Beatrice, saying hello to you for the first time was hard. Saying goodbye to you for the last time was harder.

A famous theologian once said "Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of Heaven."

That is how my beloved Beatrice finished off her letter detailing all the reasons she could not marry me. Even as my tears stained the paper, I thought of the heavenly feeling of when I'd see her again.
Neither of us could have predicted it would end up being such a literal phrase.

It is here I must say goodbye to Violet Baudelaire. While Klaus and Sunny have left plenty of evidence for me to track them, their sister has been elusive, much like the flower she had been named for. I cling onto the hope that while I say goodbye now, in the not too distant future I shall say hello and the three Baudelaire children can be reunited. Perhaps you will come across my further research into what happened when Klaus and Sunny climbed into the yellow taxi. Perhaps you will decide to pursue happier things. I wish I could have written a happy ending for the Baudelaire's. But once more I must remind you that I am not a writer of fiction, only an ex journalist on the lam heavy with guilt. I couldn't write you a fairytale ending any more than a goldfish could leap out of his bowl and recite Shakespeare. It would be a lovely thing to see, but that's not how the story goes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvfdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You are the eldest Baudelaire child, and as the eldest, it will always be your responsibility to look after your younger siblings. Promise us that you will always watch out for them and make sure they don't get into trouble."

As the car jolted through the streets, skidding round corners and hurtling over potholes, Violet Baudelaire felt sick.
If you were particularly inclined to travel sickness, this combined force of speed and uneven road would no doubt result in your face going green and throwing up in a brown paper bag. Travel sickness is a terrible condition that could be eased if only people built better roads or didn't drive like lunatics. Violet was currently experiencing a lunatic driver, so you really couldn't blame her for travel sickness in this instance.

However, Violet Baudelaire was not suffering with travel sickness.

What made Violet feel sick was the tight knot in the pit of her stomach, twisting at her insides until she felt all flipped upside down. It was not a knot of spaghetti or some other kind of tying up food, it was a knot of guilt. Guilt was rising up in her like particularly nasty bile. She had let her parents down. She had failed in her promise to keep her siblings safe.

It was a devastating shock. Violet had grown up believing that there was always a way to solve any problem. But that depended on the other side playing fair and throwing a baby in a birdcage and threatening to drop her was definitely not fair.

All Violet could hear in her head was her parents, "Promise us." They would be so disappointed in her now.

Her new husband was crowing at his good fortune. Her husband. She felt sick with fear as well as guilt. Violet wasn't stupid, money was his main motivation but he had an interest in her that was far from friendly. One she couldn't share with her younger siblings. The way he'd ask her for a kiss. The way he watched her like a lion watches a gazelle. The way he caressed her neck as he persuaded her to marry him. The way he groped her as she lay frozen in bed.

She couldn't think about that now. She had to try and keep her siblings safe.

Sunny was asleep, Klaus looked ready to scream. She took his hand to keep him calm. It seemed to work. A plan. They needed a way out of this.
Reality really kicked in when they swung onto the driveway. They were out of time and she still didn't have a plan. Uncertainty was their future and they had no way to prepare for it.

"I'm scared, Klaus." She admitted. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get out of this one."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvfdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Violet's first day as a married woman she kept in solitude. Unable to face her siblings for shame, Violet had tucked herself away in the house, tiptoeing away whenever she heard them approach. The look of horror and disgust on Klaus' face when he saw her in her ripped wedding dress played heavily on her mind. He was old enough to know something was up, but too naive and sheltered to know what that was. He would ask and she didn't want to tell him. Saying it out loud meant it was true, meant it had happened. She needed time to live in the lie a little while longer.

Everything hurt as she padded softly down the corridor. It felt safer to be on the move. If her siblings couldn't find her, perhaps he wouldn't be able to either. This house was easy enough to get lost in.
As Violet heard the cackles of the white faced women approaching, she slid into the study and waited for them to go.

"How lucky she is!" One of them sighed. "I've been dropping hints for years and not once has he picked up on it."

"More like ungrateful!" Her sister chimed in with a huff. "Little chit won't stop crying. She ought to be flattered."

Violet backed away from the door, not wanting to hear any more. Lucky. Ungrateful. Flattered. No, these were not things she was feeling.

As she bumped into a trunk, Violet held her breath hoping they'd not heard. Thankfully, they were still gossiping. Violet glanced around the room. It was the one place Count Olaf had not insisted be cleaned. In fact, it looked like it had not been disturbed for decades. Thick cobwebs hung heavy like curtains while everything was coated in a layer of dust like snow. Even the room was cold, as if the life had been sucked from it. If Violet was a girl more prone to fancies, she may have worried it was haunted.

With the two white faced women gossiping outside, Violet reasoned she may as well explore in here. The trunk by her feet was the only thing not to be coated in dust, as if it had been hurriedly shoved in the room a short time ago. A pin was still in her hair from her farce of a wedding hairstyle. The lock was old and easy enough to pick.

The Incomplete History of Secret Organisations.

For a book that claimed to be incomplete it was awfully heavy. Even Klaus would find it a mammoth read. Why would Count Olaf have a book on secret organisations?

When she opened the book she gasped.

A photo of her parents smiled back at her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvfdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The book had said if you were in need of assistance to leave a jar of jam outside the front door. It had promised that within a week, a volunteer would arrive to assist you with a plan.

The only difficulty was Olaf's insistence that she stay by his side. Going to her siblings was almost impossible and she daren't tell them what she knew in case they blabbed. Occasionally she would drop hints referring to the initials vfd, but so far they'd not picked up on it. Perhaps it was better that way.

On the sixth day a volunteer arrived at the door disguised as a monk. A man about her fathers age, strongly built with kind brown eyes. She still flinched away from him when he tried to pat her shoulder.

"We'll put you in contact with Josephine Anwhistle." He smile reassuringly. "She's recently returned to the field. The two of you will correspond in code."

Violet glanced over her shoulder. Her husband was still snoring heavily on the sofa. "How are we supposed to get letters to one another?"

"Crows land on the tree in the garden. If you leave your message in the branches, they'll find it and bring it to us. Our messages to you will be delivered in the same way."

"Can't I go with you now?" Her eyes filled with tears.

The man sighed sadly, but his voice remained firm. "VFD have been compromised. We are on the run and there are no safe spaces for us at the moment. It may not seem like it, but you are safer here." When Violet opened her mouth to argue he held up a finger to silence her. "You do not know the troubles VFD are going through. You don't know what dangers you would face if you came with me now. For now you are safer here."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvfdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It felt like an odd poetic justice to see her siblings run to safety into the night on the anniversary of their parent's death. She wondered if they knew it had been a year. A year that had passed as slowly as ten years.

"Promise us."

Violet had kept her promise. They were going to be safe now. She'd put their safety above her own even though it had terrified her to do it.
Violet watched as the pair disappeared into the darkness.

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes." She whispered. "Because for those who love with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation."

Her father had quoted that to her when she was five. He'd been called away for work and she'd hid under the bed so she wouldn't have to say goodbye. It felt like a hundred years since she'd thought that hiding under the bed could keep her safe.

As much as she wanted to hide under her bed now, she had something else to do.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvfdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The knife glinted at her as she ran her finger over the sharp steel blade. Even at her lightest touch it was enough to draw blood. In morbid curiosity, Violet watched as her blood trickled down the knife, recoiling in horror as she caught sight of her reflection. Had she changed so much?

It had been easy enough to take the knife up the kitchen, pad quietly up the stairs and into the room where Olaf slept. It was not quite so easy to do what she had intended.

In a drunken stupor, he'd passed out sprawled across the bed on his front, his head tilted to the side so she could see his face. How could someone so evil sleep so peacefully? After everything he'd done how could he sleep as if he had no care in the world?
After this, Violet wondered if she'd ever be able to sleep again.

"Promise us."

She thought of Count Olaf striking Klaus across the face after they made pasta.

"Promise us."

She thought of Sunny terrified in the birdcage.

"Promise us."

She thought of all the times Count Olaf had threatened to kill her siblings, had beaten Klaus, had tormented Sunny. All the times she'd failed in her promise.
They were on their way to safety now, but for as long as Olaf lived they wouldn't be safe. As long as he would be able to go after them he would. As long as he breathed, he would be there making their lives a misery.

The baby moved inside her. The baby she was so afraid to love. Without a father this baby would have a second chance. She could tell them a story of someone wonderful. She could pretend all of this had been one terrible dream. She could tell them that their father had died a hero, even though it wouldn't be true. They needn't ever hear the name Count Olaf.

"Promise us."

Violet Baudelaire was no murderer. However, she forced herself to tiptoe until she was standing over him, the knife held high above. She wasn't a killer, she had no other choice.
"Promise us."
Something made her hesitate. Perhaps it was that he was sleeping, unable to defend himself. It felt cruel and calculating. If she killed him she would be the same as he was. Could she live with herself afterwards? Knowing that she had taken a life? Or would she always see her dreams the light leaving his eyes, haunting her for the rest of her life?
"Promise us."
Violet forced herself to raise the knife a little higher, forcing herself to think on how much she hated the man. Her tormentor. Her abuser. Her rapist. The man who had made her life a living hell. How satisfied she'd feel to see him suffer for a change. Her resolve wobbled but she narrowed her eyes. This was it.

Olaf's eye opened.

Fin.

There we have it! Last chapter of this story! I've really loved writing it, to the point where I'm really sad this one is finished! Luckily, a sequel is nearly all planned out. I can't wait to read your reviews of the story. Did you expect this to happen? What do you think happens now? Who was your favourite character along the way and why?

Thank you to all who have reviewed and favourited - in particular to the constant reviews Dickens1985, ObscurusBooks and nagi92.

I hope to return to this story very soon. In the meantime, I think I need to show my Harry Potter stories some love...

The world is quiet here