Haitian Zombie in Ontario

The day had begun nicely enough, yet this turn of events definitely didn't surprise me. In my experience, terrible things have a habit of happening really fast. My name is Victor Saint-Valcourt and I'm a Haitian national residing in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I've been living in Canada for four years now, and only recently became a permanent resident. Long story, I don't care to get into it. Let's just say that politics play their part in it. These days, I study business administration at the University of Ottawa. Got to keep busy, you know? Anything to keep my mind off my real problems.

You see, some of us are born different. And that's not always a good thing. I wish I could say something cool about my condition. I have very low body temperature, which has always baffled the few doctors I let examine me. Also, I don't feel heat or cold. I am completely numb from head to toe. I don't feel pain either. One thing I do feel though, is hunger. Oh, yeah. Hunger is something I feel constantly. Why is that? Simply because I am a zombie. No, I'm nothing like those mindless, shambling freaks you see in the movies, usually surrounding a mall where a ragtag bunch of humans have taken refuge. Nope. I'm as real as can be. Just your average, decent and friendly gentleman who happens to be undead. I am by no means unique.

There are many others like me around. You will see many of us who are of African descent because only 'experts' from the African and Afro-Caribbean communities know how to create zombies. The one who created me died before he could bind me to his will, leaving me free to 'live', if you can call this living. I was born in the town of Cap-Haitien in Northern Haiti in 1984. I've been in Canada since 2008. I have met a few others like myself here and there. One thing I've encountered which frightened me is the entity that calls itself The Void. When I first ran into it, I was visiting a friend in the City of Toronto. I was at a bus station when I was approached by this tall, good-looking young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and alabaster skin. She smiled at me as if we're old friends, then she said she knew what I was.

I looked into those icy blue eyes of hers, and saw nothing human. All at once I felt an immediate sense of panic. I knew there were all kinds of strange things in this world. However, I had never seen or sensed anything as alarming as the entity that stood before me, disguised as a blonde chick. I can't tell you how I know this but I knew that what stood before me was definitely not human. Even worse, it had never been human. Whatever it was, it was ancient and powerful. I demanded to know who and what I was dealing with. The entity housed in the young blonde woman's body smiled, and told me it had more names than it could count. Its eyes fixed on me, then it spoke again. This time, all trace of humanity had lost its voice. And it told me to address it as...the Void.

And just like that, the entity vanished. I stood there, mesmerized. I blinked several times, wondering if I truly saw what I just saw. If I were still alive, my heart would have been racing. If I still breathed, I might have felt cold dread in my heart and cold sweat running down my spine. However, being undead I felt nothing of the sort. Just a sense of panic which quickly vanished. I was so lost in thought that I didn't sense my buddy Roger O'Bannon until he tapped on my shoulder. I whirled around, and instinctively made a grab for what I perceived to be a threat. Instead I found myself grabbing my friend, who stared at me blankly. Roger O'Bannon stared at me blankly, and asked me to relax. I nodded. Up until he spoke, I hadn't realized that I had my hand around his neck. I quickly let go, and apologized. Roger shrugged, and told me to get a grip. I laughed. Poor choice of words. He must have been thinking the same thing for he smiled too. I told him I had a run-in with a mugger, by way of explanation. Roger laughed, and told me that Toronto wasn't that bad.

Roger and I left the bus station, and headed to the nearby Tim Horton's for coffee and sandwiches. Roger is one of the first people I met in Canada. A five-foot-eight, stocky old Irishman with graying reddish hair. How we met is a funny story. I was at the Catholic Immigration Center in Ottawa, Ontario, looking for work. This I did three days after I landed in Canada. Roger was one of a few volunteers. He was born in Galway, Ireland, and moved to the Ontario region of Canada three decades ago. He married a Nigerian woman named Catherine Adewale and had a daughter with her, Lily O'Bannon. He and his wife got divorced a few years after Lily's birth. These days, Lily O'Bannon was married to a Congolese Baptist preacher named Mitchell Lela and taught social psychology at the University of Ottawa. I befriended Roger at the Catholic Immigration Center and met Lily through him. Lily and I went out a couple of times, before she married Mr. Lela. We're still pals. Roger never much cared for the Congolese "Jesus Man" and thought him a liar and a phony. He always chided me about not being aggressive enough while dating Lily. How could I tell him that I seldom let women get close to me because I'm undead now and forevermore?

It's not exactly the sort of thing covered on the Oprah reruns I occasionally watch when I can't fall asleep. Anyhow, it was good to see Roger again. I have few friends. Indeed, I made few friends even when I was alive. I wasn't much of a people person even while growing up in Haiti. I always kept to myself. Always with my nose in the books. That didn't change after I died and was reborn as one of the undead. And I don't think there's a cure for that. Roger and I checked out a museum and caught a movie together before heading to our favorite bar in downtown T.O. Afterwards, I caught the bus back to Ottawa. I like Toronto a lot. I always wondered why metropolitan Toronto or perhaps the City of Montreal weren't chosen as the capital of Canada. Of course, Canadians are strange and their explanations always fuddle me. I went back to my apartment, and got ready for the night.

Prior to going to bed, I warmed up about five pounds of raw goat meat which I kept in the freezer. I ate it all, then showered and went to bed. I must consume at least two pounds of raw meat per day to keep the Hunger at bay. The Hunger for flesh is probably the only thing I have in common with those zombies you see in television and in the movies. Oh, and a bite from me will transform a human being into one like myself of course. I'm a man of principle with no taste for carnage so I refrain from harming anyone. I found a way to deal with my urges without hurting anyone. I go to school. I work part-time at the Call Center of Bell Canada in downtown Ottawa. I attend All Nations Church, an African institution located not far from my neck of the woods. I'm just your average immigrant guy in the Canadian capital, trying to make a life for myself in a strange new world. It's a bit more complicated for me because I got to do all this while battling the urges that come with being undead but it's not a bad life. Good enough for this dead man. Peace.