On Pain

The Chronicles of the Class of Covid

It was nighttime in Boston. My friend GP and her flatmate sat hunched over a laptop, bulk ordering groceries online. On the other end of the room, I sat slumped against the wall, emotionally spent. Staring dazedly into space, I tried to process everything that had taken place in the last 24 hours. How had a virus, that until a few weeks ago we’d ironically clinked our beers to, cleaved my friend group in such a violent manner?

The previous afternoon, we were all on a beach in Puerto Rico for Spring Break, when we received news of our classes being moved online for a month. The closure had been imminent, but something about it being formally ratified by the university, put everyone in a nervous frenzy. The next hour was spent in a flurry of urgent phone calls to parents, frantic Google searches and distracted conversation. I felt a tingling in my back, as I read and re-read the email.

But, this fog of anxiety dissipated just as suddenly as its came. And in a manner of triage that only college students are capable of, we temporarily put aside all Covid talk and shifted our attention to making the most of our last day of Spring Break. The sun, beach and the drinks certainly helped.

We went out for dinner that night and everyone was in high spirits. We made plans of debauchery for this one month hiatus and joked about…