{"id":181,"date":"2023-03-12T15:10:37","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T15:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/?p=181"},"modified":"2023-03-12T15:10:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T15:10:37","slug":"upside-down-days-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"Upside Down Days in the Midst of a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam was cleaning his house for the third time on a stormy April evening. After washing his hands properly, he sat down and started watching tv in the living room with his family. His charming face changed into a distressed one upon being informed by his father about 10 new cases of the COVID-19 being reported, bringing the total to 507 in his country.<\/span>
\n\u201cThis epidemic is getting worse by the day.\u201d Adam\u2019s dad commented.<\/span>
\nHe was a relaxed man, but this situation was really getting to him. Suddenly, Adam heard something that caught his attention. He swiftly turned his neck and listened attentively while fidgeting with his fingers. The news was declaring a state of emergency in his country. Nobody was allowed to leave their house after 6 p.m.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShoot!\u201d shouted Adam, it had just hit him that they had no food or other necessities at home.<\/span>
\nThe 15-year old boy put on his shoes, grabbed his keys and wallet, and left the house. He quickly made his way to their local supermarket, which at first sight was packed. Finally inside, Adam immediately knew something was wrong when he saw a lot of aisles empty as a quill. Furthermore, people were bickering and hoarding essentials while the elderly just stood there stressed.<\/span>
\n\u201cWhat is going on here?\u201d Adam said to nobody in particular. Their carts were empty, and the elders wore pained expressions on their wrinkled faces. Adam turned around and saw somebody shove a woman that seemed to be in her seventies. They pushed her to the ground in order to get what they desired. That scene evoked a horrifying memory Adam had tried to obliterate so desperately. This situation was all too familiar for him. His grandpa had died a few years ago because of starvation and the story of his passing enraged him. It resembled what was happening in that supermarket at that very moment more or less. Adam was told by his grandpa\u2019s friends that survived, people were stress-buying because a hurricane was expected to hit. Adam\u2019s grandpa refused to go buy food when he saw people were getting beat up and killed in streets and supermarkets. He was very weak and would easily die in a physical altercation. To his dismay, Adam was stranded on vacation and not allowed to return home. Adam closed his eyes and let the devastating image that he\u2019s been trying to block out for years overtake him. He remembered busting the door open only to find his grandpa extremely shriveled and skinny on the ground. Adam broke down next to him and cried until he ran out of tears and energy. The investigators immediately concluded that he died of starvation because of the state he was found in . Adam quickly opened his eyes and returned to the dilemma he was seeing enfold before him. Tears threatened to fall, and he was brutally biting at his ragged fingernails. Adam couldn\u2019t even bear to think about all these elders going through the same thing. The concept infuriated him so much that he kicked the other buyers out of the supermarket.<\/span>
\n\u201cGet out, let the others buy, and don\u2019t take more than what you need!\u201d shouted Adam. His face was bright red and his forehead veins were popping. One look at Adam and the shoppers decided to obey his orders.<\/span>
\n\u201cOut the doors–\u201d<\/span>
\n\u201cThis guy has anger issues!\u201d muttered a young teenager under his breath.<\/span>
\n\u201c–now!\u201d shouted Adam at the top of his lungs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They abandoned their carts and left to wait outside.<\/span>
\n\u201cThank you, my dear boy.\u201d said the elderly.<\/span>
\nAdam looked at the elders sympathetically. His heart burned from unleashing his inner-beast on the shoppes but he deeply regretted screaming at them. He went out of the store with a distressed face and avoided all their gazes. He sat gently on the ruptured curb and desperately tried to calm himself down. Failing to do so, Adam started slapping himself on the cheeks which were a blazing red color with massive handprints also visible. His blood-shot eyes were now shedding salty tears that got mixed with blood from his chewed lips and tasted like a very salty drink. Adam\u2019s bright green shirt was drenched in cold sweat making him feel all sticky on the inside. He viciously picked at the scabs in his legs hoping the gruesome pain would distract him from his state, but nothing seemed to be working. Feeling hopeless, he kept banging his legs on the floor causing the outsoles of his shoes to partly detach, exposing Adam\u2019s feet to the rough and bumpy road. Adam looked unkempt and was crying like a newborn baby. He shakily put his freezing-cold hands on his swollen face and tried to think of a way to get out of this state. Suddenly, a spark was lit in Adam\u2019s brain, he figured that he was having an anxiety attack because of his recent diagnosis of O.C.D. He could recall his doctor telling him that it was normal to feel like a useless nothing and hurt yourself when stressed. He also had a clear image of his therapist showing him a meditation exercise that could soothe him in these situations. Adam executed the exercise for a few minutes and managed to successfully calm down. He wiped his hot tears and dried his face. With a little strength, Adam stood up painfully and walked back to the store to handle the problematic situation.<\/span>
\nAdam entered the store and tried to look at least somewhat decent. He scanned his surroundings and found that the elders had bought all they needed and left. He assumed that he was too distracted by his little fiasco to notice them leave. The shoppers were then let back inside the supermarket. They all wore cold expressions and went to resume their shopping without even sparing a look at him. Adam realized he made a big mistake shouting at them instead of working it out in a civil manner. He was biting his nails and stuck on what to do.<\/span>
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Adam finally said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose people were having a hard time and I was just trying to assist them.\u201d He apologized profusely and assured them that he was just trying to help.<\/span>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s alright, we understand.\u201d said one of the shoppers.<\/span>
\nThe others all joined in and promised that they understood where he came from, but advised him to try to be kinder.<\/span>
\nThey all forgave Adam and told him he was right to call out their mistakes. Everybody bought an appropriate amount of groceries and headed home. Adam carried his bulky groceries and decided to take the long way home. He knew he had some serious thinking and reflecting to do. It was lightly raining, all stores were closed, and the empty streets were illuminated by the streetlights that shone brightly above. This weather tranquilised him and cleared his mind from today\u2019s bad memories. However, he couldn\u2019t stop thinking about how some people were hoarding food and essentials while others were too scared to even buy.<\/span>
\n\u201cDuring a pandemic, people should really help and be kind to one another!\u201d thought Adam. \u201cWhat happened to my grandpa was really unfortunate and I will do my best to prevent these kinds of situations in the future!\u201d<\/span>
\nHe took note of his actions today and told himself that in some situations, anger is not the best solution!<\/span>
\nThe End.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam was cleaning his house for the third time on a stormy April evening. After washing his hands properly, he sat down and started watching tv in the living room with his family. His charming face changed into a distressed one upon being informed by his father about 10 new cases of the COVID-19 being … Continue reading “Upside Down Days in the Midst of a Pandemic”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-stories"],"authors":[{"term_id":13,"user_id":22,"is_guest":0,"slug":"wissal-err","display_name":"Wissal Errachidi","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5578eb5847147b2d4755e1143d7c2bdcf1cb7d1f68dee5dde27f632c7217ec30?s=96&d=mm&r=g","avatar_alt":"","avatar_decorative":"","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Errachidi","first_name":"Wissal","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trove.aui.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}