Don't Instruct the Wind

Chapter 7

It's already been two weeks since I was imprisoned in that shabby school. I had almost forgotten I experienced it since it felt so long ago. I came back home, reunited with my cousins again, and everything went back to how it was.

Bella, Malia, and I strolled around the village of Cocotown in hopes of finding something interesting to do.

"Alright, guys," I said as I stopped walking to catch my breath, "we've been walking back and forth all day! We should just go home."

Malia tugged on my arm. "No, Maciel! We haven't even started our adventure yet!"

"We're not going to find any damn adventure here!" I argued.

"No, I was kind of thinking the same thing too! I'm going to find somewhere to sit!" Bella said.

Off on the side, Malia was being handed a news article from some random newspaper boy. She began to read it carefully.

"Maybe we can go harass the annoying villager kids!" I urged, quietly clapping my hands.

"No, Maciel, we have lives!" Bella blew me off.

I gave Bella a dirty look. "If we have lives, then why are we walking around here doing completely nothing—"

"Wait, Maciel, isn't this the school you had to attend a few weeks ago?" Malia asked, pointing at a paragraph in the news article.

Bella, Malia, and I all huddled together to get a better glimpse of what was written.

"I'll just read it out loud; back up, you two," Bella said, snatching the paper out of Malia's hand.

Bella began to read out loud, "In a spine-chilling discovery, guards recently conducted a search of the school grounds and uncovered a tragic sight: a herd of deceased children bundled in bags full of gardening soil. Despite this shocking revelation, King Hendrith staunchly denied any association with the school in question. Rumors had swirled that the school enticed children to enroll with false promises of monetary rewards upon completion of their studies. As a result of this harrowing incident, the school has been deemed unfit to continue its operations and will be permanently closed, with nearly all students withdrawn from its premises."

Malia and I stood shocked as Bella slowly lowered the paper from her face.

"What! So, even if I won, there was no money awarded at the end? It was all a fucking fraud." I pondered and was very enraged. Malia put her hand on my shoulder.

"Well, that's not surprising! After you told us about everything that happened, it didn't seem like the school could afford itself in the first place." Bella added.

"Hey, I'm just glad you're home, and now you'll for sure never have to go back!" Malia commented.

"You know what? Let's just keep it in the past," I said, and then began to laugh. "At least I got out of there before I went to that useless performance."

"Just imagine the faces of the kids when they found out there was no award at the end. All that hard work for nothing!" Bella added in, starting to laugh.

"What a bunch of dumbasses!" I snickered.

"Serves them right!" Malia chimed in.

"They'll never get those weeks of their useless lives back!" I began to laugh even harder.

"At least they'll have stories to tell their future grandchildren," Bella said.

"They're all too dimwitted to even raise kids that can make the grandchildren!" Malia joked.

"If I were them, I'd just throw out every instrument I had ever owned!" I continued.

We all laughed and carried on with strolling around the village.

It turns out I did win. I didn't have to worry about traveling some more just for a competition that was a complete scam.

Next time I'm about to turn in a slip for a talent show, I'm going to read the entire paper so I don't end up having to go to another shithole of a school!