Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

Chapter 36 – The Responsible One  

“Why do we have to do this?” Syrus sighed.

[I would like to volunteer to be the person who doesn’t have to deal with this.] (Eva)

[...That’s not how this works.] (Luna)

Anna could only sigh in pain as she was now realising the full scope of what she had to do.

After learning the first fire magic, Syrus was ready to ‘learn’ the other two today. However, Jen and George had different plans.

George apologised, “Sorry to spring this on you, but as I said, we need you to take care of the kids.”

Jen looked down distraught, “I can’t express how sorry I am… I should’ve told you earlier in the week.”

George had casually commented to Anna, ‘Good luck dealing with the kids today’ before he left to meet up with the other parents. For the past week, he had been gone early and returned late so he hadn’t spoken to Anna too much. He was able to make time yesterday because he knew Jen was going to start teaching Anna magic and he wanted to be there for that. However, by Anna’s confused reaction to his statement, George could tell Jen had forgotten to tell them important information again. Even Anna was getting concerned at Jen’s recent forgetfulness.

So, George had a talk with Jen and Anna about what they needed Anna to do today.

A specialist was coming down today to help with the villages’ land, the church requested it and the adults had to go along with the specialist for a big meeting with the multiple farming villages. Then they would spend a long time walking outside the borders of the villages’ territory examining the soil and water.

However, they couldn’t bring the kids along due to the potential issues, so the kids had to stay behind.

Leaving the kids mostly unsupervised wasn’t normally a problem, as there were enough adults in the area in case something happened. But with the majority of the village leaving for a few hours, they felt it would be better if all the kids stuck together. Now it wasn’t like there were going to be no adults around, but there were only two staying back and they were going to still be doing their work on the farm so the adults wanted someone to manage the kids directly.

George worriedly asked, “Jen, dear… you really need to start writing down what you need to do in a notebook or something.”

Jen replied, resolute, “I can’t, that will waste paper, we are already at the limits of our budget.”

That was the discussion they had, and now Anna was in the centre of the village with her parents and some other parents saying goodbye to their own kids.

Anna asked again, “I’m not even the oldest person here, why am I in charge?”

Jen patted Anna’s head, “Because sweetie, it was agreed on by the parents that you were the most responsible one.”

The parents had faith in Anna–mostly thanks to how Luna acted–that she was the most responsible one and was the best option to watch the kids while they were gone.

“Still, wouldn’t it be best to have at least an adult watching?” 

“Agreed,” Jen frowned, “But those are the rules, bloody annoying.”

George whispered, “Jen language.”

Jen quietly replied, “Whoops.”

Anna decided to keep her question to herself for now.

[When they come back, ask what the exact rules were about this meeting. I believe something fishy is going on.] (Luna)

[That or just plain stupidity.] (Syrus)

Soon all the parents left and it was just Anna and all the kids. 

There were fifteen total not including Anna, all aged between five and twelve. Any of the older ‘kids’ were considered old enough to go along with the adults for the meeting.

The adults did give some rules to the kids before they left–listen to Anna’s instructions, don’t go past the village’s border, don’t fight and hurt themselves, and don’t go into each other's houses without permission. 

Syrus looked over at all the kids, there was Billy, Ella, Elliot, Jerry, and Leah, and then she stopped caring to count the rest.

[Well let’s get started.] Syrus said, “I’m not going to be a stick up the butt, so as long as everyone follows the rules, just have fun.”

Everyone nodded, and then just began to chat amongst themselves.

However, it didn’t even take ten minutes before one of the rules was about to be broken.

In the corner of her eye, Syrus noticed Jerry walking towards the village border with the clear intent of not stopping.

“HEY! Don’t go past the border or I’m going to–for once–actually burn your pants off your body.”

But this just caused Jerry to run faster, which caused Syrus to sprint after him to catch him like a piece of prey.

[...] (Eva)

[This is going to be a long day…] (Luna)