The Missing Piece [Discontinued]

Chapter Nine

Bird couldn’t wait until the end of Language Arts class to confront Joy about her note. He couldn’t wait to tell her that he had another piece of the mystery in his pocket. He couldn’t wait to see if she knew the last part of it. He bolted up from his seat the second the bell rang.

            “Joy!” he shouted, catching her right before she left the door, and making her jump a bit.

            “Geez, you scared me, Bird. What’s up?” Joy flashed a smile at Bird, and walked with him out into the hallway.

            “Um, I had to ask you… did you actually get a weird note like your character did in the play?” he asked nervously. Just then Skittles walked by and sung under her breath just loud enough for the two to hear:

            “Joy and Bird sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…”

            “Yeah…” Joy replied, wearily, ignoring Skittles. Bird pulled the note from his pocket.

            “I did, too.”

            Joy was speechless when Bird handed her his part of the note. They put the two together, right there in the hallway, ignoring the bell that stated the next class had begun.

            “Oh my gosh,” Joy breathed at last, then smiled really big at Bird. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Bird blushed, then asked Joy what he had been meaning to ask since he figured out what the two pieces said when put together:

            “Who’s Faith?”

            “Skittles. That’s her real name. You, me, and Skittles have to solve something!” Joy exclaimed, then paused. Bird, Skittles, and Joy had to solve something. Together. “Oh,” she said quietly. Bird grimaced at her.

            “Yeah. Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll figure out something…” he said, not so sure himself.

            “Do you suppose Skittles will… well, you know… find the last part of the note?” Joy asked.

            “Maybe...” Bird replied then they both said their quick goodbyes and went to their next class, each thinking hard about what the note could mean.

            “Hey Mom! I’m home! How was your day? I had a good day. We watched some people perform skits in Language Arts. They were pretty entertaining. I perform tomorrow, actually. My skit is about this boy figuring out who he really is. I know, I know. Classic. But I had fun writing it,” Bird rambled when he got home from school, carelessly throwing his backpack to the side. He went past his mom, not really waiting for a reply and opened the fridge to get an apple. Leann sighed, and pulled Adian into a tight hug.

            “Mom, what’s going on?” Bird asked, scared, when he noticed his mom’s red eyes.

            “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

            “Jenna was a loved dog. We’ll miss her meeting us at the door when we came home, and her kindness when she sensed we were down. How she would snuggle her nose into our faces, giving us warmth and love when we most needed it,” Leo said, his voice cracking as he looked down the cross in the ground while Bird sobbed loudly. Bird couldn’t believe his pet, his best friend, was dead. He couldn’t believe he would never hear Jenna’s claws tap on the ground again, or her soft slurping as she drank from her water bowl. He couldn’t believe that she would never jump onto his bed again, and lean against him.

He knew Jenna was old. He just didn’t know that she was at… that age. The age where she would die.

But she did.