NOTE: I love all the reviews! I think some of you thought my story is done. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was talking about the chapter being done. Well, anyways here's the next one. I was a bit busy the last couple of weeks, 'cause of the new Harry Potter book and our school started this week. Anyways, this chap is a crucial part to the nearing end of this story. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 9: River of Memories

Isadora…

Sunday. Yes, it's still the weekend but, believe it or not, my brothers and I were heading towards the auditorium. I didn't know what our principal was thinking when she invited a guest speaker to lecture us today…again! We have this speaker every year and even if the speech was annually rephrased, it was still terrible to the ear.

My brothers and I made a mistake by listening to him when we just arrived in the orphanage. It wasn't enough that we could not understand a thing he said (the words were all a mumbled nonsense as he went further and further) but the topic was extremely boring. Unfortunately, it was necessary that we attend the occasion or we get extreme punishments. And yes, you can call it a Hobson's choice. The worst part of this was that the droning voice of the speaker sucks out all the inspirations of your head. In other words, I couldn't write any couplets. So, I had to endure 2 hours of Words of Wisdom for Young Learners.

But amidst the boring atmosphere, the unexpected meeting I had yesterday still stayed fresh and unhindered in my head.

Sometimes I find myself lost in thought about him and the other people that seemed to be connected to him. My dreams were helping as well.

Almost every night I dream of blurry visions so familiar my feelings were telling me that they were real…or at least once real.

I sat in between my two brothers, waiting for the never ending torture to begin…bracing for the boredom that was about to engulf us. Reluctant clapping rang in the hall as the guest speaker stepped up the podium. But the sounds of clapping were like falling knives on a wooden table, they were so far and distant. The sounds of the voices were merely murmurs and blurry words.

The next thing I knew I was sitting in a noisy cafeteria which didn't look quite familiar. Food was being served by masked workers and a long line of students trail in front of them. A gigantic tray of lasagna was beside them. I think you can fit at least 50 people in that tray. I turned my head and my eyes fell on three very familiar people. It was the three children again, the girl with a ribbon, the boy with glasses (one I saw yesterday) and the baby girl. Each of them had a happy smile on their face. I turned to my left and saw a laughing Duncan…or was it Quigley I couldn't tell since they are identical to the last hair. Nope, it was Duncan.

From the looks of the place it was a school, a school that looked very familiar and austere. For the next few minutes, the scenes kept on changing and in every one of them I'm there. As the events change, they become more vivid, realistic and faster.

Some of them have my siblings and I, much younger than we are now and then our faces became older. The presence of the 3 mysterious children became more and more as the number of visions increased. Then sounds started to appear, voices and various noises. Then the feelings felt real, as if I was in them. I could feel my hands clutching a black suitcase. I could feel Klaus's hands as he pulled me out of a black car parked in front of an archway. I felt the cold and dampness of a dark narrow fountain. I felt the sadness I felt before…the love, the hatred. But then the noises became very clear as clear as the droning voice of the speaker on the stage a few minutes ago. That's when the names came out:

Baudelaire, Quagmire, Count Olaf, Esme Squalor, VFD, fire, Sunny, Violet, mom, dad…Klaus.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry as these memories race pass me, as I started to remember…my whole life. I didn't know what triggered the past to come racing back to me. But it was not as I imagined it.

Two years ago when we arrived in the orphanage, I imagined in my wildest dreams gaining my memory once again like I was inhaling fresh air and the relaxing atmosphere. But it was completely different. The rush was good at first, but it gave me guilt. The guilt was because of forgetting my life and forgetting the ones I love. This thing that started as a vision ended up giving me misery, hope, pain, regret and hatred. VFD forced us to live 2 years of emptiness in a world where we felt we didn't belong and now it's coming back like wild stampedes.

So many feelings entered me that I thought I would explode, but my body was like a strong wall, preventing everything from pouring out. Now that's a pain no one had succeeded explaining directly yet.

Despite all these memories, I felt that one particular, significant part of my past was missing. I just couldn't figure it out.

The great rapidness of my past engulfed my body with heat, oh, it was unbearable. Then everything dissolved, cold sweat trickled down my face, but the heat won't disappear. I thought I was still asleep (still in my river of memories) when I found that the orange flame I was staring at was real.

"Isy, wake up! Let's go, we have to go!" a panicking Quigley forced me out of my seat. I looked around quickly. The screams of children of all ages echoed in my ears. I could see many teachers pushing young kids out of the fire exit. But that was not the worse part. Fire was spreading like a plague in the front of the auditorium. I would have given anything to wish I was back at the painful recollection of my memories I dreamt earlier.

Duncan kicked a chair towards a flame the licked its way towards Quigley. I ran with my brothers as fast as I could towards the exit, but something stopped me.

I watched as a large part of the ceiling up front collapsed at the staged. I gasped.

Something terrible flashed before my eyes as I watched the large chunk of wood crash to the ground.

The wood turned from the dark-wood-color from ceiling of the auditorium to a beautiful golden brown wrapped by wretched orange flames.

I screamed as my favorite chandelier fell to the ground a few feet before me. Duncan grabbed my hands and we ran as fast as we could out of the corridor. I looked back to see a man with hair as dark as mine shouting for us to go on. Finally, my brother and I burst out of the house's oak doors. I ran a few more meters before landing hard on the soft, white snow. I felt Duncan pull me up and turned me towards the blaze. Even if it was just a vision, I could feel the tears flow down my cheeks as Duncan and I watched a once magnificent manor burn to the ground.

"ISADORA! SNAP OUT OF IT!" The present Duncan shook me out of my memory. But I could still feel the hot tears rolling down my cheeks.

"I know, alright, I remember," he continued droplet of sweat and tears running down his cheeks. Once again, I burst out of doors but this time it's no longer a memory. I watched the auditorium burn up while the teachers count the children lined up outside. Firemen were rushing here and there trying to stop the fire.

I found the significant part of my past, and it was far worse than I expected at all. It was the same thing that I was staring at that changed our lives (twice) and the same thing that caused us great misery. It was the fire that killed our parents and yet, ironically, it was the same horrible element that brought back my river of memories. Though as I think of it, while standing outside the burning building, it wasn't the fire alone that triggered such phenomenon. Two very familiar part of my past reappeared, not in a dream, in just 48 hours…the fire…and a certain boy with blue eyes and glasses.

I buried my head in my brothers' shirts and felt their arms wrapped around me. Finally, I let out the enormous amount of emotion bursting inside me when I sobbed harder than I ever sobbed before. I could fell small drops falling on my head. I didn't need actions; I didn't need Duncan's words before we escaped the blazing auditorium… to know that both of them remembered too. By the soft tears falling on my head, I know they remember…I remember…our life…my life…before we forgot our past.

The End…or is it? NOT!

NOTE: Don't worry it's not the end yet, there's still more to come. What do you think of this chapter? This chapter is one of my favorites if you ask me, but I'm not asking me, but you. So, please review…I can't give you anything for the reviews but more chapters.

Oh yeah for:

bubblesrule1: I don't mind, I know everyone makes mistakes.

And for my other reviewers, I LOVE YOU ALL! You really make me want to update soon, but sometimes it's impossible because I have another story to finish and I have school work too. But this story is almost over, 2-4 more chaps, so I'll try to update this often.