Quarantine

Day five

Day 5

It's been five days, five days of the same boring cream walls, the same pot plant in its garishly loud pot, the same modern art on the wall that I still can't figure out if it's upside down or not, the same ten photographs rearranged six times so far, the same fluffy beige rug, four biscuits remaining in the biscuit tin, the same window that looks across to the apartment opposite where the blinds are always closed, the same swivel chair that spins faster to the left than the right, the same four cracks on the ceiling and the same sounds as every other day. To the left the newly weds Kiki and Louie, that seem to be oblivious to the fact we are all in indefinite quarantine and are making the most of their alone time. To the right Ethel and her tiny yappy dog Lenard, adorable, friendly and super cute but my god that dog does not know about lie ins or early nights, I swear to god that dog knows the moment I get into bed somehow, doesn't matter what time it is the second my head hits the pillows he starts up with his yap yap yap. Above me I have a single mum Gail, with the sweetest kid in the world Beatrix, now that kid has the sweetest smile and perfect manners until bedtime, like clockwork, 7pm she turns into the demon child from hell! I feel sorry for Gail her mum, especially now we are all stuck inside our apartments, I can't even offer to babysit to give her a night off. Below Barry, the middle aged pervert who you can hear moaning to explicit porn at all kinds of hours.

Five days of regretting not leaving the city a day before I planned to. I am now stuck in my brothers apartment, bored out of my tiny mind for the foreseeable future while my charming brother spends his quarantine in sunny Spain with his new fiancé, why did I say I'd feed his cat and stay at his apartment while he swanned off on his holiday so he could propose at sunset on the beach like a cliche scene from a movie. Dad said leave work early and come home, something don't feel right and I want you home, he even said bring the damn cat even though he's allergic to the bloody thing, but no I have to be the one that can't say no to her oh so handsome boss when he says he needs one person to stay and close up with him. Telling my dad I'd drive my brothers car to theirs after. Five days of regretting giving in to the same oh so handsome boss' flirting and kissed him, only to find out he's married with two kids at home. I wasted months of my life flirting back and forth with this man. Thank goodness it was just a kiss and his wife rang him to tell him the world was going on lockdown and to get his arse home quick sharp.

Fluffy, my only companion, the over weight cat that my brother insists is just as his name suggests fluffy. Five days of no internet, no phone, no social media, limited TV, everything has been stripped back to basics, they say give it four weeks and the phones will be back up at least. I came back and packed my stuff up but I was too late, instant lockdown, don't leave your homes, I tried to make a dash to my brothers car, I was met with two very large men in army uniforms escorting me back to my brothers apartment. I managed to get two brief phone calls, one with my mum and dad who told me to just stay put and it would be over soon and one with my brother and Dede who told me to make myself at home, that they'd been told to stay in their villa and the planes had been temporarily grounded so they were stuck there until it was over. I told them both I'd keep in touch, half an hour later the phone lines were cut off, no incoming, no outgoing, no internet.

I'd stayed at my brothers so many times before, My go to guy in a crisis, my big brother, tragic but we'd always been super close. When I moved to London mum and dad were happy he was close by, having moved here when I was only sixteen. I'm sure they'd told him to keep an eye on me, not that they had to, he would have done anyway. Like when six months after I'd moved here with my boyfriend and we broke up, I left our tiny bedsit flat that belonged to his eldest sister who was away in Dubai working for three years at the time and was thankful for the house sitting.  I came straight to my brothers at 2am, I lived on his sofa for a while after. He always said if I was out and drunk to come here as it was more central, rather than try and get home, I'd taken him up on the offer many a time. So I knew this apartment well, I'd rather be here than be with my flat mates. Omar and his girlfriend Ella who constantly argued day and night then had loud make up sex whether the rest of us were in or not. Gillan the workaholic who no doubt was having a meltdown over the lack of internet so she could keep working from home. Lastly maverick, handsome and he knows it, I leaped at the chance for two weeks at my brothers apartment after a messy drunk one night stand with maverick made things super awkward, it wasn't the first time it had happened in the two years I'd known him, even though we said we wouldn't go there again. When you like someone more than they like you back it gets awkward.