Have you ever heard the sound of a gun firing? It comes with a blast — loud enough to wake the dead, and it kills when a bullet hits the right spot. Anything that comes with a blast tends to scare us off. A bad omen, they said.

Car sirens. Aircraft carriers. Explosions. Warning signs prior to emergencies.

We are accustomed to casualties brought upon by such alarms that we have failed to gird our loins for something that lurks and jumps quickly in shadows, undermining our strength and keeping our cells at bay.

Outbreaks take us by the throat and infuse fear within. Each one launches threats of hellfire, burning on earth with passion. The burning sensation has left us gagged with deprivations — which makes us question where else we could go while there’s only one planet as a sheltered spot for sheltered lives, albeit gravely affected, in danger of falling apart.

Shops closed. Bars and pubs shut down. Schools postponed. Unemployment happened. Concerts canceled. The only thing that withers in the wind now is the unusual quietness that has left nothing but a state of bewilderment, sending a spiral shiver down everyone’s spine.

Facts may hurt and may be uncared for, but reality can be the death of us. It has slaughtered almost every part that lives, breathes, and walks on earth. Human disruptions are unstoppable, hence natural disasters — no thanks to acts of idiocracy.

This home deserves so much better than how poorly it has been treated, as if it were something to be taken for granted.

— mckenzievlad