Memento Mori

Chapter Nine

If you have ever been on a drive that lasted more than two hours with nothing besides a sibling to talk to, I have two things to say to you. The first is sorry, as trips can be very tiresome, as can (despite me not having any) siblings. The second is that you probably know exactly how Duncan and Isadora felt, minus the empty feeling of loss and sadness.

As Duncan and Isadora sat in the back of Mr. Poe's cramped car in the dead of night which nobody but each other for company, they felt empty and sad and knew that they had lost everything. Mr. Poe had lost something whilst caring for the Quagmire triplets, and that something was his sanity. However, I have conducted some research on Arthur Poe and it seems his sanity was already gone whilst caring for another orphan who later ran away from him to find her stepfather (I cannot quite remember this orphan's name, although they were female and I seem to recall her last name being Widdershins).

The Quagmire triplets had lost a lot more than their sanity. In fact, they hadn't lost their sanity at  all. They were still the kind, sensible children they had been before the fire, with the same quick minds and eager personality. They still loved each other, and were both very intelligent. But they had lost their home, all of their belongings, their intelligent mother, their daring father, their organised brother. Nobody else they knew had lost more than them.

"I miss Quigley." sighed Isadora sadly.

"He's not coming back, Issy." Duncan whispered softly, resting his head on Isadora's shoulder.

Isadora shook him off almost instantly. "Why would you say that?"

"What?" asked Duncan, astonished. "It's sad and hard to accept, but it's true. He's not coming back, and neither are our parents."

"Why did you have to bring our parents into this?" asked Isadora angrily, glaring at Duncan's surprised face.

Mr. Poe simply hummed, driving his car in the middle of the night.

"But-" Duncan began. He understood that Isadora was still devastated about their losses - he was too - but he couldn't understand why Isadora was snapping at him for mentioning them.

"I'm sorry." interrupted Isadora. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just feel sad."

Duncan nodded. "I understand."

Isadora rested her head on her brother's shoulder. The siblings cringed slightly at Mr. Poe turned around and smiled at their sibling-ness.

"Mr. Poe! Turn!" cried Duncan, pointing at the dangerous, sharp turn in front of them.

"What? Oh, turn." said Mr. Poe calmly. He turned the steering wheel, only missing the turn by a bit. The car bumped and Isadora winced as her left cheek was bashed against Duncan's right shoulder.

After a long, tiresome drive which involved Mr. Poe exclaiming about missed turns and dark roads, Isadora forming several gloomy couplets in her head, and Duncan falling asleep and dreaming of stoves, their flames dancing up until they had engulfed the house that the dream was set in.

"Here we are." said Mr. Poe, slamming his hand down on the steering wheel in satisfaction.

Duncan opened his eyes in relief just as the house fell to the ground in a pile of ash. Isadora lifted her head off of his shoulder and looked up.

Both of the children's faces started in delight, then turned to sadness, then disgust, and then finally, they felt so disappointed that tears formed in their eyes, blurring their vision.

One of the only things you will hear in this book that I am happy to report is the fact that Prufrock Preparatory School is now closed. Gone. Not destroyed, but closed down. Rude students, cruel living conditions, and disrespect of unfortunate children made the school illegal. Not to mention the staff, who had all left, making the school unable to be run. Two had died, two had run away, one had resigned, and one had been arrested for bank robbery.

The school was a dismal place, inside and out. The twelve separate buildings were shaped like a tombstone, eerie and gloomy. The main school looked like some sort of hut, although I can report that it was normal sized, probably the only part of the school that was actually legal.

Mr. Poe stopped his car. "12:06!" he exclaimed, satisfied. "Almost the time I wanted to arrive! Six minutes off, not too bad. What a lovely school."

He stared above the car where a brown arch stood not so proudly, looking ancient. A spider made a web on the corner of the sign, almost invisible from the low distance of the banker and twins.

"Memento Mori." said Mr. Poe, scratching his chin. "What does that mean."

I would say that it means there is no happy ending to anyone's story, and you will understand why I think that when you know what the English translation is.

"Remember..." Duncan bit his lip in thought. "Remember... ah, it'll come to me."

"Isn't it remember you something?" asked Isadora, chiming in.

Then, it dawned on the siblings, and they stared at each other, dark eyes wide as they spoke in unison.

"Remember you will die."