Masked

My First Day Back

I remember it very clearly. I woke up pretty early that day, just because I was so excited. It was the first day back at school after a five-year long, worldwide pandemic, so of course I was. We basically hadn't any human interaction since the first wave. Haven't been outside much, either.

Everything was digital, online. School, shopping, work. There's even a hyper-realistic virtual reality app that you can use to hang out with people. Have you seen "Ready Player One"? Yeah, it's like that. Definitely not as advanced, however.

I got up at about five in the morning. Like I said, pretty early. Made myself some cereal, got dressed, etc. I texted my mom as soon as I left our apartment for the bus stop.

Junior year, I couldn't stop telling myself. I'm going to be an 11th grader. The bus ride was average. The other kids were pretty quiet, probably just as nervous as I was.

I'm not even being dramatic. We had no human interaction outside of our families for five years. No going outside for five years. Of course, plenty of companies went out of business, especially the ones that couldn't do much online. Instead of going to the zoo, you would go on your VR and take a virtual tour.

I didn't recognize most people, but I did notice a few of my old friends. I kept in touch with some people, but most of them I just forgot about. I found Lorelai and Genesis almost immediately. They were the only ones who actually responded to my texts and calls over the years.

[Author's Note: Sorry, for the short length of this chaper, I'm just trying to see if people would actually like it. It's like the pilot episode of the show. So, yeah, please tell me what you think of my new original story, Masked!]