The Black Death

Hugh

September 15th 1349

Dear diary,

                   I am not sure what to make of today. I woke up not outside on the streets, but in a house. However, this house was not mine. At first I thought I was dreaming, but once I pinched myself a couple of times, I realised it was all reality.  I yawned and sat up, rubbing my eyes as I was introduced to a new day. I seemed to have woken up ‘on the wrong side of bed’ and threw up as soon as my eyes were fully open. I am still extremely frail and am in a lot of pain. At the sound of me vomiting, a boy the same age as me ran into the room with a bucket and caught all the sick inside it. After the chaos, I breathed heavily and slowly. The boy passed me a small cup of dirty water. I drank it without saying a word, too thirsty to mind its brownish colour. He then told me to lie down as he lit a candle to keep me warm and placed a damp cloth over my forehead which surprisingly seemed to reduce my searing headache.

                    After a few minutes of complete and utter silence I decided to ask the boy where I was. He said that he had found me asleep and as cold as ice, felt sorry for me and carried me back to his home. I was amazed at how kind the boy was and managed a hoarse thanks due to my sore throat.  I inquired for his name. He told me that it was Hugh meaning heart and spirit. We chatted for a while and I told him about what I had been through and how I had to find the village Plague Doctor. He looked a bit guilty, I did not know why. I wish that it was Hugh who my mother had paid to treat us as he deserves the money and is a very good doctor. We talked for hours until he noticed black blotches on my skin. His eyes widened with worry.

                       He demanded me to lie down and sleep. I dozed off for a while when all of a sudden I heard a familiarly gruff voice. It belonged to the Plague Doctor! I flashed my eyes open and stood up even though my legs could not bear the weight of my body. He instantly recognised me and started to shout at Hugh “She is an infected girl! I thought I told you before! Germs are absolutely prohibited from this household.” That’s when I realised - The plague doctor was in actual fact Hugh’s father.  I started to cry as the doctor dragged me outside and into the freezing cold. I was instantly filled with anger, too much in fact, that it made my head hurt.

                         After a few minutes of weeping on the hard, stone ground, Hugh came out of his house and apologised for everything. I said that he needn’t be sorry but he replied saying “Father refused to pay you, I tried but he won’t listen.”  I’ve lost hope. Ma must be starving and worried sick. But I have to get us our money back so I am going to stay right here. Hugh threw me a small bit of bread as he walked back inside his house and I wished him goodnight. I am very concerned about these strange blotches all over my body; I hope it isn’t anything serious. Unfortunately, everything is serious these days.

Autumn.