Hi, everyone, MarcellusMiro66 here! A psychological thriller with supernatural elements set in the Loud House Universe (no, I'm not talking about "Kill Or Be Killed"), this is my take on "Shattered Innocence". "A Simple Favor" (not to be confused with the 2017 murder mystery thriller of the same name by Darcey Bell, which in turn shouldn't be confused with either Gone Girl [2012] by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train [2015] by Paula Hawkins, or their respective film adaptations [2014/2016, respectively] helmed by David Fincher and Tate Taylor, respectively) focuses on a young girl named Mary who discovers that a classmate/friend of hers (guess who?) has been murdered last night; she takes upon herself to uncover the truth.
All credit goes to AustinDR (and all the other authors attempting to finish this seemingly unfinishable story). I would describe the plot as Death Wish (1974) meets Cop Land (1997) and The Hallow (2015). The cast of central characters are listed below:
• Mary Diaz (voiced by Jenna Ortega): A young girl who decides to solve the murder of her friend.
• Ryan Beck (voiced by Asher Angel): A mysterious young boy who aids Mary in her impromptu investigation.
• Detective Evelyn Carter (voiced by Hayley Atwell): A tough, no-nonsense detective who becomes devoted to investigating her case.
Enjoy! If you can...
Part 1: "Poisson Rouge..."
"So...where do I begin?"
The girl woke up and sat up in her bed, proceeding to stretch her arms as she yawned. Rubbing her eyes as she glanced outside her window, she blinked thrice at the appearance of snow. She had completely forgotten that it was approaching Christmas; well, that would explain the sudden cold breeze that leaked through the casement. Hugging her arms while blowing into her hands before rubbing them together, she knew that she would have to inevitably get up from the warm comfort of her bed and brave the harsh winter of the town. As much as she wanted to love the holiday season, she simply couldn't at the moment.
"Well, for starters, my name is Mary Anne, but my friends call me Mary... Just Mary. I am 11 years of age, an aspiring inventor, and of Mexican-Puerto Rican ancestry. I don't have an obsession with inventing, of course; it's just becoming second nature to me."
Turning on the shower and stripping down to her birthday suit, Mary entered and sighed in relief as the warm water rained down upon her. She knew it wouldn't last, so she had to make it last. As she proceeded to wash herself from head to toe, her mind began to trail back toward the events from last night.
"Anyway, you're probably why I am telling you this. I'm telling you this because...in the events that follow should I die, the first thing I would do is state my true identity with my last ounce of honesty. That probably won't be the last expression I have before I die, though. You see...a few days ago, my life as I knew it take a turn for the worse. And some better, but mostly for the worse."
Mary leaned her head against the marble wall and sighed solemnly.
"It all started on any other day. In fact, it all started a few days before..."
Mary was dressed in a dark purple winter coat with a winter cap, a light purple coat, a navy blue skirt with black stockings, and black winter boots with matching mittens when she left Royal Woods Elementary. Standing outside the gas station where her parents would pick her up around this time, her ears perked up at the musical genre of Bossa nova playing in the mini-mart. A rather strange choice, it was also a rather melodic one as well.
("Poisson Rouge" – Saint Privat)
"Excuse me."
Mary turned to her left to find a boy her age standing next to her; this wasn't just any boy. This was a classmate of hers. She recognized his indistinguishable white hair, red coat with matching gloves, brown hat with matching boots, and navy blue jeans from anywhere. Thus, this wasn't just any classmate of hers. This male classmate was none other than...
"Lincoln. Lincoln Loud."
Lincoln stuck out a hand for Mary to shake, who took it and did just that.
"Mary. Mary Diaz."
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Uh, the pleasure's all mine. So...what brings you here?"
"I...need to ask you a simple favor."
"Of course. Anything."
Lincoln slipped off his backpack and handed it to Mary.
"This backpack is important. Guard it with your life."
"... Okay. Why?"
"You have to trust me, Mary. I don't have much time left. Please..."
"... All right. I promise you."
"Thank you."
Lincoln then turned tail and walked away from Mary, leaving her with his backpack...now hers.
A few hours later, Mary was sent by her parents to retrieve some groceries. As she bicycled down the street, her ears perked up at the sound of a familiar classmate of hers...pleading desperately with his parents. Slowing down to a stop near the driveway, she proceeded to eavesdrop on Lincoln and his parental figures. She didn't quite catch on the entire thing, but what she heard was quite enough.
"Please, let me back in. I swear that I'm not bad luck."
"Sorry, sport. Better safe than sorry."
"Besides, your father and I are taking the girls to a winter retreat tomorrow. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to any of them, right?"
"... Yeah, I guess so."
"Don't worry, sweetie. We'll check up on you in the morning."
With that, the porch lights turned off and the back door stayed close.
The entire conversation between Lincoln and his parents caught Mary off guard. Why would Lincoln's parents believe that he was bad luck? Atop of that fact alone, why were they locking him outside? She wanted to help him, she really did. But what could she do? She was just a kid, a naïve and innocent kid who didn't know what she was getting herself into by helping him. And so, she sped off into the night to retrieve the groceries.
. . .
Well, at least she recorded most of it.
Inside the 24/7 supermarket, Mary was just finishing off the list when...
BANG!
Her blood ran cold and, against her better interests, ventured to track down the source of the gunshots. Right there in front of the cash register was a young biracial woman precariously waving around a Beretta 92FS like she was a Western gunslinger (or some crazy escapee from a mental institution). The requests she made were odd, to say the least.
"Aspirin! Oxycodone! NOW!"
. . .
BANG-BANG!
Needless to say, the hapless cashier was relieved of his usefulness pretty quickly.
. . .
. . .
Again, at least she recorded most of it.
On the way home, Mary passed by the Loud House again when...
WHACK!
Her blood ran colder than it did last time, and it wasn't because of the cold weather outside. Expecting the worst, she turned to her right and found an unconscious Lincoln being carried away from the safety of his house. That wasn't even the worst part?
The worst part?
It was the same woman from the supermarket.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Seriously, at least she recorded most of it.
"That was just an abridged version of the events that happened yesterday."
It was past a hour now. Mary exited the shower after what seemed to be an eternity and got dressed. Exiting the house wearing the same dark purple winter coat from yesterday, she rubbed her mitted hands as she waited the bus to arrive. When it did and she entered, an eerie silence greeted her. Half of the usual bus riders were here, but none of them felt like exchanging words – friendly or not. She pretended not to notice and took a seat at the very back of the bus. Normally, the kids would tease (not bully, there was a difference) her because of this and that she would get cooties (That's still a thing?) as a result, but the same eerie silence responded in place. Continuing to ignore this strange phenomenon, Mary slipped on her earbuds and immediately retreated to Spotify.
"But now you know. When I got home, I immediately locked the doors, bolted the windows, and threw myself under my covers. I still hadn't opened up Lincoln's backpack yet and found the contents. Lincoln himself was nowhere to be found as of this moment. Honestly, with this "bad luck" nonsense the source of his troubles, I didn't think it could get any worse."
("Poisson Rouge" – Saint Privat)
"Until it did."
Mary's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sudden cameo of this song making its second appearance in her day. Little did she know, she would hear this again.
And again...
And again...
And again...
. . .
"They found his body in the woods. They...they believe that he was murdered."
. . .
"I know he was murdered. I was there...and I should've stopped it from happening."
. . .
"The truth is... I met Lincoln Loud a few weeks ago. I do consider Lincoln my friend, if not my best friend. He is – was this wonderful, kindhearted person. But the story I'm about to share with you proves the following: Everybody has a darker side...and some of us are better at hiding it than others. People do terrible things for their own reasons."
. . .
"Five days ago, Lincoln Loud went missing. I'm realizing...I don't know him as well as I thought I did."
. . .
"I know what I'm saying are practically derivative lines from a fictitious mystery thriller. I'm fully aware of this fact, but my plea still stands."
. . .
"Lincoln, if you're out there, we're all really worried."