prince! My prince! Wait for me!” George shouted and ran after the zombie.
The music led them to a castle covered in pink flower creepers. The music was coming from within. “Now what?” Frederick said in frustration as he eyeballed the tall, thick castle walls and the soldiers keeping guard.
“Now what, what, my prince?” George asked out of breath.
“How am I supposed to find out where that music is coming from without being caught? I doubt the living will be hospitable towards a walking corpse and a talking roach.”
“Well firstly,” said George as he raised one of his feet in the air, “I find the word ‘roach’ to be derogatory to my kind. Secondly, why don’t we just swim to the inside through the canal?”
Frederick looked at castle canal filled with black water and said: “Swim through the canal, but how will we sur-“ “Survive? Allow me to remind you that you do not need to breathe and in my ne form I now possess the ability to hold my breath for up to 40 minutes. Easy-peasy” Lord George said with a little smirk on his little face.
The two sneakily jumped into the canal. Out of habit Frederick held his breath which made Lord George chuckle a bit. With their new found strength they swam underneath the castle effortlessly.
The crawled out of the canal to find themselves inside the palace garden. The garden was perfectly manicured and filled with pink trimmed rose bushes.
Beautiful music filled up the garden and washed over Fredrick like a warm gust of wind. With George on his shoulder, the zombie slowly pushed the branches of the large willow trees aside and followed the music. Then, he saw her - sitting there at the pond with her harp, singing, as the moonlight made her pale hair sparkle. Frederick was mesmerized. He listened and watched as her fingers brushed over the strings of her harp. It was lovely, but sad. Why was she making sad music? How can someone so beautiful be so sad?
Just as Frederick and George were both spellbound, George accidentally passed some gas that made the sound of a small bomb going off. Startled, the princess dropped her harp and looked Frederick straight in the face. She looked at him in shock, but not the kind of shock when you see a monster. Frederick was surprised that she didn’t scream.
“Frederick?” the princess asked as she stared at him with a frown between her large green eyes.
“Princess Minna!” George shouted and ran towards her. This time she did scream. “Princess Mina, it is me Lord George. Don’t be scared! Yes, you are correct, this is Prince Frederick, but both of us somehow died. Fredrick returned as a zombie and I as a cockroach for some absurd reason.” George informed her. “Wait, wait! What’s going on?” Frederick was utterly confused. “Oh, forgive him my lady, his brain had worms and as a result he suffers from memory loss.” George explained.
“Lord George!” Frederick was horrified. Brain worms aren’t likely to impress a princess. “Fredrick, it’s me, Minna. We knew each other really well while you were still, well, alive I guess.” she said. “What? Really? But why can’t I remember anything. Why can’t I remember you? Not even death should cause you to forget the most unforgettable thing.” He stopped when he realized he was getting a bit emo. “Worms, worms, worms!” George shouted as he stumped his needle-like leg. “Lord Geooorge!” Frederick hissed through his teeth. The princess giggled.
“Princess Minnaaaaaa!” they heard someone shouting.
“Oh, that’s my nurse calling me. It is time for me to get ready for bed.” the princess said. “Oh, no, do you have to go already? Can’t you decide when you want to go to bed by yourself?” Frederick asked. “Since my father fell ill, my schedule has become even tighter. As long as he is ill, the duke is in charge and he’s very concerned about my safety,” the princess continued. “Sounds like someone’s a control freak.” retorted George.
“Princess Minnaaaaaaa!”
“I’m sorry, I really should get going. Goodbye! Come visit again tomorrow.” the princess said and ran off with Miss Agnes, her mouse.
The princess rushed into her bedroom. Her nurse was already waiting for her. “I’m sorry I’m late Melinda but the most wonderful thing happened!” the princess said out of breath. “The most wonderful thing? Have you finally said yes to the duke’s marriage proposal? Oh! That man is sooooo dreamy!” Melinda said. “No Melinda.” the princess said with a laugh, “Frederick is alive! Well… kind of.”
“My dear, you must be hallucinating!” the nurse said with a look of shock. “No, Melinda, he is. He came back from the dead.” the princess explained. “Back from the dead? Is he a ghost?” she asked. “No, he is… erm…um… a zombie.” There was no other way to say it.
“A zombie!” Melinda shouted in terror.
“Yes, but he—”
“Zombies are walking corpses! They carry all kinds of diseases!”
“No, Melinda, he—”
“They smell!”
“No, he didn’t smell!”
“It’s probably only because he is still fresh!”
The princess shook her hysterical nurse by the shoulders, “Melinda! Please!”. Something had to calm her down.
Melinda looked at the concerned face of the young princess standing in front of her and placed her hands on both of her cheeks, “My dear, what would happen if you fall ill, because of him?” The princess thought it was sweet of her nurse to be so concerned. “It’s alright Melinda. Obviously, there is no future for me with him. We are too different. In the sense that I am alive, and he is dead. But right now, I’m simply enjoying his company.” the princess said.
Melinda looked at Minna and brushed over her hair. “Alright dear. Whatever makes you happy, my princess. I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. But now it’s time for your bath and bed. Make it a hot bath… zombie germs. Gross.”
Chapter 4: Can one die twice?
The duke was busy applying his evening face-mask while his black unicorn, Fox, was lying in front of the fireplace reading Shakespeare. Out of nowhere, a big-ass black crow flew into his chamber. “Oh, my goodness! Mother! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Maybe you could try using the chamber door sometimes?” The duke was definitely the nervous type.
“No time to be a cry-baby. I have some news.” the crow said in a scratchy voice. “Oh dear! Are we out of Red Sea mineral mud? Now that would be a catastrophe. My complexion won’t tolerate anything else.” He was rather fond of his appearance. Like mother like son perhaps. “No. Prince Frederick came back from the dead. As a zombie” the crow informed him. “What!?” the duke and the unicorn shouted in unison. “Yes- he is alive! Well, sort of. When I heard the rumors, I thought it can’t be true, but then I flew over the graveyard and I saw him with my very own eyes!” the crow said. “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? I mean now him and Minna can still get married.” the duke said. . “Don’t be silly! A princess certainly won’t be allowed to marry a corpse!” the crow snapped back. Fox the unicorn looked at the crow with a concerned look and silently mouthed: “All okay?”. The crow nodded her head. “Well, I just thought I’d share the news, I better be off again” and with that the crow flew away.
