Is death the only exit?

Back to school

2 years before...

Monday. First day of school after these exceedingly long holidays I couldn't see the end of. I was however not ready to wake up at 6 a.m. again and, hearing the particularly high-pitched ear-splitting sound of my waker, I took it with rage and threw it across the room. I slowly creeped out of my bed, and quietly went to the bathroom. I looked at my pale and tired face in the mirror and tried to rearrange my jet-black tangled hairs although my dark brown eyes were still half-closed. Thinking about finally seeing my friends again cheered me up on this awful morning.
I have a group of four friends (including me) whom I spend my whole time with: Lily, who has been my best friend for four years now, Charlie, and Grace. I have met both of them two years ago, as we entered high school and the four of us have been inseparable ever since. We share everything and are always here for each other. I truly don't know what I would do without them. Physically, Lily is a head shorter than me. She has chestnut brown shoulder-length hairs and bright ocean blue eyes. Grace is red-haired and her apple green eyes are close to Charlie's hair color, contrasting with his ashy grey eyes.

I arrived at school and saw them already waiting for me in front of the enormous metal gate. I didn't have time to say anything yet that Lily ran towards me and threw herself in my arms. While she was hugging me tight, she said:
"Noah! You cannot imagine how much I missed you during these two long months!"
"I missed all of you a lot too!" I declared while hugging Grace and Charlie.

As we were talking about our holidays and the way we had spent time these last weeks, Charlie asked:

"Have you heard about 'The Virus'?"