A/N: This is just something we had to write in History last year to do with the Bubonic Plague... It's from the perspective of an Italian girl who lives in a village at the time and everything that's mentioned are things that actually happened... and yeah... enjoy :)
July 14th 1348 - Dawn
Dear Alfredo,
I’m afraid that I don’t have any good news to tell you this morning. Father is starting to show early signs of the plague. We are all very frightened. Blister and boils are covering him all over and he seems to be quite feverish. Mother says that we shouldn’t tell anyone just yet until we’re sure. Our village hasn’t caught the plague yet so we’re scared about what will happen to us. My only friend Alvaro hears news from all over Italy from his Master. He is the only one who doesn’t think that I am strange. A lot of the children my age think I am strange because I like to keep as clean as possible. He told me that he has heard of people being bricked up in their houses with their families in order to keep the disease in. I don’t want that to happen to us. It would be horrible not being able to go outside, not being able to talk to people.
Mother says that we need to go to church every day from now on and pray that father gets better. I don’t know if that will help him in anyway, but I dare not say it to mother. We stay away from father, in case we catch the disease. None of us go near him. We are pretty well off but mother said to not even bother to get a doctor. He will probably not come at all in case he himself gets sick. Many people have been asking where father is. They are slightly suspicious for him, such a healthy, athletic man, to be sick in bed. It has only been a day since father was taken ill, we’re still not sure but I hope with all my heart that this doesn’t become the plague.
Yours truly Louisa
