It was another day in a series of ‘staying at home’ routine. Lily blossomed out of her bed early in the morning. Something that seemed to be a chore, now is a surprising trend among her friends. Dimmed by the morning haze, she turned on her laptop without thinking. Light sunshine is starting to permeate white chiffon curtains on her only window, lazily warming up the walls.
She stumbled to the bathroom, and then to the kitchen for a quick fuel up. Passing the living room, she heard a voice of morning news on her local channel. As she poured a bowl full of cereal and finished it off with some milk, the voice from the living room invited her to listen to it closer.
“And the latest news on COVID-19 from our correspondent at Southampton’s hospital.” Lily could hear.
A voice of a women continued energetically, “Good morning! We’ve received information that the lock-down in UK might finally have an end. I’m here with a senior….”
The noise of boiling pot of water interrupted the woman on TV interviewing a senior doctor at hospital of Southampton. But it didn’t matter because she heard enough to make a change in a chain of uneventful weeks. Lily jumped on social media, which was already buzzing from the exciting news. Without any luck on trying to find when exactly the torture will be over, Lily continued with her day.
It was a midday when her important ‘business’ consisting of scrolling Tick-Tock and reading random articles on Internet was shocked by loud neighbours. For a second she thought her neighbours were watching football, but their cheering was so loud it reminded her of the news from this morning. She would’ve already forgotten completely about it if it wasn’t for her loud and frankly disrespectful of her peace neighbours. She even started to plan for the next day ‘in’, noticeably giving up on the world out there.
Suddenly, a loud knock at the door distracted her from daydreaming. Her mother opened the door and saw Lily laying down on her bed :
“Lily! Are you busy? I’m going to the store, do you need anything?”
With a little confusion, Lily responded: “Do I need anything? We have been to the shop literally yesterday! You should probably stay home.”
“No, but the government said we CAN come out now…” Her mother tried to explain.
“…Wait, what!?” Lily interrupted. “When did that happen?”
And at last Lily received the exciting news. She went out to the front porch of her parents’ house, and to her surprise it was all the same ghost town. How could they[!] – she thought. Breathing in the life she was waiting for 15 months, she went back inside. After all, it was just another day.
A couple of weeks have passed since people were finally allowed to leave their houses. Some were still wearing masks for extra precaution, or because they just got used to it. Shops next to Lily’s house started to work again. But Lily could notice a little bit of colour to her every day chores in school: people were friendlier and happier. Even though the town returned to its usual state, people living in it were never the same as before. And now, even the greyest of days were warm and full of joy.
Life Is Acid And Sweet 