"Good to see you again Valentine, old chump!" Victor gave Valentine a big hug.
"Yes, yes, yes." Valentine pulled away. "Splendid to see you again Mr. Baudelaire. How are your orphaned cousins doing?"
"Not so good. Olaf just won't give up. But he's not getting my fortune!"
Victor chuckled and walked down the hall when he saw Bo and Scarlet; they were both holding hands and covered in wet wax after trying to carve a wax statue.
"Mrs. Beauregarde! Might I say you look lovely?"
"I'm covered in liquid wax!" said Scarlet surprised.
"And might I say, filth never looked so beautiful. Where's my sl- I mean princess?"
"Violet?" asked Scarlet. "I really don't know. I haven't seen her since lunch."
"It's ok." Said Victor. "I'll find her myself." Victor walked past them. He dusted off his blue tracksuit as he walked. "I swear to God, if I'm ever nice to someone else like that again, I'll barf!" He got so distracted that he crashed into Mike as he was walking by. "Hey! Watch it!" Victor snapped.
"Sorry." Said Mike. "I didn't see where I was going. God!"
"Where's Violet?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because I'm her boyfriend!"
"Eek, you two look scarcely alike! More like twins than a couple." said Mike walking away.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Where is she?"
"I don't know." Mike lied. He walked off without giving Victor a last glance.
"You're not helping!"
"Whatever." Mike mumbled still walking away.
Victor looked from door to door to find Violet. He called out her name several times. She heard him; she just didn't want to reply. She was just looking at a map that said "Denver Colorado" on it. Victor opened the door to her room.
"There you are!" he yelled. "Were you hiding from me?"
"No." said Violet. "Why would I hide?"
"Ok then. Surprising to see you here. So would you like to come to dinner tonight?" Victor asked.
"Cant." Said Violet. "The romantic rooms being used tonight by my mom and your uncle."
"Their dating?"
"Is there a problem?" Violet asked.
"Yes there is!" Victor snapped. "If they get married, we'll be in laws!"
"I need to tell you something." Said Violet. She took a deep breath. "We need to break up."
"What?" his angry tone got worse. "Are you joking?"
"No." said Violet. "It's over." She took a few steps back.
"You can't just dump me!"
"Actually I can! Believe it or not I wanted to dump you since we hooked up two years ago!" Violet snapped. "You never gave me space, got mad at me for no reason, and spent four hundred dollars on a stupid necklace that I keep on forgetting to take off!"
"You keep that necklace on!"
Violet slowly pulled her hands back and slowly undid the chain. Before she could finish, Victor punched her in the nose. She fell on her back as blood slowly came through.
"Keep it on!" he yelled again. "No relationship is over unless if I say it is!"
"Well guess what?" Violet yelled. "I say it's over!"
"No, it's not! If I see you with another guy both of you are in big trouble, got it Super Hottie?"
"Stop calling me that! I'm not listening to your threats!" Violet yelled trying to plug her nose. She pulled out a Kleenex from the dresser and wiped her nose. Victor kicked her hard in the stomach and placed a foot on her chest. He pressed harder and harder.
"Now listen up Princess Hottie." he pressed harder. "You belong to me. I say when something is over and it won't be over anytime soon. If you're with some other guy, the both of you are dead." He pressed harder. "Understand?"
"Yes. But one thing; I'm a black belt. I could jump up anytime out of nowhere and send you to ER."
"I'm a black belt too, remember? Except I'm better!" He put his foot down and kicked her in the hip. "Don't cry too loud. I don't want anyone to hear." He slammed the door leaving Violet on the cold floor.
Scarlet stepped into the shower. She turned on the hot water and began scrubbing the wax off her skin. She started to get cold so she turned the hot knob farther. She took the shampoo on the shelf and put it in her hair without thinking twice. The air got colder so she made the water hotter. She put in conditioner. The breeze got colder so she turned up the heat more. The hot knob was all the way up but the water was still cold.
"Maybe Bo used up all the hot water." She said to herself. "No worries." She wrapped a towel around herself and walked out to dry her hair. She slowly squeezed her damp hair into the sink when she saw somebody in the mirror. It was a man. He had red hair and hazel eyes. He looked so familiar. Oh god it was Violet's dad! Scarlet turned around in shock but no one was there.
"It's just my imagination." She told herself. "Jake Ozar is not here." But then she saw him again. She turned around and then turned on the blow dryer. Then she started to dry her hair. She had to reach out for the comb but couldn't grab it without dropping the towel wrapped around her. The man she saw in the mirror passed it to her.
"Thank you." She mumbled not noticing it was him. She turned around and saw him again. Red collar shirt and blue jeans that he wore the day they knew Violet was coming. Then he faded away.
"Ok Scarlet!" she told herself. "Snap out of it! It's just a work of imagination."
Jake Ozar was the man who helped Scarlet bring Violet to Earth. She looked nothing like him but had his touch of competition and attitude. Jake was disappointed when Violet was born. He wanted a boy that looked like him. He wasn't even attractive in anyway! Scarlet haven't seen him since she left collage with baby Violet and the little girl never knew him. Scarlet hated him, but he loved her, and he was so heartbroken when she said she didn't love him that he committed suicide a few months later. Scarlet stepped out of the bathroom with a pink bathrobe on and walked into her room.
She opened the closet door to see a beautiful strapless black gown waiting with black roses as the pattern with a diamond rose in the top middle. There were also black high heels with diamonds on them along with matching earrings and a necklace. There was a note stapled to the dress.
"I hope you will wear this to our date tonight! Love, Bo."
Scarlet ripped out the note and pulled the dress out.
"I think I'll love this guy." She said overexcited.
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Violet stayed curled up in a ball. She cried silently as Victor watched out a window from the room next door. Mike was walking down the hall when he stopped. The air was getting hot. He looked out an outside window to see the sun setting. The air was getting hotter. Even Violet could feel it. Mike was dying of heat, so he pulled off his shirt, shoes and socks then stepped into Violets room. He saw her on the floor crying. He shut the door quickly and kneeled down. Then he just held her in his arms and let her cry on his shoulder.
"Cry as loud as you like." He reminded her. "You don't have to hold it."
She then cried louder and louder. Mike's shoulder was getting soaked but he didn't care. He slowly rubbed her back.
"What did he do?"
Violet couldn't speak. It was hard. She felt like her throat was getting stabbed. Mike picked her up bridal style and placed her down on the bed. He was about to pull off her jacket when she said softly, "Don't…"
"Why not?"
"It's horrible…"
Mike slowly undid the belt and pulled off her jacket. He thought she would kill him for that but instead she hid her arms behind her back.
"Violet, don't be scared to show me your arms. I don't care what they look like." He pulled them out to see bruises, scars and cuts all over them.
"He did this to you?" Mike asked. Violet nodded.
"Except the cuts. Their my fault." She said.
"Why did you cut yourself? You know that's not the answer."
"I know. I just didn't know what else to do!"
"Where's the knife?"
"I didn't bring it." Said Violet.
"How long has he been doing this to you?"
"A year." Said Violet. "Things were great at first then I realized I had to dump him, but he said he'd commit suicide if I did and I got scared!"
"And why do you hate being called, hot?"
"Because it makes me feel helpless! I don't want to be a helpless damsel, that's why I do sports!"
"I'm sorry." Mike hugged her softly. "What did you always want to do?"
"I don't know what I want to do." Violet sighed. "Maybe I'll just do figure skating for the Olympics."
"Think about it." Said Mike.
"Mike…"
"What?"
"Thanks. I don't know what I could do without you." She leaned her head on his bare chest and shut her eyes.
"You know how I feel about you." Mike reminded her. "And I still owe you something."
Violet looked up. She was confused and then she said, "Oh I know what it is."
"Let's just make sure that were not interrupted again." Mike looked both ways. "It's clear."
He slid his arms around her small waist and she wrapped hers around his neck. Mike slowly bent down and kissed Violet on the lips for the first time. Both of them shut their eyes as she kissed him back and pressed her lips against his harder.
Victor stopped watching.
"I knew it! I knew they had something going on." Then a wide grin formed on his face. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and smiled. It was the knife Violet used to cut herself with. "But all problems can be solved."
When Mike and Violet pulled away from their kiss, Violet's eyes grew wide with horror. The words "Denver Colorado" were changing. "Colorado" dropped along with the "nver" in "Denver." Then the letters "ath" joined spelling "Death." She almost screamed.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked. Violet pointed at the map. Mike just saw "Denver."
"Nothings wrong." He said. "Tired?"
"I guess that I'm just tired." She sighed.
Mike lied down on the bed and motioned her to come with him. She laid down next to him and used his bare chest for a pillow. It was too hot to get under the covers. Way too hot. Violet shut her eyes and went to sleep. Mike smiled and then tried to get to sleep himself.
Then Victor slowly stepped in. He took his hoodie off to show off a white tank top with his strong muscular hairy arms.
"You stole my future bride and now you will pay." He pulled out the knife and raised it high.
