Maude Marsh for Bedelia’s Bachelorette Challenge by @smallcowplant
thank god my laptop’s back up and working so that I could enter this
Maude didn’t talk a lot after her parents disappeared. All it took was one trip in a rickety propeller plane to Selvadorada to explore a temple thought to be lost to the living world and they were never heard from again. Her grandparents welcomed her into their home with open arms and a wealth of love, but grief left her numb. She buried herself in books: old, leather-bound classics that cluttered every inch of the crumbling cottage or yellowed collections of scrawling sheet music. Her fingers would dance over the keys and thumb the pages and Maude was able to escape the cruel world that took people she loved away from her.
Soon her grandparents’ time came as well, as she had come to learn that everyone’s did eventually, and all at once she found herself completely alone. She couldn’t bring herself to leave their cottage, still soaking in what little security she still could from the lingering spirit that swathed their belongings. Some scream in terror, but Maude fell silent, too scared to breathe. Overcome by apprehension she drifted through life, if that’s what you could call it, with crippling caution. Until the staircase gave up on her as well.
Splintering wood. A cloud of dust. A collective gasp from the antiques. And Maude met her quiet demise. No matter how careful she’d been, the underworld had claimed her as its own and her time on earth had been drawn from her trembling hands.
After the disappearance of her parents the thought of an afterlife was somewhat comforting to Maude. But as time pressed on the idea grew as cold and lifeless as she believed them to be. So when her eyes fluttered open and she felt crisp satin beneath her fingers in the darkness that enveloped her, she was paralysed with fear. She held her breath, fearing that what little oxygen she still had left in this box that would allow her to scream for help would be wasted on a gasp. But whilst the air should have been thick and musty, it felt cool and almost refreshing. Was she even underground? Tentative as ever, Maude pushed on the wood above her and felt fresh earth simply slide out of the way. Eventually her fingers broke the surface and clawed at the dirt packed onto her grave. Once her whole body was free she shook the soil from her hair and her hand moved down to brush off her clothes as her eyes adjusted to the moonlight. Blinking life back into her eyes Maude’s breath caught in her throat as she gazed in a terrified stupor at her hand, or at least what had become of it.
Her skin was grey. She told herself that it must be a trick of the moon. The cold night air, ebony sky and shock of waking up in her own coffin were toying with her mind. But as she looked at her fingers again the horror of her reality dawned on her. Decay crept towards her palms, eating away at the flesh that once danced across ivory keys. She had to be dreaming. This was a sick hallucination. She was laid on a hospital bed with a ‘last-attempt’ dose of medication draining through her body and it was warping her thoughts.
But a breeze rustled the leaves of the trees around her and she felt it tickle her cheek. How could that be if this was a dream? How was dead skin capable of feeling? How could a girl who’d never really lived still stand here long after her life had ended?
Stumbling on stiff legs she didn’t feel she should be using, she made her way through the graveyard where her grandparents rested to the fountain she’d become so familiar with. Moonlight glittered on the water’s surface and as she reached out, the water spilled onto her hand. Recoiling in shock, she looked at her hand again. Still dying before her eyes, but dripping water nonetheless, and she could feel all of it. Her reflection snatched her gaze and all thoughts in her head fell away. It wasn’t just her hands that were beginning to decay, her whole body was bruising and faltering beneath the greying exterior. But her eyes were what rooted her to the spot. Where green beads had once hidden behind wire glasses, ghostly white orbs stared back at her. Any sign or irises or pupils had disappeared all together. There looked to be about as much life in her eyes as the rest of her body.
Staggering backwards she grabbed at her face, alarmed by what she’d seen. This was no dream. It was a nightmare. It had to be. But as her chest heaved with effort to take in enough air for her to hyperventilate, moonlight broke through the trees and bathed her creaking bones. Her head turned to the sky without conscious effort and suddenly energy like she’d never felt before coursed through her body. Sure her movements were still a little jerky, but she made her way back to the fountain with co-ordination that even surprised herself. Gazing into the rippling water once more she was almost hypnotised by what she saw. Her eyes glowed with what she could only explain to be the energy that had overcome her. In the few years she had spent on earth she had never felt like this. So vibrant, so awake, so…alive.
Her days had been spent quietly caring for her grandparents, tending to weeds in what should have been neat flower beds and escaping from her dreary reality with literature and music. It had hardly been a life. Her parents had wildly adventurous spirits that drove them to explore every inch of the world, yet she had caged herself away from it, kidding herself that painting pottery and wandering through libraries was enough to fulfil her time. Scared into hiding from anything that strayed from ordinary, Maude now found herself yearning to live. Everything she never experienced had never felt so appealing. There was so much more to life than she ever dared herself to believe but it had been snatched from her grasp before she realised it.
Still, her bones twitched beneath her skin and newfound determination fluttered in her chest where her heart once beat. Bruised lips twisted into a grin as reality dawned on her. This was her chance. She may be dead, but she was finally ready to live her life.
Traits: self-assured, glutton and clumsy
Maude Marsh is a zombie with a twisted sense of adventure. Once scared by the squeaking of a door, she wasted her mortality hiding from the world around her. But with immortality on her side and a desperation to explore the world she left behind, she’s ready to take on everything the afterlife has to offer.
Now fascinated by things she would have never given a second thought before, she spends her time scouting out rubbish bins that litter the town to pilfer for trinkets to grow her collection oddities. It’s amazing how much you can find if you rummage hard enough! Her pockets are usually stuffed with rusty badges, paper straws and soda can rings.
Expressing herself in ways she never would have dared to before, she plays around with outfits she bargains from other corpses, putting on fashion shows for herself and any graveyard attendees that she doesn’t send fleeing in terror. Who’d have thought that greying pigtails could be so scary? The screams quickly became melodious to Maude, drawing smiles that grew bigger and bigger every time someone would recoil in horror. Something about making people feel something after a lifetime of feeling numb was incredible.
False life buzzes through empty veins as she giggles and rolls through trampled weeds, letting the grass tickle her skin. Sometimes she weaves dandelions and wild flowers into bouquets to leave for the gravedigger in hopes of making a friend, but they hadn’t been successful yet. Companionship was something Maude never allowed herself to experience in her life, too scared to open her cage and allow anyone to step inside. But with her cage long gone she now longs for a connection. She wants to discover everything life (and the afterlife) has to offer: the good, the bad and the straight up twisted.
Maude sees beauty in everything: sunlight filtering through foliage, old bubble gum stuck to a withering crisp packet or the glint of something wicked in a smile. As she falls in love with the world around her, Maude finds herself wanting nothing more than to find someone to share this adventure with. Can Bedelia get her heart to beat again?
dumpster queen
she/her pronouns
5′ 8′‘ in the cute boots she found in a ditch and re-laced with a lock of her hair
looooooves hugs
still not totally used to moving all her dead weight at once so is a lil’ clumsy most of the time
likes munching on daisies
if the other corpses don’t want to talk to her (which is often) then she’ll just sit and talk to their gravestones instead
loves doing the quizzes in old magazines she digs out of the trash
tried to write a note saying ‘hi I like your shovel’ to the grave digger with a stick
labradoodle puppy trapped in a zombie body
fishes coins out of the fountain to just throw back in
currently looking for more throw pillows for her coffin as well as a cuddle-buddy
sometimes follows people out of the graveyard just because she likes the way that they scream and wants to hear it again
