Burning Dreams

𝟙.𝟚

FIre is a funny thing. It's a horrific means of destruction, but it holds a certain beauty to it. The flickering blaze is almost addicting until a person sees the destruction left behind. I was taught that fire was to be used for one thing, and it was destruction. I was taught setting fires should be my sole goal in life. I was shown the destruction of fire first hand and I was told it was something beautiful, but I saw that it was something dangerous. 

My own family had been destroyed in a fire. My entire childhood and my brothers and my mum and dad. All destroyed. After that, I had gone into various foster homes, some good, some bad, until at the age of six, I was kidnapped by a man with a beard and his female accomplice. They had trained me to be a fire starter. It was where I truly learned most of my skills. The skills differed on the sides of the schism. On the fire starting side, we were required to get tattoos on our ankles and we learned how to deceive. We learned how to steal. We learned how to burn. We learned to kill or be killed.

I didn't stay on the fire starting side for forever though. I was rescued when I was twelve. They sent me to Prufrock Preparatory School. I hated it there. I was kept under constant supervision in case I was dangerous. I was bullied and I had no friends.

My education at Prufrock was a trying time for me. I was kept under constant supervision but they never did anything when it came to preventing the bullies. They just let it happen. If I tried to fight back, they would step in. Beatrice, my cousin, was nice enough. She tried to stop them, but she was usually preoccupied with her own friend group. I was struggling with the loss of my family and trauma from my training, and the bullying didn't help me at all. I still remember the feelings of hopelessness I had in my years there.

Only one good thing came out of Prufrock. I had met my husband there. Personally, I don't know why he took interest in me. I was a nerdy little girl who had anger issues and lashed out at anything. I still have the anger issues, but I have learned control since my educational years. 

Unfortunately my control only went so far. My cousin's house was completely destroyed and I knew exactly who was responsible for it. It was Count Olaf. I wanted to scream. I wanted to break something. I wanted to break his nose. How dare he get custody of the children? How dare he? He was going to ruin them. Smily innocent Violet, funny quiet Klaus, and sweet giggly Sunny were going to be ruined. 

Beatrice and Bertrand had never wanted to involve them in our life and I respected it. I understood. Our way of living was a difficult one. The children deserved better. A lot of people deserved better. Our way of living had completely destroyed a village called Paltryville and it had led to the burning of Anwhistle Aquatics. It was destructive. It was like the fire that had destroyed my house and their house and many houses before, between, and in the future. It was a nasty cycle. First, your house burns down, second, they recruit you, third, you burn down houses and recruit children. I still hate it to this day. 

On a particular date in which a particular fire happened I drove by it. The former Baudelaire mansion was destroyed. What was left was charred wood and ashes. The air was still feeling the after affects of the smoke. It still smelled like fire. As I drove up my own driveway, which was a couple miles away, I could smell the smoke from the Baudelaire fire.

I went in and hugged Jacques. "Did you hear?" I questioned him.

He nodded slowly. "I did."

"It's the 6th fire this month." I said. "That's not counting the V.F.D. headquarters. Jacquelyn was there sometime last month and it got burned down sometime between then and now."

Jacques looked at me surprised. "Headquarters was burned down? Did you get the sugar bowl at least?"

I nodded, "yes I did. I don't think they looked for it very well."

"They? Is it the same people again?" He questioned. 

"Yes," I replied. "They're responsible for so many fires and disasters. It's insane."

Jacques nodded his head. "When's your next mission?" 

I thought for a moment. "I don't know yet actually. I was removed from the one I was supposed to leave for tomorrow because of Beatrice's death. I'm planning their funeral so Jacquelyn asked Larry to cover it for me. I need to communicate with Arthur Poe as well about the children's living situation and if there's anything I can do to change it. I don't like Olaf with them." 

He nodded. "Jacquelyn said he pretended to be a consultant to convince Poe to place the children with him. I think it was Yessica Haircut, I believe."

"His inability to disguise himself well is ridiculous." I muttered. It wasn't how we had been trained. We had been trained to disguise ourselves so that not even our loved ones could recognize us. I'd never not been able to recognize Olaf in one of his costumes.

We continued bashing Olaf's costumes over tea. It was getting late and I got up to look in the fridge and cupboards. Shocker, we were out of almost everything. This is what happens when I go on trips. I looked at Jacques. "We need to go to the store. We have no food." 

He looked at me, "yes but it shouldn't matter tonight because we have dinner and a movie with Monty and Gustav."

"I guess," I looked at him disapprovingly. "Is it at Monty's house?"

"Yes," he answered. "We're leaving in an hour." 

I almost dropped my tea cup. That was a ridiculously short amount of time to get ready. "Jacques! I have no time." and I ran upstairs to get ready.