Trial X6

Chicken Coop

  'Moving in with Joshua wasn't such a bad idea....' I thought while building a hen house. There was more territory, I could have more chickens, and Joshua was practically bouncing around with excitement at the thought of having chickens.

  "Hand me the hinges, will you?" I asked over my shoulder.

  "Yes!" Joshua went off and brought back a small bag of hinges. Screwing them into the wood, I made the doors for the hen house and the tops for the nesting area to make egg retrieval easier. I was setting up the hen house near the back door so it'd be easier when I had to clean it out.

  "Okay, Joshua." I stood up and turned around while dusting my hands off onto my pants. "You can go get the chickens." He grinned and went down to the basement. After three weeks of waiting, I managed to get two hens and a rooster. Now, we could have eggs anytime and grow more chickens to eat more often than just on Fridays. He bounded back into the room while carrying the chicken pens and carefully set them down next to me. "Remember, you have to be gentle with them, and you can only eat them when you ask me." I told him.

  He nodded happily and was wiggling as if he had a wagging tail. However, I could tell it still hurt him to move as his wounds had yet to fully heal from the incident with his brother. I ended up permanently moving in a little while after since Max didn't want to leave Joshua alone and we already 'got along'.

  Bending over, I picked up one of the hens.

  "Now, let me show you how to handle the chickens." My blank face looked up at his. "You hold them over the wings so they don't flap around, and keep clear of their feet so they don't scratch you." I held it out to him, and he looked from the chicken to me, then pointed to himself.

  "Joshua....hold chicken?"

  "Yeah, you gotta learn to do this if you're going to help me with them." He grinned from ear to ear and gently took the bird. It started to wildly cluck, and Joshua looked frightened. "It's fine, they'll do that until they get used to you." I told him, and he nodded while smiling the whole time he held the hen. "Okay, you can put her in the house now."

  After the chickens had food and water, I went down to the basement while Joshua continued to watch the chickens. Cleaning up down here would take a while, so I decided to go ahead and start at it since I had the time. The dust was thickly layered over everything, and the things I found piled in the room varied from boxes of files to antique shelves and dressers.

  I set up a cot to sleep on that I had found next to the stairs, then laid out the sleeping bag over it for added comfort. I also had stacked some boxes neatly in the corners of the dark basement to put them out of the way. Next to my bed, however, I found a piano underneath a stained sheet.

  Finding myself interested in it, I poked a few of the ivory keys and tilted my head at the sounds they made. At Manticore, I wasn't taught anything about music, just hunting and killing. However, after escaping, I found learning about music very interesting. It was one of the few things Logan could find common ground with me on after letting me listen to the various records he had.

  Poking a few more keys, I got the idea that the ivory and black keys should be pressed together to make music rather than one set or the other. Tapping each key, I heard the range between the farthest right key and the farthest left, hearing how each key had a unique sound to it. Tapping each key a few more times, I memorized the noise each one made.

  Pulling out the bench from underneath the piano, I sat down. I was oddly drawn to the instrument, I had no idea why, and I felt my fingers brush over the keys. The next thing I knew, I was playing the piano. I didn't recognize the tune, but the song my hands played was slow and dark with instances of quick and high measures that made my heartbeat race.

  When I finally stopped, I jerked my shaking hands away from the piano. It was strange. The noises from the piano made my insides move with the vibrations from the soundwaves, and I felt my eyebrows furrow.

  "Father says....music soothes the savage beast...." Joshua was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a small smile on his face as he looked at me.

  "Did he?" I asked, my eyes still lingering on the piano.

  "Yes."

  "....He was right." And my face went blank again as I sat there. The piano could make such....beautiful sounds, but my hands were still shaking and I didn't know why.

~

  Walking to Jam Pony, I ran into Max. She asked me where I was headed, and after I told her, then she asked why.

  "I was bringing Original Cindy her lunch. It's been a while since she's had any chicken, and Joshua and I have a nice hen house now." Max looked impressed, but what I didn't tell her was that I had recently also lost my job. I didn't tell her that I was unemployed now, or how I got relieved of my duties for showing up late one too many times.

  "Well, don't let me stop you." We walked into Jam Pony together, and I went over to Original Cindy.

  "Brought you some chicken. If you ever want more, just drop by Joshua's. I'm staying with him now, and I got a rooster, too." I held the paper bag out to her.

  "Really? You shouldn't have." She took the bag with a smile. "You know, you're pretty chill besides your emotionless face, Boo." She said somewhat bluntly. "Let me tell you what- Original Cindy gonna make you smile one of these days. Count on it." She raised her brows while putting the bag into her locker.

  "Good luck trying." I said with quite a bit of honesty. "See you guys later. I got to get to work." I waved to Max and Original Cindy before leaving.

  When they weren't looking, I talked to the man with the headset about getting a job there. He glanced up at me for a second while writing stuff down on his papers.

  "Sorry, kid, I got enough slackers to deal with here." And he went back to writing. With that answer, I continued on my way out and into the street. I'd have to look for work elsewhere.

  Out of the corner of my eye, just before I got outside though, I saw Alec talking to someone else. He truly did seemingly keep popping up everywhere now.