Quaran-Queen ♕♔

Prologue

They say there are roughly three pandemics every century. Once every thirty years or so, that means that the odds of living through one is likely. I never thought too far into it.

The coronavirus pandemic started to pick up in March. Schools were shutting down, businesses were closing, people were raiding grocery stores, and buying out the toilet paper.

These are strange times, especially in the beginning.

No one knew anything. Granted, no one knows anything now, but at least some questions have been answered.

One of which was that we did need groceries.

"Hey Jun," I called down the hallway, "I'm running to the store, do you need anything that's not on the list?"

Juniper, my roommate and best friend answered from her room, "no, did you take Willow for a walk today or do you want me to?"

I glanced at the sleeping golden retriever on the couch, her overgrown fur sprawled around her body. If only the groomer was open so she could get a haircut, "I think she'll be fine for today but if she wakes up and you want to feel free. I'll let you know when I get there, text me if you think of anything."

"Okay, bye!" Juniper replied just before I exited, closed, and locked the front door behind me.

Slinging my purse over my shoulder and looping my mask around my ears, I made my way through the hallways of our shared apartment complex.

Music from the neighboring apartment seeped into the hall from the thin crack under the door. It wasn't unusual for music to be heard in the complex, walls were thin and most of the tenants were around Juniper and I's age.

Quickly descending the stairs, I nodded kindly to the mailman slipping envelopes into the complex letterboxes.

The warm mid-July air greeted me immediately upon exiting the nicely air-conditioned lobby through its glass doors.

I had been off of school at Seattle University now for about three months. I was always complaining that I never got enough time to practice my craft of creative writing, but now that I have nothing but time I couldn't seem to actually write a single word.

It was a struggle, but I was living through a pandemic, so I'll take what safety and familiarity I could get.

The walk to the supermarket wasn't too treacherous, but I did have to sidestep a few too many discarded face masks plastered to the sidewalk.

Seattle was my favorite place, by far. I suppose that's somewhat of a given seeing as I could have gone anywhere for university and I chose here, but everything about it felt right to me.

Art was everywhere in this city. Graffiti on the brick walls, fashion on the street, music drifting out of apartment windows, slam poetry from the stage at Vanessa's.

Vanessa's is a cute little coffee shop in an equally cute little building. Juniper had started working there last fall when her parents started cutting back on her monthly allowance. The owner, Vanessa, has always been kind to me, sliding me an extra muffin when she noticed I was on a particularly long writing session.

Plenty of small businesses were in crisis since the pandemic hit and the economy tanked, but thankfully Vanessa's wasn't one of them. I don't know what I'd do if just like that my favorite place in the sometimes too big city shut down.

Passing the shop I couldn't help but glance inside the windows. It was empty and black, but the silhouettes of tables and a mini stage reminded me that it wasn't truly desolate.

Wiggling my eyebrows at my reflection brought a grin to my face, granted you could barely tell under my mask, but I knew it was there.

The reflection of my mask only made me grin more, the beautiful blue fabric contrasting beautifully with Juniper's hand-drawn portrait of my pride and joy, Willow. The bubbly puppy had come to me about a year ago.