Later that day in the middle of class Joel stares into his textbook. Mr. Newgate (the history teacher) is right in the middle of a lecture about the importance of women in the work force during World War 2. He’s got half the attention of the classroom. Which isn’t bad for an elementary school class. Although he lost Joel’s attention about 20 minutes ago. Joel was thinking to himself why Norah was on his bus this morning. That was the first time he had ever seen her ride his bus and on top of that she didn’t look like herself. She could have stayed at a friend’s house overnight, and at some point, things went south. She could’ve been pale because she had just lost a friend. ‘That’s way too dark’ Joel thought.

Then he suddenly feels immense pressure on top of him. His breathing becomes restricted at the same time his heart begins to hurt. For a second, he’s scared out of his mind. He’s seen videos of people having panic attacks in public. Although he didn’t think that was what this was. The harder he tried to concentrate on the book in front of him the more pressure he felt around him. Almost like somebody staring at him relentlessly.

Something in him. Call it instinct or intuition, but something told him to look out the window. For a while he makes it his mission not to listen to the urge. But like vines that engulf a tree. The idea engulfs his mind. Until... He does. He turns his head to an open window. Just outside the window some sunlight shined down on a tree branch filled with lime green leaves, until a strong wind forces the branch to sway back and forth.

After a while Joel noticed that he had been staring at this branch. Entranced with curiosity and fear. Fear that at any second an owl can come fly by. Perhaps THE owl. As Joel sat there fearing every new second that came, he felt sweat going down his face. Then Joel realized he wasn’t breathing. He starts to breathe in slow, deep breaths to compensate for the lack of oxygen in his lungs.

“Joel are you okay?” Mr. Newgate calls out. Now all attention is on Joel but he’s too distracted to notice. “Joel, can you hear me?” Mr. Newgate asks.

Joel finally snaps out of it. He gasps a deep breath and turns to his teacher.

“I’m sorry, can I be excused?” Joel asks.

“Sure, just hurry back. What I’m going over is important.” Mr. Newgate preaches.

“I will.” Joel said while quickly makes his way out of the classroom. Behind him he can hear some muttering between his classmates. He assumes most of it was about him. At this moment in time, he didn’t care. The classroom made him feel claustrophobic and he needed to get out. Not to mention, looking out the window was making it worse.

He slowly made his way to the bathroom, but he took the wrong hallway on purpose. Trying his best to seem calm and collected as a few other students walk past him. He wiped his forehead, surprised at how much he was sweating. He walked past a classroom with an open door. Norah sees him walk past her classroom door. She turns her head back to her textbook, staring at the words but not reading them. She looks over to her classroom door.

“Can anyone tell me about the Louisiana Purchase?” Norah’s teacher asks. The common silence lingers in the room as not a single student speaks up. As Norah continued to stare at the door, she also started feeling a pressure on her shoulders. At first, she shrugs it off as just her being tired from the night prior. After a few seconds, it’s clear that’s not the case. This pressure is different. Like someone physically pushing down on her. About two minutes pass until Norah finds it unbearable. She shoots her hand up and asks her teacher if she can leave for the bathroom.

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“Joel!”

Further down the hallway Joel hears a familiar voice call out to him. As soon as Joel turns around Norah’s already in his face.

“Norah Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!” Joel snaps.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Norah apologizes.

“Are you okay? Why were you on our bus earlier today?” Joel asks. Norah looks away uncomfortably. As she tilts her head to the side Joel thinks about how cute she is.

“I had a panic attack, and I didn’t want to be alone. So, I went to my friend Ashley’s house.” Norah explained.

“Where were your parents?” Joel persists.

“My parents are out on a cruise right now. My older sister is watching me until Monday, she was at her mock trail practice yesterday, so I was home alone.”

“You don’t like being alone, do you?”

“Seems you like butting your head in to other people’s business.” Norah jokes.

“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosey.” Joel backs off.

“It’s alright, I was kidding. I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows my sense of humor.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better though.”

“Well…” Norah studders.

Joel notices Norah has started to fidget at her jean pockets. Something is on her mind.

“Do you mind if I be nosey again?” Joel wonders. Fully ready to get shut down.

“I told you I was kidding. What do you want to know?”

“What made you have a panic attack? Did something scare you?” As Joel asks his question, he can see Norah retreat within herself a little. Whatever was on her mind, it was heavily affecting her. Another few seconds of silence go by. Joel was ready to retract the question until Norah finally spoke up. Her voice was almost a whisper.

“Do you remember that thing we read yesterday? During recess?” Norah hesitates.

The pressure on Joel’s shoulders sneaks its way back to his attention.

“You mean that weird creepypasta thing?”

“Yeah, well it was about that. Truth is that thing was really stressing me out. I kept feeling like I was going to see an owl. Then I started thinking if it hurt or not. Dying I mean. I know it sounds stupid, but I really got in my own head about it.” As Norah explained her situation, Joel felt an uneasiness pertaining to the similarities of their experiences.

“So, you felt it too.” Joel said aloud. He doesn’t seem aware that he said it until Norah looks at him directly in his brown eyes.

“Are you telling me you felt it too?” Norah asks. As Joel stares back into her light blue eyes he realizes he wouldn’t be able to ignore this like he initially wanted to.

“Yeah, I felt it too, and honestly so did my friend Corey. He tried to talk about it this morning, but I kept cutting him off. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I was too scared.”

“We should go get him.” Norah insists.

“He’s in class right now.” Joel complies.

“So was I. We all need to talk about this. There’s no way this is all a coincidence. We all felt the same way after reading that passage. That can’t be normal.”