As a senior, not much can go wrong. By now, there is a sense of familiarity with the campus and teachers, and students have completed most of their A-G courses. For some students, it’s easy to think, ‘Senior year should be a breeze.’

As for me, fate had different plans.

Upon returning to school, I thought I was going to walk proudly amongst my peers after having been gone for nearly a year and a half due to quarantine; I was wrong. I had put much thought into my ‘first-day’ outfit and planned to join my friends before the familiar school bell rang. But, that was until tragedy struck. I didn’t anticipate the soreness in my throat or even my mom’s anxious-filled voice telling me, ‘It’d be best to stay home.’ Little did I know, this was the beginning of my COVID-19 horror story.

Initially, I disregarded my mom’s worries. But, slightly annoyed, I stayed home reading through texts of what I was missing out on. Fortunately for my peers, my mom’s anxieties were true when I was later diagnosed with COVID-19, and my staying home wasn’t an overreaction at all. As for myself, my symptoms seemed to get worse and worse by the hour. Something isn’t right, I thought. That first day with COVID-19 slowly progressed, and what once was a sore throat turned into stubborn fevers, and by midnight, I was seated next to the toilet, eyes blurry from vomiting.

By the time the first week of school was over, I was playing a game of whack-a-mole with my symptoms. If it wasn’t a sore throat, it was a headache, and if it wasn’t a headache, it was muscle aches. Oh, how they hurt! But always, lurking in the shadows, there was a fever. There is no other way to describe it except as a silent stalker.

It wasn’t until Monday snuck its way around that I felt the sudden anxiety of school priorities looming over me. I had no motivation to email my teachers and inform them of my situation. So as the days went by, a new monster was lurking around the corner.

Yet, at the time, none of it mattered. The only thought that coursed through my mind was, why me? How could I have let this happen to me?

So, like any scared and bed-ridden patient, I spent my time trying to pinpoint where exactly I went wrong. And while I blamed myself for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine sooner, I was faced with a newfound gratitude for the minor aspects of everyday life.

Now, I’m fully recovered and the ghostly fevers have subsided. As a young and energetic person, I never thought to appreciate the little things, like having the ability to taste or smell, or even walk; but now I know that it takes mere seconds for those little things to be taken away from you.

After three years of high school, we learn to adapt and overcome the obstacles thrown our way. Maybe fate had its reasons to challenge me with the COVID-19 virus, but as I transition out of that phase, I must face the new challenges ahead of me. I can finally leave my COVID-19 monsters in the past and walk into school proudly, wearing the first day outfit I had initially planned.