Hello! Forgot to do the Disclaimer for the last 3 chapters! Sorry! I do not own any ASOUE stuff except my 3 OCs.
Chapter Four
Childhood is a vital time in everyone's life. Mostly because it often tells you what your future will look like. It depends on the type of parents you have, and what they think is a 'perfect' child. For example, if you happen to be the daughter of an affluent, a word which here means 'rich and extremely lucky', socialite who lives in a penthouse apartment, lavished with luxuries, then you have an idea that when you grow up you'll be prosperous in work and most probably live in a mansion surrounded by expensive furniture and servants.
If perhaps your parents are successful journalists, you may live in a house on a quiet street, content with a laid-back lifestyle, you have an idea you will live a happy life with a family of your own and the love of your life.
And finally, if you spend your childhood as an orphan working for a secret organisation, with no family, living in unfriendly headquarters which at any moment could be burnt to a crisp by an evil lunatic, you have no idea what unfortunate twist was waiting for you. This was how Ariadne Citrusseed spent her lonely upbringing; from the very day the car disguised as a mail truck reached the summit of the lofty Mortmain Mountains, she felt a cloud of terror form over her head. Only weeks after they had arrived at the secret location, Jacques and Sally had to leave on 'special businesses'. Not long after Raven, Armadillo and Ariadne's room was done with decorating and new furniture, Kit had to attend to some 'recruiting issues'. However, Lemony refused to leave on any special missions and insisted on staying and taking care of the children. When three years had passed Armadillo and Raven were sent to a boarding school with V.F.D children and teachers hidden in amongst the very lucky people who were 'normal'.
With Jacques, Sally and Kit away on exceedingly long expeditions, Armadillo and Raven at boarding school, learning about codes and special files and other very interesting subjects, Ariadne, who was now two years old, was left in the vast building with only miserable Lemony Snicket as company. As Ariadne had observed, now walking and talking a little, Lemony seemed to be gloomy and mournful, as if he'd lost something very dear to him. Ariadne had considered, could this be linked to the strange look in his eyes every time Beatrice called or wrote, and the odd tension when they were together? When it was daytime, Ariadne used to follow him around whilst he worked, hiding behind corners and underneath chairs, studying his lifeless movement and heavy sighs as he trudged through the day. When the sun slowly sunk behind the pointed mountains and the chandeliers were lit, Lemony retreated to the Library, now fully restocked with all the precious books that saved him from the black hole that he was sucked into when the sun dominated the sky. One night when the library was empty, Ariadne had climbed onto a bookshelf and hid behind some thick history books, making a small space at the top for her to see out of, like she did every night. However, the queer thing about this particular night was that Ariadne noticed Lemony take out a book from his briefcase-a book that Ariadne had seen him read once before. It had a hard blue cover, the bumpy coarse kind which you love to feel, with the words 'For Lemony' encrusted in curled calligraphy. It was the size of a regular-sized book and fit perfectly in Lemony's hands. Ariadne leaned forward as Lemony opened the thick book to the first page. Being directly behind the velvet couch where the man sat, she could see everything that was written on the thick pages. Ariadne could not yet read, but she could make out few words like the names of her friends and basic three to four letter words.
"Risens why I clooudnet muree you" Ariadne whispered to herself, leaning over the books to catch a better glimpse, "By Beatrice Bodulare. That book was written by Beatrice! Hmm…"
Lemony sighed and turned the page to reveal a contents page. There were 200 pages explaining why Beatrice couldn't marry Lemony and 13 chapters explaining each reason. Ariadne squinted to try and read the chapter names, but the words were too small and difficult for Ariadne to read before Lemony flipped to page 157 and began to read. After a few minutes, salty tears began to slide down Lemony's cheek. Ariadne was intrigued by Lemony's sudden change in emotion, she leant forwards more and more to get a better view of the incident. Then she pushed forward a little too much. Bang! A large thick history book plummeted to the navy blue carpet. Lemony Snicket swiftly twisted round to see Ariadne sitting on a shelf above him frozen in a startled position.
"Ariadne, what are you doing here?" Lemony whispered, padding over to the orphan and helping her down from the shelf. "How long have you been there?" Lemony quickly wiped the tears from his face and set Ariadne down on the couch.
"Umm, since you got here."Ariadne replied, looking down as Lemony sat beside her, pushing the blue book into his briefcase.
"Did you follow me in here?" Lemony questioned embarrassment and fear in his eyes.
"I guess I need to tell you the truth huh?"Ariadne stuttered and took a deep breath. "I just wanted to see why you were so sad all the time. That's all."
"Me? No, it's just I work very hard all day and I feel very tired." Lemony lied unconvincingly. He picked up the curious child and flung his briefcase over his shoulder. "Come on, it's past your bedtime."
"But why were you crying? Was it Beebe's book?" Ariadne asked inquisitively, a word which here means 'curious and interested".
Lemony struggled to answer the youngster's difficult question. Ariadne's profound lime eyes stared into Lemony's and urged him to answer. After a minute or so, Lemony spluttered a very feeble answer. "B-because it had a very sad story in it, that's all." Which was quite true indeed, for that book was 200 pages filled with depressing and dismal news that Lemony relived every time he read the wretched words. When the two atypical, a word which here means 'odd and unfortunate', characters reached Ariadne's lonesome room, Lemony placed Ariadne inside her cot and leant on the bars whilst she stared up at him with her memorable green eyes. Lemony looked away from her stare at the empty room where 3 children used to live. The walls where Armadillo's drawings used to reside, now bare apart from a photograph of Christopher and Bethany Citrusseed, given to Ariadne by Kit Snicket and a photograph of Armadillo and Raven given to her by them. The desk where Raven's fact books used to be stacked, the bunk-bed where the sisters used to sleep, the toy-trunk that used to be filled with Raven's contraptions and Armadillo's stuffed animals. A yawn from Ariadne broke Lemony's daydream, he turned back to see Ariadne lying with her covers over her. Her eyelids became heavy as she slowly evaluated her discoveries, not led astray by Lemony's half-lie. Lemony smiled, for the first time in many months, with a pleasant gleam in his eye as her softly stroked Ariadne's tufts of midnight brown curly hair. Shocked by the sudden kindness, Ariadne's eyes fluttered open and with a smile, Lemony Snicket gently kissed Ariadne's forehead before disappearing into the black night.
That night was Ariadne Citrusseed's first taste of the secret-her first glimpse at the things that were being kept from her. She knew she needed to know these things, the reasons these aberrant events were bestowed upon her. From that night on she was an investigator.