How to Deaden an Undead Thing
by Marie Baca Villa
When haunted by a zombied soul, use this concoction to end its reign over you, once and for all.
For the shell:
2 cups flour (with malice already folded in)
1⁄2 teaspoon blood salt
2 tablespoons of regret roots (freshly plucked for best outcome)
For the filling:
2 pints of black cherries (pits removed)
1 cup smoke tendrils of the last fire you fled
2 heaping tablespoons of ground witch’s rope
Directions
Dear friend, we have fooled you. There is no ending to something that has been commanded to carry on. You may not kill things without their consent, and we cannot help you in that endeavor.
Instead, we will find another way to relieve you of your worries.
To begin, grind together blood salt and regret roots until muddy; combine with flour until a thick paste, allowing malice to bubble and set. Roll into a ball the size of a human heart, before desiccation. If it forms on its own, do not reshape. Prove overnight.
In the morning, if you are so determined, fill a pot with your prepared smoke and bring to a rolling boil, adding witch's rope when ready. Drop in cherries and allow to caramelize by stirring infrequently. Direction does not matter; nothing really does.
Once hot and sticky, whisk and pull from the pot, dropping into a heap upon your risen shell. It will close in on itself, much like a Venus flytrap upon its prey. It will smell sharply of burnt skin and oleanders. Once cool to the touch, cut into 30 equal pieces (or however many days left in your lunar month). Place near your front door, eating one full piece before crossing the threshold daily.
Do not be concerned when all the plants around you wilt, and you find the spring eggs all pushed from their peaceful nests. Record the vivid, unyielding nightmares you begin to experience, preferably in a journal. As food loses its taste, continue to feign the joy of eating, lest you become malnourished.
When it's time for your undead foe to visit on its monthly due, you will find it repulsed by you. Its rotting face will mangle with the smell and sight of you, and it will be discharged unto new, more vulnerable prey. It will leave you alone. Of course, so will everyone else.
Enjoy!
About the author:
Marie Baca Villa is a queer Chicana writer and artist in California. She is also a Submissions Reader and Assistant Editor for Apparition Literary Magazine. You can find Marie on Twitter at @okay_its_marie.
