The Story Of...

Chapter 1: The Virus

It was the end of 2019, word had gotten out about a new virus that somebody had brought back from another country. The virus was making people deathly ill, it would seem like you just had a regular cold at first but then you would start to experience more severe symptoms like full body aches, not being able to breathe, painful coughs, etc. Although word was getting around about it, nobody was taking this virus seriously. They all just thought it was something that they were more than likely never going to get.

As the months go on and spring break rolls around, everyone was super excited to be out of school for an entire week and not have to worry about any kind of work. I especially was excited because that meant I got to spend an entire week away from my family and just enjoy life for a bit before going back and dealing with the bullshit that was my household. I didn't really like being at home because I felt trapped. I was always in my room and if I wasn't I was getting yelled at or being called a bitch by my mother or being told to kill myself by my brothers. It just wasn't ideal for me especially considering the fragile mental state I had been in back then.

Spring break started and I left IMMEDIATELY. I went over to my friend Jasmines house as I had been doing for the past few years anytime I had a free weekend or a break from school. Jasmine was family to me, she was my first real friend when I moved to Arkansas. We met when we were around 12 years old because we lived in the same neighborhood and shared the same social circle. We hit it off instantly and were inseperable after that day. As the years went on I met her whole family and even went on small trips with her. We would occasionally add a person or two to our circle but not long after it would be back to just me and her. I was always at her house any chance I got. We spent many holidays and birthdays together. She always had my back whether I was wrong or not. She really made me felt like I belonged and played a part in me becoming the person that I am today. I really had felt like I found a life long friend.

I spent the entirety of spring break at Jasmines house, we ended up making a new friend while I was over there, Stephanie. Stephanie was 5'11, slim build, with long ginger hair. She seemed like a really nice girl and we were always at her house which was convenient to go to because she lived right around the block from Jasmines house. We would go swimming in her pool, go hangout at the park, or just go for walks and talk about the things that were going on in life. Those were really the simpler times. Life seemed brighter and lighter, it seemed like it was going to stay like that forever. I wish it had to be honest.

The break was almost over and I was really dreading going back home. I knew that what awaited me wasn't going to be anything good. I was more than likely going to get bombarded with questions about where I was and what I did all spring break. My phone was off since my mom never felt like paying for me to get it turned on. So spring break was a series of missed calls and a multitude of text messages each time I got back to Jasmines house at the end of the day. But honestly, I didn't even care. I enjoyed every second of that break and made so many memories, I feel like if my phone had been on I would have enjoyed it way less.

It's the day before we're supposed to be going back to school and my mom receives an email from the school saying that school is out until further notice due to the new virus that was going around they called it the "CoronaVirus" or better known as COVID-19. My mom being the hypochondriac she is immediately starts doing her research on what COVID is and what it can do to you. I'm sitting in my room when she receives this news and she starts sending me so many different screenshots including the email she received from the school, news articles about this new pandemic, and stories about people who have already died from it. At first she really didn't seem to worried about it, me and my siblings definitely weren't, another week or so of spring break? Hell yeah! I knew she was going to make a big thing out of it at some point, I just never could have imagined the extent she would take it to.

My mom is the kind of person who does NOT mess around when it comes to her health, she had been hospitalized multiple times over the years due to colds that turned fatal and ever since the last time she stopped leaving the house unless it was absolutely necessary. Anytime my siblings or me got sick she would make it a point to keep us in our rooms by ourselves so that we didn't have any chance of getting her sick. If we had to leave our rooms she would always make us wear masks and call us mean names to make fun of the fact that we were sick. She was always verbally abusive but especially when we were sick.

When we missed school due to being sick she would punish us. Even if we had gotten better by the weekend we would't be able to leave the house because we had missed a day or two of school that week even though we couldn't control the fact that we were sick. She would make us do crazy chores that we never had to do on a regular basis. It had gotten to the point where even if I was sick no matter how bad it was I would force myself to go to school because I didn't want to deal with the consequences of not going, just fake it til' you make it y'know? I would always come home and take a bunch of medicine and go straight to sleep but that was always easier than hearing my mothers mouth.

Anyway, a week later my mom tells me and my siblings that we all needed to come home ASAP because she needed to tell us something, I was scared because I thought we had done something wrong I just didn't know what it could possibly be. We all finally get back and as we sit down I already knew it was going to be bad just by the look on her face. She looked sad but irritated at the same time, a look she only has when she's about to give us news that she KNOWS is going to make us lash out.

We get situated and ask her what's going on and she says she has bad news for us, my heart sank immediately knowing that it had to be serious if she made us all come home to tell us rather than messaging us like she usually does. She starts by reminding us of the email she got about school being out due to this new pandemic that has made it's way to America, telling us that it is way more serious than even she thought it was. Saying that school is cancelled for the remainder of the year because they can't risk hundreds of kids getting sick from COVID because it is spreading rapidly. Me being me I just thought this meant an early and extended summer, it was my sophomore year of highschool one of the worst years I had and I really would not have been mad if that were the case.

My mom continues by saying that we would no longer be able to go over to our friends houses or leave the house by any means. She said we would be taking every precaution possible to avoid catching COVID and that we would all be getting tested immediately to make sure we didn't already have it. Little did I know, that would be the beginning of a six month depression and eating disorder for me. It would be the hardest most miserable time I ever spent in that household and it would truly change my life forever.