The Final Plague

Dear Journal,

I can't believe that our class survived the Final Plague. It's now been one year since the Final Plague hit. Everyone on Earth has died except our class of 9th graders and 5th graders. Everyone is paranoid because they have no family left. This has been a really hard year for us because we are suffering a tragedy. We don't know who we are going to survive life without our parents but I have faith in all of us that we can do it if we leave it up to God.

Right now we are living in a cabin in the woods because we are on a school field trip. We got lost when we went hiking because we lost our map and couldn't find our way back. We tried to see if we can figure things out but because of all the arguing it was hard to communicate with each other. So we gave up and we found a cabin to stay in until we can figure things out. It's like the Final Plague happened all over again. But this time nobody is dying. It's hard to find your way back somewhere when you get lost if people can't stop arguing. We aren't going to get anywhere in life if we can't work as a group.

We chose to have three leaders, and these people are myself, Beth, and JoJo. We were chosen to be the leaders because we are the most mature people in our class. All of the leaders came together to talk about what we were going to do. We decided that splitting up into three groups would be the best way to figure things out. Each leader has ten 5th graders and seven to ten 9th graders. With all of us 9th graders being in the Teaching and Learning Institute we know how to be a role model to the younger students. The 9th graders in each group are in charge of 1 or 2 5th graders. We have more than one leader in each group because some people are better than others at certain things. All of our leaders are doing a great job so far. Some roles of the other leaders are in charge of cooking, getting food, cleaning, and etc. Some of the 5th graders aren't doing so well because they think that we aren't very responsible and they think we won't survive on our own. It's hard trying to calm them down because they don't have any faith or respect for us.

During this year we've had to face many problems in our society. Some problems we faced are trying to figure out where to get food from and keeping the 5th graders clam. After we had our whole group meeting we split up into our three groups. Whenever we split up into our groups we play fun activities to keep everyone calm and find food for us to eat so we can stay healthy. It wasn't easy to find food because we were in the woods so we had to search far out into the woods to find food. In my group I stayed back with Mya and Jason who are the youngest of the group and I was in charge of them. So while everyone else were playing fun activities and searching for food, I had to deal with two heartbroken children. They were heartbroken because all their classmates told them that we aren't going to survive so they will never see their family again. I didn't want to tell them that they are the only ones left in their family because I felt that it would make things worse than it already is.

But when I was talking to Beth about the situation I was in, she told me that I should tell them because it's not going to be a good thing if they don't find out. Beth even agreed to help me talk to them because it's a hard situation to be in. Since we were leaving our groups to go have a talk with them back at the cabin we had to leave someone else in charge. Choosing who to leave in charge was a hard decision to make because we don't know if the 5th graders are going to listen to whoever we decide to leave in charge. We had a discussion about who we were going to choose and we finally came to a consensus. I chose to leave Destiny in charge because I know that she can control them and she is a very respectful person. Beth chose to leave Jada in charge because she is very helpful and respectful.

When we went back to the cabin to have a talk with Mya and Jason it was very hard at first because they wouldn't stop crying. We gave them five minutes to themselves to calm down and they did. We told them that last year are entire class went through a tragic tragedy. I said "last year was a difficult time for all of us. We lost our entire family due to the Final Plague. We had to figure out how to survive on our own by working together as a team." Mya and Jason said they are happy that we told them because they didn't want to return home and not know what happened. Beth said "I'm glad that you guys understand what was going on and that we can help you. They are now happy and having a fun time.

When we returned back to the cabin, JoJo told us that each group created their own Code of Conduct to follow. My group came up with don't give up and build each other up, don't tear them down. Not everyone likes the rules but they agreed to follow them because they want to get back home.

We have now been staying at the cabin for about a month even though we figured out how to get back home. A week later we decided to go back to the hotel where we were supposed to be staying at while we were on the field trip. Everyone is doing well and getting along great.

The Final Plague taught all of us survival skills and how to work together.
If it wasn't from the Final Plague our community would be falling apart and everything would be a disaster.

Now that we are coming to the end of our field trip I am worried about what life is going to be like when we get back. I feel like the only way we are going to have a strong bond is by doing fun things. But I don't want to always have a fun day planned. It's going to be hard adjusting to the new society because we don't really know what to do with our lives.

As we were returning from our trip I has to decide where we were going to be living. It was a hard decision but I decided that we need to live in a safe place where we can stay safe and healthy. So we all decided that staying in East was the best thing to do.

When we finally got to the school everyone decided to start complaining about staying here because they heard that it was a bad school and it's dirty.

I thought to myself "why is everybody complaining but not that long ago they were elated to come here?"

All my classmates make everything seem so difficult because they never want to agree on anything. I asked everyone why they wanted to come here if all they were going to do was complain.

But I received no response. I decided to leave them be and let them do what they wanted because all I need to focus on is taking care of Mya and Jason and keeping the three of us safe and healthy.

The Final Plague has finally ended but we didn't stick to our Code of Conduct but everyone is safe and healthy, which is all that matters as of now.

2jOt00w͕�ׄ�y