I slept for a good fourteen hours or so, and would’ve slept more if my mom didn’t wake me up. She burst into my bedroom declaring, “Yay! Nobody has covid! Everyone tested negative! And CJ is just fine. She’s almost totally asymptomatic, and she’s had covid for at least a week!”

It took a moment for my groggy mind to figure out what my mom was saying. But, once I did, I felt like I could breathe again. We averted yet another major crisis. Nobody except for CJ had covid-19, and CJ was doing just fine at her home. She was nowhere near as sick as I thought she would be. All she had was a runny nose. Beyond that, she was still her old self. 

It’s now been almost four days since CJ tested positive for covid-19. Since everyone tested negative for the virus, we’ve been able to get together again. However, we’ve been even more cautious than before, thanks to our brush with covid-19. I refuse to go anywhere where there are people. I get very scared if I see people approaching me on the sidewalk, and have to cross the road to put some distance between us. I used to feel fairly safe in my N95 mask. Now, I don’t anymore. CJ also had a heavy-duty mask like mine, yet she somehow still got covid-19. Where she got it? We don’t know. For the last four months, she’s only gone to the grocery store and her doctor’s office. Wherever she got it, it’s terrifying to think just how easy it is to get covid-19. Yet, some of us can practically bathe in the virus, but we don’t get it for some strange reason. 

We were in close contact with CJ while she was showing minor symptoms. We had dinner with her a couple of nights. My mom and her drove in the Xterra to pick up milkshakes for us. We played board games with CJ. CJ went with her mom to the grocery store and the park. CJ’s little sister, Alex, even stayed at CJ’s house for a couple of days just before CJ’s covid-19 test results came back. Yet, nobody got covid-19 from CJ. 

It’s such a weird little virus, ain’t it?