Being an accounting of the recent and continuing pandemic and its various circumstances, from the perspective of an inhabitant of the regions lately called the Lost Quarter. Dates unknown.

Day Seven Hundred Seventy Six

I awoke on Saturday and the Grippe Reborn was still within me, my nose stuffed and a persistent cough setting my chest heaving. It filled me with a kind of despair. Would this damned thing never let me go? I spent the morning grumpy and annoyed, while my love felt more hopeful. The worst of her battle with the Dread Lord had passed and she felt well on the road to recovery.

I chatted with some family and friends about our trials with the Dread Lord and then had noodles for lunch. It was like a cloud lifted from me. The congestion dissipated and I had an energy I hadn’t had since the Dread Lord descended upon me. I felt well and when I tested myself that evening I was negative. The next day, my tenth since I became aware of the Dread Lord’s touch, I felt like myself, though the cough was still in my chest.

My love is upon a similar journey, the Grippe Reborn lingering and malingering. It is only now that he has truly left that I can see that even though I felt fine last week, I was not myself. I have more energy now and am not tired at the end of a day’s work. My love will join me soon I think – she seems to be improving more quickly than I did. For now, we both spend our days and evenings sipping herbal tea to ease the irritation in our throat.

Last night I finally ventured outside, my isolation officially at an end. Neither of us felt like cooking so I went to procure us some dinner. It had just stopped raining when I stepped out, the world smelling of springtime and new beginnings. The sun was barely peeking through the clouds, reflecting brightly off the damp pavement. It felt disorienting to be out in the world again. The familiar streets, which for two years I had walked upon almost every day, were new to me again after almost a month away. I went into a shawarma place and chatted with the proprietors while they prepared our dinner, feeling as though I had come back to the world after a long time away.