A/N:okay fine i'll update🙄 (you're gonna hate me for this but most of this chapter was written over a year ago) anyways love you all, here's chapter 12! <3
"I hate log days," I said.
"We finally get a break," Violet sighed.
Sunny garbled some nonsense that I figured to mean even she was tired of chewing the bark off of the tree.
"Lunch break, five minutes," the foreman said.
"Oh boy, five whole minutes!" Phil chuckled, passing us a box.
"It's gum... This is gum," Violet stated as she took it.
"Gum isn't lunch. It's not even a snack," said Klaus.
"It's not very filling, but it's all they'll let you eat until dinnertime," Phil explained.
"Can we use our wages to buy some sandwiches?" I inquired.
"Lady, we're not paid in wages. We're paid in coupons," one of the workers spoke.
Our fellow workers joined in on telling us about which coupons they had gotten.
"That can't be legal," Violet said.
"It's not like we have a constitution," Phil joked.
"If this place is so horrible, why don't you leave?" I challenged.
All of the workers stood up and spoke in unison. "Lucky Smells is our life, Lucky Smells is our home."
The Baudelaires and I looked at eachother in fear and confusion, turning away from the workers.
"We better find those answers and get out of here. Fast," I urged.
We ran off to find the library, which was right in front of Sir's office. The man himself came out of his office.
"Trying to get out of log day, are ya?" he demanded.
"We wanted to visit the library on our lunch break," I explained.
"What a lovely idea! I told you a library would boost morale," Charles said.
"Nonsense. Lunch breaks are for chewin' gum, not sneakin' off to libraries," Sir countered. "You're not gonna cause this mill trouble, are you? I took a chance treating you like grown-ups, now get back to work!" he scolded.
"You'll have to excuse Sir. He recently cut down on the smoking," Charles apologized.
"Do you know he feeds the workers gum and pays them in coupons?" Violet asked.
"Yes, I've tried to discuss that."
"If you're partners, you should be able to stand up to him!" I spoke.
"It's complicated. Sir can be prickly, but you must understand he had a very terrible childhood," Charles excused.
"I do understand. I'm having a very terrible childhood right now," Klaus argued.
Charles simply whispered an "okay" and closed the door.
...
"You're thinking something," Violet yelled over the machinery as we worked on a new tree.
"The new foreman. Phil said he just showed up last night. What if he's Count Olaf and this is his new disguise?" Klaus replied.
"He is cruel like Count Olaf but Count Olaf runs a horrible theater company, not a lumbermill."
"But isn't it suspicious that we never see his face and we only ever hear him through the loudspeaker?"
"The mill is noisy, it's probably the only way anyone can hear him. I know what you're trying to do."
"Keep us safe."
"Find a reason to leave. I promise we will, as soon as we clear our parent's names!"
"I need a new debarker," Klaus left.
I came up where Klaus was.
"He's right, you know," I told Violet. "Count Olaf has found you everywhere you've gone. He's probably here somewhere and hasn't shown up yet."
"Exactly, he hasn't shown up yet so maybe this is the one place we're safe."
"That's what you've thought every time, and then somehow he has come up again and again. We should at least be somewhere where Count Olaf is the main danger and not hazardous working conditions, child labor, brainwashed workers, and gum for lunch!"
"I know this place isn't the best, but your parents aren't the ones being accused of burning down an entire town and we will leave as soon as we can prove to everyone here that they didn't!"
I huffed and was about to counter her, but we saw Klaus get kicked to the ground by the foreman. We ran over and knelt by him.
"Your glasses, they're..." Violet began.
"Twisted," "Cracked," "Hopelessly broken," some of the workers chimed in.
"They look A-okay to me," Phil attempted to comfort.
"The foreman kicked him and stepped on his glasses!" I exclaimed.
"How could I kick him when I'm up in this booth? It was probably karma," the foreman countered.
"Can you see?" asked Violet.
"A little," Klaus replied.
"He'll live. Get back to work," the foreman yelled.
"Lucky for you, we have an excellent optometrist on-site, and you can go visit her completely for free!" said Phil.
"Will she repair my glasses?" asked Klaus.
"I'm not sure she can do repairs, but she can at least order you some new ones!"
Phil put an arm around Klaus' shoulders and took him out of the mill in the direction of the optometrist.
Violet and I stood there watching them leave until the foreman shouted for us to get back to work.