In the Life of a Rose

March 13, 2020

In the Life of a Rose...

"Thea, have you heard of this Coronavirus?" Chris asked as I entered the living room.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Last I heard it started in China as an epidemic but now..."

"It could spread across the world," he finished. "They're saying it's here." He raised the volume and we listened to Mark Cuomo list the hundreds of cases from people with flu-like symptoms but it was more than that. The worst part was, people were starting to die from it.

"The elderly people are most likely affected by it," Cuomo stated. "But it doesn't mean it can't harm the younger folks because they could be asymptomatic. Today, we have Dr. Fauci here to explain more about this virus."

"Damn," Chris murmured as the doctor continued, talking about might having to have a mask mandate.

I heard his phone buzz and he grabbed it from the counter, answering it and I knew it was his family when he turned around. I thought it was a good idea to do so as well and I called my mom who put it on speaker so I could talk to my dad as well.

"When are you gonna come home?" my mom asked.

"I don't know," my voice faltered. "No one knows what's going to happen."

"I love you, sweetheart," my dad said.

"I love you guys, too." I wiped the tear that ran down my cheek and hung up, sniffling. Dodger jumped onto the couch and sat on my lap so I could brush his fur.

"Yeah, bye," Chris lastly said. He set his phone down and came to sit next to me on the couch. "Uhm, Thea..."

"Yeah?"

"You're flight got canceled."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Why?"

"They're not letting anyone leave the country or go across it anymore," he explained in a calm tone. "They've already refunded me."

"No, I have to go back home," I said. "I need to go back."

"They're not accepting more plane tickets."

"But mine was booked way before."

"I don't understand that part," he said. "With this virus going on, they don't know how to handle things properly. They're only listening to what their supervisors tell them."

"Oh my," I sighed, getting up. Tears ran down my cheeks and Chris tried to calm me down but I grabbed my phone and stormed off to my room to call my parents again.

"What, baby?" Mom answered.

"I can't go home," I cried and began to explain what Chris just told me.

————————

"With this deadly virus, Sar-cov-2, Coronavirus, or COVID-19," President Donald Trump began at a podium, "it's only a matter of time to go into a nationwide shutdown. This is an unprecedented time resulting in hundreds of deaths so far and the only way to start taking safety measures is to stay inside. Following that, please wear masks if you have to go outside. May God help us all, thank you."

"Oh," my voice quivered as my heart sank. Chris pulled me into a wide hug and squeezed me tight. His large palm rubbed my back and I couldn't help but give into his warm embrace and returned the hug. "What about you and your family? Are they safe?"

"Yeah, they're around town. Luckily, they got home before lockdown." He looked into my weary eyes and cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry. I know you'd rather be back in LA."

"It's okay. I'm in a foreign land in the middle of a pandemic, and Facetime is my only means of communication," I lightly chuckled and he stared at me with concern. "Let's just hope we don't kill each other for as long as we're in here."

"At least I have a big backyard."

"And a dog, who's way better than Christopher," I stated, picking up Dodger. "Aunt TT is gonna make you a movie star."

"Uhm, what should we do to pass the time?"

"I have a show to go watch. As you said, I can do my job from any part of the world," I replied. "Maybe, I'll get bored and come out to play."

"Did your mom say you could?"

I laughed out my dry tears and nodded, "Yeah." I pushed open the door to my room with my elbow and closed it before setting Dodger down. He trotted around the floor until I permitted him to get onto the bed. I turned off the lights, the setting sun bringing its own light through the windows, and joined the dog on the bed and set up my laptop.

Since New Year's, I hadn't gotten the chance to watch The Witcher, and now, I had all the time in the world. I opened Netflix and decided to watch it from the beginning where the white-haired witcher was fighting what I knew was a kikimora.

I was on the fourth episode when I finally realized it was dark outside and Dodger had fallen asleep. I checked the time and saw that it was past midnight and I got out of bed, taking a long stretch. If time had passed well-meaningly, then that meant the show was very good.

I creaked open the door to the dark living room and I sighed, knowing that Chris was asleep even though he tried to get me to hang out with him. At that moment, things were overwhelming and I just needed something to get my mind off of everything even if was seeing a white-haired man fuck a purple-eyed witch; then so be it.

I turned on the kitchen lights and pulled down the switch so that it was dim to not disturb him in case the beams reached that far into the hallway. Opening the fridge, I saw that he had made burgers using some patties and buns so I fixed myself one with tomato, fine-cut lettuce, and some bottle-sauce on the fridge door. I sat down and ate it, drinking the second carton of Minute Maid.

"Hey," I heard a voice and I nearly choked on my food from being startled. "Sorry."

"You're good," I said, coughing a bit. I gulped some juice, finally collecting myself, and asked, "I thought you were asleep?"

"I was about to when I heard the microwave turn on," he explained. "I just wanted to check up on you."

"Well, I'm doing fine as of right now. Thank you," I lightly smiled. "And you?"

"I just hope things get better."

I nodded. "We all thought 2020 would be the best year. Just ten years ago, we thought we'd have flying cars."

"They're still on the ground."

"Yeah." I moved towards the sink to wash my plate and hang it on the rack. "Anyway, I'm gonna head back in."

"Alright... goodnight."

"'Night."