Archive of Our Own ^beta

Violet remembered. It wasn’t a good time for that, but she did it anyways.

She was eight and Klaus was six. Sunny was still years away. Her parents had both finished their work early, and had decided to spend the rainy day with their children. When they suggested a game of hide and seek, Violet and Klaus had been more than eager, just happy that their parents had time to play a game with them.

Their mother had them guess a number from one to ten. Father guessed eight, right on the dot, meaning that he was the seeker. Violet, Klaus, and their mother had all run off in different directions, Father fondly sighing and beginning to count.

Violet ran to the study, hiding herself behind the desk. She’d heard Father declare that he was coming to search for them now. She remembered holding her breath, pressing her ear against the back of the wood to listen for his footsteps. 

But Father was good at this game. He slipped into the study, sneaking around the desk and tapping Violet’s shoulder before she even had the chance to notice him. She gasped, and he laughed.

“Got you, Ed,” he teased. She had huffed, climbing out from the small space. 

“I would have had a better hiding spot if you gave me more time,” she'd declared.

“You had just as much time as your brother and mom, and they managed just fine,” Father reasoned, smiling down at her.

Violet smiled. “Yeah, because I let them,” she'd said. Father laughed again, ruffling her hair.

Half an hour later, they had finally managed to find Mother hiding behind a pile of firewood in the small basement. She quickly helped them find Klaus behind a box of spare parts in Violet’s closet.

That one stung. 

“Don’t worry Ed,” Father had assured her. “You’ll win eventually. You just have to get better at hiding.”

As Esme slunk around the Library of Records, another row of file cabinets coming crashing down, Violet held her breath. She pressed herself as close to the cabinet as she could, pushing her ear against the metal in case it magnified the sounds around her. 

She really hoped her hiding skills had improved.