I woke up in a cold, dark place. I had no idea where I was, when it was, or even who I was. I looked around, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw a trash can and a mailbox. In the distance I saw a house. I realized I was in the middle of a street, and I was lucky I hadn't gotten run over by a car earlier.
I thought I saw something far off down the road. They were getting bigger and bigger. I suddenly knew they were headlights, and they were coming right at me. I knew I had to get up, but I felt weak and tired. I felt like all the strength and energy had been squeezed out of me. I stumbled out of the way and tripped over the curb just in time. I lay there wet from the puddle that had splashed up from the road when the car passed by. I shivered. Not just because I was cold.
I got up slowly and walked along the sidewalk, or at least where I thought the sidewalk was. I was terribly thirsty and wished I had some idea of where I was or who I was. Eventually, I couldn't fight back with how tired I was. I was pretty sure I saw a park in the distance. I also saw what appeared to be a bench. I ran to it and laid down. I almost immediately fell asleep.
I woke up the next day. I felt a lot better than the night before. I rubbed my eyes and looked around at the park.
I was right about one thing last night, I was in a park. But, I wasn't on a bench, I was on a swinging chair that could fit about five people. In front of me was a sand volleyball court. I turned around and there was a medium sized building that had about ten picnic tables in it. It must be used for parties in the park.
As I walked around the building I saw a river. The water was sparkling as the sun hit the water just right. I looked at a sign next to the river. It said Des Moines River. I thought a second and thought that seemed familiar, maybe not. As I glanced at the rest of the park, I saw a jungle gym, three slides, three sets of swings, and many more things to play on that I didn't know the names for.
I was really getting curious of where I was by now, so I ran out of the park to try to find a sign or something. On the way out I saw a sign that told the name of the park, Ashley Park, but I also saw something else that caught my eye.
They were planted beneath the sign. Violets. I started to remember something…Violet…Violet…could that be my name? I suddenly was sure of what my name was. Violet Baudelaire.