The Day the Pandemic Became a Reality

March 12th, 2020. Senior year. It was a normal Thursday at school, but all of a sudden it didn’t feel normal anymore. There was this sense of fear in the air, like something bad was about to happen but no one wanted to say it. Through all of my classes, there were whispers of what the future would hold. I remember thinking “the school can’t close”, “how will I graduate?”, “what about prom and my choir tour?”. All of these questions with no answers in sight.

Every sentence spoken felt foreign and unusual to me. I heard what everyone around me was saying but I…