Call Me Viccy

Victoria's Novel Project (**ALONG WITH NOTE**)

*NOTE: You may skip this reading. This episode does not have anything to do with the plot of "Call Me Viccy", so there is nothing you'd be missing. You do not have to read this, but I will be asking questions about "Victoria's Novel Project" through the author's note every other episode starting next chapter. I will post the answer in the following episode. Whoever can get the answer right (or if multiple people do I will choose a viewer) will have the chance to have their own character to be put into "Call Me Viccy". I will be calling this the "Hi My Name Is... Contest". When you post your answer to the question of that episode from Victoria's Novel Project, if participating, you must include the name, age, and a short description of your character. For now, there is no time limit on this contest.

EXAMPLE OF FORMAT:

Name: Charlotte

Age: 17

Description: Blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'5, mean at first but warms up to you, etc.

                                                                     Victoria's Novel Project

Every story has a beginning and an end, but some continue forever. Books can tell a story with words. People, however, tell them with feeling and emotion. Everyone knows the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Though people hear this, they judge no matter what.

I closed my notebook and sat up from my bed. Each day I think of something that sounds like a famous quote and I write it down, in case I become famous one day. The notebook is for proof so people know I came up with it. I know it sounds dumb, but now I write more than ever, and it helps with my writers' block. Some days I go back to old pages and think about what I wrote. 

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that I’ll almost be in high school soon. Even though people tell me life is short, I don’t go off and do crazy things. However, that doesn’t mean I don't want to do something crazy. I don’t have a bucket list or anything, but for me, it’s tradition to do three rousing things each summer. 

To be honest I have no idea what I’m gonna do this summer. I’m sure everyone else will be partying, drinking alcohol, and other obnoxious things. If I were to describe myself, I guess I would sound like every other teenager. I have dark brown hair dyed purple at the tips, I have a slight mix of blue and brown in my eyes, at times in the sunlight they look purple, my skin is a pinkish-white, and I’m average for height. My favorite colors are black and grey. Now you may assume I’m emo and such, but not everything has to be all sunshine and rainbows. 

Alright, enough about me. I got up from my bed, opened my door, and carefully walked down the stairs. It was around 7 in the morning. I normally don’t drink coffee because the only kind my mom drinks is black which is the most bitter-tasting, but I decided to give it another try. I searched for a mug and found a yellow one with a blue heart on it. I put the cup back and decided to use a black one. 

“Not gonna use that one huh?” my mom said as she roughly staggered down the stairs. My mom was in her 40’s and surprisingly aging well. She has short dirty blonde hair and was small for her age. She has the prettiest eyes in the world in my opinion. Because just like me her eyes were a mix of blue and brown. Though her eyes don’t look purple in the sunlight they do remind me of the beach. The top of her eyes are blue like the sky and ocean and the bottom is brown, almost like the sand. And her skin is pink almost like mine. “I just don’t feel like being reminded of him right now,'' I said sorrowingly while grabbing the mug. 

6 months ago my dad and I had just come from the pet shelter. We were going to adopt a dog since I had been asking for one since I was 9. I couldn’t decide that day, so we decided to go back another day. We were driving down the street when my dad had gotten a text from someone. I was sitting next to him in the front seat and noticed it was from someone named Kate. 

The contact had heart and kissy emojis next to it. I then realized that this wasn’t my mom because her name was Caroline. The text said: “See you soon. I’ll be waiting!”At this moment I had pure hatred for my dad more than ever. He was having an affair. I thought how could he do this to us, but that’s a story for another time. I caught a slight grin from him as he saw the text. I kept quiet and decided to confront him when we got home, so I wouldn’t distract him from driving. I was furious with him and began thinking about how to confront him. Little did I know that that text wasn’t only evidence for a daring affair my dad was having, but also was going to be the death of him.

I looked up and realized my dad has passed a red light. Before I could tell him a truck came at 40 miles per hour, like rapid-fire driving at us. I screamed. The last thing I remembered was waking up in a hospital bed. I felt something different. Something strange. I lifted up the blue blanket with white dots and this is when I realized then, both of my legs were gone. My stomach churned. I began screaming and crying until one of the nurses came in. I was horrified at what I saw. After the nurse had calmed me down, she said my mom was coming in to check on me and that the doctor would be in soon.

My mom had walked in and when she saw me she began bawling her eyes out. “What happened?! Why are my legs gone?! Mom, I’m scared!”, I said in a quick panic. My mom was stuttering at first but then she managed to get the words out. “Y-you and y-your father got in a car accident. You’ve been in a coma for a month. When the truck hit you it flipped over the car and both your legs got caught behind the chair. In order to save you, your legs had to be cut off.” 

Something inside me just went off the wrong way. My stomach had twisted and turned and I felt nauseous. 

“Is dad ok?”, I said. 

“Luna…”, my mom’s voice trailed off as she said my name. “Mom? What is it?”, Slam!. “Woah, sorry about that”. I was interrupted by I’m guessing who was the doctor.

He was tall and thin. He had brown eyes and gray hair. I read the name tag in my head. Dr. Holden Macok. For some strange reason, that name felt familiar, but I didn’t know why. He explained to me that I would be getting prosthetic legs and would have to go through physical therapy to learn how to walk again. Luckily for me, I wasn’t into any sports or dancing, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that.

But that was a few months ago. Even though I’m coping with it well, I still have nightmares of the accident and about what would have happened if my dad had never gotten that text. Would I have known that he was having an affair? Would he still be alive? If it weren’t for him I would still have my legs, our family wouldn’t be broken into pieces, and he wouldn’t be dead. I set the mug down and poured some coffee. I added at least 500 pounds of sugar and went to the dining table brushing past my mom. I felt bad I didn’t say good morning so I quickly went to hug her and blurted out good morning. “Hey don’t be so loud you might wake up your brother”, my mom whispered. 

I have a little brother named Liam. He’s 2 years younger than me. His hair is lighter than mine and was almost blonde, which I think he got from mom. His eyes were a light brown, and Liam is about an inch shorter than me. His skin was a bit paler too. I also have another brother who was older than me named Noah. He’s 20 and in college right now. He had darker hair than me, greenish-bluish eyes, and was 6’2. I always teased him about his height. When we were little before Liam was born, we would play “Elf and Giant”. Of course, I was an elf and he was a giant. He would chase me around and roar. Though I do miss him it can be annoying being surrounded by boys all the time. It’s even harder since I’m the middle child. 

I decided to toast a bagel and make an egg sandwich. I liked mine scrambled, other than that eggs didn’t exist to me. When I heard the bagel pop up, I grabbed it set it on a plate, and prepared for my eggs. I heard footsteps stumbling down-stairs. It was from Liam. His hair was scruffy since he’s a wild sleeper. As he walked by me he snatched my bagel and took a bite out of it. “Hey!”, I yelled. 

My mom looked frustrated and just said, “Liam make your own bagel, and while you're at it finish making your sister’s eggs. I sighed and handed Liam the spatula for the eggs. I gently walked up the stairs and into my room. I flopped onto my bed.

I was so tired from writing so early in the morning, I just wanted to sleep for the next 100 years. 

My phone chimed and I got a text. It was from Leena. Leena is my best friend, she was there for me when my dad died and when I had to take physical therapy to learn how to walk again. Leena along with my other friends, Aaron, Parker, and Millie, have known me for as long as I can remember. She has blonde hair and green eyes. She and Parker are twins. Their the oldest out of the 5 of us since their 15. Parker’s a little taller than her though and acts like the oldest even though he’s a minute younger. Parker and Leena are complete opposites. Leena’s an extrovert and a total social butterfly, while Parker is an introvert and keeps to himself. Aaron who’s the same age as me has brown and almost red hair. He has tanned skin and icy blue eyes. He’s kind of the nerdy jock of our group. And lastly is Millie. She’s a shy and quiet one. Millie’s kind of like the middle child in our group. She’s 14 but almost 15. Millie’s really down to earth and is a total bookworm. She has short black hair and green eyes. With her dad leaving her at a young age I’m surprised at how well she turned out. That’s something that both I and Millie can connect with well, how both us of don’t have anyone to pose as a father figure for us.

“Meet me and the g**g at Greendale park ASAP! -Leena.” I was a bit confused. Were Leena and the g**g gonna prank me? Well if they were they’re sure not good at hiding it. “Breakfast is ready!”, my mom yelled from downstairs. I flinched. I got up from my bed and strolled downstairs wondering why Leena wanted me to go to Greendale park so early in the morning. Was she really going to prank me? Was she alone? Had she gotten in trouble? So many questions had boggled my mind. I was so distracted that I bumped into Liam. 

“Hey watch it!”. 

“Geez, sorry…” I said irritated back to Liam. 

“Hey, mom can I go to Greendale after breakfast? Leena and the g**g want me to meet up with them.” “So early in the morning?”, mom said confused. “Uh, yeah we’re just meeting up early for plans for the summer because everybody else will be busy later. “Ok. I’ll drive you. I don’t want you going alone.” “Thanks!”. I was strangely impressed and scared at how well I lied. Normally I can’t even lie about how bad mom’s cooking is.

I quickly finished breakfast and headed upstairs. I searched for a hoodie since that’s what I normally wear. I found a solid-colored gray one, and some black jeans to go with it. I headed downstairs and out the door to the car. Before dad died, he owned a blue truck. Since it’s been hard for my mom to grieve over him, she got a new one. A 2012 black Camry. Which in my opinion is way better than the truck. My mom took about 100 years searching for her keys and when she finally found them she put the key in the ignition and we headed for Greendale. I texted Leena and told her I’d be late, not that there was a specific time I was supposed to be there. It took about 5 minutes to get there. Once we finally got to Greendale I told my mom to pick me up at Leena’s house in about an hour. I texted Leena and asked where everybody was. Greendale was a beautiful place and was easy to get lost in. The way the rivers connected and the animal-shaped bonsai, sometimes you just want to get lost in your own world. And Greendale was my world. Sometimes I came here to think or write some quotes. 

My silent thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of sirens and flashing red and blue lights. What’s going on? I walked over to the source of the lights and sounds. Then, I saw Leena and the g**g. I shuffled over towards them and asked what was going on. 

“Why am I here? Did you just want me to see someone get arrested?”.  “Luna...someone was murdered,'' Millie said as her voice quivered. Suddenly I felt my skin go white. I felt faint. Before I noticed who the person was, I looked over their body. They were missing half of their torso and their ear was gone. It had looked like they had been almost eaten. Then I noticed that on the top of their head there was a deep hole, you could practically see their skull. It looked as if someone or something was trying to get to their brain. Did this person get mauled by a bear? But there are rarely bears here and we don’t have coyotes. Something like this would rarely happen in Illinois. 

Then my eyes moved down to the person’s face. I saw the person who had been killed right before the tarp was put over their body. It was my dad.

Suddenly my knees quivered. “G-Guys did you see that.” 

“Yeah, that’s why we called you Luna”, Aaron said as his voice shook. 

“This doesn’t make any sense. That was my dad. How is this even possible? He died 6 months ago. We buried him. I saw him get buried. He doesn’t have a twin or anything. So how is this possible? I don’t even-”. 

“Luna! You’re rambling! Look I know this is frustrating and confusing, but we don’t have time to freak out. We have to get to the bottom of this. We all know the police are just gonna drop it.”, Leena said as she cut me off.

I know Leena’s the oldest, even out of Parker because of the 1-minute difference, but how can she guarantee that the police won’t look into it? I decided to keep to myself instead of causing more problems. I got an idea and went on.

“You guys have nothing to do today right. Because we could have a sleepover at my house and dig up some clues to this. Liam’s leaving for sleep-away camp in Minnesota around 3:00 and my mom’s taking him so I’ll have the house to myself”. 

“Sure”, Parker and Leena said at the same time. Their twin telepathy scares me sometimes. 

“So Aaron & Millie how about you?”. 

“I’ve got nothing to do anyway so I can come”.

 “Millie?”I asked. 

“Oh, I can’t I have to do something with my mom later”. 

I was confused, Millie rarely does things with her mom and she never would turn down a sleepover. 

“Millie, is something wrong?”. She walked over to me and motioned for me to follow her. Everyone looked at us confused.

We sat on a bench by one of the rivers. “What’s going on?”. 

“Luna…”. 

“Mil? What is it?”

“I-I’m being threatened.”

“What? What do you mean you’re being threatened?”.  

My mind was going to explode. There were so many things happening all at once, it was just too much to process. Though I needed to be there for Millie and find out what was going on.

“It’s complicated.”

“Come on, you’re worrying me”

“Fine. About a week after your car accident, there were rumors.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Well you know how my mom’s name is Katlyn and people sometimes call her Kate”

“Yeah?”

“After the accident, my mom told me stories about how she used to date your dad when they were in high school and kept on ranting on and on about how their ship name was Satan, ‘cause your dad’s name is Samuel and, well you’re already putting the pieces together. Soon people found out about my mom and your dad...then…. I started getting threats from random people I didn’t even know. People were calling me mini-murderer, Jr. s**t, homewrecker, and the list goes on.”

“Oh my god Millie, I had no idea why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I didn’t want to cause you more problems, because you were still grieving over your dad and learning how to walk again.”

“Millie, just come over. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. And if you get any more threats, you tell me, alright?”

“Ok.”

We walked back over to the rest of the group were as confused as a kitten seeing a cucumber for the first time.

“What happened”, Parker said sounding in a rush.

“Nothing”, I said. I knew Mille didn’t want the rest of the g**g to know because then they would be worried about her. I just wish she had told me sooner. I didn’t want Millie to think less of herself over a mistake my dad made. If my dad were still alive I’d kill him myself. He’s not only making my life miserable but Mille’s & the rest of my family.

I texted my mom and told her that we’d meet up at the house and that everyone was staying the night. I didn’t want to tell her what happened at Greendale. Though it didn’t make sense. We buried dad at the cemetery across from Greendale, so how was he at Greendale. Then I had an epiphany.

“Guys follow me!”

Everyone was startled from me suddenly blurting out, but I knew that if I was right then it had to be true. Everyone followed me. I then was sure that everyone knew what this was about. We walked over to my dad’s grave which was behind a wall or trees. And there it was. Proof that my father had risen from his grave. There was a deep hole where my dad was buried. It had looked like someone was trying to dig out of it. And I’m sure that someone was my dad.

“Guys, this might sound crazy but I’m pretty sure my dad dug out of his grave”. 

Everyone suddenly went pale as if the had seen a ghost. Guessing what just happened I’m sure my simile was suddenly true. There was a lot going on, seeing my dad at Greendale, Millie told me she’s being threatened, and sudden proof that my dad dug out of his grave. I had a weird feeling in the stomach. I somehow knew that this wasn’t the end of these weird and sudden events.

Suddenly my legs felt tingly. They were shaking as if there were an earthquake in my own body. I’m sure everyone else saw it too because as they began to shake more I fell and Aaron caught me. 

“Luna, you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Here.”

Aaron put his arm around my shoulder and help me walk to a nearby bench. 

I’ve been in physical therapy for months and nothing like this has ever happened. Why all of a sudden now? 

We all decided to sit down. I’m sure all of us could tell that we all needed a moment's breath. It went quiet for a minute or two. I never noticed how peaceful it could be at a cemetery. Ok now that I’m saying that it sounds kind of creepy, but if you could just imagine listening to the chirps of birds & feeling the sun rays put down the heat on you it just feels like a normal summer day despite everything that’s happened.

“I’ll call for an uber”, Parker said as he got up from the ground. He brushed off the grass and dialed for an uber. 

We all sat and waited for about 3 minutes. 

Once the uber finally came we saw that it was a black van. Leena and Millie helped me into the van and we drove off once everyone got on.  

We got to my house and went inside. Since we all live in the same neighborhood it’d be easy for everyone to get their stuff for the sleepover.

Every time we have a sleepover everyone has a job to do. Leena plans the movie since she’s basically seen every single one and is a huge Hollywood addict, Parker was in charge of the pillows and blankets, Millie came up with things to do when we all got bored, Aaron got the snacks, and I did dinner. We also have a lookout when we’re doing shady things like sneaking out, who would normally be Liam. I would just give him 20 bucks to do it, but since neither, he or mom was here we didn't need one.

Today wasn’t a normal day. Though, since the accident, every day hasn’t been a normal day, but this day just had a strange aura added to it.

“Alright, how are we gonna start this?”, Leena said.

“I’ll start off.”

 I decided I could start off since I know most of the facts and I was basically the secret holder of the group.

“Ok, we know that when we saw my dad’s body that it looked like something or someone was trying to get to his brain. We also know that his grave was dug out of. Ok, umm...did anyone take any pic-”

“I did”, Parker said as he cut me off.

I guess I should have known that Parker was the one to take pictures. He is studying to be a photographer. Now that I think about it I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do. Everyone was already set on their career’s even though we’re not even in high school yet. Leena wants to be an actress, Millie wants to be a naturalist, and Aaron wants to be in the NFL. Now that I think about it I do write a lot. I could one day be a writer. My mind was drifting off again so I went back to focus on the pictures that Parker took. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket and opened up his gallery. When we saw the pictures we were somehow still shocked by what we saw, even though we had already seen his body. He had pictures of the grave too.

“I’ll order pizza”. 

Everyone nodded in agreement. To be honest I wasn’t even hungry after what I just saw. I called Tokeyo’s. That’s where we go to hang out almost every day. Even when we're down in the dumps Tokeyo’s pizza, burgers shakes, and fries always cheer us up. I thought the name was a bit strange though. It sounds like a Japanese restaurant because Tokyo is a city in Japan, but apparently, the owner named the place after her dog. In my opinion, she sounds a bit too into her dog, but the food is great. I installed their app so I know when the pizza comes. I asked for 2 large pepperoni pizzas and some garlic knots. Those garlic knots are very addicting. After I finished my order I got a notification saying the pizza will be here in 20 minutes.

All of us were conversing about the past recent events. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It had only been 5 minutes since I ordered, so that was surprisingly fast.

Everyone looked up and at the door. 

There was an awkward silence that was interrupted by another knock, but this time it was louder and faster. They kept on knocking and knocking. At this point, it was getting annoying.

Aaron got up and looked through the peephole in the door.

“Umm guys...that’s not the pizza.”

We were all startled when he said that. I asked what he saw. 

“Aaron who is it?.”

“Umm, it’s hard to tell because it’s raining but it looks like a young girl.”

I knew it was dangerous, but I couldn’t even fathom the thought of a little girl in the rain. Was she lost? Is she an orphan? If she was lost was she looking for shelter?

Then we all heard something that really startled us.

“Please let me in. I know this sounds like a prank, but you need to let me in. You’re all in danger!”

I got up and ran to the door. I pulled it open and pulled the girl in. She had short brown hair that was curly and frizzy. She also had icy blue eyes that were almost gray. Though she has a young face you can tell she’s older. I knew it was dangerous to let a stranger in the house, but I needed to know what she meant by saying that we were in danger.

“What do you mean we’re in danger? And who are you?”

“My name’s Jolene, but you can call me Jo. Recently my father passed away. My mother and I aren’t coping with it well. Today in Greendale there have been numerous reports of murder apparently. I went to go see for myself. The person who had been murdered was my father. I was unsure if this was him at the time. Then I saw you and your friends go to his grave.”

Everyone knew the conclusion of her sentence, but my mind was already going to so many places that it was hard to keep up. 

“Wait are you saying that you're ...my sister?”

“Wait are you saying that y-you’re..my sister?”

“Umm, you do realize that you already said that right?”

“I-I know I just-.” I could barely catch the words I wanted to say, “Wait how old are you?”

“13.”

“So you’re telling me that my dad has been living a double life for 13 years?! I can’t believe this. So is he your actual dad? Or your parents were just married?”

“Both.”

I couldn’t believe this for the life of me. My dad was living a double life for almost as old as I am. Every day he came home he said he loved us. Now I know that it was all a lie. I couldn’t even imagine why he would do this to us. Now I knew better than to trust every person I see. 

“Um, Jolene right?”

“Ye-”

“I don’t care! Just get out!”

I opened the door and pushed her out. As I slammed the door closed, I locked it and ran up to my room. I didn’t look back not once. I already knew everyone’s reactions. I could tell they thought I was crazy. It didn’t matter. I didn't care what anyone thought of me at the time. I just wanted to be alone. Nothing was real to me. My dad didn’t rise from his grave, I bet Millie was lying to me for attention, and “Jolene”, if that’s even her real name, was probably using us. She was probably trying to rob me. My mind was going to so many places so fast that I hadn’t realized I fell asleep. I was surprised that no one came after me.

I stood up and walked downstairs. No one was there. As a matter of fact, nothing was there. The house was empty. Did Jolene really rob me? I looked around for my phone to call the police or one of my friends but I couldn’t find it. Then there was a knock on the door. I went to the door and looked through the peephole and noticed nothing was there. Then I noticed something even more shocking. I had my legs and I was walking normally. Was this a dream? There was another knock. This time my brain was so fried I just yelled,

“Who is it?”

“It’s us.”

“Who?”

Then a deep man’s voice that I slightly recognized said: “Your family. It’s Liam, Noah, and your mom and dad.”

I pulled open the door. My eyes were wide open to see lights about 3 feet apart shaped like circles. I motioned for my family, even my dad to come inside. The lights were coming faster and closer. It was dark outside so I could easily tell how fast the lights were coming. I tried to pull them in but they were stuck. Then I couldn’t move either. It looked like my legs were turning to wax. They were melting. Then there was a honking noise that sounded like a truck. My family ran inside but I was still stuck. The truck came at 40 miles per hour then it hit me.

I woke up in sweat trying to catch my breath. Everyone was surrounding me. And so was Jolene. I thought I had locked her out. I guess they let her back in. My throat felt sore and my whole body was weak. For some reason, Aaron had a bandage on his shoulder with an ice pack. Had he gotten hurt?

“W-what happened?”

“We all went up to your room after that whole scene you made and when I called your name you wouldn’t answer. Your door was locked so I had to bust it down. We all saw you laying on the floor passed out. Then about 5 minutes later you woke up sweating as if you had run 1000 miles.”

“So that’s why you have a bandage and ice on your shoulder. Were you really that worried about me that you busted down the door?”

“Well yeah, Luna. We were all worried about you.”

“That’s the second time today that you locked yourself out. You feeling ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll just have my mom took me to the doctor next week.”

“So, about the door-”

“I’ll handle it don’t worry. And I’ll just tell your mom when she gets home that I was just being reckless.”

“Umm, I’m still here by the way”, Jo interrupted.

“I can see that”, I said annoyed.

“Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but you all really are in danger. This may sound ridiculous, but I think not only you guys but the whole world is in danger.”

“What do you mean?”

We all were flustered. What did Jo mean that not only us but the whole world was in danger? I was really frightened now. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, which I’m sure has been plenty of times, but there was so much going on. My brain just couldn’t process this much information. I wanted to get to the truth. I really needed to get to the bottom of this. And if Jo was the key to finding out the truth then I was all for it.

“I’ll explain everything-”

“Wait before you do, I just wanted to apologize. It was my fault that we got off on the wrong foot. And if you really are my “long lost sister”, then it wouldn’t be so bad to get to know you, I guess. So, are we cool?”

“We’re cool. I don’t expect anybody to trust a stranger they first meet.”

“Alright let me start from the very beginning. 6 months ago Samuel, our father, passed away. Nothing suspicious happens for a while. Then these random events start happening. First, my cousins come over and play baseball with my uncle and my mom. Then, my mom suddenly gets hit in the face with a baseball and doesn’t react to it. It’s as if she were suddenly indestructible. She doesn’t ask for an ice pack and she had no bruise where she got hit. Then all of a sudden she just stops eating. She said she was on this diet, but I didn’t believe her with all the strange events going on. Then today early in the morning she said she was going out for a walk in the neighborhood. It was around 8:00 I think. Then I found out about what happened at Greendale and follow you guys. I go back home to investigate and my mom comes home. I asked her what took her so long because she was gone for about 2 hours. She said she got held back at Greendale. But the thing is she said she was going for a walk in the neighborhood, not at Greendale. And it’s about a 10-minute walk from my house to Greendale so it wouldn’t take her 2 hours to go there and back.”

“Jo, are you saying that your mom was the one who killed our dad at Greendale?” 

“Yes.”

“But this doesn’t make any sense. Our dad is dead. Maybe someone just dug up his body? But why?”

“You know I’d think that you would catch on sooner, but I guess not.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just gonna say it. My mom and our dad are zombies!”

“Are you serious?”

“I swear on Eddsworld.”

“Isn’t that a show? Dang it, I’m getting sidetracked. Zombies aren’t real.”

“You know Luna if you think about it, it all adds up. Jo’s mom being immune to the baseball, and suddenly not eating, your dad at Greendale, his grave, and it looked like someone was trying to get to his brain. The list goes on, Parker said.

I wasn’t gonna believe a thing Jo or Parker said. It’s strange though. As much as I don’t want to believe that it's true, the past events do add up.

“Alright, let’s say that zombies are real and that your mom and our dad are zombies. What would we do then?”

“Well”, Jo started, “We’d have to kill them.”

“What?! But my dad’s already dead and what if you’re wrong about your mom?!”

“Well yeah, that is true. But I’m pretty positive that I’m right about my mom. In order to kill her, we’d have to bash her brains in because that’s the source of whatever virus or source of her “zombieness” comes from.”

“Well that seems a bit harsh”, Millie whispered in a low voice. 

“Wait, why do we have to kill your mom?”

“Luna, it’s simple. Maybe she’s not a zombie, but she does have some type of virus that could easily spread. Like vampires, my mom can spread this virus by biting others.”

“How do you know that?

“From this book, I read about the supernatural.”

“Ok, for now, can we just have a normal sleepover without any zombies, murder, or secrets. 

“Ooo what kind of secrets?”, Leena said with great interest in her face.

“I have an idea, how about we share any secrets that we know or have?”

Everyone looked thrilled.

“So, Jo are you gonna stay?”

“I hope you don’t mind Luna. Just in case I was right about my mom I’ll need to avoid her for a while.”

“Ok, where are you gonna stay?”

“I’ll just hang back with my uncle, don’t worry about it.”

I guess it was ok that Jo was staying. The more the merrier right.  And since Leena had suggested we play this giving secrets game, I thought I could get some info on Jo, which is the only reason why I agreed to play. Then I suddenly remembered how Millie told me about her threats. I decided to keep my mouth shut about it and just to ask Jo questions. I mean it’s not like I was really planning to find out secrets. We told each other everything. I doubted that we had any secrets, but who knows I could find out something really juicy. 

“I’ll start”. 

I was surprised that Parker wanted to go first. He was the introvert of the group. So we all doubted that he has any secrets to spare. Everyone looked as surprised as I did. You could tell there was a little bit of fear stirring in his eyes. 

“Ok, so there’s this person.”

“Ooo, so my brother has a girlfriend?”

“Well, no it’s not like that.”

“Ok, so tell us about her.”

Parker had a worried expression on his face as if he didn’t want to describe the person.

“Umm, where do I start. They're smart, funny-”

“No, no. Parker tell us what they look like, then you can tell us about them.”

You could tell when Leena had said that, that Parker didn’t want to tell us who she was. So I decided to help him out. 

“Hey guys, I have a secret.”

Everyone looked my way including Parker. I saw him mouth “Thank you” and I mouthed “You’re welcome” back. 

“So, Luna what’s your secret?”, Jo asked.

“Umm.”

I knew I had to make one upright on the spot. Though, maybe there was one thing I could say.

I knew everyone was getting impatient. You could tell by the look on their faces. I did think of something to say. It was more of a half-truth kind of thing though. For a while now I have had a thing for Aaron. Although, it was just a tiny crush. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. And I’m sure that everyone especially Aaron would think I was joking too. I don’t know what came over me, but I just blurted it out.

“I like Aaron!”

Everyone had a blank expression on their face. Did they believe me? Well, it was true. Though my tiny crush was slowly fading away, I felt nervous. I then realized what I had said. I felt my stomach churn. Did I really just say that? I couldn't believe it. Even I didn’t believe myself. I was filled with embarrassment. 

“You like Aaron?!”, Leena yelled.

“I said liked.”

“No, you didn’t, you said like as in present tense.”

I didn’t know what to do. My face was red and so was Aaron’s. I got up and pulled Aaron into the hallway. Everyone’s eyes followed us. 

“Look, Aaron, I didn’t even mean what I said I swear. I was really trying to help Parker because you could just tell from the look on his face that he didn’t want to tell us anything. And it’s not even true that-”

“Luna.”

“I mean come on, me like you? How would that even be possible? And-”

“Luna!”

“Yeah?”

“I like you too.”

Did Aaron Reed just say what I think he said? I didn’t know he’d believe me. Was he serious? I was so confused. As much as I wanted it to be true, I couldn’t believe him.

“Are you just saying that because you feel sorry for me?”

“What? No. I’ve liked you for a while now.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

With all the stuff going on I couldn’t start a relationship with Aaron. What was I supposed to tell him? I didn’t know what to do or say. 

“Look, Aaron, I don’t want to start anything right now. There’s too much stuff going on and I can’t deal with anything else. So maybe we cou-”

“I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I understand that you want nothing to do with me. You’re embarrassed by me.”

“What? No. That’s not it at all!”

“Let’s just get some sleep. Ok?”

Aaron stormed off. I wanted to follow him, but I knew that he didn’t want me to. I wasn’t embarrassed by him. Not at all. Now he was mad at me. This just adds to the list of bad things that have happened to me. I motioned for all of the girls to follow me up to my room. As we went up to my room I closed the door and locked it. Everyone had concerned looks on their faces. I wanted to tell them what happened with Aaron, but I was too tired to argue with anyone else, so I just flopped onto my bed and fell asleep.

All night I was tossing and turning thinking about what Aaron had said to me. I couldn’t get any sleep, but luckily morning finally came and I could wake up. Everyone else was still asleep as I headed downstairs. Fortunately so was Aaron. I remembered that my mom would be home today. I looked out the window for my mom to see if her car was there. It wasn’t. I looked in every room wondering if her car had just been messed up and she must have taken an Uber, but she wasn’t there. I went back upstairs to wake the girls up to ask if they had seen my mom. 

“Guys?”

“Yeah, Luna?”, Millie said with a tired look on her face.

“Have you seen my mom?”

“No. Why?”

“She’s supposed to be home today from taking Liam to sleepaway camp, but she’s not here.”

“I’m sure she’s just caught up in traffic.”

“I guess so.”

“I’m starving.”

I’m sure everyone else was too because as I said that they nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go wake the guys up and go to Tokeyo’s.”

“Speaking of the guys what happened with you and Aaron yesterday?”

“Leena, I’m sorry I really don’t want to talk about that right now. Maybe later.”

“Alright.”

Leena went downstairs to get everyone else. Luckily we didn’t have to drive to Tokeyo’s. It was about a 4-minute walk from here. I went to go change into something comfortable. I waited downstairs for everyone else to change too. Guess who came down first. Aaron. We looked at each other and quickly turned away. I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know that he actually liked me back. Though it was a nice feeling to have someone like me, I felt guilty for some reason. I knew neither of us was gonna say anything. We couldn’t even look at each other. Finally, someone else came down. It was Millie. Thank god!

“Millie is everyone else ready yet?”

“Um, yeah almost.”

“Hey I know you don’t want to talk about it but-”

“Let’s go head upstairs and see what’s taking everyone else so long huh?”

I had to interrupt her. I couldn’t talk about last night in front of Aaron like that. We just stood on the stairs and whispered to each other. 

“Mille! Anywhere else but in front of him ok?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, why won’t you tell any of us what happened?”

“I will, just not right now, ok?”

“Fine, sorry.”

“You’re usually not this stubborn. Are you ok? You’re not getting any more threats are you?”

Millie had a strange look on her face. The same type of look that Parker had when he wouldn’t tell us about his mystery girl.

“Luna, the threats have gotten worse.”

“How worse?”

“People want me to kill myself.”

“Millie! Oh my god! How long has this been going on for?”

“Since yesterday when we saw you, dad, at Greendale. And…”

Her voice trailed off. What else was she going to say? How worse could these threats get? I just hope that Millie wouldn’t give in to these random people who were torturing her. I just didn’t understand. How can random people threaten a poor helpless girl who had nothing to do with my father’s death.

“And? What is it, Millie?”

She had a long sleeve shirt on and rolled up her sleeves. As she rolled them up I noticed something. She had cuts all over her arms. Both of her arms had dried blood on them and were both red. From the looks of these cuts, it looks like they were intentionally made. Then I finally realized what she was really showing me. Millie had cut herself. I don’t know what came over me but I just started crying. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t. The threats have gotten worse and Millie was cutting herself. I can’t believe that one of my friends was hurting themselves over something that wasn’t even their fault. I seriously didn’t know what to do at this point. I had no clue. The only thing I could do was try to put an end to this nonsense. I managed to get some words out.

“M-Millie please d-don’t hurt yourself over this. P-Please. I can’t lose another person in my life.”

Millie started crying. I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I knew Millie didn’t want anyone to see her this way, so I pulled down her sleeves and took her to the downstairs bathroom. We went in and locked the door. I grabbed a face towel and wiped Millie’s tears away.

“Millie I will fix this I promise. Ok?”

“Y-You really don’t have to, Luna. You’ve already done so much for me.”

“I can do more. And I will.”

We both went out of the bathroom but before we went back to everyone I made sure to tell Millie something.

“Mille, don’t ever and I mean ever hurt yourself ever again over accusations that random people made. You have to promise me. Ok?”

We both were stumbling on our words.

“O-Ok. I promise.”

“Alright. Let’s go. I’m gonna watch you like a hawk.”

We met up with everyone at the front door. I noticed that Jo was gone. Had she left?

“Where’s Jo?”

“Oh, she wanted me to tell you that she was going to look into the whole zombie thing”, Leena said, “She left around one in the morning.”

“Oh, ok. I’m starving let’s go.”

We walked out of my house and I made sure to lock the door with my key. It was the only key I had so I made sure to put it in my back pocket. We started heading for Tokeyo’s. As we walked on the sidewalk, I noticed something. People were staring at me. Specifically my legs. I mean who wouldn’t, it’s an interesting thing to see. People stare at me all the time but for some reason, this time bothered me and I didn’t know why. We finally arrived at Tokeyo’s and sat down at our usual spot, which was a booth in the back by a window. Everyone was gonna get there usual for breakfast. I got scrambled eggs (of course) bacon, french toast, and water, Leena got the same as me except she got sausage instead of bacon, Mille’s a vegetarian so she eats a fruit salad, waffles, and yogurt with orange juice, Parker gets bacon, blueberry pancakes, and almond milk, and Aaron gets a bagel with cream cheese, chicken, hash browns, and lemonade. A waiter came over. She looked new. I knew she was new because we come here all the time and I’ve never seen her. She had mixed skin, bright green eyes, and curly hair that was dyed red. I read her name tag and it said, Anaya.

“Hi, I’m Anaya and I’ll be your server for today.”

“Are you new?”

“Erm not really. I’m the owner’s daughter. I just work here as a waitress for my mom’s orders.”

“Ah, ok. Oh sorry, I’m Luna.”

“Nice to meet you.”

I noticed that Aaron had a smug look on his face. What was he up to?

“Hi, I’m Aaron. Aaron Reed.”

“Oh, hi. I’m Anaya... Eheh, I already said that! Oops.”

“You know you cute for a waiter.”

“Sorry, but I can’t converse let alone flirt with customers. I’m very flattered though.”

I knew exactly what Aaron was doing. He was trying to make me jealous. He thought he was so smart like he had a plan or something. This just meant that he was desperate. Desperate for attention. What? Was I supposed to feel sorry for him? I gave Aaron the side-eye. He didn’t notice though. Why did I ever like him? I excused myself and went to the bathroom. I decided to just refresh myself and handle this like a mature person. Unlike Aaron. I heard the bathroom door open. God. I bet Leena or Millie wanted to interrogate me or something. My face was doused in water. I couldn’t see that well. I grabbed a paper towel so I could see who had wandered into the bathroom.

I removed the towel from my face. It was Aaron. 

“Oh so now you’re a p*****t? Huh?”

“Luna.”

“You have nothing to say to me. I got the message back there you don’t need to give me another direct one. Ok?”

“Look I-”

There was a loud bang.

“Aaron. Can we talk later?”

He nodded in agreement.

We went out of the bathroom to see what the loud bang was. Bang! There was another one. There were multiple. When we went out, it looked as if we were trapped in our own nightmare. There were people banging on the door outside. They looked in danger. My friends looked terrified. I motioned for them to hide behind the counter behind us. Anaya, the waitress, went to grab a key and lock the doors. People were eating each other. And I mean literally. There were body parts everywhere and what looked like a river of blood. I don’t know how to describe it, but I could tell Jo was right. The world is in danger. In danger of a zombie apocalypse…

We all watched in horror as each person was eating and tearing each other apart. This would be a good time to have a steel door right about now. “Where is the frigging key?” Anaya was panicking as she was trying to find the right key for the second front door. We helped push the doors back as she was scrambling for the keys.

Finally, after what felt like forever, she found the keys. She quickly locked the door. “Shoot! The back door!” Anaya quickly ran to the back door in the kitchen. We sat looking distraught. 

“Guys, what the hell just happened?!”

“Luna I have no idea. We were just sitting at the booth waiting for you and Aaron to come back from the bathroom and next thing we know there are people banging on the doors and windows,” Leena said with a worried face.

“Where’s Anaya?! She’s been gone for too long!”

Anaya came running from the kitchen out of breath. We all looked at her with relief on our faces.

“Anaya, thank god you’re ok! What took you so long? We thought you were dead!”

“Don't worry Aaron. I’m fine, I just needed to get those things out.” Anaya’s hair was frizzy and crimped. I never noticed before until now.

“Guys call your parents or any family member that you know can help us!”

“Luna, what about Sophi?”

Sophi was Aaron’s little sister. She was 7. Aside from Millie, we all had siblings. I had Liam, Noah, and I guess you can count Jo. Lenna and Parker had each other, and Aaron has Sophi. She should be at home with Aaron’s parents right now. I knew we all had to stay together. So if risking my life for Sophi meant just that then I’ll do it.

“Aaron we’re going back for her.”

“Luna you really don’t have to do this for me I-”

“I’m not doing it for you I’m doing it for Sophi. We have to stick together with our families.”

Beeeeeep! Beeeeeep! Beeeeeep! The TV in the restaurant started beeping. It only beeps like that if there’s a serious emergency and I'm sure this is one. The TV changed to the news channel, ‘BOI’. A news announcer began to speak.

“There has been a drastic change in the weat- Oh. Really? Ok. This just in, a so-called virus is sweeping the country. People are fending for their lives as acts of cannibalism began to play. Stay indoors. If you see any of these people who are affected by this new virus, do not let them inside. This virus apparently spreads by being bitten, stay with your families, and try to stay safe. This is Holden Macock from BOI news.”

I couldn’t believe it there was an actual zombie apocalypse starting. Why in my lifetime though?. How is this even possible? My only question though was how did Jo actually know about this? How could she have guessed these future events? How on earth did she know? A few minutes later, while we were still hiding and contacting our families we saw what looked to be a mailman. There was a person coming behind him. I knew what was coming to him, but I just watched as the person/zombie, snuck up behind him and ate the mailman as if he were getting mauled by a bear. We were all terrified even after seeing about 100 people eat each other. Then I realized something. How could I not notice before? Holden Macock who was my physical therapy doctor was the news announcer for BOI news. I wondered how he could make time for both jobs, but that’s none of my business anyway. We had to come up with a plan. We needed to get out of here. Then an idea sparked in my head.

“Guys! I have a plan!”

“What is it? We need anything to get us out of here. And we need to get to Sophi.”

I knew I wasn’t going back to Sophi for Aaron, but I felt bad that his family was in danger. Not just Aaron’s, but everyone else’s families too. 

“Ok, here’s the plan: We’ll go out the back door that Anaya just locked-”

“Wait, speaking of me, I know this sounds a bit much, but can I come with you guys? My family’s on vacation in Hawaii, and I decided to stay back to help with the restaurant, but I also need to go back for a sibling. I have a little sister named Saki and she’s only 4.”

“Where’s your sister?”

“She’s at our grandparents. I need to go back for not only Saki but my grandparents too. They’re getting old and they can’t fend for themselves all the time.”

“Of course. I might have to change the plan a bit though. So, here’s the new plan. We’ll go out the back door that Anaya just locked. One of us will create a diversion and distract the zombies. This is where it gets a little tricky. There should be some cars parked out back and I know this will sound crazy, but we’ll have to steal one of them. We’ll find the biggest car we see so it can fit all of us. Since Leena has obtained her learner’s permit, which is close enough to a driver’s license, she’ll drive. Leena will drop all of us off at my house, then go and get Aaron’s family. Since Leena, Parker, and Millie live closer to me we’ll get their families next, go back to my house, then get Anaya’s sister and grandparents. You’re all probably wondering why I said to meet up at my house now, I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but my house is the biggest and will fit all of us and we need to stick together. Bring any food from your houses, blankets, pillows, chargers, weapons, anything. It’s basically a really long sleep-over. So, any questions?”

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but they all nodded in agreement. 

“Alright, so who’s gonna create the diversion? Cause you all know I can’t.”

I saw Aaron raise his hand. “I will.”

“Aaron, are you sure? This is dangerous and you could get hurt.”

“I’m sure. Let’s hurry and do this.”

We all headed for the back door in the kitchen. Anaya quickly unlocked the door and kicked it open. I was scared of her myself. There were people everywhere who were affected by the virus. That wasn’t the only problem. The sky was gray and misty. There were loud claps of thunder, along with the thunder there was rain. I knew it would be harder to move around now. Luckily everyone knew that too. 

“Here,” Parker said as he swooped me from my legs and carried me.

“Am I gonna be too heavy for you?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

Parker carried me like a prince saving his princess. We all snuck around as if we were spies on a mission watching out for the guards. But this time the guards were zombies. We didn’t know what Aaron was gonna use as a distraction, but we just went with it. Aaron went running towards the hoard of people, or zombies, at this point I have no idea what to call them. He was just running and screaming like a maniac. There was a group of people surrounding him. He motioned for us to keep on moving. Soon enough we found a large red van. Luckily the keys were in the ignition. Leena started the car. We drove back to where Aaron was. All we could see were hoards of people. Aaron wasn’t in sight. We started yelling his name. Then out of nowhere, a body hit the front window of the car. We all jumped. Leena put the car in park and went to remove the body. We all watched from inside to make sure she didn’t get attacked or anything. She turned the body over. She went white. 

“Leena? What is it?”, Millie said with confusion in her voice.

She grabbed the body and laid it on the ground. You could tell the body was pretty beaten up. I recognized the clothing of the person. Then the hair looked familiar too. The body belonged to Aaron.

I ran over to Aaron’s body. What on earth happened? His face was beaten up and he had a black eye. His arm was twisted in the opposite direction. And it looks like he was stabbed in the leg. I took his hand and checked his pulse. He was still breathing, somehow. 

“Guys get him in the car now! We have to get him to a hospital!”

“Luna he won’t make it. The nearest hospital is 45 minutes away.”

As Leena said that I realized something. After all, me and Aaron have been through a lot in the past couple of days, we fought and argued, yet I still cared about him and I wasn’t going to let him die. Not on my watch. I got Parker to help me carry Aaron to the car.

“We’ll just have to treat him here. Lock all the doors & close the windows. Leena, you drive!”

While we headed for Aaron’s house, I treated him to his wounds. There was blood all over him. I’ve seen so much in the past few days and yet something like this still got to me. Maybe it was because I cared about Aaron so much. Who knows? I took off my shoes and yanked off my socks. I put them on Aaron’s stab wounds. It looked like he was stabbed twice. I found a water bottle that looked somewhat frozen and put that on Aaron’s arm that had been twisted. I looked around for something else I could use. Ah-ha! I found a sewing kit under the seat. It was perfect. I opened the kit and found some black thread. I searched for a needle. I knew a bit about sewing. I took home some, so I think I should be good. The only difference was I was just sewing up human flesh, totally the same thing as fabric! I threaded the needle and began to sew. 

“Argh!” 

Looks like Aaron finally woke up. 

“Hey, don’t move. Take it easy.”

“What happened?”

“That’s what we want to know.”

Everyone looked over with relief on their faces. I gave them a reassuring look to let them know Aaron was ok.

“I- I don’t know it was crazy. After the diversion, I saw that the plan had worked so I decided to head back and follow you guys. One of those zombie people just came over and whacked me on the head with a bat. They probably knew I was just a diversion. I tried to fight back but they punched me multiple times, and they just wouldn’t let me go. They held me by my arms and twisted my right one. I tried to scream for help, but before I could, they went to extreme measures and found a broken bottle and stabbed me with it. Next thing I know I'm here.”

“Wait, but that doesn’t explain why you fell on the car.”

“I what?!”

“Nevermind. Hang on I just realized something.”

“What?”

“Guys.”

Everyone in the car began paying attention, even Leena who was driving.

“If Aaron said that whoever beat him up, just beat him up, then why didn’t they bite him?” Because if they were one of those zombie things rather than just beating Aaron up like a bully, they would tear him apart and eat him alive. So whoever did this to Aaron, they’re not a zombie.”

“Your ri- ahh!”

“Aaron I told you not to move!”

“Jeez sorry. Why are you doing this for me anyway? I thought you hated me since I was ‘threatening the crippled’, which I would never do.”

“Aaron, none of that stuff matters. No matter how much we argue we’ll still be the same people. I care about you so much. I would never want to see you get hurt. I’m sorry.”

Aaron looked at me with a look on his face I had never seen before.  Before I could decipher its meaning, he then held his hand against mine.

“I care about you too.”

“Aww, you guys are so cute just kiss already!” Leena said.

“Leena!” I yelled, flustered.

I completely forgot that everyone else was in the car. For just a moment it felt like me and Aaron were the only two in that car. Aaron and I were still holding hands as if nothing ever happened before.

“Aaron, did you see who attacked you?” I asked.

“Oh my god.” He said, surprised.

“What?”

“That's the person who attacked me!”

I looked out the window.

“Leena stop the car.” I demanded.

The car stopped with a loud screeching noise, Aaron hit his leg on the back of the seat as it was so sudden.

“Agh! Luna! Why’d you do that?” Aaron said.

“Sorry,” I said without emotion, as I was too focused on that person.

“Are you really gonna go out there and confront them?”

“Yeah.”

“Please don’t go out there. The same thing could happen to you, Luna.”

“Trust me, Aaron. I’ll be fine.”

I walked out of the car. We were surrounded by a wall of trees. I felt dizzy for a moment, and couldn’t see where I was walking. My vision was blurry for a couple of seconds. My sight came back to me and I began walking towards the person who had attacked Aaron. As I got closer I noticed they look more like a girl. I was about 10 feet away from her. She had curly dark brown hair that slightly looked red and went down to her shoulders. They turned around enough so I could see that they had glasses. They also had that big doe-eyed look. 

“Hey!”

They turned around quickly and took a swing for the surprise attacker. They started heading for the woods. I tried running after them, but they were too fast and of course, I couldn't run that well. I started heading back to the car when I heard a loud c***k. It sounded like someone stepped on a stick of some sort. I quickly turned around to find that the same girl who I tried to follow, was following me! I decided that this time I would take a swing at her. I didn’t take three years of karate for nothing (this was before the car accident). I could see everyone from the car watching us as we were pulling each other’s hair, throwing punches, and even trying to pull each other’s eyes out. Even though all of the car windows were closed I could hear Aaron’s voice saying: “I have to go out there!”. Finally, I pinned the girl to the ground. 

“I give up ok! Just make it quick!” The girl said.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, aren’t you gonna eat me?”

“What no?! Why would I eat you?”

“Wait, so your not a zombie?”

“Umm, I don’t think so. I don’t feel the sudden urge to eat people, so no I’m not a zombie.”

“Oh, thank god! Wait, then why did you attack me?”

“Because you attacked my friend Aaron. You stabbed him twice, twisted his arm, and gave him a black eye. Why wouldn’t I go after you?”

“I thought he was a zombie. After I gave him a black eye, he didn’t fight back, so I figured that he wasn’t a zombie. I mean since he didn’t eat me yet I was certain that he wasn’t one, but I had to make sure. If I could stab or puncture him with something and he bled then he wasn’t a zombie. So I did, and he bled.”

“Oh. Wait if you realized that then why did you have to twist his arm and all that other stuff you did to him. And why on earth would you throw him onto a car!”

“Wait what? I didn’t do that. I don’t even have the strength to pick up my-”

She stopped there. I then realized something was wrong. Even though she had nearly killed my friend, I wanted to ask her if she was ok.

“Umm are you ok?”

I could see tears falling down her face.

“It’s just…”

“What? You can tell me.”

She wiped the tears from her cheeks, and I could see a confident look forming on her face.

I saw everyone in the car. They didn’t look worried at this point, now they just looked annoyed. They probably thought we were gonna chat forever. I took the girl by the arm. 

“I think we may have room for one more. You're welcome to join us.”

“Y-you’d really do that for me? After all the trouble I caused you?”

“Sure why not?”

I then noticed something on her shirt. She had one of those ‘Hi my name is:’ tags. I looked at the tag and saw that it said, Jude. How did I not notice that before? Now that I think about it the name really does suit her. I wondered why she had cried. Did I say something wrong? Maybe she felt guilty about almost killing a man. My imagination went to some crazy places. I had lost my train of thought again. What was I doing again? Oh right.

“Come on, follow me. First, before we go in there I just want you to know-”

She had a blank expression on her face.

“That, everyone hates you.”

“Eh, that’s fair.”

“Oh and Jude.”

“Yeah?”

“You can tell me what’s wrong if you’d like. I may not understand what you’re going through, but you can tell me.”

“Thanks. Wait how do you know my name?”

I pointed to her name tag. 

“Oh right.”

Anaya opened the van’s doors. Everyone immediately saw who I was with and they all had indignant looks on their faces. As Anaya helped me up I turned around to get Jude, but as I did, Leena started driving. 

“Leena! What gives!”

“You are letting a would-be murderer into this car! She could put us all in danger, Luna!”

“No, you don’t understand!”

“Understand what?! That she almost killed our friend and possibly could be a zombie. No. I understand that you’re just in a bad place right now. And as always Luna you’re making this about you! You know you’re so narcissistic. You’re just like your dad!”

How could Leena say something like that? It’s like she had just stabbed me in the back, but 100 times more painful. Nothing felt worse than being compared to someone like my dad. I felt like I was being lied to. It felt like everyone was betraying me. Leena had called me narcissistic and said I was like my selfish father, Aaron thought I was embarrassed by him, & Millie keeps on hurting herself. I’ve had it. I am so close to becoming a murderer myself. I didn’t know what to do. I was so angry that I opened the door of the van, and jumped out. 

“Luna!”

I heard Aaron scream as I jumped out. I don’t know why I jumped out of a moving car. I hit my head hard to the ground. What was I thinking? Honestly, I didn’t care at this point. Who would even care if I died? Nothing matters. I head was throbbing. I did hit it pretty hard. I know that you’re not supposed to go to sleep when you get a concussion, but I could feel my eyes closing. I was so tired. The last thing I remember was closing my eyes and just seeing pitch black. 

My eyes started to open. I felt something cold and wet on my forehead. I touched it. It felt like an ice pack. What happened?

“Guys! She’s awake!”

I recognized that voice it was Millie’s. 

“Millie? What’s going on? Where’s everyone else?”

I saw Leena and Parker walk out from what looked like a hallway. 

“Luna. I am so sorry I said those things to you.”

“What things?”

Then I remembered. Leena compared me to my godforsaken dad. And after that, I jumped out of the car. I could hear everyone in the car screaming out my name. Honestly, I wish I pushed Leena out of that car. Maybe I was selfish.

“How long was I out?”

“Three days.”

“Three days?! Umm can someone fill me in!”

“Jeez calm down. After you jumped out Leena stopped the car so we could go back for you. We all ran to where you had jumped out but by the time we got to where you landed, you were gone. We thought that you’d just gone for help. We started looking for you when we saw Jude coming out of the forest carrying you. She said you had passed out in the middle of the road. She said she had to carry you before you got run over by any cars. Since she saved your life we decided that we could trust Jude. She even told us what she told you about her thinking that Aaron was a zombie. After that whole fiasco, we put both you and Jude in the back of the car. We thought you were dead for sure. We tried everything from heat to ice, but nothing woke you up. After that, we just decided to follow back with your plan of getting everyone’s families, but things were too crazy outside that we couldn’t. We called our families and everyone is safe. There hiding out at a rescue shelter. Even Sadi. I tried calling your mom but she wouldn’t pick up. But I did get a hold of Noah. He’s doing fine too. Oh, I also called the camp that Liam’s at. He’s pretty shaken up about what going on at home, but he’s coping well. Since then we just chilled out here. We ran out of food today, so Anaya, Jude, and Aaron went to go get some.”

That was a lot of information to take in, but I’m just glad that everyone’s ok. I wondered what happened to my mom. Where was she? Was she ok? I tried not to worry too much about her. I just hoped she was ok. I wanted to get up and move around a little, but I couldn’t. I tried to move my legs, but they wouldn’t budge. 

“Guys?”

They all looked over at me. They knew something was wrong. Leena shifted over my way.

“You ok?”

“Ah, I don’t know. Hey, I know this is gonna sound weird, but can you shake my legs around?”

“Uhh sure.”

Leena carefully took both my legs and gently shook them.

“You can shake harder.”

She looked at me. She looked very melancholy. Did I do something wrong? Maybe she just feels guilty about saying those things to me. She is one of the reasons I jumped out of the car, but now I felt guilty about her feeling guilty. No. It was her fault that I jumped out. I tried fixing things everyone, but she ruined my motivation for it. It doesn’t matter at this point, I was still alive, wasn’t I? Leena started to shake my legs a little bit harder. I still felt nothing.

“Leena, Millie, Parker?”

They looked alarmed when I called their names. I guess we were all jumpy and paranoid after these horrific events. I mean who wouldn't be?

“I think I’m paralyzed.”

“Luna that doesn’t even make any sense. How can you have prosthetic legs and be paralyzed?”

“Millie, I know it doesn’t make sense, but maybe when I jumped out, I hit a nerve in my spine. Because I can’t feel anything from the waist down. Do we have a wheelchair anywhere?’’

“I don’t think there’s one lying around somewhere. I mean who just keeps a wheelchair on hand?”

“My mom!”

“What?”

“My mom would. After the car accident, she was pretty shaken up. She tried to make my life as normal as possible by buying me dresses & makeup, but I didn’t want any of that. She knew that I might not be able to walk ever again, so knowing my paranoid mom, she would go too far lengths to make me happy. Including getting me a wheelchair. She knew that if I could never walk again that a wheelchair would be the closest to having that kind of experience again. Though, she never really said anything about a wheelchair I’m sure she would have one laying around just in case. Check-in her closet upstairs.”

Parker went to search upstairs. Leena & Millie watched TV. It was grey outside still raining. It's been raining since this madness first started. I wonder why. Why did all of this have to happen? And to us. I never would have believed in the supernatural if it weren’t for this. I just shut my eyes hoping this will all go away. Hoping that my mom is safe. And hoping my friends are too. We waited for Parker, but he still didn’t come down. It was about 10 minutes. We waited for 5 more. He still wasn't downstairs. Maybe he was still looking for the wheelchair. It probably wasn’t in the closet.

“Hey, Luna.”

I looked Leena’s way.

“Yeah?”

“Millie and I are gonna go check up on Parker. He’s been up there for a while.”

“Ok. Don’t take too long.”

“Don't worry we won’t.”

I watched as Leena and Millie headed upstairs to look for Parker. I waited for them for 5 minutes. They weren’t down either. Crash! What was that? I heard a loud crash and some muffled screams. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t go see. My legs wouldn’t move and I was really tired. I looked for a phone so I could call Aaron. I found Millie’s, but it was too far for me to reach. I wasn’t gonna sit here and wait for help. I was going to get it. I took my legs and threw them to the floor. I slowly laid myself on the ground and started to crawl to the phone. I was almost there. I was about a foot away from the phone when I heard keys jingle in the doorknob. The door swung open and Aaron, Anaya, and Jude walk in with about 15 bags of food. Where’d they go, to an all you can eat buffet? Aaron saw me on the floor.

“Luna? Why are you on the floor?  Are you ok?”

“Please don’t worry about me. I think Parker, Leena, and Millie are in danger. My legs wouldn’t move, so I told them about how my mom might have a wheelchair around here somewhere. Parker went upstairs to look, but he was gone for a long time, so Leena & Millie went to go check on him. They were taking too long too. I waited for them a little longer and that’s when I heard a loud crash and muffled screams. I was on the floor because I was trying to get to Millie’s phone so I could call you, but luckily you came in early.”

“Oh my god! Are you seriously ok?”

“Yes! I’m fine. Just go check on them, please. Be careful!”

“Don’t you remember I took karate with you?”, Aaron said with a slight grin on his face. That made me smile just a bit. Anaya and Jude helped me back onto the couch and we watched as Aaron ran upstairs. I could only hope for the best. Bang! There were more crashes and screams. Nobody knew what was going on. I wish that I’d known myself. But I didn’t. Aaron came back downstairs. Me, Anaya, & Jude all had looks of relief on our faces. 

“Where’s everybody else?”

“I think they're in the bathroom. The door locked so I can’t get in. And I can’t knock it down because of my injuries.”

“Heh, I’m still sorry about that.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it Jude. You were only doing what you thought was right. Plus you saved my friend’s life. I couldn’t thank you enough.” Aaron said that he looked at me with an endearing look.

“I’ll try and knock the door down. Jude, do you mind helping me? ‘Cause ya know I’m just a waitress and I can’t knock down doors on my own.”

“Sure I don’t mind.”

Anaya and Jude ran upstairs. Aaron stayed down with me. I managed to turn my body around on the couch just enough so that I could see them from downstairs. I watched as shadowy figures moved in the dark. Hearing occasional screams and sometimes even loud bangs. The whole encounter lasted for about 5 minutes. Every time I heard something either me Anaya or Jude wanted to go up there, but we knew we had to stay down here. Plus I couldn’t move even if I wanted too. Finally, after what felt like forever Everyone came down, including someone I didn’t recognize. There was a guy with eyes dark enough you could see them from anywhere, but in the light, they look like a mix of green and hazel. He had hair that went to the bottom of his neck, it was dark brown. His most noticeable feature was his eyebrows. They were so dark and bushy you’d think a squirrel was on his face. Then I saw someone else behind him. It was a girl. They both looked the same age. The girl almost had the same features as the guy, except her skin was tan and he was pale. She had luscious dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

“Who are they?”

“Come on tell them what you told us.”

“Tell us what?”

“My name is Drew and this is Isela, and....” His voice trailed off.

“And?”

“And we were sent here to kill you.”

“You what?! Why on earth were you sent here to kill us?!”

“Umm actually-”

“Actually what?!”

“We were sent to kill you specifically.”

“Oh my god! I could’ve died! I’m calling the police.”

“No, wait!”

“Excuse me? You almost killed me. Why on earth wouldn’t I call the police?”

“Just let me explain, please.”

I looked at everyone. Even though only half of everyone encountered these two people all of us were still shocked. I asked everyone if I should let Drew explain. They agreed that I should.

“Alright. You’ve got 5 minutes.”

“Ok, where do I start. I mean it’s not that easy explaining to someone why you were sent to kill them.”

“4 minutes.”

“Ok ok! We were sent from a website called “Kill n Kash.”

“What's that?”

“Kill n Kash is a website where people are basically bounty hunters. The website calls the people who sign up for Kill n Kash or the bounty hunters: Bounters. Which is bounty and hunter mixed together, which sounds kinda dumb? When you sign up for Kill n Kash you can have the option of killing people or just roughin em up. Both options get you paid. If you choose to kill people you make more money. Kill n Kash only makes people go after really bad people like traffickers, d**g dealers, rapists all that stuff. If you choose the option to kill the website assigns you a partner, completely random. That’s how me and Isela met. Just like our partners, we don’t get to choose our bounties, so it’s completely random.”

“Wow, so you guys are like hitmen?”

“Umm actually hitman & hitwoman,” Isela said.

“Very funny, but I’m still calling the police. Can someone hand me a phone?”

“Millie picked up her phone from the ground and handed it to me. For some reason, they didn’t look scared or worried at all. It’s like they knew they were gonna get out of this somehow. I dialed 911.

“Dang it the lines dead. How are we gonna call for help, we can’t just let them go.”

Aaron’s eyes lit up. “What if we keep them?”

“You mean like pets?”

“No, just keep them in the basement or something and just interrogate them. We can get Parker to hack the website and find out who wanted you dead.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea, but since it was your idea you’re gonna have to watch them.”

“Deal.”

“Wait a second,” Everyone turned their eyes towards me, even Drew and Isela.

“You guys said that you only go after bad people who are like d**g dealers right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what makes you think that a 14-year-old girl with prosthetic legs can do something like that?”

“That’s actually an interesting question.”

Leena jumped into the conversation. “Maybe this person wanted you dead for a personal reason. Which means that we now know that they know you, but who?”

“Let’s just figure this out tomorrow, I’m really tired. Oh, wait, Parker, did you find that wheelchair?”

“I actually did, before I got interrupted. Hang on, I’ll be right back.”

Parker headed upstairs into my mom’s room to get the wheelchair. Then, Aaron guided Drew and Isela to the basement.  I was still on the couch. I guess everyone else noticed because Jude and Millie helped me up from the couch as Parker came downstairs with the wheelchair. They carefully put me in the wheelchair.

“Oh, wait I can’t get upstairs, and after what just happened, I don’t want to be in an open area on the living room.”

“Oh right,” Millie said.

“We could go into Noah’s room since he’s obviously not here.”

“Ah, I don’t know. Being in a guy's room makes me feel a little uncomfortable.”

“Just come on Leena.”

“Ugh, fine.”

“We headed to Noah’s room. It was only for the night, hopefully. 

Everyone was asleep and it was quiet. It had never been that quiet in my house before. I mean just imagine being surrounded by people 24/7. I still wondered if my mom was ok. I wondered, would she ever come home?

It was the next morning and everyone was still asleep. My legs were still numb and I couldn’t move them. Luckily I was still in the wheelchair. I quietly rolled out of the room and into the hallway. I went by the front door and looked out the window to see if my mom’s car was there. It wasn’t. It had been a week and she still hadn’t come back. Maybe she was dead. God, I shouldn’t even be thinking about this. For now, I just hope that she’s ok. The sky was still gray. The clouds were still green. And I was still lost. What happened? How did this happen? There should be no such things as zombies or zombie apocalypses. As much as I was still confused about all of this my only choice is to believe in this. Nothing makes sense anymore. I heard a door open and close, it was Aaron.

“Hey, how are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.”

He looked at me like he didn’t believe me. Honestly, I couldn’t even believe myself.

“You’re not ok, Luna. I know that face, and I know you.”

“I don’t know, everything’s just so confused right now. Where did it all go wrong? We were just chilling in a restaurant and all this had to happen. It’s like the universe wanted this to happen. I’m just glad that no one’s died yet.”

“Umm people have died.”

“I know that dummy. You think that people who are literally tearing each other apart would still be alive by now?”

“Heh, I’ll never understand your comebacks. Hey, can we talk about what happened before all of this madness?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you said you liked me. Remember?”

“Aaron, I don’t think now’s a good time to be talking about us right now.”

“Ah, so we’re an us now, huh?”

“God I hate you. The only reason why I said I liked you in the first place was to help Parker.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure really. He was acting really weird when we asked him about his lady friend and everyone was waiting for him to say something, so I stepped up to the plate and told my secret.”

“Well, that’s probably that last thing we have to worry about now.”

“Yeah true.”

“Luna, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“It’s just, my mom she hasn’t come back yet and it’s been a week. I mean come where the hell could she be? There’s no way she’s been missing for a week and wouldn’t be dead. There’s just so much going on I mean someone almost just killed me, I can’t walk, and Millie-.”

Oh no. I just realized what I was about to say and luckily caught myself. But Aaron was listening which means he’s gonna ask questions now, god what have I done?

“And Millie what?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Luna, what about Millie?!”

“It’s seriously nothing. You don’t have anything to worry about Aaron.”

“You’re talking about my friend. Something could be going on with her and I don’t know what it is. Luna, this isn’t funny. What’s wrong with Millie?”

“Fine! I give up. You wanna know?!”

“Yes.”

“You have to promise that you won’t tell anyone Aaron or so help me I will get myself out of this chair and strangle you from behind.

“Geez. Just tell me.”

I explained to Aaron about everything. I told him about the threats, how Millie’s mom was falsely accused of being the reason for someone else’s mistake just because she used to date my dad, and I told him about Millie cutting herself.

“Wow.”

“That’s all you have to say.”

“I just don’t understand. Why wouldn’t she tell me, or anyone else? I mean I get why she told you, but now it feels like she doesn’t trust me.”

“Don’t think like that Aaron of course she trusts you. She just didn’t want you or anyone else to be worried about her. She told me not because she trusts me, but because she knows I’ll understand. We both share the need for a dad, but never got one. She’s just going through a lot so cut her some slack, Aaron.”

“Are you kidding me? Cut her some slack? The one thing she had to do was to tell me what she was going through and she can’t even do that.”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“Why aren’t you?”

“I’m going to go talk to her.”

“Aaron no please don’t you don’t understand!”

“No, I do understand. I understand that you’re embarrassed by me and that Millie can’t trust me. So, yeah I do understand. And I’m done. I’m going to talk to her, ok?”

I couldn’t think of anything else to stop him, so I did the only thing I could do. I rolled over to him, grabbed his arm, pulled him down and I kissed him.

I don’t know how or why, but I felt like I was floating. The kiss was only meant to be a distraction, but it escalated. He kneeled down and kissed me back. We were kissing for about 10 seconds until we realized what we were doing. He looked at me as he slowly pulled away from me. We stared at each other not knowing what to do. Aaron stood up.

“What was that, Luna?”

“Nothing. You know what, I’m just gonna come with you. I’m sure Millie won’t be that upset that I told only one person.”

We headed for Noah’s room to tell Millie that Aaron knew. I wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, I was relieved. I’m glad that someone else knew and not just me. And for some strange reason, I don’t regret kissing Aaron.  Aaron got in front of me to open that door for me. 

“Millie?”, Aaron said.

I saw Leena, Jude, & Anaya, but no Millie. Maybe she went to use the bathroom. Everyone was still asleep, so I quietly rolled out of the room.

“Aaron you check upstairs and I’ll check down here,” I said.

“Got it,” he said.

“Oh also can you not tell anyone about.…  You know.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Very funny.”

I rolled all around the house downstairs calling for Millie’s name but there was no answer. I was getting worried now. Maybe she went to go look for help, but why now? First, my mom’s been missing for a week, and now this. I checked downstairs about three times and I still didn’t find her. I saw Aaron come downstairs. I could already tell from the look on his face that he didn’t find her. I don’t know how I didn’t notice that she was missing this morning. I guess I was moving so fast that I didn’t pay attention. How could I let this happen? Where did she go?

“I’m guessing you didn’t find her either huh?”, Aaron said in a melancholy voice.

“No.” 

“I’m gonna go tell the girls, you go and tell Parker. This just turned into a search party.”

I went back to Noah’s room to tell everyone about Millie, but they were already awake. I guess they heard me and Aaron yelling and scrambling around the house looking for Millie.

“Guys, have you seen Millie?”

“No why?”, Leena said.

“I might as well tell you guys what I told Aaron.”

So I did. At first, they were a bit confused, but when I went into detail they finally understood. Their facial expression turned from confused and worried to being depressed. You could tell that they had no idea about Millie from the gasps they made.

“So you’re telling me that Millie’s been getting threats for 6 months now all because her mom dated your dad and they have the same name, so she started cutting herself. And now she’s missing?!”, Leena yelled.

“Yes, that’s actually exactly what I said. Look I know you’re all in shock, but just try and put your emotions aside. We have to find Millie. She needs us. Since I can’t go anywhere I’ll stay here with the Kill n Kash people and see if Millie comes home.”

“What? Are you crazy?! You can’t stay here with those people who tried to kill you. Why don’t you stay here with Aaron instead? He’s pretty strong and I’m sure he can protect you. I mean he did break your door down when you passed out.”, Jude said.

“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Things have just been awkward since the whole, me liking him thing.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t because you two were making out.”

“Wait what? How did you find out, Jude?!”

“I was going to the bathroom when I saw you guys smashing your faces. I wanted to give you some privacy so I went back into the room and pretended to be asleep.”

“You and Aaron kissed?!”, Leena yelled from the top of her lungs. 

“Jude!”

“Heh, sorry.”

I saw Aaron burst in the door with Parker. Oh no, I thought. He must’ve heard all the commotion. Now he’ll think that I told everyone that we kissed. 

"LUNA!!!"

"Huh...?"

"LUNA!!!"  

"Oh thank goodness. My baby's awake."  

"What? What's going on?"

"You were in a coma from the car accident that you and your dad were in. Thank god your both still alive."

"Wait so it was all a dream?"

"What was?"

"N-nothing. Do I still have my legs?"

I lifted up my hospital blanket. OH MY GOD!

"Luna I was just about to tell you about that."

"I -I don't understand. How long was I out for?"

"Just about 7 hours."

My dream must've turned each hour into a day.

"Are my friends still here? And Liam & Noah too?"

"Which friends are you talking about?"

"Leena, Parker, Aaron and Millie."

"Oh they're all here, they just went down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. And Liam's with your dad."

Thank god. I thought they were made up from my dream. I guess my brain just made everything else up. Well, guess it's time to see what I've missed...

I'm really tired. Right now this story is just a rough draft. There's gonna be lots of editing and changes throughout the months, but for now, I'm done...