Duncan Quagmire and Violet Baudelaire: A Reunion

Chapter 16 - Violet Baudelaire

Violet prodded gently on Klaus's shoulder as he slept against the wall. Shelves, filled with toilet rolls, sprays and buckets were on top of them as they layed uncomfortably on the ground. Sunny was awake, she was walking around the small clean-up closet while Violet was trying to wake her brother. "Klaus! Wake up!"
Her brother kept on sleeping for another few seconds before he awoke abruptly. "Wait! What's going on!"
"Don't worry. I checked outside and it's five o'clock. We should be able to get back to our room now." Violet assured. She had another bad dream that night, although they only slept for about three hours. Violet couldn't quite remember her dreams but she had a feeling that it included the Quagmires...
She awoke in the dark and shifted, causing Sunny to wake up. Violet sneakily crept out of the room, into the dark corridor and tried to feel her way downstairs to the living room, where windows stood in the walls. The blue sky, not too bright but not pitch black filtered in through the trees so she could see the grandfather clock standing on one side of the room.
Klaus sat up and rubbed his eyes, before putting his glasses on. "How are we going to get in to our room if it's locked?"
"We'll just go into a room and go through the air vent back to our room." And they did. The Baudelaire's found a room full of animal cages and unbolted the bolts. This time, Violet was in front and she steered the three in the right direction back to their room. Once they were back, Violet closed up the air vent and put all of their things on the unslept bed.
"What are we going to do now?" Violet asked. Normally she was the leader, the one who would make plans, but this time she was at loss of what to do.
"Well the two options are simple. To stay here or run away. Staying here would be too risky, Count Olaf and Esmé are here and they could find out we know about them and close on in on us. But running away..."
"Although the practical option is to stay here, under the minimal protection of Mrs. Hadley, you're right, it's too risky."
"If we get out of here," Klaus added, "We could use the booklet to find other V.F.D. members and stay with them. It is our best option."
Violet nodded. "But what about Duncan and Isadora? What should we do about them?"
"Well once we get to our new guardian, we should find them." So their plan was settled. They would leave the Hadley mansion and try to get to the house of another V.F.D. member. At about quarter past five in the morning, Klaus, Sunny and Violet started packing. They all changed into new clothes they found in the gigantic walk-in closet that was adjacent to their room.
Violet just picked a pair of camo printed khakis, a plain, white shirt and some black trainers. Klaus dressed in a grey shirt, along with pair of sage green trousers. They both picked Sunny a baby blue shirt and some grey trousers, along with a bright green bow on her head.
Violet decided that they would only carry one bag, full of necessities so she included a pouch of money, a change of clothes, a book, her trusty ribbon, a toy for Sunny and the most important, Count Olaf's letter and the address notebook.
After they had everything packed, the three drifted off asleep, for they had been awake until two thirty and woke up at five. Little did Violet know that Count Olaf stood outside of their room the whole night and only just snapped awake when she turned off the lights.

Because it was Saturday, and also the comfortable beds, the Baudelaire's woke up a bit later than usual. The sun, now fully risen was shining on Violet's eyes whilst Sunny was jumping up and down on her bed. Violet immediately checked the clock and sighed when it read half past nine.
She got up from the first pleasant sleep she had in ages and put Sunny, who was clearly too energised from the sleep, down. After washing her face, brushing her teeth and tying her hair up into a high pony tail, Violet woke up Klaus, for the second time that day.
Once Klaus and Sunny were fully ready, they all made their way downstairs to the dining room where Mrs. Hadley and Count Olaf sat, having breakfast. The largest assortment of food was layed in the middle of the dining table, even more food than dinner which Violet thought was impossible. Fruits, pastries, jars of cereal, granola, spreads, yogurt and toast filled the dining table.
As soon as the three walked in, Mrs. Hadley stood up. "Good morning children, please help your self. Did you have a good sleep?"
Klaus smiled warmly at his guardian. "It was a fantastic sleep." Violet felt Count Olaf's eyes  narrow on her and she chose to ignore it. The three sat down and had a great, but silent breakfast. Violet made sure to eat as much as she can because she may not have another meal like this for a while.
After they finished the delicious and filling breakfast, Violet, Klaus and Sunny still sat, taking an occasional glance at Mrs. Hadley who was gracefully cutting her apple in half. They waited and waited and waited. How long is this woman going to take? It felt like they sat there for hours, waiting on this woman to finish breakfast. Finally once Mrs. Hadley finished on her breakfast, she stood up, politely thanked the staff and the cooks and left the room.
On cue, the three stood up, thanked the staff as well and went after Mrs. Hadley. They caught up with her while she was going up the stairs. "Mrs. Hadley! There's something we need to tell you." Violet called out to her. The woman turned around and smiled.
"Yes, Violet?" She stopped and faced them.
"We should have told you sooner," Violet lied. They had no intention to do so but because they were leaving, Mrs. Hadley should know. "We think that Harold is Count Olaf."
Mrs. Hadley's perfectly shaped eyebrows went up curiously. "And why would you think that?"
Klaus spoke up. "We know him, he's been chasing after us for months and we know what he looks like and we can see past his disguise."
"But I have met him a day before you arrived so how can you explain that if he was after you?"
"Because it was all over the Daily Punctulio that you were going to be our next guardian and he must have had some sort of flying transportation or something to get here quickly. Also, the car was slow and we had many breaks and stayed overnight at a motel. He could have easily catched up."
"Also Esmé," Klaus added, "she's not his assistant or secretary. She is his girlfriend and Count Olaf is using you to try to catch us."
Mrs. Hadley didn't change her venomous expression on the three. She answered, "You should be foolish to even consider that lovely Harold is anything close to that monstrous Count Olaf. Your private tutor will arrive at two and in the meantime, stay in your room." With that, Mrs. Hadley turned on her heels and went back upstairs.
"I feel kind of bad." Violet said, once the were back in their room. It was probably the last conversation they might have with Mrs. Hadley and it ended terribly, despite her being so kind and welcoming to them. Klaus bolted the door for the last time and said, "We need to go on with our plan."
Violet picked up the ready bag off the floor next to their tidy beds and proceeded to the window which was already open. She put the semi-heavy backpack on and stepped aside for Klaus, who was carrying Sunny. He stepped onto the window ledge and scooted down the side of the house. He reached a low roof and held on to it on one arm while carrying Sunny on the other. Klaus gave Violet a thumbsup.
Carefully, she latched onto the window as she got onto the other side. Trying not to look down, Violet edged down the side as well, holding onto the wall for dear life. She finally caught a hold of the roof that Klaus was on and let out a breath of relief.
"Now we have to get onto this tree. We have to jump." Klaus said. A large oak stood in front of them, even taller than the house which Violet had not thought was possible. A large, thick and sturdy-looking branch was outstretched to them. Klaus held tighter on Sunny as he jumped off the roof and landed safely on the branch that was thick enough to walk on, let alone lie upon.
Violet took a deep breath. On the edge. She bent her legs. Arms outstretched. And she took off.