After rereading what I posted I decided to rewrite it.
Chapter 1 - One Hell of a Bad Beginning, Morning...part 1 (rewritten)
The Baudelaire orphans cried quietly in their room. Klaus' face still stung from Count Olaf's 'discipline'. He closed his eyes. It felt like they had been in this dark, dirty, empty place for long than they really had.
After a while his sisters became very quiet. It seemed like they had fallen asleep. It felt like he was floating, the bed had disappeared from under him. Before him stood a tall being, that was the best word for it, walking up to him slowly. His breath caught in his throat. Not from fear but awe; it didn't occur to him that he probably should be scared in a situation like this.
It didn't have a face or anything that might resemble a real body. It was almost like it was made up of black smoke and spikes, all tangled up together. The only thing that wasn't part of this mess was it's eyes. There were a bright red, and sharp. It was like it could see through anything, even his very soul.
In the back of his mind he thought that he should be scared but he wasn't. He just looked at it, staring at it in awe. He thought about his sisters for a moment. He wondered if he could get them out of here but, at the same time, he felt like he couldn't move for some reason. He reasoned that this must be a dream.
"A small master..." the being mused. "What do you want?" he asked without thinking. He hadn't see this thing in the theater troupe before but maybe it was a guest that came after they went to bed. "The question is," the thing said to him, "what do you want most of all? I can give you anything you want, for a price."
"I want to leave this place." Klaus said quietly. The thing was watching him, waiting for him to really answer. Klaus thought about the question for a moment. "My sisters, I want to protect them." He answered finally.
The thing shifted, "For the rest of their lives? For the rest of your life? You must make it clear what you want." Klaus thought that if this was really a dream, then it didn't matter what he really said. "But it does." The thing said to him.
Klaus was taken aback. Did this thing just read his mind? But if it read his mind, why did it need to ask him? "Because," it answered his unasked question, "in order to make a deal, you must tell me what you want. It must come from your own mouth."
Klaus closed his eyes to think. He needed to word things right. "I want to protect them until they can protect themselves. I want them to live a better life. And I want to make sure that Sunny can grow up and be able to be anything she wants to be. Can you promise that you can protect them until then?"
Rows of sharp teeth, maybe even sharper than Sunny's, appeared from the black clouds. "Of course, young master, I can assure you that they will be protected. In return, when our contract is completed, then you will pay me." Klaus crinkled his nose in thought, "What do you want in return?" he asked.
Although it's 'face' didn't change, it looked amused somehow. It was just something he felt. "I want to eat your soul." Klaus felt all of the air leave his lungs. That was a terrifying thing in itself. But, he thought that if it meant keeping his sisters safe for the rest of their lives, then maybe it was worth it.
The thing shifted to the other side of him. It's teeth were still showing, "Yes," it continued, "I can make a contract somewhere on your body. This will make sure that I can find you, if you call me. There will be no where that I can not find you, I can find you anywhere. The more visible place you choose, the stronger our bond."
Klaus wanted to make the strongest bond possible. The most visible place would be his forehead but that would make him look really weird. When he looked at the being he was drawn to its eyes. "Could you do it in my eyes without making me blind?" He felt a little silly for asking such a ridiculous question but before he could take it back, it replied. "Of course," it said, as it approached him.
As it reached for his face it stopped, "I need a name. How would you like to address me?" Klaus thought about it for a bit. He had never named anything before. He remembered a neighbor that he once knew. The man was scary but it turned out that was actually really nice and helpful. The phrase, 'don't judge a book by it's cover' - a phrase which here means not to judge someone by their looks - came to mind. "Sebastian." he said.
"As you wish," it said. As it grabbed his face it was like a fire was burning through his skull. He tried to scream but all of the air seemed to leave his lungs. He couldn't breath. It felt like he was crying. His vision was blurry and fading. Instead of hitting the floor, it felt like he was floating.
Unless you have been very, very lucky, you have undoubtedly experienced events in your life that have made you cry. So unless you have been very, very , lucky, you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit. Violet and Sunny woke to find their brother still fast asleep.
Violet tried to jostle - a word which here mean 'shake him awake' - him, when she noticed the blood around his eye. "Klaus!" She gasped. He blinked a couple of times as he slowly started to sit up. "Klaus, what happened to your eye?" In the middle of his right eye was a red star, not that he could see it. "I dreamed," Klaus' voice was laced with sleep, "that I made a deal with a demon to keep you both safe." Violet hugged him tightly. Sunny crawled over to them and she lifted her up so that she could hug him too.
Violet went over to Sunny's bed and ripped apart some of the curtains. She dipped some of them in water to wipe away the blood and used the rest as a makeshift bandage. "This will have to do for now. I think you need to go to the hospital." Violet said. Klaus sat as still as he could as she patched him up, "I've never read about an infection like this. Anyway, it doesn't hurt right now so let's do what Count Olaf wants so that we don't get in trouble. Who knows what he might do to us. Then we can go." Violet looked like she didn't like that plan but agreed to go along with it for now.
They didn't see Count Olaf that morning but they did see the note he left. One of the many difficult chores that he had given them was chopping firewood.
As the two older siblings chopped the wood, Sunny nibbled on a bit of wood. "I'm getting worried about your eye, Klaus." Violet said. "But if Count Olaf finds that we skipped out on work, I don't think that he would be very forgiving." Klaus countered. "Besides, we are nearly finished with our chores." It was obvious that Violet wanted to object but, before she could, Sunny shrieked, "Gibbo!" Which probably meant something like, 'Look at that strange man coming through the back door.
"What do you think your doing?" came the scratchy voice of Count Olaf from the door, followed closely by a very angry Count Olaf. Out of the door came a tall man in a black suit. the children stopped working and looked at him. He came over to them and bowed deeply. "I'm happy to see you again, young master."
