Black Plague

Chapter 1: Baby's on fire

Jessie woke up to the sound of knocking on his bedroom door. He turned to see his mom opening the door to his room with a coffee cup in hand.

She was a rather tall woman standing at nearly six feet. She had blonde hair, with blues eyes to match, and a button nose. In the past, he remembered hearing his teachers call her beautiful but to him, she seemed fake. "Good morning." she said as she walked towards Jessie. She placed her coffee on his nightstand and sat down on his bed beside him. "How'd you sleep? I hope well."

"I slept well, I've been doing a lot better mom." Jessie said.

"You can't be too careful Jessie, you have to take it easy."

He sat up and winced, grabbing his side. Ok, maybe she has a point.

"Mom I'm fine, I'll get better on my own but I feel trapped sitting here doing nothing. I wasn't even hurt that badly I inhaled a tiny bit of smoke." He said jokingly to his mother.

"Jessie I just want you to be safe. You're all I have left." She said as she placed her hand on his cheek. He recoiled and she paused before taking back her hand.

"Your right I'm sorry. I'm just fed up in here, I feel like I'm suffocating. I wanna go back to school and see my friends, I haven't seen them since you banned them from seeing me in the hospital." he said quietly.

"Well, the doctor says it's ok for you to go back in a week but you have to take it easy. Which means no heavy activity. Just rest up for now, ok?" She said as she gave him a small smile. Just when Jessie was starting to feel reassured her smile curled into something else. "Besides I think that Travis boy is annoying and I didn't want him near me when I'm grieving. I can only deal with so much. I'm a fragile lady Jessie."

"Mom he's my friend don't talk about him like that." Jessie said annoyed.

"Fine, I can see who you value more. Honestly choosing that little nuisance over me is unbelievable." His mom said as she huffed and turned away from Jessie. "I'm going to head to do some shopping and I don't know when I'll be back, not that you would care." She said as she stood up.

"Mom I do care but I'm just not too thrilled hearing you talk about my friends like that. " Jessie said as he sat and watched as his mother ignored him and walked towards his door. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She said as she turned to face him before she walked out of his room.

"Could you please get me a phone while you're out?" Jessie asked shyly.

"I still can't believe I haven't gotten you one. Well I mean you did lose yours in the fire and that cost me a lot of money but with everything going on I'm sure you just weren't thinking about me and my money problems. It's no problem I'll get one while I'm out." She said it in a voice that didn't give him confidence that she would.

She left leaving Jessie stunned. Jessie sighed and sat back in his bed staring out his window. A few minutes after he heard her car pull away and determined to be useful decided to make himself some breakfast.

As he made his way down the hall he struggled a bit but made his way to the stairs just fine. Going down wasn't much of an issue with help from the banister.

I have a bit of a limp but it's nothing too serious, not like before. Just thinking about it gives me chills.

When he finally got to the kitchen he was surprised to see his mom had left the tv on. It was tuned to the news, and he recognized the building the reporter stood in front of.

"Hi, I'm Jessica brown with channel 13 news here bringing you the morning report. I am standing here in front of Sherwood high where there has been a sudden increase in infected persons, specifically younger adults, and adolescents." She said as she looked through some papers in front of her.