This story is part of the literary competition created by In Trieste magazine “Trieste:Rebirth” which was open to all writers living in Trieste.
by Gor Fragiacomo
It all began at the end of the ski week, precisely two years ago. Covid already existed, but it was not a threat. I was ten years old when everybody went into lockdown. I heard the news on the radio when my dad was parking the car.
When my dad heard the news, he didn’t seem concerned at first, so I was relaxed. I went skiing happily without worrying a thing about what would happen after the end of ski week. As I thought, we had to go home as soon as possible or we’d be stuck in the Alps. I never imagined how long the lockdown would last. I wished that it would end soon. Unfortunately, my wishes expired fast as I knew that it would be impossible that the pandemic would finish along these days.
I even started having weird dreams about covid entering my apartment and having to close all doors as if an assassin had broken through the apartment doors. I remembered that I always locked myself in my bedroom, but the door would be too small to fit in its place so I freaked out every time. Once I even had a dream that my class went on a school trip even when everything was closed.
I couldn’t follow the lessons because of the lockdown. Sometimes I even went off task.
I even remember the time when me and my father’s friend were in a restaurant we were at today before the lockdown. It was the last time in two years that I saw my father’s friend ski.
I never liked staying home for a long time. Two months is like torture. I never liked not going outside for a long time. Fortunately, we had to change house so I could finally go outside. Though, I remembered that I took some short walks around my old flat when nobody was out and sometimes even went to our garage and played soccer with my dad now and then. I also remembered that I used most of my time doing origami. I remembered that I was in Grade 5, which meant that I had to do a mini-exam to go to 6th grade. Fortunately, the exam was only in Italian, which I excelled at. I had to write an essay for the first time about something, so I decided to write about my movement of housing. I thought that I should have described a person in my class but then decided not to, because I knew that they might see my writings and think that I copied it. When summer came, the government said that we could go outside for summer, so I was more than happy.
I recall going to this kind of camp where I met some kind of friends where we hung out and had fun. I also managed to go on a stage and make a little show. I remembered that after a week we went to spend some time with my cousins that are twins. There, I finally managed to believe that Covid would expire. I had fun with my cousins and their friends and even played soccer with them. All the while I was thinking about how would middle school be. I would be happy to see my friends again. Though, since I would be in middle school, I thought that the teachers would be more strictive. Fortunately, I was wrong. I missed my old teachers more than ever.
Now, it feels almost everything has passed. Though, I know that I still have maybe one year before I am very, very sure that everything has passed.
I feel like what I passed was nothing and that worse could have come. I am still lucky that I haven’t got Covid even though I feel it is safer to get it in less hard form. I also feel that if I maintain my mask, keep a safe distance, and sanitize my hands, I am a lot safer than a long time ago. I also feel freer than I felt two years ago. Finally, I can move around more, go to see my friends in Sardegna, see my friends at school, and have fun. I remember last year when we had to stay at home for two weeks because one of my classmates got Covid. I really do not like it when I have to stay home and do online learning.
