the forgotten story of lily angof ➳ klaus baudelaire ( asoue )

seven ➳ the angof household

THE NEXT DAY, WE VISITED Mr. Poe to inform him of the dreadfulness of Count Olaf.

"Mr. Poe," started Violet. "He's horrible. Can't you see? He struck Klaus and Lily. Look at the bruises."

He barely gave our marks a second glance, and instead looked hastily around the room for a way out of the conversation. However, the room was nearly bare, and he found no such excuse.

When he finally looked at our bruises, he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "Count Olaf couldn't have done that. He must have tripped and fell on you, or it could have been a hallucination. Your minds must be very unstable after that trag-" his sentence was cut off by a fit of coughing.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "I think I know the difference between my imagination and reality, thank you."

Mr. Poe stopped his hacking to add, "Count Olaf is an actor. Everyone knows that actors are very trustworthy people."

There isn't a single trustworthy actor on Earth, I thought. Their only job is to lie.

I tried another tactic. "Mr. Poe, he makes us do all of his chores."

Mr. Poe sighed. "He is your guardian. He can give you any chores he likes."

"The list is a mile long! It takes us all day!"

"Well I think that's a bit of an exaggeration," he chuckled.

Klaus raised his voice to be heard over Mr. Poe's condescending laughter, "He calls us orphans!"

"Well," Mr. Poe replied, "you are."

"But it's incredibly rude!" I said pointedly. "We have to be reminded that our parents are dead every time he addresses us!"

"I don't think being rude is a good enough reason to remove you from his custody." I clenched my fists. "Now, I need you out. I have some very important, uhh-" he paused "-bank stuff to do." He rustled us out of his office, calling for his secretary to come assist. She seemed to be missing.

"Mr. Poe, wait!" I said, pushing against him to keep the door open. "Why can't we just stay at my house? And why can't I get my possessions? Only the Baudelaire house was burned down."

I felt Klaus flinch beside me.

Mr. Poe said, "you're a child. Why do you want to know all of this legal business?"

"Because it's my right to know."

"Fine," he said. "In your parents' will it says that you will gain all of their possessions and fortune when you come of age. Until then, no one may enter your house, and you must stay with the Baudelaires."

His words planted a thousand questions in my mind. Why can't I go in my house? What were my parents thinking? I wasn't allowed my clothes or books or anything until I was grown?

"Well that's ridiculous," I said halfheartedly.

"Well I didn't come up with it." Mr. Poe faked a smile. "Now that I've told you all you want to know, can you please go back to wherever you're supposed to be?"

No. He didn't tell us all we wanted to know. I still had other questions I needed answering, and yet I walked out just like he asked.

The Baudelaires and I stood in the lobby of Mulctuary Money Management frustrated and wondering where to go next.

Until I had an idea. "We could go to my house. I know Mr. Poe said that my parents forbade it in their will, but no one will ever know. We can sleep there, or at least get some stuff."

The two eldest siblings exchanged a look I could't understand. Though I was practically family to them, I still couldn't decipher their unspoken language.

"Ok," Violet decided. "But only if no one's around. We can't risk getting in trouble."

•••

My house was only a few blocks away, but once we arrived we realized the walking had been for nothing. By the front door stood a police officer with his eyes trained ahead towards the gate.

"Is there any other way in?" Klaus asked me.

"No," I said, defeated. Though there were other doors, the gate was the only way into the yard, and it was too tall to climb.

I sat down next to a tree on the other side of the sidewalk and began to pick at the grass. Klaus sank down beside me.

"Are you alright?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah." Though it was bright and sunny today, all the colors seemed much more vibrant on the rainy morning before my parents died.

I remembered it clearly- I had had my nose stuck in a book all morning. I wish I knew that was the last morning I'd share with my parents. I wouldn't have cared about that book at all.

It was mid-morning when I sat in the library with my mom and dad, each of us reading. I glanced up when I heard the sound of howling wolves outside the window.

"What was that?" I asked. Wolves didn't live in the city.

My mom looked up. Her green eyes held a serious expression. "Nothing."

It couldn't be nothing, I thought. Nothing can't make a sound.

But I didn't say it. I was too eager to get back to my book.

What I didn't know then was that both of my parents stared at me expectantly for a few seconds. I didn't respond, so my dad stood up and said, "Lily, you're going to spend the day with the Baudelaire children at the beach. Your mother and I will be with their parents."

"Alright," I said, closing my book. I wish I'd asked why they would send me away so suddenly.

But I didn't. I only asked if it would be sufficiently polite to bring a book along to our outing.

"Of course," my mom replied. "'Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.'"

"That's some very sound advice."

"An old friend once told me that." She looked mournfully to the side before heading to the car to drive to the Baudelaire's.

I thought nothing of our quick goodbyes then. I never knew that would be the last thing I told them. I wish I'd memorized my parent's faces better. I wish I'd payed attention to the exact shade of red my dad's hair was. I wish I remembered what color my mom's nails were painted that day. I wish-

"Lily." Klaus placed his hand gingerly on my shoulder. I could see him trying to figure out what I was thinking. His eyes made an effort to break through the wall I had built to keep him out of my thoughts.

"I'm okay now." I didn't want to worry him. I thought about my house, less than thirty feet away, yet I couldn't go in it for years. A part of me wished my house had burned down too. It would be so much easier if it was completely gone.

I laid my head on Klaus' shoulder and remembered the book I had been reading. I left it at Briny Beach that morning.

I don't think I'll ever be able to finish it.