Epilogue:
People die every day. Sometimes in happiness, often in pain. No one can keep track of all of these dying people, but it sure feels like someone should. The emotion of a human is just chemicals and slime bubbling up in all our insides, yes, but that doesn't mean that all our experiences are invalid. I consider myself a true realist because I have killed two people and my soul is blacker because of it. But I'm also a realist because I do understand that I love my husband very much and nothing could stop me from trying to overcome these instances that have stained my past.
The Volunteer Fire Department was officially dissolved that night, marked by the Daily Punctilio by the distinct fires of specific locations of books no one knew the whereabouts of beforehand. Knowledge is power, that is why Lemony wrote the Baudelaire's story and that is why I wrote everyone's. And not just in this. I am the reminder of the past department and I am in the process of writing a book of warning against doing something so treacherous again. The Snickets help me often, but we are all better when such briny skies do not invest our homes.
I look over at my husband typing away at his typewriter, printing up the manuscript of The Great Unknown, his most novel work. VFD referenced this large entity on both sides of the schism. It was believed to be fate, or the one large stroke of luck everyone got at least once. However, the true Great Unknown proves to be, through vivid research and anecdotal reasoning, the idea that there is good and bad and once you are one of those, you can never change. The Great Unknown is a boogie-man of sorts for VFD children being indoctrinated, but since that is no longer the tradition we uphold, it will live in its final form through Lemony's book, his first non-biographical piece.
I saunter over to the dinner table where the kids play with innocent toys next to the teenagers tinkering with some unknown concept or belief. My cane hits the ground distinctly, a physical remnant of the night that permanently marked my soul. The gun shot was treated soon enough to save my leg, but not its full use. Not sure if that means my leg is actually saved or not, but it matters naught to me or Lemony so I don't mind it at all. Looking back at that day, specifically the hospital visit, is always a pervasive trip down memory lane:
"Quick, I need a hospital bed for a sick pregnant woman," Andrew spoke to the receptionist at the modern, but tattered hospital room. Lemony followed behind, clammering about a gunshot wound to the leg. Viviette was wheeled off to surgery while Violet was given the utmost proper care by an elderly male doctor who spent twenty minutes searching for the glasses that were simply on his head. The men bit their fingernails over their respective females after the Christian brothers retreated to the house to try to calm things. It turns out that without unnecessary adult interference, kids and teenagers could resolve their conflicts fairly quickly just with each other.
A qualified nurse finally tended to Violet while a frantic Olaf looked onward in fear. Omar wandered in halfway through, rubbing Lemony's back sympathetically. Having the Snicket boys together in that manner reminded them all of the empty spaces meant for Kit and Jacques. Their hearts hurt, but tending to the new important people in their lives were more important. Omar, despite always getting second staff to Olaf, was glad that Lemony was in love with Ava - Viviette. He hoped that he could become an outstanding person like his cousin and brother were currently and that this would open the door for him to have the same strong bond with another person.
Vivette returned promptly from surgery with heavy bandaging on her leg. Lemony distantly heard the operating surgeon explain that she still would be unable to use the leg despite their ability to keep it attached. These words faded away as Lemony gazed at his girlfriend, so young but so aged, in awe at his ability to find someone as truly amazing as her. When her eyes fluttered he whispered, "Do you love me?" She nodded sleepily with a beautiful, crooked smile, stained from years of coffee and tea. "Then you'll marry me?" In affirmation, her lips touched his briefly as she drifted back out to sleep.
Meanwhile, the actual married couple were being much louder just next door. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were pregnant! That's not something we keep from each other." Violet grimaced before spitting, "I didn't know for sure yet. I was going to get tested when everything started getting chaotic. Some of the symptoms overlapped with the side effects of all the tests I was running!" This continued for some time before Violet finally asked, "Do you not want this baby?" The nurse had given her the working medicine and she was getting more soft spoken by the minute.
Olaf's eyes filled with tears and he kissed Violet affectionately. "It brings me no greater joy than to know that you're having a baby. I was so scared that you were hurt or going to die, though. I still worry every day that something will take you from me in exchange for my own sins." She shushed him quietly with a kiss before settling into sleep herself. Olaf wandered to the lobby, plopping himself down in the seat between his brother and cousin.
Lemony nervously sat straight upright, actively using his hands to fiddle with his suit pants, Omar curled his legs under him in the seat, reclining backwards, and Olaf crossed one leg over the other, relaxing one arm immediately beside him. "So we are all that's left boys," Omar nervously observed. Lemony shook his head sadly, "All those days of childhood fun and naivety have finally come to an end. We are adults with real life hubris and grief."
Olaf rolled his eyes, unfolding in his chair as he did so. "The best thing to do is not to dwell on it. I'm going to be a father soon and Lemony, you've got one magnificent girl head over heels for you in there, and Omar, you have the family back you've always wanted. And now we have all these orphans in our care...Well, we are less of a department and more of a family unit anyway. The Dormitories are working fine so far and we have room to build. Not bad for the last three unfortunate Snicket sons, don't you think?"
"I miss Kit, a lot," Omar sadly spoke. Lemony calmly agreed while Olaf remained expressionless. "We'll always miss them all. We will always wake up mid-nightmare from a dream of some horror we just can't escape. But we will overcome it all. And we will live, despite our stupid best efforts," he lightly added in jest with Omar. The family, after all that, were more relaxed in their trauma and their place in each others' lives.
Frosty toddled over to the sleeping baby in her crib, attempting to avoid detection from someone who would prevent him from climbing in and curling up beside her. Sunny and Beatrice were relaxing outside exchanging treasures they'd both individually found. Klaus and Candide, holding hands, were debating Hans and Andrew about something frivolous but intelligent. Elizabeth and Merriam were reciting some play with each other while Barrett, Robert, and Britannica ran around chasing what appeared to be a frog. Violet was tinkering with the kettle and Olaf read the newspaper, sitting an identical stature to his twin brother doing the same thing.
My family was beautiful. I didn't need my evil dad or my scheming mom to make me feel content. I needed a runaway writer, two ex-mass murderers, thirteen orphans, and one hint at a new beginning. People died in order for me to have this, but people die every day, and will continue to do so until I inevitably follow the same fate. However, for now, the sound of Violet purring over her new baby while Omar arranges the decorator to investigate the "state" of the dorms and the kids are entertained happily in the background, that is all enough. In the end, we are all secretly held captive by our own desires, not those of the world around us.