The fire and the backstories of the characters are based on a real book series called A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler (he chose to publish the series under the pen name Lemony Snicket). It’s one of my favourite book series, so I wanted to make the story similar.
The Qrimwells were brave, intelligent, and pretty children. They had everything they could ever wish for — caring parents, amazing and smart siblings, and a big house, which looked very well built… to burn. You see, when you looked at the Qrimwells’ life, it never seemed like, all of a sudden, a mysterious person would start a fire in their house and kill both of their parents miserably.
When Isadora, Duncan, and Presley’s parents died, Isadora was 14, Duncan was 13, and Presley was only 3 years old. For three kids who didn’t have anyone to rely on but each other, it was hard to accept that their parents were gone. But as someone with a lot of experience, I can say that losing people you care about is not easy at all. When I lost my first love, Eleanor, I felt that I had lost an important part of my life.
But this is not a story about me; it’s about the unfortunate story of the Qrimwells, so let’s go on. Where was I… oh yes. After the Qrimwells accepted the sad reality of their lives, they wanted to take revenge on the person who set the fire.
While Isadora was trying to find the criminal at the police station the ambulance had taken them to, Duncan was opening the door for their parents. Oh my gosh — they were alive! Their mother hugged them so tightly, and their father… he ended up in tears. And like that, a sad story ends.
Happy ending, everyone! Yeah, I would probably say that if this unfortunate story were written for eight-year-olds to sleep well — but it’s not. So let’s start correctly.
While Isadora was trying to find the criminal at the police station, Duncan was reading books about the history of crimes. He saw lots of other families who were torn apart because of terrible fires. Meanwhile, when her siblings were having sleepless nights, Presley wasn’t just being a baby — she helped Duncan find several books from the sheriff’s bookshelf.
But in the middle of the investigation, the fire alarms started ringing. Everyone panicked, but the Qrimwells found their way out. They saw an old man who looked exactly like the one they had seen in the Daily Punctilio, with the caption “THE AMAZING ACTOR OLAF.” Presley recognised him and mumbled, “Murderer.” Duncan and Isadora quickly understood he was the killer of their parents.
The old man smiled and said, “Oh, Qrimwells. What a nice day to see you. How did you feel about the fire?” The Qrimwells immediately ran away, and no one ever heard from them again. I’m still looking for them, and I hope they’re safe — or at least alive.
For — Eleanor