Dear Corona, Sincerely Us

Chapter 1

Hey! My name is Isla. I just blew the candles for my ninth birthday! My family was all I have at that moment because of the situation going on in the world. Apparently, there is a killer virus that stops people from socializing and showing their love to each other.

I don't like it.

I had not met my friends for over two weeks and I had to spend my birthday in my house, with my parents and my older sister and brother. Not that I don't love them. I do. I would say I was even lucky because my mom happens to be a pastry chef, so that was one trouble down with the cake, but I could not share it with my friends. And that was a bummer. 

"Did you make a wish?" My dad asked me and I nodded my head, smiling at him.

I did. I wished for all this to be over so that I could finally be outside and meet my friends. I like being with my family, but I was worried about my friends. They don't have a chef as a mother who can make them delicious food in the middle of this stressful situation. They don't have a singer as a brother who can calm them down. On top of it all, they don't have a loving family who is always there to cheer them up when it gets really scary.

"Now, let's eat this beautiful cake." My sister chimed in and everyone agreed. I sloppily, cut the cake into five big pieces and everyone laughed at that. "I don't think I need that big, Isla." My sister said in between her laugh. She cut them smaller for all of us and we all sat together on the big table, enjoying the cake my mom made earlier.

We all talked and laughed all through the cake. After the cake was all done, my brother stood up and grabbed his guitar.

"So, I wrote a little song for my birthday girl." I clapped my hand eagerly before he even got to sing it. I love all his songs. He was a great songwriter as much as he was a good singer.

He, then, started singing his song and with each word sang, I could feel myself crying. He wrote a song about me being lonely, far from my friends, but still have the love of my family around me. He sang that he loves me. He sang that my family loves me. And on top of it all, he sang that the world will soon heal and that everything will be okay.

I jumped off my chair and ran to him to give him the biggest hug I could ever give, right after he put his guitar down.

"Thank you, Jeremy." He hugged me back tightly and everyone soon joined in. A group hug. That was always my favorite. 

"So, what do you want for your birthday?" Clara, my sister asked me and an idea soon popped in my mind. I knew she had a drone that she plays with every now and then and I have some money my mom and dad gave me before that I had been saving up for nothing. So I told them my idea and they all agreed to help.

...

"I think they need more than ten dollars. Can we give them 20?" I asked Clara and she put another ten dollars bill in the envelope and attached it to her drone. She, then, flew her drone to a woman with a baby, sitting outside of a grocery store. She picked up the envelope and smiled, looking around to find where it was coming from. I couldn't help but giggle to myself in happiness that I could make her happy with a few that I had.

My city is not in a complete lockdown. We could still walk out of the house to do our everyday activities as long as there are less than ten people in one area. We also could not touch each other and we needed to change our clothes right after we got home. That is why I decided to ask Clara to drive me around and handing out envelopes filled with ten dollars bill each so people could buy what they needed, also with a note telling them that things will soon get better. I only had 100 dollars in total so this would be my last bill to hand out to others.

As I was thinking to myself, Clara asked me, "So, Isla, you have the last ten dollars. Who should we give it to?". I saw a policeman sitting on a bench not far from we were. I looked at Clara and she smiled at me, knowing what I meant.

So we flew the last ten dollars bill I had to the brave man working in the middle of the scary situation. He saw it coming from our car, so after he took it, he gave me a thumb up with a big smile. He was really happy and that made me really happy.

"That was really fun!" I said to Clara and she agreed, giving me a high five.

We then drove home and as soon as we got home, we took off our shoes and went to the empty room that was then turned into a changing station by my mom so that everyone who just entered the house could get changed in that room and put their clothes in the laundry.

I don't like living like this, but I want this to be over soon so I had to follow the rules and be cautious about everything.

"So how was it?" My mom greeted us as soon as we were done changing.

I ran and hugged my mom for letting me went out and did it. "It was super fun!" I said, still hugging my mom. "Thank you, mom." I looked up and she was smiling down at me. 

I was really, really lucky to spend my days in this situation with my family this year. If this happened a year ago I would still be with the other foster kids, miles away, with little to no food that we had to divide every day for the thirteen of us. 

I really hope they are fine now. All I wanted to do was to see them again and give them a big hug. I want them to also know, like what Jeremy told me, that everything will be okay and that they are not alone.

Please be over, Corona.

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