Project Songbird

Chapter 30

We joined Bob and Wade in the building designated as the Head Village house. Wade was messing with some papers and he seemed a bit frustrated. Bob was placing the chairs around the round table. He looks up, "Oh hey, glad you could make it." He smiles. Wade looks up from the papers and smiles a bit, "Hey, Ethan, good to see you up. How are you?" I take a seat and shift my leg into a more comfortable position, "I'm as well as I can be." "Good good." He nods his head as he shuffles the paperwork together and then picks it up, tapping them on the table to make them neater.
"How about you guys?"
Bob sits back in his seat and fixes his glasses, "Health wise? Just fine. But I feel like I just did the most ridiculous mental gymnastics with all this stupid paperwork."
"He's not even kidding." Wade shakes his head, "To make matters worse, it kept going." His look becomes intense like he was ready to just burn it all.
"It's the government, nothing is supposed to be easy." Tyler mutters as he takes a seat next to me. He folds his arms over his chest and stretches his legs out in front of him. Is that his chair sleeping position?? Sleeping now of all time?? "It's alright Ethan, Tyler usually sleeps when we talk about the boring stuff. He knows that we can give him the important details later." Wade informs me. Mark, Jack, and Felix proceed to enter the room one after the other and make their way to their seats. We all gave each other a quiet but quick greeting. Tyler shifts his shoulders from side to side as he sinks a bit more comfortably into the chair. He lowers his head and closes his eyes; instantly asleep. Wow, I wish I could fall asleep that fast. I lean over to see if he was actually asleep and I can make out a very faint snore.
"Alright everyone, thank you for being so patient while we took the time to get through this mountain of paperwork." Wade starts the meeting. I tilt my head slightly, "That doesn't look like a mountain of paperwork."
"That's because you didn't see the papers behind me." He gestures to the wall behind him and I lean over to see what he's talking about. My eyes widen at the sight. The papers were in tall stacks up, at least, a third of the wall and spanned a couple of feet.
"What the fuck...?" I look from the papers and back to Bob and Wade.
"Yeah, it's been a mess." Bob nods his head as he wiggles his fingers, probably cramped up from the constant writing.
"To be expected, continue." Felix interrupts, waving his hand slightly.
"Anyways, Bob and I have completed everything and wanted to go over everything to make sure everyone is in agreement." Wade explains. We'll be here forever. I couldn't believe there were so many papers to get through.
Bob stands up and grabs from the first stack then brings it back to the table, "Alright, we start off with property."
"The government has agreed to give us this bit of land and enough to start a few patches of farm land." Wade lays out a map on the table and circles the plots of land that they had discussed keeping from the government. Jack leans forward, pulling the map to himself, "That's pretty small for farming. We should negotiate for something bigger." Bob begins to write down on a new piece of paper. Wade hands Jack the pencil, "Any suggestions?" Jack takes the pencil and begins to circle a much bigger plot, "That should be enough, we can cut it into smaller sections for different food. And maybe a couple of mules to help us plow the fields."
Bob glances at the map and writes down the new plot suggestions. Wade pulls out another paper. I glance around the table to get a better look at everyone. Mark was sitting forward in his seat, his elbows rested on the table as he propped his chin up by his hands. He had a bit more serious look than normal. The front of his black hair was fluffed, pulled up and to the side. It looked like it had been done by habit. He was wearing a red and black colored flannel that was unbuttoned to reveal his tone abdomen. There on the left upper side was the scar left by the bullet. It was smaller than I thought but I bet the back side looked worse. I hadn't seen the exit wound yet. My gaze glides to Jack, he's sitting next to Mark. He was leaning forward pointing at things on the map. He looked focused. His cheeks were a beautiful rosy red and I couldn't help but remember when that color had left his face. He looked so lost. Ever so slightly I catch Mark's glance at Jack, almost like he was reassuring him that he was still there. My eyes drift over to Wade. He looks tired. He shuffles the papers in his hands and then rubs his head as he closes his eyes. I never noticed that he, and Bob, seemed to be scarless. They somehow kept their skin clean. Bob shifts to a new blank piece of paper as they continue discussing property. He, too, looks tired. Felix shifts in his chair and my eyes are drawn to him. He was wearing similar clothes to yesterday. His blonde hair was shiny again. His sitting position told of power or leadership. He had his hands resting on the arms of the chair and his legs were spread out in a dominant position. His electric blue eyes glow just slightly as he is silently listening. My eyes dance down his face before they rest upon his neck; more specifically his scar. Tyler gave him that scar. They say he nearly died. Would he have accepted it? Was he prepared to be reunited with his lover? What happens when a Songbird dies?? Finally my eyes rest on Tyler's sleeping form. 'I'm the only Guardian.' 'Everything was resting on my shoulders.' 'I made the decision and it was the wrong one.' His words echo in my head and it makes my heart twist. Everyone has their own pain. Pain that they had yet to work through. Pain that maybe they didn't want to work through. I shift forward and fold my arms down on the table, resting my cheek on one arm as I glance around the room. It's kinda peaceful here.