Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual violence, rape, child abuse, child sexual abuse, child death, death by suicide, graphic violence, sexual content, illness or death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and racism.

Nelly sits in prison and contemplates how unwell he used to be. His sickness did not begin until he was 23, when he lived at home with his mother and grandfather. Nelly was very close with his grandfather and watched as he died from mesothelioma. Nelly’s struggles began with him waking up every night with pain in his chest, unable to swallow. Doctors said it was psychosomatic, but medications for anxiety and depression did not help.

When Nelly’s estranged father died, he left Nelly $40,000 from a lawsuit against Social Security. With this money, Nelly bought a PlayStation 4 and a zombie video game. The game made Nelly believe that a zombie apocalypse was coming. Nelly’s grandfather, however, frequently told Nelly that it would not happen. Nelly began ignoring his grandfather as punishment for his lack of faith.

As a way to earn Nelly’s trust back, Nelly’s grandfather told him a story about zombies in their culture, though now Nelly realizes he merely framed it as a zombie tale to appease him.