I saw Stephen coming across the cemetery, heading my way. I wiped the blood away from my mouth as best I could. Most of it ending up on my sleeve. I was going to go hug him. “I remember,” I said to him as we drew closer together. His speed fell to a slow crawl as mine picked up. “I’m so glad you were okay.” He was looking at me, it was not a kind look. He was, mad, or maybe afraid. “Stephen?”
“What have you done?” He asked me, taking in the blood that was soaking into my shirt. I had to fight the urge to suck the rest of those delicious drops from my sleeve.
“I... he... oh!” Realization truly dawned on me in that moment. There were no heaven-sent droplets of magic pennies that brought my thoughts rushing back. It was blood, and flesh. I had eaten that man. “Stephen, what have I become?” Stephen didn’t answer, nor did he come any closer to me. I sunk down to my knees at the edge of the tree line while Stephen stood over by the white headstones. “He was attacking me. He grabbed me from behind and tried to kiss me. I thought he was biting me, so I bit back.” Everything that had just taken place came babbling out of my mouth. Stephen just stood, looking from me to the lump of the man behind me in the trees.
“I didn’t know.” I looked up at Stephen, hoping he would see the truth in my eyes. “I didn’t understand.”
“Seraphine will be here soon. We’ll figure everything out.”
“Seraphine.” With her name on my tongue I knew I would do whatever she asked of me, but I wasn’t sure it would be what I wanted. Now that I could think clearly again I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be put back in the ground. I wasn’t ready to die. At least, no more ready than I was when I died the first time. Even with my new-found clarity I was still confused. I watched as Seraphine walked up with a couple bags in tow. I didn’t want to be put back in the ground. The thought of being buried in the earth sent shivers down my spine. I watched as Stephen spoke to Seraphine, sometimes emphatically, swinging his arms this way and that. I wanted to laugh, because that looked more like the Stephen I knew in life. He was always so dramatic and lately he just seemed too serious. They were discussing what I had done. I could tell by the look of terror that flew across Seraphine’s face before she could get it in check. She looked at me and in that moment I knew I would do whatever it took to make her happy. I felt terrible that I had disappointed her. At the same time, I couldn’t understand why I felt that way. I watched as Seraphine walked over to a newer looking headstone and felt sure that must be mine. Part of me wanted to see it, and the other part didn’t. To see it would make it real. It would mean I really was this dead, dirty, vile creature who just ate a human being. A nasty smelling bum, at that.
***
The Dead Keep on Dying
“How did she manage to eat a person with you right here?” I was beyond pissed. I couldn’t believe what had happened. Worse yet, I couldn’t think about the fact that inevitably it was my fault. I was responsible for that man being dead. I knew I was taking my own guilt out on Stephen, and yet I couldn’t help myself.
“I went to look for you. I thought, I thought she was dying. I mean, her toe fell off and she just looked at it and stuck it in her pocket like a piece of gum she planned on chewing later.” He looked as if he might be sick. Stephen was now a very unnatural shade of pale and flailing his hands around as he spoke, “I mean, how was I to know that the girl who couldn’t think straight and was examining her own detached toe was going to be accosted by a bum and then eat him?” He shook a little, his whole form shook, in an almost ripple effect.
I thought for a minute that maybe I was going a little crazy too. It had been a long, trying day on top of a sleepless night. I was tired, my eyes were tired, and somehow I had to manage to pull a ton of magic from the ether and get this girl back in the ground. I looked back at her now, sitting at the edge of the trees. I felt my own eyes growing wider as I noticed the lumpy form slouched down on the ground a few feet behind her. I knew what it was and I swallowed hard. "This is all my fault." I said it out loud without a thought, but it stopped Stephen cold in his rambling tracks.
"You didn't know." He said. He looked sad as he spoke, but I could tell he was also trying to reassure me.
"I should have known." I shook my head and walked over to Adrianna's grave site. "I should have been more prepared. Instead I was dabbling in things I had no business touching. I didn't know they could think. I didn't know they came out just like the person. My Auntie Perrine never told me. She should have told me."
I was falling to pieces inside. The guilt of having to kill Adrianna all over again was beginning to tear at me, but what could I do? I couldn't turn her loose on the world. She wanted to eat people like I wanted a chicken strip wrap from McDonalds. She did eat a person already and that death would fall squarely on my shoulders. Stephen knelt down in front of me and gave me a little smile that said everything from 'I understand' to 'I'll help you.' I knew I wasn't alone in that moment. I knew that I finally had someone here in this place that, for months, I had considered hell on earth. I had him. We had this, whatever it was. This crazy, zombie raising debacle in which his best friend just ate a bum.
The thought of happily ever after left me just as quickly as it arrived. Why would he ever stick around and be my friend after this? I'm sure he'd rather forget what happened than continue talking to the freak girl that brought his best friend back from the dead to eat bums. I sighed and he stood up.
"I'm going to go get Adrianna now. I don't think we should leave her sitting so far away."
"You didn't want me to put her back earlier. Have you changed your mind now?"
"I have to, don't I? I mean, you saw what she did over there. What if the next time it was her mom, or someone else. What if next time, it was you?"
I had not even thought about that. Here I had been driving around with a zombie in the back seat of my car, not even thinking of the dangers. I had been beyond stupid in all of this. My Voodoo days were done once Adrianna was back in the ground. I nodded my head at Stephen and he turned to go get Adrianna. It was getting late already, the sun had already begun setting. I pulled the pewter bowl out of the bag and sat it down in the same place I had put an identical one the other day. I took out all the rest of the supplies that I would need. Last, but not least I took out the salt for the circle.
Stephen and Adrianna walked up behind me. I quickly peered over my shoulder at them. "I'm ready."
"I don't want to." She whispered it, almost too low to be heard, but I did hear it. I also ignored it. I couldn't listen to her pleas right now. I had to tune them out. I thought of the dead man in the trees. That helped.
"I need you to stand on your grave Adrianna."
"I don't want to." She was louder this time, but she was moving to stand on the grave as I had instructed.
"I'm sorry." It was my turn to whisper. "I'm sorry I did this to you." She looked at me with blood still staining her mouth and I had to hold back the tears that threatened to spill free of my eyes. Instead of letting go and crumpling in on myself, I turned to Stephen. "I need to make the circle now, you may want to come in here closer to me."
"No!" He said it so quickly, like he was afraid of what I would do to him. "I mean, I think it will be better if I stay out here and keep watch. You don't need any distractions in there with you. Besides, what will happen with one more person in the circle? Do you know?"
I didn't know. He had a very valid point. "Okay, well okay." I didn't know what to say. Did I tell him to be quiet, to be careful? I didn't know. So, I just left it at that. I turned back to my duties and started building the circle around the grave site. Once I was finished I set everything up just as I had the other night. The ground beneath our feet rumbled once, loosening to make an easier exit for the zombie that should be beneath our feet already. This is where things would be different. This is where I would lay Adrianna back down to rest in her grave.
"I'm scared." She whispered it again. I realized now that she had been whispering the same two word
s throughout the whole first part of the ceremony. "What if I don't die again?" "What if I go to hell now that I killed that bum?"
These were things I didn't want to think about. "Shhh," I wanted to try to calm her. "It'll be okay. Your body will be there in the ground, but it is only a shell. The part of you that thinks and feels will go back to where ever it was called from."
She nodded her head and began to move. A moment of panic set in as I thought she was about to bolt out of my circle again, but then I realized she was just squatting down. No, not squatting down. She laid down on top off her grave.
"I think it might be easier if I am already laying down."
I nodded at her again and then she was looking up at the sky. I turned my attention back to the task at hand and found the words that I never got to chant the other night. The ones that would send her back into the ground, and what ever part of her that allowed for thought back to where it had come from. As I finished the last words, I felt the ground tremble beneath my feet again. This time, instead of hands coming clawing out of the ground, it was as if the ground was opening up to welcome back what I had taken. Adrianna's eyes were closed now. She was slowly sinking into the ground and the earth was filling in the space above her. When everything stopped shifting and settled down again I set the contents of the bowel on fire. In a matter of minutes the flame died out and ashes were left behind in it's wake. I poured the ashes on top of Adrianna's grave, reciting the words that would seal it from any further magical uses. When I was done, I packed up the rest of my supplies and broke the protective circle. Stephen was standing there waiting for me with his hands in his pockets.
"She's really gone now?" He looked sad and relieved all at once.
"Yeah, I think she is."
"What about the body? Should we call someone about the bum or let the police discover him on their own?"
We walked back over toward the tree line to get a better view, but I think the lack of light in the night was affecting our barrings because the body wasn't where we thought it was. "Where is it?"
"I don't know, he was right here. Look," Stephen bent down and pointed to the puddle of congealing blood in the leaves. "This is where he was."
"Oh, no!" I whispered. "Oh, no!" This time it came out louder, riding the edge of panic in my voice.
"Seraphine?" Stephen was trying to get my attention and finally he managed. "Can a zombie make another zombie?"
"I don't know, but we need to find that bum!"
***
The VooDoo Follies
Part Two: The Infection
Original Publication Date:
Aug. 9, 2011
I am Seraphine LaLande, and I have a zombie to find and put to rest. The only problem is I have no clue where the dead bum took off to. Finding him is not proving as easy as I had hoped and to make matters worse, I am grounded for having a boy in my bedroom!
Stephen was my only hope for tracking down this zombie, but now I wonder if the price we had to pay was worth it. The secret Stephen revealed to me, well let's just say, it's hard to know how I feel now!
***
The Missing Piece
"Oh, Stephen, what are we going to do?" I looked at the sandy-haired boy standing beside me, hoping he wouldn't simply ditch out on me now that his best friend was dead again. What in the world was I supposed to do about a zombie bum running around the streets of Baltimore?
"We could try following his stench. Adrianna was rambling about him smelling like pee when she told me what happened." Stephen shrugged and looked back at me.
"Great, do you smell anything?"
Stephen shook his head at me, "no, you?"
I inhaled so deeply I thought my lungs would strike back, and sadly that intake of breath didn't yield anything beyond the decaying fall leaves and dirt. "Okay, you go that way, I'll go this way, we'll circle through the trees and out the other side by the rec center. Maybe, he's just wounded and crawled off. Maybe, it's not as bad as it looks." Maybe, I would tell myself three more lies, but before I could spit them out Stephen was gone to scour his own area and I turned to do the same.
Twenty minutes later we both met up by the rec center, neither of us having found our zombie-bum. I was beyond tired. It suddenly seemed like ages ago that I had performed the ceremony that would send Adrianna back into her grave. It hit me then that it had been mere hours since I had done so. I glanced up to the sky regarding the moon and the few vague stars that managed to shine through the city's light pollution. I missed home. I missed the comfort of the stars shining on me at night, the sound of bugs chirruping instead of car horns blaring, and most of all I missed those warm southern nights with the dense, humid air that captured the local scents of magnolia trees and sweet bays in bloom allowing their fragrance to linger longer than it should have. Beyond that, I missed having my Auntie Perrine there to help me along when I screwed up. If we still lived in New Orleans none of this would have happened.
I was suddenly looking up into Stephen's eyes. They were an odd mix of blue and gray, but I honestly wasn’t able to see them enough to figure the coloring out, because that sandy brown hair of his kept falling flat across his face, hiding his eyes from my view. If I hadn't been here I never would have met Stephen. I hadn't known him long, but he was definitely leaving a lasting impression on me. In that moment, I wasn’t sure if I would give Stephen up for all those things that I missed about New Orleans. I did know that I had no time to sit here and think about things I couldn’t change. I had to get some rest and I had to find that zombie-bum before he wreaked havoc on the city.
"Come on," I told Stephen while motioning towards my car, "let's go to my house and try to come up with a plan. I need some food and to just sit down for a minute." As soon as I thought about how tired I was again my body decided it wasn't enough and made me feel ten times worse. I slogged my way back to my car, feeling Stephen’s eyes on me the entire way.
“Are you okay?” He sounded genuinely worried and yet there was no trace of the exhaustion that was so evident in my own body in his. He seemed fresh and ready to go. That made me feel just a little bit worse than before.
“Yeah, just tired.” I sighed out loud, “performing that ritual must have worn me out more than I thought it would.” I opened the car door for him, since I was on that side and my electronic locks had stopped working a few weeks ago. He got in and I shut the door, heading for the driver’s side. Once I was behind the wheel I had to fight myself to stay awake long enough to get us back to my house.
I wasn't sure how my mom and new step-dad would react to me bringing a boy home, but I knew that Stephen and I needed some time to come up with a plan. I figured that we would just march right into the house and if nothing was said we would go to my room and work out the details of how to find my zombie-bum. We did just that. I walked in the door first with Stephen trailing behind me. I hadn't seen my mom's car outside, but Roger was sitting in the living room and looked up, waving at us as we walked in. I whispered to Stephen, "this is easier than I thought. Be thankful my mom wasn't here to see you walking in. Roger is apparently still trying to get on my good side."
Stephen gave me a knowing nod and said nothing else until we got to my room. I watched as he looked around, the surprise showing on his face. "What?" I asked him, suddenly defensive of my bedroom.
"Well," he started to say, then lowered his eyes from me, "I just thought your room would be, I don’t know, different some how."
I looked around my room wondering what he meant by that. I think he noticed my puzzled expression because he started to explain himself further. "You know, there's a lot of pink in here for a girl who goes around raising zombies in graveyards."
"I don't go around raising zombies, okay, well just the one time." At his arched eyebrow look I amended my statement, "well, you can't really count the second, because technically Adrianna created him, not me. And just because I come from a long line of voodoo practitioners doesn't mean that I can't have taste. You kno
w we don't all hunker down in some dark, back alley looking recess." I was a little offended by his statement and it showed in my tone. Although, now that I thought about it, Auntie Perrine's shop was quite literally located in a seedier part of town with a side alley entrance.
"Sorry," he apologized to me as he walked over to my dresser and looked at the various things I had spilled across its top.
"It's okay, I guess I would have thought the same thing after what we went through. Sorry, I snapped. We need to figure out what to do about this zombie-bum problem though. I mean, I need to figure it out, but I sure could use the help." I watched as he smiled up at me and I wondered how Adrianna had ever been this boy's friend and nothing more. More importantly, I wondered how I never noticed him in French class. 'Mental note,' I thought to myself, 'pay closer attention to classmates.'
"About that," he was saying before I realized he was speaking, "I was thinking. Where do bums usually hang out? I mean, this bum probably had a place to go somewhere nearby. Maybe he went back there?" He shrugged his shoulders, "sorry, probably a bad idea."
"No!" I think I might have yelped the word, my excitement was getting the better of me. "I mean, I think you may be right. The first thing Adrianna did was go back home, like she was on auto pilot right? So, maybe the bum went somewhere familiar to him too." There was that smile again. Once more, it was aimed at me and I felt my knees growing weak at the thought, so I sat down on the edge of my bed, sinking into my fluffy pink comforter. "I'm gonna call my Auntie Perrine and let her know what's going on. She may have some ideas too."
"Auntie, I need to know something. When I find the zombie-bum will I be able to control it like I did with Adrianna? I just don't know how else I will be able to get it to hallowed ground." Her answer wasn't exactly the reassurance I was looking for. For once, she didn't seem to know much more than I did. If the situation wasn't so serious I would revel in the fact that I was setting the bar so high. I shrugged so Stephen would know that my aunt didn't have the answers either. "Auntie, we're going to get some rest and go check out some places where the bums normally hang out. I think that maybe we will have better luck..."
VooDoo Follies Page 3
