"What is this virus they're talking about?" Grace asked asked her friend.
"It's some deadly infection." She answered. "It's been all over the news in the past couple days. We should be fine though. I've heard it only hits the north for some reason."
"The range of the pandemic has already been recorded in Greenland and Bermuda." The man on TV continued.
"Shit..." Ashley muttered. "If it's spread that far from the coast in two days...It should hit Georgia in at least two days..."
"-and the board of health recommends any not yet exposed to the virus to take precautionary measures such as-"
"Precautionary measures? Grace, we need to get off of the mountain." She said, pointing in the direction of Savannah. Grace never quite understood why Ashley wanted to have a house in the middle of nowhere, but whatever her husband said went, and it's where he lived as a child. "We could stock up with medicine down at the city. I was planning to meet Gary for lunch down there anyway."
"I don't know, Cici." Grace shrugged. "If we go down to the city, we'll be in contact with a lot of people. That's how diseases are transferred."
"You sound like a doctor." She laughed, pushing her chair back under the table. "Of course, you wouldn't be, because you don't have a JOB!"
"Fuck off." Grace chuckled, standing up from the table herself.
"C'mon." Ashley begged, striding toward the door, putting on her shoes on. "We need to get medicine. I hate getting sick. You know that. Remember that time sophomore year?"
She was referring to the day when she had the flu back in college. Grace had taken care of her that entire time. There was a period where she was crying because she couldn't do anything productive. Grace kind of thought that staying here in her house was payback for making me do that in college, but according to Ashley, it was far worse. "Don't I know it." She replied. "Are you sure you're really going down there to get medicine, or do you just want to see Gary again?"
Ashley put her hands on her hips and adorned her purse. "I don't see why we can't do both. And besides, he just got home from the airport today. I haven't seen him for three days."
"Yes, but you texted him the whole time." She shook her head.
"He had a few meetings." Grace stood there, staring at her judgementally. "They were really LONG meetings. Anyway, are we going or what?"
[A. Drive down to the city.]
[B. Stay in the cottage.]
66.6% of readers chose to [A. Drive down to the city.]
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"Shit, Ashley. Let me get ready first." Grace complained.
"Make it quick." Ashley replied. "I want to get down there before lunch."
"You know me." She laughed, pushing in her chair. "Quick is the only way I know how." She spun around and walked through the hall, looking through room after room. There was Grace's room, littered with dirty laundry and suitcases. The next room was Ashley and Gary's room. It really should have been the only room in the house. That room was where she spent most of her time.
Here it was; the bathroom. Grace walked in and locked the door behind her. She stripped down and hopped into the shower. The moment her hand hit the nozzle, water began to pour over her, bending down the flailing strands of hair to where they normally sat. After fifteen minutes of washing with her favorite brand of soap, She stepped out and dried herself off with a towel.
She wiped her hand over the mirror, erasing the steamy foam that had accumulated. Her gray-blue eyes stared back into themselves. There was a time when they were once full of life. There was a time when Grace used to look at herself and feel confident about who she had become. Those times were long past. They took her parents with them.
She reached into a drawer by the sink and pulled out her makeup kit. She carefully applied a bit of eyeliner, but not too much. Other girls always told her they were jealous of her ability to look good without a ton of makeup. Her hand ran over her cheek to wipe away a bit of makeup that had fallen out of place. Her finger kept running down past her chin until it reached a small scar on my upper neck. Painful memories of that day ran through her head as she applied a coat of concealer over it.
"You're done already? It hasn't been very long." Ashley said when Grace approached her on the couch. She had been sitting by the fireplace with her nose in a book. What little time she didn't spend with her husband was always spent reading. Grace didn't understand it. She always hated reading in school.
"You told me to be quick." Grace responded. "So I was. Let's get going."
Ashley walked to the island in the center of the kitchen and dug through a large stack of papers. Her keys made a metallic clacking sound as she withdrew them from the table. "Someday, I need to clean that mess." She said. "I hate having the house in a mess like this."
"Trust me, it could be a lot worse. Remember our dorm room?"
She shivered and smiled at Grace. "I wish I didn't remember that shithole. I suppose you're right. It could be a lot worse."
"Just be thankful you don't have any kids to worry about." Grace told her. "The mess in this house would be a hundred times worse if you did."
She chose not to respond. She always had a liking for children. During the school year, she worked as a kindergarten teacher. Grace, however, didn't much like the idea of having kids. They just seemed like too much work to her. She opened the front door, revealing her concrete porch. "Right this way, sir."
Grace tipped the invisible hat on her head to her. "Thank ya kindly." She strode out the door into the fresh mountain air. The view from Ashley's house was amazing; truly breathtaking. She could see for miles. She took a deep breath and entered the passenger side of the car. She was entirely oblivious to the fact that once she left the cottage, she would never be the same again.
Prologue: Room and Board
Start from the beginning
