The Riverside Curse

Chapter One: Zeke

Zeke's P.O.V

A hand emerged from my best friend's grave. Then an arm. Two feet pushed through the dirt and toes wiggled around.

Her head popped out and she was coughing, choking on dirt. I was staring back at dark brown eyes.

Eyes that belonged to Tahira.

I didn't know what to do. But I did know that I screamed even though my lungs protested not to. Then I used the flowers I had brought as a weapon to whatever demon just crawled from under the ground.

The thing that had just finished getting out from the ground stared at me, covered in broken rose petals.

I don't know why I thought flowers would stop a zombie.

She looked exactly like Tahira but there was no way that was her.

I saw her die.

My heartbeat picks up speed and the ability to breathe becomes harder by the millisecond.

My body wants to run as fast as it can to my car and drive away, forgetting everything that just happened but instead my feet stay frozen.

I rub my eyes and blink multiple times but the image in front of me doesn't change. Tahira Brown is still standing in front of me, covered in dirt, barefoot, and wearing nothing but a white nightgown.

I steady my breath and try to calm the panic but it wasn't working. I could no longer control my hands. They were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm.

But I reached out to her anyway, afraid the next time I blinked she would be gone.

"Zeke, what are we doing here? I thought we were at the beach."

What? This could not be happening.

"I came to visit the cemetery."

"Why would we visit the cemetery?"

"Because I came to see your grave."

Her dark eyebrows knitted together. "That makes no sense."

I ran a hand through my hair, flustered. I can't believe I was talking to a dead girl.

"Tahira...Three weeks ago you died."

Her mouth gaped open and I shifted awkwardly in the place I was standing in.

"So you're saying I'm supposed to be dead?"

As if noticing her surroundings for the first time, Tahira looked at herself and then turned around and faced her gravestone. She mumbled the words below her breath as she read.

Then she screamed.

***

The car ride was silent and I drummed my fingers on the wheel. Every chance I got, I kept looking towards Tahira. She was quiet, just kept looking straight ahead, and hadn't tried to make eye contact with me once.

I didn't want to pry but I had to get answers to the burning questions that swirled inside my head.

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

Now she looked at me. My stomach flipped.

"Yes."

She bit her lip. My heart was in my throat and I tried to gulp it down so I could ask her another question.

"I don't understand this. How are you alive? Are you a zombie?"

Or a ghost?

A nervous restrained laugh escaped her lips. "I don't feel like a zombie." She directed her attention to her lap.