Chapter Text
Rain began to pour down from the sky and, unfortunately for Noelle, it would be a while before her mother would be home to unlock the gate to her house.
She hadn’t heard that choir practice had been cancelled that night and had made the mistake of showing up to the empty church anyway. Now, she wandered around town looking for somewhere dry to wait for the rain to stop.
She looked up from the wet sidewalk and noticed that the library was still open, as it usually was. She knew Berdly wasn't working that day and thought that it would be a good enough place to go. If anything, she knew that it wasn’t too bad of a place to sleep.
This thought progression had directed her to think about the dream she had a few days ago, which she quickly shut down. She had been trying not to think too much about it, mostly because she was embarrassed. That dream was the only reason she actually had built up the courage to talk to Susie, which, despite being grateful for it, Noelle thought that was kind of sad. Susie probably thought it was weird of her to bring it up earlier–who tells their crush that they had a dream about them? Why would Susie even agree to go to the festival with her after that? What if she was just being nice and she didn’t actually like her?
As Noelle’s hand met with the handle on the library door, she jumped at the sound of voices from around the corner. She quickly recognized that it wasn’t just any voice, it was Susie. This made her even more anxious.
The sound of footsteps and inaudible conversation drew closer to the corner and, without even thinking about it, Noelle sprinted to the side of the building and hid. Only then she realized that it probably would’ve been a lot easier if she would have just talked to her–but there was no going back now.
She peeked her head out from around the building after the sound of Susie’s voice had faded. She saw her walking further down the street with Kris following–of course.
Over the past few days Kris had gotten strangely close with Susie seemingly out of nowhere. They weren’t very fond of each other at all before they were assigned as partners for the school project. Well–maybe Noelle was happy that Kris was hanging out with someone. It’d been years since they had been close to anyone, maybe this sudden change in their personality could be a good thing for them. Maybe.
Thinking about this, Noelle realized that the two of them seemed to get along even in her dream. Maybe a part of her was afraid of her childhood friend being closer to the girl she liked than she could ever bring herself to be–maybe part of her wished they hadn’t become friends. She didn’t like this thought and hoped she was just overthinking.
Noelle noticed that the two of them were headed towards the church and hesitantly began to follow. A bad feeling ran through her when she stepped out from behind the library, she felt like they would think she was weird for following them, maybe they would realize that she had been watching them. Although she reminded herself that she was just going to let them know that choir had been canceled, being a nice friend wasn't weird–and maybe they would even want to hang out with her again. Everything would be fine.
Though, as Noelle approached them, Susie began to open the church door and Noelle realized that her plan wouldn’t work as she intended.
Susie pulled the door open, causing a thick black smoke to rise out from the crack. Susie instantly slammed the door shut and Kris backed away, almost tripping over themselves. All of Noelle’s disappointment morphed into fear and she felt her whole body run cold. She didn’t really know what she was looking at.
Her first thought was that the church had somehow caught on fire, but Susie and Kris didn’t run–they didn’t even look scared.
Noelle finally got herself to calm down but before she could continue towards them Susie reopened the door to the church and ran inside with Kris following her, putting Noelle back into panic.
Noelle’s whole body began to shiver. She stared wide-eyed at the smoke drifting from the church entrance, which was abruptly cut off when the door closed behind her friends. She didn’t know what was behind the door but she knew it wasn’t anything she’d ever seen. Though, she did know that she couldn’t just stand there for much longer–what if something bad happened to them? What if she just let it happen?
She began to slowly walk towards it. Her legs were shaking–part of her just wanted to run home and climb the gate, forgetting she even saw anything.
The entrance to the church towered over her, something she had never really paid much attention to until now. She usually liked going to church and hadn’t had a reason to be so intimidated. She grabbed onto the handle loosely and shut her eyes as tightly as she could. Pulling the door open, she thought she would feel different but everything was silent.
She opened her eyes, halfway expecting the smoke to be gone, but though the doorway there was nothing–it was completely dark.
She nervously looked around her to see if anyone else had been out in the rain. Then, she hesitantly dipped her foot into the door, causing herself to be completely pulled into the darkness. She felt everything inside her drop–a familiar feeling.
For a second she couldn’t see anything, even if there had been something right in front of her. She couldn’t even tell if she had her eyes open or closed.
Then she felt something cold beneath her–it was the ground. Around her everything was dim and all she could make out were various stained glass windows, all placed at different depths. She couldn't tell where the room she was in ended and the next began.
Everything looked as though she had been viewing it through light smoke, the more aware she became the more it began to fade.
Although she was still very dizzy she managed to stand up completely, which made her notice the white gown that draped over her and the way that her hair fell, ice cold, onto her shoulders. Everything became clear to her.
This is exactly how she felt when she had fallen asleep in the library. Although, this time, Noelle knew that she wasn’t dreaming–she felt entirely awake.