The Quagmires

Chapter 23: The Horrific Heartache

Going through a sorrowful event, such as losing a loved one, just once, is bad enough, but the unlucky Quagmire triplets had to endure not one sorrowful event, but two of the same kind. Oh, if I could just go back in time and help those poor Quagmire triplets, or must I say those two poor Quagmire triplets. Maybe helping them out would have cured my own sorrow, but this story is not about me. It is about the lives of the Quagmire triplets, and it is my solemn duty to report it to you.

They turned over in pain. They were finally regaining consciousness. 

"Duncan?" muttered Quigley.

He opened his eyes only to find himself on Briny beach. Thanks to this surprise, his eyes grew wider and he yelled for his brother. "Duncan!"

"Quigley?"

His brother landed quite far away from Quigley, but pretty close to Hector. Quigley immediately got up, and began running to his brother. However, he stopped in his tracks due to a pain in his right leg, and began limping towards his brother.

"Quigley, are you alright?" Duncan noticed how his bother was limping instead of walking normally towards him.

"I'm fine. Where's Isadora?" Quigley squinted his eyes, but Isadora was nowhere to be seen. "Duncan! Duncan, we've lost Isadora."

"What?! I'm sure she's somewhere around here. She might've landed far away from us. I'm sure she's alright." Duncan was trying to reassure his triplet brother, but he knew deep down that he was reassuring himself too. "Look, let's wake Hector up, then we can look for Isadora. I'm sure he's  fine."

Quigley sighed and struggled to walk to where Hector landed, but managed it. Duncan beat him to it, though, and he was already shaking Hector awake.

"What?" he mumbled. "What's happening?"

Hector suddenly sat up. 

"We're okay. Remember? We jumped from the self-sustaining hot air mobile home," Duncan explained.

"Is that," Hector pointed to a wrecked, massive basket in the water, "My invention?"

"Unfortunately," Quigley interrupted, "Yes."

"Come on, we'll pull it out of the water," began Duncan. "Maybe we can get it up and running."

Hector nodded, and so did Quigley. Luckily, the self-sustaining hot air mobile home had landed on the shore, so it was easy to pull out. The supply baskets and the supplies were gone, and the hot air mobile home wasn't working, but asides from that, it seemed fine.

"Now we look for Isadora," demanded Quigley.

"Of course," replied Duncan. "She's my sister too, you know."

"She's not just our sister, Duncan. She's our triplet. I mean, we've been together since before birth, and I can't bear to lose her. Not again."

"Me too, Quigley. Me too."

The three of them, Hector, Duncan, and Quigley, began walking. No one knew where they were going and what they were going to do, but they just kept walking in hopes of finding Isadora.

They walked for hours and hours, until they reached someplace strange. Someplace dim and invaded with crows. 

"Well that's a scary house," shivered Hector.

"Look," said Duncan as he pointed to a house just across the street to the one they were looking at. It seemed to be the prettiest house on the block. It had trees growing pink flowers on its front yard and an elegant white fencing. There was a small pathway that led to a few stairs, leading to the house's red door. The house was painted a pretty blue and had a few more plants at its entrance. 

"This reminds me of Ms. Adria's house," frowned Duncan. "She was our first guardian," he added when he saw the confused look on Hector's face.

"It's a really pretty house," stated Quigley, and almost immediately a woman with white, curled hair, burst out of the door. She was wearing a black gown with a little bit of white near the neck. She looked just like a judge. When she saw the Hector, Duncan, and Quigley on her door, she greeted them nicely.

"Oh, hello there. Have we met before?"

"I don't believe so," began Duncan.

"I'm Quigley Quagmire," introduced Quigley. "This is my brother Duncan," he said, pointing at Duncan, "And this is Hector," he explained as he gestured towards Hector.

"They've lost their triplet sister," explained Hector with a huge frown on his face. "We hope we'd find her, but we've walked for hours-"

"There's still no sign of her," interrupted Duncan as he almost broke down into tears.

"Well come in, you can't just stay out here."

"Thank you," Quigley smiled, and he gave his brother a sympathetic look when he saw the tears in his eyes. He approached Duncan and whispered to him, "We'll find her. She's a powerful girl, so wherever she is, I'm sure she's okay."

They walked into the woman's wonderful house. The Quagmires didn't know what it was, but something about her made them trust her.

"I'm Justice Strauss, and this is my home. I'm sorry if I seem a little bit off, but I've just lost a set of friends. A teenage girl, her slightly younger brother, and their little sister.

Quigley thought for a while, and then it came to him. To his surprise, Duncan had said the same thing he did at the same time. "Were they the Baudelaires?"

"Yes, in fact, they were."

She gestured them to follow her into the library. She opened the large, wooden doors of her library and the three people were surprised with what they witnessed. Just opposite to the entrance was the picture of a judge above a fireplace. Books were on every wall except the wall opposite to the entrance and the entrance itself. There was a circular table in the center of the room with two chairs and many other chairs around the room. A chandelier was hanging from the ceiling and several lamps were beside any chair, probably to help with reading. There were two narrow windows, allowing some natural light to enter this beautiful library.

Quigley couldn't help but make a nice comment on this wondrous library, "This is-"

"Amazing," interrupted Duncan.

"It really is," added Hector.

"Thank you. Have a seat." She gestured towards the table and pulled two more chairs towards it. Quigley sat to Duncan's right, and Hector sat to Quigley's right. Justice Strauss was sort of facing the Quagmires. "Now, would you mind explaining how you lost your sister, and how you know the Baudelaires?"

"Not at all," Duncan began. "After the death of our parents, we lost Quigley. Everyone thought he was dead. Isadora," he paused, remembering that Isadora was kidnapped. "We were sent to live with a guardian. She, too, died. Afterwards, we were sent to Prufrock Preparatory School. That's where we met the Baudelaires. We were helping them escape Count Olaf, when we were kidnapped by him and his troupe. We were taken to the Village of Fowl Devotees, where the Baudelaires rescued us and sent us with Hector in a self-sustaining hot air mobile home. Weeks later we reunited with Quigley..."

"...Not too soon after I boarded the hot air mobile home, eagles attacked it. So, we created parachutes from sheets and jumped off of it," Quigley was lost in explanation, and even if you were to speak to him, he wouldn't notice. "We landed on Briny Beach, but Isadora was the only one not there. We walked for hours in hopes of finding her, and we ended up here."