Before any students had even arrived at the school, it was already a weird day. A heavy atmosphere had taken over the town. The arrival of a bright, but frigid and windy day, the quiet streets… The parents, the older siblings, the teachers, they seemed to know something before the students did.
At the front of the classroom, Alphys oversaw a class of eight, with a noticeable lack of squawking, front and center. Nervously, as if trying to address the absence without really saying anything about it, she stuttered, "N—Now, you kids know to s—say something if you think someone's going to… do s—something bad? Like, um... running away? Or, you w—would say something if someone tried to h—hurt one of your classmates? A—and you all know we have a strict 'no bullying' policy here at s—sch—!"
"Is this about Berdly?" Susie asked somewhat tonelessly, as if ignoring Alphys' rant.
The missing person report was filed late the previous night, into the early morning. Berdly didn't come into the library, he didn't come home that night, and as of the next day, he didn't come into class. There had been little time for an official investigation thus far. What had been done hadn't resulted in anything. The news of the disappearance spread through the small town quickly, especially to the parents.
The few employees of the small police station in town advised parents and teachers not to divulge information about the disappearance, except to the police, apparently in the hopes of preventing panic. Berdly's caretakers protested this decision, through tired eyes and dry mouths, hours after the initial report filing, and not long before the sun rose; they hoped that some of his classmates could provide information on where he might have gone.
It was almost a feat that the school had managed to remain open that day at all. The fresh panic surely would've closed down the school, if not for the mayor thinking dutifully of the economy; if the parents were to stay home and watch their kids instead of sending them to school, then how could any of the businesses stay open? The kids would be kept safe— they would be kept in the dark. For now, at least.
But ultimately, with blinding yellow light gleaming in through the school's windows from the sunrise, it was hard to follow that for long. Most learned about it shortly after school let out.
Despite seeing it first hand, Noelle still hadn't quite figured it out yet. She visited her dad at the hospital, something of a habit at this point, spending time with him, conversing with him. He seemed to be doing alright. Rudy knew that Berdly was missing at that point; he'd learned it earlier in the day, while Noelle was in school. Unsure as to whether Noelle knew or not, and unwilling to make her upset, he broached the subject carefully.
"Said you had a group project, right?" Rudy asked.
"Yeah, think you mentioned him. How's that going?" he wondered.
"Ah. It's good that she gave you some more time, though. You two'll finish it when he's back in class."
"No, you don't need to do that, honey. Besides, it's a group project. Just let it be for now, okay? Think of it as a little break."
"Well, maybe you could talk about it with some friends? Kris? Maybe Susie?"
He laughed. "I know you'll figure it out."
"Oh! Speak of the devil— Kris! What're you doing here? Gonna check out that sink again?"
Noelle then walked home with Kris and Susie. Since yesterday, she'd started to feel a bizarre, kind of scary feeling whenever she was around Kris. It was almost enough to distract her from Susie as they walked. Almost.
Standing by the gate, Noelle and Susie wrapped up their conversation as Kris stood a bit to the side. Noelle tried to ignore the sinking feeling she felt every time she looked at Kris. Susie mentioned the upcoming festival. Through some awkward and clumsy dialogue, Susie suggested that maybe they go together. Noelle, blushing and smiling widely, agreed.
When it was indeed time for the two to leave, Susie turned to follow Kris around more. A brisk wind swept down the street, carrying a few leaves and a pigeon feather with it. Noelle caught Susie shivering before she carried on to her house.
A bit of time had passed. The sun was starting to set behind the trees, and Noelle was taking a bit of time to work on her group project. Sure, Alphys had moved the due date ahead for her, given that Berdly was absent that day, but it wasn't a bad idea to work on it a little bit. Indeed, the two hadn't gotten very much done thus far anyway.
She looked up at the names written at the top of the paper that they'd begun working on. Her name, and Berdly's name, written in somewhat messy handwriting to the side. Noelle simply stared at it for a minute. Her hand went to her wrist. Her watch was missing. As if something had suddenly jumped out and surprised her, she whipped her head to look at her wrist. She stared at where the watch should've been for a moment, confused.
It was perhaps the first time since the previous afternoon that Noelle had allowed herself to absentmindedly think. Whether it was on purpose or not, she'd kept herself distracted with school, or with Susie, or with anything since yesterday. Just a few minutes to think, and she could clearly remember all of the things that she'd been too busy to ruminate on. Like her dream…
At once, she nearly jumped up from her chair. Kris had basically told her, to her face, that the dream had been real, and she essentially just ignored it! Kris had her watch. Then, with the return of the sinking, unintelligible knot of feelings, she thought back to Berdly. He was sleeping yesterday afternoon. The parents and teachers acting weird, including perhaps her dad. He was missing from school today. Her horror parted for a short moment, just for her to feel like a complete idiot.
It was… crazy, though. It was such a bizarre dream. Susie was there, and she didn't really seem to remember it. And telling anyone that she thought she had perhaps hurt Berdly in her dream, and that was why he was missing— that would just make her sound crazy. But, she had to check. No one had found him yet. If he was still in the computer lab, maybe she could help. Maybe he'd be alright.
At the same time, she could hardly bring herself to look, in a sense. Drag herself to the library and prove one way or the other whether the dream was real. If it wasn't real, then where was her watch? Where was Berdly? And if it was… She could hardly think about that.
Noelle made up a quick excuse about leaving something at the library. She just needed to go and look. She could hardly think straight with the question unanswered. Walking down the street, the long shadows cast by the bright sunset seemed only to accentuate how she felt.
The library was still open, just. It seemed to be empty of people, except for the woman putting away the last books and cleaning, and would soon lock its doors for the night. Noelle explained, nervously, her excuse to the woman, who let her in to look around. She could hardly keep herself from panickedly running into the computer lab. She pushed in and… no one was there. Noelle went over to the chair that Berdly had been sitting in yesterday. Nothing. Noelle had grabbed the books for him. His phone wasn't there. She looked throughout the room as the librarian swept the floor.
It seemed that he wasn't here. Noelle felt perhaps a bit more relaxed. She didn't know if she had misremembered what Kris said, or maybe had just misheard, or maybe even just misinterpreted a joke as a statement of fact. But Berdly wasn't here, and Noelle didn't hurt him.
The librarian opened the closet door, nearly absentmindedly and barely paying attention. It seemed, in the split-second that Noelle was paying attention to her first and foremost, that it was probably to do just a bit more sweeping or something. But both became distracted by the crumpled, unconscious bluebird body in the corner of the electronics closet.
The librarian was frozen in place for a moment. Noelle, similarly, couldn't move or say anything as her stomach dropped. Then, at essentially the same time, the librarian dropped her broom and screamed for help, her call echoing throughout the quiet streets, and Noelle rushed over to Berdly, trying to set him on the floor, outside of the closet. The running electronics in the closet kept it noticeably warmer than the rest of the building. Berdly was cold.