Maggie's Interview

You're back.

It's good to see you have returned.

It has been a while. 

Take a few minutes to take some deep breaths. 

Good. 

You're back in the small studio. The pink, yellow, and blue wallpaper has been decorated with strings of fairy lights that make the wall look festive and inviting. You see the armchairs as they were before with a small table in between, with a tray on top. On this tray are a steaming tea kettle and two ceramic cups. A fuzzy, spotted paw picks one of the cups and the paw's owner brings the cup towards them to hold above their lap.

Scribbles' warm inviting smile lights up when he realizes you are there. "Hello! Welcome back!" He takes a small sip of tea, then slowly returns the cup to rest on the table. "I hope you don't mind the tea. It's been a long week, and I am looking to chill a bit for this interview."

He's dressed similarly to the last interview. Clad in slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a vest. This vest is an interesting variation of checkered squares colored yellow, white, purple, and black. 

Scribbles stands up from his armchair. "As you can probably guess, it's time for another character interview! As you know, I have been accepting questions on social media and on the form, I put up. And I am excited to say, I got a few very enthusiastic responses!" He smiles and sits back down in the chair. "As expected, I have a very lovely guest with me today."

He smiles and picks up a stack of cards from the table beside him and glances down at them. "I introduced her last week as a simple zombie. But really, there is a lot more to her. Her interests include makeup, old movies, and actively avoiding turning her best friend into a zombie! It's Maggie!"

You look over at the other armchair and see what looks like just an ordinary girl. She has curly black hair, green eyes, and a beautifully painted face. She is dressed in a baggy green sweater, black sweatpants, and a pair of doggy slippers. She holds her teacup in her hands, though you do see them shaking a little. "Hey, Scribbles. Nice to be here." She glanced at the cheetah host with a big smile. "You look delicious."

Scribbles let out a nervous chuckle and scooted his armchair back a little. "Oh, you! I thought we discussed comments like that."

Maggie blinked. "Huh? Did I say something wrong?"

Scribbles nodded, "Yep! Called me delicious."

"Oops! I meant handsome. Sorry. It's been a while since I last ate." Maggie gently put her teacup back onto the table. 

"No worries! Absolutely no worries." Scribbles laughed, but his eyes darted towards you in mild terror. "Onto the questions! Right!" He collected himself and looked down at the question cards. "So Maggie! The way this goes is I have an assortment of questions here! Some are from our readers, and some are from me!"

"Yes. I am aware. Thank you."

"Okay!" Scribbles cleared his throat and put the cards back onto the table so he could retrieve his cup for another sip of tea. "Tell me about your relationship with the people in Jacksonville." 

Maggie leaned back in her chair. "Well, that's kind of difficult to say for me. I don't really interact with many people in the town. I mean, in the story, I only encounter six people and two of them... well... You know how that ended."

Scribbles nodded. "Yep. I wrote it." He turned to look towards you. "If you haven't checked out "Zombies Hate Theater Crashers!" yet, go read it! You'll learn more about Maggie, and our next guest!"

Maggie chuckled at the (debatably) shameless self-promotion and continued. "The only people I have really interacted with in town are my best friend, AJ, and one of the cities leaders, Catherine."

"Tell me a bit about your relationship with AJ."

"God... He's one of the greatest humans I know. He's genuine, kind, respectful. He is always able to take everything with such ease and patience. I've known him for about two years at this point, and he's been like a little brother. We take care of each other."

"You mention in the story that he isn't originally from the city. Can you tell us anything like that?"

Maggie bit her lip. "I am not sure how much I can really say on this because it is not really my story to tell." She looked at the wall behind them, staring at it absentmindedly. "The apocalypse gave him the strength to break free from a very abusive home. He's overcome so much to become who he is today... Stuff no one should have to put up with."

Scribbles nodded. "Let's move away from AJ and talk about Catherine. What makes her notable to you?"

Maggie's gaze trailed back towards Scribbles and she let herself smile, as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "Catherine is just a very sweet woman. Kindness is something that is so rare in humans after all of the crap they went through with the rising dead and everything that came with it. Even though I can easily pass as a human, I give off very intense and intimidating vibes. But that never stops her from starting conversations or cracking jokes."

"It's always nice to find people like that in life, isn't it?" Scribbles picked up the stack of question cards again. "So, before we go into the audience's questions, I have got to ask! How do you always look so..."

"Normal?" Maggie grinned. "AJ asks me all of the time. Even some of the zombies back home forget I'm not alive. My face is a miracle!"

"You must have an excellent skincare routine."

"Only for my mug." She giggled and pulled up one of her sleeves to show off her decaying arm. You can clearly see the bone peeking through the rotting flesh of her arm. Big chunks of it are missing. You quickly look away.

It seems Scribbles has a similar idea, and is holding the interview cards over his face. "I am not sure if that is okay to show, Maggie. Can you please put your sleeve down?"

Maggie rolled her eyes and let out a grunt. "That's so disrespectful." She pulled her sleeve back down and crossed her arms in front of her. "It's down."

Scribbles slowly lowered the cards, and peeked over them. "Sorry! Some of us have weak stomachs."

Maggie grinned, "Me too. You know... With the whole being dead thing."

Scribbles let himself relax in the chair again. "Ah! Beetlejuice! That actually reminds me of one our reader's questions!" He looks at the cards. "Cedric asks, What kind of music does Maggie listen to?"

"Maggie likes musicals!" She grinned and leaned forward in her armchair. "You'd be surprised how many of the zombies I know, were theatre kids when they were alive. My whole aesthetic as an undead creature is "They're Only Human" from the Death Note Musical. Other than that, I listen to a myriad of other genres. Usually any electronic abandoned at our graveyard is scoured for music. If I had to list off other singers I liked I'd have to include Against the Current, BTS, and Michelle Creber."

Scribbles blinked. "That is an odd assortment... So K-Pop, Alternative, and that one girl who was in MLP: Friendship is Magic?"

Maggie's eyes widened. "Dude! That's where she is from! I thought I recognized her voice!"

Scribbles cleared his throat. "Moving on! This next question is from my best friend..." His eyes narrowed as he looked at the card, then over toward the audience. "Shane." He bit his lip and tried to hold back a smile. "Shane's... question is actually more of a statement. I am not sure what it means. Shane says Wake up Maggie I think I've got something to say to you."

"Hello!" Maggie looks out towards the audience as if looking for the reader that asked her this question. "I know that song. And like... you know. If you want to say something, I am single and ready!"

"Shane has a boyfriend."

Maggie grumbled and lowered her eyebrows. "What a tease."

Scribbles chuckled, "He sure is something." He looked back at the cards. "Our next question is from Cyrus! Cyrus asks..." Scribbles inhaled sharply and looked away from the card. "Before I ask this, I need you to promise not to show the arm again please, Maggie."

Maggie grinned and rested her chin on her hand. "No promises, cheesecake."

Scribbles blinked, "I do not hate that nickname... Cyrus asks, How do you make your exposed bone so pearly white?"

"Oh that is easy." Maggie pretended she was about to pull up her sleeve. "I use baking soda. I'm dead so it really doesn't hurt at all. I just use an old toothbrush and mix the baking soda with water. It makes it look really nice."

"Don't!" Scribbles hissed. The fur on his head ruffled a bit when he did. He looked a little flustered as Maggie grinned back at him. "Um... Don't know where that came from. Our last audience question comes from my friend, Auro! Auro asks, What made you decide to become a zombie?"

Maggie smirked, "Ooooh! I like this question. There are two answers to this one, to be honest. The fun one is, human life sucks! You're a human... I assume. You have a job, you deal with abrasive and upsetting situations and people every day. I know this, not from personal experience with human life, but from what I see. Being a zombie? Sure, it takes a lot from you. Mostly ribs and flesh. Sure, you are still dead inside! But at least your outside matches now! Right?" Maggie giggled. "But in all seriousness, I don't think I made this choice. Though, who knows. I could have. Maybe I signed a contract before I died. This could all be the result of human Maggie's deal with the devil!"

"You are so devilishly delightful, Maggie!" Scribbles smiled at her and then turned to face the audience. "Thanks to everyone that sent in a question! I hope you all enjoyed this interview! Maggie, do you have anything you think I should plus here at the end?"

Maggie nodded, "Yes! Zombies Hate Theater Crashers is on Wattpad! Go read it! It's a fun adventure of what it's like when people talk in movie theaters."

"Thank you so much, Maggie! She is correct! And our next guest is also featured in that story! Maggie's best friend, AJ, is a human who works in a movie theatre. He loves movies in general, and has a lot of film knowledge, loves candy, and as Maggie said earlier, he has been through some tough stuff. So prepare yourself for the next interview by reading "Zombies Hate Theater Crashers!" and remember to send any interview questions for AJ to the form!"

"We'll see you next time!"