Aura's pov: 

"The virus is spreading rapidly and the experts still don't have a cure so please stay home. Keep yourself and your family safe."

" New York broke the record. More than ten thousand infected in one day."

" The president fails to answer questions regarding how long quarantine will last"

" Pandemic one, humanity zero"

I sigh wearily. Currently I was switching through the T.V channels but all of them were focused on one subject- the stupid virus. This was becoming a pain in the ass. No cure means no guarantee about when quarantine will end. This sucks. Right now,I would kill just to step a foot outside. I go back to finding something not virus related to watch. All the channels were filled with virus news. Heck even the cartoon channels had ads warning the children about the virus.

Switch. Switch. Switch. Switch .

A news channel caught my eye. A footage of some kind of rebel work was playing. I try to listen to what the reporter was saying over the percussive sound that my sister was making.

"Why are the corporations stealing from us? We want funds.We want food. How long do you think we can go on like this? We want our disaster funds. We want it now!" said a masked boy, after snatching the mic from the reporter. In the background, people were raiding a grocery store. Broken pieces of glass and metal were everywhere. The footage changes and this one shows people running out of a trashed pharmacy. Police arrived shortly and then footage was cut off.

"People have started raiding! What's happening? Can the police really control situations like this? And if they can then for how long? Will the scarcity of food lead to something horrendous? Is this the wake up call people need? Are the rebels right? Stay tuned to find out."

I shut off the t.v. What was happening to the world? Were those people right? Everyone is under lock-down so there's no one to produce food. The people are also using the internet a lot more than usual so the pressure is there.What if the internet collapses? What will happen to us? Will we survive this? Or is it the end?Will the world change as we know it?The world will become more chaotic than it already is. Isn't that fucking great? We took so much from mother nature without sympathy, it's only fair if she takes it back. I bet nature is probably showing us the middle finger now and laughing at our misery. Not that I blame her. Way to go,humans.

"Look at the bright side," says my mother from behind me, causing an abrupt end to my train of thoughts. " The virus solved two of the biggest problems - overpopulation and pollution." Leave it to this woman to find the bright side in everything.

" Yeah solving problems by killing people including infants and children." I said, chuckling bitterly. My mom was dumbfounded.

She was right though. But I wasn't going to show her that I agreed, or show her any emotions at all. Because I'm an "emotionless piece of crap". Her words,not mine.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a buzzing sound from my phone. I look at my phone screen to see a notification pop up. I was added back to the group chat by Flo. Rolling my eyes, I try removing myself from the group again just as another text comes from her.

Flo: WAIT!

Scarly: What do u want Flo?

Flo: Read this.

We became puzzle pieces,

we're falling apart

No one to click us back together again

We try to smooth out the creases

Crumple things instead

No one to iron us smooth all over again

Why don't we change our minds

Leave the past behind

Why don't we try our best

To bring the birds back to theirs nest

Aura: That's......wow damn

Flo: WTH?!?

HEYYY!! Who got into my account?

Andy: wait what?

Flo: I didn't send that!

Zach: hmmm

Flo: my notebook!!!!

Arsen: what's happening??

Flo: ZACH!!!!!

You took my notebook!

Andy: how would he take your notebook?

Flo: at the park

I was at the park today and he found me and

Well then he took my notebook without me noticing

Scarly: And is that all that happened??

Flo : Shut up Scarl

And Zach come back and give me back my notebook

RIGHT NOW!!! And stop logging into my account.

Zach: Fine. Fine, I'll give it to you tomorrow okay?

And they needed to read that

It's true

It's so true .

Andy: How do you guys feel about putting pineapple on pizza?

Now let me be dramatic for once and say - At that moment, I knew no matter how much we fought we would always stick together. Each and every single one of our fights only brings us closer and makes our bond stronger. Each of us had our own scars and wounds but we helped each other heal. We are the ointment on each other's cut, healing slowly but surely.

I smiled and hence began our very weird conversation (but then again when are our conversations not weird? I mean weird is our normal) about pineapples and pizzas.

*****************

The next few days were spent cleaning the house, planting seeds and more news about the virus. The only new news was reports of more raids. People out there were getting anxious and angry. They were slowly losing their patience. The authorities could sense it too. They tried to remain calm but if you looked closely, you could spot the worry lines behind the heap of gloriously horrible garbage they cover their faces with. The garbage is also known as makeup as humans put it. Anyways back to the topic.

The mayor got scared shitless when she received a surprise gift from her little so called "fanclub". The gift included a picture of her face messed up and scarred and a threat from the anonymous sender. The video went viral and it took quite a while to calm the social media down. The news of Zayn and Gigi expecting a baby girl took over the top breaking news and slowly the mayor fuss faded.

The people were going to be a pain in the ass to handle if these raids started spreading. Just in case, I packed an emergency backpack with all my daily necessities and dry food. Not that I am expecting any trouble but hey it doesn't hurt to be prepared. After all, life's full of surprises, like the surprise I got later that afternoon.

My mom and dad just had an argument and I was making lunch for myself. Dad went grocery shopping wearing gloves and a mask, and Mom took Violetta, our cat,to the vet. My sister tagged along with her, so I had the house all to myself. I had made dim sum for lunch and after eating, I did the dishes and went to my room.

Like always, I plopped down on the bed and checked my social media. There were messages in the group chat and from Arsen. I opened Arsen's messages, too lazy to read the group chat. Hey it's not my fault,there were like a hundred new messages. Here's how my conversation with Arsen went:

Punching bag: Heyyy I miss u guys so much

Me: Ikr me too. Quarantine sucks ass

Punching bag: Yeah no doubt there. Can we meet up somewhere?

Me; That's impossible. I am not allowed to leave the house. And sneaking out is not an option because after last time, my parents installed cctv cameras in the house. Now I could hack into the servers but that will take a lot of time. I only have about 2 hours before my family gets back.

Punching bag: hmmm I see.

Me: yeah

Then he went offline. I was scrolling through interior designs. Not that I'm into architecture but I like seeing it. Gives me ideas and is a great method for time pass.

plink. What was that? Probably just the wind outside. Plink. Plink. What the hell?

I go to my window to see a shadow appear through my window. What the actual fuck? I pull away my curtains to reveal a struggling Arsen with twigs and leaves in his hair.

"Open your damn window."He croaks out.

After a lot of scuffling and pulling and me basically ripping his head off, we got him settled.

" Have you gone nuts?" I ask, still not believing the fact that he was standing right in front of me. Arsen lived only four blocks away from me so it explains how he got here so soon.

" I missed you." he said,shrugging. Then only did I notice that his eyes were slightly red and puffy. Something was wrong and I had a hunch about what exactly it was.

"Something happened with Samantha didn't it?" I asked. He just nodded. Woohooo hundred points for you Aura!

Samantha wasn't a part of our group but we were good friends. She and Scarly used to be best friends until I came along and stole Scarly away from her. Sam's words, not mine. She used to hate me. We're on good terms now though and that's all that matters. Samantha was outgoing and confident. She was also just as pretty. Samantha and Arsen started going out way back during seventh grade. And surprisingly they still didn't break up.

" Dum dum cheer up...It's gonna be back to normal in a few days.It always does. Don't worry about that too much.' I tell him,trying to console him. I suck at these.

" Five years and she still hides stuff from me....I guess I really am not trustworthy." he mutters.

" No you're not. Now cheer up! I bet that you guys will be back to sending "lustful texts" *cough cough* to each other in about a week." I state and nudge him gently with my elbows.

He goes red immediately. He picks up a pillow from my bed and starts hitting me with it.

" You are so dead..." was my last words before I lunged at him.

We ended up having a very serious pillow fight because by the time we stopped, my room was covered with feathers. I dropped to the ground laughing so much that my stomach hurt and turned around to check the time. 10 minutes till my parents are back. Holy shit. I quickly get up and tell Arsen to help me clean up. By the time we were done, my dad's car was pulling up in our driveway. I quickly told Arsen to leave.

"Okay okay I'm leaving!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Aura?" my dad's voice boomed throughout the empty house. Shit shit shit. Arsen wasn't going to be able to get out in time.... Unless...

I push Arsen out of my window, praying that he won't break any of his bones when he falls into the ground. Arsen lands with a thud just as my dad opens my door. He narrows his eyes and inspects the room.

"Everything okay here?" He asks,analyzing everything in the room.

"Everything's fine," I say in a monotone voice. "Why?"

His eyes linger a little longer at a feather that we missed while cleaning up. "Just asking. Take out the groceries and bleach them. Don't forget to put on gloves."

"I'll be down in a minute." I reply as he nods and goes downstairs. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I quickly walk over to the window and peep outside. No traces of Arsen. Good. He got away. I tie my hair in a ponytail and head downstairs to work, a smile threatening its way on my face.

*Six months later *

Aura's pov:

"Do you have it?" I asked anxiously, running my fingers through my damp hair.

"Yes but I don't know how long we have. We should get going"

"Then let's light this shit up"  

Ahhhhh extremely sorry for not updating on Monday. We weren't done with the chapter and it was Eid so we decided to skip that day. Anyways we'll try to make up for it by posting the next chapter by tomorrow hopefully. Also what do you think happens 6 months later? Do they finally escape or do they wait longer?? 

- RR