As Corey sits in the classroom, he cannot help but squirm around in his own seat. He feels this sudden uncontrollable urge to leave. He tries to compose himself by finding a comfortable part of the seat, which just leaves to more squirming around. This was more than just his ADHD or restless leg syndrome. As more students around him notice, some even transfer slight chuckles amongst themselves. Corey’s aware of the chuckles but he never lets other people’s opinions get to him. His phone suddenly vibrates.

Corey waits for his teacher to turn his back toward the class to peak at his phone. He sees he has a text from Joel. It reads ‘Norah wants to talk to us about that weird creepy pasta, can you get out of class?’. Corey can’t explain the relief he feels right now. Maybe it’s because Joel is seemingly finally taking it seriously, or maybe he’s glad to find any reason to skip class.

Regardless, he raises his hand, and his teacher excuses him. As he walked down the hallway, he texted Joel back. ‘Where are you guys?’ As he waited for a response Corey walked down a few different hallways. He thought it would be funny if he stumbled on them before Joel had a chance to text back. He did not want to attract any attention to himself, so he kept a consistent walking pace. As if he’s going to the bathroom. Suddenly his phone vibrates again. He pulls his phone out to see its Joel, telling him to meet them in the library.

He begins to walk in the direction of the library until he spots an open window down the hallway. For some reason, this open window seems to be illuminating a staggering amount of light compared to the other windows next to it. Corey simply stops and stares at it. For undistinguishable reasons, he can’t look away. His muscles grow tense. His vision becomes slightly blurry. He can feel sweat beginning to trickle down his face. Then all of a sudden, there it is.

A brown owl, with quite a few white spots covering its rather small frame, quickly flies through the window, and quietly places itself right in the middle of the hallway. Corey takes a step back but before he can say anything else the owl makes eye contact with him. Not only catching Corey off guard but seemingly stunning him. Stricken with fear, Corey attempts to move his body again to no avail. Sweat beating down his head now he makes a quick decision to yell and scream for help. Then the owl flaps its wings, still quiet as it can be. From where Corey is standing it almost seems like the owl’s eyes dilated. The owl speaks.

“Discede.” The owl states in Latin. The entire hallway is dead quiet. Sunlight is now illuminating through the hallway, bouncing off the walls and lockers. Corey is gone. The owl takes a few steps around. Then jets back through the window.

Suddenly Joel and Nora came walking from around the corner. They look down at the hall where Corey once was. The opened window allows a nice cozy breeze to sweep through the hallway. Norah fixes her hair behind her ear, while Joel allows the breeze to pass by him. For a whole minute they both unjustifiably stood there. Joel feels a sudden sadness, but he can’t imagine why. Norah is the first to make a move as she walks over to the school library (located a few feet past the open window) and opens the door.

Norah spots an empty table in the library and is quick to occupy it. Joel follows her inside, taking the seat across from her. He hesitates again, he can’t seem to let go of this feeling. The feeling that he’s forgetting something. Norah notices. The library is relatively quiet with the exception of another group of three kids in the far corner, talking to each other about a project they have laid out in front of them on the table. The librarian is too busy on her computer to remind Joel and Norah to sign their names on the sign in sheet.

“You, okay?” Norah asks.

“Yeah, I just... Why did we come to the library?” Joel asks. For a moment he can see Norah asking herself the same question, but to no avail.

“Tell me again, how you found out about that message?”

“Like I said it was going around the high school, and eventually my … My um. I can’t remember but someone told me it was going around the high school.”

“But you said some people may have already disappeared?”

“That is what I heard, yeah.”

“What do you think?”

Norah takes a few seconds to think about the question further. As Joel fixates his eyes on Norah, waiting for her response. He ponders why he never attempted to talk to Norah sooner and why did it came to such an oblong situation to bring them together. Also why did they decide to meet in the library again? After a few second Norah spoke up.

“When you think of the wording of the creepypasta it seems vague, yet specific with its choices.” Norah pointed out.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, ‘When it appears, you will do the opposite.’ That definitely sounds like people disappearing to me.”

“But then how come no one has spoken up about this? If we’re talking about people disappearing, then wouldn’t the police be all over that? Isn’t that like, their job?” Joel persists.

“My dad said you can have good cops, bad cops, then lazy cops. The lazy ones can be out in the same group as the bad ones.”

“Okay, but how is it taking people?” Joel asks.

“What if it’s all through the owl?”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Do you mean like a large owl swooping down and taking people away? That’s crazy, owls can’t do that.” Joel’s voice rises slightly before looking over to the librarian. Who is just scrolling through her phone behind her desk.

“Calm down. It’s just a thought. If this is real, then there’s no real way of knowing how without doing further research. Although I will say remember it is a creepypasta. A lot of those don’t exactly rely on logic.” Norah said.

“I guess you’re right.”

“There are certain things in life we just can’t explain.” Norah explains.

“I get that. But people don’t just disappear Norah. There has to be something we’re missing. Like whom created it? Why did they create it? Was it an accident?”

Norah pulls her phone out. Then scrolls through until she finds a saved picture of the same image. She takes a minute to read it again.

“As you read this, you can see it in your head already… Are you thinking of an owl?” Norah counters.

“I mean, I am now.”

“What type of owl?”

“I don’t know all the different types of owls.” Joel said.

“Then give a description of it!”

“Take it easy. I don’t know, I guess something like an all-white owl. Like the ones that like the snow or something.”

“I was thinking of a grey owl with brown spotted pattern…” Norah reveals.

“… So?”

“What if everyone has a different owl?” Norah asks.

“That would be fucked up. It would make it near impossible to survive it. If you were just living in an owl heavy environment right before reading this then you’re definitely boned.” Joel adds.

“I don’t know! I need answers, I want answers, but I’ve got nothing to go on!” Norah yells.

The peak of Norah’s voice causes the librarian to finally look up from her phone. The first thing she sees is Joel and Norah seemingly sitting, skipping class in the library.

“Hey if you’re not handling class work or a project then you need to leave!” The librarian calls out.

“Just leaving, thanks,” Joel call back. He shuffles around his chair and begins to walk out of the library until he sees Norah isn’t following him. He walks back over. “Norah, we have to leave.”

“You go without me. I want to see if I can find something.” Norah gets to her feet, only to walk away from the tables and over to a vacant computer. Joel just watches her in disbelief. Then follows her.

“Something like what, Norah?” Joel exclaims. “There’s nothing to find.”

“Hey, did you kids hear me?” The librarian calls out again.

“There’s always something to find.” Norah said.

“What is really bothering you?” Joel asks. But he knows his time is up. As the librarian stands up from her desk. Joel quickly walks out of the library. The librarian looks over to Norah, who is ignoring her.

“I’m not done with my project yet.” Norah tells her.

“What class is it for?” The librarian asks.

“History class.” Norah lies. The librarian can feel it but unfortunately there is not much she can do. On the authority scale when it comes to the school, the librarian is low, and unfortunately easily replaceable. If the school receives a parent complaint from her, she’ll most likely be let go. With all this in mind she leaves Norah to her “work.” The librarian sits back down as Norah logs on to the computer and begins searching for myths and folklore. She doesn’t clearly know what she’s looking for, but she’s determined to find something. Anything.

Joel stands outside the door for a minute. Should he have tried to stay with her longer? Joel back tracks down the hallway. He takes his time as he struts by past classes in progress, careful not to draw attention to himself. Joel then snaps out of his daydream only to realize he’s back at that spot in the hall that gave him the chills. There is an uneasy feeling that comes over to Joel. As if he is forgetting something important but his memory feels too fuzzy to recall anything. Leaving Joel in a state of anxiety.

The sound of wings flapping catches Joel’s attention and forces him to turn around. There it is. Without a doubt. As Joel lays his eyes on it, he can tell. Its pure white coat, black eyes that feel like staring into an abyss. As it lands on its talons, it pinpoints right on to Joel. Joel is frozen in fear. The owl is the size of any other owl, but Joel feels as if a large presence is right in front him. Like when you close your eyes and someone steps in front of you. Unfortunately for Joel, he can see it clear as day, and it can see him.

Joel finds himself thinking about three things at the same time. 1) What’s going to happen next? 2)What’s death like? 3) Will his family miss him? Without warning, the library door swings open as Norah runs through. Her phone with her hand. She looks over to see Joel standing there, a few feet from an owl. Confusion and fear fill her head. Then suddenly, he’s gone. There one second, gone the next. Her hands clap over her mouth, aphonic.

The owl turns its head to meet Norah’s eyes. As Norah stares back she feels something leave her mind, something she’ll never get back. The realization of the situation causes her to silently cry, then abruptly stop. Her eyes quickly blink three times. When she opens her eyes, she looks around the hallway. She sees no owl. She sees no Joel. She then looks at her phone.

“Why did I come out here?” Norah asks. The Librarian spots Norah just standing there.

“Hey, either stay or go back to class.” The librarian calls out.

Norah walks away from the door, allowing it to close behind her. Sunlight dances throughout the hallway, as Norah slowly makes her way through the long corridor. School projects hang from the wall. She walks until she spots her own project. It’s an essay with a large “A” stamped on it. The title reads “Why I want to be a detective.” She looks over to her left. To her surprise, she sees it. It’s thick healthy fur. The brown spotted pattern that covers its back. Its dark eyes investigate Norah’s eyes. It’s HER owl. Then before anything else… She’s gone.

The owl struts in a circle, pecking at its wings. After a while it flies off through the hallway. The all-white owl form moments before flies back inside and follows it. The school security guard is opening the front door to walk through it before both owls force their way through, making him dart out the way.

“Why are there so many damn owls?” The Security guard asks.

Both owls fly over to a nearby tree. They meet an empty space on the end of the branch, next to a few more owls. Each one is different from the last. As the security guard looks over, he can see the tree is covered in a large diverse cast of owls. All of them staring at the school.