Chapter 2: Zombified

The door to Annabelle's room slowly creaked open when she knocked on the door 'She must've left it open by accident.' She thought to herself. "Okay, I'm coming in now," She said.

Slowly plodding into her daughter's bedroom, Melissa feared the worst. Images of her daughter tied to the ceiling upside down with a big burley man pointing a knife to her baby's throat flashed through her head.

'God, please let my child be okay. Please let me be crazy.'

God didn't seem to hear her plea.

A scream rang through the bedroom as Melissa laid her eyes on her sleeping daughter.

The scent in the room was faint, but it was one of rotting flesh. Pieces of her baby's skin slowly peeled off her figure, revealing a layer of grey hidden behind the pale green hue of her complexion. Her child was breathing, but only barely. A small growl pushed between the sleeping girl's lips, sending a shudder of fear through her body.

"My baby… what happened to you?! Who hurt my baby?!" She croaked out, shaking as she ran to her child.

The body in her arms did not wake despite the rapid shaking she put it through. "Belle! Belle wake up! Please, please wake up for mommy! Belle, my baby, please answer me, please!" She cried into her daughter's deteriorating body.

Soon, anger took upon her features. "Who did this to my baby?! Who dares to harm my precious child?!" She began to fume, but she did not let the shock get to her. She quickly grabbed her phone and dialed 911 and waited for an answer.

30 seconds later, Melissa hung up.

Annabelle could have sworn she saw smoke bloom for the top of her mother's head.

- - - - -

Annabelle couldn't bear to see her mother like this any longer. Shaking herself out of her revelry, she spoke up, "mother, please don't cry, I'm okay!"

Melissa paused and then rocked her body back and forth, "God I've gone insane. This is a dream. This is all a horrible, terrible dream. A nightmare. This is not real I've just gone nuts."

"Mom! Stop it, you're freaking me out! I don't know what's happening either but I'm a ghost right now and my body has turned into a zombie." Annabelle interrupted her dangerous train of thought. "Pull yourself together. I am okay. Breathe."

Melissa listened to her daughter's soothing voice, her chest heaving rapidly as she begin to calm down. The room stopped spinning and a peaceful calm embalmed the room, but it wasn't long before she o recognized the smell of rotting flesh was begun to increase rapidly. When she watched as a palm-sized slab of skin slipped off her daughter's body as if it were covered in oil, she began to hyperventilate.

"Mom!" Annabelle called in fear. Running over to her, she didn't know what to do. Remembering that she was able to pick up the scissors, she assumed that she would be able to touch other things too. Reaching out she embrassed her mother.

Despite what she expected, she fell right through her and hit the floor. 'Wait what?' She though, freezing.

I could touch the scissors, but I can't tough my mom? That's terrible. Some God must be playing a trick on us.

She propped herself up and began to think. Is there some kind of condition that I need to meet before I can touch things? If I am an invisible ghost, would the things I pick up also turn invisible? Then, she realized something. She was able to pick up the scissors earlier when she poked her zombified body, but she just propped herself up on her bed seconds ago.

She could touch her bed and she could touch her scissors. She could touch her dying body but she couldn't touch her mother. Does that mean…?

She swiftly reached for one of the giant fluffy blankets sitting on the bed and flung it towards her mother. Drunk on terror, she didn't notice as it came flying towards her. Once the blanket landed on her mom, Annabelle flung herself towards her and encompassed her in a giant hug.

"I'm right here, mama. I'm right here. Please do my cry, your baby is okay, I'm okay." She muttered into her shoulder, "I love you mama, don't worry, I'm okay. Nothing hurts. I'm okay mama, breathe, breathe. Annabelle is okay, I'm okay."

"Annabelle…?" Her mother choked out, "yes mama, that's me. I'm right here." Her daughter replied.

Her mother was once again overcome by grief. "My baby, what has happened to you? Why can't I see you? Where are you?"

"I don't know what happened, mama, I just woke up like this. I'm a ghost, or am I a zombie? I don't know why I'm like this, but I do know that I'm okay. Nothing hurts at all! My wrist is totally fine, and so is my shoulder! I'm better than I've been in a long time, so don't worry about me. Just breathe. Focus and breathe." She talked quickly, hoping to distract her enough to get her to stop crying.

Her mother nodded her head rapidly, "yes, yes. Breathe. Just like that." Once again, slower than the first time, she began to inhale and exhale with control, grasping her bearing with each breath.

Once she had calmed down, Melissa began to survey her surroundings. In her arms was her dying child, but said child was hugging her and telling her to breathe. Despite not seeing her physically, she could tell by the imprints in the blanket that something was wrapped around her, and she was willing to put her money on it being her daughter.

Her ghost daughter?

She was still confused. Very, very confused, and determined to get to the bottom of what happened.

"Belle, what happened when you woke up this morning? Anything strange? I mean, other than, well, this…" she began, feeling more and more like an idiot for every word she said.

Annabelle giggled, "nope! Nothing weird other than feeling super tired, but that's normal. I don't even feel that anymore. If anything I feel incredibly awake— I think I could run to the ends of the Earth and back and still be able to climb to the moon afterwards."

Melissa laughed at the description, completely able to picture her daughter doing exactly that. "We'll don't go running from me just yet. Do you remember anything special about last night? Or within the last month or so even? There's gotta be some reason why this has happened to you."

Annabelle thought for a moment. Anything strange? Not really. There were some weirdo customers from the restaurant she worked at and one of her coworkers from the grocery store looked at her a little more viciously than usual, but that was about it. Turning to her mom, she relayed her thoughts, "not anything that could make me wind up like this. A few more harsh stares won't turn me into a ghost."

Her mother turned to look at the figure in her arms "nothing that might turn you into a zombie either? No freaky rats biting at you? Or maybe spiders? Did you eat anything weird or something? Anything?"

She shook her head, "no mama, nothing."

Melissa sighed. "That's alright, baby's we'll figure something out." She smiled in the direction she thought her daughter's head would be, hoping to reassure her. "We'll figure something out. You won't be like this forever, I promise."

Annabelle suppressed her laughter, not wanting her mom's spirit to diminish. It's just that she tried to had to create a touching moment with her daughter… who was on the other side of her. She was talking into thin air.

Annabelle moved in front of her mother's gaze.

"Yeah, you're right. We'll be okay. Just like always. As long as we have eachother, we can make it anywhere."