Memento Mori

Chapter Eleven

If you read my previous chapter, I'm sure you'll know what I mean when I say that Vice Principal Nero liked lemons. Carmelita Spats was Vice Principal Nero's favourite student. She was not only not an orphan, but had a huge home, rich parents, and beautiful clothes. She did when this book is set. Now, she has none of these things.

But this isn't a story about Carmelita Spats. As Carmelita led Duncan and Isadora to Nero's office, her shoes tapping on the hard floor, she sang 'cakesniffers' loudly in a sort of chant.

Carmelita pushed the door, which opened with a creak. The Quagmires didn't expect the Vice Principal to be in his office, but he was, playing the violin. What he was playing was unrecognisable - as you may know, Nero was not what you would call an expert musician.

The Quagmires swallowed hard. They remembered something their father had told them and Quigley suddenly, one night before they went to bed. Remember, triplets, there is no worse sound in the world than someone who can't play the violin attempting to play the violin.

He had said it one night after he and their mother arrived back from a concert five minutes before the childrens' bedtimes. At the time, the Quagmires had simply laughed, said goodnight, and rolled over in bed, but now, Duncan and Isadora realised that perhaps, their father had been right.

"Who dares interrupt a genius when he is rehearsing?" screamed a man, putting down his violin, frustrated, and standing in front of the door.

Now that the Quagmires had seen the man clearly, they could see how dirty and unkempt he was. He had a greasy brown jacket that was far too long for him, and a white shirt that was covered in stains from who-knew-what. He was wearing horrible shorts that were patterned dark green and light green, with muddy shoes. His hair was blonde and slightly long, and his spotted tie was loose and crooked. He smiled sinisterly, revealing rotting yellow teeth.

"Ah, lovely Carmelita." said the man, smiling at her. Then, he turned to the Quagmires, a most disapproving smile on his face. "Twins."

"We are actually trip-" were Duncan's first exasperated words. "Mr. Poe included that in his letter. We watched him write this."

"Yes." Isadora chimed in, already feeling offended and slightly threatened by this strange man. "He said something like 'Duncan and Isadora are triplets, please do not call them twins. Their brother-'"

"Brother Quigley died in a fire." finished Nero rudely.

"Yes, so that still makes us triplets." Duncan explained patiently.

"Yes, so that still makes us triplets." mimicked Nero in a voice that was absolutely nothing like Duncan's. "I don't care. Carmelita, kindly to back to your dorm."

"Oh, of course, Princy." smiled Carmelita before skipping happily away.

"Right." Vice Principal Nero frowned at the children, and then launched into a not-very-welcoming speech.

I won't describe all the tiresome details of said not-very-welcoming speech, but I will say that it was not very welcoming, filled with sighs that weren't very welcoming, and had several not very welcoming pauses for not very welcoming violin music.

I will also say that by the time Vice Principal Nero barked at them to go to their shack for the six hours of sleep they had left until the school day, the triplets were on the verge of tears. In fact, a few tears did spill out when a newspaper was thrown threw the window, landing on Isadora's feet.

The newspaper's front page had an image of a girl and a boy sat next to each other. Both had short, pitch black hair. They looked almost identical, and were both wearing stiff outfits that looked fit for school. The boy was asleep whilst the girl was gently resting her head on his shoulder. Her dark brown eyes looked wide and curious, but if you looked closer, you could see that they were filled with misery and despair.

The Quagmire triplets had made the front page once again.