Shelly

The world is in utter chaos. A few weeks ago, almost three months, has passed since the first case of the deadly illness that has caused heart failure in many elders. We have yet to hear about the cause or the origin of the illness but we do know that it's only affecting humans. Animals are safe until it evolves to them. The illness has been rumored to stem from the Bonobo Chimpanzee.

The C.D.C. has spoken out and said that the best way to avoid this illness is to stay home. Orders will be issued and it's said that people will be fined if they step outside with no protection. Protection being masked everywhere they go that's public. Seven feet apart is the appropriate length that people are to stay from others.

More tonight at eleven.

I turned the T.V. off. Sighing, I leaned back on my bed. This sucked. School had been put on pause for a week. I looked around to see that everything in my room was cleaned and nothing needed fixing. I turned over on my left side and saw my reflection from the square mirror I had on my floor.

My friends had yet to call or text. Everyone seemed so immersed in their own lives, it was like I didn't belong in it. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and saw no new messages. Sighing again, I got up and walked to the kitchen.

"How you holding up sweetie?"

"Mom, I've been the same as I was yesterday. This thing is going to be the death of me," I said as I reached on my toes to get the cereal as a snack.

"It's only for a while. Everything will calm down, just wait."

"It won't, everything will get worse. The world is ever-growing, places are always crowded, it's not going down. It's the bubonic plague again."

"I don't think so."

"It is Mom. Nothing is going to go good for us."

Putting the spoon in my mouth, I put the cereal back before sitting down to eat. My mom walked out of the kitchen and I was alone again. It was lonesome being the only child. I was almost done when I heard a truck.

I rushed to the window that was above the sink, placed my unfinished dish in, and watched as a moving truck—that slowed down to turn the corner—went by my house. A car followed with a family of three before it disappeared. Someone was moving in this condition of the world?

I walked outside to get fresh air. Pulling my phone back out, I turned my Spotify on and then sat my phone on my chest. Sitting on a chair, I raised my legs to put them on another one. I closed my eyes as I let the sun and sounds of nature crowd my mind so that scary thoughts didn't invade.

And then I faintly heard a sliding door open. I opened an eye looking straight at the gate in front of me. No one had been in that house since I was six. It was used as a hub for the homeless until the owner had started renovating last summer. I remember hearing the people staple the top of the roof.

"You feel the sun, Tan? It feels good, much better than in Washington," a girl had spoken.

"I guess but I liked it better there. I had friends-"

"You wouldn't be able to go anywhere anyway. This thing put a big pause on our lives."

"Don't remind me, Susie," he groaned.

I listened to them banter until they went back inside. So new kids were behind me. I wasn't alone anymore. Realizing the sun was setting, I found myself walking back inside to take a shower before bed.

After, I plugged my phone in before I thought about the new kids. Despite the fact that I wouldn't get to know them, it felt nice to know that there were kids, teens, my age around me. It really made me feel less alone than I already was.