Tuesday

I woke up, startled by the loudness of my alarm. Maybe I shouldn’t have put it right next to my ear; I felt like I was going deaf. I forced myself to roll out of bed and look at the clock. 5:15 a.m. I had all the time in the world to sleep, but my mom always rushed me to get ready. I had no idea why, and I surely was not prepared to listen to a lecture to find out. I stumbled out of my room and into the bathroom, groaning at the sight of my wild hair. I opened the mirror cabinet and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste. I brushed my teeth, hopped in and out of the shower, then scuffled back to my room to get dressed. I grabbed a coat out of my closet, pulled my phone off the charger, and headed down the steps into the kitchen.

I assumed I was early, because Falon and Mom weren’t sitting in the dining room like they usually were. I turned on the TV in the living room, and walked back into the kitchen to make myself – and only myself – some real breakfast. I grabbed the eggs, milk, butter, and bacon out of the fridge, and the pancake mix out of the pantry. As I started creating my gourmet meal, I listened to the TV.

“…In other news, a new virus has arrived in the United States from Great Britain. Known as the ‘Roamers’ disease, this virus has already been charted as the quickest spreading disease since small pox in 1633. This virus is highly contagious and can be fatal, and anyone who shows the following symptoms should call their local medical health line or visit an emergency care center and prepare to be quarantined immediately: high fever, extreme headache, puss-filled open sores or oozing blisters, pale or discolored skin, weakness of the muscles, bleeding of the nose or ears, coughing up blood, diarrhea, fatigue, absence seizures or blacking out, loss of voice, and an uncontrollably foul odor. There have been over 10,000 reported cases already in Great Britain, over 7,000 fatalities, and at least 2,000 reported cases here in the U.S. There have been only 850 reported fatalities, but unfortunately, the numbers are rapidly rising. We will continue to update you on this matter, and any recent breaking news will be broadcasted throughout the day. Coming up in ten minutes, we’ll take a look at this week’s upcoming snow storm. Be ready to bundle up…”

“Dang, that’s crazy. I didn’t know it was that severe.” I said to myself.

“What is?” Jason’s voice creaked from around the corner. I jumped, almost pulling the pancake skillet off the stove. I recomposed myself and looked over at him, who was now standing at the open fridge looking for something.

“This virus going around; it’s really dangerous and contagious. The symptoms are crazy too. Maybe you should get checked out, because you look pretty sick.” I said, staring at the disgusting mucus peeping out of his nostril. He looked a bit green and it was obvious that he had some sort of cold.

“Nah, I can’t afford to miss another day of work. I got an important client coming in today, and they might wanna to buy the house I’m showing.” He said straightening his suit jacket. He grabbed a bagel out of the fridge and closed it.

“Tell your mom I might be late coming home today. On my way out; have a good day, Kaylie.” He walked past me and headed to the key rack. As he passed me, I couldn’t help but gag at the putrid smell of him.

“What the hell is that?” I whispered to myself. He smelled awful! Did he bother taking a shower this morning? I looked over at him as he walked out the door.

“I hope it’s not that virus.” I said to myself. For the first time ever I hoped that he didn’t take a shower today, that that was the reason for his foulness, and not the virus.

I finished cooking my bacon, eggs, and pancakes, and scurried to the dining room table. I was so eager to taste my perfection; it was making my mouth water. I tried not to think about Jason’s smell as I ate, so I pulled my phone from my pocket. The first thing I noticed was the time: 5:50 a.m. It was almost 6:00, and I would miss my bus if I wasted one more minute in the house. But then I noticed that Mom and Falon still weren’t down yet. 

“Mom,” I yelled up the steps. No answer.

“Ugh!” I pushed myself from the table and stomped up the steps to her room. I knocked on the door.

“Mom, is Falon going to school? If she is, I don’t have time to take her I’m gonna be late to the bus again,” I said to her in a rushed tone. The door was still closed, but I heard a muffled coughing and finally she said,

“Can you take her for me? You can take my car and drive it to school today. I don’t think I’m going to work; I don’t feel very good.”

“Okay.” I said. That’s all I needed to hear. No bus; no problems. I walked all the way to the other end of the hall to Falon’s room. Her door was open and I saw her struggling to put on her shoes.

“Falon, I’m taking you to school okay?” I said. She looked back at me, that familiar happy mood showing through her face.

“Kaylie, can you do my hair please? Mom didn’t even get up to do it, and I told her I wanted it in pigtails.” she huffed. I giggled and walked in the room to sit on the bed.

“Okay. Mom’s sick anyway; you don’t want her touching your hair.” I said, waiting patiently for her to take five hours to put on her shoes. She finally slipped on the second one and tied it in a sloppy bunny knot. She walked over to the small pink princess chair by her matching tea table and dragged it over to the bed where I was sitting. She sat down, back towards me, and patted the top of her head as if to say, “Get to it.”

I did her hair just the way she wanted and we jumped down the steps into the kitchen. I gave her the rest of my breakfast that I was going to save for after school, and she ate it quickly. In the meantime, I watched a little more TV. 

When she finished, I grabbed the keys to Mom’s car and we headed out the door. We made our way inside the car and pulled off to the school. It was only a minute away, down the street, but I knew someone like Falon wasn’t going to want to walk in 50-degree weather. I made sure she was in the building safely and I pulled off to the high school.

I soon got to the main entrance and found my way to the parking lot. I was lucky to get a spot right next to the door. I got out the car and walked in the building, headed for my locker. On the way there, I met up with Yana, and we walked in silence to my locker. While I struggled to decode it, she said,

“So, you heard from Ronald?” I loved the way she spoke. Her British accent was just like in the movies. It was always funny when she said ‘mother’ or ‘copy’ or ‘delusional’. She’s a foreign exchange student who moved in with my neighbors this summer. I used to think she was really weird then, but she soon became one of my best friends.

“Wasn’t he on the bus?” I replied. I finally got my locker open and stuffed my backpack inside.

“Nope; maybe he’s sick. There are a lot of people I know who got sick over the weekend,” she said, rapping her thumbs on the phone like an Olympic medalist. For a foreign exchange student, she sure did know a lot of people here already. I barely had half the friends she had, and I’ve been here since freshman year.

“Hmm, or he just didn’t feel like getting up. You know brown bears hibernate in the winter.” I laughed. Yana giggled half paying attention to my obviously hilarious joke. I rolled my eyes at her and closed my locker shut.

“Come on professor Text-a-lot. You’re gonna walk into the wall if you don’t look up soon. I grabbed her by the arm and walked with her to her first hour class.

“I’m texting my sister back home. She said there have been a lot of sick people over there and a lot of them don’t look so good.” she said finally. I leaned over to view the text she was showing me.

“It’s probably a little winter virus going around,” I said shrugging it off, “and we’ll probably get it next week or something.” I didn’t want to tell her about the news I heard this morning, and I hoped that her family wasn’t a part of it. But we live in Ohio and its early February; people are always sick.  Maybe I would be right, maybe it was just a little winter virus. Yeah…I hoped so. We got to the door of her class, and I said bye as she walked in, almost colliding with a desk on the way to hers. I laughed a little, because I knew something like that would happen eventually. I turned around, about to find my way to anatomy class across the hall, and as soon as I do, someone walking past me sneezed super close to my face.

“Ugh, seriously?” I wiped my face and pulled my hand sanitizer out of my purse. It was empty. I groaned to myself and walked across the hall.