The Sadness Inside

Bubonic Plague

          The Bubonic Plague. The Black Death. Whatever name you know it by, the Bubonic Plague was a horrific disease. It killed over 24 million Europeans—about a third of Europe's population. The Black Death, as the townspeople called it, caused boils to pop up in the armpits, or in the groin and eventual death.

1348

My name is Zhuansi. My brother Matt-kei and I were sleeping in our room. The whole house was quiet. Everything was peaceful. At least until I heard a scream. I quickly woke up realizing it was my brother screaming! He screamed,"Zhuansi, Zhuansi! I'm going to die!" Then we both broke down in sobs. Our parents rushed in, hearing the whole thing —they looked as scared as we did.

My mother uttered, "Send for the priest." My dad then dashed out the door. Then I remembered something. We didn't actually know what was happening with my brother but I thought about a way we could. At least, figure out if he had the Black Death. I recalled when I was walking throughout the town with my brother the day before, I had noticed that all the victims lying on the streets had boils that ranged from the size of an apple to the size of an egg under their armpits. The boils were gushing blood and pus. Some of the bodies had vomit slowly dripping down their chins and then running down the front of their chests. A couple of the bodies were still moving! Even when you were walking as far away from them as possible, you could still hear their moans. I checked Matt-kei, and, sure enough, he also had boils under his armpits. They were about the size of a child's closed fist. They too, were gushing blood and pus like the bodies on the street. I informed my parents of the deeply depressing news, Matt-kei had the Black Death.

When Matt-kei heard the shocking news, he started crying hysterically. My mother and I sat there, trying to console him. It went that way for a few minutes until he suddenly stopped crying and just said, "I feel Death coming to my doorstep asking for my life. I must say yes. My sister. I had a good life with you. Now I must go against my heart, and say goodbye." He slowly closed his tearing eyes and stopped breathing.

I couldn't believe it. My brother, the strongest person I knew, had just died before my eyes. I felt a jumble of emotions. Anger. Sadness. Confusion. I never thought I would see my brother lying lifelessly in front me. I had thought it just wasn't possible. I felt like I could go straight to Death's doorstep and demand my brother back alive or Death would not ever be seen again. But the sadness was overwhelming. I just broke down crying, lamenting for my dead brother, screaming as loud as I could so Death would hear my sadness and anger. My dad heard me and sprinted back home. He threw open the door and yelled,"WHAT HAPPENED!" His eyes fell on Matt-kei's dead body. He collapsed on the floor and started crying. That afternoon was a blur. I put Matt-kei's body into a cart and slowly rolled it out to the mass grave just outside the village. I watched as they took Matt-kei's body off the cart and hurled him into the grave. I cried, "Hey! Be careful!" They simply (but sarcastically) replied, "He's dead." Those were the words that I remembered for the rest of my life.