Nothing's Gone Forever (Only Out Of Place)

Chapter 3

(Time for some more backstory! We're bringing in a couple of other characters now: of the BGZ, Zane, and of the canon characters, Zoey~ This story is gonna be quite short, we're not too far from the end...

Also, it's Autism Acceptance Month! So I included some things about Paizley and her parents learning about her autism~)

Chapter 3 theme songs: My House from Matilda the Musical, Simply Second Nature from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (West End), Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift and Here Comes A Thought from Steven Universe

"Has Paizley ever brought it up?"

"No. She doesn't even really remember it. I'm pretty sure if zombies got any kind of mental health treatment, they'd diagnose her with PTSD. Actually, no, she definitely has PTSD. She gets nightmares about fires all the time, she always feels like she needs to watch the zombie patrol at curfew. You've seen how the rest of us react to fire but Paizley just cries. And she doesn't even know why."

"That's so sad..."

"It's the worst. They – her and Aunt Treaza and Uncle Dez – they did rebuild their collection but they can't take things from the recycling plant anymore. It's all from the junkyard or things humans just throw over the barrier to get rid of, things they find on the street or whatever. Stuff nobody can trace. And Paizley trades things."

"Za. Droz ag grarg-zig, gruzic-zig, zet, z'agru." I get most of my art supplies and music equipment from her.

"But she has to trade for it, she won't give anything away. And only for something she considers to be of equal value."

"What happened after the raid?"

"... Things got complicated."

~ I'm losing sight, I'm losing touch, all these little things seem to matter so much ~

"Home-school?" Zana leaned forward across the table, her brow creased, "Are you sure about that, Treaza?"

Treaza sighed and shook her head, "I can't risk her running into the patrol again, and they're always at the school, aren't they? All those random inspections and whatnot. Besides, the teacher won't be prepared to help her with what she's going through, and she's still struggling to even leave the house! What else can we do?"

"Can you legally do that, though?"

"It's not like the humans actually care about zombies' education. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd prefer we keep our kids at home instead of letting them go to school, or anywhere else, for that matter. Dezmond and I aren't exactly qualified but who is in this town?"

Zana raised her eyebrows, giving a reluctant nod, "I can't argue with that."

"If it does turn out to be too hard, I'm sure someone from the school would be happy to tutor her at home," she paused, her head in her hand and her face exhausted, "I just don't want to make this any worse for her..."

– NOTHING'S GONE FOREVER –

Paizley was spending most of her time at home now, and Zed was so terrified of accidently upsetting her after the incident that he was almost afraid to talk to her at all. He pretty much only saw her when his parents took him over to the Reilig's house, which gradually happened less and less as time went on. She wasn't so eager to share her projects with him anymore, either. He watched her work as he always had but she seemed to be guarding all her tools and materials, shielding them away from everybody, including him. She didn't ask him to look at anything when she finished it.