Dying Breath: It All Starts Here

No School Today

7 a.m. She woke up. She got out of bed. Her room was dark, messy, shades drawn. It was a small town named Montgomery City. She got up to open the curtains. She walked 2 feet and stepped on a lego.

" Oh, son of a..."

"Askova! Get up! You need to go to school!" Screamed the most horrifically loud and obnoxious mom of the year. She never knew that she was right outside of Askovas door, where she could just talk like a normal human being.

" Ok mom," said Askova, in a raspy tired like voice, still trying to get over the pain for the lego, " Just let me check the..." As she looked outside, she saw kids playing snowball fights, building snowmen, and burying each other's heads in the ground. Of course, of all the days, Askova's mom forgot that even though it was Tuesday, the roads were too slick for the cars and buses to drive on. Askova sent her mom a text from her laptop. The text read:

"Mom, look outside... -_-"

Her mom answered in the cringiest but funniest way possible:

" Why are all those kids killing each other?! Don't they know that they shouldn't hurt each other? How else will they get to school? It's in the book!"

It's in the book? Askova didn't even bother to reply back. She just slapped her forehead.

Askova quickly dressed herself in a grey hoodie, Christmas pajamas bottoms, and Christmas socks. She walked out the door with her mom yelling, "Askova, that is not appropriate school attire!" Askova just looked at her and then walked away. Her mom was very strict, as you probably found out, and her school's principal. Out of all the jobs, why did she have to be the principal of her school?

As Askova walked away, her older brother, Ajax, tripped her mom. Ajax hated Askova, he even said it himself! He doesn't like the fact that he had to do all of the chores around the house. Every time their mom was angry, she always blamed Askova for some stinkin' reason.

When she'd get in trouble, she would have to do a buttload load more chores, including her brothers. Some of the chores she had to do were, cleaning the toothbrushes, cleaning her mom's room, check the school papers, and other chores that are stupid, worthless, or chores that are just absurd. So, Ajax uses this opportunity to get rid of his chores and gave them to her.

Her mom was about to yell at Askova when all of a sudden, her mom's phone rang. Askova just fell to the floor with relief! Her mom went into the other room. They held their ears up against the walls.

" What do you mean school is tomorrow? I thought that school was today!" Askovas mom walked over to the calendar and pointed at the date. It was Friday, but apparently, she thought it was Thursday. Ajax and Askova fell on the floor, laughing. They couldn't breathe.

" Askova, you convinced me that you guys had school today! That's it, you have 3 more chores to do today. Net, you have 5 more chores to do today!" Askova knew, that Net was "No" in Russian.

Her mom walked away, and Askova sat down on the couch to watch the news.

" The CDC has announced that the Solanum Virus 1 has been released. They warn all of those watching to get ready and prepare for the outbreak, for those that get infected are very dangerous. The infected can be very carnivorous and slow. The initial spread will take place tomorrow. The CDC warns those to stay inside, have plenty of food and water, and to turn all of the heating and cooling off, for the infection is airborne, and that those who aren't infected should wait for the government to get them. If you are infected, then they say that you should isolate yourself from those who aren't. The first outbreak will be in Washington but will spread very fast. *starts new news story* President Donald Trump went to India...." Askova turned to a different channel because something about Donald Trump came on. She thought about the infection. It was Fox News doing the news, and sometimes they do fake news, so she thought that it was fake, but she was kinda scared. She ignored it.

The worst part of her day, February 2nd, is that she had to do chores, and the worst chore is cleaning her room. She hates cleaning her room! The best part of the day was that she had to stay inside because she had to clean her room. She just put everything under her bed, in her closet, and anywhere else she could hide her stuff. She opened her laptop and started talking to her friend, Lindsay, about the outbreak.

The next morning, Askova urged herself to get out of bed. She ate her mom's horrifying meatloaf for dinner last night. It always gave her a stomach ache. So, her stomach hurt, and she didn't want to go to school. When she got out of bed, she put on her black hoodie, skinny blue jeans, and her red converse. She put her dark brown hair up into a messy ponytail and put on her winter coat.

She went to school earlier than everyone else, because all of the other 8th grade boys were prepping up and the girls wore makeup. So, it took them a while to get ready for school. Askova was allergic to makeup, and she hated it, so she spent her time playing video games instead of trying to impress boys. Honestly, she thought boys were seltsam, a Russian word that means "Weird".

After Askova and Ajax went to school, thank God Ajax is in Montgomery High School, Askova went to her first class, Science. She hated science. All she liked about science was about space. She also thought that spirits and the undead could be science too.

When 5th hour came it was lunchtime. She didn't feel like eating, because her stomach still hurt. She asked her math teacher, Mrs. Ceaser, if she could go to the nurse's office, because she felt like she was going to puke. She said to be back in 3 minutes. Adults these days. She never understood them.

As she entered the nurse's office, she gave Askova a welcoming smile. The nurse was the only adult she ever liked.

" What is it Askova?" asked the nurse.

" My stomach hurts, again," replied Askova,

" Had my mom's famous meatloaf yesterday." The nurse sighed and escorted Askova to the bed and drew the curtain. Askova lied down. She couldn't sleep. She felt like she was going to puke, but it couldn't happen. She could hear the nurse dialing the phone. Oh no... her mom doesn't like when Askova tries to skip school. After all, her mom is the principal.

Askova heard the nurse gasp, and then something dropped. Askova heard the nurses footsteps run out the door. She heard a clicking sound.

" What the...?" she had no idea what was going on. She swore that she heard the ESA alarm going off. The long beep and the short beeps pierced her ears. It hurt. Was Fox News putting out real news this time? She thought. She heard the speaker in the corner, but the warning was muffled. The alarm was talking about carnivorous creatures. Askovas hearing wasn't very good. It sounded low. Askova heard the sound of screams and running footsteps before she fell asleep.