Al-Abbasi 1
The Green Flu
Living in the middle of the jungle was the first thing you’d expect a family of 8 to be
doing, but here we are. How we ended up here is a long story consisting of my school, the
government and a whole bunch of politics. Matter-a-fact, a lot of people were forced to live
in jungles, rainforests, mountains and places no one would ever expect to end up in. On June
14, 2067, I went to school as I would any other day. My youngest sister Klea ran into my
room and started banging mother’s casserole pans together. It was only until I reached school
where I noticed something was off. The principal and teachers were going around giving
everyone masks and advising people to social distance. I remembered the time my mother
and father told me about when they lived through a pandemic back in 2021, however, this felt
different from how they described it. When my mother was in school, she told me they would
social distance and keep their masks on, however, their rules seemed more lenient than what I
was seeing in front of me. Our principal, Mrs. Lampfel, was not letting anyone move from
the desks which had been spread 8 metres apart from each other. I tried to ask what was going
on, but no one seemed to know besides the adults who were reluctant to speak. It was only
until I saw a teacher pushing a student who looked as though he had eaten an alien for
breakfast, by a stick. Right behind them, another teacher and student looked about the same.
It took me a minute to notice that these two were Kyle and Mark, the class clowns of the 8th
grade in our school. Their skin had turned as green as summer's grass, and both their arms
and legs were developing large, brown dots. I shifted my notice back into my class, only to
see Bella, the quiet girl in the class, was starting to turn green as well. It wasn’t long before
someone called it out and the teacher went into a state of panic. Everyone was instructed to
move away from her and the teacher ran to the phone to call the office. Only 2 minutes later,
Mrs. Lampfel came running back into our class, holding a stick, and she escorted Bella
outside. The class sat in silence for about 10 minutes until we heard the principal making an
announcement telling everyone they needed to go home and that the school was no longer a
Al-Abbasi 2
safe place for anyone. We were instructed to stay as far away from each other as possible and
to go home straight away. I didn’t waste any time grabbing my jacket, I left the school and
headed straight home. I reached home surprised to see the rest of my family was also there,
all huddled around the TV. Dropping my bag, I squeezed myself on the couch next to my
father. The news anchor didn’t have much information either, however was told to advise
people to stay as far away from each other until more information was known about the issue.
The 8 of us sat together until startled until we heard a knock on the door. My father opened
the door to see 2 police officers holding their weapons. I couldn’t quite catch everything they
were saying, however, I heard them telling my father we had to evacuate our houses, for
unknown reasons. Father tried to negotiate with them, but they weren’t having it and told him
if we didn’t pack our belongings and leave in the next 15 minutes, they would force us out.
So we all got to work and packed whatever we could. I didn’t get much besides some clothes,
food and board games. I didn’t know when we’d come back home, but I didn’t think we
would be gone for long. We all threw our stuff in the van and started to drive. At this point, I
had fallen asleep, but when I woke up, we and many other families were unloading our things
at the entrance of The Brazilian Amazon jungle. Where does the hero come into place in this
story you might be asking? Well, this isn’t just a story, this is my life, and in a world where so
many unexpected things can happen, God is your only hero.