Gone. Jeb was gone, and we were alone. Again
These words kept going through my mind, but they never seemed to just sink in. I lay on my bed, eyes red from crying. It just didn't seem possible that one day he was here, caring for us, loving us; and the next be gone without a trace. Without any reason or explanation.
Now it was just the six of us; we are all that eachother had. It's not like we could go anywhere for help. The fact that we had wings pretty much eliminated that option. We were just kids; we didn't know what to do. Even I, who was the oldest, had no idea what to do next.
It had seemed like any other ordinary day, the day Jeb had disappeared. We'd gone out for a bit of flying, and as usual Jeb was left behind. After an hour or so, we'd come back, and well… he wasn't there anymore. We figured he'd gone out on one of his monthly trips down to the city to get food and stuff and just forgot to tell us. So we waited. As the afternoon started to fade to night, though, we began to worry; it had never taken him this long.
I took Nudge and Fang with me to fly around the area after it got dark, to see if we could see any signs of Jeb's return, but there were none. We went to bed that night hoping that he'd be there when we woke up.
Instead of the relief and happiness that we hoped morning would bring, it brought nothing but despair and sadness. We were all devastated when we realized the Jeb wasn't coming back. Nudge started crying on the spot, and Fang stormed off to his room and has only come out since for food. It's just starting to settle in for Angel and Gazzy, and Iggy hasn't said a word to anyone, he just sits there and listens to the TV.
There did seem to be something bugging Jeb, that last day. I didn't realize it then, but he did seem to be more stressed and jumpy than usual. But what could have happened to Jeb in the whole hour that we were gone?
I pushed myself into the sitting position, and just sat in bed, crying. We'd only lived with Jeb for about three years, but it had been the best years of all of our lives. Now that he was gone, it felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest. I got out of bed and made my way down the hall, not really sure where I would go, though every part of me just wanted to go get back in bed and stay there for the rest of forever.
I ended up wandering to the kitchen. At the site of the fridge my stomach started to growl. I couldn't even remember when I had eaten last; it just didn't seem to matter as much anymore. As I dug my way through the fridge, I noticed something. The house was completely silent. Not a noise to be heard.
I extracted myself from the bowels of the fridge, and looked around. The others were in the house as far as I knew. I walked over to the living room and found everyone but Fang just sitting there, doing a whole bunch of nothing.
What was wrong with these guys! It was like they lost the will to live when Jeb left. Someone had to do something, someone had to take charge and slap some life back into these guys.
I sighed. Why did I have the feeling that that someone would have to be me?
The next day I called everyone into the living room. Everyone just stared at me, with dead, blank expressions.
I stood up, and cleared my throat, not really sure what the heck I was supposed to say. "We need to do something guys. Look at us, we're a mess. Let's face it, Jeb's gone, and it probably has something to do with the School. So someone needs to step up," I look around at them. So far, I still had their attention. "We need a leader, someone who's not afraid to take charge, even when things get tough. I say we take a vote as to who of us would make the best leader."
I gave them a few minutes to think over what I'd just told them, then going youngest to oldest, asked for their votes.
" Angel, sweetie, who do you vote for?" She was quiet for a moment before answering.
" I think you'd make a good leader, Max," she said quietly.
I smiled at her. "Gazzy?"
" Max." He said simply.
" Nudge?" I looked at her, her pretty brown eyes still puffy from sobbing all day.
" Max I guess."
" Max is the oldest," added Iggy.
I looked at Fang knowing that at this point it wouldn't make much of a difference. " I'm pretty sure you know my vote," he says looking at me, his dark eyes giving nothing away as usual.
I was a bit shocked, "Well…" I was unable to come up with any other words. Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as the leader type, but since Iggy was blind, that really left just Fang and I as logical candidates. " I guess that means I'm the leader now." So what would a leader do now? Umm …Rules! All leaders had rules.
"For my first act as leader, I'm going to establish some rules for everyone to follow. First, starting tomorrow, everyone will help keep this place clean," I say as I gesture to the house, which had turned into a bit of a dump in the past few days. " Second if you have a problem with anyone or anything, bring it to me. The last thing we need is for us to start going for each other's throats over a stupid argument. And lastly, I'm in charge. What I say goes, and if I'm not here for whatever reason, then Fang or Iggy are. Fair enough?" I look at them, and they reply with a chorus of 'yeah's and 'OK's.
Maybe this leader thing wouldn't be so bad. It'd be like … a Maxtatorship, a fairer, nicer version of a dictatorship. Oooohh, I liked the sound of that.
So, hope you like it so far. BTW I'm totally looking for a beta, so if you're interested or know of a good one, PM me!
