Day Five.
Today they have shipped me from the comfort of my own home to a secure safe house. I am under full surveillance for twenty-four hours. I haven’t seen or spoken to my mum since she went into work five days ago. I know she is working hard to try to find a cure for me. Symptoms check, I am starting to feel a burning sensation round my cheeks and my forehead is dripping droplets of sweat. I also found out today that the prime minister has ordered the country to go into full lockdown until further notice. Last time I saw my friends was six days ago, I am missing them so deeply. At seventeen I should be hanging out with them, not locked away like some animal in a cage.
My insides begin to erupt, I can sense I will throw up. I have eaten nothing today so I hope it will just be some bile. As I make it to the nearest toilet, I lean over the porcelain bowl and let out what my stomach needs to. However, the taste in my mouth was more metallic than acidy. A quick glance to my stomach contents revealed a dark red gloopy substance. Blood. Suddenly someone in a biohazard suit rushes in and instantly injects something into my neck. Before I come to terms with what is happening, everything goes black.
Day Ten.
I am still locked away in this safe house and my every move is being watched. Since five days ago I have only had the one bio-suit visitor come in to see me and inject the usual area on my neck. They believe it is slowing down the spread of this virus round my body. I just hope my mum and her team hurry up and find me a cure to reverse whatever is happening to me. My heart is beating faster than normal but they have assured me this is anxiety and not relating to this virus.
I am sick of pot noodles and pasta now, especially mac and cheese, but I do have a continuous supply of toilet roll. I miss being out and about, even cabin fever is kicking in. The surface of my skin burned up again today, splashing cool water over my face I take a glance at myself in the mirror. My skin colour has turned a faint grey along with my left eye looking abnormal, it is bloodshot fully. Then next up my insides turn on me again and I just want to throw up, as before my stomach contents have revealed red, blood.
Day Fifteen.
They have since upped my dosage on this trial injection to try to slow down the ZOVI virus but it is leaving me all drowsy. I am choosing to stay in today as I have woken up with bad period cramps. I am in too much discomfort to eat or move about today.
Day Twenty.
I haven’t washed my hair in five days; it is like someone has poured oil all over my head. My hair is all clumpy and every time I stroke my hands through my hair, it is like touching straw. I have to force myself out of bed and crawl to the nearest bathroom. For the majority of today I spent it in the shower.
Day Thirty.
The news I have been waiting patiently for, success a cure has been found but grim news is I have to wait another week for it to finally get to me. Whilst I have been in lockdown the prime minister sadly got infected too. I have missed being able to go outside to breathe in the fresh air, feeling the sun’s rays and seeing the butterflies flying around in the meadows. So the first vaccination is to be given to the prime minister, but also I have since been informed of the news that my father is responsible for all of this, he created the virus out of spite on my mother leaving him all those years ago. Once I am cured and out of this holding facility, I aim to find my father and punish him for this.
Acknowledgments
A little bit about myself, I live in the town of Grimsby where I work full time at a car dealership and in my spare time I love to write and read many wonderful books. Over the years, I have attended two evening writing courses at the Grimsby Institute (2013 and 2017). During the summer of July 2018 I started going to a weekly writers group (on Tuesdays) held at the Barge Inn, this group was formed by a writer called Ruth. Unfortunately, Ruth could not continue the writers group into 2019 so myself and a handful of the regular writers formed up our own writing group which is held at The Globe.
First of all thank you so much for reading my anthology of short stories and flash fiction, as I have written a fair few I wanted to include a handful of them into my own book.
I would also like to say thank you to my family, and to my fiancé for all of their support over the years on the many hobbies I have tried to accomplish, I promise them that writing will be the one I will be sticking to.
Thank you to Matthew Head, the owner of the Globe Coffee shop in Cleethorpes, without his support, the Globe Writers group would not have a weekly venue to meet up and write. I would like to thank all the writers from this group but especially Ants Ambridge. Without his help and guidance, my anthology would never have happened.
Last of all I would like to say a big thank you to the bookstagram community on Instagram. I have spoken to many lovely bookstagrammers over the last couple of years.
Gemma has also been featured in the following anthologies.
Monday At Six - first published in October 2017, available on Amazon and Kindle
Fish and Freaks - first published in October 2018, available on Amazon and Kindle
Christmas Gifts - first published in November 2019, available on Amazon and Kindle. The royalties from this anthology are donated to Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.
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