A Tale of Wretched Occurrences: The Beginning

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓽𝔂-𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

Klaus reaches for the fire escape ladder, pulling it down. You wince at the squeaky hinges, praying the office’s walls are soundproof. When you reach the eye, you discover a glass door in the center. Klaus opens it as quietly as possible, and you sneak into the office.

“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting,” Dr. Orwell’s voice comes from the stairs.

You and your siblings rush to the narrow flight of stairs leading to the third story. You hurriedly duck down, carefully peeking out between the iron bars in the balcony looking down at the floor below. Dr. Orwell comes up just as you crouch down, striding over to the patients’ chair.

“Partner trouble. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Charles?”

“Yes, sir,” Charles says robotically.

“She has Charles,” Violet whispers.

“Now, Charles, would you like to look at the screen and tell me what you see?”

Dr. Orwell points to the screen, which flashes from a black and white spiral to a photo of–

You and your siblings.

“Orphans,” Charles informs her.

“Dangerous orphans,” Dr. Orwell corrects. “Charles, don’t you think you and your partner would finally be happy without those orphans around?”

“We would finally be happy without those orphans around,” Charles repeats.

“She’s hypnotizing him,” Klaus whispers.

Dr. Orwell leans in close. “Charles, you will awaken from your trance when I say the word–”

“Charles, would you like to do your impersonation of a chicken?” Count Olaf interrupts.

Charles begins to cluck.

“I thought I told you to stay in the waiting room.”

“Did you? I must’ve forgotten.”

“Charles, would you like to stop?” Dr. Orwell snaps, clearly annoyed with Count Olaf.

“That’s Count Olaf?” Klaus asks, sounding slightly horrified.

“Shirley St. Ives,” you supply.

“We should go before they see us,” Violet says.

“Wait.”

“I really wanna practice saying the secret words,” Count Olaf says, sounding slightly whiny with his Shirley voice.

“Why? So you can take over when you don’t need me anymore?”

Count Olaf gasps. “Someone has trust issues.”

“Of course I do. I dated you!”

“Secret words?” Violet asks, raising her voice a tiny bit to be heard over Olaf and Orwell’s bickering.

“According to the Encyclopedia Hypnotica, a hypnotist chooses one word to induce hypnotic suggestion and another to break it,” Klaus whisper-explains. “The words could be anything; for example, saying 'super' could put someone into a hypnotic state, and saying 'pine' could snap them out of it.”

Count Olaf and Dr. Orwell have now taken to using Charles as a kind of messenger between them, with Count Olaf telling Charles to tell Dr. Orwell to stop bringing up the past, and Dr. Orwell telling Charles to tell Count Olaf to stop talking in his Shirley voice. You try to adjust your position to see better. Unfortunately, you shift your weight onto a particularly squeaky floorboard. Both Dr. Orwell and Count Olaf go quiet as they look up.