Forced to go back to work, the teachers
went, at least those who were still in the profession because during these
tough years many had given up their professions due to bad working conditions
while many just dropped dead. Besides this, many were not going to college to
get certified, they were choosing other professions that could be done safely from
home.
Since she had been a teacher for over
forty years, she was used to the job even though the pay was low and due to the
lack of staff, the classes had more students than the room could hold safely.
You might think that I am talking about a public school where the classrooms
are usually overcrowded, but she worked at a private school where the tuition
was very high. Before the world turned upside down, the maximum number of
students per classroom was twenty-five with a comfortable distance. Now, fifty
students were all grouped up and cramped into a classroom as if they were
sardines in a can.
When she entered her classroom that
morning, she noticed that the desks were placed in a circle. Most the students
were standing around those seated while others were squatting or sitting on the
floor, which was not recommended at all. To manage a class in these conditions
was not easy and the new recruits did not stay long.
Besides the rate of resignations, because
of these changes, most of the staff started getting sick. Ten years had passed
since the great pandemic and many more outbreaks afterwards. Masks, hand
sanitizers and somewhat of a social distance needed to become habits like brushing
your teeth every morning. Nevertheless, it was not everyone who followed these
recommendations and others who simply got sick or decided to live a life of we
are all going to die one day.
Ten years after covid had hit, more and
more people started getting sick with this flesh-eating bacterium. It was
something repulsive to see. People´s skin just fell off when scratched or
rubbed. It reminded the older generations of Leprosy; however, it was known
that for Leprosy there was a treatment and a cure. This new bacterium, on the contrary,
no one knew anything about it, except for the fact that it could be transmitted
only through the air which meant that you could not catch it via touch. But through
a sneeze it was bullseye if you were not wearing a mask or wearing it
incorrectly.
The infected ones stayed isolated in
their homes or hospitals so as not to be lynched if seen outdoors roaming the
streets. A breakthrough was that the bacterium died when the host died. It fed
on live flesh. As soon as the media released this piece of information, people
started taking matters into their own hands stating that it was for the greater
good.
That morning, the teacher walked into the
classroom overtaken by fear. The desks were set up in a circle, much more than
fifty, but she wasn´t going to count. Although she was afraid, her eyes smiled
and welcome those youngsters to her class. For this day, the first day back,
she had planned a conversation class where students could speak their minds
about what was going on. They needed to be heard and the teacher was all ears,
even though she was aware that it could have been anyone´s last day. The future
s not promised to anyone and everyone will pass one day.
Silence filled the room when a boy sneezed.
Alarms went off. Men dressed from head to toe in hideous yellow plastic suits
stormed into the classroom to remove the boy who had sneezed. They were going
to take him for tests to check whether he had been infected.
As they seized the boy, they lifted his
sleeves and saw the wound which was growing fast. The girl sitting next to him screamed
and many fainted. The whole class needed to be dismissed and tested. The
results of the tests needed to come out before returning to school. However, in
this case, it was known that if one person had caught it, most likely everyone
would probably catch it.
In
the end, one by one would be eliminate from the face of the earth.
Written:
December 30, 2021 (This was based on a dream I had)
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