Dark tales from the Loudverse
Tale : Meals at "Charlotte's" house
Chapter 4: Nightmares and family impotence
Lana wake up once again, this was the third time that night, she felt the embrace of Lori tightening but not waking up, turned to see the clock and it was 4 am, already Sunday.
Lori and Leni had been taking turns to calm her down for the past days, she had been having multiple nightmares every day since the wednesday,
She could barely do her chores and that affected the pets of the house, Lincoln and Lynn were the ones that took the responsability of cleaning and feeding the multiple reptiles and whatnot. Her attention was fixed on repeating the nightmares she had for the past days, in the last one she was alone at the cemetery in front of a gravestone with the image of Lola
"Why did you abandon me, we were supposed to always be together, you were supposed to protect me"
The voice was spectral and full of pain, next moment she was in an abandoned warehouse, someone was humming nursery rhymes on the darkness, she tried following the source of the sound only to reach a set of stairs to the basement, in there she could she Lola going downstairs near the bottom, she tried calling for her but her voice didn't come out, she began descending to catch with her but no matter how far or fast she went, she was always out of reach. At the bottom of the stairs there was a long hallway, she tried to follow Lola but long hands made of rusty metal stopped her, Lola reached the end and turned around.
Lana could see the pain and horror on her sister even when Lola's face had disappeared leaving her to look like some kind of mannequin, tendrils of flesh emerged from the wall behind Lola and a grotesque mouth appeared, opening and revealing broken teeths, saliva mixed with blood dripping from the mouth as a desperate Lola tried to get free, when the mouth closed and engulfed her sister she could hear her scream and she wake up.
It didn't matter if it was a quick nap or at night, it was always nightmares, she shuddered as the memories of the thing eating her sister and the oppressive feeling that the hallway gave her, she sniffled a couple of times.
The tight hug of her sister brought her back to reality, Lori looked tired but with a motherly smile on her face.
"Another bad dream I see, want some warm milk? It always help me sleep." Lori sat down with Lana in her lap.
Lana nodded and Lori picked her up and went out of the twins room and down the stairs, when passing in front of the portrait of Lola she felt her sister tremble, the whole family was suffering but her mom and Lana were taking it worse than everyone else. Her father suffered at the beginning but still went there, go to work, go to search for Lola, but her mom took days from work and stopped writing her novel, she blamed herself, they heard her cry so many times.
They reached the kitchen, she put Lana on the small table and proceeded to grab two glasses and take the milk out of the refrigerator. "so, what it was the nightmare this time?" She carefully filled up one glass and put it on the microwave, Lana looked terrible, bags under her eyes and hair extra messy, she was fidgeting on her chair trying to avoid looking at Lori
Lori sighed, she wanted to help her, tried so many times to make her open up, she barely spoke, only short responses and only the strictly necessary. Once the microwave was done poured half of the milk on the other glass and added a small amount of honey and stirred, sat on the small chair and gave one to Lana one of the glasses.
Lana began drinking, she felt the warm spreading thru her body and savored the sweetness of the milk with the milk, she stared at her glass and felt the comforting side hug of her sister. "i-i was at the graveyard in front of" she sniffed and wiped some tears that threatened to fall "her tombstone, i could hear her talking to me, then i was at an abandoned warehouse and she was there, i tried following but" This time it was Lori who wiped Lana´s tears after making her turn her head, she trembled a bit, breath deeply and continued " she was always out of reach, she descended stairs and reached a dark hallway, she turned but she had no face, the wall behind her turn into a monstruos mouth and ate her and i couldn't do anything and she screamed and, and..."
Lori cleaned Lana´s tears once again, she smiled, she was opening up again "It was just a bad dream" she put her hands on Lana´s shoulders and gave her a little squeeze "we will find her soon, you'll see, soon she will be here again, both of you fighting for some dumb thing and making peace 5 minutes later.
Lana fall asleep again after 10 minutes of talking and drinking, Lori carried her and admired her calm face, she needed the talk, this was the most peaceful face she had since that day. She began advancing towards the stairs when she notice a white envelope was slided under the door, she carried Lana all the way to her room and cover her with the blankets, once she was done she returned downstairs and grabbed the envelope, she was sure that it wasn't there when she come downstairs with Lana, someone slip this thing when they were in the kitchen. She open the door and get out, trying to look to see if there was someone on the street but it was empty, she go back on the house and closed the door.
She opened the envelope and froze, there were photos and the first one was of Lola seated with some woman in a mask, she closed the envelope and rushed to their parents room, pounding loudly on their door until her father open the door, he looked upset and tired but talks calmly
"What happens, is 4 in the morning"
Luna, Lincoln, Lynn, and Lucy were looking from the top of the stairs, awaken by the ruckus caused by Lori
Lori gave the envelope to her father, a sense of urgency in her voice "There is photos of Lola in here"
A stampede of foots could be heard, the any trace of tiredness her father or her siblings had had vanished when they heard Lori
"Where did you get that? where did you find it? what kind of photos" those and more questions filled the house thanks to the kids, Their father shushed them, Rita joined them, they all went to the dining room and stood around their parents and Lori.
Lynn Sr took out the photos all gasped at the state of Lola, unkept, no make up and clearly tired, they saw the woman with the creepy smile and bunny mask, the next image show the woman holding a bread cut in half showing the filling, next image was of Lola, biting on one of the breads, while the woman had a smile that creeped all in the room
The next image was a message that read: Rejoice, she may return soon to you, she loved the Pirozhki so here is a guide to make them. Upon seeing that message Rita smiled wide and put both of their hands to her mouth.
The next image hit them like a bucket of cold water, they could see the masked woman cutting with a chainsaw the leg of a headless cadaver, Luna Lincoln and Rita left the room and the sound of gagging and vomit could be heard, Lynn Sr changed quickly the photos, and they saw the woman cutting the meat of the leg, grinding it, cooking it and making the bread and once again a photo of Lola biting on one of those cursed breads
"Junior, call the Police, now" The anger and impotence could be heard on his voice tone, tears flowing freely as he returned the photos to the envelope. "Lori, where did you get this"
Lori was pale as a blanket, she took a couple of deep breath before speaking with a low and shaky voice.
"Lana and i came downstairs for a glass of milk, she fall asleep and when i was going back to the room i noticed this under the door, i left Lana in her bed and returned to retrieve it, went outside to see if there was someone outside and when i saw the first photo is when i pounded on your door" Lori sat downand closed her eyes, but the images were too much for her to process in the moment, she felt like throwing up but managed to keep the content of her stomach inside.
"My little baby, how could they…" Rita returned to her room, and to the dinner room, she couldn't stay still in one place
"The feast of blood and flesh is an honorable doctrine that must be respected by asking your donor the permission, forcing mortals to partake by force or without their knowledge is the lowest of the low, she tarnished the traditions. "Lucy said in a whisper, she was shaking, she spoke with hatred through her gritted teeth.
Lincoln looked pretty shaken up, pale as his hair and Luna was hugging him from behind, her face was hard to read..
Morning brought back the chaos to Franklin Avenue 1216, at 4:45 came the first police patrol to attend the call, once the officer saw the evidence a forensic team arrived at 5:20, they took the photos and interrogated each member that was awake at the moment, the commotion awoke the rest of the family and they learned about the photos but not about the details of what was on those. They knew that Lola was ok, she wasn't hurt or anything bad but they were better not knowing more..
Lana was ecstatic knowing that her sister was alive and well, for the first time on days she was smiling and the tears weren't from sadness, this was great news for the siblings that did not see the photos, for the rest of the family it was bittersweet experience.
Hours later and thanks to the surveillance system of one of the neighbours they got a clue of who delivered the envelope, at night said suspect was found dead from an overdosis behind an alley near the Royal woods mall, no fingerprints or anything could be found.
Author notes:
I already begin working on the next tale, the research is beimg done and i am takin notes on the events that will happen on that story.
I want to thank those who take their time to read, i apreciate you all.
Next chapter will be the last,is the longest one too and it will have the Epilogue and the preview to the next tale.