Chapter 12: Darkness
Excerpt from the memory of Quigley Quagmire
As the bus stopped to pick up more passengers Klaus came up to where we sat, and took the seat next to Violet. "Hey." He said nodding politely at his sister, "Quigley, do you remember what Count Olaf said when he was about to take us to his house, and he asked you how old you were?" He asked quickly, he looked very eager to hear my response. "Uh…yah. Why?" I was really confused at this point. Why is he asking me questions like this? He leaned over Violet, where Sunny slept. "Do you remember what he said before that, you know the thing he 'accidentally' let slip?" I furrowed my eyebrows trying to think, as he sat back in his seat. I thought long and hard about it, so many things had happened since that day, and I could vaguely remember what it was Count Olaf said. More people got on the bus as others left. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on what I remembered. I could hear Olaf's voice, see the knife he held to Klaus' throat, feel the sweat bead on my forehead, feel Violet's hand grip mine tightly, then the words started to come to me.
I snapped back to reality, a small smile on my face. Klaus saw the smile, "Do you remember?" he asked impatiently. I nodded my head as I looked at him. He was sitting on the edge of his seat in anticipation. " He has my brother, and my sister." He smiled broadly. "We have to go back to Count Olaf's." He looked at Violet and I with pleading eyes. I thought about it, I want to see my brother and sister again, I really do. "But what if Olaf catches us, what do we do then?" Violet asked turning her body towards her brother. Klaus looked at the seat in front of us, focusing hard on one particular spot, as if there were a germ there that only he could see.
"Don't we want to get caught?" I asked the two breaking their concentration, making them jump a little. Violet looked at me as if I was dancing naked in front of her. "W-What? Why would we want to get caught?" She looked back at her brother Klaus, who was also looking at me, as if I were a deranged monkey. "Well, he has my siblings, right?" They nodded in sync, and I continued. "Well, if he catches us, he put us where my brother and sister are, and the rest of those snow scouts." As I finished, I could tell they were both trying to see how my plan would work. "It's all we have so far." I said after a few minutes of utter silence. They both looked at each other and then back to m. Violet sighed and reluctantly nodded her head. Klaus soon followed suit.
We got off at the closest stop that would lead us to Count Olaf's house. We walked down the street before we stood in front of the house of the man that had tortured our families, and still is. We stood there for the longest time, looking at the house. The stutters swung back and forth in the wind, hitting the house with a loud crack. The trees were bare and swayed to and fro making the house look even eerier. The gate creaked as it too swung in the wind. "A-are you sure about this." Violet asked her voice quivering with every word. I took her hand in mine and stepped closer to the eerie house, gently pulling her along with me. She fought it a little, before surrendering to my pull. Klaus followed us, carrying Sunny, who buried her face in his chest, clenching tight to his shirt.
When we reached the door, I tried the knob. The knob turned and I opened the door. The room beyond the door was dark, almost completely pitch black, except for the moon light coming through the window that was over the stairs. There was an eerie silence that followed us into the house. Each step made the floorboards creek under our feet. I stopped now in the center of the entrance, where the light from the dusty window made a pattern on the wooden floor. Violet squeezed my hand as the door slammed shut behind us. Her hand was starting to cut of the circulation to mine. I looked at her, she was very anxious. "Violet." I whispered into her ear, she jumped. She looked at me, her breath had increased, and she was clutching her stomach. "What?" She asked looking behind me to make sure Klaus And Sunny were still there. I looked down at our entwined hands, and could faintly see my hand was turning a light shade of purple. She loosened her grip immedeatly, with an apologetic look upon her face. I squeezed her relaxed hand, and felt it squeeze back.
We entered the kitchen and found endless stacks of filthy dishes, piled high to the tall ceiling. The Baudilaires looked around, Violets hand still entangled in mine. There was a loud crack heard from somewhere in the room. We were all startled, and jumped, or screamed, in shock. I cover Violet's mouth with my hand as soon as I had regained my composer. Klaus looked at us from across the island that sat in the middle of the expansive kitchen. In no time at all, another crack was heard, violet didn't scream this time, nearly jumped into my arms, and buried her head in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her as the island began to protrude from the ground, slowly growing taller with every second. Klaus was on the other side and soon disappeared from my view. Violet looked up from my chest and saw the escalating island. "Found it!" exclaimed sunny from the back of the room. The island had stopped moving, and below it laid a passage, or a tunnel to a confinement, where undoubtedly Olaf held my siblings and the Snow Scouts.
Klaus came over to where Violet and I stood and looked down the passage. Violet bent over and picked up Sunny who had returned from the back. We all looked at each other, and listened for any sign that anybody else was disturbed by the two loud cracks. After what seemed like ages, I stepped on the first step that leads down into the confinement. Violet grabbed my shoulder and tried to stop me. I looked back at her, her eyes pleading me not to enter the darkness. Klaus who was still looking down the passageway, moved. He stepped past me and continued on for a few more steps. "Klaus no, we don't know what's down there." Violet pleaded with her brother. "Violet, if we don't go now, Olaf might come back, and we'd be trapped here forever." He reasoned with his sister. Violet thought long and hard, before finally letting go of my hand and stepping into the passage. Her breath was shaking; her hand were trembling as I grabbed it and gently pulled her down where she longed desperately not to go. I gave her a weak smile as a sign of reinsurance, then, very reluctantly she took one more step. She was now on the same level as I was and was shaking from head to toe. "It's ok Violet." Klaus said, as he took two steps closer to the mouth of the tunnel, coming closer to us. Violet, still shaking nodded her head and held Sunny closer to her. She took another step, she stopped, and took a long deep breath before regaining a little of her composer. "Right, " she sighed heavily "Let's go then." She took another step and pulled me with her. 'Here we go.' I sighed as I let her tug me in her wake, hoping that we aren't going down into the darkness for nothing.
A/N: Yay! One more chapter to go! Then if I get enough reviews… I'll make a squeal! If you liked it, please review, if you didn't… tell me what I can do better.
