Work Text:
If she hadn’t had white hair, if monsters didn’t exist, if the moonstone had never fallen to Earth, if she wasn’t a freak dating a zombie…
“-then maybe you would have the picture perfect lives you want. I wish you could just be happy!” Addison yelled, turning away from her parents and swiping angrily at her watery eyes. What she needed right now was to get away, to be with Zed, but she knew that leaving at this hour would only make things worse. She looked at her watch, sighing with exhaustion. She’d see him in about five hours anyway.
Five hours spent restlessly trying to sleep, scrolling mindlessly on her phone, pacing her room, staring out her window at the full moon as the sky lightened – purples turned pink then orange as the sun rose, bathing the world in daylight. Six am. Addison got up, shivering as the covers fell away. She looked down in surprise… she didn’t remember changing into pajamas last night. She looked to see where her clothes from the previous day were...nowhere. The laundry hamper was filled with monochromatic pastels she hadn’t worn in a month.
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Shower first, figure this out after.
Addison let the water flow over her entire body, soaking in the warmth. She massaged the shampoo into her scalp, rinsed. She applied conditioner to the ends of her hair, easily combing through its mid-length strands. She frowned, looking at the hair twined through her fingers. Blonde. The exact same shade as her wig. The same length. Even the same texture. Odd…
She watched the water run clean into the drain and shut it off. Even if she didn’t wear it in public any more, her parents would still be seriously pissed if they found out that she’d ruined her wig by wearing it in the shower. Maybe it was salvageable. She reached up to take it off and frowned when she felt herself grab her own hair. She reached again and again, somehow, managed to miss the wig. Addison stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her body as to not drip all over the floor, and walked over to the mirror. It had fogged during her shower and she rubbed at it with the hand towel. Blonde. The wig still wouldn’t come off. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, so familiar and yet so strange. She pulled sharply at the blonde hair and winced in pain.
Addison reached out as if to touch her reflection, watching as it mimicked her perfectly. She looked into her own blue eyes, her brown brows, every feature she knew so well and then back to the foreign yet familiar blonde hair.
There was a soft tap at the door.
“Addison, dear, you don’t want to be late for school.”
Dear? Her parents might use informal pet names for each other, but never with her.
“Yes, Mom.” She pulled the blonde hair into a bow at the back of her head, picked up her bag and headed for the kitchen where a bowl of fruit was waiting for her. She ate without really tasting the food, grabbed her lunch money, and started walking.
Real blonde hair. Her clothes gone. Her parents were suddenly much more affectionate. Addison was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice arriving at school or even opening her locker. Focus, Addy. She grabbed her books for first period and looked at her watch. She’d must have walked faster than usual, class wouldn’t start for fifteen minutes. However, Zed was usually at the school early, hanging out with the guys or studying/chilling in the safe room.
She opened the safe room door and called his name. “Are you here yet?” Her voice echoed in the empty room and she turned to leave. The door sealed and she walked down the hall, alone, not noticing that the room wasn’t what she remembered.
Students filled the hallway and Addison’s heart skipped as her eyes landed on the tall, lanky football star that was her boyfriend. She easily made her way through the crowd, using her short stature to her advantage to get around the other students.
“Zed,” her voice cracked slightly, betraying her stress, and she froze, looking him over.
“Um, can I help you? I really don’t have time for autographs right now, but if you come back during free period I can hook you up.” With that, he started to push past her.
Without thinking, Addison grabbed his hand.
He whipped around, easily breaking her hold.
“Zed,” Addison looked him over, taking in the pink skin, dark hair, pastels. “What did you do?” Her brow furrowed in concern, her hand reaching out to touch his rosy face.
“Okay, why are you trying to touch me? Football stars are people too. Personal space much?” With that, Zed finally looked down at her, meeting her eyes. The dark circles perpetually under his eyes were gone, his face was full of colour, his skin even felt warmer. “Addison. I thought I told you not to do that in front of people. You know the deal. Date the football star, get a bit of the spotlight.”
“Zed, what are you talking about? I thought we didn’t care what people thought, remember? And I thought you were never going to mess with your Z-band again. What did you do?” She looked at him, black hair without the slightest tinge of green, skin that didn’t look like he was half-dead, and wearing perfect Seabrook colours.
“I haven’t done anything I’ve never done before. But if you’re looking for something different, find yourself a new boyfriend. I won’t have any trouble replacing you.”
Addison looked down, not wanting to let this… this person see her cry. “Where’s your Z-band?” Addison looked back up to Zed’s face, back to his empty wrist. She reached for him again, looking for any hint that he was about to lose control. There was none. In fact, he still looked far too human.
“What’s a Z-band?” He scoffed.
Addison felt her eyes well with tears and turned to leave, planning on finding Bree, when he caught her arm.
“If I let you leave like that, it’ll give people the wrong impression. Let’s go chill in the supply closet for a few minutes.” Not-Zed, still holding her arm, led her to the Safe Room. Or at least, what should have been the Safe Room. Instead of bunk beds and rations, the room was filled with cleaning supplies and a small first aid station.
Addison took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. “This isn’t right,” she whispered.
“Really? No shit it’s not right. I should be out there with the guys, not stuck in a closet with a mopey girlfriend. I thought you were supposed to be a cheerleader.”
“Zed,” Addison’s voice cracked, unable to look at the humanized person in front of her. “This isn’t right. This isn’t who we are. This isn’t who you’re supposed to be, something’s happened, something horribly wrong. But nobody seems to notice…” she couldn’t finish her thought.
“Notice what?” He was leaning against the doorframe, tall and dark, and…slightly intimidating. Who would have thought that Zed would have made a scarier human than monster.
“Everything’s changed,” she whispered brokenly. Not-Zed said nothing. “When I woke up this morning, my hair looked like this,” she held it up limply, “all blonde like my old wig. My parents…it was like something out of a movie. I come to school early and you’re this…this isn’t you, Zed, not at all.” She wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall and continued. “No matter how much it hurts, my parents are ashamed of me. My hair is an unnatural white color and until now I’ve always worn a wig to keep it hidden. You’re still the star of the football team, but you’re not human, you’re a zombie. You… gar-garziga, Zed. The real Zed.”
The real Zed, the real Seabrook, her real parents, she just wanted everything to return to normal. This version of Zed, who apparently was tired of Addison being a clingy and vapid bitch, listened as everything poured out. The accident at Seabrook Power, the creation of zombies, their first meeting, football, the cheer championships.
“And all that just ‘changed’ this morning?” Not-Zed scoffed. “Things don’t just change overnight because you say ‘I wish’, Addison. Not even for a cheerleader.”
“But they did,” Addison whispered, broken. “This isn’t right, any of it. This isn’t who we are.”
“So how did it happen? I told these floozies I wish you’d just leave me alone, several times a day, and yet that never happens.”
Whether not-Zed actually cared to know or not was irrelevant. “It was about one a.m. I had a huge fight with my parents. I said a bunch of things I knew they hated about me and said that maybe if none of them existed, that they could be happy. If I had normal hair. If monsters didn’t exist in this town. Stuff I said in the heat of the moment. And somehow, it all came true the next morning.”
“In your version of the world, monsters exist?” Not-Zed said incredulously. “And I’m one of them.”
“Yeah.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
“In your world…Zoey was at the cheer championships last year.” Not-Zed finally looked at her, his eyes hard. Addison nodded, swallowing hard.
“She started how monsters finally became accepted in Seabrook. There was only half a squad left and they were falling apart. Zoey went on stage and started cheering herself.” Addison smiled at the memory. “Most of the zombies in attendance joined us onstage and we might not have won the championship for the first time in fifty years, but we were united.”
Not-Zed didn’t say anything for a long time. He lifted his head and said hoarsely: “My sister died when she was born, with my mother. I’ve never told anybody about her before…her name was Zoey.”
“Zoey is the little sister I never had. She wants to be a cheerleader more than anything and she loves dogs. She had a stuffed dog called Zander and at the end of last year, I got her a real dog. A small dog with long white fur she named Puppy.”
“I don’t know how you found out about Zoey, but this is the dumbest prank anybody’s ever pulled. Who set you up?”
“No,” Addison said brokenly. “Zed, I’m not making any of this up, I swear. I know Zoey, I love her like she was my own sister. Monsters are real in Seabrook. They’re zombies, you’re a zombie. And we’re… gar-garziga, Zedka.”
Addison’s heart shattered when he spoke again.
“Is that gibberish supposed to mean something to me? We’re through, Addison.” The finality of his statement hit her in a wave of emotions as he left the closet.
Addison left school early, telling the nurse she’d gotten her period and felt nauseous. The nurse agreed to send her home, noting that the walk might do her some good in relieving the symptoms. Unfortunately, the walk back passed quickly and she was home.
She let herself in and practically collapsed against the door.