Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 50: We Miss You

*Violet's POV*

I groaned as I sat up in bed, tired of hearing the metal pots, even if they had switched over to the intercoms at some point. I hadn't gotten much sleep because of what happened yesterday evening. I looked over at Klaus to see if he was acting more like himself, but I was surprised to see he wasn't even in bed! His shoes were still on the floor from when I took them off (because otherwise he would have slept with them on).

"Sunny?" I turned to wake Sunny up, but realized she wasn't there. I scrambled out of bed and started practically screaming at the Quagmires. "Klaus and Sunny are gone! Hurry, guys, get out of bed!"

"Oh no," Izzie gasped and the two triplets climbed down their ladders as fast as they could. We forced our shoes on as quick as we could and hurried out of the door. I couldn't see Klaus over the stream of adults, but I assumed he was with them because I heard Sunny wailing like a banshee. All she knew of this was that Klaus and Izzie hadn't come back to the dormitory by the time she went to sleep, so assuming Klaus was still acting strangely, she must've been scared out of her mind!

Sunny started screaming even louder a little after they must have gone into the factory and there were loud shredding noises. I could just barely hear her over all the machines, but I had focused on the small amount I heard and almost tuned out the sounds of the mill. We made it to the entrance and started looking around for them.

"Hemee!!!" Sunny babbled. Klaus was throwing bark into the mulch machine and holding her. I felt my heart stop and the three of us rushed up the stairs to them.

"What are you doing!?" I cried. Klaus continued throwing pieces of bark into the shredder and not answering me. I pulled Sunny out of his arms and he continued shredding, moving almost robotically. "You're frightening us, Klaus. What's going on!?" Still, no answer.

The four of us stared at Klaus. There was no way this was him. He hates worrying us. Duncan had enough of the horrible show and turned off the machine and grabbed Klaus' wrist midair. "Stop it, and we can leave." He pleaded.

"Lucky Smells is our life. Lucky Smells is our home." He said to Duncan.

"No. This isn't home, Klaus." I said. "A home is where people take care of you, not make you work in a mill for gum. This is no home. Izzie and I should have listened to you when you two wanted to go."

"This isn't you, Klaus," Izzie said. "If you- the Klaus that we love- is still in there, we want you to know we miss you an inordinate amount!"

"'Inordinate'?" Phil giggled behind us. "What... What the heck does that mean?"

"It can mean several things," Klaus said, squinting at him. "Immoderate, irregular. But in this case, I think it means you guys missed me a lot..."

"Klaus!" I sighed in relief.

"You're back!" Izzie said, hugging him. It looked like she was hugging tight enough to split the poor guy in half! He hugged back anyways even though he seemed so confused.

"Where was I?" He asked, slightly breathless, probably from the human vise around him... "And why am I not wearing shoes?" He asked after glancing down. Izzie giggled and let go of him.

"What do you mean?" Duncan asked. "You left without them on. You almost went to bed with them on too, but Violet took them off. Do you not remember?"

"My memory is really hazy. I can't remember anything after a short, and frankly uncomfortable, conversation with Dr. Orwell, and now I'm here, shoeless? And I can hardly see."

"We don't know what's going on here, but-"

"Baude-liars!" Foreman Flacutono said over the intercom. "You have visitors. Go to the visitor's center."

"I remember where it is," Duncan said. "There wasn't much on the map, so it's hard to forget."

"Can we get my shoes first?" Klaus asked, and Izzie giggled again.

"Sure thing," I said. "I wonder who's visiting us."

"Maybe it's Mr. Poe and he's come to take us out of here," Duncan theorized.

"Wouldn't that be a happy ending..." Isadora sighed.

After Klaus grabbed his shoes, we started for the visitors center and I started to think more and more about who it could be visiting us. "What if it's our parents?" I blurted out.

"As your friend, Violet, I want to support your positive thinking," Duncan said. "But as a fellow orphan, I hate to fill you with false hope. Izzie and I hoped for what felt like eons that our family would come breaking down Olaf's door to rescue us, but they didn't..."

"Duncan and I know what we're talking about..." Izzie nodded. "If that's the only hope that keeps you going, you're going to end up feeling lonely and depressed each day they don't pop up..."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to say that..." I mumbled. "I was letting my imagination get the better of me..."

The visitor's center was a sad looking place. It looked like there had been no visitors in ages. The door opened and two ladies stepped out. Izzie gave one of them a death glare, and anger burned clearly in her eyes. Klaus seemed to be made frightened by the same woman, so based on their reactions I assumed that to be Dr. Orwell. The other one, however, frightened me. I realized she was no lady; she wasn't even a she. The nametag on the shirt might have said Shirley St. Ives, but the person wearing it was Shirley Count Olaf.