im taking a brake. idk for how long. read sweeties jurnal. dont wurry. dont look 4 me
annie

I had a weird dream, but now I don't think it was a dream, because Hannah Aria posted about it.

She woke me up in the middle of the night. I was quite scared, since she is a ghost who I have never met before. She told me @Sweetie2's life would be in my hands tomorrow. And that I don't know anything about the Goodspeeds.

I honestly think she's right on the latter. All I know is the backstory Sweetie gave me, and a little from her journals, too. I've never asked for more cause I don't want to be nosy, and she seems to have a lot of trauma. I know of her siblings, Hailey, Wailey, and Vincent, but I don't like any of them much. They all tried to kill me. For something I didn't do. With no evidence.

They were fully prepared to make me swim with the fishes, too. Literally. They threw me in a tank of killer fish.

I don't know what will happen today, but I know one thing. Sweetie has been nothing but helpful and nice to me. So I'm going to try to help her.
See you later, alligators. Or any other thing trying to harm her. I'm on guard.

You had the most delicious apple crisp. You picked it out at the store. The label said it had 10 spices, but you couldn't begin to name them all. Except cinnamon. There was definitely cinnamon.

You sat down at one of those blue plastic tables in the park, the ones that you can poke your pinkie fingers through. You could poke all your fingers through when you were little. You've grown.

The material looks like netting, but hard and usually warm from sitting in the sun all day. The tables are all circular with benches made of the same plastic attached. There are a lot of them, all scattered about the empty space on the slope of a hill. You were alone.

It was a sort of cloudy day. Overcast. The kind your mom said to wear sunscreen on, but you'd never listen, because how could the sun get through those clouds? She told you it was about the radiation or something like that. You can't remember. It could rain, but it doesn't smell like it. You'll take your chances.

As you take the dessert out of your canvas tote bag, you realize you didn't bring a fork. You didn't remember a fork. How could you forget? How could you eat the best apple crisp of your life without a stupid fork? Everyone remembers their forks. This isn't how it's supposed to be. You were at the store. Where? Which? If you can't even remember a stupid fork to eat this amazing apple crisp, how can you remember anything? How can you trust yourself? You can't. You suddenly have the urge to leave. Get a new fork, maybe. The day could be salvaged. Or maybe forget about the day. Maybe just focus on remembering next time.

In any case, you stand up to leave. You feel a tugging on your pinkies, holding you down. They're stuck in the chair. The chair of a table of a park of a memory that isn't yours. Not anymore. Maybe not ever, really. You feel the skin on the back of your neck sizzling. You should've listened to your mother. The mother you don't know, can't recall. You try to yank your arms loose, but the straps of your tote bag wrap around your arms and neck, pulling you down to the chair. You can taste the salt of your tears, hear the echo of your screams. The apple crisp stays there. Ummoving. Your head hurts from crying, throat aches from screaming, and all you can do it sit there and forget, pulled closer and closer to the table.



You wake up in a cold sweat.



The taste of cinnamon lingers on your tongue.

Just posting to say I'm alive. Haven't gone anywhere. I feel guilty about not posting regularly, but nothing much interesting has happened in my life. I've been thinking about making a couple smaller journals with just the everyday weirdness and not the bigger stuff instead of what I've been doing.

I'll make up my mind someday.

Okay, so I've been away for a while. Again. When @Sweetie2 showed me her sister, who got brainwashed, I really panicked. I may or may not have run away and hid in a supply closet for a few days.

And then, when I came back, there was a recall notice for the ciriculum, so I had to burn it. I feel a bit bad about it. I mean, who burns books? Bad people. But this book would literally brainwash whoever read it,, so I guess it was for the best. After that, I got the new ciriculum from Elizabeth. I wasn't sure if I should read it. The other Minders still looked dazed.

I flipped through it and didn't see any strange glowing runes, though, so I thought it was fine. I read a little of it. Don't worry, not hypnotized or anything. I just... I don't know. It has games and songs and stuff. Seems appropriate for summer camp. But everything is about Anything Owl. Rodent bone spitting competitions, GaGa where after ten minutes a large bird comes down and brings peace and water ice (supposedly mirroring the many wars Anything Owl intervened in), campfire songs about how Anything Owl literally BROUGHT humanity fire; I just don't know why?

I can't figure out what Anything Owl is trying to do here. Teaching the kids about themself? It seems like a lot of effort. Maybe it's just me. I admittedly haven't met many non-human non-plant people. I mean, maybe other species have other broad goals? If humanities' ultimate goal is the search for knowledge, or the search for a purpose, or whatever thing you can think of, maybe Anything Owl's end goal won't make sense to a human? Maybe it's just how our minds work? Maybe we can never understand what drives other species, not really, but we just have to accept that they work differently, even though we can't comprehend why?

Anyway. I feel like my journals always get all philosophical. But TL;DR the new ciriculum seems alright, and I guess there's no sense in not teaching it. On the other hand, you shouldn't trust someone if you don't know what their goal is... but I'm not sure I really have to trust this, and I'm not sure if I have a choice anyway. Post ya later.

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. But things have been very... hectic. I always say that, don't I? Well it's usually true.

The other day before activities were about to start a voice sounded on the loudspeaker, which I had no idea even existed. "ALL MINDERS, PLEASE REPORT TO THE WATER FOUNTAIN TO RECIEVE THE NEW CIRICULUM." @Sweetie2 and I gave each other a confused look as we made our way there.

When we got there, @Elizabeth Magnolia was already there, expression blank as usual. She was holding a bunch of booklets connected with those black plastic spiral things. Once everyone was there, she started speaking. "The newly updated Children's Circle Summer Session ciriculum is ready. Minders will follow the ciriculum, or be removed from the Children's Circle Summer Session and any other extracurriculars sponsored by GROTTO G.S.M. The children love Anything Owl." I could feel my jaw hanging open in shock, as Sweetie and I shared a concerned look, which must've been hard for her while still smiling.

As I glanced back to Elizabeth, she had a weird look on her face, like she was about to sneeze. Just then, her shoes sprouted small tawny wings. She dropped the booklets in shock. "Wha- Where am- What?" She looked right into my eyes. The shoes carried her away, feet first. I hadn't seen her act like this since before Anything Owl... it was like she was back, for a moment.

Once she had disappeared over the horizon, everyone started picking up the booklets. On the cover there was a stock drawing of a few cartoonish kids playing with water balloons on a grassy field. I know it was a stock image because it still had watermarks. Over the image was the title, CHILDREN'S CIRCLE SUMMER SESSION CIRICULUM.

On the very first page were the words "Anything Owl belongs. Anything Owl will help. Anything Owl is good..." and so on. I didn't read the whole thing since it seemed like a bunch of brainwashing mumbo-jumbo. In the corners of every page were strange symbols that glowed when I touched them. I haven't read the whole book yet, but it seems to be a lot of Grotto G.S.M. and Anything Owl propaganda so far.

I'm not exactly sure what to do. It's kinda obvious that reading the book will brainwash you (the other minders had suspiciously blank expressions after the meeting). But I don't know what else to do. I think I'll call Cornelia and ask them. This whole thing gives me the creeps. Bad vibes all around. But I can't exactly leave the kids. They didn't do anything. Well, other than set my lunch in fire a bunch of different times from their minds, but that could technically count as homework- long story short, this whole thing is very sus.

Hi all.

Just to clear something up real quick, @Sweetie2 and I aren't the same person. We have similar names, but it's kinda rude to give me credit for her accomplishments and vice versa. So please don't anymore. No hard feelings, not gonna name names, but please be mindful in the future. It gets on my nerves a little.

I really liked the explanation you did of the universe, Sweetie. I once heard that all the universes together could look like a waterfall, with every universe being a drop. It's very interesting stuff. The kids may have had to come to terms with how small they all are in the grand scheme of things, but we all had fun!!

So. I saw @Anything Owl's new post. I vaguely remember Grotto G.C or whatever it's called. Mostly that Cornelia hates it. They went on rants all the time about how it actually causes more harm than good to everyone, customers and bystanders alike. I'm not going to repeat the specifics, nor the choice language, but suffice it to say they really don't like this company.

But I really need to know something, and fables be damned I will learn one way or another. Wishing seems the easiest way. But before I give you a wish, Anything Owl, I need to ask: What do you get in return? If it's only for customer satisfaction, how does that make me a customer? Why do you need my satisfaction? Thanks.

Recently the kids have mentioned Anything Owl. Whenever I hear about it I get the shivers.

Every morning @Elizabeth Magnolia says her piece about it. The first time, I laughed and she glared at me. I thought she was kidding. I've tried to approach her but she won't talk to me. She seems kinda... different.

When the kids started mentioning Anything Owl to me they said they heard it from kids in other groups. "Anything Owl grants wishes! Anything Owl can give you whatever you want!" I was really scared by that.

It sounds really culty, and since it's my job to keep them safe, I told them a story. One of those traditional, be careful what you wish for, there is always a price you may not be willing to pay ones. I warned them about the fae.

I'm not sure how much I believe that there are intelligent beings capable of speech and reasoning native to Earth (including humans), but many of the fae stories/warnings have solid advice. Don't trust strangers, don't give strangers your name, be careful in negotiations, always read and understand the contract before agreeing.

I also told them a story about the mob to try to strike the fear of god into them even more. If you own a store and someone comes in offering goods that "fell off the back of the truck", no matter how cheap they are you NEVER buy them. That's how the mob gets you hooked, and if you buy from them once they can report you to the government. So then they ask for "favors", take your money, all that jazz. Never wish on Anything Owl, it might request more and more of you. Since I don't know how it works I decided to cast a broad net in the fear mongering department.

By the end of storytime, everyone seemed disturbed. I don't enjoy making them afraid, but I think they should absolutely have a healthy fear of Anything Owl. Sweetie also seemed frightened, but she kept smiling for the kids. I think she might be mad at me for scarring them.

I don't know what happened to you, Elizabeth, but we met a few times and you were very nice, so if your entire consciousness hasn't been hidden/taken/erased, I'd be happy to help you.

Also, before everyone calls me horrible for attempting to scare the pants off a bunch of kids, I told them afterwards that there was nothing to worry about. As long as you didn't make a deal, beings like this can't usually hurt you. If Anything Owl works like fae. If not... I have no clue.

I'm still trapped at Hailey and Wailey's birthday party. Please, I'm tired. Hailey keeps looking at me funny. I keep moving to strategically move out of @Vincent2's sight so he won't try talking to me.

I dozed off a little for a few minutes and had a dream. I was in my bathroom, giving myself an undercut. I gave myself zigzags. I liked it. But when I looked at it in a mirror, I saw Hailey and her paper sitting on the bathtub ledge. I woke up.

I've tried to leave three times, Sweetie stopping me each. She keeps saying to stay till cake. I hope it happens soon. I'm bored, and as much as I like Sweetie, soon I'm just going to take off. It's getting weird.