Dear Kitty,

Today I woke up to screams from downstairs. Since I live above "The Sinking Rat Tavern" I thought little of it and tried to get back to sleep. When another scream pierced the air I had to go see what the fuss was about. I looked down the stairs and saw people gathered around a shape on the ground. It was covered in tattered rags and slowly pulsing. Weak rasping noises were coming from within the cloth,"Water-" I could just barely make out the word. So simple but such desire put into the phrase. A misshapen hand covered in red ringed and bruised pustules reached for the people surrounding it. Instead of helping the person the people in the tavern shrank away from the outstretched hand. Then a person walked up and handed it a mug of water. The tavern people looked at the stranger like they were insane, which I later learned they were. The person, a woman, looked into all of their faces and gave them an odd smile.

"All of you who didn't help this dying man are going to die. You sat and watched him suffer, but soon he will be you, this is our fate." As she walked out the door ,the man hobbling beside her, I saw a red ring on her neck and then they were gone. At that I ran back to my room and shut the door. I promised myself I wouldn't open it to anyone who had been downstairs with those two people. There was something wrong with them. I looked out my window to see if I could glimpse them farther along the street. I spotted them with a wide berth between them and any other people. Anyone who passed gave them a sidelong glance but kept walking. To keep myself busy I counted all of the people they came into contact with then tried to count all the people that came into contact with them. I lost count after 50 and they went around a corner. I had a horrible feeling in my gut that something was about to happen, something big and I was just a small part. I stole down to the cellar and grabbed all the food I could carry up to my room. I live here alone and usually help in the tavern, no one would notice me taking food. I was slowly rationing out a potato when I heard a knock at the door. My breath caught in my throat and I almost screamed. I waited, the knock came again, but louder.I shoved the food under my unmade covers and held my breath. I slowly got up and stood in front of the door, I could feel the other persons presence behind it.

"Hello? Who is it?" I choked out the words.

"Delilah? It's me, Jake." a muffled voice came through the door. I sighed and opened the door but when I saw him he looked worried."You've been in here all day, are you all right? A lot of people have been unable to come to work because they're sickly." He looked at me checking to see if I looked red.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Jake and I have been friends almost all our lives and we're like brother and sister. He did look a bit flushed."you look flushed" I said still not getting near him. But I saw no ring on his neck, no rasping voice, I feel so paranoid. Am I just taking safety precautions that make me seem more insane then those two people?

"I ran up here to find you, I have to talk to you." He said the last part blandly, no emotion just the unmoving determination of a rock. He knew I would talk to him even if I didn't want to."You know what's going on don't you?" He said once I closed the door behind him and sat on the bed, accidentally squishing my potato. He mistook the look of disgust on my face from the white mush under me for a maybe, which was true but I could have said it."Why haven't you told me?" He said awkwardly like he might not want to be told but he wasn't going to say it."Can you tell me?" He had that air about him that meant I should speak now.

"Yes." I didn't know if he really wanted to know or if he had dug a hole to deep to get out of."Well, I have this feeling that something big is about to happen. You know that feeling when your in the ocean and a huge wave is coming but it hasn't arrived and the ocean is sucking at you? well I have that type of feeling but on a gigantic scale! Ever since that women and man left the tavern this morning that sucking feelings been getting stronger and stronger. You know what she said? I think it's true. We're all gunna be like him." Jake laughed, but not a full on laugh, the kind of laugh where you hope the other person is joking. He looked at me with wild eyes, I could see him start to panic. Panic never presented itself as an option to me it was always either prepare yourself or die. The potato was slowly soaking through my covers towards me. Once one of my preparations now just a discomfort. I looked at him uncomfortably,"I could be wrong..." I said doubtfully.

He looked at the wood ceiling and said,"No I think your right."


Dear Kitty,

I haven't left my room in six whole days. Jake might think I'm crazy or he's locked up in his own room. I've only left once to get more supplies and a few more potatoes(not a good food to hide under my covers) Every time I look out of my window the streets seem to be getting more and more barren. I can feel the wave coming and it won't be small or gentle. I'm afraid- I'm terrified of what's happening out there. Even though I can only glimpse a little bit of the outside world through my window I can tell there's no law and I'm better in a smelly room then out there alone. Some of the things I here at night... I would rather not write them down because I'd rather not remember but I know they'll haunt me in my dreams and when I'm awake. All the days have turned into a gray blur. Pretty much all I do is ration out my food and look out the window. The smells from outside are getting steadily worse so I prefer to keep it closed. Sometimes I smell fires and hear people crying, I don't know why they cry but I know that it's something horrible. But that's n easy guess to make almost everything that goes on now is something horrible. Just two days ago I saw a man in the road crying for water and I had no way to give him any without being exposed. They're calling it the plague. Some say god is punishing us, No one knows but I don't believe in god kitty, I think things can be explained rationally. Apparently the bodies are piling up, they're having to burn them. I just hope none of them are Jake. The screams have been getting louder and more filled with grief than pain. Sometimes I think of just walking out into the street and giving into the mass hysteria of the outside....