Hey everyone!

I've finally uploaded the third part of my story! Follows the Austere Academy through Jane Rumary's eyes!

Summary: Jane has been taken into the clutches of Count Olaf after being expelled from the New York boarding school. She suffers with the heartbreak of losing her closest and only real friends, the Baudelaire's, especially Klaus, who Jane recently discovered shared her feelings. The only problem is...Jane never got the chance to say it back. With all the grueling chores and Jane's destiny, could anything be worse? But who is the mysterious looking man, wandering about town? Why does he look so familiar? How will she face her old enemy who only brings back her rough past and threatens to expose a dark secret.

ENJOY! R&R Please!


The Austere Academy

Chapter One:

The sunlight streaming through the window woke me from my sleep. It was unfortunate that there were no curtains in this room so it was more of a nuisance than anything else. I was just lucky it was winter so the sky was dark for most of the morning. It wasn't as if I had much sleep anyways, I'd been awake for most of the night, tossing and turning. I kept thinking about the Baudelaire's and how much I missed them. This place wouldn't be half as bad if they were here with me. And well, I also missed Klaus for more than just the simple reason that he was better company. I'd been up most of the night crying because I knew that I had broken his heart when I allowed myself to be taken into Olaf's clutches and keeping it hidden until the last minute. And the times when I did manage to fall asleep, all I would see was Klaus under my lids and the dream where I escaped Olaf's car after he turned the corner, but no matter how quickly I ran, I never made it around the corner to Klaus. I was disappointed that I never got the chance to tell him how I felt.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts before more tears could come to my eyes. I sat up in the bed, checking my arms and legs to see if I had gotten any bug bites in the night. A small, red bump on my wrist confirmed that I was right.

I got out of the bed and walked over to the window. It was dirty, obscuring my vision but I could still make out the small street Olaf's house was on. It was the same house I saw on my first visit here and the inside of his house was just as bad as the outside. It was covered in filth and crawling with rats and insects. I failed to understand why anyone, no matter how cruel they were, would want a home this repulsive. I'd already found a rat hole in the wall of my room last night. I had rat paranoia and I could barely stand the creatures. I found a practical use for the random pile of rocks that Count Olaf had explained were for my entertainment. Clearly, he wasn't familiar with the fact that it was the 21st Century and there were far better things for entertainment than rocks. So I decided to make a purpose for them and placed them in front of the rat hole, blocking it so none could get in.

I tried to pry open the window, hoping I could air out the room, but it was stuck. I would need to find some grease eventually to try and loosen it.

"Orphan!" Count Olaf's voice called.

I crossed the room and opened the bedroom door. I found Olaf downstairs in the kitchen. A bowl of oatmeal sat on the table, clearly for me.

"Yes," I asked, quietly, glancing nervously at one of the eye paintings hung on the wall behind me.

"Now, seeing as you're new to this," Count Olaf started, pushing the bowl of oatmeal closer as a gesture for me to sit down. I did so hesitantly, brushing any specs of dirt off of the chair beforehand. "I'd like to go over a few simple rules that should be closely followed while you're living here."

I nodded.

"For now on, I'll have you address me as your father," Count Olaf said, "And as your father, you are expected to follow my every command."

"I'm not going to follow every command," I argued, "I'm not a robot."

Count Olaf narrowed his eyes but surprisingly didn't seem too upset.

"But you are my daughter," he said, "and it is my job to make sure you stay safe." He emphasized the word 'safe'.

"By making me do chores?" I said.

"No," Count Olaf said, "the chores are mainly just to teach you good discipline. Now, the most important rule is to never, ever enter my tower," He warned, looking very serious, "it is forbidden to you and won't be tolerated under any circumstances. That leads me to my next rule, you will remain mostly in your room or in some parts of the house depending on the chores I assign you. I'll give you chores everyday and I expect every one of them to be done by the end of the day or you can spend the night doing them. The next rule is that you are not permitted to leave this property unless my assigned chores require you to. Don't try anything because the town is constantly populated with my associates who won't hesitate to let me know if you cause any trouble. And when you are in town, you are not to speak to anyone or tell them who you or I are because I will find out and it won't be good for you. I may not be able to kill you because you've still got that fortune but that doesn't mean you can get away with anything. Now, is that clear for you?"

I nodded.

"Excellent," Count Olaf said, "now I must be going."

He left the kitchen and I heard his footsteps fade as he traipsed up the creaky, wooden stairs to his tower. I barely needed Count Olaf's rules, the Baudelaire's told me about the tower and all of the chores already.

I took a couple of cautious bites of oatmeal before I lost my appetite and found the chore list Count Olaf put on the counter. The list was taller than I was and it seemed strange that he thought a ten-year-old girl could do so many grueling chores in one day. I got to work right away with washing the floor. There wasn't much to wash it with, though, because there wasn't any soap. So I just mopped the floor with water. I didn't think it would be that hard to do the chores, obviously Count Olaf would be too lazy to notice whether it was clean or not because it was always so dirty. One mop down of the floor would not solve this problem.

The two white faced women wandered into the front room from the living room. They walked by without caring that I was cleaning the floor. The two white-faced women were the only associates that I had been fortunate enough to not meet beforehand. They hated me just like the rest of them. Though, I knew the bald man hated me the most because he would shoot glares at me and tried to trip me yesterday. He was probably still mad at me for what I did to him at Lucky Smell's Lumber mill. The bald man crossed the room after the white-faced women. He stopped a few times to spit on the floor, I noticed he was chewing tobacco which made it even worse. When he reached me he shoved me so I fell and knocked over the bucket, dirty water splashed all over me.

They laughed mockingly as they headed up the stairs.

I was reminded suddenly of my boarding school in Canada. Everyday during recess since I turned six, I was handed an apron and gloves and was directed to clean certain parts of the school. I would clean the cafeteria, the bathrooms, and a few classrooms; which included scraping gum from under the desks and clapping the chalk erasers together. Carmelita and her friends would purposely chew gum so they could stick it under their desks, knowing I'd have to scrape it off later.

Every one of those times, I'd feel so angry. I'd feel resentful because I was the only one who couldn't enjoy a nice recess or lunch because I was stuck inside, cleaning up after everyone else. But I didn't have a choice. According to the school, it was my way of payment since no one was around to pay the annual fee and wouldn't be able to participate in any of the plays. If I didn't, I'd be sent to possibly military camp or to a foster home. But just like at that school, I grew slightly angry that after everything, I was back to being treated like a maid. An angry tear slid down my cheek as I cleaned the living room rug.

Count Olaf only had one of those tiny vacuums that didn't do much so I ended up having to use a combination of the dustpan and the vacuum. I thought about Klaus and wondered what he was doing right now. He was probably reading one of his many great books and I wished I could be with him. The thought of listening to a story was appealing and I didn't realize until now, how much I missed it. I couldn't read much here as Count Olaf had nothing that looked even close to a book in his house. And even if I did find a good book to read, it wouldn't be the same without Klaus to explain what all the big words meant.

I sighed and kept working. A small part of me wondered for how long this would go on? Would I really be stuck in Count Olaf's clutches for eight years doing awful chores everyday?

'No,' I thought, determinedly. I shook my head to myself. I wouldn't let that happen. I'd find a way to escape no matter how long it took to do it. And then maybe when I was free, I would seek out the Baudelaire's and I could finally have the peaceful life I'd spent years scrubbing filthy sinks, floors, and scraping gum-covered desks for.


Thanks for reading! R&R!

I'll update soon! :)