Chapter Two
As you can see, Ariadne's misfortune began at birth. When both her parents were slaughtered by Count Olaf and she was stolen by him as well. Once Count Olaf had arrived at his home on 663 Dark Avenue, he picked up the baby Ariadne and took her inside. The house's interior was a very filthy, dimly lit and quite unpleasant to be in. The main entryway has one bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling, a stuffed lion's head nailed to the wall, and a bowl of apple cores on a small wooden table. Olaf walked through to the dining room, where a long, thin table with two chairs either side. On the walls were pictures of the Count and a bunch of strangely deformed looking people including two white-faced women and a hook-handed man and one who looked neither a man nor woman. Ariadne looked up at Count Olaf with her big green eyes and he had a sinister smile on his face.
"Ariadne, this is where you will be staying for the remainder of your life, my darling." He chuckled as he came to a set of unstable, shaky metal stairs which wound up a lofty brick tower.
It took 10 minutes to climb the spiraling staircase which then opened up into a circular room. The walls of the room were peculiarly coated in pictures of eyes, and Adriane had noticed that the Count had a tattoo of an eye on his ankle. There was a desk facing a small window that has various things peppered on it. Empty wine bottles lay here and there and there were a few candles lit on the desk. Milky moonlight flooded through another large window which was above a grimy, deteriorating cradle which looked like it had been sat in salt water for 10 years before allowing wood ants to crawl all over it. A menacing grin crawled across his face like the spider which was building its web on the windowsill as he held Ariadne out in front of him.
"Ariadne, this is your cradle. I will go fetch you- " what the Count was about to say was 'fetch you some new clothes' however he was cut off when four people burst through the creaky oak door. Olaf quickly turned around to face the intruders, still holding Ariadne in his arms.
"Olaf, unhand that child now!" cried a young woman who had a stern face and straight black hair. There were two women and two men. The black haired stern faced women, a mousy brown haired woman with a kinder face but still hard in the Count's presence, a man who looked similar to the mousy brown haired woman, however he wore a grey hat and suit and had dark eyes and finally a man who looked similar to the grey suit man, but younger and wearing younger clothes.
"Beatrice Baudelaire, what a pleasure it is to see you again! And Lemony and Jacques Snicket too! Have you all come to congratulate me only murdering Bethany and Christopher Citrusseed? Now I guess their large wealth will have to come to their dear Ariadne's husband, eh?" Count Olaf snorted like an over-indulged pig. Ariadne watched the Count's eyes as they fell onto the blonde woman whose hair was tied up in a bun, they seemed to soften a fraction, whereas hers hardened and she frowned. "My dear Kit, I thought Bethany Citrusseed was a striking woman, then I saw you again, darling." He smiled slightly, seemingly lost in Kit's brown eyes.
"Don't call me darling, you villain." Kit's face was frosty as she scowled at Olaf. The Count's smile quickly turned to an unbreakable grimace. The black haired woman said to be Beatrice stepped forward and stood in front of Count Olaf.
"We have called the police and the rest of V.F.D. Hand over the child and maybe we'll let you escape. Do we have a deal?" Beatrice bravely compromised.
Kit stood in front of the door acting as a guard and the two men, Lemony and Jacques, were surrounding the villain. A malice smile spread like a disease over Count Olaf's face. His next act was too quick for the four people to react or stop him. He pushed Ariadne into Beatrice's arms and leaped out of the large tower window, shattering the fragile glass into tiny fragments. Kit and Lemony ran to the dilapidated window and peered down to find that Count Olaf had disappeared into the night and also slipped from their grasp once more. Kit sighed wistfully and Lemony stood by the window gazing into the twilight. Jacques had begun searching through the papers scattered on Count Olaf's desk analysing every detail to see if they were of ay use. You may be thinking 'What about Beatrice?' Well, she was dazzled by the tiny baby's already large green eyes and what she had been through already in her very austere life. Ariadne studied Beatrice's face carefully, feeling slight déjà vu, a phrase which here means 'feeling as if you've seen this face before', of course Ariadne had never saw this woman's face, what she felt was the kindness and tiredness in her eyes reminded her of her own mother. Her gentle teal eyes, pointed nose and thin pink lips smile slightly. Her face looked tired, as if she were working too hard and not getting enough from it. She cradled Ariadne softly in her arms and for a moment was lost in thought. This innocent child who had been cruelly detached from its mother and father so early on in its life, Beatrice thought of her own children, Violet and baby Klaus who had only been born a few months ago. The sudden sound of Jacques's voice startled Beatrice.
"I guess we lost him again. I called the V.F.D. and police to inform them of our blunder" Jacques ran his hand through his hair and opened the door that revealed the fragile staircase.
"Don't call it a blunder, my friend. We saved the child from Olaf's perilous plans. I believe her name is Ariadne." Beatrice smiled warmly and she walked through the tower door and began to descend the rickety stairs. Kit Snicket followed her, then Jacques and finally Lemony, who was thwarted by losing the devious Count once more, allowing him to roam the city murdering more and more V.F.D members every day. Today it was Ariadne's parents. Who would be next on his list?
"Lemony, come on! You don't actually want to stay here, do you?" Called his sister, from the substructure, a word which here means 'base or bottom', of the building. Lemony Snicket took one last look into the inky blackness of the cold night before following his siblings and Beatrice out into their automobile. Beatrice drove the car through the sleeping city as Kit became acquainted with the now orphaned child. Kit began to ponder on what would become of Ariadne now, as she was completely alone in the large pitiless world. Ariadne yawned quietly and snuggled into her mother's torn, soiled shawl, the familiar smell bringing back cherished memories of that overjoyed face and beautiful looks. As Ariadne's eyelid grew heavier and the world she had been forced into faded into the darkness of her dreams, the names of the kind people who had saved her from the evil murderer swirled around her mind, she felt truly safe for the first time in her short life.