I wake up to the sound of bacon sizzling, trains whistling, and obnoxious car horns. I haul my legs out of bed and walk to my bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. Once I feel clean enough to meet Harry Styles, I make my way to the kitchen. I greet my Mom with a hug from behind and give my Dad a high five. I sit down grabbing my two pieces of bacon and three pancakes. As I am devouring the food, my Mom tells me I have to go to the grocery store because she’s tired of eating boxed foods. I slow down my chewing and look at her with an idk look. She says she’ll give me gloves, a mask, hand sanitizer, and she would welcome me with clorox wipes when I come home to clean the boxes of food. My Mom hands me all of the needed supplies and I hesitantly walked out of my door.

On my way to the store, the streets are empty. Creepy. Cold. Cheerless. I walk by signs saying Going out of business, 70% off EVERYTHING. Chills run down my back, I get scared. Seeing my hometown disappear makes me get a gutted feeling. As I turn the corner to the grocery store, I make sure I have everything I need. I put my gloves and mask on, shove my wallet and phone in my pocket then open the door with goosebumps running down my arms. I grab the food on my list and make my way to checkout. I smile at the cashier and then realize she can’t see me smiling. I look down realizing that no one can see any emotion anymore. A sense of depression hovers my body. She asks me if I would like a bag and I stand there trying to decide if I should take a bag or not. Negative thoughts are surrounding my head while thinking if I should take it. She looks at me, walks to the back and returns with a brown paper bag. She hands me the bag and tells me when I get home to throw it away immediately. I give a sigh of relief and thank her for her kindness.

I walk out into the deceased empty streets. On the way home I replay my steps in my head making sure I did everything meticulously. Walking down the streets gives me a cold, eerie feeling. I can feel the vibration from the trains above me trying to get to their destination, as am I. I get to my doorstep and open the door with a baby wipe. There... standing in the kitchen is my mother with her clorox wipes like she told me. I wash my hands, sing happy birthday. Then set off to my room to change into clean fresh clothes. I grab the clothes that I wore to the store and put them in the washer. I then slowly walk to the living room and sit down. As I am sitting there, my legs clench and my feet go numb as I realize that this is my new routine. This is the new.