I got out of my apartment today.

Sabrina Yeo
3 min readAug 12, 2020
Photo by Francisco Moreno on Unsplash

It was begining to feel like a prison.

I opened the gate and the door. My feet slipped into shoes for the first time in twenty days.

I went to the supermarket today. The voice in my head told me I needed a fresh can of emergency sardines though I have five cans of tuna sitting safely in my pantry. Perhaps the emergency was the need to get out of confinement.

I met a friend today. We skipped the hugs but it sure felt good to see a life-size person. Someone that wasn’t lagging in her speech, limited by battery life or framed by a rectangle — a mobile phone a tablet or the television.

I went to a pizza parlour today. I sat alfresco in the heat and watched other human beings enjoy a meal with their loved ones. It was fascinating to see 2 growing humans and 2 grown ones devour a XL pizza, a basket of wings and a bolognase pasta. Other human beings sure have hearty appetites.

We went to the botanical gardens today. We sat down in the middle of the gardens, spread our picnic mat and ate our breakfast. It felt like we were living in good old 2019 until a safe distancing officer came up to instruct us to put on our masks once we finished our apple. We made sure to savour every bite.

I took a crowded bus today. A stranger coughed on the bus and in unison, ten heads turned in direction of the conditioned stimuli. I can feel the anxiety on everyone’s faces; even though I could only see their eyes. It’s interesting that we don’t need all our facial features to emote.

I went to the nearby park for a stroll today. A sweaty jogger ran behind me and I could feel his breath behind my neck even as he swiftly sprinted away. I sprinted back home for a good scrub from top to toe.

I got out of my apartment today. I came back home to realise that the mall I had visited had been listed as a location visited by an infected person.

I didn’t get out of the apartment today. I had an itch in my throat and started to suspect the worst. I ate lozenges, drank cough syrup and tucked myself into bed early.

I didnt get out of my home today.

My home is a sanctury and it will keep me safe.

So will yours.

Random musings during Covid-19 that arose from a once simple act of leaving the home during a more stringent semi-lockdown phase as well as the current phase where there is still a sprinkling of community cases.

We all know a virus is just lurking around the corner, does it make you experience the world differently?

What is a safe experience in this new world? And what is considered paranoia?

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Sabrina Yeo

In love with the written word since a child and emotes best when writing. Dreams of becoming a published children's book author someday.