Page 22 - COVID Consortium Journal - An Edited Collection of Student Art and Writing
P. 22

We were mandated to stay     managing softball right now, not
        inside at all times and to only leave   worrying if I will end up dying if I go
        for essentials. But many people were   outside.
        trying to manipulate the meaning of
        essential. People deemed it essential      The world has been put on
        to meet with their friends, to lay   pause and I live in the city that has
        in the park. No matter how much    more cases than any other country. I
        I prayed and wished for it to be or it   remember when I saw that the United
        wasn’t. The excitement of us being   States hit one million cases. There is
        able to stay at home faded in less   no way to describe how I felt. I was
        than a week. I think a lot of people   obviously scared, but it’s hard to be
        expected  this  to  be  a  vacation  and   scared of something you can’t see., It’s
        that they could still do their regular   not like I could see the virus the way I
        routine. But it was nothing like that.,   can see anything else. All I could see
        We were trapped within the walls that   was its impact. One million people
        we loved, trapped with the people we   are infected and that’s the people who
        loved. But how long will it take for   show  symptoms.  The  government
        that love to turn to hate?         seems honestly useless. I wish this
                                           situation was taken seriously, but it’s
              I think the thing that drives   not. The people who took it seriously
        me most insane is the lack of pri-  are getting restless, and all their
        vacy.  We  are  always  in  each  other’s   commitment and help has been going
        business whether we like it or not. If   down the drain with the ignorant
        my mom speaks on the phone, I hear  people. The amount of people I see
        everything. She watches TV, I hear   with no mask in sight, even today
        everything. But that’s the thing about   on May 17, is insane. Like how is that
        NYC- you don’t get the privacy that   even possible; how can people ignore
        you need. What I miss most about the   what is happening in this country?
        outside world at times is the chaos.
        I miss seeing people outside. The       People are dying and people
        uproar of the city is gone.        still can’t take that seriously. People
                                           are risking their lives trying to find a
              We were supposed to return   vaccine or trying to help the infected
        to  school  after  April  30,  but  it  never   and there are people who are laying
        happened. The days morphed togeth-  down in the park trying to get a tan
        er, and I was unable to tell how much  with no mask in sight.
        time really was going by. The number
        of infected people kept rising. It felt      My friend mentioned to me
        surreal, it was unreal. I should be   how there were two different types
                                           of people in this quarantine. The first

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