You were standing outside a small boutique, mindlessly window shopping. Your eyes lit up as they landed on a dress placed on display. The urge to go in and buy the dress went to your mind, but quickly diminished, when you remembered that all school graduations were canceled due to the wide spreading virus.
You scoffed angrily. This virus was bullshit. After everything you had been through and all the hard work you had put into being able to graduate a year early from college, all that work ended up not paying off. There was an understanding that people were dying and everyone wanted to be precautious, but it just wasn't fair, you didn't want to be selfish, but you couldn't help it. Everything was normal only two weeks ago. What happened?
"The Chinks is what happened." Your head whips to the side as you look at a middle aged white woman standing next to you, peering at a red Chinese style dress through the window. You hadn't realized you asked the question out loud so you were taken by surprise when she spoked up.
"Excuse me?" You had heard these racist comments more than you wanted, lately. Although you agreed that the virus came from China, you didn't believe that being racist or threatening a race would make the situation disappear. "That's not very nice. You can't blame a situation on a specific race."
She blinks at you, for some reason taken aback at the fact that you were stating something against her. "Well it's their fault, isn't it? They can't seem to eat anything normal. This virus should've stayed with them. We shouldn't have to be punished for something stupid that they decided to partake in." She sneered, as if her statement made anything she was saying less rude.
I shook my head. "What you don't understand is that you people," I jabbed a finger at her, "are the ones who traveled to their countries and brought the virus here. You brought this upon yourselves. And I for sure didn't work my ass off in school for a too-faced privileged white woman who probably didn't work what so ever in her life, to tell me that I'm wrong." I retorted. "Stop being selfish and rude, it's not going to get you anywhere during this pandemic."
"How dare you! Do you know who I am?!" She shrieked. I rolled my eyes, as I turned away from her. "I have more money than you could ever make in your entire years of living!" I was getting more triggered by the minute and quickly decided it would be best to start walking off. "I'm not done talking to you! I'll have you know that I-"
Her yells suddenly stopped as sirens began to fill the air. The couple that was making out on the bench jumped apart, the baby wailing for food fell silent, every movement and voices halted. We all stood rooted in our spots looking up at the sky.
Clouds began to form and the once bright sunny sky of California, became a dark and dangerous dome above us in a matter of seconds. The sirens continued as the situation began to dawn on everyone.
Lockdown.
We had been warned by the government from the past days that there was a chance that the entire United States could possibly go into lockdown if they noticed the virus was spreading faster.
All silence turned into screams and panic. Bodies collided into one another as people tried to rush their way home to safety. "Hey!" I fell to the ground, scraping my knee against the hard concrete. I looked up in time to see the woman from before barreling past me. I gritted my teeth in pain and annoyance. The struggle to stand back up was real. Everytime I had made my way up, I was knocked down again. I wasn't going to die from this virus. I was going to die from being trampled.
As I was finally giving up and just hoping that I made out of this chaos alive, I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me up. I couldn't tell who picked me up with all the bodies around me, but I noticed the man still holding my wrist. He had a black face mask on, but then again, so did half of the people around us. The virus had everyone so scared for their lives, that so many people went out and bought supplies of masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and toilet paper. As if any one of those would save you.
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I jerked forward as he pulled me through the crowds. "Watch where you're going!" A man angrily shoved past me. Watch where I'm going? Does he not see what's happening right now? I pushed aside my frustration and tried to keep up with the man in the mask. His large hand was gripped in mine as he shoved past people, leading me towards a black suv parked by the side walk.
"Wait! Where are you taking me?!" I yelled through the chaos. My heart began to race and I started to panick as we inched closer. What was going on here? I wasn't about to be kidnapped in the middle of a pandemic. Was I? Before I could figure out what was happening, he pulled me into the car and ordered the driver to go. I glanced over at the man with wide eyes. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" I wheezed out. It suddenly became hard to breathe and my vision was starting to blur. Great. A fucking panic attack.
"It's okay. You're safe." He placed a hand on my shoulder. My vision started to darken and the last thing I saw were brown eyes frantically glancing back and forth at me. "Hey...stay with me. I got you."
