Socially Distanced: A Quarantine Novella

I have to pee, but there is no way I’m going to move now. I’m going to stay exactly like this for as long as possible—forever if I can and if she’d let me.

I doze off for a few minutes, not waking again until I hear a strange sound. I open my eyes, trying to figure out what the sound is and where it’s coming from. Then I hear a banging sound on the door and an order to prepare for entry.

Kendra stirs in my arms, her eyes suddenly wide.

“Shit!” Kendra jumps up, grabbing her clothing from the floor.

“Quiet!” I whisper. “Get back over there. Quick!”

Kendra throws her clothing bundle into her room, and we both quickly move the door back into place. From my side, it looks all right, but I’m not sure if the damage to the hinges will be noticeable from her side.

I grab my pants and yank them on just before my door opens. Two people covered in hazmat suits enter.

“Up against the wall!” one of them says. “Place your hands on the wall, above your head!”

“What’s going on?”

“Move, sir. Now!”

Without another option, I comply. They come up behind me, and I notice a third individual still in the doorway, holding a chart. Those close to me take my vitals, then grab my arm to draw a blood sample.

“What is this all about?” I ask but get no response. “I’ve been here for months without seeing anyone! What’s going on?”

“Just relax,” one of them says. “We simply need some baseline data.”

“For what?”

I’m given no reply.

“This will pinch a bit.”

I grunt as a needle is shoved into my hip. I feel a burning sensation inside the muscle before the needle is abruptly withdrawn.

As quickly as they entered, the group leaves, and my door is again locked.

I move over to the suite door and press my ear against it. I can hear a similar commotion from Kendra’s room. She’s yelling at them, but I can only assume she isn’t getting any more information than I was given. After a while, the noise moves down the hallway and eventually stops.

We meet later out on the balcony.

“What do you think that was?” she asks.

“I don’t know.”

“Has anything like that happened before?”

“No.” I shake my head slowly. “Never. They used to come in weekly to take vitals, but they stopped doing that months ago.”

“I thought they found out,” she says. “I mean, maybe they knew what we were doing or something. I thought there could be a camera.”

“I did too. I mean, I looked all over for cameras in the beginning and never found any, but you never know for sure.”

“I don’t think they were watching us. Not now. If they were, they would have said something, right?”

“They would have found a way to block the door. They didn’t notice the door off the hinges, did they?”

“They didn’t go near the suite door,” Kendra says. “All they did was inject my ass. It still burns.”

“Mine too.”