I Want To Be Remembered

August 29, 1358

Dear Diary,

At first, the plague was slow. Nothing to worry about. Just in Southern England…. But now it is everywhere. My neighbor, Aldith, just contracted it. Her husband, Charles, had died from it; her children were staying away from their parents, in a bedroom. I really hope that I don't catch the plague. I have hardly taken off the cloth that I tie around my face. I change it out once every week, so Mother can wash it. I am terribly scared of the circumstances. I can't sleep at night, for the fear of catching the plague and perishing in the middle of the night. It is keeping me up late. It is late right now, and I mustn't leave my room at this hour to find a book of some sort to help me fall to sleep. I found this diary in my closet, when I was looking for something to help me sleep. I believe that it was a book that my older sister, Maud, never wrote in. She probably forgot about it. I took it, and I hope that she won’t discover that It was hers. Oh well. I am finally tired enough to go to sleep. 

Goodnight,

Hilda Smith

August 30, 1358

Dear Diary,

My mother went out to get supplies today. She had to get milk and eggs from the farmer’s market. She also bought a few loaves of bread. She was able to get meat and potatoes for dinner because Father had been getting extra money to work, based off of the shortage of blacksmiths, because more people have been coming to him. Whenever mother goes to get groceries, she gossips with the other women. She told me some devastating news. My friend, Muriel, has he plague. I can’t wait until the plague is gone. It seems like it will never go away. Getting the plague means inevitable death, because there isn’t a cure yet. And now Muriel is going to die. She was one of my best friends. In case Sabina and Avise don’t know yet, I will tell them when I go to see them tomorrow. I feel so bad for Muriel. We were supposed to meet up with her. And the last time we saw Muriel, we all made fun of her. Today, I don’t know if I will be able to sleep at all. I had an idea, so Muriel won’t miss our meeting. What if we pick her some flowers and sing outside her window? That would mean a lot to her. I can’t wait to tell Sabina and Avise! They will love that idea! Unless Avise’s parents say otherwise for her. She has really strict parents. But Avise always does stuff anyway. No matter what her parents say. That’s what's fun about her. She loves to live dangerously. And Sabina is basically the complete opposite. She always has a book in her hand, and she always abides by Avise’s Mother’s rules. That would be the problem with a no from Avise’s parents. So, we just won’t ask them first. That works, right? And then Muriel was entirely different. She would sometimes stay back with Sabine and sometimes, she would ride into danger with Avise. I am also different. But not in the way of Muriel. I was the one that came up with the ideas to do things. I would always brainstorm ways to have fun, and I always do them, no matter who comes with me and who doesn’t. One time, we did flips off of tree branches. Now we do that quite often. Another time, we climbed up people's houses and jumped down from a certain point. Avise sprained her arm and I sprained my ankle doing that. My fun ideas are the reason that Avise, Sabine, Muriel and I are the coolest in town. I have been writing for a while now and I am tired.

Goodnight,

Hilda Smith

August 31, 1358

Dear Diary, 

So today, I met up with Avise and Sabina. They didn’t know about Muriel. Sabina is a very artsy person. We went to her house and she got out her ink and pen and paper. She was going to make Muriel a card from all of us. We were all going to sign it. Avise wanted to pick wild berries for her because Muriel’s favorite is wild berries. And I wanted to make her a flower bouquet. We all went to Mrs. Fisher’s garden. Sabina sat in the shade of a tree, while she made the card. I picked one of every flower. I wanted the bouquet to be big, so I added multiple flowers if they were little. Avise picked strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and she even climbed a tree to get mulberries. We had our supplies ready. So, we went to Muriel’s house. Her house had the black flack flying from a window, telling people that it wasn’t safe to come. We didn’t care, though. Avise knocked on the door and Mrs. Cook answered it. She yelled at us and said that we shouldn’t be there because we would get the plague. Before she shut the door on us completely, Avise and I blocked the door from shutting. We told her that If we couldn’t come in to see Muriel, that we would see her through her window. Mrs. Cook shook her head at us and waved us off. Since Muriel’s bedroom window was on the first floor, it would be easy to talk to her. Sabina knocked on the window. We stepped back from the window as someone pushed the shutters open. At this point, I was excited to see Muriel. Muriel was there and she looked bad. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tear stained. She was covering her face with a wet cloth. I felt so bad for her. She gasped at us and told us that we shouldn’t be there. We handed her our gifts and she started to tear up. She admitted to us that she was glad that we came. We talked and cried and laughed together and promised her that we would be back to see her next week. You see, I didn't tell mother because that would be a bad idea. And she probably wouldn't have let me go to Muriel's again. Well that was enough. Writing to tire me. 

Goodnight,

Hilda Smith

September 8, 1358

Dear Diary,

I have the plague. I will die alone. I am only sixteen, and I will die without my family surrounding me. I am locked in my room. Tonight I will not sleep. I will not die tonight. I hate this. I have cried for hours. My eyes hurt from crying. I think that this might be one of my last entries. I will use the rest of the paper to write letters to Mother, Father, Maud, Adam, Sabina, Avise, and William (I was going to marry him one day. He didn't know it yet, though) . I hope Avise and Sabina don't get the plague. I love them too much to let them get near me. If they do want to see me, I will let them give the stuff to my mother. I have never been more scared in my life. I know that death is inevitable at this point, because so far, no one has survived the Black Death. I am not smart, but I do know that this is the low point of my life. At least I was a risk taker. I hope I will be remembered. I don't want to be forgotten. So if anyone ends up reading this entry, make my mark, please. Don't let me be forgotten.

Goodnight for the last time,

Hilda Joan Smith