1st Chapter
Cringing is neither an action not a norm; it is an art.
A pure incandescent art; it shows that the artist is a cool-looking dude that is way cooler than somebody else.
I, for one, wasn't cool in High School.
But I really wasn't in Highschool anymore.
What did it mean?
That I was done with Highschool a few weeks prior. And my sister too; she was my twin, to say the least.
Um... What were we talking about? Yeah.
So I felt cool, even though it was obvious that I wasn't cool.
I, for one, saw how unnervingly childish my sister often was. And she always made me cross for as long as I could remember.
"Susanna!" I remember, dishing out a horrible punch and connecting it with her nose. It bled horribly after that. I can't remember the reason, but all I remember was that that reason had pissed me off.
"Hey, turn on the news!" my mom came in, flying down the stairs as she approached me.
I was busy playing Paladdins on my PS4 and tried to ignore her, when she suddenly pummeled me with a tap.
Yeah, she pummeled me.
When she gets distressed, she's always like that.
"Put the news on, James!" she insisted.
And I rolled my eyes as I reluctantly pushed the PS button. And I picked the remote control to turn it from the video game console HDMI to the AV thingy.
"What is it, mom?" I asked, in an unflattered and monotone voice.
"Corona virus; it's come to Kenya."
And my eyebrows went up. "Seriously?"
And she fidgeted. "Seriously."
And the redness of my face slightly dissipated.
'BREAKING NEWS'
All in caps, but without the exclamation mark. I was keen to see this, as most things I'd watch- series and animations alike- they'd all have this one importantly unimportant mark that all teaches of school emphasized on.
The exclamation mark.
"The report shows that the Kenyan got the virus when she came from a foreign country."
I chose the words foreign country in order to keep anonymity. I don't like pointing fingers.
"The patient, who's name is Valerie Chapati-" again, the name is made up "-has been put in the Intensive Care unit, of the National Hospital to be treated."
And in my brain, I was somewhat cursing, telling myself that I'd been forced from fun to listen to this horrible piece of information.
"...she has been put under quarantine, and the as well, the people she's encountered, or rather- come close to have all been put in quarantine for testing."
"What?" my mother squealed. And I looked to her; she was already seated and at all ears.
"People are being warned to be cautious and to avoid contact with others as it might cause the disease to spread. It's communicable by coughing and touching, and kissing, and by any other form of body contact."
"Well how can-?" I wanted to ask, but my mother shushed me.
I blinked slowly as I turned back to the T.V.
"This disease is deadly and easily communicable and thus all citizens are warned to stay sharp, and avoid body contact."
I remember my mind registering a piece of useless information-- a pun. And it had something to do with eye contact.
"That is therefore the news, and we will be bringing more to you live."
My mom blinked rapidly, and in clear anxiety.
"My goodness. Why is this happening?"
"People have sinned?" I asked.
And she nodded. "Very much so."
Remember, I didn't like to point fingers.
"People should remember their faith," she said. "They should remember God."
And I gave a slight, and nervous nod.
Did this mean that it would be the end of the human race as we know it?
She got up, clearly irked and fished her phone off of her pocket.
She headed off towards the kitchen, and I could hear her talking in a hushed and uncomfortable voice.
I looked at the T.V. screen, wanting to play my game on.
I'd always hated when someone told me to 'pause' the game when I was in the middle of an online battle royale or something.
You can't really pause online battle royales.
Kenya, I now thought.
Kenya was a poor nation. Third world, and clearly without the resources that other first world countries had.
How would we survive this then?
Well, spoiler then: it was all about buying stuff early enough and then following the rules.
The buying was catered by my mom, and it was lucky because we were only three in number in our family.
Three, I now understand. It's my lucky number.
After having seen my mom pace up and about, and with her phone against her ear for about half an hour, I decided that enough was enough, and that I'd just use my phone in my room instead.
A good amount of WiFi connection reached my room, and so I considered myself lucky.
The unlucky one was my sister who chose her room because it was spacious. And she'd always said that she was claustrophobic, even though I tended to NOT believe her.
She always thought her celeb idols had claustrophobia, and tended to avoid it as well. Dumb, I know.
So I got to my bedroom, sighted my phone and picked it up from the mess that was my bedding.
(Don't ask.)
I slowly landed on the carpet beneath me and sat on it, switching it on and only to find out that my friend, Tony, had called 7 times!!
'Calling...'
I waited.
But he didn't pick up.
Must've been an emergency, I thought. And I tried calling again.
He didn't answer.
I was quiet for a moment before I shrugged it off. And that was when he decided to call.
