Idriss Loudiyi, Kenitra

10 am. Leila wakes up on her fiancé's text "Good morning lover, I hope you're doing alright. This quarantine can’t make me stop thinking about us." Because of her blurry vision and usual morning headache, she couldn't well process what she had read. She took a shower, made her bed, got dressed for the day and went down, as usual, to have breakfast with her parents. Walking downstairs, her parents sighted her school clothes, "Sweety, I don't think you got the news," said her father while eating his breakfast.

"What happened?" said Leila, sipping her morning coffee. "No work for today my dear," replied her mother while turning on the TV for her, "Such good news sweety isn’t it?" she added. Leila, instantly, saw the breaking news scrolling bar on the screen saying the government had declared a state of medical emergency, therefore, lockdown for the country because of an emerging epidemic. "So, no work for how many days?" desperately asking her parents, her eyes fixated on the screen, "Nobody knows" replied her dad. Back at the table, "You didn’t answer me, Leila," her mother said, "isn’t it good news?" she asked her daughter once again. "Yeah," mumbled Leila, casting her mind back to the text she had got earlier that day.

She immediately took her phone, "I just got the news, I can’t believe it happened on our anniversary, " she texted him, "Me neither, " he instantly replied.

She grabbed her laptop, closed the door and headed back upstairs to her bed. Up there, she could talk with her fiancé freely.

After a bit, the video call sound rang. "Hey" both said at the same time in a soft indistinct

utterance.

"You seem sick Idris!" She said.

"I woke up with a sore throat -he coughs- maybe I got the flu," he replied.

"Nothing serious?" Leila reluctantly asked. He nodded, "Don’t worry".

"So, you heard about the lockdown?" He shook his head yes "The flu that was killing people in China got to our country" he replied.

“You took any medicines, didn’t you?” She asked.

“Yes, I did. Trust me it is nothing serious”

“Okay, I have to go now, they are calling me” she said right before closing her laptop’s lid.

Once the laptop is shut, her emotions spiral and she goes into deep tears and mourning. “What if I never see him again” “What if he’s infected” she kept asking herself between the tears. Her mom, who was walking by the door, heard the tears, she entered, “Why are you crying?!” startled, asked the mom.

“It’s just Idris” Leila with a hurt throat.

Leila’s mom immediately understood what her daughter was aiming to say and hugged her intensely. “You miss him, don’t you?” the mom asked, her daughter still intertwined between her arms.

“Our anniversary is today,” her daughter, no longer able to bear the tears, replied.

“Don’t worry. You are meant to be together. Nothingbad will ever happen to you.” said the mom struggling with her emotions.

“Okay” Leila mumbled.

“Let’s make some crepes as we used to last summer” the mom desperately trying to improve her daughter’s mood.

“I have no energy, I have to sleep,” Leila right before taking her mom’s arms off and leaning back on her bedside.

Leila wakes up from her nap in the middle of the night. She had a nightmare about her fiancé passing away and her never being able to see him again. Eyes snap open, covered in a cold sweat, shaking, heart pounding, looking around the room suspicious and paranoid, gets up cautiously, shivering, she immediately calls him in the middle of the night, “Are you alright?” she slowly asked, “Yes I am!” he answered in surprise, Leila rubs her head and eyes and tries to fully awaken. She then tells him the nightmare she had. He chuckles and says “don’t worry, we are going to stay forever and ever,” she shook her head yes while crying, and finishes the call. As she hung up, she kept wondering about him.

The sun shines bright through the window, washing away the vestiges of the nightmare, leaving Leila relieved to return to her mundane existence and morning routine. Her intuition is telling her that better days are coming.

The day after, Leila wakes up, does her morning routine and then comes the usual hour when they talk on the phone. She calls him, no answer. “Maybe he is still sleeping” she said to herself, her breathing now getting slightly faster. Stressing, she calls him a second time, still no answer. She becomes paranoid. “What if something bad happened to him?” Leila kept asking herself. She prayed for his safety and well-being.

Four days passed since their last call; time had gone by so quickly.

She misses him.

She misses how, when they first started dating, he had this way of looking at her like she was something delicate and fragile that needed to be handled with care. It was the first time she had ever seen herself as anything other than hard-edged and mostly broken.

She misses the way they could sit across a table in a dimly lit restaurant and talk for hours. They could talk about everything and nothing at all. It would feel like time had stopped and the universe had shrunk down to just the two.

I just wish he would call me right now. I need him.

No sooner does her request appear as a thought in her mind than her cell phone rings. Her fingers are maddeningly slow in retrieving it from her pocket. She’s worried she’ll miss the call.

“Hi. How are you doing? It’s Idris’s wife,” Relief washes over her in the first part of the text but once she heard the word “wife” she jumps from her place and says:

“Hey! Uhm.” She cringes inwardly at the hint of desperation in her voice.

“Is he okay? What’s going on? Can I talk to him?” She goes on alert.

“Idris told us to call if anything bad happened to him, although I don’t know who you are.” His wife said.

“He’s dead.” She goes on as Leila collapses.