𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 [𝘼𝙎𝙊𝙐𝙀]

Eleven

Klaus, Violet and Sunny Baudelaire stared with hopeful eyes at the file before them. – "Do you think..." – Violet spoke, afraid to finish her sentence. – "One way to find out." – Replied Klaus with a shaky voice. He swallowed soft, moving his trembling hand towards the file, ready to open it. – "Wait!" – Violet grabbed Klaus's hand, preventing him from going any further. – "What... what if we don't want to know the answer?" – Klaus could see the angst in her older sisters eyes. She was always so brave and now she was shaking. Afraid. – "Either nothing changes, or everything does..." – Violet didn't let go of his hand, still unsure if they should continue. – "I don't think if I can do this?" – Violet's eyes started to get glossy, her vision slowly blurring with tears. – "Having to go through all that pain again." – Klaus closed his eyes for a second, understanding her. Sunny spoke some words, hinting to her parents. – "Yes, Sunny." – Klaus lowered himself to her height. – "Are you alright with finding out the truth?" – Sunny was a Baudelaire too. No matter her age, Klaus thought she should have a say in this too. – "If you don't want to... we can just put the file back. If you do want to know, I can look through it alone?" – Klaus gave her two options, letting her think for a moment.

He pulled himself back up, gazing at Violet. He took her hand, giving it a soft squeeze. Sunny spoke that she wanted to know, making Violet close her eyes. A single tear rolled down her cheek. – "You don't have to go through this alone, Violet. Sunny and I are right here." – his words gave her some comfort as she nodded for him to proceed. Klaus turned back to the file before him on the table. Violet picked Sunny up, letting her have a watch as well. – "Ready?" – Asked Klaus before opening the file. Violet hummed, moving Sunny closer to her. Klaus adjusted his glasses before opening the file. The file fell, open, pictures clipped at the top, documents stapled to the back by their top. Klaus handed the pictures of burned down houses to Violet. She laid them down, separating them from each other. There were at least five or six pictures of burned down houses. Many houses she didn't recognize, till one did. – "Klaus." – she breathed out. Klaus stopped reading the first document, flashing his attention to the pictures. – "Our house." – Violet had picked up the photo, showing it to Klaus. Klaus snatched it from her, holding it down. The longer he looked at his old house, the angrier he got. He was at the brink of crumbling the photo in his hand from rage.

Sunny took the photo from him before he could, passing it on to Violet. Sunny brought Klaus back to his senses, reminding him to read the file. He nodded, leaning over the documents. He scanned the documents quickly, rapidly reading for any information. The first document was useless as he lifted it up to reveal the second one. – "Here!" – he slapped his finger on a line, startling Violet. – "What does it say?" – Violet shakily asked. Klaus started to read the lines around it for more context before speaking. – "False alarm." – he mumbled. Violet sighed relieved as Klaus went through more pages. Near the end, the 13th page, paused Klaus. – "I have something." – he spoke. Violet came leaning in closer with Sunny as Klaus quoted. 'Due to the evidence discussed on page 9, experts now suspect that there may in fact be two survivors of the fire, but the survivor's whereabouts are unknown.' – "Survivors?" – Repeated Violet while Klaus was quickly flipping back to page 9. – "Klaus!" – Violet squealed out as Klaus tried to focus. He read everything in such speed. His heartbeat pumping soft in his neckline. – "The pictures, quickly!" – Called Klaus out in haste. Violet almost threw them at him from the nerves. Klaus turned the pictures around, to see if they were numbered. They were indeed as he turned them all around.

He was mumbling some numbers, repeating them so he wouldn't forget about them. He spotted the two numbers quickly as he picked up the pictures. – "What is it?" – Violet asked, seeing Klaus hesitate to turn them around. His shoulders moved up in big motions, the anxiety dripping of him. – "Klaus is it?" – Violet asked again. He shook his head. – "There are two different numbers meaning... meaning the survivors are from two different houses..." – he replied, making Violet gasp in sorrow. – "So... not our parents..." – she was afraid to speak out the words, but they needed to be spoken. – "No... not our parents..." – Spoke Klaus back, his gaze still locked on the blank backs of the pictures. A number in black in their corners. – "Then who?" – Violet had swallowed her sorrow away. Nothing had changed. Her parents were still death. She didn't know why she ever had that sparkle of hope inside of her. She had been around long enough to know; happy endings could never happen in their story. Still it ached a bit, knowing her parents hadn't made it out alive. In one quick motion, flipped Klaus the two photos' around. He looked at the picture in his left hand as he didn't recognize the house. Then his eyes glided to the picture in his right hand as he recognized the house. – "Y/n?" – your name rolled off his tongue so quickly that his mind couldn't keep up.