Winner!
Third Place Sci-Fi Winner on The Dream Awards July 2020.
What would happen if one day you were infected with a virus that ate at your brain, your skin, and all your internal organ all while you were self-aware?
Would you still feel? Want to...
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Slamming the door behind her, Teal's mind boggled, anger bubbled in her belly, and she had more questions than when they started the conversation an hour ago. Her parents should have told her sooner, at eighteen.
Definitely, by twenty-one.
For twenty-four hours she stewed in the dim, candle-lit bedroom. Thoughts of what she should do with the information she'd been oblivious to, a chess game in her brain. Should she pretend everything was the same?
Am I the same?
She didn't feel the same. Should she pretend her family didn't keep her from stepping into the daylight or seeking help from the human side? The fact they had an aunt she'd never met--correction, that she'd never heard of before yesterday was madness. Even Jax knew and never mentioned her. What else could he possibly know, he hadn't revealed?
A gentle knock at the door, almost too soft to hear, grabbed her attention. Briefly, she considered ignoring it, but another followed a few seconds later, then another.
"Not interested." Instantly she regretted her rude words, and she scrunched her face in distaste. "What do you want?"
"You good?"
"I am. Leave!"
"Don't, Squirt--"
"Stop calling me that! I'm not a little zombie anymore. I'm twenty-five. You're barely three years older..." She crossed her arms in front of her chest in frustration.
"Teal, coming in. Don't care." The muffled voice behind the door was stern and it resonated in the quietness in her room.
"Why? Are you gonna use your great, brute zombie force on my unlocked door?" She scoffed. "Teal--I didn't, um, I didn't--know."
"Didn't know we have a human aunt?! Didn't know I knew nothing of her? Liar! Or did your zombie brain forget?"
Shit...
She regretted those ugly words. Teal realized sometimes zombies say things they don't mean, to be cruel to those they love. She thought it would make her feel better, but it didn't. All they did was tear at her heart, widening the gap between her and the ones she loved.
"No fair, Teal," his voice fell and deepened. "I--uh, I-thought she was dead," he said with great difficulty.
It was a challenge for him to remember words, Teal knew this. Complex, simple, it didn't matter. However, his attempt to have a grown-up conversation did not go unnoticed. On the contrary, she thought it admirable.
Sliding off the bed, she knew Jax could hear the springs and squeaks of the coils inside the mattress. Teal paused before she took sluggish, somber steps towards the door. Facing it, she stood immobile before pulling on the oiled-bronze handle.
Standing tall, Jax waited behind the door. Under his eyes, the pigment of his inky skin was darker than usual. His eyes, the color of liquid gold, a contrast between the paleness of his flesh. The intense blue of his veins stood out, and the brownish, blond curls jumbled atop his head. If his body had fluids, he'd been crying a river.
She didn't want to weep, but seeing him dismantled made her emotions bounce out of control. Her body collapsed on his. "I'm sorry Jax. I didn't mean to--" Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Shh, it's okay."
"No, it isn't!" She shook her head.
Unable to contain his distress, Jax hugged her to him and broke down wailing atop her elfin shoulders. His tearless cry helped her find some relief as she held the heaviness of his body. When his head slumped on her, she knew she could hold the weight of the world and survive. She would be a rock for him. For her family. For humanity.
His sobs ceased. Once they both calmed down, the questions poured out of her. "Did mom and dad tell you she was dead?"
