Starting Over

Chapter 59

One week drags by, then two. I fall back into a routine, more or less. I wake up, go to work, eat lunch with my friends, go back to work, relax for a little while, eat dinner, and go to sleep. Sometimes it varies but for the most part it doesn't. Tobias finally got his stitches out today. They told him that everything should be fine by this point but if he feels any pain he needs to go back to get it checked out.

After Tobias and I leave the infirmary we head to Tori's office to prepare for a meeting we have today. We've been having meetings off and on for the past two weeks to try to figure out what to do about Ed. Some people think that we should spread out and search the whole city for him. Others argue that we should wait until we have something solid to go off of. That we don't want to cause an unnecessary panic since we don't even know if Ed is still in Chicago. I agree with the people who think that we should wait for something solid before causing panic in the factions. Although Tobias hates Ed he agrees with me.

"So, do you think anyone is actually going to have anything different to say, or are we just going to argue over the same things we have been for the past two weeks?" Tori asks when we get to her office.

"Oh we're definitely just arguing over the same things as always," I reply with a smile. Tori glares at me in response and Tobias chuckles slightly.

"Why do we even still have meetings?" Tobias asks. "We're just going to scream at each other until we run out of time, and, like always, nothing will be accomplished."

"We need something solid to act on. If we had some idea of where he was we'd be able to go after him. Instead we're stuck here being unproductive," Tori says.

We rant for a few more minutes before we have to leave to actually go to the meeting. When we get there everyone is waiting for us. Some people are whispering but it quickly dies when we walk in. Most people look either bored or like the just ate a lemon. Only Max and Micah look even somewhat interested in the meeting. When we walk in Max smiles at us and Micah gives us a slightly upturned corner of his mouth and a slight nod of the head. I smile back at them before taking my seat.

"You all know what we're here to discuss. We've been talking about it for nearly two weeks. There's no new information to add to the conversation but we can't reach a consensus so here we are," Tori says. "Let's begin." I sigh and lean back in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest as I begin to talk.

"We need something solid to go off of before we go traipsing all over the city looking for someone. We could cause a panic," I say in exasperation.

"But we know where he is! He's somewhere in Chicago! Besides, he kidnapped you! Out of everyone you should want to go after this guy!" a guy diagonal from me shouts.

"And yet I don't, so what does that tell you?" I ask.

"That you're a wimp," he shoots back.

"Or maybe I'm being logical, unlike you."

"Or maybe you should be in Amity because you clearly love everyone."

"Don't think that I don't hate him," I spit as I lean across the table calmly. "He kidnapped me in the middle of the night and took me to someone who wanted to kill me and hurt everyone that I love. I want him to pay, but I don't think that we should cause an uproar in order to try to find him. We might not even find him. He could have left Chicago by now."

The man shuts up and other arguments break out. We argue for about two hours and nothing gets accomplished. Finally Tori decides to end the meeting.

"Enough!" Tori screams. "We keep arguing and arguing and accomplishing nothing! We can't keep doing this! We aren't going after him until we have any idea about where he is, and that's final! If you don't like it then leave!" Tori storms out of the room while shaking her head in frustration. A few people leave and murmur about how it's ridiculous to let Ed go. They don't understand that we're not letting him go, we're just waiting for the right time.