LOCKDOWN

Chapter 31

It was mid April and the weather was starting to get colder by the day. The winds were picking up at night and the leaves on the trees outside were a beautiful mixture of reds and oranges. I sat and reminisced on the times I spent with my dad as a child, raking all of the autumn leaves in our backyard into a big pile and diving headfirst into them. It was something we did every year, something I always looked forward to, and now something I terribly missed. I looked outside the front window longingly at the beautiful autumn trees that lined the street outside, desperately wanting to go out. I just wanted to feel something, anything, but all I felt was nothingness.

It had been two weeks since my argument with Peyton and she had barely spoken a word to me. She avoided me at all costs and refused to look at me or to be near me, and I knew that whatever had been blossoming between us over the past two and a half months was over.

I sat on the lounge snuggled up under a large blanket, watching the news reports as they ran through while Peyton sat at the dining room table on her phone. I was barely listening to anything that was being said, instead staring blankly at the screen in front of me and letting the words go in one ear and out the other. The screen suddenly flashed a bright red, the words 'Breaking News' plastered across the screen. I snapped out of my daze and turned up the volume, listening intently to the news anchor.

"We have just received breaking news that the lockdown is set to lift within the next seventy two hours. There are currently four active cases of ENOV-18 in Australia and no new cases have been recorded in the past seven days. Once the lockdown has been lifted, strict social distancing measures will be put into place. People must remain no less than two metres apart, temperature checks and ENOV-18 rapid testing will be performed before entering and exiting all establishments, and the number of visitors allowed in the home will be limited. Please visit the official Australian government website for the full list of ENOV-18 restrictions."

I turned to look at Peyton, hoping the good news of the impending lockdown lift could illicit some sort of conversation between us, but she just looked back down at her phone and continued to text. I sighed in defeat, shrugging the blanket off my lap and heading upstairs to my bedroom. Before I could make it to the top of the stairs there was a loud knock at the door, causing Dennis to bark loudly and run towards the front of the house. Like Peyton and I had done so many times before, she held Dennis back while I opened the door, expecting to receive our last package before lockdown was lifted. But instead of being given a package, I was greeted by a hazmat suit cladded soldier with a clipboard in hand.

"Are you Peyton Lee Mitchell?" his deep voice came from beneath his helmet.

Before I could reply, Peyton's voice came from behind me.

"No, I'm Peyton."

"Can you confirm your date of birth, please?" the man spoke again, glancing down at his clipboard.

"June 5th, 2001," she replied, and the man nodded as he continued to look at his paperwork before he spoke again.

"A report has been lodged into your whereabouts by Leanne Mitchell. I'm here to collect you and take you back to your residence," he said firmly, gesturing to the army vehicle parked in the driveway.

My heart dropped. As hard as it was to live with Peyton now that she most definitely hated me, I didn't want her to leave. Having her leave whilst we were fighting was a sure fire way to guarantee that we would never reconcile. I looked frantically between the soldier and Peyton, waiting for her to reply. She nodded slowly in understanding, her face impassive, before responding.

"Can't I just stay here?"

That was the last thing I expected her to say. I thought that she would be more than willing to leave this house as soon as she could as she had been going out of her way to avoid being in the same room as me for two weeks. If she would rather stay here with me, I didn't want to imagine the situation that was awaiting her at home.