say it ain't so (video)

[livemoore]

[ When Liv appears on the screen, she's in a nice off-white sweater with a hint of gold sparkle to it, full face of makeup and nervously smiling. She gives a wave, then lets out a breath she's been holding. ]

I have a confession. And some of you know. Some of you who know me don't know, and everyone else...

[ She pauses, looking down a little. Is this the right thing? Hell if she knows. It's not like she's in a place the size of Seattle. Maybe now's the time to just come clean. ]

The rest of you don't need to know but uh...at this point if someone found out by word of mouth I feel like it'd suck more, so.

My name is Liv. I've been living here since the summer. And...I'm a zombie.

[ She pauses for a beat. ]

Obviously from a different zombie world than the rest of you. I'll answer your questions now: Yes, I eat what you think I eat but the closet provides it for me. I only act like the maniac you'd expect when I'm hurt unexpectedly and then I'm super strong and just kind of...grunty. But I can help, I do help. I've saved people. I've died here. Yes, I'm technically dead right now, but I still look great?

I guess those are the hard-hitting questions. If you have any others I'll be here to answer them.

Please don't try to kill me. I'll just come back.

So I guess that's it. Now you all know, and I can breathe easier. Ish. Well, not breathe. Whatever, you know what I mean.

Comments

[passingthrough]

Well, I wasn't going to write "for a zombie time, call Liv" in the bathrooms or anything, but that makes sense.

[livemoore]

No, I know, I never thought you were, I promise. It's just...secrets have a way of getting out, here. And usually not in flattering ways.

[passingthrough]

We don't know each other that well. [Even if she might be the person she knows best at this point?] I wouldn't have minded if you thought I would. Trust is something that usually gets you in trouble where I come from. I hope that's not true here.

[livemoore]

People are pretty damn trusting here. It took some time to get used to which is kind of, I guess, a smaller part of why I'm doing this. People open up a lot. So I figured maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I was building it up to be in my head.

[passingthrough]

Like some kind of weird interdimensional abductee support group of misfits. [Based on what she's gathered in the last month that feels strangely right for this place.]

[livemoore]

I mean, it kinda makes sense. For one, anything we tell each other we won't remember outside of Wonderland. And two, what's anyone gonna do about anything while we're here? So. You know. Why not be open?

[passingthrough]

True. But are you sure about that? The not remembering things outside of Wonderland?

[livemoore]

As far as I know, yeah. I've talked to people who've left and come back, and they said there's just...nothing. They don't even know they were gone and neither do the people around them. It's weird to think about, but it seems legit.

[passingthrough]

I can't say I have a better explanation. [But she's probably not done looking either.]

So, uh, that event we had. [You know, the one with zombies... This is awkward. Maybe she shouldn't have come to this sentence.] Sorry they're assholes.

[livemoore]

It's okay. It's not anyone's fault. But the bad rap is why I'm both nervous and trying to be as transparent as possible.

[passingthrough]

Makes sense. When I mention I'm a mutant no one knows what that even means. No context. Or they think of an animal with multiple limbs or something. "Zombie" was a popular fiction concept back home. I get the feeling that's common.

[livemoore]

I mean, my world even has zombie movies, but they're the traditional Romero type. No one ever imagined...well. This. mutants are popular fiction for us. And superheroes. We don't actually have those, but we do have comic books and more movies than completely necessary.

[passingthrough]

We are? [She can barely maintain the surprise. Everything here is a surprise. It dulls out eventually.]

I guess that makes sense. I've met a few people I recognize directly from fiction here.

[livemoore]

That has to be super weird.

[ Says the girl who has no idea her story was originally a comic, too. ]

What do you do when people say something?

[passingthrough]

Well, I was just kind of incredulous and blunt the first couple of times because who expects to meet Captain Hook, you know? [And she hasn't been here that long, so she really hasn't moved much beyond that, but it's probably rude, right? And the longer she's here the more she thinks she should probably get along with people better.] I'm not really sure what the right thing to say is.

[livemoore]

I dunno either. I mean, I did meet Captain Hook. He's hot, by the way. But yeah, if someone told me I was fiction in their world - and I'm sure I am, somewhere, I guess I'd just try to go with it? Who knows. Maybe it's one of those 'you don't know how you're going to react until it happens' situations.

[passingthrough]

Yeah, I mentioned he was more attractive than the ones I've seen before. Seemed like he got that a lot. [She nods.] I'm real to me and I've known about alternate realities since I was a kid reading sci-fi and actual scientific theory, so [she shrugs] rolling with it is all I've got too.

[livemoore]

I mean technically we could all be someone's fiction, so I'm not sure it'd even help anything to be worried about it.

[ It wouldn't make sense. ]

So, I have about a hundred messages to get through. But I'll talk to you later?