Just wanted to make a quick note of something: Last chapter, I had Lily refer to Leni as "Aunt Leni." That was a mistake. My bad :P
"Mommy, there's someone at the door asking for you and Daddy."
Lynn and Lincoln looked down at their daughter, and asked the obvious question: "Did they say who they were?"
"She said… she said she was your sister."
Silence rang through the room, as Lynn gulped heavily and Lincoln rushed over to the front door, throwing it open to see who it was. Lacy saw him embrace the stranger, and invite her inside. When Lincoln brought her to the small dining room they had, Lynn looked at her, and Lacy saw tears immediately fall from her eyes.
"L-Lucy…" she said hesitantly, as if saying her name would chase her off. The dark-haired woman nodded, and the two came together in a warm embrace, both crying heavily as they did. Lincoln gave a small, sad smile as he watched. "Lacy," he whispered softly to his daughter, "That's your Aunt Lucy. She was your mother's roommate, and one of our closest sisters."
"Really?" asked Lacy, "Then why are they crying when they see each other?"
Lincoln let out a small chuckle. "Not all crying is upset crying, dear."
"And if they are sisters, why do they look so different?" Lacy said as she noted her Aunt's raven hair and skinnier physique. Lincoln once again let out a small laugh, "Lacy, not all family members are exactly the same. A lot of the time, they act differently. But what matters is that they come together, and love each other. That's what makes them family."
Lacy tried to comprehend the concept, as she watched her mother and her aunt continue their embrace, each refusing to let other go…
Now, Lacy felt she had a better understanding of what her father had told her that day. After a week of living with her grandmother and her Aunt Lily, she knew what he had meant; family members did act differently.
For while Lily would treat her with kindness, Rita would treat her with apathy and sometimes, downright hatred. While Lily made an active effort to connect with her niece, it seemed like Rita did her best to avoid Lacy as much as possible, and sometimes Lacy could have sworn that she tried to encourage Lily to stay away from Lacy. There were times where Lacy would be wandering around the house, only to hear her grandmother and aunt arguing with each other, only for them to go quiet when they realized she was there. This indicated to Lacy that it was something they didn't want to hear, and there was only thing the two ever disagreed on…
Lacy sighed as she sat on her bed, staring at an old picture. The photo showed her with her parents, all of them smiling as they celebrated Lacy's first soccer game. Her team had lost, of course, by a large margin of seven to two. But that didn't matter to the girl; what mattered was that her parents were there for her, cheering her on…
"I wonder if Grandma would even let me play sports again?" Lacy absentmindedly asked herself.
"Well, the only way to know is to ask."
Lacy looked up to see Lily, pretend knocking on the door, with a smile on her face. "Sorry," Lily apologized, "Didn't mean to eavesdrop on you. I was just coming around to your room, and I overheard."
"I-it's no problem," Lacy responded, quickly putting the photo away in her pocket. However, Lily saw her do so, and immediately asked "What was that?"
"N-nothing," Lacy quickly responded. Lily just shrugged in seeming defeat, "Alright, but can you come over here for a second? I need to say something to you."
The young girl got up from her seat on her bed and walked over to Lily. As soon as she got close, Lily flashed her a mischievous grin and made a quick swipe for Lacy's pocket.
"HEY!" Lacy protested, but it was too late. Lily triumphantly held the photo in her hand. "Alright, let's get a good look at…" Lily started, before she saw what the photo was. As soon as she did, she looked back to Lacy, whose face was beginning redden and eyes were beginning to tear up, "Oh, Lacy, I'm so sorry. I thought it was a picture of a boy you liked or something," Lily apologized.
Lacy violently snatched the photo back from her aunt, "It's fine. Just leave me alone," she hissed at Lily, before going back to her bed and covering herself with her blanket. The girl had hoped she would have stopped crying by then, but for some reason the tears just kept coming.
It's not fair. Why would she embarrass me like that? Why wouldn't she respect my privacy?
The girl felt resentment towards her Aunt Lily, and slowly, her negative thoughts began to latch onto a different person.
Even Grandma Rita respects my privacy. Doesn't mean I like her though. Why is she so mean to me? It's not my fault I was born like this. I hate her so much. I HATE HER!
AND I ALSO HATE MY STUPID BROTHER-SISTER PARENTS!
…
…
…
Lacy felt fresh waves of guilt and tears overcome her. The moment she mentally insulted her dead parents, was the moment when her sense of self-loathing grew. She was angry, yes, but at who? She was sad, but why?
What was happening to her?
Fortunately, like an angel appearing to a misguided sinner, Lily lifted the blanket and looked at the crying girl.
"Poor thing," she remarked, "You haven't cried over your parents yet, huh?"
Lacy thought back to the past few days, and realized her aunt was right. Through all the hustle and bustle of adoption, legal matters, meeting people and dealing with her grandmother, the young girl did not have any time for herself. This was, she realized, her first time crying after her mother and father passed.
She continued sobbing, for many reasons; sobbing for her dead parents, sobbing for miserable state, sobbing for the loveless household she was now in…
Well, almost loveless.
Lily wrapped her arms around Lacy, and drew her in for a hug, allowing the younger girl to continue crying on her shoulder. "It's okay, Lacy, let it out," she whispered softly into her niece's ear, causing the young girl to break into a new set of tears. Lily stroked Lacy's brownish hair as she did, and rubbed her back slightly, doing her best to comfort the girl.
Lacy cried for around twenty minutes. A long time, all things considered. Eventually, she calmed down, and felt the water pouring from her eyes begin to lessen. She tapped her aunt's back, indicating to Lily to let her go. After the two separated, Lacy looked in Lily's eyes, and gave her a look of gratitude, to which Lily responded with a soft smile.
"Thank you, Aunt Lily."
"No need to thank me. It's my fault for setting you off."
"No. It was like you said, Aunt Lily," Lacy said in a tired tone, "I didn't give myself any time to myself after the accident. I just… I just miss them so much…" she said before she trailed off.
Lily nodded slightly, and grabbed Lacy's shoulder softly. "Lacy, I miss them too. They were my beloved brother and sister, no matter what they did. I never really got to know them, as they disappeared from my life when I was three or four, but I…" she gave a soft smile, "I do get some glimpses of what they were like."
"What glimpses?" Lacy asked with curiosity.
Lily thought about it. "I remember, for example, your father taking me to the park, to play with the other kids, as he sat on a bench and watched with his friend. I remember your mother trying to get me to play sports with her, even though I could barely walk," she said with a bit of chuckle, "The point is, Lacy, is that we all miss them. Every single one of us who spent our lives with them."
"Not Grandma," Lacy said in a resentful tone, "I bet she's glad they are dead."
Lily shook her head sadly. "No, Lacy. She's the saddest of all of us."
Lacy's eyes widened with surprise. "W-what do you mean?"
The answer, however, would not come, as Lily stood up from the bed, and turned to walk towards the door. "Actually, I almost forgot," Lily said, turning around back at Lacy, "The reason I came here was because I wanted to tell you: I'm heading out to the mall for a while."
"Oh cool. The mall," said Lacy, as her eyes widened. She had heard so much about that place, but had never gone. "Can I… can I come with you?"
Lily's eyes shifted to the side. "I don't think Mom would like that…"
Lacy let out a sigh of disappointment. "Ok. Have fun, Aunt Lily."
Oh, just let the girl have some fun for once, came a voice in Lily's head, She needs to think about something other than how everyone hates her and how her parents died.
Yeah, but…
Come to think of it, weren't you the reason she started crying?
Lily sighed, "Alright, alright," she whispered back, before she looked back to Lacy, "Actually, good news, Lace."
"What is it?"
"I don't care what Mom thinks. Let's go have some fun, you and I."
Lacy's face immediately brightened up. "You mean it?" she asked, but before Lily could even respond, the young girl had wrapped her arms around her, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated over and over, before finally letting go and running outside in pure excitement.
Lily smiled. Oh well. Better tell Lyra I can't meet up with her. Then Lily gave a satisfied grin. Great. I always hated that bitch anyways.
The mall was a wonderful place, in Lacy's eyes, with new things to be discovered and new wonders to behold. There was a fountain that had colored lights in the water. There was a small place for couples to be wed. There was even a man selling deep fried ice cream. How was that even possible?
"Aunt Lily, can we get some of that?" she said as she pointed at the ice cream. Lily looked visibly disgusted. "Guess what Lisa said about Lincoln's tastes was true," she muttered to herself, before dragging the girl away from it. "Come on, Lacy, we can find something so much better to do."
"Like what?"
"Like… how about a movie?" Lily said as she changed course towards the cinema. Lacy was, of course, thrilled to see a movie.
"Oooh, I love movies. Dad used to take me to see them on my birthday, and there were these ones in space and with superheroes. He loved those, but Mom never wanted to watch them with him."
Lily chuckled a bit. "Once again, Lisa was telling the truth about those two," she said before she felt a sudden pain in her stomach, "Oh no. Lacy, can you… umm… wait for me for a little while? I need to go powder my nose."
"Oh, okay. Got it," Lacy said with a smile and a thumbs up. Lily went inside the bathroom, and Lacy stood outside, waiting for her while humming to herself.
"Hey, can you cut that out?" came a rough voice suddenly from her side. Lacy looked over and saw a girl roughly her age, with white hair and dark clothes.
"Oh, sorry."
"Oh, sorry," mocked the other girl, "You mall sheep are all the same."
"Excuse me? I don't know what you mean," replied Lacy, legitimately confused about what this strange girl was saying.
"You mall sheep… you're all a bunch of superficial, happy-go-lucky slaves to your out-of-control consumerist whims," responded the other girl, "And when someone like me shows up and disrupts all of your retarded fun, all you can do is act fearful and apologetic. You're all in pain, and buying crap is the only thing you can do to alleviate it."
"Well, everyone is in pain at some point, so if buying makes them feel better, why shouldn't they?" responded Lacy, though she was slowly starting to dislike this girl's company.
"Oh, I know how it is to be in pain. I just deal with it in a more real way," the girl said as she flashed a grin, "Want me to tell you how?"
Before Lacy could even respond, the girl stuck something into her pocket, and whispered "By confronting it head-on," before she turned to run away. She turned back for a second to shout at Lacy 'By the way, my name is Lupa," then turned back and ran off.
Lacy pulled the small thing that Lupa had left her out of her pocket. She didn't recognize it at first, but gasped when she did.
It was a razor. Small and sharp.
At that moment, Lily came out of the bathroom. "Whew, I haven't poo-pooed like that in forever," she said to herself, before seeing Lacy eye something in her hand. 'Hey, Lacy, what is that?" Lily asked. The girl quickly stuffed whatever it was back into her pocket.
"N-nothing, Aunt Lily," she said, before putting on a smile, "Let's go see that movie now."
Lily nodded and grabbed Lacy's hand as they continued on to the movie theater.
Well, Lily thought to herself, I shouldn't ask for what's in her pocket. After all, can't hurt anyone to have a few secrets.
I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter. I think that I am going to try to write a flashback to begin each chapter, just to give a clearer idea of the Loud family and Lacy's life before the accident.
Also, Lupa and Lyra are not Lincoln's children here. Lacy is the only lovechild he had. Lyra was born somewhere else, to other parents. And Lupa… well… you'll see…
Now to some reviews:
1vanth30som3: Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed. And thank you for your support overall. You really went above and beyond :)
Drake: It may not be soon, but I promise you it will be worth it.
Rising Sun: I just love reading your reviews. Once again, three important points:
1. I love the family too, so I would be horrified if I found out I was portraying them badly.
2. I very much agree. A child is not responsible for their origins, and they have as much right to be happy as the rest of us.
3. The way I see it, no one in this fic is good or evil. They are all flawed people, trying to do their best. But sometimes, like in the case of Rita, the pain is too much …