Confessions of a Teenage Zombie

The walk back to Alex's was silent. I felt like Alex was waiting for me to start the conversation, but I really didn't know what to talk about. I realized I could check my own phone number on my cell phone a few days ago, but that seemed like a stupid conversation. He probably already thinks I'm not all here anyway; no reason to make him think of that more.

"So do your parents know you got suspended?" I asked. Alex shook his head. "Yeah, I guess it's not something you'd want to tell them on the phone. I mean, hell, I didn't want to tell my parents I dropped out of school. I still haven't told them."

"So what do you say when they ask how college is going?" Alex inquired, looking at me. I laughed and reached my arm out, gesturing for Alex to hand me the bag of groceries. He handed it to me.

"I say it's going fine, and then quickly change the subject. They haven't noticed the pattern yet, thank goodness. Don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up, though." I breathed in deeply. I could keep the story going forever, technically, since they're dead. Although that made me wonder about things.

Like, why was I the only one who became undead? Also, how did Art just know to find me? I guess he did seem to have a sixth sense for that kind of thing. But why couldn't my parents be zombies too? I guess it would be kind of weird to have that happen, though. Although it sounded like a good idea for an indie movie.

"I'd never be able to keep that kind of thing to myself for too long," Alex said. "They have some kind of sixth sense, and they know when I'm hiding stuff. Kind of creepy. You think they can read my mind?"

"I really doubt it, kiddo." I laughed, because that was a stupidly cute question. "They can probably tell by looking at you. You get tense and awkward when you're keeping things to yourself; things you think you should tell someone."

"Do I really?" Alex asked. I nodded my head. "I had no idea. That's good to know, though. I was starting to get paranoid. I wouldn't like it if someone read my mind; I wouldn't want anyone knowing what I was thinking at all times."

"Me neither." Oh how true that was. Mainly because no one would want to hear me freaking out about every little thing under the sun. It's like ever since I became a zombie, I've gotten extremely self-conscious.

I sighed and turned; we were at Alex's house. I never really took it in before. It was a cute little house; white with a black roof. Two wicker chairs and a wicker table sat on the porch. I looked over my shoulder, seeing a white picket fence.

This was probably going to be one of those houses where everything was spotless, and there was a place for everything.

We went inside. There was, in fact, a place for everything. It was spotless. Man, it was the kind of place my parents dreamed of having. Too bad me and my brothers would always make such a mess.

"This place is immaculate!" I exclaimed. Alex nodded his head and led me into the kitchen. Black and white granite tiles made up the floor, and the walls were a beige color. I was too busy gaping to unpack, so Alex did it for me. "Dude, you loaded?"

"Nah." He put away a thing of milk and looked around the room. "My uncle knows some people, so he paid for the kitchen for my mom's birthday last year."

"It's so clean," I mumbled as Alex took my arm and led me out of the kitchen. I was probably staring and drooling, or something like that. Either that, or I was looking creepy. He brought me upstairs, and into his room.

His room was a little different. The walls were all yellow, save for one wall over his bed. It was all black, save for some yellow paint painted upwards until it got to the ceiling, where it looked like the Batman signal was painted.

"Dude, that is so awesome!" I shrieked. Alex laughed and let go of my arm. I looked all around, wondering what other cool things this guy had. I walked over to his bookcase. He mostly had Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings books.

I also found a book about the zombie apocolypse.

"So you think there's going to be zombies running around at the end of the world, dear?" I inquired, looking at Alex. He turned to me.

"What?" He asked. I pointed to the book. He came over to me and looked at it. "Oh. Marshall gave me that like, four months ago. It was an interesting book, but I don't really think zombies actually roam around."

"Yeah. They're probably just made up to scare children or something. How stupid!" I started laughing maniacally. I coughed and stopped laughing when Alex arched an eyebrow. "Sorry."

"You've been kind of weird lately," Alex stated. I knew it was only a matter of time before he mentioned something. The fact that it took this long was surprising, although it was Alex. He barely says boo about anyone. "Everything okay?"

"I've just had a lot on my mind." I scratched the back of my head. "My friend Art and his boyfriend were in a fight a few days back, and while Art told me they were going to talk, I just don't know how it'll turn out."

"Oh." Alex frowned. "What happened?"

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to talk about," I stated. "Anyway, I've been thinking about my life, too. I'm not doing anything with it, really."

It was mostly true. What the hell was I doing? Being a zombie wasn't grand, but it was almost a second shot at life. I was doing nothing, though, and there were no guides on what to do. I mean, I'd never seen any zombie support groups.

Besides Alex and Brent, there was almost no reason to even leave the house. I wondered why I usually even bothered anymore.