The Last Days of Darius Gray

By Linwood Ellsworth

The conspiracy-minded Spiro and liberal Fade pops in on the quarantined Darius Gray. Each offers their unique perspective on the current world situation. They are later joined by the mysterious black-clad Seymour Tanner, who offers Darius the means to escape quarantine and the pandemic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linwood Ellsworth
• Release date: Sep 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005586072

Linwood Ellsworth

I served in the United States Army for ten years. I am a veteran of both Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). I'm a registered radiologic technologist. I love most sports, but dislike shows dedicated to sports. I love traveling, photography, music, and writing. I reside in Minnesota with my wife and son.

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The Last Days of Darius Gray

Linwood Ellsworth

Published by Linwood Ellsworth at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Linwood Ellsworth

Cover Photo

Marquise Kamanke at Unsplash

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Table of Contents

Day 1

Day 2

About Linwood Ellsworth

Other Titles by Linwood Ellsworth

Day 1

The alarm sounded, playing All the Same by Vieux Farka Toure and Dave Matthews. Darius Gray rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling as he listened to the song. He didn’t understand one word of the Malian singer but was sure a phone app could translate the lyrics. There was a phone app for every circumstance. He let Dave finish singing the first verse before reaching out and swiping his cell phone screen to turn off the alarm.

Darius silently prayed as he continued staring at the ceiling brushed by strips of sunlight creeping around the blind's edge. It was a perfect illustration of life since the pandemic, a bleak future with fringes of hope.

He prayed, God, I'm not okay. I'm drained. Please calm my mind, heal my heart, and take away my worries.

As usual, his morning prayer was interrupted.

Why’d you stop the song? asked a figure sitting at the bed's foot.

Darius sat up in bed without responding to the figure. Getting out of bed, he made his way to the window and opened the Venetian blinds. Dust particles played chase in the beams of sunlight as they slithered across his bed.

They don’t want you, they want you’ve got, said the figure as he placed a hand in the beams of sunlight. He loved the warmth of the sunlight and yearned for it. However, Darius prohibited that small pleasure. He hadn’t been outside in months. The opened blinds provided his only exposure to the sunlight. They want your soul Darius. They want what little freedom you have remaining.

Darius dropped to the floor and knocked out twenty-five pushups and fifty crunches without breaking a sweat. The morning exercise helped alleviate the worries of his daily life. Getting up, Darius turned on the light.

You may want to increase the pushups and crunches, said the figure as he moved his hand back and forth in the rays of sunlight. The individual with an unkempt salt and pepper beard wore a black T-shirt with the phrase ‘Planet of the Sheeple’ emblazoned across the front in white letters, relaxed fit blue jeans, and black low cut sneakers.

Finally, Darius said, You aren't supposed to be in my bedroom Spiro. I agreed that you and Fade could stick around as long as you didn’t come into my bedroom or my place of work. Where is he?

He’s watching the news, said Spiro as he brushed locks of braided hair from his face. You know, getting his daily dose of fear one lie at a time.

Spiro, I’m going to take a shower. When I come back I don’t want to see you here, said Darius. Is that understood?

Spiro smiled, stood, and exited the bedroom, making his way into the living room where his counterpart, Fade, sat on the couch watching the morning news.

Sitting next to Fade, Spiro asked, What lies are Poppy and Tim telling this morning?

They're keeping the public informed, countered Fade.

Look at this, pointed out Spiro. 82,000 people died of the flu last year and there was no big map of death. CNN didn’t even report on that. Now every day, all they can talk about is the virus.

Because this isn’t the flu, said Fade. This is something new.

New as made in a lab, retorted Spiro.

A Chinese lab, shot back Fade.

Did you learn that from CNN? asked Spiro.

On his way to the bathroom, Darius looked at the two figures and shook his head. The truth of the