Secrets

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Dismal" would be a word to describe certain situations in which one might find themselves in during their lifetime.

For example, it was a dismal day when a fellow colleague of mine boarded a train bound for Middleton, Ohio and this train happened to be carrying a series of large cages, in each contained a large weasel with sharp teeth and equally sharp claws. Somehow, during the train ride, the weasels managed to pick the locks on their cages and pry open the door of the baggage car. During said time, my colleague was having lunch was halfway through a peanut butter and tuna sandwich when the weasels surrounded him. It is a well-known fact that weasels like peanut butter, especially on toast, but on this unfortunate day, were willing to eat the peanut butter with tuna. They began clawing and biting my colleague with those sharp teeth so that he would release the sandwich for them. His cries of pain and strange dance as he attempted to fight off the attacking weasels caught the attention of other passengers who called for the conductor. The conductor came over and lured the weasels away with more peanut butter. It was a particularly dismal day as my colleague did not make it to his location as he was forced off the train into a hospital bed in which he was given peroxide and several rabies shots, which I'm you know are very dismal indeed.

Another particular dismal situation was when the woman I loved so dearly and myself planned to go for a picnic by the seashore. It was going to be a wonderful afternoon in which we could discuss current events, as well as watch sailboats, go by. However, due to my lack of foresight into meteorology, our picnic ended up being ruined due to dismal weather with rain, thunder and an unfortunate amount of sea lions, all whom chased us away from our picnic spot and ate all the wonderful food that the women I loved so dearly had worked hard to prepare. We ended up sitting under a tree in wet clothing, discussing the current situation of the sea lions eating our food and the waves overturning any boats that were unlucky enough to be caught in the rough waves. Of course, much more dismal things happened to both of us since then, mostly separately, but the day still sticks out in my mind as a particularly dismal event.

As dismal as these situations might be, nothing could be as unfortunate as you coming across this dismal book. If you which to find something happy and upbeat within these pages, I suggest that you drop this book down or feed it to some hungry weasels or sea lions and find something else to read. Much like my research with the Baudelaires, this story is no less dismal than any of the ones I have written before.

The girl which this story follows is a girl named Holly S. There is no indication of a last name, at least not one that I am aware of. My research into this young girl's life is limited because any time I found documentation of her name, it was always blotted out, something I could never quite explain, but my assumption was to keep her name concealed from the unwanted eyes of her enemies. Much like future events, Holly S's life is clouded in mystery, misinformation and a sense of murkiness, a phrase which here means, unclear and hard to explain. The best I can give you on her life before she came to Prufrock Preparatory School was that she lived with one guardian, her father since she was six years old. She lived on the outskirts of a small seaside town that I am unable to find the name of and that she enjoyed a good swim in the lake rather frequently. Unlike my investigation with the Baudelaires, I have not had the opportunity to visit where Holly supposedly visited and lived, mostly due to a financial strain, as well as my recovery from an unfortunate incident involving a blow torch, a pound of molasses and a ship's fog horn. That itself was a very dismal episode.

It was also a very dismal day and equally dismal night when this young girl was dropped off on the doorstep of Prufrock Preparatory School. Despite the very dismal weather that had been plaguing this part of the city at this particular time, the girl had been dropped off at night, when the school and the administration office in which she was supposed to register was closed for the night. This left her without a bed or a roof over her head or a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich to eat while she waited. At that particular moment, Holly had wished that she may have been attacked by hungry weasels or been rained on or been showered with molasses than be in this dismal place.