LOCKDOWN

Chapter 30

I was confused. Three nights ago Peyton and I had the most magical night together. She let me see her at her most vulnerable, she let me touch her, she let me love her, but she's been distant ever since. She wasn't ignoring me, but her eyes refused to meet mine, her touches were fleeting, and I couldn't help but assume that she regretted the night we spent together.

The morning after we'd had sex, I woke up alone. I found Peyton downstairs, asleep on the lounge with Dennis snuggled up beside her. Had she woken up before me and gone downstairs, or had she left me the moment I fell asleep the night before?

I knew not to bring up the night we shared, or even subtly hint towards it. Her body language was so closed off and I couldn't handle being rejected. What I didn't know couldn't hurt me, so I remained silent, tiptoeing around her so as to not cause an argument that was just waiting to happen.

Peyton was currently in the kitchen cooking us dinner while I sat on the lounge reading a text that my mother had sent me. She had been keeping me updated since waking up from her coma, and had assured me time and time again that she is feeling so much better. Due to health reasons, though, she had to stay in the hospital until the restrictions began to lift. I knew that being in the hospital was the safest place for her to be, so I wasn't too worried.

Peyton placed a bowl of Indian curry and rice in front of me before sitting down on the other end of the couch, pulling her own bowl towards her and beginning to eat.

"My mum is feeling better," I told her, wanting to at least have one decent conversation with her. The past three days had been filled with small talk and pathetic conversations, and I was desperate for at least one conversation where she actually gave me the attention she used to give me.

"Really? That's great, babe!" she replied.

"But she can't come home yet," I continued. "They're keeping her in the hospital until restrictions lift."

"At least she's feeling better. That's awesome, you must be stoked," she said. Her excitement for me seemed real, but no matter what I said to her, she still refused to look me in the eyes.

I hummed in response before turning on the TV. I had taken to watching the news each night since Peyton usually went to bed early, most likely to avoid me.

"Australian Health Minister, Jacqui Haines, has been working with leading medical experts to implement strategies that can be enforced to ensure the safety of Australian citizens after the lockdown has been lifted," the news anchor spoke. "A report has been released that if the numbers continue to decrease and reach a maximum of four cases per week, mass testing will ensue before lockdown will be lifted. Infection statistics show that if our numbers continue to decrease at the rate that they are, we should reach a maximum of four cases per week in less than one month. The Department of Education has announced that, if lockdown is lifted before the end of April, school will commence on the first of May."

"It feels like school was a lifetime ago," I mused, more-so to myself than to Peyton. "We were barely there for a week after the holidays before the lockdown started."

"Now it's almost April," Peyton replied. "Time flies when you're in the middle of a pandemic and your life is at risk."

"Thousands of reports have been lodged on the official government website by Australian citizens all over the country, desperately trying to locate their missing loved ones," the news anchor continued. "Australian Army soldiers will be working with the Australian government to locate these missing people and return them safely to their families."

The news report ended, moving on to another news report in a foreign language. Peyton switched off the TV and we finished our dinner in silence. The awkward tension that I hadn't felt in a while had returned, and I despised it. Being in this lockdown with Peyton was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster. I felt the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and right now I felt like I was in one of the deepest troughs imaginable.