text: I awoke with a startle. I was three minutes early to my alarm waking me up with it's normal, yet awfully loud ring. Looking at my calendar across the room I noticed it was the day I got to go out. Every third Monday of each month is the designated day. I used to be excited every time I got up in the morning and knew that at 10:15 A.M. I could open my door and see the sun. But that feeling soon faltered. After 12 years of a pandemic, and living on the same schedule each day, I practically forgot what it felt like to live. I hadn't seen friends, coworkers, teachers, or fellow peers since the 9th grade. I'm 27 now. There isn't anyone that is allowed to go anywhere anymore, unless they're some sort of authorized government official. I used to say that we should fight against what they were doing, but at this point it isn't worth it. There isn't anything we can get back now. They've taken everything from us. We don't have anything. They took our freedom. They decide what we can and can't have. They assign uniforms. They do everything to prevent us from being any different or being anything that is seemingly out of the ordinary. Although there is nearly 2/3 of the population that was wiped out, the pollution from factory made food, clothing, and the special suits we have to wear to go out has completely changed the environment. The sky that was once a beautiful blue is now an awful, dark purple. The grass is all dead, and I don't think the actual sun has come out at all in the last few months. Everything is created by the government now. I walked down the stairs, the silence of the apartment has become almost calming. I haven't had any kind of interaction with anyone since the pandemic began. I guess that's just the price you pay of living in New York nowadays. I turned on the coffee maker, and searched through my freezer in an attempt to find something that sounded even the least bit appealing. The clock struck 9:30, I rushed upstairs and got ready to gear up. First I put on my form-fitted, blue body suit. I heard that everyone has a different color that they are assigned. Of course, I've never seen any so I wouldn't know. I picked through to the back of my closet and grabbed the oh-so-attractive plastic hazmat suit. I put it on, grabbed an N-95 mask and a face shield, zipped up the hood and got ready to leave. The clock hit 10:15 and I went to my front door. I turned the lock and as the door opened I saw the bus. I got on and closed my eyes as I listened to the sound of the wheels turning. Finally the bus came to it's final stop. The person on the front row got up, walked through the door, and was greeted by a woman taking temperatures. I was in the very back, so I knew I had some time. Eventually it got to the person ahead of me, the woman taking her temperature paused. She took her temp again, and slowly reached up to her walkie-talkie. The woman who was presumably sick took off running as fast as she could. She didn't make it far before she was tackled and thrown in the back of a government van. I got up hesitantly, I walked off the bus and held my breath as the thermometer was held to my forehead. I waited for the beep to go through, the time felt as if it went by slower and slower each second. At last I heard the woman's voice through the ringing in my ears "...not clear, sorry" I tried to walk forward but suddenly my brain processed what she had said. I heard another van come up behind me, I tried to run but my feet felt like concrete. Finally I felt my foot come up. I started in a dead sprint in the other direction. I rounded a corner and threw off my suit. Today was the perfect day for wearing my running shoes. I heard the rumble of the van. I took a quick right and ran through a field. I saw the tree line creeping closer and closer. Finally I could feel my feet hitting the brush underneath me. I was free. I felt more alive in this moment than I ever had. A rush of memories came pummeling back. I first remembered how when I was in Grade 4 me and my best friend, Elaine were first learning to skateboard. We would push ourselves with our feet so hard that they were covered in blisters by the time the sun went down. I remembered how when me and my first boyfriend went to see a movie. We only payed for one ticket, but we would sneak out of one theater and into another. Half the time we didn't even know what was playing, but we did it because we could. I remembered how right before everything changed, me and my friend group of 7 all took a trip to Tennessee. The mountains were beautiful, the air smelled of trees and fresh water. Suddenly I tripped. I hit the ground and every bit of air was knocked out of my lungs. Two men came up behind me. I was hoisted by the shoulders and thrown into the back of the van. I felt them sticking needles into my arm, my body started to feel like it was floating. I knew it was over. I wouldn't wake up to hear my alarm. I wouldn't sit up and see my calendar ever again. I wouldn't put on my hazmat suit. Which wasn't all that terrible. I didn't know what was going to happen next, all I knew is that I wasn't going to live normally ever again. All I know is that I was just trying to get groceries.