Stuck In Quarantine

chapter 1 : worldwide pandemic

    Ladies and gentlemen, we were in a current worldwide pandemic. Whatever this virus as it was still going strong. It has been over a month since the cancellation of school and things have just been getting worse and worse. We all thought it would pass, but instead, it's still here. 

    Not much information was known about this virus, they weren't sure where it originated from. All we know was that it was bad and highly contagious. Hence the reason why we were under quarantine. The rules were pretty clear, no one below the age of 18 or above 65 is not allowed to go out. 

    At first, we all thought that this was just like the Flu, but no it's something else. In the span of two months, there were over a hundred thousand casualties due to this virus. This caused an uproar of panic everywhere. 

    My mother was paranoid and I don't blame her for it. This virus was the real deal, it wasn't a joke and shouldn't be taken lightly. My brother, sister, and I haven't been out of the house at all in the span of these two months, seeing that we were all minors. Even mother didn't go out, Steve was our representative. When he would come home, mother would spray him with a bunch of alcohol, then he'd proceed to take a shower. 

   A knock broke me out of my thoughts, Ethan peeked his head through my door. "El, mom's calling us downstairs. Said they needed to talk with us or something."

    Walking to the living room, I had no idea what this 'talk' was about and quite frankly it was starting to make me feel uneasy. Maddie -- my six-year-old sister was typing away on her phone while mother and Steve were seated at the couch across from where Maddie, Ethan, and I were seated.

    Steve cleared his throat, getting our attention. Noticing that Maddie was still on her phone, I nudge her. Getting the message, she tucks her phone inside the pocket of her sweater. "So, we called this family meeting because we needed to discuss some things with you guys." Steve starts. "It was announced today that there was going to be no classes until this virus predicament was going to be solved. Instead of you guys going to school, everything would be online."  Woah. Online classes? This was something new, that's for sure. 

    My sibling's eyes were widened in shock. Mother then started speaking up nervously, "We wondered if it's fine by you guys if we moved you to another school."

    Oh, no way. Having real-life classes as a junior in a new school would be bad, but during online classes, that would be a different kind of bad. I mean how would I even make friends or talk to somebody if I didn't know anybody at all. 

    Ethan had the same thoughts as me, "What? No!"

    "Actually let me rephrase that, you guys are going to be moving schools. You guys have no choice whether you want to go or not." Mom said in her authoritative voice. Ethan and I were opposed to this idea, while Maddie just shrugged to it.

    "I don't understand, why would you want us to move?" I asked quietly. I'm not one for confrontation, like my brother, I guess that's an uncommon trait we have.

    Letting out a sigh, Steve runs his hand through his hair. Prominent dark bags, under his eyes. "We didn't think that it would come to this, but we're kind of strapped for money right now. Business in the restaurant hasn't been so good these past few days and your mother." He stops, his eyes traveling to mother. As she nods her head, he continues, "And the company your mother has been working for had to lay off a few people. You're mother being one of them. Now, the academy you've been studying in is quite pricey and we don't think we'd be able to pay for all your guys' tuition fees if you continue schooling there."

    Guilt gnaws at me as he finished explaining. How did I not think about the restaurant this whole time or know about my mother getting laid off? Of course, the restaurant wasn't doing well because of the current guidelines pertaining to the quarantine and that's why my mother has been acting so sad these past days. God, I feel like such a selfish daughter.

    "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you guys. I was just shocked." Ethan apologizes, "I guess I'm fine with transferring."

    "Me too," I add-in, giving them a reassuring smile.

    Besides, it must not be too hard. Maybe online school won't be as bad as I think it would be. 

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    2 months, things aren't getting any easier. 2 months, I've been stuck inside. Zero contact with the outside world, excluding my backyard. Based on how things are going right now, the pandemic wasn't going to subside anytime soon. I suppose a reason as to why it isn't getting any better is probably because some people in this country are way too hard-headed. For your information, I live in the United States of America. 

    It has come to my attention that people here aren't adjusting well. In order words, some of them don't like to follow the rules. Some don't wear masks, follow the social distancing rule, or they go out of their houses without being cautionary. The fact that they arent's following the guidelines annoys me to an extent. If they want this pandemic to pass, then they should at least do their part in helping. Ugh. 

    Sally's Diner the restaurant of Steve has been doing better ever since he came up with a delivery service. Since most people are staying in, having the food delivered to their homes is a great idea. That way people can still eat without worrying about safety. Plus, the cooks in that diner always get cleared before cooking the food. That's one good thing that happened over the past two months. 

    Another good thing that happened was that during this time at home, I've been able to work on myself for a bit. Oh God, that makes me sound so vain. Before this quarantine, I used to never exercise at all. The only time I would do it was if I needed the grade for my P.E class. One day, I was bored out of my mind and decided that I should start being healthy. 

    Doing this wasn't easy at first, I mean going from a total couch potato to an active exercise freak certainly took some time getting used to. I'm glad I did it though, I was able to lose a couple of pounds and reach my desired weight. Also, I've been eating more and more vegetables every day.  My whole family was surprised to see the changes in me. It was hilarious seeing their faces once I chose to eat a vegetarian burger instead of a normal one.

    As much as I hated what was going on in the world right now, perhaps it wasn't going to be so bad after all.