Virus

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

365 Days

15th July 2021

The blinding light shone through my blinds, burning my sleepy eyes. I groaned and rolled over trying to fall back asleep, but a small hand shook my shoulder and tugged on my long curls.

"Five more minutes." I groaned, trying to swat away who ever dared to wake me this early on my birthday.

"Wake up Nat!" My sister Ivy chirped, "It’s your Birthday!" I gave up resisting and sat up slowly and tentatively opened my eyes. Sitting on my bed and crushing my legs was my fourteen-year-old sister holding a tray of breakfast. "Happy birthday!" She smiled and lay down the tray on my lap. There was a small wrapped box next to a huge stack of pancakes with a candle stuck through the middle. I smiled and blew out the flame making the same wish I had been making on every eyelash and tossed penny in a fountain for the last nine months, for a miracle, for a cure for Lisa, my best friend who would be dead in less than four months.

After showering and getting dressed I looked in the mirror. One year older and I looked exactly the same. Thick red curls that hung to my waist and big ice blue eyes that looked scarily like my dead mother's. It was the same every year, I always expected to look or feel different, but every year it was all the same. I walked downstairs to grab my car keys to visit Lisa in the hospital, because there is no one else I wanted to spend my birthday, or any other day with.

My dad was sitting in the living room staring off into space; he did that a lot, instead of looking at me.

"Hi Dad." I tried half-heartedly. He glared at me with haunted hazel eyes and nodded to acknowledge my existence. 

"Happy birthday." He mumbled. After a few minutes of awkward silence I gave up and started to head out. I gave up a long time ago, ever since my mother died my father seemed to loathe my existence, it's because I look exactly like her and I remind him of her too much. It used to bother me, I use to cry for hours hating how our hair was the same shade of fiery red or that our eyes were the same colour, but now I couldn't care less, it's his problem, not mine. Please don't think I'm a cruel and cold-hearted person, I'm just tired of trying to help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

It was a short drive to the hospital, a tall white building built especially for keeping the MK4 patients locked away. This building that struck fear into everyone’s heart and most people avoided like the plague, was where I spent most of my time. What is it about hospitals and the need for everything to be white? I wondered as I walked over to the desk and told them I was here to visit a MK4 patient and I was taken to the sixth floor for a routine check. The virus can only be spread through exchange of bodily fluids such as blood and saliva; so all visitors have to be checked for cuts, open wounds or anything that could make us vulnerable to the virus.  After my body check I was given two small green pills that were suppose to reduce chances of being infected but everyone knew they didn't work, if a patient coughed near your face or even gave you a kiss, you will be infected and you will die.

All visitors were advised to keep their distance from the patient and we were forced to wear latex gloves and facemasks, but I always took mine off once I was in the room, I didn't want to treat Lisa like a leper. I entered Lisa’s private room by passing through the little glass shower that would “air clean” me to make sure the virus stays in the hospital and doesn’t hitch a ride home with me.

When I caught sight of her I couldn’t help but laugh at my best friend. Even though she was dying and had less than four months to live.  She lay in her bed, hair done, make-up perfect from her carefully lined eyes to the ruby red lips and her perfect body dressed to flatter every one of her many assets.