June 20, 2022

This story is from a creative writing class, written by a college student. It was then illustrated another student.

Overtaken by the heat wave that consumed my summer evening, I sat alongside my mom in the passenger seat feeling unwell.  The sickness, my body was so fiercely fighting, started a couple days earlier but gradually got worse each day.  To my knowledge, I was just starting the process of dealing with an unexpected common cold.  

However, there was an uncomfortable feeling throughout my body which I had not remembered in my previous experiences with this yearly cold.  Suddenly, the small, unsettling thoughts of possibly contracting the horrible, infectious germ now corrupted my mind completely.  The car slowed down to a stop as we waited for the light to turn green.  

I looked over at my mom who sat calmly in the driver’s seat focused on the journey home.  Nervously, I told her that I needed some air and started rolling down the window to embrace the warm wind passing by as the car started to accelerate.  I told my mom that I was feeling worse now and her motherly instincts kicked in telling me to lay back and close my eyes.  Reluctantly, I felt the need to stay awake because my body was trembling, my head was dizzy, and I was covered in sweat despite feeling frigid.  

To distract myself from the nauseous feeling in my stomach, I fixed my gaze on the lushious fields of grass and trees that lay bordering the road heading into town.  Particularly that evening, the sun emitted a very bright, warm, ember color just above the horizon.  The beautiful sun and vast amounts of fresh vegetation were a perfect sight to see with all of its contrasts.  

Sadly, the heavenly, living picture that was displayed in front of me, would not be able to ease my discomfort for much longer.  I was quickly overwhelmed by a dizziness formed in my head slightly disabling the control I had over my body.  It was now very challenging for me to perform simple movements like raising my arms or lifting my head back into its upright position.  

Leaning over to my mom, I simply tell her again that I am not feeling well and can not rest.  With each minute passing in the car, I feel the strength in my body, escaping me as if I had been exercising for many hours leaving me exhausted.  I could no longer notice the breathtaking landscape that lived beyond the confinements of the vehicle.  My vision became narrow, reducing the world down to the gray, depressing color of the pavement.  

Watching as the white lines pass by my view one after the other, I can feel the warmth of my mothers hand as she rests it on my shoulder.  Recognizing my condition, my mom can tell that this is not a normal cold that I am fighting.  She began asking me a series of questions that I could not process as I sat slouched over in the chair.  My chest slowly creeps closer to my knees, my vision begins to fade and my mothers voice trailing off in the distance as if we were miles apart.  

There was nothing but darkness.  I could not hear my mom calling my name nor see the lively wilderness that laid undisturbed by the world.  I was completely unconscious, and to me it felt like I had been asleep for a few seconds.  LIfe began to fill my body again and I embraced the senses as they came rushing back to me.  The bright red light of the sun was so intense, it forced me to squint my eyes in order to capture my surroundings efficiently.  I could hear the sound of my mother’s voice frantically calling my name as her hand was shaking my weakened body.

Sitting back up in my seat, I was informed that I was unconscious for several minutes without response.  I was surprised to hear this because I have never fainted before due to an illness.  Reassuring my panicked mother I was ok, we managed to pull into our neighborhood feeding our souls with much needed comfort.  

Pulling into the driveway, my mother and I gathered our things and left the car to go inside.  Each step was taxing on my body, and each muscle shaking slightly, trying to keep balance and stability as I walked forward.  My mom, supporting me closely, was on the phone with one of my relatives updating them with the recent incident.  

As we entered the house, I felt an instant form of relief knowing that I could finally climb into my bed and rest.  Before Doing so, my mom handed me some cold and flu medicine that would ease my struggle.  Having endured the hardest part of my time being sick, I retired to my room which would begin my self isolation period in the house.  

As I look back on the time I spent with covid and the challenges I faced, I realized that life is so valuable.  At the time, I did not think fainting was that big of a problem and it was just my body being in a state of shock.  However, later on after my experience with covid many stories and reflections were quite similar to my own.  Loved ones suffering with Covid falling asleep and never waking back up again captured my attention.  I was very lucky to survive given I was not vaccinated yet because of the order of things, and the lack of medical knowledge we had as a country to fight against it.  I am grateful everyday for being healthy enough to fight against viruses such as this one and thankful for the care my mother showed me when I was ill.  She exposed herself to the Covid virus I had so that I could be taken care of in my time of need.  That takes an immense amount of selflessness and strength from parents to put themselves into harm's way so that their family is taken care of.  I am also reminded everyday how fortunate I am that my family is still with me because many people have lost loved ones because of this pandemic.