We are sorely afraid for our lives. The Black Death has been reported only twenty miles from here! I feel there is nothing we can do. No one has escaped from it before. There is no chance running from it. Sooner or later it will catch us and steal our lives. Some have quickly killed themselves so they don't have to suffer from the plague effects. We have emptied out our house. We have shut all our doors and windows tight. We also got lots of food, water, and fire wood. We were going to burn lots of fires to keep the room as germ free as possible. My father is out getting more wood and flint. The plague is near and we await the results of our lives.
All the fires are blazing as bright as the sun on a hot, summer day and the plague has just started to come. We heard rumors that the Italian traders are the source of the plague. Many have caught it and are dropping dead every where. The monasteries and convents are filled to capacity and the doctors and surgeons are booked for a year. There has been no sign of the plague in our house, but we all know it has just begun.
The plague is over, and we are all alive. We were just about out of food and our water was empty. If the plague lasted one more day, we would have died from the lack of water. There are many carcasses that need to be buried or burned and there are rats all over. All our friends are dead. The good thing is we lived.
--William