As Joel made his way to the bus stop, he saw Corey using his own bookbag as a cushion to sit on the street while playing a battle royale mobile game. The bags under his eyes made it seem as if he did not get a single hour of sleep.

“Aye man?” Joel calls out.

“Hey.” Corey coldly replies.

“You, okay?” Joel asks.

“Yeah... I’m just a little tired that’s all.” Corey explains. “Some DLC for this game I’ve been waiting for finally dropped, I was up all night playing it with some of my guild members.”

Joel felt some unknowing relief in tension, not realizing until now how tense his shoulders were. But hearing Corey be himself instantly relaxed him. For as long as he knew him Corey was always a video game geek. Joel would play games from time to time, but he was mostly interested in reading books. His favorite genre: Science fiction. Corey was his friend that would constantly be playing the new games and keeping up with what’s popular. Joel puts his book bag down and reaches in. Corey swiftly glances at him as he pulls out an old science fiction novel that has seen better days. The cover was slightly ripped on one of its corners, several pages were folded, and the spine was all used and tattered.

“Are you reading that book again?” Corey asks.

“Yeah, I feel like I have to re-read it once a year.” Joel explains.

“What, why? You already know everything that’s going to happen?”

“It’s so dense. I feel like I learn something new about each character every time I read it.

“If you say so. Well at least get it on a NOOK or something man, because that book looks like it’s on its last legs.” Corey said.

They both hear the roar of the engine as the school bus pulls around the corner. At this point another kid quickly runs to the bus stop and waits with them. The bus is coming to a slow halt. As all three of them climb on, Joel and Corey find a seat next to each other. Corey was still enthralled in his game. Joel begins finding the page where he left off. He never really believed in bookmarks (because he would lose them all), so he bent the corners of the page instead.

The engine of the bus roars again. For the first time this morning Corey pauses his game and looks away from his screen.

“Hey Jo, can I ask you something?” Corey asks.

Joel had made it about halfway through the page, but he bent the corner back and put the book down.

“What’s up?”

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“You remember that stupid little thing we read yesterday?” Corey lays out. His voice is scratchy and timid. Almost like a whimper. Joel thinks it’s because Corey stayed up all night, playing his game.

“Yeah, what about it?” Joel examines.

“I was lying about staying up all night to play the game. Truth is I couldn’t sleep. I kept having this nightmare. About this owl.” Corey explains.

Joel’s face immediately changes. He was not planning to bring it up because he didn’t want to seem afraid. But it sounded like he was not alone. Something like this would normally cause a laugh between the two kids.

Corey’s voice didn’t seem like this was something he wanted to laugh about. Joel was caught off guard by the seriousness on Corey’s face.

“What did it look like?” Joel asks.

“It just looked like an owl. A regular owl, except it wasn’t. I don’t know how to explain it. It was intense. Its... Its eyes. It felt like it was not just looking at me. I felt like....”

“Like what?” Joel asks. Although deep down he doesn't want the answer. He doesn’t even want to be having this conversation. Images from his own dream start resurfacing back into his mind. With it, some of the anxiety that he felt when he woke up.

The bus comes to another stop. As more students climb aboard Joel and Corey stop talking to not draw attention to themselves. As Joel looks up, he’s shocked to see Norah walking on the bus. Shocked because this isn’t her bus stop. It wasn’t even her bus. As she walks through the bus, something compelled Joel to possibly reach out and try to talk to her. Until he looked at her closely. Her skin was pale, bags hung under her eyes (just like Corey’s), and her lips were dry.

As their eyes reached each other. Joel can tell she was not the same person as yesterday. She couldn’t be. Before he had any chance of reaching out, she ignored him and sat further in the back of the bus next to a shorter girl with long black hair.

“Since when does Norah take our bus?” Joel whispers to Corey.

“She looks like shit too.” Corey exclaims.

“You don’t look any better.” Joel jabs. “I wonder if she’s been having the same dream.”

“Probably. Wait, the same dream? You had it to?” Corey asks.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Were you going to tell me about it?”

“Probably not”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I don’t want to talk about it Corey. Just drop it.” Joel said to Corey, making sure nobody nearby hears them.

“So, you saw it.” Corey continues.

“Yeah, I saw the owl. Well, I kind of saw it. I saw its eyes. They were blue. But that was it.” Joel explains.

Corey gives off a look that’s both quizzical and disappointed.

“Blue eyes?” Corey said. “You only saw its eye’s?”

“Would you keep it down?” Joel said. “Yes, for some reason I only saw its eyes. Then it flew into my mouth and suffocated me.”

“Are you not freaked out about that?” Corey asks.

“No Corey, because we read something scary yesterday on the internet, that’s like almost every day for kids our age. Of course, our minds would linger on that while we sleep.” Joel said while trying his best to sound logical.

“This wasn’t some scary movie, Joel; it was a creepy message we read. What if it was something we shouldn’t have read?”

“Sounds like it got you pretty good.”

“You’re one to talk. Your owl flew into your mouth !” Corey calls out.

“Would you shut it!” Joel snaps.

A few eyes on the bus shift over to Joel and Corey. Both boys seem to notice and lower their heads in embarrassment.

“I don’t want to talk about this right now.” Joel said.

Joel pulls out his phone and opens a phone of his own. Corey turns his attention back to his phone. Joel may be done talking about it, but Corey is far from it. His mind is racing with unanswered questions, and he’s determined to find those answers.