The subway doors open at 14th Street. The 1 train is like a ghost train because no one is on it. Except a Japanese girl with a light pink, short and glossy hairstyle wearing a face mask, a checkered mini skirt, an anime t-shirt, and a white long jacket. She’s drawing a girl in a dress and sneakers on an iPhone app. “Is this the new normal?” Elle wonders.
Recently, she’s been seeing increasingly more people wearing face masks to protect themselves against a virus that seems to be bringing panic across the world. It seemed faraway at first but now it’s getting closer to home. And it’s uncertain if the masks are even doing anything but wearing them has a calming effect.
At the same time, wearing them has a nefarious effect—it’s been all over the news that medical professionals are faced with face mask and glove shortages because of the denizens who hoard them.
Why is everyone so afraid of this virus? It causes extreme drowsiness and it’s easily transmissible through touching infected surfaces, failing to wash one’s hands, then touching one’s face. Or getting in contact with fluids from infected humans. An alarming number of people are becoming infected and there is no cure yet. Everyone is slipping away from their social engagements, which are getting canceled anyway.
“What if this girl is a kitsune?” Elle wonders. She remembers reading about that before going to Cafe Kitsune in Greenwich Village the other week, when everything was still normal. For some reason, this girl strikes her as one. “But is she a good one or a bad one?”
She recalls reading about different types of kitsune and that most of them are sort of evil spirits shaped like foxes with multiple tails, which have shapeshifting powers and walk among people by taking human form. Elle also finds it peculiar that the girl can draw so well, a skill that has always escaped her.
An iMessage pops up. It’s Jessica, her friend who introduced her to Cafe Kitsune. So strange that she’s texting her right when she’s in the presence of this possible real-life kitsune—her only companion on this subway car. She slightly shakes her head. “I should do something more productive.” She looks over as the girl is making great progress with her drawing. “I wonder what it would be like to draw like that.”
Doing some online research, Elle learned there are two kinds of kitsune—some good and some plain bad witches. She hoped this girl was a good one, a magical fox turned into a girl, bringing her good news about the virus situation. But what if she was going to feel drowsy?
The eerie quietness of the subway was making Elle sleepy. Had she caught the virus? Was this kitsune here on the same car with her to confirm that in an ominous way? “Today is the infamous Ides of March, after all.” Or was this all a bad dream?
Elle thought about how suddenly the virus permeated the world and everyone was now encouraged to stay home to prevent it from further spreading. She loved her New York City adventures but understood the need for quarantine.
As the train was rolling, she was getting sleepier and sleepier. She woke up from her daze to the Japanese girl snapping her fingers and showing her the drawing she had been working on. The girl wearing sneakers in the drawing was looking in a mirror and seeing a white fox smiling and giving the thumbs up.
“The world’s gonna make it! Don’t you worry” the Japanese girl told Elle, who was now wide-eyed and couldn’t believe what was happening.
“You have the power to save the world with your thoughts. Stop expecting everyone to get the sleepy virus. You all are feeding the virus with your negativity. Expect everyone to get well and the virus to disappear. Expect people will wake up from this to a happier and more present existence. No reason to panic!”
The subway doors open at 79th street. Elle quickly gets up and rushes towards the door. She glances over at the girl who looks back at her and winks. Elle stands on the platform next to the moving subway. “She must have been a kitsune.”