The Beginning of the End

by Lorana Hoopes

  Maybe it was because there was no Katie. She almost always arrived before Lily did, so, where was she?

  Suddenly, Lily wondered if she had come on the wrong day. The school had decided to do what they called a “slow start” in order to limit the number of students in the building for the first few days. The freshmen and sophomores had been first, but Lily was fairly certain they had come yesterday. Juniors and Seniors were today. Weren’t they?

  Deciding that Katie was either late or waiting inside, Lily hoisted her backpack over her shoulder, put the breath-impeding contraption over her face, and headed for the main door of the building.

  During a normal year, there were three entrances to her high school open, but due to the new regulations, only one door was unlocked, and two staff members manned it, both wearing masks and holding clipboards. One, she recognized as Mrs. Fox, but the other was a new face.

  “Good morning, Lily,” Mrs. Fox said. Though Lily couldn’t see the kind woman’s smile, she could hear it in her voice, which provided a small modicum of comfort. “How was your summer?”

  Lily snorted and shook her head. “Lame. How about yours?”

  Her hazel eyes twinkled behind her mask. “The same, but I’m glad to be here at least.” She turned the clipboard toward Lily, so she could read it. “Do you or anyone in your household have any of these symptoms?”

  Lily scanned the long list - cough, cold, congestion, fever, vomiting, loss of smell, fatigue, runny nose, body aches, and known exposure to anyone who had the virus. It sounded like the side effects listed in one of those terrible TV ads. She shook her head again, both in answer to the question and at the sheer craziness involved in that list.

  “Okay, let me get your temperature.” Mrs. Fox held an infrared thermometer close to Lily’s forehead for a moment before waving her through the door. “You’re all good. Have a great day.”

  Hah. A great day breathing in her own expelled air all day? Somehow, she doubted that. Already, she felt hot and itchy though how much of that was due to the mask itself or just her pure hatred of them, she didn’t know.

  A sigh spilled from her lips as she stepped inside and saw the arrows of blue tape pointing out the direction of recommended traffic. The grocery stores had done this too though no one appeared able to follow it. Lily doubted students would be any better.

  Continuing to her locker, she shoved her bag in and pulled out her schedule. The school had allowed students to come in small numbers a few days prior to pick up their schedules. Lily had science first, just like last year, followed by English, choir, math, Spanish, history, and creative writing. Not a super stressful load, but heavy enough. She grabbed her science folder and glanced around again for Katie. Where was that girl?

  The halls were eerily silent; only a few other people could be spotted and none were close to her. Instinctively, Lily knew this mainly had to do with the fact that they were on a split schedule and half of the students weren’t here, but it was still creepy. Shutting her locker door, she glanced around again for Katie, but she was still nowhere to be seen. It felt strange walking to class without her. Lily couldn’t remember a time they hadn’t walked to class together.

  Mr. Higgins was at the white board scrawling the day’s objectives across it when she entered. “Good morning, Lily,” he said with barely a glance in her direction. She supposed when a teacher had a student for two years, they started to learn the unique sound each student made.

  “Hey, Mr. Higgins.” Lily grabbed her usual seat and dropped her purse beside her. Though she knew touching her mask was frowned upon, she could not keep her fingers from gravitating to the restrictive barrier and pulling it from her face slightly. Her breath burned against her nose and mouth like a sunburn the day after. “Do you think we’ll have to wear masks the whole year?”

  Mr. Higgins was not only the science teacher, but he had studied diseases in college. He’d also been pretty vocal about the shutdown at the end of last school year being unnecessary, so Lily trusted his opinion.

  With a sigh, he turned from the board and met her gaze. “I don’t know, Lily. I’m wearing this mask because the school says we have to, and they’re saying we have to because the governor says we have to, but I personally don’t believe it does much to protect us, especially since so many people wear it wrong or touch it all day. Sometimes though, we have to follow the rules even when they don’t make much sense to us.”

  “For how long though?” The words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them, and they emerged harsher than she meant for them to. Pausing to take a deep breath and swallow some of her frustration, she tried again, softening her tone. “I just mean, is there a point where we become like sheep following the wrong things?”

  His eyes remained on hers and though she could not see his lips, she was sure he was smiling. But not the patronizing type of smile, a genuine one that meant he was proud of her. “I do think there is a point where it could become like that, and I honestly hope we don’t get to that point. However, I don’t think we are there yet. Let’s follow the rules for now and see how things go.”

  Lily wanted to ask what his thoughts were on the impending vaccine, but before she could, more students began filing in. Though she recognized most of them, there were a few she could not place. Whether that was because they were new or because they had changed so much over the summer that they were unrecognizable behind their mask, Lily wasn’t sure.

  Katie slid into the room seconds before the bell rang. A look of frustration creased her forehead, and for the first time in a long time, she had no coffee. Something was clearly wrong. People might not be able to sit in a coffee joint, but the drive thrus had been open for a while now.

  “Are you okay?” Lily whispered as Katie took the desk nearest hers. Even the desks were placed six feet apart, so Lily couldn’t be as quiet as she would have liked, but Katie heard. Her lips pursed together, and she shook her head.

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  Mr. Higgins began class then, but Lily found it hard to focus on what he was saying. Not only was the hot air she kept exhaling and re-breathing in constantly on her mind, but a stubborn itchy sensation had taken up residence on her face. Her forehead, her cheeks, her nose - everything pulsed with a desire to be scratched and refraining from it appeared futile. Her fingers twitched on the desk as she fought the urge.

  When the bell finally rang signaling the end of first period, Lily gathered up her things and realized she had missed most of the class. Thankfully it was the first day of school and there was generally less work assigned, but this was Mr. Higgins’ class, and he seemed to never care whether it was September or April when it came to assigning work.

  “What happened?” Lily asked Katie as they joined the throng of students filling the hallway. The blue arrows that lined the floor were largely ignored, and students, having not seen their friends in months, conveniently forgot (or ignored) the social distance rule as they high-fived or hugged in the hallway. Yeah, this was going to work so well.

  “I was halfway here when I forgot my stupid mask and had to turn around and go home.” Annoyance filled Katie’s voice, but Lily had a hard time believing all of it stemmed from forgetting her mask.

  “First of all, I’m sure they have some here you could have borrowed. I doubt you’ll be the only one to forget your mask at some point this year, but why didn’t you just leave it in your bag or in your car like I do?”

  “It does no good hanging in your car,” Katie said, throwing her hands up.

  “It does no good anyway,” Lily said. Hadn’t Katie been attending the same meetings with Raven and the others that she had? Why was she acting like suddenly she believed all the hype? “This is all about control. Remember?”

  Suddenly Katie’s demeanor shifted. Her eyes flashed around, and her fingers darted out, grabbing Lily’s arm and squeezing. “You can’t say stuff like that out loud. Who knows who might be listening?”

  “Listening?”
Now Lily was starting to worry. Katie was acting weirder than normal. “Who’s going to be listening?”

  Katie shook her head, but there was definitely something going on with her. And more than the fact that she’d had to return home to get a mask. Lily was determined to find out what, but the warning bell sounded before she could press the issue, and the girls dashed for their separate classrooms.

  The rest of the morning flew by and dragged at the same time. The routine of being back in the classroom made the time go by quicker than it had at home, but the constant heat against Lily’s lips and the pressure on the back of her ears from the straps of the mask served as a constant reminder of how much of the day remained.

  When lunch finally arrived, Lily walked into the gym which no longer served as a gym but the makeshift cafeteria since it was bigger. It felt weird calling it a cafeteria though since the school wasn’t even serving food. Brown bags or nothing. That seemed to be the mantra of the year. Only two choices - one bad and the other worse.

  With a sigh, Lily sank down onto one of the seats. Last year, the tables had teemed with students laughing and leaning over each other to share a video or a funny meme on each other’s phones. Now, there were giant stickers on the seats students could actually sit on, and the large tables were limited to three students so they could be socially distant while they ate. New slender tables that only allowed a student at each end had also been added, but as Lily knew a quiet conversation would be impossible at one of those, she had opted for the former.

  The only redeeming grace was that lunch meant food and food meant having an unimpeded access to the mouth which meant no mask. Lily ripped hers off and inhaled the fresh air. As she watched the students around her do the same, she realized again how silly and futile this all was. Students were forced to wear a mask during every class, but here in the lunchroom, they could all have them off. If the virus was really airborne as the media claimed, wouldn’t the students all just get infected here? Where had common sense gone?

  Katie arrived a moment later and set her own mask on the table before opening her lunch.

  “You want to tell me what’s really going on?” Lily asked.

  Katie sighed as she pulled a sandwich from a ziplock bag. “It’s my parents. They want me to get the vaccine.”

  “What?” Lily realized she had said the word louder than she meant to when heads turned her direction. She lowered her voice and hissed, “Katie, you can’t.”

  “I know, but they’re my parents. What am I supposed to do?”

  “Have you told them about Caturix and the patent?”

  Katie bit her lip and shook her head. “No, you know how they are. They believe everything the media is saying. They didn’t even want me to return to school this year, but I refused to spend another year at home on a laptop.”

  Katie’s mother worked for the state, and they had declared their workers wouldn’t be returning any time soon. Her father managed one of the local grocery stores, and while he hadn’t been forced to close like other businesses had, he was paranoid about contracting the virus. He wore gloves all day at work, changing them every time he went to the bathroom or consciously touched his face. Lily had also been surprised they’d let Katie return to school.

  “I can’t blame you there, but don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. The vaccine isn’t even here yet, and I bet even when it is released, we won’t be the first in line to get it.”

  “I hope not, but anyway, that’s what made me late today, and it’s kind of thrown my whole day off.”

  “Well, at least today is almost over. You can come over tonight and we’ll celebrate the first day of school with ice cream. How’s that?”

  Katie’s lips pulled into a slight smile, but the light did not reach her eyes. It might take more than ice cream to bring her bubbly friend back, but Lily wasn’t going to give up.

  “When you girls are done, please remember to put your masks back on.”

  Lily looked up at the woman speaking to them. Her voice was unfamiliar, and though she could only see the woman’s eyes and forehead over her mask, her face did not seem familiar either. Her eyes were the color of coal, and though Lily would not have thought it possible, her hair appeared a shade darker. Her skin, though not abnormally pale, seemed that way in contrast to her eyes and hair.

  “I’m sorry, who are you?” Lily asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt.

  The woman’s eyes crinkled, and Lily knew a patronizing smile lay under her mask. “My name is Ms. Chemosh, but you can call me Ms. C. I’m the new counselor here.”

  A counselor? This was news to Lily. Their school was so small that the teachers and office staff had served as make-shift counselors. Why did they have one this year? “What does a counselor do in a school this small?”

  “More than you’d expect.” Her tone dripped like honey, but it did not sound sweet in Lily’s ear. Instead, it sounded grating like squealing brakes. “I help students figure out their graduation plan and apply to colleges. I also moderate issues between students, and of course, this year, I’m happy to help with any student feeling anxious about the virus.”

  “Oh, that’s good to know,” Katie said, but Lily could tell she was simply placating the woman. “We’ll be sure to put our masks back on when we’re done eating.”

  “Very well,” Ms. C said. Her eyes lingered a moment longer on them before she turned and headed off to another table.

  Lily rolled her eyes as the woman walked away to share the reminder with another table. She didn’t have enough knowledge of this woman to form a solid opinion yet, but this whole nonsense of wearing a mask as soon as they finished eating was silly. By the time they finished eating, they would have spent at least twenty minutes with their masks off. If the virus were truly in the air, they would all have been exposed and putting a mask on after that certainly wasn’t going to save them. Besides the majority of the evidence still pointed to the fact that kids rarely got the virus and when they did, their cases were mild.

  “I’ll see you after school?” Lily asked Katie as they stood and headed toward the trash cans. They didn’t have any of their afternoon classes together.

  “Yep, see you then.”

  13

  “This makes no sense.”

  Gabe looked over to see Raven staring at the numbers on her screen and shaking her head. “What’s the matter?” he asked, crossing to her side.

  “Something isn’t adding up. Smythe passed the mask mandate months ago, right?”

  “Yeah, as did many states. Why?”

  “Well, you and I both know that masks are pretty useless, but even with them being useless, it doesn’t explain why positive cases are still occurring at such a high rate. Deaths seem to be lower which makes sense as we know so much more about how to treat this now, but why, if we are all masking and socially distancing, are cases still going up?”

  “Well, the virus is highly contagious.” Gabe pulled up a chair beside her.

  “I know, but something still feels off. Plus, look at this.” She clicked a different tab, and an email popped up on the screen. “Check this out.” She clicked on a picture inside the email, enlarging it before turning the screen toward Gabe.

  He leaned closer to study the picture. “Okay, that looks like a hospital, but it appears empty.”

  “It is,” Raven said. “Candace sent me this today. She said hospitalizations from NCAV are fewer than ten people most weeks, but no one is allowed to say anything. They were threatened with termination if they leaked any pictures.”

  Gabe scratched at his chin. “So, there’s a rise in positive cases but a decrease in hospitalizations and deaths, but the government clearly does not want us to see that. Why?”

  From behind them, an alert sounded on the TV proclaiming breaking news. They turned from the computer to watch.

  “We are pleased to announce that the first NCAV vaccine, sponsored by Daman Caturix, has passed quality control checks and Dr. Good
man will be receiving the very first dose,” the news anchor said with a smile that was meant to be consoling but had the opposite effect on Gabe. There was still so much he didn’t know, didn’t understand, about how they planned to put the mark of the beast in the vaccine. The time crunch pressed down on him, an invisible weighted blanket that held no comfort at all.

  “They are televising him getting vaccinated?” Raven asked, leaning forward in her chair. “This has got to be a part of it, Gabe, getting the masses to want this. I can’t remember a time they’ve ever televised a vaccination before. Have you?”

  He bit the inside of his lip as he mentally reviewed the information again. An increase in cases but lower deaths and hospitalizations that were being hidden. A rushed vaccine that could be associated with the mark of the beast. A televised vaccination to portray the message that the vaccine was safe. He had to find out what was in the vaccine.

  “No, I haven’t either,” he said, answering her question, “but I still have nothing, Raven. Nothing that tells me how they’re putting the mark in the vaccine, how to replicate it, nothing.” He wasn’t used to feeling like he had no control, and he didn’t like it.

  “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. It will take some time to get it to the people on the front lines who want it before they start mandating it.”

  “Yeah, but what about Candace? She’ll be one of the first pressured to take it, won’t she?” Gabe had yet to meet the beloved doctor, but she was forefront on his mind in all of this.

  “Candace has the same information that we do. She may not have been able to make it down lately, but we’ve been emailing. She’s prepared to quit if she has to when the time comes. Until then, let’s just pray we figure something out.”