Geisterwelt: A Putrifyingly Lovely Tale

How strange it all was when I first met them. You see, they didn’t like me at first glance and who can blame them. One look at me would have anyone scared out of their wits. For one, the skin around my mouth is gone, showing only my rotted teeth and jaw. My eyes are beautiful and round, but they are white and clouded and sunken into the whole of my face. My skin, from the top of my head to the very soles of my feet is pale, sullen, and peeling. Although I am rotting, I am not, by any means, a rotten person. But you are probably wondering to yourself who is this person that is talking to you. Please let me introduce myself. I am the Much Pampered and Much-Admired Lady Josephine Bearer, and I am, in fact, a reanimated corpse, or as it is so commonly known as, a zombie. It’s quite unlike anything one has ever experienced before. My flesh is decomposing and some of my limbs are falling, but I do not in any way, shape, or form shuffle about, speak in grunts and groans, or consume human flesh. That is quite unladylike. I mean the very idea of putting human skin into one’s mouth is upsetting. And the taste is just downright dreadful!

I reside in a city called Geisterwelt. It’s a wonderful place to live, filled with, well, creatures like me, of course. My husband and I know nothing outside of the privileged world of our own. That was until the humans came, of course. That is when things began to get most wonderfully interesting. It was a most distressingly hot summer when the world of the living fell apart. Apparently, as the story goes, some poor chap was foolishly meddling around in some laboratory, mixing and experimenting with some rather nasty viruses. Well, as you know, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose and the zombie apocalypse started. Not very clever on the humans’ part. But then again, nothing they ever do is smart. The poor dears.

In any case, I suppose one must learn from one’s mistakes. Even if that mistake is creating hundreds of flesh-eating zombies. As millions succumbed to the chaos that surrounded them, it was just another ordinary day for I and my family. That day we awoke to the sound of the city outside our rather extraordinary townhouse. I love to look out my window just as the maids are coming in. Our house was one of the fine homes overlooking the square on Dead End Drive. Only the very elite were permitted to live on this street. I am forever surrounded by the beauty of wilting flowers and deteriorating gardens of the parks down below. On one end, I can see the shops, cafés, and vendors opening to the public. I was very eager to start the day for it was to be a special one, so I had my lady's maid, Alma, dress me. I'm sure that somewhere throughout time the fashion scene has changed, but I still wore the clothe that existed during the time of my death: the long flowing dresses of 1914 with a variety of shawls, feathers, and shoes. It was such a fantastic time to be in until The Great War happened. But anyway, once dressed, I ventured downstairs, hurrying passed our housekeeper Frau Faulig, supervising the servants on my way to breakfast.

"Guten Morgen, milady.” she said. “You didn’t have to come downstairs. Alma should’ve brought your breakfast.”

“Good Morning.” I said, sighing. Frau Fraulig and Alma didn’t see eye-to-eye most of the time. “Is everything ready for tonight?”

“Of course, milady.” she replied.

I traveled downstairs, walking down the great halls, passing by the servants, until I reached the dining room.

“Hello, my love.” he said as I arrived in the dining room. He put down his morning paper to give me my daily morning kiss. A sensual, little tradition of ours.

“Good morning, Paul.”

“Good morning, my love.”

Our three daughters, Frederica, Georgette, and Alicia, all sat around the table. Such little dears, dressed in their matching green dresses that highlight their rotting little faces. Breakfast was nothing extravagant here at home. Only the finest animal carcasses, coated in sauce and an assortment of rotted fruits served on my family’s fine chin. As I sat down at my end of the table, drinking my morning tea, I gazed at my husband. His face was deep in thought as he looked at his newspaper.

“Anything interesting in the papers today, my love?” I asked as I kissed the top of his head.

Paul scoffed. “Fat chance.” he said. “There’s nothing in here but gossip. It appears that another one of the Cadavers outrageous parties have made it in here.”

I rolled my eyes until one of them popped out and rolled towards the feet of our butler, Mortis. The thought of that silly little family was enough to make one’s head spin! The Cadavers are my family’s social rivals. Well, they were my social rivals. And oh, how I detest them. No sense of decorum whatsoever to come from their extravagance. They’re vulgar and crude! And to think that their unsightly house is right across the street from mine! Dreadful! I have half a mind to ring up every newspaper in the city and give them the awful details about what really goes on there, but not before I have the city council plant some very tall trees to block their home from my view.

“But look here, Josie!” Paul said. He got up from his seat and rush towards me, waving the newspaper in the air. “Look at what the humans have done! One of their newspapers must've flown past the gates."

“I’m not amused at anything those creatures do.” I replied with a scoff.

“No, look!”

Humans are monsters, plain and simple. Nothing they do is worth bothering the press about. I’d rather read more about that lecherous family across the street. However, I’m not one to pass up a good intrigue, so naturally I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Not-so-surprisingly, the humans have somehow screwed up again with their latest craze. The virus they’ve unleashed in an underground lab is ravaging the planet, creating more zombies.

“How horrible, Mummy!” said Frederica. “Those poor humans!”

I scoffed at my daughter. Out of the three of them, Frederica has always had such a soft spot of the living that it worries me at times for her delicate disposition. My other daughters soon followed her in her sympathetic nature.

“Never pity the living, my little dears.” I replied. “If they didn’t learn from their countless other atrocities, I doubt they would learn from this one. Come along, girls. We mustn’t delay another minute.”

“Where are you going?” Paul asked.

“I simply must get to the shops before anyone else does.” I said. “Have you forgotten that we’re to host a party this evening?”

“I nearly forgotten.” he replied. “I’ll go with you. There are some things I have in town anyway.”

I was stopped by Mortis who held out his hand, displaying my fallen eye. “Your eye, My lady.”

“Thank you, Mortis.”

We all dressed in our coats, and all piled into the car. The girls were seated with their nanny each in their matching blue coats and hats. However, the bloodiest thing happened. As we drove to the central part of town, the gates were open. In case you were wondering, a set of black iron gates stood paramount at the top of the Surface, surrounded by a large cemetery and a thick fog to conceal our charming little city. The gates serve as a portal separating Geisterwelt from the world of the living. Frederica was the one to noticed it firsthand.

“Look, Mummy!” she exclaimed, pointing her little bony finger. “Can we see what the humans are up to?”

“Certainly not, Frederica!” I exclaimed. “Sit down at once before someone sees you!”

“I want to see the humans, too, Mummy.” said Georgette.”

“Me, too!” Alicia exclaimed.

My poor daughters. If they only knew of the dangers of what was beyond the Surface. Who knows what those insufferable humans are capable of!

“The living isn’t ready for three special little girls like you all.” said Paul.

“Why not, Daddy?” Georgette asked.

“It’ll have to take them some getting used to you first, my little dove. But don’t worry I’m sure they’ll love three little angels like you.”

Finally, we reached the center of town, and oh, how I love those long boulevards and avenues of shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant. The streets were a beautiful contrast to the tiny, yet elegant section that I am accustomed to. And the noise! I relish in the noise! So many cars and carriages on every block with many of the dead strolling down and around this very area. And at night, these streets lit up like thousands of diamonds. I love this city, and I wouldn’t want to live in any other place.