We’re All Mad Here
The next few weeks passed in a blur. I no longer hung with the slayers, and I wasn’t willing to patrol the streets on my own. So, I got a part-time job at the coffeehouse down the street, determined to make as much money as I could before I... Well. I worked Wednesday through Sunday, from five to ten. I walked there and back, and had yet to come across a zombie. My coworkers were nice—at first—but my distant attitude eventually got to them, and they soon stopped trying to be my friend.
Thanksgiving came and went, and I realized I was all out of to-do lists. I was living one minute at a time.
Nana tried to draw me out of my “protective shell,” bless her heart, but I was too firmly entrenched. Besides, I hated the holiday. Emma visited for half an hour, but Mom, Dad and Pops didn’t, couldn’t, and celebrating without them sucked.
School started up just a few days after the “illness” hit. No one else had gotten sick, and doctors were still baffled. I wondered if the slain had turned into zombies. I wondered if the slayers had had to kill people they knew.
I wondered—but I never asked.
Reeve avoided me as if I’d contracted social leprosy, and though it was for the best—what I wanted, needed—it wounded me.
The slayers kept their distance, as well. Frosty especially. He couldn’t get over what I’d done to Cole, and now he and Kat were at war because she refused to end our friendship.
For her safety, I confessed my problems to her, explained Frosty was simply concerned for her well-being, and that she would be better off listening to him and staying away from me, and for the first time in our acquaintance, she got mad at me.
“You’re my friend,” she said. “That means something to me.”
“Yes, but why do you like me?” I asked. “I’m nothing special.”
“Nothing special? Everyone makes fun of love at first sight, but, Ali, that’s what I felt for you. Love, not like. You’re the sister I never had, but always wanted. The day we met, when I walked into your hospital room, I saw a scared, pale girl with the most haunted eyes. You’d lost everyone, and I understood. I had to bury my mom, my world, too. So, why don’t you do me a favor and think about why you love me—or if you do?”
“I don’t have to think. I love your loyalty, your sense of humor, your smile, your courage, your total acceptance of me, your support, your dedication, your positivity, your...everything.”
She laughed and hugged me, and then she said ten little words I couldn’t get out of my head. “Good. Now, what are you going to do about Cole?”
Cole...
Oh, that boy. What was I going to do with him? He’d come to my house a few times, and he’d come bearing gifts. A stuffed alligator. Dinner from my favorite hamburger joint located nearly an hour away. A protective cover for my great-great-great-grandfather’s journal.
What the heck did he think he was doing?
I doubted even he knew.
Each time, he’d thrust the gifts at me, almost angrily, before stomping away.
Gavin had come over twice, but I hadn’t opened the door. He’d want to talk about our vision, and I wasn’t sure what to say to him.
I’d poured a Blood Line around the new house. I’d also turned the garage into a gym, using the treadmill and wrestling matt Nana had bought at a thrift store. The stronger I kept my human side, the longer I’d live. At least, that was my hope.
I hadn’t heard any more whispers, thank God, but I also hadn’t had the courage to look at my reflection. I’d tried to call Dr. Bendari, using the new number on my caller ID. Unavailable yet again, I inwardly cursed.
“—paying any attention to me?” Kat asked.