The night was cool, though not so much that it should be unpleasant. Since I had no where to go, I had gone with the three Baudelaire siblings to Briny Beach in hopes of finding Quigley. I had met them when I was sent to live with Josephine Annwhistle. Ever since then, I had ended up meeting them. Granted, I didn't see them again until I had ended up in the Heimlich Hospital from a rather gruesome encounter with, strangely, a brick wall. Which had resulted in an arm broken in quiet a few places. I managed to stay with them since the Calargie Carnival, and next, Mount Fraught. Now, I was with them, and Kit Snicket.
I was an actress by nature, so I was wondering around the large hotel room, taking advantage of the absence of Violet, Kit, Sunny, and Klaus. Though, as I was wondering around the room, reciting the lines of the lines of , not only my part, but most of the lines that we had in play a few years back, I heard the ragged breath of someone crying. The harsh sound of sobs that rang through my ears brought back horrific memories.
I thought I was the luckiest girl in the country. My best friend Misty Rose had come over to stay the night, mum and dad were having company, which meant that her and I got to go to a few stores with Grandmum.
I was a rather tall, stick thin, girl, with a mop of red hair, with curls that rather resembled halves of ringlets that coursed down my rather broad back, all the way down to my thighs.
Mist Rose was a little small that I was, and was a little stronger built than I. Her silky black hair that was slightly wavy, coursed down her back to the small of her back. Her and I were playing a rather short game of checkers as we waited for Grandmum. I heard the knock on the door and ran to open it. 'Grandmum!' I called in my soft, high voice as I swung open the door.
What I saw was definitely not Grandmum. The man at the door was tall and lanky, with grayish tufts of hair coming off the sides of his head, (which made my laugh, as I thought he looked a little like Yoda!) his legs were unnaturally long and thin, and by how short his pants were, I could see the tattoo of a rather menacing looking eye in his ankle.
I ran away, as fast as my skinny legs would take me, the door, with the odd looking man just outside, stood wide open. I went and hid behind Misty. We then went and hit behind the chair. My mum came into the parlor at that moment and said, 'Oh Olaf, so nice that you could make it!'
We peeked out from behind the chair to make sure that he wasn't about to shoot her, or something like that. 'Won't you come in?' My mother finished. Being only nine almost ten, at the time, I knew I would be excused from my wrongdoings.
My mother saw us behind the chair and said 'Krystyn, Misty Rose, come on, he won't hurt you.' Now, you have to understand. I was granted with the unusual gift of a very sharp sixth sense.
'Misty, that man's evil, I can feel it.' We came out slowly, cautiously, as we approached the man wit h unusually strong aura of menace. ' Krystyn, Misty Rose, this is Count Olaf. Though you can just call him Olaf. I'm sure that's all right. Now, Grandmum will be coming shortly. She will being you back at around ten or eleven. We should be finished around then. Now, why don't you all go read for a while?'
I was an incredibly well read almost-ten-year-old. Grandmum knocked on the door. 'Krystyn, Misty, time to go!' We left, not knowing that that was the last time I would see my parents.
I shook my head, trying to take the horrifying memory away. I went around the corner to see who it was that was so racked with pain, and grief, that would cry like that. Curls bouncing delicately on my narrow thighs, I turned around the corner, for the great, and most awkward experience of my life.
There, in the middle of the floor, head in hands, down on his knees, was. Klaus Baudelaire.
I took a few gentle steps toward the center of the room. I knelt down beside Klaus and put one of my thin arms around his shoulders. As soon as he felt my arm touch his shoulder, he threw his arms around my neck. A little surprised, I put my arms around him shoulder. 'Klaus, Klaus, what's wrong?' As his sobs got harder, I tightened my arms. 'Klaus, it's alright. It's ok. Nothing's going to happen.' My voice softened as I sang. His sobs seemed soften, and eventually stopped. You say you're falling apart Reached the end of the line Just looking for your place In and ordinary life No one calls you friend No one even knows your name You just want to feel love Instead of all the pain You no longer have to say No one's listening anyway Come here and cry on my shoulder I'll hold you till it's over I'll rescue you tonight Let my arms be your shelter Your hiding place forever I'll love you more than life You're wearing a frown Given up on hope My heart is reaching out More than you will ever know Is your burden too much? Is it more than you can bear? I'll help carry the load If you're willing to share You no longer have to say No one's listening anyway Come here and cry on my shoulder I'll hold you till it's over I'll rescue you tonight Let my arms be your shelter Your hiding place forever I'll love you more than life You have had some hard times And thorns placed in your side I know about what you've been going through The tears of pain are falling down It hurts so bad you're crying out You're problems won't last forever Let me put you back together Come here and cry on my shoulder I'll hold you till it's over I'll rescue you tonight Let my arms be your shelter Your hiding place forever I'll love you more than life I'll love you more than life Yea.
I sat up, looked him in the eye and said, ' Now will you tell me what's wrong?' He took off his glasses and wiped the tears away from his brown eyes. Eventually, his voice grew stronger as he spoke. 'It's…It's just…..' He took a deep breath. ' I can't believe that Fiona would betray us.. betray me, like that. I really thought that she was going to help us. 'He let out a shuddering breath. 'She seemed so nice, but I don't understand. Haven't we been through enough? Why would anyone do that to us…to me!? Oh Krystyn, you couldn't understand how hard this is to comprehend. Having your compatriots deceive you. Oh, you just cant under stand the greatness of this. You can't understand how much this hurts. Everything has been taken away from me and my sisters. We have no one left. At least you have you aunt and uncle.' I sighed deeply, then spoke.
'Listen.' Klaus's head still lay on my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of his tears on my shoulder as they soaked through my thin, brown dress. I put my thin hand underneath his chin, and lifted his tear-stained face, so I could see his eyes.
'Listen, I know I can't feel the hurt, and the pain you have. I know I can't feel the suffering that you have in your heart. I can't feel the weight of the fear that harbours itself in your heart. All I know, is that,'
His eyes dropped to the floor, and he sniffed back his tears. His mind was elsewhere, you could tell by the look in his soulful, chocolate brown eyes.
I brushed the black curls that lay on his forehead, away from his eyes, and lifted his head , until the deep, caring brown eyes were looking into my own stunning gold flecked green eyes, that, from the impact of his story, were brimming with hot tears.
'Listen to me Klaus, please listen to me.' He brought his eyes up to meet mine. ' I know I can't understand, and of the pain your suffering. I can't understand how hard it is to not have anyone but your siblings left. But their not the only ones who care for you. Their not the only ones who love you. Don't make that mistake. Don't let some evil put the thought that you all are lost from hope, and have no one left to love in your mind.'
I smiled. 'You know what? ' I pointed to the piece of skin that jutted out of my skin at an odd angle. ' I got that when our house blew up, right in front of me. Olaf meant to catch it on fire, but he didn't know my parents were scientists. See as they were, they had flammable chemicals in the basement. So the house blew up, killing my Grandma and knocking my best friend out.'
I wiped a tear off my cheek.
'So I don't know how you feel, but I know how it feel to think your not loved.' He pushed away from me and stood with his hands gripping the window so hard, that his knuckles turned white. His eyes filled with tears again. Anger filled his voice, it shook as he spoke.
'You don't know what it like! You haven't lost everything you own. You didn't loose everything you knew. You have you aunt and uncle. We, we have nothing! Nothing! You don't….you don't….' He broke down. 'You don't know what it's like.'
I walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. 'Klaus?' He shoved me away. ' Go away, leave me alone.' He stood in the door way, as if ready to run out the door.
I walked, put my arm around his shoulders, and lay my head on his shoulder. He didn't understand, that I knew exactly what he felt. What he couldn't understand was, having the gift I have, of a warm and open heart, I felt the other person's pain. No one can know the pain I've suffered, not only by myself, but the pain of others, I've borne since I was little.
He started sobbing again. Hard racking sobs that tore into my heart. There was a bay window on the other side of the room, with a window seat on it. I kept my arm around him, and took his hand, and led him to the window seat, where he could sit down.
He sat on the window seat, sobbing. His arms were around my shoulders , and his tears soaked through my dress sleeve.
His tears brought back memories I thought were gone.
I came home, and stood in wonder as I saw the flames licking out of the sunroom, burning my dresses, books, the piano I so loved to play with, and I heard the screams of my parents, as the tried fervently to get out of the house. My horse, out back, reared, bucked, whinnied, as it's eyes grew wider at the sight. She pulled until her rope broke, and she cantered away from the flames.
Tears flowed from my gold speckled eyes. Misty stood stock still, scared. Grandmum ushered us under a large willow tree, away from the house.
'Dear God save us! The chemicals in the basement!' 'What about the Krysty?' 'Their flammable!' As I said those words, the large Victorian looking house exploded in a fireball of flames. Metal shards, wood chips, and strangely enough, piano keys, went flying.
Misty Rose was out cold, a thick piece of wood had caught her in the side of the head. Grandmum lay dead, a trickle of blood flowed from her forehead. Blood flowed down from my forehead, and down my arm in a river. Metal had lodged itself firmly into my muscle. I had a steadily blackening eye, from where a piano key had hit me, and scratches everywhere from where metal had flown by, just to lodged themselves in the tree behind us.
Count Olaf's car pulled up, and he grabbed the back of my dress, as I screamed and kicked and bit, I still got pulled into the car, and sobbing, I pulled away from the burning house I had known since the day of my birth. Never to return.
Tear slipped from underneath my eyelids and slid down my cheek. I noticed that Klaus's breathing had gotten steadier, it was still ragged from crying, but it was steadier. I looked down and smiled. He was asleep, his head lay in my lap, and his tears still stained his cheeks. I played with a single black curl, and wiped my eyes. My eyelids shut, and I fell asleep, with my head resting on the windowsill , and my hand resting on top of his. I knew had a lot of trouble coming my way, but for now, I was content, and I was with my best friend, who could ask for anything else. In a sleepy voice, I said, 'Klaus, you're the best friend I have, and .. Well… I love you..' My eyelids fell, and my breathing steadied out, and I fell asleep.