A Light Sparks in the Void

"Can I help you?", asks a voice.
"Eh?"
"Can I help you find what you're looking for?", the voice patiently asks.

The ZOMBIE pulls his head away from the section he is pretending to browse, and sees that the voice has come from a bookseller. The bookseller is looking at him with bright, shining eyes, and the ZOMBIE is taken a back. Those eyes....

"No thank you...I'm just browsing.", the ZOMBIE is able to muster.
"Ah, just browsing. I see."

Instead of leaving at this point, the bookseller just stares at the ZOMBIE....stares at him with those eyes. So bright....so full of life...so....

"So...thank you for your concern, but I'm doing just fine here."
"Are you?"
Yes, thank you."
"....are you, really?", the bookseller calmly asks.

At this question, the ZOMBIE starts to panic . Of course he was fine..what the hell was wrong with this woman? Who does she think she is? He had already given the cursory answer that made most people happy...and made them leave him alone. Yet, here she is...starting at him. No, starting through him...right into that void that exists inside him.

"What are you after? Where do you come off asking me this? I've told you already that I'm fine. I do not need any help."

With this, the ZOMBIE turns away from the bookseller. He finds a very sudden interest in whatever book he can grab first...

That should make her go away, thinks the ZOMBIE.

After a long moment, he looks back....and there she is...waiting.

What the...?

"OK, what gives here?", the ZOMBIE demands. "Why are you just staring at me? Do you think I'm going to steal something? I can assure you that I will not be taking anything with me out of this store."
"That's what I'm afraid of", she replies.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand."
"No, you don't. You're standing in a bookstore that has virtually everything on any subject you could imagine...yet, you're just going through the motions until your family is ready to leave."
"....going through the motions? Why are you doing this? Did someone put you up to this? Did Megan ask you to harass me?"
"No...but if Megan is your wife, then I'm sure she would agree with me. I will repeat again, how can I help you?"

At this point, the ZOMBIE is in full out panic mode. His palms are starting to sweat...the coffee in his hand is getting heavy...again, those eyes are on him.

...and the ZOMBIE does something he hasn't done in a very long time...he looks inside himself...down deep...into his very being. He journeys down...down into the fiber that makes him what he is.....and he finds....

....nothing.

ZOMBIE

See this setting...see it very well.

The ZOMBIE wonders through his local bookstore. He has a coffee in one hand, and a placid smile on his face. See him glancing at all the right books...at all the right sections. See him pick up a book in the Science section, and pretend to read the back cover. See him set the book down, and wonder over to the next section...

Get a picture in your mind of this thing...this man...this ZOMBIE. Imagine the nothing that's gong on in his head as he walks around the Fiction section. Visualize the immense void that exists behind his eyes. Feel the absolute nonsense as it rolls off his tongue. Do you pity him? Should you pity him?

Now, some things in life happen gradually, and some just bang into existence....without as much as an "excuse me, I'm about to explode onto the scene here...so you may want to take cover." Our ZOMBIE friend is walking right into the latter...and that is where the story of ZOMBIEKevin shall begin...