Chapter 21 – Family

Chapter 21 – Family They woke up the next day comfortable and cozy in a bed surrounded by their mum and dad who recently woke up themselves.  Anna also received a briefing on what happened last night. They didn’t know what, but something happened in the forest which caused the creatures within it to go on rampage. They didn’t have anything in place for this specific situation, but they did have procedures for general dangerous situations. Which was why they had a bunch of pre-made mountable barricades. Two adults were killed, but thankfully none of the kids were harmed. A group of adults work together to simultaneously distract the creatures and kill them. Jen and George already were near the forest when it happened so they stayed with the other adults to defend the town, but when they saw a wolf run back into the forest from what seemed to be their house it caused them to panic. They broke formation and ran back to find a trail of Anna’s footsteps which they chased after. Once they reunited with her and after she collapsed they rushed her home, where most of the mayhem had been cleared up. Adults were regrouping and parents helping their crying kids.  Once everything was safe, and the forest creatures had stopped coming for a while. Jen and George barricaded the windows and door and prepared to sleep, but for safety, took turns watching. That was everything else that happened that night. The three of them stayed in the room after Jen brought food in so they could eat breakfast in there.  After they finished eating on the bed, discussing what happened last night, how cool George was then against how uncool he normally was, laughing at Jen’s taste in books, and promising to take a break for studying and adding more story time to the schedule. … After all that. They placed Anna on the ground and Jen spoke, “As we said yesterday, we have a gift for you… We… have some names for you.” … Momentarily stunned, “So we will no longer be Anna?” White asked. “Not exactly,” George smiled, “We aren’t going to get rid of our precious daughter’s name, but we will be adding a little bit to it.” Jen said, “Anlesa will be your new name, Anna for short still. Realistically, we’ll call you Anna most of the time.” The three of them went along with it and nodded. “Weird one. Sounds like something… Mum… made up.” Lilly noted.  Sёarᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. George smiled, “Well, that would be completely correct.” “Hey… It’s not a bad name.” Jen replied. “So we are just Anlesa now?” Red asked. “Well, it is not just that name.” Jen fully sat down, at Anlesa’s eye level.  “First, for the quiet one who loves to listen to my books, and has the cutest smile and eyes filled curiosity.” [Who…?] Lilly asked. [That’s you.] (White) Lilly paused, She still wasn’t completely comfortable with this, but she knew what she needed to do. “...Yes…” Lilly answered. “We decided your name to be Eva  [Do you want us to keep calling you Lilly?] (White) [...Can I be extremely selfish as to ask one of you to call me Eva… and the other Lilly?] Anna closed her eyes, and Lilly begged her two companions… her technically nowkind of sisters… [...Sure. I’m taking Eva.] (Red) [Understood, Lilly.] (White) “...Eva… okay…” Jen patted her daughter on the head, “It’s okay, I love you, sweety.” George joined them on the ground, his expression had hints of pain as he bent his knees, “Now second,” He held back a small laugh,  “For the one who is better at dealing with annoying adults than I am, stays calm whenever she can, and has a bright mind always ready to learn. We decided to name you Luna.” White paused as well, and in a flash in her mind, she remembered the day she received her previous name. The dreadful oppressing atmosphere within the white marble palace, the emotionless declaration of her new name.  But when she opened her eyes again, she saw two smiling faces. And in this one moment provided more warmth than the last fifteen years of her previous life. “...Thank you.” It was Jen’s turn to speak again, “Now for the energetic, lovely ball of energy who always has a smile on her face. We thought of Sara.” There was a final moment of pause, but then Red asked, “What was your other option?” George asked, “Other option?” “I mean, like a parent likes to think of a boy and girl name before a child is born right? So what was the other name you thought of?” Jen replied, “It was, Syrus?” “I’m taking that, it’s a cooler name.” Syrus (Red) proudly smiled and crossed her arms.  [It’s even better than my previous two names.] Syrus (Red) laughed. Luna (White) asked, “Why did you choose those names?” “Cause we like the sound of them?” George smiled, which got a small flick to his cheek from Jen, “Jen also wanted them to have a connection to each other, which is why all the female names ended with ‘a’ and the male ones ‘s’.” Jen added, “There is also the theme to everything because you share a body like the objects that share the night sky, I thought it would be nice to get inspiration for your names from the celestial bodies and the time of day. Luna is of course representing the moon, Eva was originally Eve, but we wanted it to end with ‘a’ to match with the naming scheme, but, it worked out cause there is a star named Eva. Syrus is also the name of a star, one of the brightest ones, and is the name of the sun in a story I read.” “Wow… a lot more thought than I put in. We just called each other colours.” Said Red. “Well, that was your idea,” White added. “And didn’t you agree with it?” “...She very much did…” Lilly smiled. Jen tried to quietly whisper, but everyone heard her, “Ah, they are talking to each other aloud, so… cute…” This caused Anlesa to blush and try to change topics, “Do we tell everyone else about this?” “Do you want to?” George asked. The three of them looked at themselves in the Soul Space and just nodded at each other, “No.”  Jen smiled, “Then we won’t!”  With the second naming ceremony done, it was time for Jen to do something she had been waiting to do since the start of this talk. She shuffled closer and wrapped her arms around Anlesa, “Thank you for being born, my lovely daughters.” “I think you mean, our lovely daughters.” George moved up and joined in for the hug. Tears began to fall from Anlesa’s face. Her arms trembled up, embracing her two parents.  … “Thank you… For being our Mum and Dad. Mum, Dad… Mum… Dad…” “It’s okay,” Said George. Jen added, “We are family after all.”