𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 | 𝐊𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐗 𝐅𝐞𝐦!𝐎𝐂

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟖 - Charles and Sir

Charles started to lead the four children towards the office of his partner as they began to question him. "Well, it's a sad story. Paltryville used to be booming. We had a world food market, two hot yoga studios, and there was even talk of a water park." Veronica gave a slight smile to the thought of a more brighter and joyous place, rather than a place full to the brim of smoke and many piles of logs and many small places around. "And then one day, the whole town burned down in a terrible fire. Luckily, the lumbermill survived and the eye-shaped building, which actually belongs to-" Charles then stopped as they arrived at the office. He opened the door and they all came inside; now embracing a more warm and dark environment. Charles then slid open a door to reveal a man and a booming fire behind a desk. "Uh, children, I'd like you to meet-"

"Call me Sir." The man stated. "Everybody does 'cause I tell 'em to. I'm the boss, they have to do what I say, even my partner here." He continued. "But...doesn't partner mean equal?" Veronica asked him in confusion. "I do all the work. He irons my clothes." Sir simply replied; the brunette wanted to facepalm. "I also cook your omelettes. I found them wandering unsupervised, poor dears." Charles gestured to the four children. "Well, you know what we do with trespassers, don't you, Charles?" The children looked at each other as Charles told his partner not to do so; at the expense of them being very young. "Nonsense. I believe you should treat children like grown-ups. Put 'em to work in the mill. It'll teach them responsibility. It'll teach them the value of hard work, and it'll teach 'em how to make flat wooden boards out of trees." Sir continued with his own needs. "But, Sir-"

"Don't argue with me. We're partners."

"If we work in the mill, do we get to stay here?" Violet asked Sir. "Get to?" Klaus said in surprise. "Stay...here?" Veronica arched an eyebrow. "This one gets it." Sir gestures to Violet. "In this economy, children are lucky to have a job at all. What's your name, young lady?" He continued. "Violet Baudelaire." "You're all Baudelaires?" Sir asked in bewilderment. "No, I'm Veronica Bella." Veronica butted in; but that didn't seem to help the case. "Baudelaire and Bella." "Wait, do you...do you know those names?" Klaus asked. "Of course I do. Every man, woman and child in Paltryville knows the names of Baudelaire and Bella." Sir responded with arrogance. "Do you know both of our parents?" Violet questioned. "Who are those people in this photograph? Do you know who the people are in this one?" Veronica wondered; presenting the two photographs. "What's with that eye building?" Sunny gurgled. "I don't understand what 'ack' means, but if you want to know about all of your parents, they-" Sir started to cough from the cigar, and Klaus started to complain as to how every time they were close to answers, something always got in the way. It was like a running theme of these lifes they were living.

"It's these cigars. I hate these things, but I can't quit smoking 'em. I'm the boss." Veronica eyerolled at his statement. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, there's a reason this town will never forget any of your parents. They're the ones that burned it down, and Kate was the one who spoke hatred about everyone." Sir explained. The Bella girl had wide eyes; her mother would never have been something so horrible. It wouldn't make sense, considering all the other stories her previous guardians had told her. "Our parents did what?" Klaus questioned. "I'm an important man. Don't make me repeat myself. They burned down the town! They're, um...not anywhere nearby, are they?" Sir said. "Both of them died...in fires." Violet muttered. The four childrens' hearts broke at her sentence; they couldn't take the reminders of the loss of their parents.

"Good." was all Sir responded. "What goes around comes around. It's a terrible thing, startin' a fire." Veronica could only stare with a slight open mouth, and shocked eyes. This man clearly did not have any respect for anyone, at all. "What are you doing still standing there? You got work in the morning."

~~~~~~~

The four sat in one of the sheds (where all the lumbermill workers lived). Was it true what Sir said? Had the Baudelaires' parents done such a thing? Was Veronica's mother not as nice as she was portrayed to be? The thoughts were somehow better than the food that sat in front of them; what even was it? "Did you hear about the new recruits? They're Baudelaires and a Bella."

"I hear their folks were arsonists."

"I hear they checked out library books and never returned them."

"I hear they drank blood from the skulls of baby chupacabras."

"You mean they drank from baby skulls like chupacabras."

"...I know what I heard."

"Are you sure about that? Did you all even know their parents, my mother?" Veronica slightly glared at the gossiping workers. 

"I think Jimmy did."

"Norma Rae is here longer." 

"Don't look at me. Look at Cesar."

"Do you know anything about what happened to this town?"

"We're not allowed to talk about that."

"It's too terrible."

"Also, we don't know."

"Then you shouldn't spread rumours." Violet said. "I never believed those rumours anyway." A worker approached them, sitting with them. "So, where are your parents now?" "We're orphans." "Lucky you!" He smiled. "The unsupervised life. No rules, no curfews." The four looked at him with concerned looks; is he chipper about everything? "Lights out. Two seconds." A speaker said, with the lights going out. "But it's only six o'clock." Klaus pointed out. "Oh, boy, more time for dreaming. I'm Phil and I am excited to work with you kids." Phil introduced himself. "Thank you, I'm Violet. These are my siblings, Klaus and Sunny, and this is our friend, Veronica." Violet responded. "Listen, I know things seem dark. But you have to look on the bright side. So your guys' parents burned down towns, or spoke bad about people. You don't have to be like your parents. My parents were Olympic athletes and look at me. I work in a lumbermill, now, who wants welcome packets?" Phil explained as he pulled out uniforms and some books. They looked like they hadn't be washed at all and Veronica swore she could see a grease stain on one of them. 

"Look, the mill has a library." Violet took out a map of the lumbermill. "Maybe you can research and you could document what happened here and clear our families' names." She said to the two. "And there's machines! Maybe you could invent a way of making wooden planks out of trees faster." Veronica took notice. Sunny pointed towards a coupon that was decorated with an image just like the eye building they saw earlier that day. "What does it say it is?" Violet asked the youngest Baudelaire. "I can't read." Sunny gurgled. "Optimist's office." Veronica read. "No, it says optometrist's office. Father always said he didn't trust either." Klaus corrected her. "But what does an optometrist's office have to do with Count Olaf?" Veronica wondered. "Maybe Phil was right. We should look on the bright side. This mill may be miserable, but since we got here, we haven't seen Count Olaf once." Violet said to them. "What if the eye really was a coincidence?" "Violet, everywhere we've been, there's always an eye of the symbol."

"Yes, but what if we've finally found a place where Count Olaf won't find us?"