When Michael had first heard, he thought it was a joke.  He mugged for the camera and laughed.  “Oh yeah, sure, okay, ma’am.  What, did Dwight [laughs] did he fall into a lake?  Or wait, I know!  He-he died from ‘total idiot’s’ disease.”

“It was a car accident, sir.”

“Oh yeah, okay.”  Michael looked up at the camera and silently laughed while he pointed to the phone.

“I’m sorry, sir, but Mr. Schrute really is dead.  He died just before the ambulance got him here.”

Michael’s smile faltered and fear clouded his eyes as he glanced over at Dwight’s vacant desk.  “No… he, he can’t be.  Dwight can’t die.  He’s not dead.”

“Sir, he can and he is.  I’m sorry.”

The tears stung Michael’s eyes as he shooed away the camera men and turned his chair to stare out the window.  Regret flooded through him.  Sorrow.  He buried his head in his hands and he silently wept for the friend that he could never get back.

Pam asked him to check on Michael.  He did it because he’d do anything that she asked him to.  When Michael refused to turn around, he got worried.  A silent Michael was never a good sign.  When he finally heard the news about Dwight, it was like a brick had just hit him in the face.  As he sat in front of the camera, he couldn’t bring himself to crack a joke.  It would have been the Jim thing to do, but... when he looked up, the tears were unmistakable.  He gave a half-hearted smile and a shrug as he looked away from the camera and wiped his eyes.

Later, while he stood in front of Dwight’s desk, he noticed that the mess of folders from his own desk was piling over onto Dwight’s.  Jim grabbed a ruler from a cup and used it to push all of the folders to the floor.  Somehow, this just made the world seem right again.

“Oh yeah, Dwayne was a great guy,” Creed said to the camera.  “He was the one with the glasses, right?  Yeah, great guy.  Which desk was his?”

When Creed passed Dwight’s desk, the camera caught him stealing his telephone. 

Stanley

“Yes, it’s a very sad day.  Too bad it wasn’t Michael.”

Phyllis 

“I… didn’t really know Dwight very well.  But it’s always sad when someone dies.  Unless it’s Angela…”

Andy held a fist to his mouth and sniffled.  He wiped away a tear and said dramatically, “Why?  Why, Dwight?”  His voice wavered as he said, “Dwight was a good man.  My best friend in the office.  He got taken too soon.  I mean, if you think about it, Creed should have been the first to go, he’s like… a hundred and two or something crazy like that.”

When Andy went back to his desk, he took a quick gander at his lovely specimen of a girlfriend.  She seemed to be taking it pretty hard.  Even harder than when Sprinkles died.  It warmed Andy’s heart to know that she was grieving on his behalf.