He was dead.

Pugsley Addams was dead.

No one really knew how it happened — not anyone but Wednesday. She was different now. She NEVER talked. She had her own dorm now. She was alone. All of the time. She didn't have the patience to even deal with Enid anymore. No one was really scared of her anymore. Just... sad for her. She was completely emotionless now. She never even slightly smiled when anyone mentioned anything morbid. It reminded her of her dead brother. Her very dead brother.

Ajax had told you and the rest of the freshmen about the skull tree, and the kid with the clockwork heart. He did last year to the freshmen as well, Pugsley included. He died at the end of last year, though. He would forever be only just fourteen. He was dead. You never knew him. But you had seen pictures. Heard gossip. Saw Wednesday. But she never said a word. You wondered if she had always been that way.

You found it interesting — the kid at the skull tree, not Pugsley. No one had told you about his story because no one knew. Again, except Wednesday. That night, you went out to the skull tree. Nothing happened. Not yet. Not with the kid buried there.

That's when you heard a groan from the woods. You turned immediately. There was a sickly looking kid. Actually — sickly was an understatement. He was so grey it looked green. He had marks all over him, signaling he had been burnt or struck by some kind of lightning. He had been electrocuted to death, so it made sense. You didn't know that, though. He was non-verbal. At least, for now. Maybe you could teach him how to talk again?

He stumbled up to you. You immediately backed away. He tripped over his own feet. He ended up in your arms. He looked up at you. His dead eyes met your very alive ones. He groaned again. That's when you realized who it was.

It was Pugsley Addams.

The dead kid with the sad sister.

His unfocused and glossy eyes stayed on yours. A hint of understanding and life was still there. But barely. He didn't seem to want to eat you or your brains. Not yet, anyway. You helped him stand again. He groaned again. He was very wobbly, but he still seemed human. It was... really sad. But you had also just found yourself a friend. An undead friend, but... eh. Those are just details.

You looked at Pugsley and sighed. You asked him if he wanted to come back to your dorm and have you help him get washed up and into some new clothes. He nodded. He really needed that. You needed to be sneaky, though. If anyone saw him, they'd freak out. Especially Wednesday.

So you quietly and cautiously brought him back to your dorm. You helped him get into the shower and prepared him new clothes. He managed to get dressed by himself somehow. It took a while, but he did. He looked all clean now. More... human. Still greyish-green and covered in marks, but... human.

You sat him down on your bed and sat next to him. You sighed softly and looked at him. There was a dead kid in your bed. A zombie. An actual zombie. And he was... kinda cute. In a... morbid, rotten kind of way. You liked it.

He looked at you as well. He just stared. He still couldn't say anything. Words were too complicated for now. So he just looked at you. For a long time.