"Why would any of the stars care about what I wish for?" she asked her mother. "The sun is a star and all it seems to care about, is being on fire."
"I think it's more about sending your wishes to the universe. But you're right, it doesn't make any sense, at least not any sense that we know about."
"Then why do we do it?"
"Gives people hope," said her mother, picking up several stuffed animals and putting them onto a chair. "You know as well as I do, that we need hope."
"But none of those things are real."
"Nothing is real, Sweetie," sighed her mother. "Can I do anything to make you feel better?"
"I feel okay, it's just that a lot of things are stupid."
"There's no reason for most thing. I agree. We just make everything up so we don't jump off a cliff," she laughed. "You get to make up your own life, sort of. And you have to break the rules and live a way that makes you happy."
"What is happy? Are you happy?"
"Most of the time. It think it's hard to be happy all of the time, especially right now. I guess it depends on what makes you happy."
"What makes you happy, mom?"
"You make me happy, the cats, writing, reading, things that surprise me, the city, chocolate. Lots of things. How about you?"
"Not sure."
"Surely you can think of something."
"Um, the cats, the trees, flowers, nice people, my friends, my new boots."
"That's a lot of things."
"I guess it is. It's just that the zombies make me so mad. I wished upon a star for them to go away, but they're still here."
"I know, Baby. The Z Fighters are doing their best."
"The vampires are great, compared to the zombies."
"They are," said her mother. "They're strong, fast and there are a lot of them. The good news is that they're working with the Z Fighters. Together they may be able to eliminate the zombies."
"My math teacher was killed last week. He went to the drugstore to get medicine for his wife and they got him in the parking lot."
"I'm sorry."
"We spent the whole period talking about him. Mr. Melvin was a nice guy. Everyone liked him. Stupid zombies."
"Our side is winning the war against them, but it takes time. During that time, lives are lost."
"Why can we invent a virus, or something, that will stop them?"
"It's hard to find something that will work on those who are already dead, Sweetie. You should close the window and put the bars up. It's late and you know how fast they can climb."
She got up and closed the window. "I hate living like this."
"We all do," said her mother.
"How did this all happen?"
"Well, as you learned in your history class, he lost the election in 2024 by a landslide. Because of that he turned the people he hated most, into zombies. He was a poor loser and a psychopath, that's why the zombies are all still wearing masks that look like him. He sent his zombies out to destroy everyone he could and all these years later, we're still cleaning up his mess."
"It's not fair."
"No, it's not, but it's what we have."
"There has to be a way to stop them. Some kind of smoke bomb that can short circuit their brains."
"I think they're working on that."
"I want to help."
"You're too young," said her mother.
"But I also very smart."
Her mother stared at her, then nodded. "I'll make a few calls in the morning."
"Thanks mom."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Once she was alone, she walked to the window and looked at the night sky. "Maybe you heard me, after all," she said, softly. Then she jumped onto her bed, made sure her long knife was under her pillow and said, "Nope. I don't believe you did a single thing." Then she pulled the covers over her head and went to sleep.
Illustration: Pixabay
No comments:
Post a Comment