Isolated

She walked with her head down, music playing loudly in her ears.

She pushed her arms closer to herself, trying to make herself feel separate from society.

She grasped her mask in her hand, itching to put it on but not wanting to feel like even more of an outcast beside the kids around her laughing with their friends.

She wanted to escape from the world where COVID could claim her life at any second.

The school that the girl attended already had several cases of coronavirus, yet barely anything was done about it. Contaminated halls were left contaminated, students who had been in contact with close contacts remained in the building, possibly carrying the disease that could claim her life - her families’ lives even. Yet she was still forced to go into school, to suffer through epically long lessons of subjects that she didn’t enjoy (For example, today she had maths and science) and have her brain hear and not absorb necessary information that would surely appear on her GCSE papers. Usually, a timetable of six 50-minute lessons was followed, but due to the virus infecting the planet the lessons were changed to much longer lessons.

However, having longer lessons wasn’t all bad. Having psychology for half of the day was a joy but, when her least favourite subjects like maths and science were involved, she was unable to take in information. If she managed to somehow avoid the virus then she would never manage to survive in a dog-eat-dog economy where getting a job was almost impossible and having low grades from a stupid timetable issue was going to lower her chances further.

But still, the girl carried on, watching closely to see if her friends had arrived at school. She pulled out her earphones and turned off her phone, tucking it safely into her inside blazer pocket. She decided that now was a good time to put her mask on as the forms lined up extremely close together (social distancing was non-existent in her school).

Still keeping her eyes cast down, she glanced around the playground for her friends. She spotted them bundled together at the back of the playground. A small smile gracing her face, she made her way over there as quickly as she could. However, before she could reach them, the whistle blew, signalling for the girl to line up. She moved slowly to her form, dreading the wait to escape from the cold. The bitter cold attacked her hands, causing the skin to turn red and begin to crack. Shaking, due to the cold, she moved her hands into her pockets in an attempt to warm them up. Pockets, however, couldn’t help the ice-cold air that attacked the girl’s face.

‘Stand in silence, year 10! I won’t wait!’ A teacher yelled from the front. ‘Now, I have some important announcements! If I read your name out you must make your way to the main hall immediately!’

Great. More cases. Yay.

After a command to equip masks, the girl eagerly awaited the list of names to be called. Name after name, peer after peer, the year group was slowly wiped out. Her Business Studies class, her History class and most of her PE class.

Standing, shaking from cold, fear, nerves and anticipation, she eagerly listened.

No…

Her best friend’s name was called, causing her to freeze. If her best friend was gone, surely, she would too?

        Name after name, slowly moving down the register that she had heard in lessons.

And then it happened.

“Jenny Thomas!”

I stopped. I looked up in fear. I trembled, shaking all over. At this point, I didn’t know what I was shaking from. I mentally slapped myself, reminding myself that I needed to move. Slowly, I moved my legs and encouraged myself to walk. I walked forward, reluctantly passing my peers and keeping my head down.

My breathing quickened as I walked into the corridor, my friend turning around. Thankfully, I had caught up with her and she reassuringly smiled at me. It calmed me down a little but nerves still built up inside me.

What now? What will be my downfall? Failure in school? Or the virus?

Nothing is clear anymore...