Spark Between Us

1. Life Goes On

Chapter 1

Roxanne's POV

This is so weird, everything is so quiet.

It's already 10am and I'm here outside our house, staring at the empty street. There are no vehicles and people around the area. This place used to be so busy and noisy, and now, it suddenly became a ghost town.

My heart beats faster and sweat runs down my spine. I'm worrying about the bad things that could happen soon. Not just here in America, but in the entire world.

The President announced a state of emergency last night because of the Covid-19 virus. The virus spreads faster in the country, especially in big cities. People started pointing fingers at each other, blaming, arguing, contradicting, and some didn't care at all.

The government is in a desperate race to stop the virus by putting the country under lockdown. They advised residents in all states and cities to stay at home. We may not go to work, go to school, or anywhere. No one may leave the house.

It is very frustrating for everyone, and I really hope this will get over soon.

My best friend, Julia, and I just graduated from college. She has a nursing degree while I have criminology. Why criminology? Because I want to be an FBI agent.

We were very excited to find a proper job until the pandemic happened. It makes us so broke. Yesterday, we cancelled our gym memberships and used up our last Starbuck free coupons.

"Roxanne!"

I turn to mom, Fran, who comes out of the house using the garage door. She's wearing an original Louis Vuitton mask. Obviously, another discarded item from her celebrity employer.

"Hurry. We need to leave before your grandma wakes up." She enters her car without looking at me.

We don't want to bring my granny, Mary, to the supermarket. It is not safe for her age to go out. She is 69 and has comorbidities - hypertensive and diabetes. She is more susceptible to getting the virus easily.

"Put on your mask." Mom says when I settled in her car, a 2008 black Honda Civic.

It used to be dad's car. He bought it a month before he died.

I sighed. The sudden image of dad caught in a fire made my chest feel so heavy. That's a terrible way to die, to suffer slowly in burns, like being thrown in hell. He doesn't deserve such suffering, because he's a very nice sweet man.

The incident happened ten years ago, when I was thirteen. I had a vivid memory of dad's friend/co-firefighter, Elliot, telling us that dad was dead. It was my saddest moment, and mom's too. Her anguish cry was too much to bear, I thought I would lose her too.

"Don't remove it until we arrive home." Mom interrupts my thoughts. She maneuvered the car to the road, then turned on the radio.

"Of course." I pull the blue surgical face mask from my mouth higher to cover my nose.

I'm thankful that my best friend, Julia King, gave me a box of face masks last night. She's a registered nurse and I'm so proud of her for passing her NCLEX exam recently with less effort.

Though her profession is on demand right now that it's pandemic, she's not eager to work in the hospital. She fears getting infected by the virus.

"I'm not ready, okay? I will when I get vaccinated." This is one of her alibis, and the other, "I realized that being a nurse is not my calling. I want to work in a corporate world. There's more money in there."

I know this is going to happen. She was so undecided when she enrolled in nursing. Her reasons were to meet hot doctors and wear cute scrub uniforms every day.