To Paint Your Eyes

Author's Note: 

I got the inspiration to write this book when the COVID-19 outbreak started to hit my country. I just imagined a love story that grows amidst the virus outbreak, but I realized later that this storyline could be a sensitive issue to those who are affected. So, I changed the name of the virus to make it fictional and diverted the course of the story from what I originally created in my mind. 

"Red, can you please spare me a box of face masks?" 

I frowned at this message from a friend as I opened my messenger app. I crossed my leg over the other as I slumped over the couch in our physician's lounge as soon as I finished writing orders. I was already exhausted from those non-stop admissions. It was already past three in the morning when I  returned to the quarters, and yet, all the ER beds were still full. Others were even helping themselves into the chairs while waiting for vacancies in the medical-surgical ward.

"Why can't she just go to the nearest pharmacy or medical supplies outlet?" I grumbled to myself as I opened another message, shaking my head for this nonsense stuff. Having scanned my other unread messages, I shifted to YouTube Channel to watch my favorite music videos.

Just as I was halfway through my first video, a message notification popped in, and in a few seconds, another came in, so I hurriedly opened it. To my dismay, it was another annoying asking-for-help messages to facilitate their mask procurement.

"Dr. Red, is your hospital still selling masks?"

"Of course."

"If you don't mind, please spare me even just one box."

Soon, the succession of similar messages alarmed me. I reached over the phone and connected myself to the Central Supply Room. 

"Sir, good morning. Dr. Red here. Can you please charge to my account twenty boxes of masks?" 

I heard him gasped and giggled before he replied, "Doc, I'm sorry. We are no longer giving out masks except for staff on duty. All companies are not accepting orders anymore, so if we continue selling out, we wouldn't have enough for our needs."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I then began to understand why I received those many desperate messages asking me to spare them a box. The people must have gone frantic in buying masks.

True enough, I opened my Google browser, and the alarming newsfeeds about people's panic buying of masks, Vitamin C, hand sanitizers, and bottles of alcohol greeted me. As a person who doesn't care about reading news, even if news portals were buzzing loudly about the same headlines that went around for almost a month already, I was shocked to see posts from social media that masks were no longer available anywhere. Posts about long lines of people queuing up in pharmacies to buy masks had gone viral and online sellers of N95 or plain earloop masks were enjoying their price hike.

I made another cup of coffee as I browsed through the headlines about the Bronc X virus. I opened one and learned that at that moment, the death toll from the outbreak in Sama island increased to hundreds, causing a worldwide threat.

Bronc X virus had originated in late 2019 in Sama, an island in the southwest region of Philippine territory. The source of the virus was still unknown but the epidemic started in this place.

Being a famous destination swarmed by tourists from all over the world, the status in this place had caused the fast spread of the virus to more than 300 countries worldwide. It then led to more than a thousand deaths in the Philippines alone, forcing retailers and travel operators to close stores, cancel flights, cruises, and warn investors about the inevitable financial crisis. To prevent the spread of the virus, thousands of people across the world had been placed in quarantine, especially those tourists coming from Sama Islands, and those people they were having close contact with.

My thoughts were still on those infected children and those quarantined travelers when a friend of mine, who was also a resident physician, appeared in the doorway.