Ra'kul, visiting the Master Vampire so my not so ex-boyfriend doesn't die, keeping the peace with Noelle, and everything else. But I've also got a mom who accepts me unconditionally and 'Night of the Living Dead' playing on a big screen in a church sanctuary. It's not anything close to normal, but that's okay. If there's one thing I'm learning to accept, it's that my undead life may be super weird and kind of quirky, but it's a lot more interesting than the life I had when I was completely human. I'm not seeing a problem with that.