“The Effects Of Waiting” by Giovanni Quimuanga — Grade 11

It’s been 137 days since I’ve been outside and taking the first step, I’m introduced to a world I never thought could ever exist. Instead of the silence between people and the closed, empty stores throughout the streets, people are out talking with one another, laughing and caring for one another.
“How was your day?” versus a simple “Hello”
“Are you feeling well?” versus “How are you doing?”
This change in the world was worth the wait. Hearing news of death and hatred spread through people every single day, seeing people fight over resources like dogs with scraps of meat, hearing how bad one person is versus someone else is torture.
But torture has it’s rewards.
The sun shines down as I walk down the street seeing the small store at the corner of the street, open and booming with people inside. 
No more masks.
No more gloves.
No more distancing.
Who knew that staying apart from one another for so long could lead to a world where we’re closer than ever?
I walk into the store and find that everyone greets me with a warm smile.
“Hello kid, how are you feeling?” the cashier smiles at me.
I look at her, confused.
“Uh, fine?” I respond, unsettled by her sudden sense of happiness.
This is weird. She isn’t like this normally.
“Kid? You gonna buy anything” she calls me once again.I look back at her, snapping back to reality.
“Oh, yeah sorry,” I apologize quickly before continuing into one of the isles, buying the bread I told mom I would get for her.
Why is everyone acting so weird. I mean, the virus is done, the cure was found, but this all seems so...unnatural.
As I walked out of the store, I’m greeted by a view that, while charming when I came to the store, had now created a feeling of unsettling anxiety and a small hint of fear from within me.
I kept walking toward my house, each sight of people talking or laughing together bringing me to walking even more faster.
I kept going until I stopped at my house but even, for some inexplicable reason, I could still hear people talking and laughing with one another. I turned around to find some of my friends from school talking and walking with each other...together.
They smiled and waved at me as I waved back.
As I entered my house everything felt...normal. I continued walking upstairs after leaving the bread and some change on the kitchen table.
I waited to hear news about the virus or any more news about people’s unexpected passings but all that was to be heard was the announcement of the newest Apple product or the candidates for the upcoming election.
It’s really gone...isn’t it?
It’s funny really. Being cooped up inside your house might seem like a dream for some, but it’s honestly not that great for a person who spends most of his life out of the house in school or at a family dinner. 
That’s the way it always worked wasn’t it?
Isn’t that how everybody lives their lives?
After dinner, I sat on my bed looking out my window to see people talking under the streetlight. I sighed and pulled down my blinds. Going to sleep, I dreamt of another world.
A world where everything was chaos.
People ravaging stores, ripping each other to shreds, just to get to the next paper role. People are just savages aren't they?
What else did I dream of?
A world made up of walls, where everyplace, everyone, everything, was closed away from each other, like walls had become a new form of interaction between the world.
I woke up from such a nightmare...but felt relieved?
It was a strange feeling in all honesty.
Living in this world only made up of chaos, walls after walls being built to keep the sick out and us safe. That world of selfishness is what truly felt normal to me. 
Does that make me a selfish person?
Perhaps. 
Perhaps not.
Now a world where the sunlight brings about it’s holy touch and grace. A world full of smiles and sunshine and friendship and actual humanity. The way it was always made to be.
That’s truly strange.
But, as kingdoms fall, others await to be built back up.
We just need to wait a little longer.