Still Outside

For anyone wondering about the situation further out: Marple is still technically outside the ‘restricted’ zone. We can see the lights of Stockport from the hills, but the roadblocks haven’t reached us yet. People talk about this like it’s a blessing, like we’ve been spared, but it doesn’t feel like safety anymore. It feels like a delay. It’s like watching a tide come in and knowing your house is on slightly higher ground—you aren’t safe, you’re just going to be the last one to get wet. I see the police vans patrolling the boundary and I wonder if they’re looking out to protect us, or looking in to make sure we don’t try to help the people trapped inside. The air out here is too quiet; it feels like the whole valley is holding its breath, waiting for the inevitable moment the perimeter expands and swallows us too.