From the journal of Jenna Bless, April 10

April 10, 2017

     It has been a really hard few of days. No one thought Stephanie would last as long as she did. Her daughter, Crystal, had to be seperated from her in the really early hours of the 8th. Her fever had spiked and she could hardly breath because her lungs were so full. We had to set up a different area for her and Rose because they had to lay down and the vehicle just didn't make that possible. Linda had a tent set up for them and Doctor Ben moved his car right next to it, so he had access to any medical supplies he has.
     Crystal screamed and cried when she was pried from her mothers arms. Stephanie had been talking to for a while. They had talked about Tim, Crystal's brother who died on the 4th. They talked about life before the pandemic and other people who had been lost. Then  Stephanie started to talk to Crystal about why they were going to be separated. Crystal cried and kept crying "No", but she had to listen. Finally, Stephanie motioned for someone to take her daughter away. Pam, came and pulled Crystal away, curling the crying little girl up in her arms. Pam had lost her only kid, her daughter Debbie, on the 4th and we were all hoping that taking care of Crystal would help pull her out of her funk.

     Later that morning, Stephanie got even worse. She started going in and out of being awake. She would wake up with this weird gurgling scream. Her lungs were worse and she had to be propped up in a sitting position to try to help her breathing. Her fever was so high, she was burning to the touch. She started to throw up anything she tried to eat or drink, and then she was throwing up even with nothing in her. Her eyes started to go cloudy and she was moaning. No one could tell if she was awake or not because she just kept gurgling and moaning and wheezing. Finally, by around noon, she died. Doctor Ben called Linda and Aaron over and Williams took care of her brain. The men dug a grave right outside our circled vehicles and we held a quick service fr her, well, more for Crystal than anyone, really.
     Rose was still not as far along as Stephanie had been, but watching what was going to happen to her had to be terrifying. From the time that Stephanie died, every hour seemed to make Rose worse. First, her fever went really high really fast. Then her cough got worse and worse. By the time most of us went to bed, she had to be propped up to breath.
     From what Doctor Ben told everyone the next morning, all that night him and Rose sat up talking. They talked about anything and everything from stuff before the pandemic to everything that had happened since. Around 3 a.m. in the morning, Rose asked the doctor for a gun to kill herself. He said no, at first, but she told him how watching what Stephanie had gone through, she just didn't want to have to go through the worst of it, if she could do something else. It took her about an hour and a half to talk him into it. He got his pistol out of his car and handed it over. Then they sat and talked for a few more minutes.
     Around 5 a.m. everyone heard a gun shot. People jumped up, grabbed their weapons, and ran to the tent. Doctor Ben stopped everyone and told us what had gone down. He looked like 10 years older and his face was grey. It must be hard trying to help people you know have no chance.
     We were going to try to move on today, but everyone agreed it would be better to stay. The men dug another grave right next to Stephanie's and again we had a short service, this time for Rose. Crystal had been sitting with Pam at her mothers grave all night and she cried even harder when Rose was buried. She is one of the reasons we are going to stay for another day or so. She needs a chance to morn her mother and the grave is all that she has now.
     Man, I hope it gets better than it has been. It has really sucked having to see this stuff happen.

As a writer and artist, I appreciate any readers and their comments. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Please, come read the other blog I write for our artisan collective, Raven's Castle Creations, on our website at www.ravencastlecreations.com. It includes posts on art, the mythology of symbols we use in our art, history and more! Also, come see the art we produce in our Etsy store at etsy.com/shop/RavenCastleCreations. Follow us on Twitter at @ravencastleart and on Facebook at @ravencastlecreations.