Chapter 2

"Kris...? Kris, honey... Are you awake...? ... w... wait! Is that a... A knife!!? NO!"

Mom storms into your room, glaring down at the lump you create on the bed. From where you peer over the edge of the comforter, you see she has the pie tin from last night in her paws, your knife resting inside it. Both are licked clean of crumbs.

"Kris," she demands, "did you eat all of the pie!?" She pinches the bridge of her snout, closing her eyes as though to ward off a headache. "It is your knife in this empty tin, is it not!?"

She heaves a big sigh.

"Oh, Kris..." She chuckles, unable to stay mad at you. "Am I going to have to lock the oven again?"

She steps away from the bed, heading for the door.

"Well, hurry out of bed. It is time for school."

She leaves your room, taking the pie tin and your knife with her. You throw the comforter off and shuffle out of bed.

Inspect

Your bed

(It's your bed.)

(If you go back to sleep, you may miss a lot of important things.)

(Will you go to bed?)

Sleep

(For some reason, you decided to go back to sleep...)

(But, when you opened your eyes...)

Continue →

Do not

(You can sleep in class.)

Your dresser

Clothes drawer.

Wagon

It's a birdcage. When the door's closed, there's no escape.

Carpet

It's stained.

Window

Even after a long night, the sunrise is the same as always.

Your brother's bed

Underneath the bed is an old cartridge of "Cat Petters RPG".

"catti & catty" can be seen faintly written on it in worn gel pen.

Your brother's dresser

There's five dollars in your brother's drawer. Take it?

Take it

You reluctantly "borrowed" five dollars.

Do not

It isn't yours, after all.

Computer

On the computer's desktop is a folder called "EPIC games Stuff!!!!"

It's a poorly-drawn design for a game...

Seems the last boss is a creature with giant rainbow wings.

Doesn't seem like this game ever saw the light of day...

You leave your room.

Inspect

Bookshelf

(There's no time to read books. Just generally.)

Cactus

A cactus.

There's not much to say about it.

Drawer

(... How to Draw Dragons is at the bottom of the drawer.)

(The purple character on the cover is dressed... immodestly.)

(...)

(Your brother will never return this book.)

Mirror

(It's what they call "you.")

Mom's room

The door is locked.

You go down the stairs.

Inspect

Bathroom

Sink

(It is not yet time to wash your hands.)

Toilet

(It's a toilet.)

(Flush it?)

Yes

(You flushed the toilet!)

No

(It's good to conserve water.)

Shower

On the shower ledge, there's a small container of apple-scented shampoo.

...and a gallon-sized container of pet shampoo.

Kitchen

Fridge

There's a photo on the fridge. It's of you, your mother, and your brother.

Sink

There is some white fur stuck in the drain.

Stove

There's some cinnamony batter caked on the stovetop.

Cabinet

(Cookie cutters for gingerbread monsters and gingerbread humans.)

Trashcan

It's a trashcan. Somehow, it's emitting a pleasant floral scent.

Living Room

Landline phone

It's a landline phone.

But you already have a cell phone.

Chairiel

(It's Chairiel, the beloved living room chair.)

TV

(It's the TV.)

(Looks like it's plugged in, but it's dusty.)

Table

It's a book of hymns.

You walk out the door.

"Well, shall we go?"

You and Mom get in the car and go to school.

You walk into the classroom.

"(Kris! You're okay!!)" Ms. Alphys whispers, "(I was really worried after you disappeared yesterday... I guess we can talk about that after class.)"

You walk to your seat.

Susie kicks her desk.

"(Hey, Kris!)" She whispers, not particularly quietly. "(... if I knew you were gonna be late... I wouldna showed up on time.)"

"Susie, please don't kick your desk," Ms. Alphys says. "Treat school property, like you'd treat people."

".... Okay. Next time I'll aim for the vitals," she says with a smirk, showing off her sharp teeth. She laughs loudly at her own joke.

"Th... That's not what I..." Ms. Alphys trails off. "In any case, good morning, Class! We have a lot to go over today... First, we're starting the reading from page 142! Any... any volunteers?"

Silence for a moment, until Noelle speaks up.

"Umm, I... I guess I could read the-"

"Ah, trouble yourself not, Noelle!" Berdly interrupts, standing from his seat with the book in his wing. "I will valiantly take this blow of humiliation!!"

"Umm, th-that's okay, I can-"

"A-HEM." It's meant to sound like clearing his throat, but he clearly just said the onomatopoeia out loud. Like a word. ""Page 142,"" he begins, ""It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Times-a pretty good. Times-a pretty bad. Mediocre times. Iffy times. So-so times..."

Listening to this, your eyes began to close automatically...

You wake to the sound of the classroom door slamming shut.

"Have a nice day, everyone!" Ms. Alphys calls out. "And p-please! Remember your group projects!"

You grumble as you lift your head off your desk to look around the room. Aside from you and your teacher, the classroom is completely empty. The clock on the wall tells you it's two in the afternoon. You must've slept through the entire class.

"Oh, um... Kris? Are... are you okay?" Ms. Alphys asks when she notices you're awake. "You were, um, s-sleeping all class... D-don't worry! I'm not mad! J... just concerned! (Usually you only sleep through the start.)"

You don't respond, instead choosing to gather your things, preparing to leave.

"... Kris... Where did you and Susie go yesterday?" She asks.

When you don't respond, she gives you a knowing look. You think whatever she thinks you were doing is way, way off from the truth.

"Um," she says after a moment, nerves returning, "if you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I was just really... worried about you. If... if Susie causes you any trouble, then... Okay, I... I can't really do anything." She chuckles nervously. "But... I'm looking out for you, okay?"

With all your stuff gathered, you stand from your seat.

Talk

Alphys

"Kris... This whole partner thing... You didn't lose sleep over it, did you?"

Lost sleep from being Susie's partner

Actually my sleep quality increased

"You say, with no negative intonation at all." She pauses. "... Kris, as your teacher, there's, um, a... A limit. To the advice I'm qualified for. But if you're interested, I do have a recommendation. There's, an, FPS game podcast that helps me sleep..."

You blink at her, uninterested.

"No? Okay."

"H... huh? Kris, that's, um... good? I think? So maybe you were just... Staying up late talking to Asriel online again?" She rationalizes. "... ah, wait, you... can't do that, right? I... I hope the internet gets fixed soon. I don't want to revert into my primal form," she jokes.

Inspect

Clock

(You checked the time.)

(...It seems to not be time for class.)

Computer

(The computer's wallpaper is updated.)

(The buff embracing heroes are now edited to be four inches apart.)

(There's dialogue about proper distancing at the school dance.)

(You wonder if your mother had some influence on this change.)

Flowers on desk

(It's a bunch of roses.)

Posters

(Looks like motivational quotes from various literature.)

"Try your best, Astral Wolf!"

"Even in your darkest hour...!"

(...that one seems to be from a video game.)

You step out of the classroom, shutting the door gently behind you. As you turn to walk down the hall, you spot Susie leaning against the Jockington locker.

"... well *look* who it is. The school zombie," she teases, "You were sleeping like a corpse all class. Heh, what's the matter? Had trouble going beddy-bye last night?" She laughs.

Suddenly, she rushes at you, shaking you vigorously by the shoulders.

"ME TOO KRIS!!" She yells. "Like I could sleep after yesterday!? Just waiting for today felt like... years!! Did... all that stuff really happen!? Lancer, Ralsei, everyone... are they still..."

She stops shaking you, leaving you dizzy and disoriented, but she doesn't remove her hands from your shoulders, keeping you steady.

"... Look," she says, "You've been wondering the same thing, right?"

You start to nod, but before you can finish the motion, Susie's grabbed your hand and started dragging you down the hall.

You and her approach the closet door.

"Alright, Kris. This is it. Moment of truth. Everything we've been waiting for is just behind this..." she trails off. "... If we, uh, open this and there's nothing inside... Will, uh, we still be..."

She looks down at you, one of her eyes uncovered by hair, brows furrowed. You look back up at her, wondering the same.

She shakes her head and stomps up to the door, digging her claws into the doorknobs.

"Screw it!" She yells, "Let's just open it already!!"

"Umm, S... Susie...?" Noelle's asks, suddenly appearing down the hall, from back where you and Susie had come from. You turn to face her and walk backwards to the closet door, blocking it off.

"YEAHHHH????" Susie yells, an octave higher than normal. Noelle approaches them with a warm smile on her face. "Noelle... hey..." Susie greets, "What... the hell... are you doing here?"

"Umm... s-sorry to bother you, but, ummm, I..." She stumbles over her words, a blush somehow glowing through her fur, "Well, I just... Berdly and I were going to the Library to... do some research for our group projects, and... if it's okay, um... would you... want to come too...?"

Susie doesn't respond immediately, glancing between you and Noelle like it's the first time she's ever been asked a question.

"Oh, Kris, you can come too I mean!" Noelle amends, only now realizing she left you out of her request.

Susie turns away for a moment, claws scratching the back of her neck.

"Uhhhhhhh... I mean..." She mumbles, "We're like, uhhh... busy, with, uh..." She trails off.

Susie turns to you, grabbing your upper arm frantically and leaning down to whisper something in your ear.

"Kris! Help me out here! What do we say!?"