Frostbite

Chapter 3

Earlier

The Ferris wheel was everything Noelle could hope it would be. Ok, maybe not everything, that was too unrealistic. A real Ferris wheel ride with Susie. Where she was actually nice, and they actually spoke without Noelle fumbling too horribly over her words. With beautiful lights and a beautiful girl, sharing a fluffy cloud of pink cotton Candy. Fingers almost touching as they reached from a piece. Just like a dream come true.

She shook her head, trying to wipe the thought from her mind and the sick feeling from her mouth. Not like the dream. Not like the dream. Kris wasn't there, and she was grateful for that. She wasn't ready to see them. They hadn't seen Kris all day, actually.

Probably for the better. She feared Kris would take this moment away from her. If that was even Kris, something made her question it. She didn't want to think about it anymore.

"Noelle?" Noelle was pulled from her thoughts. She briefly saw Susie giving her a concerned look before meeting the gaze of the asker. Berdly's parents.

"Oh- hi... Hi! Did um... did you need something?" Noelle stuttered.

"Have you seen Berdly around? We were hoping he was with you, even if I found it very odd that he didn't call... We haven't seen him since he left for school yesterday morning."

The sick taste returned to her mouth with ten times the force, and color drained from her face. She prayed that the nearly set sun would hide her guilt from his parents.

"No- no I'm- I'm really sorry. I haven't seen him- I'm-" her stomach lurched "motion sick- I have to" Noelle ran off, ducking behind a nearby bush. She barely heard them call out.

She really did that. That all really happened

Berdly...

Current

The man's hand reached out, and seemed to seize his very soul, the chains of death that bound him here came undone. Darkness seemed to rush up around him, grasping and billowing against his feathers.  When it subsided, a light burned into his eyelids.

Slowly, stiffly, he opened his eyes, despite not remembering closing them. A bright, sterile hospital light hung above his head. The thin hospital sheets were coupled with a fluffy blanket. The soft beep of the heart monitor reached his ears. Something smooth rested in his hand.

It took a moment for the realization to hit him, as the chill never left his body. He was awake. Alive. He tried to sit up, but his body protested, only managing to sit up a small bit before collapsing back into the bed. With a shaky sigh, his breath creating small fog clouds in the apparently warm room, he laid back. His hand curled around the object in his hand. A sleek handle, perfectly fit to hold comfortably in his hands. The knife

Something must of alerted the doctors of his waking, as he could hear their frantic footsteps down the hall. He carefully, strenuously, hid the knife among the belongings beside the bed, barely reaching it in time before they reached his room.

He couldn't afford to let them stop him before it had even begun.