The Disease

Chapter 1

                                                                                              Ivaria

07/04/2178

10:42p.m.

The Brain Disease. It ruined everyone's lives. The only thing my parents would talk about was protecting us from the disease. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere that wasn't our own yard, and my parents wore over-protective clothing when they went to the store. I always thought my parents were mean for being so strict about leaving the house. I wanted to talk to my friends and have birthday parties. Of course, I was only seven when the disease started, so I didn't understand. It wasn't until my parents went crazy, were dragged from the house, and brought to the Brain Disease hospital, that I realized how bad the sickness was. It's been seven years now that I've been living without them. The government brings any orphaned kid who lost his or her parents from the disease to an orphanage. It's not great, but at least it's free and liveable. The Elders own the orphanage--they are technically my new parents now. Every day we wake up, have breakfast, then go to do some sort of chore. Once you finish for the day, they'll pay you according to how well you work. Once anyone turns fifteen, they are sent from the orphanage to live alone so they don't get too crowded here. I'm fourteen and will turn fifteen very soon, so I'm savoring the last days here as much as I can. I'll write about more tomorrow, but it's getting late, so, goodnight.

I closed my diary and put it on the table next to my bed. My room wasn't anything special, just a gray box with a bed, a table, and a dresser which sat in the opposite corner with a tiny closet next to it. My favorite part, though, was the small mirror in the corner. I laid down to go to sleep just as the lights went out.

I woke up the next day to the sound of Miss Larand speaking on the megaphone, "GOOD MORNING EVERYONE, PLEASE GET READY FOR BREAKFAST THEN COME TO THE CAFETERIA!" I always felt like I was back in school when she said that.

I quickly threw on some clothes and brushed my hair then stopped to look in the mirror. My gray eyes stared back at me, and my long blonde hair looked just perfect, so I headed to the cafeteria. Tessa (my friend), ran up to me. She had long brown hair and blue-ish green eyes which I always thought was unusual.

"Hey Ivaria!"

"Hi!" She stopped running once she arrived in front of me.

"So, what chore are you hoping for today?" she asked.

"Laundry, it's the most relaxing."

"Eh, I like nurse duty. A little blood doesn't bother me,"

"Yah, well, we should hurry to the cafeteria so we don't miss the yogurt parfaits."

"Yah, the most important meal of the day is also one of the most unhealthy ones!" We both laughed then ran to get to the cafeteria.

Suddenly, a loud alarm went off and I heard screaming. The megaphone turned on again.

"PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING IN AN ORDERLY FASHION. DO NOT PANIC!"

Tessa and I looked at each other with curious eyes and turned to exit the building as the announcement kept repeating. Nobody seemed to listen to the whole "do not panic" thing, because everyone was screaming and running for the exit, though no one really knew why. Weird. Once we finally got outside, I could see Medics surrounding a girl and police trying to guide the crowd of kids to a different area. From the inside of the Medic circle I could hear a girl making some sort of weird, unhuman-like groans.

I looked at Tessa with fearful eyes. "Tessa, that girl caught the disease, and she's been living in the same building as us."

"Oh no, what's gonna happen to us? Are we going to catch it? Oh no no no no no..."