The Ice Pack: A Pandemic Short Story

She woke up to damp sheets and a pounding headache. 

“No, no, no… This can’t be happening.” 

She did stay up later than she should have. The half empty bottle of Jack told her she drank a little more than she should have too. Maybe she wasn’t sick. 

She willed herself to sit up and felt her forehead. Hot. Then it happened. She coughed. 

“Fuck!” She slammed her arms down on the bed in frustration. “I don’t fucking need this right now. I can’t be sick.” She barely got any hours as it was.

Right then, her app popped up with the latest work schedule. She groaned as she read the notification. Only 25 hours this week?!

She thought about calling in sick but she’d be out for at least two weeks even if she felt better tomorrow. Maybe she wasn’t that sick… As shitty as her job was, there were hordes of people ready to take it with how bad things were. Everyone was asking their friends to get them a job or posting on Facebook asking if anyone knew anywhere that was hiring. The only reason she kept the hours that she did was because her manager liked her, the perv. If she told them, she’d be out at least two weeks and they’d definitely fire her then.

“How did I even get sick?! I bet it was one of the Chinese takeout guys…”

How was she supposed to live? She needed more hours. The Fed checks weren’t enough and everything kept getting more expensive anyway. She couldn’t rely on her OnlyFans to make ends meet anymore. Too much competition now. 

She fumbled through her medicine drawer and pulled out a package of generic DayQuil LiquiCaps. She stared at it trying to make out the directions. It said to take no more than two at a time. She popped four into her mouth and a generic Tylenol for good measure.

Aidan was crying. She loved him but the kid never shut up. She opened up the last remaining formula container from the batch the social services drone had dropped off a month ago. “Add one scoop to two ounces of water,” she muttered to herself. She turned on the faucet and let it heat up before filling the bottle to four ounces. She dumped in a scoop and started shaking. Money was tight after all and it was better than having him skip a meal.

She picked him up from his crib and stuck the bottle in his mouth. “Who knows what they even put in this shit?” she said to no one in particular, as if sympathetic responses would materialize from the walls. 

She poured some generic Cocoa Puffs, the kind that came in a bag with no box, into some milk. She poured the milk first. It was one of the things she actually listened to her dad about. She couldn’t taste it. “Weird.” she thought to herself.

Almost 9:30. “Fuck.” She fumbled around in the bathroom opening the mascara she ordered off FireBrands. The one from that girl that was on a reality show once. Her dad always bitched about how much money she spent on makeup but he didn’t know what it was like to be single in 2023. Normally she would just go out looking like shit but today was Monday, and Monday was when Cherie worked.

She looked in the mirror one last time. “God, I need to work out.” Maybe she would do one of those 30 days squat challenges, or order those smoothies Jen was always posting about.

She walked over to Nina’s and dropped off Aidan. Boy, did Nina have a sweet gig. Sit on her ass and watch cartoons all day with everyone on the block’s kids while they all went to real work. “She probably makes triple what I do,” she sneered. Still, she couldn’t imagine being responsible for that many kids… Two was enough and she was lucky Jax lived with his dad.

Empty Starbucks cups and Wendy’s wrappers littered the backseat of her car. As she pulled into the parking lot, the car made those sounds that make a mechanic wince. She couldn’t afford a newer car but at least she didn’t have one with the built in thermometer and breathalyzer. Everyone was getting RoboRide passes anyway but she didn’t trust self-driving cars. Besides, the best thing about driving was the feeling of just cruising late at night. No self-driving car would give her that.

She opened up her lunchbox, pulled out an ice pack, and held it to her forehead. Her forehead was starting to go numb but she had to hold it there a bit longer to beat the thermometer.

She smiled. Cherie *was* there, at the entrance as usual. She looked cute as hell even in a mask and face shield. 

“Hey, how’s it going, girl?”

“You know how it is. Another day in retail hell with Mark staring at my ass all day but at least I get to see you…” She smiled, trying to fake confidence.

“Can you blame Mark?” Cherie laughed. Seeing that she had made her laugh made her feel all sorts of ways inside.

The enjoyment ended when she remembered that the longer the conversation went on, the warmer her forehead would be. She hoped she had held the ice pack there long enough.

Cherie held up the thermometer and pointed it at her forehead like she was scanning a candy bar.

One. 

Two. 

Three. 

It let out a chirp and lit up green. She let out a sigh. Luckily Cherie didn’t take her pulse too. Caught up in the feeling of relief, she blurted out: “Do you want to hang out at my place on Saturday?”

A pause. Her hands and armpits started to sweat.

Cherie smirked. “Yeah, that sounds like fun…”

That lightheaded rush swept over her. The one you get when your crush says yes that makes you feel like you just got away with pulling a bank heist. Anyone who looked at her face coming inside the store could see she was blushing.

BEEP. 

Off-brand makeup. 

BEEP.

Donald Duck Orange Juice. 

BEEP. 

Two pregnancy tests. Always two. No one ever trusted just one pregnancy test that cost a dollar but two…

BEEP. 

Those bright cheap toys that come in a big, flat, plastic shell with cardboard backing. She felt bad for the kids that got the toys that would fall apart after one use but hey, the helium-filled balloons weren’t bad. Sometimes she’d even give out free ones if the kids were cute enough.

BEEP.

Plastic storage bins with holes in them. Not all the stuff was bad, you see. If you looked in her apartment, you’d see a lot of it came from work. She’d even take home things to use as props for her OnlyFans pics.

BEEP.

At the end of a shift, her cheeks would hurt from fake smiling all day.

BEEP.

She tried not to panic but her body was starting to ache. It was getting harder to act like nothing was wrong. Her brain felt foggy and it took an awkwardly long time to tell a customer what aisle the cleaning supplies were in. 

Maybe another Tylenol would help? She grabbed her drink, took a blister pack off the shelf, and beelined to the bathroom. She shakily popped one out and downed it with some Donald Duck Orange Juice. Vitamin C was good for colds right? She couldn’t taste the orange juice either. “Not good,” she thought to herself. Her hands were shaking as she twisted the cap back on. 

She took a deep breath and headed back to her register. It felt like she had just run a mile and she was hoping she didn’t look too sweaty. 

It was only an hour into her shift but she couldn’t stifle it any longer. Her cough rang out like a siren. Everyone in the store turned to look at her. 

“I promise I’m not sick!” she said, her arm outstretched, pleading for understanding.

Customers backed away in fear and disgust.

“Please! I need the hours!” Tears welled up in her eyes.

They were already hitting the report button on their apps. The contact tracing drone would be there in minutes.

Cherie definitely wasn’t coming over.

If you liked this story, you should definitely check out these:

Dumped – My Short Sci-Fi Story Published in Waste Advantage Magazine

Dumped – My Short Sci-Fi Story Published in Waste Advantage Magazine

Would you like to get more stories like this in your inbox and help boost my self-esteem?

Subscribe here:

Thoughts, questions, or suggestions for how I can improve? Email me.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for the goodies I don’t post here!