All of Annabelle’s friends were just as silent as the characters at the end of the story by the time she had finished telling it. For a second, Annabelle had the same heart-sinking feeling she had when she first woke up after the accident and spoke in a crawling voice, “…guys?”
A short sigh of somewhat relieved tension came from the seat tightly pressed up to Annabelle’s legs, putting her mind back at mild ease. Annabelle also sighed and exclaimed, “Don’t be so quiet like that, you’re gonna make me think I’ve been telling a story to corpses this whole time!”
“Sorry!” Malcolm apologized, “The story just got so tense by the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do or say anything while listening…”
“Was it that scary?” Asked Annabelle. “Because I don’t wanna scare any of you more than we already are, what with our current situation-“
“I thought we promised each other not to talk about that until help arrived.” Luna interrupted.
This time Annabelle was the one who apologized, saying, “My bad. I was just concerned about you guys, since one of the reasons you suggested I do this is so that we won’t feel as scared as before…”
“And we’re not.” Henrik reassured Annabelle. “If anything, we’re grateful that your story just now proved Luna’s theory right. Turns out I really did get way too invested in how scary your story was that I forgot to be scared for all of us including myself.”
Annabelle could vaguely make out the obscured silhouette of Luna’s head nodding in agreement as she said, “Likewise, I hope this did the trick for you too, Annabelle – though judging by the way you sounded throughout the whole thing, I assume it did?”
“Huh?” Annabelle asked in slight confusion, to which Henrik added, “Yeah. Now that Luna mentioned it, during your story, you didn’t sound too different from all the other times you talk with us about your specialty.”
Her eyes widening in surprise – albeit unseen by the other three due to the darkness – Annabelle muttered, “I didn’t even notice…” but even that seemed to prove the point further when she actually stopped to think about it. The fact that she’d failed to notice anything else about her surroundings, including her own tone of voice, went to show how much her storytelling had distracted her mind from slipping into any worries regarding their accident. A far cry from her earlier state of mind, which couldn’t do anything except constantly – and uselessly – worry about what bad things might befall on them, reassurance of help on the way be damned. And if they had to endure the unspecified amount of time for them to be rescued in that kind of mindset, Annabelle would say they were all better off knocked unconscious again. And even that was one of the last things all of them needed, considering Luna’s other theory from earlier about why it was important for them to stay awake.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Well Mary Shelley,” Malcolm said encouragingly, “Whatever you’re doing, please don’t stop no matter what.”
In spite of herself, this got a little laugh out of Annabelle, who said, “Nice to see nothing can make you lose your sense of humor…”
Malcolm chuckled back, before adding, “On a more serious note though, how did you come up with a whole story from the top of your head after Luna asked you to tell us one?”
“Actually, I didn’t.” Annabelle responded, “It was an idea I had around in the back of my mind that I haven’t yet had the chance to write down.”
“If you did write it down and showed it to one of your professors, I’m sure they would’ve been impressed.” Said Luna. “I mean, I thought it was really clever of you to leave whether or not that one guy was infected purely up to interpretation.”
Flattered, Annabelle asked, “Really?” to which Luna half-jokingly replied, “Most thought-provoking ambiguity in a story I’ve seen since Henry James’ The Turn Of The Screw.”
Annabelle tilted her head in mild surprise at this. “I didn’t know you too were familiar with that text.” She said.
“Just thought that would make a good comparison, seeing how you studied it in one of your classes.” Was Luna’s response.
For a moment Annabelle wondered to herself whether she ever recalled telling her friends about that particular part of her classes. But she brushed it away as Henrik told her, “Personally I was surprised you chose to have the main conflict be between the human characters rather than between them and the zombies. Not a bad surprise though, if anything, I thought it was a unique take.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Said Annabelle. “If you ask me, human conflict in the face of disaster has always kind of been part of the zombie subgenre. From the all-time classics like Night Of The Living Dead to modern masterpieces like Train To Busan, there’s so many examples where you can see exactly that. All I did was take that existing notion and do my own thing with it.”
“And a mighty fine job you did at that too.” Henrik complimented again, to which the other two nodded in agreement.
Annabelle added, “That was also why I never specified what exactly caused the outbreak and just left it ambiguous – the story’s less about how it began and more about what happens during it, like a lot of the best examples of its kind.”
“Like I said, I really liked how you used ambiguity in the story.” Luna replied to that. “Aside from what you just mentioned, it really leaves the story lingering in your head for a long time even after the end, because it makes you keep debating with yourself whether the guy was infected but just didn’t want to die, or was actually innocent like the main character had hoped.”
“That poor cop though, speaking of which.” Malcolm mumbled. “I was hoping at least he would make it to the end alright. Especially considering he was the only one who didn’t lose his mind despite also having his doubts and all.”
Annabelle nodded at that. “Yeah…” Even though she was the one who’d come up with the story, she also couldn’t deny how bleak the ending had ultimately come across. “As much as it sucked to kill him off, I just didn’t think the ending would’ve had the same impact if the character who died was one of the two people who antagonized Gerald, regardless of whether said antagonizing was justified.”
“If you got any more stories other than this,” Malcolm asked, “Do you have one that’s a bit more, how should I put it, ‘light at the end of the tunnel’? Not that I didn’t like the one you just told, but for a palate-cleanser of sorts I’d like to hear something brighter.”
Annabelle heard Luna and Henrik agree to Malcolm’s suggestion and replied, “Understandable. And you’re in luck too, because I do have a story in mind that’s not as dark as the last one.”