Seven Days
02/24/11
What would you do if you only had seven days to live? A new disease is sweeping the nation bit didn't matter if you were young or old, weak or healthy. People feared this sickness. Doctors and scientist cannot find the bacteria causing this sickness. You just know if you had caught this disease. If you caught this disease you only have seven days to live before you"expire." There was no cure for this unknown disease. Two days before your expiration date you will gain the ability to read minds. This disease was dubbed the name Expiration007.
Sunday, Day One
I woke up with a start. Something is wrong. Very, very wrong. I didn't feel sick. I just knew something was wrong.
The small of bacon wafted up to me from the kitchen. My dad's bellowing laughter was muffled by the floor between. My little sister's singing could be heard from her room that was right next to mine.
I felt like I was going to die because they were all acting normal, like nothing at all was wrong. How can the act this way? Why are they so happy when something is wrong? How?I made myself take deep breaths. I shouldn't get mad over their happiness. They don't even know that I have this feeling. They don't know that I only have seven days to live.
A month ago, this disease was made public. Two weeks ago, my aunt passed away because of it. My parents don't believe that it is a real disease. They think my aunt passed away from old age. I knew, since the day of my aunt's funeral, that I am the next one to go.
"Time for breakfast!" my father bellowed from the bottom of the stairs.
I heard a scamper of my little sister's feet pass my door. I rolled out of bed. I couldn't help but look at my reflection in the mirror that was mounted on my wall. I looked no different than I looked yesterday. It was then I let this thought through my lips: "At least it is me who is going to die and not a little helpless six-year-old girl."
When I got to the table, my mother was already complaining. Most of our meals conversation consist of the sickness. My mother says she doesn't believe in the sickness, but deep down, I know that she secretly fears it. I do not even want to start thinking about how I am going to tell her that I am now one of those with the sickness.
I ate my breakfast in silence, nodding my head when it was appropriate. The food in my stomach churned making me feel sick. I finished my food as fast as I could. When I was offered seconds, I politely declined. I needed to get out of this room. It was suffocating me. I sat at the table as long as I could before I excused myself.
In my room, I start to pace. Whenever I took a step, my legs wobbled. I feel like I just got off a roller coaster. I finally could barely keep myself upright. I took hold of the back of my desk chair to keep myself from falling.
Inside, my emotions ran rampant. Anxiety, fear, sadness, loneliness, and peace mixed together in a wild storm. Peace was there, hiding among the other emotions. A strange feeling to feel. Especially knowing that you are going to die in a week.
I fell onto my bed. I took deep breaths to keep my racing heart from exploding. I need to do my homework is what I chanted in my head until I got up and went about my daily life of a normal teenager who was not going to die. I will hide my secret until I know the inevitable is upon me. I will tell my family then. Until then, I will live like nothing is wrong.
