The Next Day

The Girl wakes up at exactly 6:30AM. Last night it was at 12AM sharp when she went to bed.

She shuts off her alarm and gets up from her bed, straighten her pillows and draps, and then head for the bathroom.

The first thing she always does is to look at herself in the mirror.

She looks for any pimples, any new scar from old pimples, or anything different comparing to yesterday.

The Girl knows she is not very attractive. At least what she is doing is trying to keep it the same as yesterday.

After that, she brushes her teeth.

It usually takes quite a while since The Girl has braces. She needs to do all sorts of thing to keep her braces clean.

"I probably need to buy a new toothbrush today."

Looking at the tattered brush, she thought.

"Let's invite him. I want to spend some more time together."

Thinking about a certain person, she makes a small plan.

Then comes the normal face washing with 6 steps that she learned from the Internet. She thought to herself that if her face was not beautiful, better keeping it clean as much as possible.

Next is the shower. It takes her about 30 minutes to clean every nook and cranny.

The order of these things never changes. She is like a machine: punctual and precise.

At 7h30, she comes down for breakfast in her uniform.

Since her parents are teachers, they need to be at their school quite early in the morning to prepare. Which is why usually it is only her eating in the dining room with pre-made meals from her mom or her dad.

The meals are always freshly made with good consideration of vitamins and proteins in take. After all, her parents care for their daughter.

She puts the first dish in to the microwave then grabs the remote and turns on the news. She prefers news in the morning because it contains new information that she can use when talking with somebody.

The only thing is that currently there is none whom she can talk to. Wait. There maybe is one.

"Beep".

A few seconds passed, and the microwave makes a beeping sound. Upon hearing the sound, she quickly put the second dish inside.

The meal is now a little hot. Steam can be seen floating in the air above the dish.

But the dining room is cold.

Not only the dining room, the floor is also cold, the air is cold, and the house is cold.

It is like a lonely castle.

Inside the cold castle, there is only the sounds of cutleries being used and the sound of the TV.

There is no human inside the castle.

An old woman, standing on a podium at a C virus memorial site:"It has been 18 years since the world pandemic. The C generation is now 18 years old. We had so much loss and grief, but we also were able to work better as a whole community thanks to all the trouble we went through. Today, let us pay our repect to all the people, all the doctors and nurses, all the public workers, all the volunteers who sacrificed themselves for our civilization. Thanks to them, we were able to use the vaccine that drove away the deadly C virus. Please brothers and sisters, let us give them one minute of silence."

While the news is broadcasting the event of C virus memorial day, there was a banner runner at the bottom of the screen.

'There has been a series of abduction and murder in Z city. The police say the culprit maybe still in the vicinity of Y ward. We advise everyone to be on high alert. If anyone has infomation related to the case, please contact the channel or your local police force at 000-0000-000.'

"So the murderer still hasn't been caught. I still have my defense system in my school bag. It should be fine. I could never understand serial killer."

Finishing her breakfast, The Girl brings everything to the sink. She then puts on the gloves and start cleaning them thoroughly before putting them into the dish washing machine.

'The World Psychology Conference is being held in our country. All of the best minds in the field are gathering in our country to discuss a new...'

She shuts the TV off after looking at the phone. It is now time for school.

Putting back every thing in their previous positions, she heads to the door.

"Katan."

She closes the door and locks it. Leaving behind the cold castle now even more empty than before.

The Girl lives quite close to the school so she always walk. It is also a bit of an exercise every morning for her as the school is situated on a bit of a slope.

Around the neighborhood, there are many students who attend the same school. Which is why the walking-to-school scene exist.

Students would walk from their respective houses to the school with their friends. Sometimes, they walk with a lover while interlocking their fingers together. These couples would usually be lovey-dovey. They would laugh and smile and hug and do everything with each other while other people look at them with eyes filled with envy and hatred.

Other times, The Girl would see some new couples. These people usually just walk really close to each other or hold their hands with just a pinky. People would say "Precious!" or "Cute!" at these couples, until they turn into the lovey-dovey type.

For The Girl, she enjoys walking to school like this.

Around her house, there is no classmate. This makes it easier for her since she does not need to say hello or good morning to the people who obviously do not like her entire being.

Walking alone, she can enjoy the wind and the sunlight in the morning. Also the school council about ten years ago decided to grow trees whose flowers have a vibrant golden color. The scientific name for the tree would be Caesalpinia ferrea if her memory is correct.

Every now and then, when the season is right, yellow petals would fall and fly thanks to the wind. It makes the road to school a dreamy one like those in novels and movies.

Coincidentally, today is the start of the season.

The Girl feels very calm looking at the yellow flowers. She really enjoys the cool feeling of air around her while gazing at the fluttering of the flower petals.

Near the school gate, a student was standing there.

He was waiting for somebody.

He notices her under one of the trees.

He sees how she was gazing up at them. He looks at her short-bob being decorated with various yellow petals. Every strand of her black hair slowly moves thanks to the wind.

The Boy feels blessed.

"Hey!!" He shouted, startled every student near him.

"!!" Hearing the familiar voice, she was suprised. She did not think he would be waiting for her at school like this.

"You Are Beautiful Today!!!" Again, he shouted.

"What's up with this guy?!" "A confession right infront of the school!!" "You freaking normies."

He hears every kind of comments towards his actions. And he does not care.

She slowly walks towards him, not saying a word.

And then, she grabs his hand, interlocking their fingers.

Her face remains unchanged, her body feels hot.