The Beginning of the End by Lorana Hoopes (readict txt) 📕

Lily as she pulled into the parking lot at school. Nothing looked that different minus a few small signs pointing to the areas where students would need to check in and get their temperatures checked, but the mood felt off. Almost dark. Lily looked around as she climbed out of the car, but nothing jumped out at her. There was no dark stranger waiting to attack her, so why did she have goosebumps erupting on her arms?

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