By Zoya Mughal

Moving away from the place I've called home for as long as I can remember isn’t exactly what I call an “Ideal summer”. A few weeks ago, my dad got a promotion which was obviously a celebratory moment, however, when I found out that we had to move not to another city but a whole new country, it made it a lot less joyful.

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While my friends were busy vacationing, going on road trips or having daily hangouts, I was stuck in an alien country which I knew nothing about. Instead of having sleepovers with my friends and spending the day loitering in the mall, I’ve been stuck, unpacking an endless amount of boxes for the past 3 days. 

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As I basked in self-pity and continued to loathe my situation, I heard my mom call my name from the other end of the house. 

“Can’t a person get a break?” I said to myself as I left behind the comfort of my bed and made my way downstairs where I'd been summoned to undoubtedly unpack more boxes. 

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Upon reaching the lounge, where my mom was working relentlessly with my brother, she didn’t wait a second before she ordered, “The storeroom is filled with belongings of the previous owner of this house, Mrs Khan. She said the majority of it is useless and asked us to do whatever we want with it. I want you to bring those boxes out and sort them. See if anything is donatable otherwise just throw it in the trash.”

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I rolled my eyes as I walked towards the store, where I was greeted with a cloud of dust upon opening the door. The storeroom was small and dark but filled to its maximum capacity. Cartons piled over cartons, random books stacked up against the wall, and picture frames collecting dust, were just some of the things which made up the mess in the room. I groaned as I got to work. 

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I sorted through, one box at a time, taking out its belongings and organising them into two piles: donations and junk. I came across many things from clothes and decoration pieces to random pieces of paper. 

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After getting done with my fourth box, I headed to the door, planning to take a break, when. I suddenly tripped over something and went crashing into the wall opposite me. I scraped my arm and as the pain fired up it, I looked around furiously to find what made me trip. To my surprise, it was a small red and blue wooden box. 

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Curiosity surged as I picked up the box, it was heavy and filled with many things which moved around inside as I examined it. Along the edge, it said in black marker “TIME CAPSULE FOR THE FUTURE. DON’T OPEN BEFORE 2090”

I hesitated a second before my curiosity got the best of me. 

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“It’s 2088… it’s close enough.” I said as I struggled to get the lid to open. After much struggle, I finally got it to budge and all its contents flew out. The floor around me was blanketed by papers

  

As I scrambled, trying to gather everything, the first paper I picked up caught my attention. “A LETTER TO THE FUTURE- COVID 19”, said the title of the page in red ink. 

“COVID 19…”I whispered to myself and began to read the letter. 

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Dear person from the future, 

My name is Kareem khan. I am 16 years old and I am writing this on the 15th of May 2020. I hope you find this letter in good health. I don’t know if I’ll be alive by the time you’re reading this but I think it is important for people to understand how something as small as a virus, can literally change your life. You’d learn about this in school and think, “Oh, it’s just another history lesson” but no… for us it isn’t ‘just’ that. Life as we knew it changed altogether. 

COVID19 is a virus which infects the respiratory system. Starting with a cough and fever which eventually leads to pneumonia and then organ failure. It originated from Wuhan, China and has spread all over the world. The devastation it has caused is unlike any other we have ever experienced.

This contagious virus is something we haven’t seen before. Death rates are high, especially amongst the old and sickly. The doctors treating them are risking their lives daily. 

What is more concerning is that there is no cure… sure they’re working on it but as of now, we have nothing. The only thing we can do is take precaution. Imagine having to sing happy birthday twice as you washed your hands, or having to sanitize each time you mistakenly touched a door handle in a public place or shook someone's hand… crazy right? But that’s what we’re doing, to make sure we clean ourselves properly. Leaving the house without a mask? Out of the question. I still marvel at how quickly our carefree lives have been overrun with fear.

To be honest with you, social distancing seems like the only cure to all this as of now and sadly everyone has to self-quarantine. This means our schools and businesses have shut down, leaving many people unemployed with no income to sustain their families. 

To me, it feels like the world seems to be coming to an end. I now have online school and it is so annoying. Honestly, I don’t know why I ever complained about attending real school before the pandemic. I miss sitting in a classroom full of people rather than having to worry about being too close to someone. I miss my friends and meeting up with them every weekend. This is my last year in school… before my childhood is declared finished and I can’t even make the most of it.

I miss being outdoors. I am writing this after being shut at home for the past two months. Can you imagine yourself in such a situation? 

How can-

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“Lunch is ready!!” I heard my mom call out, ripping me from the harrowing world described in the letter. Startled and confused, I made sense of the reality around me, leaving the image that I had visualised from reading the letter behind. 

I quickly folded the paper and put it in my pocket to read later as I made my way to the kitchen. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of myself having to experience something so terrible.