The Baudelaires (Unedited)

12: "I blame that on Count Olaf"

On the wall was the letters VFD in the green ink that showed only on blacklight rays.
Underneath the letters was:
My lady was pretty, and I was lonely.
Now I'm pretty lonely.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Klaus asked.
"It sounds as if the person who wrote this is mourning." I mumbled, turning on my lamp.
Klaus looked at me, "do you think your Father wrote this?"
"No, why?"
"He was pretty lonely."
"But, he hardly did stuff like this, he wouldn't-" I sighed, trampling over my own words,"he hardly even came over to Montgomery's. Rarely even."
"It isn't a far fetched idea though, is it?" Klaus counteracted.
"I..." I couldn't finish.
If my Father did do this, it would explain why he is even more depressed. He lost his dragonfly.
"It's not a bad thing if he really did, he's just getting his feelings of his chest." Klaus reassured and sat on the end of my bed.
"I guess not." I said as I turned off the spyglass, sighing again.
I got out of bed, leaving my book open, picking up my spyglass and opened the door slowly.
"Where are you going?" Klaus asked, confused, getting up.
"Downstairs. I want to find a book on snakes." I smiled.
"It's dark-" he was cut off by me holding up my spyglass and twisting the slides.
"I have to come with you." Klaus laughed.
"Fine. But, you can't be picky on what books I grab."
"Okay!" He walked in front of me, getting out his own spyglass and turning the light on.
I closed the door and turned off the lights in the bedroom, leaving the others in a peaceful slumber.

The stairs were broken slightly, they felt as if they were to collapse due to age, we had to be very careful.
It was cold down here, I wasn't wearing my jumper. It was just as cold as the night in the basement, as if a window was left open, or a general draft.
Klaus then broke the creepy silence, "It's horrible, the reptile room, only because Uncle Monty died there."
"What did "Stephano" do again?"
""Stephano" injected him with the deadly viper's venom. Right in the cheek."
"Oh my god, that's a stretch."
"Other than throwing people to leeches, I think it's mediocre."
"Have you ever...?"
"Yes, but technically not consciously. I was hypnotised."
"Oh, tell me about it."
"I'm not sure if I-"
"Klaus, it's fine." I said, opening the reptile room door.
"Fine. I just...sawed somebody's leg off at Lucky Smells, that's all."
"Not as bad as what I did when I was hypnotised, honestly.."
"What did she make you do?"
"I killed someone..."
"What?" He looked at me.
"Yeah.." I sighed, "bad, huh? I don't think it was someone she liked."
"No, obviously not."
"So, I killed someone."
"But, technically, so did I. So we're equal."
"Did the guy die of the amputated leg?"
"No, Dewey, remember?"
"I blame that on Count Olaf, he dropped the harpoon gun."
"But, we could've stopped the actual harpoon."
"Klaus, you would've died."
"So?"
"Beatrice wouldn't have been saved."
"But still, the library would have a librarian. And Frank and Earnest would still have a brother. Plus, Frank wouldn't be as lonely."
"Not as important as a baby. You guys could still be the librarians, you know what he said. You even told me word for word what he said."
"I guess so." He said as he grabbed a whole stack of books from a shelf, "this good enough?"
"Yeah, we could read together." I smiled, "just pick up the ones you want." I grabbed some books too and started walking back upstairs.
"At least we're not on the lam." Klaus smiled.
"I guess so. Well, would you call this running from danger, on the lam?"
"No, we're going to find sanctuary!" He laughed as he started walking back up.

I sat back on my bed and slammed them next to me as Klaus sat beside me.
"What books did you get?" Klaus asked me.
"The usual animal book," I fiddled threw them, "and What Benefits the Body?"
"Apparently, happiness is beneficial for the body."
"I never expected otherwise." I smiled.
"That's what I said when I first heard that."
"Twins, huh?"
"Yeah. I guess we very much are."
I laughed slightly and started reading, "Life is a conundrum of-" I sighed, "the page was ripped out."
"It sounds like something Uncle Monty would say, it's on the tip of my tongue."
"I know what you mean, I know what he said it's just-"
"You can't seem to say it."
"Exactly." I nodded.
I turned to the other wall and twisted my spyglass all the way around.

Klaus read all the words on the wall. A gigantic eye in the middle and the words Look Away everywhere. It was as if the eye was indicating something.
"This must be done by a member on the other side." Klaus thought.
"Is that what the eye is showing?" I asked.
After a few minutes we both answered my question in unison, "VFD."
"But, why here?" Klaus questioned.
"Uncle Monty was a big part of VFD, I mean, bigger than most people."
"In what way?"
"He knew things others didn't, and not just about snakes. He knew how to figure out codes that nobody had even known about at the time. And he was big in books. This could've easily been done by someone who hates him." I explained.
"Or just generally Count Olaf, you know that people didn't look at what he was doing. They were all looking away." He smiled as if he had cracked the code.
I smiled, "yes, maybe Count Olaf if you're going to look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Your smile is beaming, like you just sorted something."
He laughed, "I think I did."
"Maybe you did. We don't know as both of those people are dead."
"We'll never know." We both sighed.