Of the Night
I wrote this short story in the early spring of 2020 when the incoming pandemic filled our communities with fear. It is a piece of fiction based on real events. Not a piece of hard reportage, this is a short attempt to capture the mood and tension of a society teetering on the edge.
For the safety our students and teachers, we are cancelling in-person instruction in our schools for the remainder of the school year. However, online instruction can and should continue. We excitedly anticipate a physical return to school in the fall. Moving on,…”
Will turned down the voice of Governor Tate Reeves until it was inaudible and slowed his car to a stop only a few hundred feet from where he was dropped off for the first day of high school years ago. As he stepped out of his car, he couldn’t help but tear up as he glanced to those Amory High double doors.
But with tears rolling down his face, Will cracked a smile. Those doors … they looked smaller now — a challenge conquered.
“….never for the schools in the first place. Remember when he wouldn’t give any teachers that raise? The rest of our senior year was always screwed!”
The group shifted their attention from the orator’s soapbox rant to nod hello towards Will, who smiled and ducked his head to hide his tears as he walked up and took his place leaning against a car hood.
The sun set over their heads as they recounted memories of a teenage experience well-lived. Each teenager stepped forward, sharing glimpses of the past. From touchdown celebrations on the field to “forgetting” a belt and being sent to detention for an untucked shirt, stories of success and failure flew through the humid air.
And after the last senior had their go, a voice quivered.
“So….what’s next?” Riley, a senior who rushed to the school following a tough shift at the local grocery store, stepped forward.
“I don’t really see a choice. We have to make the best of where we are at. Sure, we started here, but this isn’t our end. At least I know it’s not mine,” Will answered.
On that small-town American night, gloom was in the air. A car chase would end in a fiery crash, an accident would send a high school quarterback to the emergency room, an elderly man would take his last breath in the fight against the Coronavirus in a lonely hospital bed, and a man paced his new jail cell after being arrested for threatening a police officer on Facebook.
But in those same city limits of despair sat this group of teenagers — a shining light of bravery in the darkness of defeat.
“Stay safe, stay indoors, and have a great night. This virus might rob and ruin many events, milestones, and joy, but it cannot and will not crush our resilience. We will prevail,” Governor Reeves closed out his broadcast as Will exited the high school parking lot behind his best friends for what might have been the last time, headlights on full-blast, in search of a brighter future.