I skim the school paper article again. It doesn’t mention Birdwatchers, but two different people have mentioned them to me now, Gracie Song and Amber. Was there really an organized club of girls who stalked Jay? That seems a little extra.
Of course, a Google search of the wordBirdwatchersresults in thousands of hits—none of which have anything to do with Jay Hoque. I try every search combination:Birdwatcher + Toronto City University,Birdwatcher + Jay Hoque,Birdwatcher + TCU, evenBirdwatcher + Jay Hawk + Toronto. That last search gives me a lot, but none of it is useful unless I want to find jays and hawks on campus. Is Jay short for something? ResConnect has his name as Jay, but students can register anything as their preferred name, not just their legal one. I try Jason Hoque and find nothing.
I have an advantage that no one else trying to find him has—even more than his box of things. I have access to thevictimhimself. Maybe. The connection might not be there anymore. In fact, with the whole butterfly effect theory, it’s possible that talking to him yesterday could have been enough to change the timeline so that the ResConnect chat doesn’t happen anymore.
Thinking about it makes my head hurt. My brain is not cut out for this temporal-physics crap.
But maybe Jay has already given me a clue about what happened to him? He didn’t mention anything about his so-called haters when we talked. In fact, he didn’t say anything that implied he knew people were out to get him. He was easygoing and cheerful, once he stopped thinking I was pranking him.
I open the screenshots from our chats the last two nights. There’s nothing there about a girlfriend (or several girlfriends) or about any conflicts he was having. I read the part about him leaving me that note in the closet—the one I couldn’t find. Is the note somewhere else in the room? Did the cleaners throw it away after he disappeared? Or did the police take it as a clue? I doubt that, because if the police had a note with my name on it, someone would have asked me about it. I’m prettysure I’m the only Aleeza at TCU. But maybe the police aren’t investigating his disappearance at all.
Jay is here. Aleeza will be here. 100458008.
What does that number mean? It has to be significant to Jay, right? I google the number withJay Hoque,Jay Hawk, andBirdwatchersand find nothing. It doesn’t look like a student number. Maybe a social insurance number? A little bit of research tells me that social insurance numbers starting with a 1 are issued in the Atlantic provinces. Is Jay from Newfoundland or Nova Scotia? But why would he give me his SIN anyway? It could be a date. Or at least the first four numbers could be: 1004 is the tenth of April. Less than a month away.
I sigh. There are two things I know for sure. One, Ihave totell Jay about his disappearance if he shows up on ResConnect again. I need to warn him to avoid these Birdwatcher girls. And two, I need to step away from this mystery. I have to focus on school, and on making new friends who won’t neglect me for their boyfriend, or their boyfriend’s sister. Friends who aren’t missing people only available to talk to when I’m in my room.
After my last class of the day, I grab dinner to-go again and go straight to East House. Hopefully Jay is there so I can come clean to him. If not ... then I don’t even know what I’ll do.
When I get to the room, I check ResConnect, and his name isn’t listed as a resident of 225. Maybe he’s at dinner. After turning notifications for the app back on, I open my computer and start writing the script for my media project podcast while eating my poke bowl.
I keep checking ResConnect over the next few hours, but he’s still not there. I look at Tentacle Ted, who is sitting alone on Jay’s bed.
“Did I imagine the whole thing?” I ask the octopus.
Ted’s wide purple eyes stare at me. This is ridiculous. Jay is right—I should stop talking to a stuffed animal.
My phone buzzes. It’s ResConnect. The message appears on the screen.
Jay:Hey Roomie. We’re still at about 85 percent continuity.
I quickly pick up my phone.
Aleeza:What are you talking about?
Jay:The sports scores. We can test a few more times before we start betting. We’re about to make a KILLING. Should I leave your cut in my mattress? Even if only 85 percent of the money is there, we’ll both be golden. 50/50 profits.
Aleeza:Wait. I don’t think we should bet.
Jay:Don’t wimp out on me now, Roomie, this time-glitch is happening to us for a reason. Maybe getting rich is the reason.
Jay’s right. Thisishappening for a reason. But betting on sports isn’t it.
Aleeza:Jay, there’s something I need to tell you.
Jay:Lottery numbers! Do they publish old ones somewhere?
Aleeza:No wait. You’re right, this is happening for a reason, but I don’t think the reason is to get rich. I think it’s happening so I can prevent something bad from happening to you.
Jay:What? What are you talking about?
Telling Jay this seems huge. He has no reason to believe me. Why would he? He knows nothing about me. He’ll probably think I’m just another Birdwatcher trolling him. I take a breath and type quickly before I lose my nerve.
Aleeza:You’re missing.
Jay:What do you mean, missing?
Aleeza:The Jay Hoque in my timeline has been a missing person for four months.
