Kladora - It Was Different

Into The Unknown

I think back now to how things were when I was just 13. Everything seemed a mystery, everything seemed hopeless. Yet, as I think about it, I realise that I shouldn't have ever worried. I've never known a darkness like the one without my parents, before we found Quigley, before we found the Baudelaires, but I look at it and see just how dark it was, in comparison to the light I have found.

After we found Quigley, we didn't know where to go, none of us did. I was scared then, too, but I didn't have a reason to be. I didn't have my parents, but I had my brothers, the friends I'd found and the boy I was very quickly falling for. I had questions, swarms of them, but I learned then that not knowing something, however frustrating, is not your life's focus. 

We drove for a few miles, before we ran out of gas. I knew the Baudelaires were wanted, and we probably were too, as accomplices, so we couldn't go to a gas station, not that we had the means to pay, anyways. We decided to just get out and walk, and although significantly better than before, everything still seemed to be cast in shadows and gloom. 

I still thank the lord every day that the darkness I felt on that day would be one of my last. We didn't even get 3 blocks before a woman who looked strangely familiar pulled up beside us in a yellow taxi. I knew I'd never seen her before, but something about her cheek bones, and her hair was strikingly familiar to me. 

It was her words that made it all clear. Before anyone of us could say a word, she'd used one of our most sought after phrases in that moment.

"The world is quiet here." 

She didn't have to say much more, because she simply stated her name, Kit Snicket, and we were all squishing into the back of her taxi. It seemed a wonder we all got in, actually, seeing as there were six of us, but we managed, and we drove off. It seemed a weight was taken off our shoulders. I knew it was gone the moment I locked eyes with Klaus, because in that gaze we passed a silent, mutual message of relief and contentment. We were going to be okay.

Within moments, many of my questions were being answered. We learned about the schism, our parents, our enemies, and why we hadn't been rescued before, and countless things about VFD I was glad to know. Even with all those things answered, the most important thing she told us was how courageous, resourceful and brave we'd been, and that our adversities were coming to a close, or at least they were highly likely to.

She drove us to the Hotel Denouement, the last safe VFD headquarters, she explained. Despite the fact she seemed relieved to see us, I could see a sadness and longing in her eyes that I recognised from myself and all the other orphans in this car. When she stepped out, it didn't take me, or anyone else for that matter, to understand why she seemed so distraught. Kit was heavily pregnant, but seemed much happier to be back at the hotel. I presumed someone she loved was there, and I hoped it was the father of her baby.

Although we were happy to be safe, we didn't get to stay at the Hotel Denouement on a vacation. We had a mission to complete, and it was essential we did it. I did learn that Kit's fiance was here, and was one of the managers of the hotel. Dewey Denouement and his brother Frank were very helpful to us, yet, we were very confused as to which of them was which. Not to mention their brother Earnest, though he was on the other side of the schism. 

In the three weeks we spent in the Hotel, I grew to know and love the people with me even more than I already did, if that's possible. Not only did I find out how Quigley survived the fire, I grew to be best friends with Violet and Sunny. We didn't separate or grow apart in our own things, as I feared we might, we merely grew closer. 

Klaus and I grew closer too. We learned every single thing about each other, and spent every spare moment we had with each other, even if we were with the others. My brothers did hold a little grudge towards Klaus for the first couple of days, mostly because they suddenly realised that they had let a boy kiss their sister.