Dear Pandemic,

Hi Lovely Readers! Here we are, a year into the pandemic. You guys deserve a little something for your efforts, so we at The Scroll will be awarding a $10 Dutch Bros gift card to the author of our favorite submission. Deadline is April 30th. We hope to see your input!

If you haven’t heard the news already, it has officially been a year since we entered this unknown new world. COVID took over our lives and I know so many of you have so many problems you would like to voice to them. Here is where you can.

Dear Pandemic,

I have known you for a year now and there are so many things I want to say to you. I won't lie; I have rewritten this letter for you 3 times now and I don't think I will ever be able to voice what I truly want to say to you, so this is what you get. I hope you know that I don't like you very much. I guess there are some good things about you, but that may just be me believing that there is good in everything and everyone because the bad that you carry within you definitely outweighs the good.

You hurt, so unbelievably much, and it seems as though you don't care. Do you care? You have hurt so many innocent humans to the point where they are no longer here with us on this earth. You have ripped out the hearts of so many gorgeous people. You have caused destruction and damage even to the most beautiful of things. You have taken away the most precious commodities that we cherished the most in our lives and it seems as though you have no remorse for all that you have done. I know that, once we are finished trying to fix what you have broken, you will be gone, but you will still come back to burn open the wound that you gave us once again-- the ones we spent so long trying to heal from.

Please know, I want to give up on you so badly but, if I do, you’re just going to hurt more people and I can’t let you do that. For now, I will abide by the rules we had to create in order for the world to be at least a little bit okay from the terror that you bring. I will come to terms with how much you will cause pain to me and others. I will hope that, one day, in the very soon future, you will leave and never come back, and I will dream about the day that you feel the pain that you have caused so many.

I do have to thank you for some stuff, though. I know I shouldn't thank you for anything but, for my sake, I will. Thank you for showing me the people I shouldn’t keep in my life. Thank you for giving me people who love, support, and respect me just as much as I do them. Thank you for giving me a new family in the clubs I have joined. Thank you for creating a place where awareness can be raised about those who struggle. Thank you for bringing out the worst in people and showing who they really are... in order. Thank you for giving out a place where some of those who do harm can finally get what they deserve. Thank you for giving me the time to learn to love and cherish myself, and thank you for teaching people that change can and will be okay.

Although you have been the worst thing about my year, you have also been the best. I wish I could give you a hug because I feel like you have been through a lot, but I know that, if I ever see you in person, my heart would shatter more than it has this whole year, and that is almost impossible, considering how much you have shattered it already. For now, I will sit here in my bedroom and watch the world you are changing, feeling helpless but hopeful.

Sincerely,

Deenie