A Series of Unfortunate Events

by mickeyelliottc

Violet, Klaus and Sunny find new friends like them who have also lost their family in a fire. They soon find out that they will be spending much time together, escaping Count Olaf's evil plans.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Once upon a time there lived three teenagers who were very good friends. They lived in the city of Montreal and the town of St-Laurent. They were each different and distinctive in their own ways yet their differences brought them together.

They were Mickey, a 16 year old who worried often times and succeeded outstandingly in school. He was said to be a nerd in school but he never cared. He knew a lot of material from textbooks and was very capable at doing challenging math problems. Mickey craved the satisfaction of being better than others. And so, he would make sure he studied hours before any test he had at school. Whenever Mickey was faced with a problem he could not understand, he would put on his glasses, something which comforted him and made him believe he had just increased his IQ. Of course this was not the case, but psychologically, Mickey believed he thought better.

Next there was Tessa, someone who enjoyed her privacy and wasn't too keen on her schoolwork. It was not as if she did not care for school, but rather, she had bigger interests than her academics. Tessa loved to read. She had knowledge on random things which not many people cared for. Things such as, "how many seconds it would take before you died if you were to jump off the empire state building." Information she retrieved from the internet and her fan fiction stories she read to amuse herself. Tessa also loved anime. She loved to draw. She was determined to perfect her pictures and wished she could draw as well as those Japanese artists. Tessa had a lot of determination.

Lastly was Jessica, a friendly and smiling girl. She was never rude, or mean to anyone. She loved to write. Her imagination was always being inspired by novels she read and movies she saw. Her ambitions were high and she never managed to finish any tasks however due to the constant interferences she got from her surroundings. In the middle of a story she would write about a princess, she would get bored and go off telling a tale of The Grudge. Then, she would get bored of this and go on to a new story of magic and sorcery. Jessica's mind was full of ideas always ready to be unleashed.

Together, the three friends were inseparable. At school, neither cared of what the others said. They did not mind the laughing of how they spent their lunch hours in the library or getting extra help from teachers. These thoughts didn't have time to cross their minds with all the more important things they had running through their brain. The Christmas break had finally come. Mickey's hard work at school finally made him able to appreciate his freedom. Tessa was ecstatic with all her new found free time. Jessica set out to finish her unfinished stories. Little did they know that their break would be far from relaxing. Far from happy.

"Yes!" Mickey shouted as the three friends walked home from school, "Goodbye school! I don't wanna see you ever again!"

"Huzzah!" Tessa replied, "I can't wait until Christmas!"

"Tell me about it," Jessica said as she adjusted a strap on her school bag, "I have some unfinished business to take care of."

They approached their houses but something seemed wrong. The houses, all of them, they were on fire. The whole three blocks on which they lived were burning!

"Wha..." an exasperated Tessa began.

"How..." Mickey said in disbelief.

"No..." Jessica added lastly.

The three stood unblinkingly as they saw their houses burn to a crisp. It was gone. All of it. Their parents who had been at home either cooking dinner, wrapping presents or watching tv were gone. It is sad to say that things from here just got worse. Each of the three friends ran to their houses, unable to go inside. Just standing in front of it as the last flames demolished their homes. There would be not Christmas this year.

It was about two days after when Mickey, Tessa and Jessica sat at a table at the orphanage, silent in their thoughts. Jessica was the first who spoke.

"I guess I won't be finishing those fanfics now will I?"

Jessica forced a laugh but Mickey and Tessa did not join in. It was hardly the time for a joke. Their parents had just died along with their siblings.

"What happens now?" Mickey said as he rested his head on his fist.

Suddenly someone entered the orphanage. It was an odd feeling for the three friends because the person who had entered seemed to be watching them like a hawk. The man began to pace around, looking at the homeless children.

"I feel like a dog in a kennel," Tessa whispered to her two others, "I want to go home."

The man who looked to be old overheard the comment.

"Why hello, hello, hello..." he began in an increasing tone, "now wouldn't be the best time to speak out of line now would it young lady? After all, you do want a home don't you?"

Mickey and Jessica were appalled by this and were about to speak when the man put his two hands in front of their faces.

"I could use a few slaves around the house," he laughed, "Excuse me monsieur, I'll take these three!"

A chubby man waddled over to the old man still clenching Mickey and Jessica's mouths and brought some adoption papers. The old man signed them and ordered the three to get in his car. Tessa, Mickey and Jessica hesitantly did as they were told.

"Perfect," Mickey said sarcastically, "just perfect."

The old man approached the car and got in.

"Hello children. Let me introduce myself. My name is Count Olaf. You will obey me and do as I say." He snickered, "you are very fortunate that I found it in my heart to even adopt such monkeys as yourselves."

"Hey!" Jessica blurted out in fury, "I am no monkey!"

"What was that?" Olaf replied appearing not to have heard, "was someone speaking out of line? There will be none of that going on while I'm in charge!"

The old man laughed hysterically for no particular reason and it was clear that he was deranged. What could a mid 60 year old man want with three children? Unfortunately, I must say, he wanted nothing of them. Only to play with their lives. You see, you must understand that Count Olaf had a wicked mind. After failing to steal the Baudelaire fortune the year before, he set out a mission to torture the lives of all children. What Mickey, Tessa and Jessica were unaware of was that Count Olaf had already murdered many others and worst of all, gotten away with it.

"Children," Olaf sang joyfully as he put the car into gear, "we're going to play a little game. Do you like games?"

"No..." Tessa spoke before being interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Olaf said in a stern voice, "Is someone speaking out of line?"

"But you just asked a question and I was just answering y..."

"Silence!" The evil man said before slamming the breaks down, "you will not speak until I say you speak. You will not eat until I say you can eat and you will not breathe unless I tell you to breathe."

"But we're breathing now!" Mickey yelled in Tessa's defense.

Count Olaf had stopped his car in the middle of an overpass which was built directly above a huge lake. Abruptly, and unexpectedly, he got out of the car, pulled Mickey, Tessa and Jessica out and threw them off the ledge. You may wonder how a sixty year old man was capable of overtaking three young teenagers. He did it so swiftly and agile like that one might have mistook him for a 30 year old. The three friends now fell from high up into a cold, winter lake. The impact which they crashed the water was so hard that Tessa's right leg was injured and unmovable.

"Oh no!" Jessica cried as the rapid waves smashed her into the water, "We're gonna drown!"

Mickey moved his arms rapidly to stay afloat, "Did you just figure that out?"

"My leg!" Came the voice of Tessa, "My leg! I can't feel my leg!"

The cold icy water was beginning to make Mickey and Jessica lose feeling in them as well. It was hopeless, the crazy old man had done it again. He was about to kill innocent lives. This is what would have happened if it weren't for the fact that Mickey had his glasses on him.

"Holy..." Jessica yelled before swallowing a gulp of water, "we're done for now!"

"Just wait okay!" Mickey yelled as he dug out his school glasses from his pants pocket, "this isn't over until it's over."

"Got any bright ideas genius?" Tessa said sarcastically and in despair.

But Mickey did have an idea. He put on his drenched pair of glasses and focused on the floating tree parts which were present every here and there. Little bits of sea weed, a branch and a log were apparently all that was present.

"Tessa!" Mickey yelled, "Jessica! Get over here! Keep me from drowning!"

"What!" Jessica screamed, "we can barely keep ourselves up, let alone you!"

"Just do it!"

Without further questioning, the two girls did as they were told and tried to keep Mickey up.

"Tessa, give me your hair elastic." Mickey said in a hurried voice.

Tessa removed her hair elastic and placed it in Mickey's hands which were both free now due to the fact that Tessa and Jessica were keeping him up. He then grabbed two sticks and stretched the elastic from stick to stick to create a sling shot.

"Jessica!" Mickey asked in a worried tone, "please tell me you have something really hard that will cause damage."

"What do I look like, an assassin to you?" Jessica complained, kicking furiously to stay afloat.

"Oh damn," Mickey said exasperated, "gimme something then! Some candy canes or chocolate!"

Luckily, Jessica pulled out two heart shaped chocolates wrapped in red tin foil and Mickey loaded one up into his sling shot.

"God, please let this work!" Mickey whispered to himself as he looked above him.

The three friends were directly under and to the side of the overpass which was always full with traffic. It was about 4 o'clock on this Monday morning. Rush hour. Mickey knew that the roads would be backed up with people anxious to get home to their Christmas holidays. He loaded the heart chocolate and slung the sling shot so that the chocolate went sailing up and down onto the overpass.

"What are you doing!" Tessa yelled in pain as her leg ached.

"I hope that thing just hit a car!" Mickey answered to himself rather than to Tessa.

A honk was heard and a few seconds passed before a woman's voice was heard yelling in anger.

"Who threw that?" It yelled, "is this some sort of joke?"

"We're down here!" Jessica, Mickey and Tessa yelled in unison.

But it was no use. No one came to look over the ledge. The woman was apparently just standing outside her car screaming at her surrounding drivers.

"Quick!" Mickey called to Jessica, "the other chocolate!"

Jessica handed it to him and Mickey aimed it once more and flung the chocolate into the air. Two seconds passed.

"Oww!" The woman's voice came again, "my eye!"

The woman was angry now. She looked left and right on that street and eventually came to the ledge. She spotted the three drowning children and called for help. Help was called right away and soon after, the three were saved.

Back and safe on ground, Tessa spoke.

"This is not what I had in mind for the holidays."

For the first time in a while, the three laughed. It was the beginning of a new era for them. Little did they know that it was only the beginning of what would be a series of unfortunate events.

PART 2

Now back at the orphanage, Mickey, Tessa and Jessica amused themselves by playing a game of "I spy with my little eye."

"I spy with my little eye," Mickey began as he searched the room, "a paper plate."

"No!" Tessa said annoyed, "that's not how you play! You're supposed to say a colour of something you see and we guess the object!"

Jessica laughed at the ignorance of his friend before yawning as the orphanage door opened. Three children came through the door and Mickey, Tessa and Jessica overheard their conversation.

"Oh Violet," the boy said, "this is horrible. I can't believe it has come to this. All our relatives are dead! That Count Olaf probably planned this."

"It's okay," the girl answered who must have been Violet, "there's always something remember."

The skinny girl dressed in a peculiar black dress held a baby. The baby girl appeared to be biting a wooden stick. For a moment, the chubby man who owned the orphanage spoke with the three new kids before introducing them to the others. Finally, they came to Mickey, Tessa and Jessica.

"Hey," Mickey began confidently as usual when meeting new people, "I'm Mickey."

He extended his hand with a smile to the two new children who politely smiled back.

"How do you do?" Tessa said next, "I'm Tessa."

"And I'm Jessica," Jessica added, "I love your dress."

The black dressed girl smiled and turned her head to her brother.

"This is Klaus." she said somewhat relieved.

"I can introduce myself thank you." her brother interrupted, "I'm Klaus. Klaus Baudelaire."

Mickey, Jessica and Tessa's eyes widened.

"You mean the Baudelaire orphans?" Mickey asked, putting a lot of emphasis on the word "the," "but that's impossible you guys aren't real. You're in books."

"Oh my God!" Jessica yelled astonished to meet the characters of her books, "Is it really you?"

Violet and Klaus exchanged a confused look. They apparently didn't know that their lives had been documented into novels. They just forced an apprehensive smile and spoke calmly.

"My name is Violet Baudelaire and this is my sister Sunny," Violet said, "you must have us confused with some other people. Trust me, we haven't been in any books. Although our parents did have many books on our family's history. Back in our old home, we had a huge library..."

She was cut off by her brother, "Yes, a huge library. Our parents were killed in a fire. Ever since, an evil man named Count Olaf has been trying to steal our fortune."

"I know!" Tessa said excitedly, "It's all in the books!"

Sunny uttered some baby language to her siblings, "Yaganaka."

This probably meant something like, "Holy cow, these kids are insane." Klaus then said,

"Believe me, I've read many books and I'm quite sure our lives were not in any of them."

The three Baudelaires laughed and it was hopeless. Tessa, Mickey nor Jessica could prove to them that they were in any books because their books had burnt along with their houses. Jessica was about to go into a whole argument about how she knew that Count Olaf tried to marry Violet and how she could prove to them that their lives were written out in books. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to when a furious man with a bow tie entered the orphanage, marching directly towards the six children.

"Count Olaf!" The six said in unison, surprising each other.

"How do you know Count Olaf?" Violet asked silently and shocked.

"We told you, your books..." Jessica began before she was shot with some sort of bullet and fell to the ground.

The angry count Olaf who was disguised in a black tuxedo and bow tie. He grinned at the sight of the six children.

"Well hello, hello hello!" He snickered as he observed the fallen Jessica and her two friends he tried to kill, "looks like I underestimated you three. Oh and what's this? Violet, Klaus and the monkey?"

He brought his face close to Sunny's and smiled in a wicked manner.

"Why, it seems as if the Baudelaires have some friends. You damn kids will give me your fortune once you see me torture these three here!"

Violet, Klaus and Sunny weren't even really friends with Mickey, Jessica and Tessa and didn't react to the threat as much as Olaf intended. After all, they had just met. Mickey and Tessa were over Jessica's fallen body, scared.

"What did you do to her?" Tessa yelled as she patted Jessica's arm in the hopes of waking her.

Olaf explained that he had shot her with a tranquilizer gun along with the owner of the orphanage. Therefore, no one would be able to stop him. He aimed his gun at Mickey and Tessa and shot two more bullets. He then shot Violet, Sunny and Klaus. A heaping pile of six children lay on the floor before Count Olaf. It is said that he then had his henchmen carry the bodies into his car and he drove off.

The tranquilizers had a huge effect on the six children and they did not awake for many hours. However, when they did, they were stupefied at the predicament they were in. When each awoke, they were not together. In fact, each person had been locked away in some sort of chamber. The chambers were like jail cells. These rooms were all circular and made of some metal. There were windows in the chambers however which allowed each person to see everyone else. The circular cells were all built in a circular fashion which allowed vision of each person in the other cells.

"What's going on here?" Jessica said to Mickey who was in the cell across from her.

"It looks like some sort of old torture chamber." Klaus nervously said as he felt the circular wall around him for some sort of button, "I've read about them in a book."

Tessa was frantically looking all around her for some sort of escape. Then she looked above her. There was a pipe. The pipe connected to all six rooms and was joined in the middle of the huge room by a bigger pipe.

"Oh no," Violet said nervously as she realized the pipe structure as well, "you all see what's going to happen right?"

"No!" Mickey shouted, "what?"

"The pipes!" Violet answered, "the pipes! Look at the pipes! They're all above us and connected together over there! Olaf is going to turn on the water and water will come gushing into each of our cells! We're going to drown!"

"No! No way!" Mickey said to comfort himself.

Just then, Count Olaf appeared on a platform near the huge pipe which divided into the individual pipes above each room.

"Correct my dear." He said to Violet, "it seems like I have to kill you for all the times you messed up my plans. Have a nice afterlife!"

With this, Count Olaf turned the water supply on and a sound of raging water was heard. The rooms began to fill at a steady pace.

"Water!" Jessica cried, "not more water!"

The six children stared at each other in fear and began to scream. Violet regained her cool momentarily and was seen tying her hair back with a ribbon. Mickey was putting on his glasses. Jessica was tightening her bun, Tessa was cracking her knuckles and Klaus took deep breaths. Lastly, Sunny began to bite the air which helped her focus. Each person was in the midst of thought. They regained their calm and were in a thought which might have cost them their lives. Slowly, their rooms filled.

"Our rooms will fill in about 10 minutes," Tessa said hurriedly.

"Says who?" Mickey replied as he searched his cell for items.

"Because. I read it off the internet that a closet can fill with water in about 5 minutes and this looks like about two closet sizes."

This was one of Tessa's random things kicking in. Violet was busy with chewing some bubble gum she retrieved from her dress pocket.

"These pipes aren't that wide!" She yelled to the others, "find a way to clog them!"

Violet chewed the whole pack of gum and waited. Once the water level rose high enough for her to swim, she shoved the wad of gum into the pipes, stopping the flow of the water. Meanwhile, Sunny was busy biting her shirt off and her pants. She tied her pants and her shirt together to make a long string of material. Next she tied her stick which she liked to bite on at the end of the device. She hurled the stick and material up and over the pipe, creating some sort of hook shot. The stick provided sufficient weight to swing around the pipe and keep the material from slipping off the pipe. Sunny then climbed her clothes up onto the pipe where she was safe from the water.

Lucky for Sunny, she saved the lives of everyone else. While Mickey tried to copy Sunny's idea, he was too heavy for climbing a robe of clothes and kept ripping his invention. Sunny climbed the pipes carefully to where Olaf had turned on the water. She turned it off.

"Nice going Sunny!" Klaus shouted to his sister, "try to find the button which opens these cells! We're still kind of drowning!"

"I can't swim for much longer!" Tessa cried, "my leg hasn't healed yet from last time!"

Sunny was fast for a baby and went searching for any possible button which would help her friends and siblings. She came to a control panel which had many buttons. She pushed one and lucky for her, it was the correct one! The cells opened up and water went flooding out. The drenched five friends now gasped for air and thanked the baby.

Part 3

The six now great friends paced around the room in which they had once almost died. The room with the six chambers which filled so rapidly with water. Violet and Mickey were in deep discussion of where Count Olaf was off to now, while Tessa, Jessica and Klaus discussed how they would put an end to Count Olaf's evil ways.

"I think he might have gone north." Violet said as she pressed her black dress dry of any water, "I remember once about Count Olaf saying that he had a secret base in North Clock Town."

"North clock town?" Mickey asked as he dried his shirt which he had tried to use as a rope earlier on, "where's that?"

"Why north of course!" Violet giggled as she undid the ribbon which tied her hair up, "I wish we knew where we were though."

Klaus spoke to Tessa and Jessica, throwing out crazy ideas of blowing up Count Olaf with a bazooka and throwing him into a pit of snakes. They laughed happily at these thoughts until Tessa finally said,

"Okay, I think we should probably find out where we are."

"Good idea," Klaus replied, "the exit looks like it's up there. Up where Olaf turned on the water. Let's go."

The six friends climbed a metal ladder which led to the platform Sunny had reached by climbing the pipe lines earlier that day. Eventually, all six reached the platform and observed the door which was shut in front of them. Sunny wondered around and began to play with a magnet she found near the control panel which she had used to free her friends.

"This is the door Olaf left by." Jessica said assured, "We're outta here."

Jessica turned the door knob but it was locked.

"Hmm...," Tessa said, "Count Olaf must have locked us in here if ever we did escape."

"Did you just figure that one out?" Mickey laughed to himself, "what we need to do is to unlock it."

"Genius!" Tessa replied sarcastically, "you think?"

"Hadaka." Sunny said to her siblings which probably meant something like, "these two have been to crazy town."

"Sunny!" Violet shushed to her sister, Mickey and Tessa unaware of what was going on, "Klaus, ever read any books on locks?"

Klaus had indeed read many books on locks. He stood for a few moments thinking to himself before he answered.

"Yes, I've read about how locks work. In fact, I believe it's possible to unlock this door with a simple tool such as a hair clip, pin or paperclip."

"I have a hair pin!" Jessica said as she jumped eagerly to help.

Klaus took the hair pin and stuck it through the door knob. It is one thing to have read about something and another to practice it in real life. Klaus had a very difficult time maneuvering the pin. It was very hard to pick at and it required much patience. But a good ten minutes later, the door clicked, and Klaus had succeeded.

"There we go," he said relieved, "Umm... and here's your pin back Jess."

Klaus handed back a bent and out of shape pin to Jessica.

"Errr... thanks," she said as she stared at her disfigured pin.

The six now pushed the door open and walked through the door, disappointed at what they found. This was not the exit out of the building. It was a room with three doors and a small fountain in the middle. The six walked up to the fountain and realized that with the door they had come in through, there were four doors in this room.

"Well, what do we do now?" Tessa asked.

"Pick a door," Violet said as she walked to the door opposite the one they had entered.

"Wait!" Klaus shouted to his sister, "don't touch any doors! I've read about rooms like these. I know where we are. Well kind of."

"Where?" Mickey asked anxiously.

Klaus explained that they were either in South, East or West clock town tower. In each of these towers was a challenge room. This was apparently one of those rooms.

"The object of this room is to choose the door that leads outside." Klaus began, "but only one is the correct door. The others hold something that will kill us."

"Wha..." Mickey gulped, "but, how do we know which one to pick?"

Violet looked around her and spotted a yellow piece of paper. Picking it up she confidently spoke,

"The door in the north direction is our way out of here."

"But how can you be sure?" Jessica asked.

Violet handed the piece of paper she had been staring at on the floor which Count Olaf must have dropped on his way out. It read, "Olaf, in order for you to escape, take the door going north. Use your compass I gave you and meet me at North Clock Town." Count Olaf had been working with some other person to kill the six children. What was this note? Who had written it? Klaus examined it and put it into his notebook he carried around with him.

"Ok, so that's one clue we have. But which door is the one pointing north?" Tessa asked as she looked around at the doors.

"It's not like we have some sort of compass." Jessica stated to the others.

Mickey put on his glasses and Violet tied her hair up with her ribbon.

"No problem," they said together, shocked at this coincidence.

"You have an idea?" Violet asked Mickey surprised.

"Yes," Mickey replied, "do you?"

"Yes," Violet answered.

Surprisingly enough, both of the two had the same idea. In order to get out, all they needed to do was find the door pointing north.

"Jessica, still got that pin?" Mickey asked hopefully.

"Sunny," Violet said next, "still have that magnet you were playing with?"

Confused, the others gave the material Mickey and Violet asked for. Jessica gave her pin and Sunny her magnet.

"Now all we need is something that will float." Mickey said to himself.

Tessa rummaged through her pockets and pulled out random things she carried with her. She pulled out a lollipop wrapper, a Guzzo ticket, a bottle cap and a cork from a bottle she planned to use for her art project.

"The cork!" Violet yelled exhilarated, "perfect!"

Mickey took Jessica's pin and broke it. He used the metal stick piece only. He then took Sunny's magnet and began to rub it against the metal needle. Violet ran to the fountain in the middle of the room and placed the cork down into it. Mickey lastly put the now magnetized needle on top of the cork and Violet and Mickey observed their invention work.

"It's a compass!" Tessa yelled, "I remember this! A magnetized needle always points north! I learnt this in grade 4!"

"Of course," Klaus said, "I've read all about compasses in my books."

"Wow!" Jessica added, "Violet, can I have your dress?"

The irrelevant question of Jessica was ignored and the children left through the door which the needle pointed towards. They had done it. They escaped the challenge chamber. It was off to North Clock town now!

Part 4

A triumphant Mickey, Violet, Klaus, Tessa, Jessica and Sunny exited the building which had been so full of unfortunate events and breathed the fresh cool winter air. The building they were in was covered with the holiday snow and unfortunately for the six, neither of them had any winter jackets on them.

"God, it's cold," Mickey shivered, "I wish we had some way to stay warm."

"I know," Jessica said shaking and wrapping her arms around herself.

"Hmmm..." Violet began to think to herself with her hair still pulled tightly away from her face with her ribbon, "I have an idea."

Klaus and Tessa were surprised.

"How exactly do you expect to make us some winter jackets?" Tessa said to Violet coldly. And by coldly I mean that Tessa was cold, not in a manner that was rude.

"Yes Violet," Klaus added looking towards the bright sky, "This is probably as hot as it's going to get. The sun seems to be directly above us. It must be about noon."

The only thing the six did not know was which day it was. Violet paced around the snow and began to speak once again,

"I can't make us jackets unless you want to go murder some animals and clean them of their guts. I was going to make a fire."

"But..." Tessa asked, "what will we do with a fire? We can't stay in one spot, we need to find some help or something."

However, help was scarce in the area the six had found themselves in. What they didn't know was that they had just exited East Clock Town tower. Not many people went to visit this old landmark. The only way to reach East Clock Town tower was by a two hour drive which many people found to be a drag. Violet was still determined with her idea.

"Torches." She said, "torches. We can make torches which will give us each heat while we walk. I know it isn't the greatest source of heat in weather like this but there's no way we'll last overnight. So we better get moving."

Violet took Tessa's glasses off without her permission and Tessa was a little angered by this. Violet then delegated tasks to the others. She told them each to retrieve long, wide sticks which would last long and hold a big flame. Violet herself then went off and picked some leaves off a bush before returning back to the front of the Clock tower.

"Ok, with Tessa's glasses, I can magnify the sun's ray so that it ignites these leaves." Violet explained, "then, once a big enough flame is made, each of us will put our stick into it..."

"Yah yah," Tessa interrupted, perhaps angered at Violet who was only fourteen to be inventing all these great inventions, "I'm not stupid. Just get to it will you, it's cold."

Violet didn't answer, a little hurt at the remark. Violet used Tessa's glasses and soon, smoke rose from the leaves. Sunny who was sitting in the snow blew at the leaves which allowed a flame to appear.

"We have fire!" Jessica shrieked in excitement, "Violet, I love your dress!"

One by one, each of the friends lit their torches and began to walk straight ahead which was north.

"Nakooma!" Sunny said to no one in particular, which probably meant something like, "North Clock Town, here we come!"

As the six walked, the day got later. The temperature got lower and their torches began to shrink. It was cold and no town was apparent anywhere in the distance.

"Nice going Violet." Tessa said angrily, "we're going to die!"

"Hey!" Klaus shouted in his sister's defense, "Violet didn't do anything! She was the one who saved our lives back when we were still in that building. She was the one who made these torches which we so desperately need for heat. She was the one..."

"Klaus please!" Violet said animatedly, restraining her brother, "it's okay. Let's not waste our energy."

"Let's not waste our energy." Tessa mimicked Violet in a mocking manner, "what is this? We're dead anyways!"

No one spoke. Mickey and Jessica had no reason to contradict Tessa. They were going to die. Klaus, Violet and Sunny knew it too. Their fire was dying, the sun was down, no shelter was up ahead and soon, it began to snow. The six were done for. They sat helplessly in the woods and stared at the many pine trees around them. It reminded them of Christmas. The six sat for a long while silently. Klaus was the first to break the silence.

"I hate Christmas," he said in a low voice, "I hate it!"

With one of his legs he kicked up a pile of snow and began to tear.

"Why is that?" Jessica asked quite curious.

"Every time Christmas comes, I know it'll never be the same. With mom and dad dead. We'll never be happy again. We have no home, we have no relatives, we're being chased down by a maniac who wants our fortune and we aren't happy." Klaus cried, appearing exhausted after kicking up a few more piles of snow.

"Oh...I'm... I'm so sorry." Jessica replied. Jessica, although she had read all about Klaus', Violet's and Sunny's parents, did not speak of it.

Once again, the six sat in silence, their torches dimming and dimming just like their spirits. All of a sudden, a motor sound was heard which got louder. The sound was approaching them and so was a light source.

"What is that noise?" Mickey spoke up, "And that light? Someone is coming!"

Mickey got up from the cold snow and began to jump up, waving his hands in a wild manner. Soon the others copied him.

"We're over here! We're over here!" Together the six shouted.

Soon, the noise ceased and the six noticed that it had come from a snowmobile holding three people. One big, large man and two children who looked about seven years old.

"Daddy daddy!" The little boy said in a very joyful tone, "look! Those people are choosing a Christmas tree too!"

"Well what do ya know," the jolly man said as he got off his snowmobile, "well how do you do? I guess I wasn't the only one getting a tree on Christmas Eve now was I?"

The six were stunned to find out what day it was. Christmas Eve!

"Is it really Christmas Eve?" Tessa yelled fearfully, "No! I need to get home to my family..."

It then struck Tessa that there was no family to go back to. In fact, all six were without parents. They all looked sadly down into the snow.

"Well hey there?" The jolly man said politely, "why so glum? Where are all your parents?"

Mickey explained to him that their parents had died in a mysterious fire and that they weren't actually looking for a Christmas tree. He told him how they needed to get to North Clock Tower as soon as possible. Suddenly, the jolly man put on a serious face.

"Hmm..." he said apparently thinking hard, "well hey, I guess the six of you could spend the night at my place. Then in the morning I can drive you up to North Clock Tower which is about two hours away from my place in North Clock Town."

"Oh that would be wonderful!" Violet shouted appreciatively.

"But it doesn't look like I have enough room on my snowmobile for all of ya." He replied, "this is a problem."

The situation seemed hopeless. Almost hopeless anyway, until Violet tied her hair up with her ribbon. Mickey seeing that it would be a great time for an invention slipped his glasses on.

"If only we could make some sort of..." Violet mumbled to herself.

"Sleigh!" Mickey finished her sentence.

The others got the idea and went off looking for any possible materials that would be useful. The jolly man who had been so generous already offered to supply the rope he was going to use to bring back his Christmas tree.

"Wait! Wait, wait!" Tessa shouted as if she had just thought of something brilliant, "We don't need any invention guys! Excuse me Mr..."

"Oh how rude of me," the big man said, "I never introduced myself. My name is Ben. Big Ben."

This was an odd name they children thought to themselves but this was hardly the time for criticizing an ally. Tessa continued,

"Well like I was saying, we don't need any sleigh! Listen, Big Ben, cut down your tree and tie it up like you were going to. We will just sit on the tree and it will act as a sleigh."

Violet's face was flabbergast at how she didn't think of it. Mickey slipped his glasses off, disappointed as well. So, the two little children who had come with Big Ben chose a tree and had Big Ben cut it down. It was a big tree and all six friends sat on it. It was very uncomfortable and slowed down Big Ben's snowmobile greatly but it was efficient all the same. They were one step closer to their finding Count Olaf. But a series of unfortunate events still laid in front of them.

Part 5

The crisp cool air blew into the six friends' faces. The snowmobile drove for several minutes and the six tried to enjoy the ride though it was quite uncomfortable to be sitting on a tree. However, neither was in the mood to complain. After all, it was better than dying. It was dark out and not much was visible. The outline of trees were perceptible and soon, so was a lighted town. It was a small village. It was obviously old fashioned as they approached the town. The houses were made of wood and smoke rose from almost all the peoples' chimneys. Once they were in the town, Tessa noticed stables which must have meant that there were animals. The bumpy ride finally ended when Big Ben stopped in front of a small log cabin which was lit from the inside.

"We're here!" Big Ben said in a song sort of voice, "come on in before you kids freeze."

First, Big Ben's two children entered the cabin before Violet, Klaus, Jessica, Tessa, Mickey and Sunny hurried behind. Big Ben came in last as he shut the door behind him with a loud slam. The house smelt of burning wood. It was cozy but very little. The house was made up of three rooms. There was a small bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The living room made up most of the house. In it was one bed and two sofas. A small coffee table made of wood was placed in the middle of the room which made the room look even less spacious.

"You have a beautiful house Big Ben," Jessica said politely.

Soon, the others realized that they should probably comment as well to not appear disrespectful. However, it had slipped their minds before as they were so thankful to finally be in a warm place.

"Why thank you my dear," Big Ben answered, "I know it ain't very big. Amber, Tom, you two will have to share a couch tonight."

Amber and Tom were Big Ben's two kids. No wife was present. Amber, the little girl walked over to a couch and pulled it out into a bed. Tom went over and pulled out the other one.

"Here you go," he said happily, "I can't wait until tomorrow. Santa Claus is coming tonight."

Once again it struck the others that they would have to spend a Christmas without their parents. Inside each of them, they were hurting but they tried not to let it show. Mickey forced a smile and took a big breath. Meanwhile, Big Ben was moving the coffee table into the small kitchen to make room on the floor for more to sleep on.

"Hmm..." Big Ben began, "I guess I'll have to put the tree somewhere in the corner. I believe only two of you will be able to sleep on the couch. And I don't know if I have that many spare blankets."

All of a sudden, a crash in the kitchen was heard. Big Ben went over to see what was the matter. A cupboard had collapsed, and some pots scattered to the floor.

"Oh darn it," Big Ben sighed, "this house is falling apart. I wish I could afford to replace these here cupboards. They've all been lookin like they were gonna fall any day."

Big Ben appeared to be a bit embarrassed but the others just smiled politely as though it was something that happened all the time. The family was clearly poor. However, this didn't dampen the fact that they were very generous and kind. The six really appreciated Big Ben's efforts in providing them a place to stay, even though there weren't enough beds or blankets. Violet tied up her hair with her ribbon and said,

"I think I can help you."

Big Ben chuckled appreciatively, "oh my dear, there's no need. Don't you worry about it. It's no big deal. You just rest up."

"No, sir, it's quite alright." Violet persisted, "It's really no trouble."

"Please, please, Big Ben. Sir sounds so formal." Big Ben replied still smiling.

Violet, without further speaking proceeded to the humble little kitchen and looked around. The wooden cupboard was frail and thin. It was no wonder why it collapsed. But how to replace it? The screws would still be able to be reused, but what could material would she use for a shelf?

"I've got it." Violet said to herself.

Violet took the collapsed pieces of wood and layered them to make a thick layer of wood. This way, the shelf she would erect would be sturdy. She wouldn't have enough wood for a complete cupboard, but a shelf would do the trick. Big Ben agreed to this idea and handed Violet a hammer. Using the same screws, Violet hammered the shelf into place and asked for a close hanger. Using the close hanger, she was able to bend to triangle shapes which would support the shelf on the wall.

"And there you have it." Violet triumphantly spoke, "problem solved."

"Why, you're a genius!" Big Ben thanked her as he shook her hand.

It was getting late now. Amber and Tom were chatting to Klaus and Jessica about how Santa was coming in a few hours. So Big Ben came into the room and told everyone that it was time for bed. Big Ben took out two bed covers from under his bed and handed them to Klaus. He then got into his own bed and Amber and Tom snuggled up into their floor bed. Mickey, Violet, Klaus, Tessa, Sunny and Jessica remained standing.

"Umm... you take the floor bed Violet and Klaus." Mickey insisted generously to his two new friends.

Violet and Klaus didn't want to come off rude and replied instantly,

"Oh no," Klaus said, "I couldn't possibly. Please, you take the bed."

"No, no!" Mickey replied determined, "I insist, don't be modest Klaus. Take it."

"No, no!" Klaus said, shaking his head, "I don't want it. You take it."

This went on for about two minutes before Jessica and Tessa came to Mickey's side.

"No, I really think that you and Violet should take the bed." Tessa added, "it has room for the both of you and Sunny so it would be smarter to do that than to have only one of us use it."

Finally, the Baudelaires accepted. They thanked Mickey, Tessa and Jessica many times. But now another problem came up. There were only two bed sheets left. And Mickey, Tessa and Jessica needed to sleep somewhere on the floor.

"Ok, I'll sleep without a blanket," Mickey told his two friends, once again generously, "I'm not cold anyways."

"Yah right," Tessa answered in disbelief, "I'll sleep without a sheet."

"Don't be a shmuck!" Jessica interrupted, "you two take the sheets. It's my present to you guys."

Another quarrel began and soon, Violet and Klaus began to offer the bed again. Violet and Klaus took the bed and the person who slept without a sheet was determined by "innie minnie, my-nie mo." Tessa was the one who would sleep without a blanket. The others felt guilty but it was getting late and they were tired of fighting. Eventually, the six fell asleep. The floor was hard and poor Tessa shivered slightly as she went into the fetal position. But soon, sleep swept over them. Christmas was coming. And what a surprise they would find another the Christmas tree.

Cockadoodledoo! A rooster was heard outside. North Clock Town really was old fashioned. Tessa was the first up who had had such an uncomfortable sleep. She of course, did not mention this. Amber and Tom were still asleep and Tessa woke the her five other friends. The six were up and awake and looked over to the Christmas tree when their jaws dropped. Their faces turned pale at what they saw underneath the tree. There lying on the floor was a Big Ben, cold and stiff. Motionless he lay on the floor. Mickey was in disbelief and tried closing his eyes and reopening them. Tessa stood motionless. Jessica began to mumble to herself that this could not be happening. Klaus looked around the room to see what could have possibly happened.

What had happened was soon revealed. A window had been smashed. Someone had come in during the night and killed Big Ben! But who would do such a thing? And why? Amber and Tom were waking up now. Violet gasped in fear.

"Guys!" She whispered loudly to the others, "we can't let these poor kids see their dad murdered!"

"You're right!" Klaus answered in an odd voice which didn't sound like his due to his fear.

The five friends hurried to the dead body and hauled him behind Big Ben's bed, hiding him from sight. Sunny was at Amber and Tom's side, making "shhh" sounds in the hopes of making them fall back asleep. This was no use.

"It's Christmas! Yay it's Christmas!" Amber shouted gaily to her brother.

"Yay!" Tom shouted next, "everyone wake up it's Christmas! Daddy, daddy, it's Christmas!"

The two kids rushed to the Christmas tree and looked at the two present which were under the tree. The six others had not noticed that there were only two presents under the tree. It was sad in reality. Poor Big Ben had only enough money to get his two kids one present each. Mickey's eyes began to tear knowing that the poor man was now dead. Amber soon looked up suspiciously asking,

"Wait Tom, don't open yet. We need to wait for daddy. Where's daddy?"

Amber and Tom released their presents and began to look around the room for their father. Soon, they looked in the others' direction. They spotted Big Ben, immobile on the floor. The house was quiet. It seemed like ages that the children in the room were standing. Violet began to cry as well, saddened. Tessa bit her lips to keep from breaking into a hysterical cry. Amber and Tom's faces went white.

"Daddy?" Tom spoke at last, "is daddy still sleeping?"

Jessica looked to Klaus. None of them wanted to be the one to have to break the news to the little kids. None of them had to when Amber walked over to her father and patted him on the face.

"Daddy." Amber said nervously, "daddy wake up. It's Christmas daddy. Daddy wake up!"

This went on for two minutes, Amber slapping harder and harder across her father's face. She was crying now. In full tears and screaming,

"Daddy! Daddy wake up! Daddy why don't you wake up!"

Tom fell to the floor crying now too. In fact, all people in that room were now crying. It was impossible not too. The scene they were witnessing was so tragic, so unfortunate, it seemed nothing would ever make them feel better again. This was the worst Christmas any of them had ever gone through. It pains me to say that, things didn't get any better from here.

Part 6

If you know how if feels to stare at the dead body of someone you loved and enjoyed being with, you can imagine how Mickey, Jessica, Tessa, Violet, Klaus and Sunny felt standing in Big Ben's house. However, you cannot possibly imagine the pain which was even greater for the two young children of their father who had just died. After a long period of crying, another period of hugging one another took place, along with more crying. Amber collapsed into Violet's arms and spent a long while just crying over her shoulder. They hugged one another, Violet whipping her tears and whispering,

"It's okay, It's okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Mickey comforted Tom, and Tessa and Jessica comforted each other as well. Klaus was left hugging his little sister. It was an emotional time, and the first words which were spoken was from Klaus.

"I think we should call the police." Klaus said alas.

Klaus looked for the phone but it appeared that Big Ben had never had a phone installed anywhere. The poor situation they now found themselves in. What would they do.

"What do we do then?" Mickey asked Klaus nervously.

"I don't know." Klaus replied monotonously, "I really don't know."

Tessa glanced outside. She spotted the snowmobile.

"A neighbor." she said, "we'll have to bring Amber and Tom to one of their neighbors and hope they have a phone."

Violet, and Jessica nodded their heads in approval. The six wrapped themselves up in blankets. There were enough to go around now that Big Ben wasn't using his. They were about to leave the house when Jessica said,

"Wait, maybe we shouldn't all leave. There isn't enough room for all of us. Now that the tree is gone, it's not like we can go riding along. I'll stay back and I think two of you should too."

"Good idea," Mickey agreed, "I'll stay."

"So will I." Tessa added.

They agreed on this plan and were about to leave the house before Tom dashed backwards back to the Christmas tree. Amber followed.

"I know daddy isn't here," Tom said sounding mature, "but it's still Christmas. Let's see what present we got."

"Ok." Amber said in response, "I wish daddy was here though."

The two undid the wrapping of their presents and smiled. They tossed the wrapping and one Christmas card they could not read to the side. Amber had gotten a stuffed bear and Tom a small yellow truck. Jessica walked over to them and knelt down.

"Would you like me to read your card?" Jessica asked.

"Yes please." Amber and Tom said together as they played with their toys.

Jessica read Amber's card first which had a picture of a snowman on the front.

"To Amber and Tom. Merry Christmas guys! I love you two with all my heart. I hope you enjoy your presents. Love Daddy."

Amber and Tom exchanged a neutral glance to each other. For a moment, Jessica thought they were about to cry again. In fact, Klaus had but was trying to look like he was yawning to hide it. But instead, Amber said,

"I love you too daddy."

And so, Tom and Amber followed Violet who had Sunny in her arms along with Klaus outside. It wasn't as cold as the day before and Klaus sat in the driver's seat.

"So, ever read any books on driving?" Violet asked.

"Yes I have as a matter of fact.." Klaus answered confidently.

Klaus was right. He appeared to know what he was doing. He knew how to shift the snowmobile into gear and without much delay, they took off, heading to the nearest house. Meanwhile, back in the cabin, Mickey stood nervously at one end of the house.

"Umm... what do we do with the body until someone comes?" he asked.

"Nothing." Tessa said also uncomfortable about having a dead corpse so close by.

Jessica covered the body with her blanket. It was now a matter of waiting. And so they waited. And waited. And waited. Nobody ever came back. No person knocked at the door and Big Ben was still in the same spot.

"What's going on?" Mickey said to the others, "It's been forever. Do you think Klaus and Violet managed alright?"

"Yes, of course they did." Jessica replied, sounding a bit unsure.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. What Mickey, Tessa and Jessica did not know was that the Baudelaires had not been successful in this attempt. In fact, they had been kidnaped along the way. Nobody was going to come to the house to take Big Ben's body away. Night approached. Something was wrong and the three knew it.

"Perfect, just perfect." Tessa mumbled, "somebody please tell me what we do now."

Mickey thought hard as he put on his glasses.

"We have no way of transport, we have no phone, we have a dead body to take care of and we don't know what to do." he stated blankly, "What we do is give up."

"No!" Jessica said optimistically, "Listen, I don't know where Klaus and Violet got to but I know they're somewhere fine. Something happened to them and I think I know what. They were intercepted on their way to town."

Jessica paused. Lastly she spoke,

"North Clock Tower."

It struck Mickey and Tessa what they had to do. They had to continue to North Clock Tower. That's probably where Klaus and Violet were being held, along with Amber, Tom and Sunny. They felt bad for leaving Big Ben unfound however. Mickey wrote a note and stuck it on the door to the house if ever someone were to come by. And with only blankets, three backpacks they had found and a few canned beans, Mickey, Tessa and Jessica began to walk away from the cabin. They walked through the night to North Clock Tower.

There was a trail which lead to North Clock Tower. It was a two hour drive downhill. Though it was downhill, it would still take a whole lot longer than two hours to walk. Mickey, with his glasses still on, rummaged his brain for any invention he could put together which could get them to their destination quicker.

"Guys," he began, "I think I have an idea."

"What?" Tessa asked, hopeful that it would save them walking time.

"We'll need to use the straps from our backpacks the lids of some of our bean cans." Mickey continued as he went and looked for long pieces of bark.

"What do you have in mind?" Jessica questioned a little uncertain.

Mickey found some bark and brought it to his two friends.

"Take any available straps or buckles off your bags. Attach one piece of bark to each of your feet. Now all I need are some nice long sticks..." Mickey explained.

Tessa wondered off and quickly returned with some long branches which had fallen off a nearby tree.

"I get it," she yelled, "we use the cans of the beans and stick them to the tips of these sticks to make skiing poles."

"Exactly." Mickey replied as he smiled at his brilliant plan.

"Okay," Jessica said to the two, "just one thing. How do you expect to stick the can lids to the sticks?"

Tessa dug through her pockets and pulled out the same lollipop wrapper, guzzo ticket and other random things. None of these things were seemed to be adhesive. Therefore, how would they manage to stick the cans to the sticks? Jessica dug through her pockets and pulled out a broken hair clip, crumpled up kleenex and a quarter.

"No good." Jessica said in despair.

She put the things back in her pocket before blowing her nose in the kleenex.

"Ewww!" Jessica groaned, "what's in this kleenex?"

Jessica unwrapped the crumpled kleenex which contained an old piece of chewed gum.

"Jessica!" Mickey shouted happily, "shove that old piece of gum back in your face and get chewing! That's just what we need!"

"Gross!" Jessica said in disgust but she did do it. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Jessica ripped the gum into enough pieces to secure all the cans to the new made poles.

"Anyone ever skiied before?" Mickey asked, "cause I haven't!"

Woosh! They three buckled their skis on tightly with the straps from their backpacks and went hurling down the slope which lead to North Clock Tower. Mickey struggled to keep his balance and waved his sticks all over the place to keep from falling.

"Whoa!" Mickey screamed, "this is way harder than I thought!"

Tessa and Jessica laughed. Thanks to Mickey's skis, they would reach their destination in half the time. Dodging trees and obstacles was difficult but after some getting used to, even Mickey was able to ski like a pro.

"North Clock Tower," Tessa shouted gleefully, "here we come!"

And soon, a building was visible. Their journey was leading them to the building that they set out for way before. They hoped they would find their friends here. They continued to ski, and as fortunate as they were to have constructed those skis, their luck would be about to change once they reached North Clock Tower.

Part 7

Gliding silently down the path which lead them closer to North Clock Tower, Mickey, Tessa and Jessica grew tired and hungry. It had been a long while since they had left Big Ben's house. Mickey hoped that someone had found his body by now. But there were bigger fish to fry now. Now that their new friends the Baudelaires had gone missing, it was crucial that they find them. They were on the right track. The building which got clearer was soon right in front of the three. They slowed down to formulate a plan.

"We did it!" Jessica said jubilantly, "that must be North Clock Tower."

"Thank God," Mickey said exhausted, "I'm so tired."

"Shall we go in?" Tessa asked, "it's kind of really cold out here."

"Well, we can't be too careful," Mickey said thinking out loud, "if this is where Count Olaf is, and if Violet and Klaus are being held here, I'm guessing there are Olaf's henchmen here too."

This was not good. Tessa undid her skis and looked around for an entrance to the tower. She considered the henchmen and where they might be lurking.

"Alright," Tessa said as if she had a plan, "there's the front entrance and that side door. Pick one."

Jessica brushed her hair with her hands to get rid of any snow which had fallen onto her. She looked up at the two doors and suggested,

"Why don't we split up. This way, if one of the doors are being guarded, the other will be able to get in safely and free the others."

Tessa and Mickey agreed to this idea.

"Okay, I'll take the front door and you two take the side." Tessa delegated.

"Right." Mickey and Jessica said together sounding brave.

"But wait," Mickey added, "we'll need some sort of weapon in case we do get attacked by one of Olaf's henchmen. Without a doubt, they can overpower us."

Mickey put on his glasses to think of an invention when Jessica took them off and handed him the ski poles.

"This will do." Jessica said as she handed a pole to Mickey and Tessa.

It would have to. It wasn't the greatest weapon Mickey thought but under the circumstances, they figured that they should probably get to saving their friends. And so, Jessica and Mickey snuck to the side door while Tessa went in towards the front. Tessa stood in front of a huge wooden door with a picture of an eye on it. This was a clue.

"Olaf is definitely here." Tessa told herself.

She slowly pushed the door open to avoid making any creaking sounds. Ski pole in hand, she slipped through a crack she made and proceeded to the interior. It was a big room. There was another floor above her. Without looking around herself first, Tessa glanced immediately at something which caught her eye on the second floor. There was a jail cell. It must have been where Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Amber and Tom were being held. She ran for the stairs which lead upwards but was tapped on the shoulder from behind.

"Uh oh," Tessa said nervously, "Hiyah!"

Tessa turned around quickly to slam her weapon down hard on the person behind her. Her weapon was blocked by hooked hands. It was the hook handed henchman of Count Olaf! He snickered in delight at Tessa's feeble attempt and snapped her stick in half.

"Nice try," he laughed, "looks like we have some extra company for your friends now."

The hook handed man grabbed onto Tessa's shirt, making a hole in it and yanked her up the stairs to the jail cell she had seen. In it were indeed Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Amber and Tom. Once they caught eye of Tessa, they began to scream.

"Tessa!" Violet shouted first, "you found us! Where are the oth..."

Klaus put his hands to his sister's face. He whispered into her ear,

"Shh! Don't make any suspicions for the guard. He'll call for reinforcements and catch Mickey and Jessica for sure."

Violet nodded her head, feeling quite dumb for not having known. Meanwhile, Tessa was struggling violently to escape the hook handed man's grasp without success. She came to a table which was a few feet in front of the jail cell and grabbed hold of it to keep from being pulled further. The hook handed man laughed again,

"Haha! Trust me girl, my lunch table won't do you much good now."

With this he yanked Tessa harder and Tessa lost her grip on the table and knocked over the henchman's glass of water which lay on the table. She desperately flung her hands about trying to grab anything which would slow her down but only managed to get her hands on the straw which was in the glass of water. Without further delay, she was thrown harshly into the cell, landing hard on the floor next to Amber and Tom.

"Tessa, I'm so glad you found us." Klaus said relieved. He then whispered more quietly so the hook handed man would not hear, "where are Mickey and Jessica?"

Mickey and Jessica now pushed the side door open quietly. The door lead them to the same big room which Tessa had entered. Violet, Klaus and Tessa could spot them clearly entering from their cell. Violet and the others were right in front of Mickey and Jessica except one floor above. Mickey was not looking their way however, nor was Jessica. They looked around the ground floor to make sure no henchmen were present. The hook handed man now sat facing away from the jail cell above and appeared to be trying to sleep.

"Okay," Mickey whispered to Jessica, "let's search the floor for the others and Tessa."

Up above, Violet, Klaus and Tessa were having a silent fit as they worried that Mickey and Jessica would be caught any second now. Surely there must have been more henchmen in one of the rooms down below that would emerge any second now.

"We need to get Mickey and Jessica's attention without making noise!" Tessa spoke.

"Yes, and how would we do that? There's no way we can get them to look at us without us making some sort of noise that would wake the hook handed man." Klaus replied very nervous.

Tessa and Klaus shook and began to pace around fidgety. Violet however, tied her hair up with her ribbon. She looked to Tessa.

"Tessa, empty your pockets." Violet ordered quickly as there wasn't much time.

The jail cell was empty of any supplies. The cell was rectangular and only a ventilation vent was apparent on the left wall. No rock, no stone, no screw was anywhere lying on the ground. So, Tessa pulled out the same lollipop wrapper and Guzzo ticket along with her newly found straw.

"Oh, this can't possibly be good for anything!" Tessa shrieked silently in horror.

"There's always something." Violet said reassuringly, "there's enough here for an invention. It's quite simple but it will work."

Violet ripped the Guzzo ticket in two. She then took one piece and put it into her mouth. Once it was covered in saliva, she molded the paper into a small ball and shoved it into the straw. Putting the straw to her lips, her invention was now obvious.

"Violet, that's brilliant!" Klaus smiled, "of course, spit ball!"

Mickey and Jessica searched the floor below them unsuccessful. Jessica approached a door and was about to open it when Mickey groaned.

"Eww! Gross!" Mickey said, pulling the wet projectile off his neck, "where did this come from?"

Violet, Klaus and Tessa jumped happily as they saw Mickey's reaction. Violet had hit him dead on.

"Look!" Jessica said in excitement, "Up there! There they are!"

Mickey looked upwards to the second floor and spotted Klaus, Violet and Tessa jumping up and down. Jessica began to jump up and down as well, glad to see them and let out an involuntary shriek of joy. Tessa's eyes grew huge at this break of silence. Jessica often was quite loud when she got happy. Apparently, now was no different.

"Oops." Jessica said bluntly.

The hook handed man woke up. He looked to the jail cell to see if all of his prisoners were still there. He then looked down and saw Jessica and Mickey standing stiffly.

"Hey!" the hook handed man yelled loudly, "I'm gonna get you two!"

Mickey tried not to seem scared. He put his weapon in front of him and held it ready for battle.

"You might want to stay away," Mickey told the henchman, "We're armed and not afraid to attack."

"Hahaha!" The henchman cracked up laughing, "Oh really? Those same weapons your other pathetic friend used? Well bring it on mate."

The henchman wanted to seem dangerous as well and went over to his lunch table and from underneath it, he pulled a tool box. He kicked it and a screwdriver, a hammer and a sharper hook piece for a hand fell out. The henchman took the new hand piece, unscrewed his right hook and installed the new sharper weapon onto his arm. Leaving the other tools on the floor, he ran down the stairs. Mickey and Jessica ran towards the door Jessica was going to open not long ago and turned the knob. It lead them to a hallway and there standing at the end of the hall was the white faced woman, one of Olaf's henchmen. She came and cornered the two friends and it was over. They had been caught.

Violet, Klaus and Tessa were very concerned about how Mickey and Jessica were doing. Klaus and Tessa discussed their worries to each other while Violet seemed somewhere else in her own world. She was tying her hair up with her ribbon once more.

Part 8

Have you ever seen the look on someone's face when they are deep in thought? It's an odd sort of look which is partly dazed and partly confused. This is how Violet looked as she stared at the floor just beyond her jail cell.

"Violet, what are you staring at?" Klaus asked sounding impatient for some reason.

Violet did not answer. Instead she asked her brother for his shoe laces.

"Klaus, take off your shoe laces." she told Klaus calmly, "and Sunny, I think I might need your help."

Sunny came waddling over to her sister smiling. Klaus removed his shoe laces and handed them to his sister. Violet tied them together to make some sort of lasso rope. She told Sunny to bite off a piece of the lace in order for her to form the circular part which she tied to the longer string.

"What are you doing?" Tessa asked suspiciously, "the hook handed man might be back any second with Mickey and Jessica. If he catches you doing something odd, we'll be in big trouble."

Violet acted swiftly and threw the lasso out of the jail cell. She was aiming for the screwdriver. Soon, footsteps were heard approaching the staircase.

"Let go of me you hand deformity!" Mickey cried loudly.

"You shmuck!" Jessica cursed.

The hook handed man was coming back up towards the jail cell and Violet still had not managed to cease the screwdriver. She tossed it once more.

"Got it!" Violet mumbled still concentrating hard on her objective, "Now to carefully pull it in."

Violet pulled the screwdriver in to the cell, handed Klaus' shoe laces back and hid the screwdriver behind her. The hook handed man approached the cell, opened it and threw in Mickey and Jessica.

"Well what do you know," the henchman said proudly, "I got all of you runts. I guess I should go tell Count Olaf now."

The hook handed man laughed and slowly left, going to get his boss. What would Count Olaf do? Surely put the children through more torture for having escaped his evil plans so many ways. They could not just stand by waiting for this.

"Oh Tessa! There you are." Mickey said out of breath, "I see you didn't have much luck either."

"Ha ha," Tessa laughed sarcastically, "You're so funny."

Violet made her way to the left wall of the jail cell.

"Violet, please tell us what you're doing." Klaus asked a tad bit annoyed by his sister's silence.

Violet looked to the ventilation vent.

"Klaus, give me a boost will you." She asked politely.

The others looked to Violet and smiled. Violet was planning to unscrew the vent. But it was too small for anyone to fit through.

"That's genius Violet," Jessica commented, "but just one thing, what do we do once the vent is unscrewed?"

Violet stood on Klaus's back and carefully removed the vent. She got back down and put her hands to her hips in triumph.

"Sunny," she said sounding like she was throwing a challenge, "you up for an adventure?"

Meanwhile, the hook handed man made his way through the hall where Mickey and Jessica had been caught. He went to the end of the hall and knocked at another door.

"Sir," he said triumphantly, "I got those pesky brats all locked up. You and Benitta can come see for yourselves."

The door opened quickly and Count Olaf and a big woman appeared at the entrance.

"Why hello, hello, hello," Count Olaf said as he usually did, "is that so? Well then, let us see."

Count Olaf, the big woman and the hook handed man made their way back down the hall.

In the meantime, Sunny had crawled up into the ventilation shaft. She was making her way around when she came to an end. She looked out the vent in front of her and saw the hook handed man's lunch table. This would be perfect. She would get out here and steal the key on the table to release her friends.

"Yumama!" Sunny said, which probably meant something like, "Yes! I'm so good!"

Sunny opened her mouth wide, and dug her four fang like teeth into the vent panel in front of her. It wasn't like using a screwdriver, but it had the same result. Sunny chewed up the panel and made a hole big enough for her to fit through. She quickly propelled herself out, hearing the footsteps of someone returning.

"Hurry Sunny!" Tessa said fearfully.

"Yagaga!" Sunny was heard saying on the other side of the jail cell, which probably meant, "I'm on it!"

Sunny made her way to the lunch table, grabbed the key and handed it to Violet in the jail cell. Violet stuck her hand out of the cell and unlocked the door. The approaching footsteps grew louder. There wasn't much time. In single file, they each exited the cell. Amber and Tom were carried by Klaus and Mickey and off they ran.

The hook handed man and his two followers were now coming up the stairs.

"Sir, you should have seen me," he laughed, "the ugly chinese one had a stick for a weapon. His two man looking friends also! It was hysterical. I overpowered them of course."

"Good, good." Count Olaf said as he rubbed his hands together, "so they're all trapped and accounted for. Perfect. Benitta. Let our torture ceremony begin!"

Mickey, Tessa, Jessica, Klaus and Violet headed right of their jail cell and took the first door they found on the second floor. It was just in the nick of time too for Count Olaf was heard screaming in fury.

"Where are they?" the voice screamed, "You idiot! You can't even capture some stupid kids!"

Tessa held back a laugh and continued to run down the hall of the door they had gone through. Eventually, they reached the end of the hall. There was a door and Jessica pushed it open. The room smelt of a strong perfume and it was apparently a woman's bedroom. There was a dresser, a chair and a bed. It was rich looking and so quickly, they locked the door behind them as they entered.

"We have to think of something," Klaus told the others, "we can't leave before finding some evidence of Count Olaf's evilness and we can't stay too long or we're dead."

"Well put." Mickey said impressed.

This was hardly the time for being impressed however. Count Olaf was bound to search the grounds for them any moment. Amber went off to the dresser and sat down in the chair.

"Hey look!" she said, "a picture of daddy and mommy!"

"What?" Klaus asked in awe, "Mommy? But you never said you had a mother."

The others went over to stare at the picture. Jessica flipped it over to see if there was any writing on it and there was. "Big Ben and Big Benitta. December 25th, 1995"

"Hey!" Tom shouted, "where are we?"

"You two probably weren't born yet," Tessa told them, "when did your mom die?"

Tom and Amber shot back,

"Mommy didn't die! She just never came back home one day! Daddy had a big fight with her and he told us that Mommy was going to take a time out for a while. We haven't seen her for a while."

Suddenly, the door of the room was being kicked.

"You darn kids had better not be in my room!" came a female voice, which belonged to Big Benitta.

Mickey slipped his glasses on and ran for the chair which was in the room. He used it to block the doorknob from turning and keep the door shut.

"That should hold them for a while." Mickey said huffing.

Violet looked around the room for a phone.

"We need to call for help and tell the police that Count Olaf is here!"

The room deprived of any phone. The door was cracking now. They would be inside any minute.

"Okay, forget this, we need to escape! Our lives depend on it!" Klaus shouted.

Violet tied her hair up with her ribbon and Mickey, still with is glasses on moved to the window. He looked out of it and saw that it was snowing hard now. Also, there he spotted another building which was not too far from the one they were in now. A black cable connected the two.

"I'll open the window but we can't jump down. It's too high from the second floor." he began, "maybe this black cable hanging out here might come in handy."

Tessa went over to see what cable Mickey was talking about.

"No way!" Tessa shouted, "that looks like some sort of power line. If we even touch it, we'll get electrocuted!"

Smash, the door was caving in.

"I know you're in there you stupid kids!" Count Olaf shouted angrily.

Klaus ran to where Tessa and Mickey were looking and said,

"No, I've read about these types of cables. It's not dangerous. They were used long ago to exchange data to old types of computers. They were used in the war of ..."

"Klaus! This is no time for a history lesson!" Jessica interrupted.

Violet was rummaging through Big Benitta's closet, throwing clothes onto the bed and taking the close hangers.

"Tessa, hold onto those clothes. We'll need them out in the cold. Mickey, help me use these pieces of material to tie around these clothes hangers."

Violet demonstrated what she wanted. She ripped one of the dresses into shreds and tied the material to the hook part of a clothes hanger. Mickey realized what she was doing.

"Hand gliders!" he yelled, "just like in the movies! I hope this works!"

Mickey worked quickly, tying the pieces of red material to the hooks of the clothes hangers.

"The material will act as a friction decrease which will allow us to slide along the wire." Mickey explained, "without it, the roughness of the clothes hanger will not slide. It's a good thing this dress is silk."

None of the others really seemed to be listening. Tessa shoved as much clothes as she could into her bag and even collected random items in the room which might be handy later. She took some lipstick, a small hand mirror, a necklace and a spray bottle of perfume.

"We've got you now kiddies!" the voice of the hook handed man said.

Quickly, Violet and Mickey tossed hand gliders to the others. Amber, Tom and Sunny climbed onto the backs of Mickey, Klaus and Violet.

"Ready?" Violet asked the others.

"No, but here we go anyways!" Tessa shouted as she jumped out the window, the others following right behind.

Part 9

If you know what if feels like to be suspended several feet in the air on a freezing winter night, you may be able to picture the situation Violet, Klaus, Mickey, Jessica and Tessa found themselves in. Having jumped out of Big Benitta's bedroom, they glided along a black cable on a clothes hagers and smashed into a huge window on the building on the other end of this cable.

"Ow!" Tessa groaned, being the first one who jumped out the window, and thus the one who smashed the window with most force.

Next, Jessica smashed into Tessa, Klaus into Jessica, Mickey into Klaus and lastly, Violet into Mickey. They looked quite ridiculous hanging so high up and not moving. They would have stayed like this for some time had it not been for Tessa.

"Whoa!" Tessa said to the others, "look what's inside this building! It looks like a computer class."

The room was filled with computers and the room was dark. No one seemed to be occupying any of the seats inside so Tessa assumed that everyone had gone home for the night.

"We need to get inside!" Violet yelled, "hurry! Count Olaf is going to find us soon!"

This was when Tessa's quick thinking came into play. There are times when Violet and Mickey's inventing skills are handy, and there are other times when a good kick to a glass window is handy. In this case, Tessa kicked the glass window with a powerful foot and smash! The window cracked into several pieces, cutting Tessa's leg slightly.

"Tessa you're a madwoman!" Klaus said shocked. Klaus was not accustomed to girls kicking windows. Especially since he lived with a very calm sister.

"Shut up and get in!" Tessa yelled to the others.

Tessa was the first to leap inside the building, the others jumping next. They found themselves in a computer lab. Tessa limped around, her leg bleeding from the glass. Mickey and Violet rushed over to help.

"Tessa," Violet said, "I think you need this more than I do."

Violet removed the ribbon she carried around with her all the time for thinking and wrapped it around Tessa's leg to stop the bleeding. Tessa appreciated this greatly. It was a sentimental moment but soon ended with Jessica shrieking hysterically.

"Ahh!" she screamed with her hands violently swinging around, "they're coming!"

The hook handed man was using his hooks to help him cross the black cable.

"I'm gonna get you darn little brats once and for all!"

Mickey, glasses intact, searched the darkened room for any item which might help him cut the cable. His eyes grew as he ran towards one of the computer tables. He took out of a pencil cup holder, a letter opener.

"Bubye!" Mickey said valiantly as he marched to the window and began to cut at the cable.

The hook handed man squealed. He turned around and began to head back towards the bedroom but it was too late. Mickey managed to sufficiently cut the black cable and down fell the hook handed henchman. Violet avoided the sight while Tessa stared laughing at the event she found to be funny.

"Ohh..." Klaus said once again, seeming shocked by his new friends' ferociousness.

Mickey laughed along with Tessa and Jessica. They then proceeded to the end of the room and turned on a light switch. The room lit up and two rows of beautiful high tech computers lit up. They were all lined up on long tables with revolving chairs in front of each. Klaus walked up to one and said,

"I once read a book about computers."

"Hahaha!" Jessica and Tessa laughed together, coming off a bit rude.

"Trust me," Tessa began, "I can turn on a computer without having read a book about it."

Klaus seemed a bit insulted but Mickey assured him that his friends didn't mean to be rude. Jessica took a seat at one of the computers and turned it on. She told the others that she could send a distress signal via the internet to anyone.

"I once read a book on how to use the internet." Klaus said to seem smart.

"That's great," Mickey replied, turning away so that to hide his smirk.

Violet walked around the room, looking for a phone. Klaus sat at a chair next to Tessa and Jessica to see how they were to send a help signal. Mickey removed his glasses and guarded the entrance to make sure no one were to come in. Tessa had logged onto her msn messneger and typed "Help!" to everyone that was online. Jessica told Tessa that they might have more luck if she were to log onto her account as well. Jessica turned on another computer and did the same. Klaus had obviously never seen msn messenger before because the computer was something strange to him. He was someone who spent all his time reading books and did not have an account on msn.

"I've found a phone!" Violet shouted, "and it works!"

Klaus and Mickey ran to her side, anxious now.

"I'm dialing 911." Violet told them.

The phone rang and someone answered the phone.

"Hello?" Violet began immediately, "this is Violet Baudelaire, my friends and I are being held captive at...."

The phone went blank. The lights went out. The computers died. Everything had lost power. Count Olaf had succeeded in reaching the building's power supply and cutting it.

"Oh no!" Mickey worried, "Count Olaf is coming!"

Indeed it was true, Count Olaf had taken the long route to the building they found themselves in now. And within no time at all, he would come bursting through the door.

"Don't panic!" Violet assured everyone.

She reached for her ribbon and realized that it was tied around Tessa's leg.

"I can't think! I can't think!" Violet screamed hysterically as she put her hands to her face.

This scene looked quite ridiculous and over exaggerated but no one had time to laugh at the panicked Violet as they each dwelled on ideas that would help them escape. However, this time never came because Count Olaf burst through the computer lab doors.

"Well hello, hello, hello!" he said as he looked around the room at the distressed children, "it seems we have some escapees."

Behind Count Olaf appeared Big Benitta. She was smiling at the capture of the children and was looking particularly at Amber and Tom. Amber ran up to the woman and said,

"Mommy! You're back!"

Smack! Big Benitta slapped the little girl to the floor. If this was Amber and Tom's mother, this was clearly child abuse.

"You monster!" Violet said in disgust.

"Oh shut up orphan!" Big Benitta replied, without the slight sign of guilt in her eyes.

Count Olaf and Big Benitta then took out some familiar weapons which Violet, Klaus, Mickey, Tessa and Jessica had seen before. The tranquilizer guns!

"Quick!" Mickey yelled, "dodge the bullets!"

This was easier said than done. Within a few shots, all of them had been shot. They tried their very best to keep from collapsing but it was no good. The drug inside the bullets got to them and they fell hard like a ton of bricks.

It seemed like they were in a nightmare. Everything was dark and gloomy. Their eyelids would not fully open and a foul smell swept through the air. Mickey's eyes were the first to open and he found himself to be moving slowly. He was tied down to a conveyor belt and it was moving into a huge mechanism which looked seemed to be shooting out red laser beams. Jessica was then heard screaming, indicating that she had woken up. Soon, so did the others. Everyone was tied down tight. The one who looked most ridiculously tied was Sunny. The huge ropes looked quite loose on her small body and there was a lot of slack.

"Hagawa!" Sunny shouted to the others which meant, "I think I can bite my way out of these ropes!"

She acted quickly and was soon standing on the moving conveyor belt. There was not enough time for her to bite everyone's cords and so she panicked. Mickey, although without his glasses thought quickly and screamed,

"Sunny! I need you to get to Tessa! See if you can get into her backpack and get me the mirror and necklace she stole!"

Sunny nodded her head and quickly made her way to Tessa who was struggling to break free.

"It's in the side pouch!" Tessa told Sunny hurriedly as she wiggled still.

Sunny had small hands and it proved to be a difficult task for a baby to accomplish. However, Sunny did not give up and pulled out the necklace and mirror. She then carefully made her way to Mickey who would be the first to die of laser burns as the conveyor belt moved closer and closer to their doom.

"Great job Sunny!" Mickey congratulated, "can you bite the necklace so that it will become a nice long piece?"

"Poonata!" Sunny said as she dug her teeth into the necklace which probably meant, "you bet I can!"

Sunny managed to do this just fine and next, Mickey gave the next instruction.

"Sunny you're doing great. I need you to now tie the mirror to the end of that necklace. It will create a very basic version of a solar satellite dish."

Klaus who was also struggling now perceived what was to happen.

"Mickey you're a mastermind!" He yelled, "I've read about satellite dishes. They're composed of thousands of little mirrors which can reflect and aim light due to it's circular shape."

"I can't believe I didn't think of it!" Violet yelled, "but then again, Tessa has my ribbon!"

This was a very bad time for a joke and you can understand why none of them laughed. Mickey told Sunny to take the necklace and spin it as fast as she could do create a circular shape. The mirror would spin in all directions and reflect the laser beams in all directions, hopefully, one of them would hit the machinery and stop the circuit.

"Yahoo!" Sunny shouted as she began to spin the invention, which probably meant something like, "you can count on me guys! This is going to be fun!"

Mickey's legs approached the lasers and he closed his eyes, expecting a burning any second when it never came. Sunny was up and on him, spinning the mirror violently and the lasers bounced right off of it in all directions. One laser hit the wall, the other bounced off at a 45 degree angle and one of them hit the control panel which controlled the conveyor belt!

"Sunny you did it!" Jessica and Violet said in unison.

With the conveyor belt stopped, Sunny bit through the rest of her friends' ropes and they were freed. The first thing Violet did was to reclaim her ribbon from Tessa.

"Sorry Tessa," she said, "I guess I need this more than you."

Part 10

Having escaped death many times now, the children were not as jubilant as for say, the first three times. Jessica, Tessa, Mickey, Klaus and Violet had just avoided being fried by laser beams and now, they agreed that this was by far the biggest threat on their lives so far. Walking away from the conveyor belt which had stopped functioning thanks to Sunny and Mickey, they took many precautions as they stepped, to make sure that nothing were to come flying out at them by chance.

"It looks like a door up ahead," Violet said, "it seems it's the only way out."

"Hmm..." Tessa mumbled, "something seems a bit fishy don't you think? I mean, Count Olaf forces us out a window, shoots us with a tranquilizer gun and tries to murder us with lasers and now he's nowhere to be found."

"Maybe he couldn't stand to see our gruesome death." Violet replied encouragingly.

The friends made it to the metallic door and stopped. Klaus put his ear to the door to listen if anyone might be on the other side. Klaus did not hear anything and insisted that they go through. Without any other option, Klaus pushed the door opened and they all went through the door, leading them into a boxed room.

"This is impossible." Mickey pointed out, "how can this be? There has to be some way of escape. I mean, Count Olaf brought us in here so he obviously had a way out."

What Mickey and the others failed to see was that they were in the same building with the computer lab. They were one floor beneath. The computers above were control centers for the rooms which were beneath it. This was a testing facility. Like many scientists who tested things on rats and hamsters, this lab tested on human beings. Except these were non scientific tests. They were out of pure amusement of seeing people suffer. The rooms were filled with small cameras unperceivable by the naked eye but they were there. And they were in the small room Mickey, Klaus, Tessa, Jessica and Violet were in now. The door slammed shut behind them.

"What was that?" Jessica asked surprised by the banging of the door.

"I don't know." Klaus said, "I think this room is being controlled by someone. But how? Of course! I've read about this! It must be some sort of computer linked technology."

Jessica didn't seem very assured by this.

"What do you mean computer linked technology?" she asked, "there aren't any computers I've seen... unless."

It was only now that they all realized that they had not left the building.

"Is this Olaf's sick idea of a fun house?" Tessa asked loudly.

They were about to find out. With a loud creaking sound, the floor opened up. They fell down blindly unsuspecting such a shock. The floor they had just been standing on closed up again and now became a roof. The friends now stood in a large brown box which looked like a crate. The box surrounded them except for the opening at the top which allowed them to see the room they had fallen from. This box was not a room however. It was a large box which also happened to be in a very large room.

"Where are we now?" Violet said annoyed by all this confusion.

"I wish I could tell you," Mickey answered, "but it looks like we're kind of boxed in."

Once again, not a time for laughing matter when your life is at risk. But that is indeed what Mickey said. The box in which the eight children were in reassembled a large supply crate. There was a small hole at one end of the crate which was no bigger than a golf ball.

"Maybe I can see where we are through here." Jessica stated as she stuck her eye to the hole.

She saw a clean white floor and some tables. There were cupboards and many stoves. Ingredients were stacked all around the room on shelves. There was also a control panel similar to the many rooms which have already tried to kill them,.

"Oh great," she said again, "we're in some giant's kitchen."

Tessa sighed in despair and sat down on the wooden floor of huge crate.

"I can't even believe how horrible this all is." she sighed.

Looking up, she saw the floor which had opened up and looking a bit lower, she saw the kitchen shelves Jessica was talking about which went all around the room. The shelf was right above one of the crate's walls. The food reminded her of how hungry she was and how she had not eaten in days.

"So what happens now?" Klaus said as he sat next to Tessa.

"We hope the room doesn't pull a fast one on us and kill us." Tessa replied.

As if in reply to her statement, the ceiling above them began to move closer and closer to the friends trapped in the huge crate. Tessa and Klaus looked up.

"Is it just me or is the ceiling getting closer?" Tessa asked even though she knew the answer.

"It's falling!" Klaus yelled, "we're going to be squished in this box!"

The others looked up too. The reality seemed so impossible and unexplainable that Mickey just stood motionless staring as the ceiling got closer and closer still. The ceiling was getting closer and closer. It reached the shelf of ingredients and pushed many items down onto the ground and into the crate as it approached.

"Oh my God!" Mickey shouted, "we're going to be crushed!"

Mickey had finally only now grasped this notion. Klaus and Tessa got off their bottoms and began to kick furiously at the crate walls, hoping they would collapse. Sunny even tried biting through it. Amber and Tom tried helping too without any luck. The shelf ceiling was now beyond the distance of the shelves and a gigantic sized box something fell off the shelf into the crate, covering the entire floor with white powder. A box of craft dinner fell in as well, a bottle of vinegar and some garlic fell in as well.

"Ewww gross!" Mickey complained, "what is this white stuff on the floor?"

"Hmmm..." Klaus replied, "by the looks and the smell of it, I'd say it's baking soda."

"Great!" Mickey said sarcastically.

He then got back to kicking the crate harder than ever, anxious to escape as the ceiling got closer. Violet on the other hand was the only one who did not help kick the crate walls. She was tying her hair up with her ribbon.

"Tessa!" she shouted at last, "I'll need your lollipop wrapper if you still have it, that perfume bottle you stole and lastly, the lipstick."

Tessa knew by now not to question Violet, especially in a predicament like this where a ceiling is about to squish you. Violet worked at a very fast pace explaining along the way what she was doing.

"First, I unscrew the perfume bottle and empty the fragrance," she said as she worked, "the opening in this bottle is the perfect diameter for that of the lipstick, but that goes in last."

Violet ran to the fallen bottle of vinegar and continued,

"Next, I pour the vinegar into the perfume bottle. Then I place the lollipop wrapper at the opening of the bottle. This will serve as a barrier between the vinegar and the baking soda that I will place on top of the wrapper. And last, I shove the lipstick into the bottle which will serve as a projectile once the pressure of the chemical reaction takes place between the vinegar and the baking soda."

"But the moment you put the lipstick on the bottle, the reaction will already have started." Tessa argued.

"No," Violet explained again, "that was the purpose of the lollipop wrapper. It will keep the baking soda away from the vinegar until I shake the whole thing."

Violet made her way to the golf ball sized hole in the crate and looked through first to see where the control panel buttons were. She then shook her invention and aimed the lipstick in the right direction.

"Wait for it..." she mumbled, "wait for it."

Once she felt that there was sufficient pressure in the bottle, she let go of her grip on the lipstick, sending in full speed towards the control panel. It was a direct hit! The crate's walls fell to the ground. Though the roof still came down at the same pace as before, the children had enough time to escape the humongous kitchen through the next door they saw.

Making their way through the door, you cannot imagine how relieved they were to have found Mr. Poe and two policemen waiting outside. They stood in the freshly fallen snow and Mr. Poe and the policemen immediately began speaking of how sorry they were for arriving so late.

"Oh my goodness!" Mr. Poe shouted loudly before coughing into his handkerchief, "I'm so glad that you made it out alive!"

"What?" Mickey demanded furiously, "you mean you knew we were in there about to lose our lives and you didn't stop the machines?"

Mr. Poe turned red from embarrassment.

"You see, the policemen and I found Count Olaf in the computer lab upstairs, controlling all the mechanisms which almost killed you. However, Count Olaf shot the three of us with some sort of tranquilizer gun and was gone when we woke up. I'm dreadfully sorry. By that time, you had already been running out of the kitchen and we had just enough time to meet you all now."

Mickey, Tessa and Jessica groaned. Klaus and Violet just stood there trying to absorb how unhelpful the police had been. Amber and Tom were being carried by the policemen as they were exhausted. Sunny stood in the snow mumbling to herself,

"Ayaiyai!" which probably meant, "I can't believe you Mr. Poe. You're so useless."

Violet was the next to speak,

"But Mr. Poe. How did you know we were here?"

"Ah well yes," Mr. Poe explained, "the police got a call but the line soon went blank and they managed to trace the call here. We also got some calls from strangers saying that Tessa and Jessica needed help."

Msn Messenger was actually helpful. Jessica and Tessa looked to each other.

"Well enough chat about that. I'm sure you kids must be starved." Mr. Poe said alas.

"But Count Olaf!" Jessica shrieked, "he's still out there! Shouldn't you be finding him?"

"Trust me my dear," Mr. Poe continued, "we are. We are."

And so, Amber and Tom were taken to live with their close relatives while Mickey, Jessica, Tessa, Violet, Klaus and Sunny were brought back to the orphanage where a very generous family adopted each of them and they spent many happy years from then on. If this is the ending you hoped for, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The two policemen took Amber and Tom to live with their close relatives but along the way there, one of Count Olaf's henchmen had disguised themselves as the children's guardian and murdered Amber and Tom. Their bodies were buried next to their beloved father. What pains me more to tell you is that the henchman who murdered all three of those family members was Big Benitta, the mother of Amber and Tom who had officially become loyal to Count Olaf.

As for Mickey, Jessica, Tessa, Violet and Klaus; they were driven back to the orphanage where they had very little to amuse themselves with. They spent much time talking to each other, while most of the people that came in adopted young children. Nobody really wanted a bunch of teenagers. Often times, they would sit and think silently to themselves about how drastically their lives had changed in just a few days. They each longed for a family, a place to call home which never did come.

"I wish we had somewhere to go, somewhere to belong." Jessica said one rainy day.

"There's always something," Violet said optimistically, "there's always something."

Mickey, Tessa and Klaus looked at Violet and admired her optimism even in these dire times. Klaus spoke,

"It would still be nice to live in a place which wasn't rat infested and all."

Mickey slipped his tattered glasses on which had survived so much and Violet tied her hair up with her ribbon which had helped her think up the many inventions she had created in the past. And for the first time in a long while, Mickey, Violet, Klaus, Tessa, Jessica and Sunny smiled for quite a while. For the first time in what seemed like ages, it felt like home.