The Hidden Light of Darkness

Draft 1 (Exposition to Rising Action Only)

The world is cruel and dark. Anywhere you look, there is always suffering and hardships. But there is a boy named Reinhart, who found light despite the darkness. At first, Reinhart’s life was peaceful and joyful. He was able to travel to different places and aquascaped his aquariums. But on one faithful day, everything changed. An unexpected event slowly devastated his life. A deadly disease that originated from the northern country has spread throughout the world. Despite all prevention and efforts, their country still caught the infectious disease. Thus, making their government implement community quarantine to keep the citizens safe. Many things changed, from face to face learning to online classes, many jobs transitioning to work from home, and companies closing down due to the effect of the health protocols to prevent the disease. The spread of the sickness also stopped Reinhard to visit Japan. However, this was only the beginning, as Reinhard’s life slowly darkens.

During the earlier months of quarantine, learning continued for Reinhard but on a different system called online classes. But since the school was unprepared, they only gave assignments, quizzes, and mini-tasks to do until the rest of the school year ends. However, Reinhard didn’t like this form of learning as he was not learning anything. So he decided to watch different anime’s. As he watched them, they were not only entertaining but also provided lessons that can apply in life. But since there was a deadline for all the tasks, Reinhard decided to finish most of them. The only things he couldn’t finish were three tasks from Science and English due to fatigue and lack of time.

Then, vacation has started. But this was the only time in the life of Reinhard where he, his family, and friends could not even go out and roam. But Reinhard didn’t want to waste his time during quarantine, and so he decided to do more housework, continue watching anime and reading manga, designing his three aquariums, studying the behaviors of fish and shrimp, and selling old things he didn’t need to save up for the maintenance of his fish tanks and prepare for the next school year.

Finally, the day came, and it was time to continue school again. Upon entering the virtual school, Reinhard saw familiar and new faces. And some of his friends became his classmates. And one of them was Ariel, who is kind and helpful and also, loves to watch anime and read manga and animals but, his parents have not yet allowed him to take care of them. So Reinhard taught him using what he studied the last vacation. But in the first week alone, a lot of homework was given it was almost two times more than the ones given in ordinary classes. Reinhard felt very tired and stressed. He did everything he can to balance his studies and hobbies. But alas, one of his aquariums was neglected that lead to the death of almost half of the fish living in there due to Ich and Fungus diseases. It also delayed housework and projects because he was slow to work and had many tasks; and most of all in almost a month Reinhard has not experienced proper rest on weekends due to activities.