Panic and the Disease

Somewhere around here, not so long ago, there was a general freakout. Every few minutes news would arise reporting new deaths, new places afected by the disease, new measures created to try and keep it at bay. All around the country, people would remain inside their houses, afraid of coming out and catching the disease.

Not everyone was afraid, and around this someone is where this story is focused. She was a young woman, pretty but not ravishing, lonely, few friends, lived alone. She was convinced the disease wasn’t that dangerous, and that peole were paranoic. As a matter of fact, she went out often, ignoring all the recomendations set to avoid catching the disease. On one of these outings, she stumbled upon a homeless man, which was strange, because on every other outing she had met with no one else.

The man was moaning and walking blindly, and he walked right into her. She snapped at him to be carful, but the homeless man ignored her. It was then that the woman realized that moaning and walking aimlessly were symptoms of the disease. Slowly, fear got hold of her, because she had collided with the man, which had been physical contact, the main contagion form. She told herself it was insane, the disease was just some invention of the government to control the people, but slowly she could feel things differently. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she fell her balance become compromised. It’s happening, she thought. As fast as she could, she walked back to her house. She collided several times against posts, mailboxes, walls, but finally she made it.

For the next couple of days, she didn’t go out. She felt sick, her whole body ached, she was clumsy, it was the disease. She spent her days eating whatever she could find that needn’t be cooked, and watching television and on her computer, eagerly scanning all the news seeking for notice of a cure. None came. And she felt worse by the minute.

One day she had a dream, and in this dream a man spoke to her. There was no sense to what he said, nor to the dream itself, for the man kept floating around her while she ran and fell through time. But then the dream changed, she stumbled and fell into a big lake, and floating above her, the man looked at her floating and said curtly, there is no disease, they are fooling you, rise! And she rose, waking up. And the disease had fled from her, she felt alright. She checked the news. Stories everywhere announced that the disease had gotten worse, the number of deaths had increased, the world, had gone to hell. She smiled to herself, she knew there was no disease, she knew that mass hysteria had been spread, and been maintained. She was the only one who knew, and that made her happy.

Posted in Very Short Stories