A LIFE OF A LIE

 

I woke up in a jolt like someone had woken me up from a coma, as an overwhelming feeling of pain over my whole body, but this was normal just like dad said that ‘’It’s normal and happens to everyone’’. I got up and took my pills, they are really important as dad says. He says it helps to protect me from the virus going around. Dad said ‘’the virus is really contagious and that the whole world has become a really dangerous place, full of monsters. I’m grateful to have a dad who protected me from the virus by keeping me in this ‘safe room’, although it’s been so long since I last saw him …have I ever seen him? Well it’s been so long since dad said he could not risk taking me out in the virus. Anyways, I get up as usual and take my pill.I feel drained although I just woke up. I found myself paler than usual…again. I felt like losing my color day by day. My skin was becoming  whiter and whiter just like the color of walls. There were cuts around my wrist , dad asked me to patch them up well so that's what I did. I freshened up and then went to the kitchen  where a bag of food was left on the table by papa. I did not know what they were called but I had them daily. I guessed I would ask dad today when he came. Then after drinking water I drew on the coloring book dad brought me. After it I was waiting for dad when I heard a knock from the door right above the staircase. Dad! I ran up near the door, I said ‘Dad are you there’? Waiting for a response …yes darling, how have you been ? he replied.

 

I was very happy to hear that dad was alive. I replied back ‘I have been alright, I was just waiting for you.’ He said ‘that's good to hear, have…have you taken your pills? ’His voice shifted from calm to a very serious tone. I replied back ‘’Ye..Yes I have, but dad do I have to take them everyday?

Dad replied in a more stern tone; ‘’yes of course you should know it by now otherwise you may get affected’’. ‘‘Right’’ I replied, being even more careful making sure I don't make dad more angry. I asked him ‘‘Dad can’t I come up there for a little while? I have taken my pill so it’s ok , right?’’‘‘ No! It’s still very dangerous dear…besides aren’t you sleepy?

I got very drained by this time of the day so I replied ‘yes dad, I guess I do feel very sleepy...' He said ‘then you should go to sleep oh and I got you a little something’ handing me a diary from a slightly cracked open door, saying ‘‘now go and sleep’’. After saying my goodbye, I directly went and wrote about my day in my new diary.

‘’Today new cuts were around my wrist, they hurt but it was less painful than

before. I got to draw a flower just like the one in my room, dad said he would

bring more if he finds any. Dad said the outside world was very dangerous and

different, he told me how once he was chased by a monster but survived.

He said the monsters could mimic humans now so he told me a password so that

The monster did not try to trick me by using dad’s voice. The password

‘It was an apple’. I did not know what it means, dad said it was a food or maybe he

said a fruit. ‘’I hope dad will stay safe and that I don’t get any nightmares’’.

  

I shut the diary and fell into instant sleep. I get the same nightmare at least once a week. I got up in a jolt again…the pain. But dad didn’t come today… I was hopeful he would be alright. Dad didn’t visit for a long time nor did he leave any food. I was surviving with the leftovers, so I decided to stop taking my pills. But one day dad showed up. I talked to him and lied  that I was taking my pills regularly. He apologized for not coming for so many days, he asked if I was sleepy. I usually do get sleepy by this time but not today. So I pretended to sleep so that I wouldn't appear suspicious to papa just in case he comes to check. I was right. I heard him come down. He stood next to me and picked up my wrist and put something really sharp against it. He heard some noises and whispered ‘they weren't supposed to come yet… ’He left. I hesitated but still got up and went up the stairs for the first time. Through a small door into an unlocked room full of boxes and with empty cans of my pills on the table with a paper beside it which said ‘sedatives’. I saw a picture of mine on the wall saying missing. I didn't understand anything. I saw some light leading towards the exit. I went out and the outside world wasn't as scary as papa said it was. There was this green stuff on the ground plants maybe. I wonder what’s that glowing ball in the sky, really hard to look at…

 

Abeera Imtiaz VIII Green