TWITCH {{FINISHED}}

Chapter 1: There's Only The Virus

Chapter 1: There's Only The Virus

The speaker, a woman with long red curls and the pale complexion of a ghost, smiled. Cattish green eyes sparkled in the full blown light of the conference room as she stood above her podium. Throughout her whole speech of what was happening to us, Julian couldn't help noticing the fact that that was exactly how he'd felt and what he'd done. From the Google search to the Ignorance is bliss bit.

Was it just paranoia, or maybe just coincidence? Either way, it was a bit sad to hear you life in the past month be relayed in front of twenty or so other adults mixed with teens. His dull grey eyes scanned the room, and he found that the rest looked as spooked as himself. Had they had the same experience or am I just having wishful thoughts? he asked himself.

A woman to his right, blonde hair shining too brightly turned to Julian with a sharp motion of her neck. A crack resounded through the room, and everyone looked to her. The speaker chuckled and the sound echoed throughout the room, almost as loud as the crack. Nineteen pairs of eyes - not counting the speaker - stared as the woman's body began to jerk and twitch, just as everyone's had for the past month. Her eyes bulged with the pain they'd all faced, and her hands balled into fists that couldn't keep shape no matter how hard she tried. They all watched her fall to the ground, not making a noise, not crying out. A second passed and it was over.

"I was going to say that this virus is unpredictable and that at any moment you may drop dead but... Well, wasn't that just the best example?" No one said a word, afraid that by breaking the awkward silence left behind someone else might drop dead in the literal sense. The speaker sighed and leapt off the stage without a warning, landing lightly on the balls of her feet and stalked off to the far corner of the room where a white phone waited. Everyone watched - as inconspicuously as possible in a room of twenty - as she dialed a number and spoke softly into the receiver. Her words were lost to Julian but some others heard and gasps echoed one another.

"Did she say..."

" 'Dispose of the body'..."

"How cruel..."

"My God, is that going to..."

"I'm scared..."

"Can we go now..."

"What the hell..."

The whispers filled the room and the silence was done with. Everyone was panicked and everyone wanted to know what was going on. A few brave people stood by the dead girl - Julian had drifted away from her by then - and poked at the body with the tips of their shoes or moved it around, testing to see if she really was dead. All they really had to do was check if she was breathing to see it for themselves but no one would get that close to her.

Julian chose to back away from the crowd of people completely, drifting to a corner of the room away from the speaker and everyone else. If anything, after he'd been affected by the virus he'd become slightly anti-social. Being around people to him was like being surrounded by birds, all flapping their wings and cawing annoyingly. Sometimes it made him want to just go on and push everyone away from him and create a bubble of space around himself but since that wasn't the best way to go about things, he walked away. If only he could walk away from this virus too.

Someone tugged on Julian's shirt, forcing him to turn around. A teenage girl with a short bob of red hair stood beside him, iridescent blue eyes watching curiously. "H-hi. I'm Deva. Well, the full name's Devana but... yeah, just call me Deva." She attempted a smile but what cam out instead was a sort of half grimace half frown. No doubt she was trying to step out of her comfort zone. And, Julian noticed, she was carrying a full jug of water.