Narrated by SASKIA:
I came from the shower, the locker room empty. Except for Laura who was just sitting there on the bench, already dressed in her casual clothes. I opened my locker to get my things and started applying lotion to my skin. Laura touched the ruby from my collar. "You still wear this dated thing? What, don't you have any sense of style?"
I blankly stared at her, "what? You win a few beauty pageants and suddenly you're a fashion guru?"
"Hey! That's like a key quality you should have, you're just jelly that I've been scooping up awards since I was six," she joked.
"Your mom pimped you out," I shared as I started to get dressed, "besides. Did you see what contenders makeup and hair look like?" I faked shuddered causing her to break out in laughter.
Once I finished, I picked up my bag and headed for the door. She didn't follow me, which had me returning to her. "Are you coming?"
She shrugged and looked at the floor.
"Laura... what is it?"
"Dexter and I are an item now,"
I had to recollect who that is since she spoke as if I would just know from the top of my head, "the one from the wrestling team?" She nodded her head. "Why you seem so down for then? That's great news,"
She let out a small smile, "thanks. But now the girl on the wrestling team wants to beat me for it. She claims that he cheated on her with me. So she's gathered her fighting buddies and they're waiting for me,"
I raised my eyebrow and folded my arms. Laura is like the slimmest person I know, with dreams of becoming a model one day. She takes good care of herself, something about her face being a money maker. And now these bullies want to tackle her? She's fragile, and they know that. "They're cowards. I'll protect you,"
"But... they're three,"
"And? Let's go, you can't stay in here forever anyway,"
She shook her head. "I'm not going out there, I'm scared,"
I walked up to her, picked up her belongings and stretched out my hand for her to grab them. She didn't at first, but she did and lifted her. I safely walked with her to my car when we heard the girls howling from behind us. Laura held my hand tighter.
They stood before us, one girl grabbed her. Laura instantly screamed. Poor thing wasn't even touched yet. "Hey! Let go of her,"
It all happened so quickly. I made the biggest mistake of my life by breaking the number one rule for zombies. One of the girls stood in front of me, shielding Laura behind her so I wouldn't be able to get to her. I wanted to smack her but she ducked. Instead, I scratched Laura. My sharp fingernail cut through her flesh, deeply penetrating her. The scar ran past her eyes and through her nose, breaking it, and ending on her soft cheek. She instantly crouched down in pain but didn't scream or cry. I guess it hurts too much. Her blood dripped on the floor, I stood there paralyzed with fear as one of the girls called an ambulance.
"There's no time for that," one of them said. "Saskia, you need to take her to the hospital,"
I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't comprehend what just happened. My parents will be furious at me for this. One of the girls slapped me and I snapped out of my zone. "Take her to the hospital! I'm coming with,"
I nodded my head and opened the doors to my car. We sprung in, I couldn't even think about Laura bleeding all over my seats. My hands were shaking, I took a deep breath in and started the car. We drove off to the hospital where she was immediately taken away from us.
The other girl, Kellie, Dexter's ex was the one who called her parents. Her mom came within the hour. She demanded to know what happened and Kellie explained it all while I just sat there biting my nails. Her mother fumed when she heard what I did, yelling at me but I couldn't pick up on all she said. Laura was going to die, and it would be my fault. What on earth did we both do to deserve this? 500 hundred years of being the perfect little zombie girl. Making my parents proud with every decision I made, down the drain just like that. All because I had to scratch her in the face. It was an accident. But that won't cut it, now she'll die and so will I.
"My daughter's face is ruined. Ruined. She was going to be a model and you destroyed her future! Rest assured that our lawyers will hear about this. How can I...? Her face is ruined, did you know that her only talent and gift is being beautiful? Without that what does she have? What do we have? What do I have?"
I looked at Laura's mother with horror, I can't believe what my ears just heard. It was too much for me to stomach. I ran and into the bathroom where I threw up. It all made me sick, I'm going to die. Laura's mother thinks Laura is an object. It all had to come out. I was scared and nervous. After I threw up I sat there at the pot and started weeping.
I hope Laura will be okay and I hope I will be okay.
I cried for ten minutes before I left the hospital. I sat in my car not knowing what to do. I wanted to text Kin but she's already going through so much, aside from her I have no one to lean on. Never needed anyone, all way out now is to go straight home and tell my parents.
I parked my car and opened the front door. "She's home!" My mother told my dad.
He came to the entrance where I just put my bag down on the floor. "Where were you, Saskia?"
I didn't reply, I walked straight into his loving arms. He'll hate me soon anyway but I just needed his comforting arms. I sobbed into his blue shirt, he kissed me on the head and pulled away from our hug to look me in my eyes. Our green eyes stared at each other, his held worry mine held fear.
"It's okay, you can tell me,"
I nodded my head. He would find out soon anyway, mom joined us and we went into the living area where they sat on my sides. I brown hand locked fingers with my mother's black hand and locked fingers with my father's white hand. "Mom, dad... there's something big I must tell you,"
"Okay?" My mom Tina asked more than she stated.
"Today I was in a fight,"
Mother gripped my hand tighter, "you know how dangerous fights can end up for us zombies,"
I snickered as more tears streamed down my cheeks. "Well... I scratched Laura. My poisonous fingers cut right into her skin, the poison is making its way through her body," I cried louder.
My father wriggled his hand free from my grip. It's starting already, them hating on me. He pulled me into his warm embrace and kissed me again on my head. "It's okay,"
Mother raised her hands in the air, "how is this okay? Our child is going to get killed. Roger!"
"Don't say things like that in front of her... she's already so scared. Sweety, we'll do whatever we can to keep you safe. Even if we have to pull a Sarah,"
Sarah is one of the most wanted beings ever. She's a vicious monster that has taken down many, both humans and creatures. So I figure pulling a Sarah is living life on the run.
Mom shook her head. "That's not the life I wanna live, I can't go through that again. We should respect the zombie council and whatever they decide to do,"
"And what if they decide to take her life?"
Mom shrugged, "then they must take it. They know what's best,
Father scoffed. "Are you hearing yourself? How on earth do they know what's best? They ordered Sarah to die... they don't care about us normal zombies,"
I removed my head from my father's chest. I didn't know that he's against killing Sarah and others like her. They're monsters, they give beings like us a bad name.
Mom squeezed my hand, "she's an invalid zombie,"
"Wha... what? She's a hybrid?" I asked. Invalid has to mean she's not pure-blooded.
Mother nodded her head, "yes, but enough about her. This is a serious issue at hand. I suggest we go to the zombie council first thing tomorrow morning and hear what they have to say,"
I stood up and looked at my mother, "mother no. What if we go there and you and dad will be the only ones that get to return home?"
Dad looked over at mom, "huh? Tina, you know how corrupt and biased all the elders are. It doesn't matter from which creature it comes,"
Mom got on her feet as well. "We are leaving. Saskia cannot receive special treatment because our family is highly respected in the zombie community. We cannot afford to make more mistakes," then she walked up to me and cupped my face in her hands. "I love you so much, and I will fight for you my dear, but if we don't go sooner and instead go later, there won't be much we can do. It'll look bad. You have to put up a brave face... okay?"
I remained silent. How on earth do I put on a brave face? She told me to go up to my room and that she'll call me once dinner's ready but I doubt I will eat anything. I sat down on my bed and decided to let Kin know that I won't be at school tomorrow and why. She was at my home within five minutes, crawled up the wall and I opened my window to let her in.
She just sat there on my bed, holding my red teddy bear my first love Dominick bought me and listened to my fears. She was left speechless. Didn't know what to say but tried so hard to be supportive, mom knocked on me my bedroom door and to tell me about dinner. I wasn't hungry, I introduced her to Kin.
"You need to keep your mind distracted," she suggested.
"With what?"
She tapped her finger against her chin, thinking about something we can do together. "Ug... you're not hungry,"
She looked around my room and noticed that I was researching with all the papers on my desk and the computer just stood there. "I could help you with your homework?"
I looked over at the desk and sat down, I looked at her and gestured for her to come sit next to me by waving at her. She dropped the bear, grabbed a chair and sat down next to me. "I was doing research on our town. Crystal Moon is a small town with low birth rates. But the year you were born the birth rate tripled, and it was never the same again. Isn't that strange? Something about that feels abnormal,"
"No wonder there's so many people our age?"
I bellowed, "I'm not 14, Kin. I'm way older than that,"
She leaned closer to me, "what do you mean? How old are you?"
"518 actually,"
Her eyes grew large, she looked at the computer screen but wasn't focusing on it, her stare was blank. She shook her head and looked at me. "What? Why are you attending school then?"
"I never got a chance to finish school. I was pulled from school when I was 13, my family had no money so I had to work. When I turned 14 we got turned into zombies. At 18 I was given an opportunity of a lifetime when I was chosen to study on planet OrApa. The planet wanted to learn from various creatures and aliens all around the world, we learned from them and they from us. We exchanged knowledge, skills and so much more,"
Vreemde-Kin seemed impressed by that, not that I wanted to impress her. "Woah... um... where do I begin, what was it like?"
I grinned as the memories came flooding into my head, "I fell in love with Dominick, he bought me that teddy bear,"
"No! For real? You dated Mänstər Frankenstein's son?"
"Yeah,"
"That's crazy, you dated powerful people, why'd you break up?"
I closed my eyes for a short while, "well, we were away for ten years but in reality, by earth timing, we were gone for five hundred years. I wanted to be with my parents and he with his family, at the academy. We tried dating and found that the whole long-distance thing wasn't going to work out and called it quits,"
She scratched her head then looked at me, "wow. That's crazy,"
"Yep, and all I wanna do is complete my high school career. That's not weird to you, is it?"
She shook her head with a huge smile on her face. Her four fangs are sharp, tiny like the fledgling she is. She looked so vampiric because during the day she wears her cape and brown contact lenses but now her big metallic eyes looked at me. At night her skin isn't as pale as it is during the day either, it's more of a pale blue. Bringing out her inner cranter side. I've never met one before, but a few of them were on OrApa.
She looked at my research again and then back at me, "why did you research this?"
"For our friend, Jason, I promised that I'll find his parents but the birth rate threw me out. Especially the number of kids that we're dropped off at the orphanage. 50% of them being teenage parents. 30% of those mother's left town that year. So he's mother could be a teenage mom or she isn't in town,"
She leaned back into her seat, and swung side to side, "Which one are you leaning towards?"
"I have no idea, you?"
"I don't think it's a teenager, not sure how to feel about his mother leaving town though, maybe she did,"
I leaned over, my eyes remained on hers, "but is it possible for the numbers to grow like that for 12 months only. Isn't it crazy?"
Kin shook her head, "no. My mom says her grandmother was a witch,"
I didn't know that. I know Vreemde-Kin and know she's a hybrid but I didn't know that she also has the witch gene, "so you could get the calling to become a witch?"
She shook her head, "no, mom never received her calling and she doesn't want Lainey and I to get it either, so when she found out she's pregnant and Count Dracula approved me, she found a witch to block that side of mine. To cut off whatever magical powers I could have,"
"So she silenced the gene?"
"Yep,"
"One can do that? Will you do that to your kids?"
I shook my head, "no. I'll give them the freedom to do what they want and be who they wish to be. Even if they want to be a witch,"
I picked up the papers I pointed out, "so you reckon it's witchcraft. Could be, when I get back from the academy we should pay the Wright's a visit. They're witches,"
She stayed for a few more hours before sneaking back to her room. It was a pleasure having her over, she helped me move forward with the 'investigation,' otherwise, I would still not have known that magic is involved.
I laid in my bed that wondering how it's going with Laura, if she's not sleeping she must be so scared. I wished I could go check on her, even though she would always find a way to tease me. But I was concerned. How could I ruin her life like that?
Mother got tickets for a witch ride. At 4 am we were ready, packed a small bag since we'll be staying the night. A knock on the door and my dad rushed to open it, it was our ride. Father invited her in and she helped take our bags to her carriage. A big black carriage that hovered over thick smoke, we jumped in and she waved her wand over us. She explained that she was making us invisible so no human can spot us, then slowly the ride rose. Smoothly even though I held onto the sides. Once we were in the air, it went better for me because she's an excellent driver and we didn't have traffic. I listened to music to distract me from Laura because I can't keep those big blue eyes out of my head. Today we will hear what they say.
We reached the academy, hidden on a secret man-made island with tons of various zombie types. Some zombies live on the island while others just come for education and leave again. I wondered if I will see Dominick or not, I'm not still in love with him but it would just be great if I see him again. Perhaps say hi.
A zombie took us to our rooms and mother and father went ahead to the council and fill them in. I paced in my room biting my nail, stopping now and then to look through the window. I'm going to die here. Came so far to be executed in front of zombies. Zombies who know me by name.
I heard tapping on my door and made my way over to open it. And right stood Dominick, I forgot how to breathe for a second. I wanted to see him but now that he's here with me I'm panicking. I was even too nervous to put on a convincing smile, "Dommie?"
"Saskia, can I come in? Our fans are watching me," he said, I peeked down the hallway and a bunch of zombies stood watching, swooning. I allowed him in. "You know, they're the ones that told me you're here. Why are you here?"
He looked at me and I collapsed. I'm not one to cry easily especially not in front of him because I know back when we were a thing he would often cry with me. So I try to avoid crying in front of him. That was my promise.
"Dom..." I snickered and wiped my tears, "I scratched a girl, she's dying as we speak,"
"Saskia! Why would you do such a thing? They'll kill you," he yelled at me.
"I know! It was an accident,"
He pulled me into his arms, he still smells good, the same scent. It always got me dizzy. But I remained crying, his arms were so comforting that it felt like home. My tears soaked into his shirt. "Where's your parents?"
"They're stating my case," he pulled me from him and I looked at him, he wiped tears of his own. "You might die because of this. I-I have to go and state it with them. We might not be together but you're still my person,"
I nodded my head and pulled him into one last hug. He left me alone, which was kind of worse because I didn't want to be alone at such a time. It took them two hours before I got called. I entered the courthouse. The royal zombies were there along with the council and the students and residents of the town and academy joined.
Mänstər Frankenstein's beast, our Count Dracula, informed the town as to why he called upon them all. "The council, along with my family and the Micheals family sat together and discussed her fate. We decided that both Laura and Saskia should be put to death,"
The crowd gasped. My hands started shaking, my vision blurred. All the zombies spoke amongst each other. Speaking about how it's so unfair and that I don't deserve this.
Mänstər allowed them to whisper along with each other like he always does then cleared his throat, "but Dominick suggested that we not approach things like this. He suggested that the law be changed, saying that we should be welcoming new zombies and not kill them off. And welcome the idea of turning humans into zombies since other clans do this. We should too. We agreed. So Saskia and Laura will be allowed to live," the crowd instantly cheered but Mänstər continued speaking. "On one condition. From now on, each zombie that turns a non-zombie will have the responsibility of training their fledgling. Saskia, you will train Laura and by the end of this year, your student will compete against ours. If she does as well as our students then that will prove to us all that zombies are capable of starting their zombie clan. But if she fails, I'm sorry Saskia then Laura will have to be put to death."
I got to live but that wasn't enough for me. Laura is not dying while I get to live. When the courtroom emptied Dominick walked over to me.
I shook my head, "if she fails. I fail. I did this to her and it isn't fair. I'll kill myself,
"Nope. You're not doing that. You can't it's insane,"
"I must, Dommie. But thanks, I guess I'll make history if Laura and I pass?"
He chuckled. "I guess so," he came closer to me and rubbed my shoulder, "you won't fail. I know your parents will help you or friends that you made. Right? You can't fail, I'm not ready to let you go, I'll just bring you right back,"
I laughed. We sound ridiculous. "We seriously need to start seeing other people,"
I joined my laughter. "I agree. You must be hungry, I know this amazing restaurant. The only one that serves traditional zombie food and human food. Their mixture of human and zombie food is to die for."
I smirked, "is this a date?"
He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead, "maybe. Let's drive the town crazy."