"Has anyone seen my laptop?" Loris voice sounded from upstairs.
Again,it had been the fifth time that Lori lost it,the first time it happened she was quick to point the finger at some of her younger siblings claiming they stole it for their personal needs,but that was quickly put to bed when they found it resting on her bed,still hanging on to her claim she requested Lisa to check for fingerprints and she obliged to obviously,though it wasn't the normal way,with Lisa being Lisa she made a device for that exact purpose.
After a quick scan with said device the results came up with nothing but Lori's own fingerprints and everyone was obviously mad at her for accusing them.
Downstairs,four of the younger siblings,Lana,Lola,Lucy and Lisa sat on the living room floor with a board game out,they were distracted from their game by Lori's voice,the bored and frustrated expressions on everyones face said it all,none them were going to bother to answering.
"Guys?" Lori tried again and once again no answer came,a loud groan sounded out and then nothing.
Lisa looked at her watch held up her other hand showing three fingers and silently counted them down.
3...2...1.
"Oh,never mind I found it" and then all the present siblings sighed.
"Okay ladies,time to get prepared for number six" Lola said sarcastically,though there was a slight growl to her voice,she really hoped their wouldn't be otherwise there'll be carnage,and everyone was comfortable with not wanting that to happen.
"I'm not even going to waste my time checking for any fingerprints I" Lisa added on "it always shows her own fingerprints and no one else's,sometimes I think she's looking for an excuse to be angry"
"Some emotions can be very addictive" Lucy muttered.
They went back to their game and tried to relax without anymore interruptions.In Luna and Luan's room where the rightful owners were readying themselves for the day ahead,Luna tuning her guitar for a gig tonight and Luan in full clown attire for a birthday party and was applying the last bit of make up on her face also heard the eldest loud girl and it really annoyed Luna mostly.
Luna huffed "If I hear one more word about that laptop I'll blend it up and make her drink it"
Luan gasped "that sure sounds app-etising" she finished with a chuckle and Luna let out a groan,rubbing her temples.
Lincoln was in the back yard with Lily and Leni when when he heard the faint sound of his sister once again asking about a missing laptop,but chose to ignore it completely not wanting to amuse the situation,they're all sitting on the grass Leni and Lincoln are both taking turns entertaining the infant,with all of her favourite toys spread out around them.
Adorable laughter was all that filled the air as Lily played with a toy piano which was roughly the size one of the draws in their house,the two older siblings were in complete silence only sharing a few laughs with their baby sister from time to time.
This silence was all too familiar to Lincoln,he couldn't think of a word to say and every minute it continued he was shuddering from flashbacks to when he was in the squirrel suit,he hoped he would never have to think of that thing again.
Then to his relief,the silence was finally broken "are you okay,Lincoln?" Leni asked with her face full of concern "you look sad,aren't you glad to be out of that ugly cat suit?"
Lincoln smiled at the ditzy sixteen year old "I'm fine Leni...and it's a squirrel suit not a cat suit" which earned a confused look and a silent 'oh' in response.
"And yes I am glad to be out of the suit,I just can't help but think back to when I wore it day in and day out,its really stuck with me" the smile now had a sad edge to it.
This caused his second oldest sisters face to droop more "I'm sorry Lincy"
"It's okay really,you were bound to fall into Lynn's delusions with your...um..." Lincoln searched his mind for a nicer word as he didn't want to insult his sister on her intelligence.
"...um...special way...of thinking" he tried hopeful she wouldn't catch on and take any offence.
"If you want to say it just say it" she said suddenly,Lincoln looked in confusion at the girl.
"Um..." he didn't know what to say to that.
"You're just trying to be nice,I understand but I know I'm stupid" Lincoln felt guilt build up inside him as he looked upon Leni's downcast face.
"Oh no,Leni I didn't mean..." Leni raised a hand for silence.
"Please don't try and sugar coat it" Lincoln now felt the guilt grow in intensity,Lily was still playing,too engrossed in the toy piano to be aware of their conversation.
Lincoln is shocked to see Leni like this,so sad and still beating herself up over the suit incident,he thought all of them stopped now...he was wrong.
"Lynn marinated me and uses my dumbness to get me on her side" Leni placed her head in both of her hands sulking out loud.
"...manipulated" Lincoln corrected sadly.
"Oh darn I did it again" she groaned disappointed in herself.
Lincoln couldn't take it anymore,he shuffled closer to Leni and wrapped her In a comforting hug "listen I don't know how you got like this or why for that matter but please don't talk about yourself like that" Lincoln's face became more firm but the sadness was still there.
"But-"
"No buts!" Lincoln shot,his voice now matching his face.
"It doesn't matter what goes on up there..." he pointed at her head,specifically referring to her brain "...just...know that everyone is here for you no matter what your IQ is,it was a jerk move for Lynn to use that against you"
Leni looked at her brother with wide eyes,she'd never seen him so serious in her life.
"But it's true though,I can't do any-" Leni was cut off by another hug from her brother,this time it was slightly tighter
"Just...please stop talking like that" his voice was now calm and gentle again.
Leni is stunned to the spot,Lincoln clinging to her,all her life she's been skipping along with not even basic education to get her by,learning has always been difficult for her,she is in high school now and can't even say what one plus one is.
The incident with the suit slowly began to open her eyes to how much she missed out on in her younger years of education,it opened her eyes to all the things she regrets not knowing,everyone at school would berate her and make her feel bad...but this was a welcome change of pace.
She reluctantly returned the hug and held it there,ten seconds into the hug and a smile broke Leni's face.
A gurgle of excitement sounded out and both siblings looked to where it was coming from,Lily was now stood up and at Leni's feet with her tiny arms outstretched,they both got the message and smiling Leni picked her up and brought her in and they were now all in a group hug,drawing more babyish giggling from the infant.
They held the hug for what felt like hours before once again the peace was broken by another sound,a BANG that most definitely came from the house which they looked towards to be welcomed by a strange sight,through the windows to the kitchen a black mass had formed and the siblings looked between each other worriedly.
The back doors handle jiggled around before a figure burst through it,coughing up a storm,it was their father.
Lynn senior leaned on the railing trying to get some air and stop the coughing,the smoke from the kitchen flowed through the back door as his coughing began to calm down.
"Well...there goes...tonight's dinner" he said between heavy breaths.
Leni spoke first "are you okay dad?"
"Yep...I'm fine" he said as a few more coughs escaped his lips.
Lincoln smiled and stood up,offering his hand to Leni "c'mon let's go help dad" leni took the hand and he pulled her to her feet whilst she was still carrying Lily "we'll pick this up later,ok"
Later that night...
The streets were empty and everyone had just finished shutting off all the lights in their homes,even the residents of the loud house had gone to sleep.
...all except one...
Lynntrap as we've come to know her/him landed on the ground from climbing out the window,a black hoodie hugging their body.
They turned and walked from the house and onto the pavement,illuminated by the street lamps,Lynntrap pulled out a steel grey face mask and slid it on their face,it was time to put the plan into action.
"Well,first order of business,find ourselves some transportation" Lynntrap began to walk down the street.
"Second,we make sure there are no further distractions" Lynntrap pulled out some black winter gloves and slipped them on whilst they continued.
"And last but not least,take your dear old brother to his very fitting demise" they finished,they disappeared into the night,this had to be quick.
1 day later...
The day is Sunday,the last day before 10 kids and one killer had to walk through the halls of royal woods elementary once again.
The loud family filled the table as they sat and ate breakfast,slight bickering was all that was heard,whilst the parents exchanged a few words every now and then.
Lori was on her phone trying to drown out the noise around her,scrolling through some news articles.
"Boring...boring...weird...nothing special...boring again" she muttered as she scrolled past news after news,nothing interesting was going on.
A moment passed by and everyone finished their first meal of the day,the loud son of the house decided to start off the morning with a bit of tv,he strolled into the living room and saw the remote sitting there,he grabbed it and switched the tv on as he sat down getting comfortable,the girls had left it on the same channel as their favourite show 'love boat' from last night.As he began to flick through the channels he was immediately jumped by two small blurs and knocked off the coach and onto the ground,those blurs were then revealed to be the twins,they had snatched the remote from Lincoln and was now fighting over it.
"Hands off,I had it first!" Lola yelled at her mechanical sister.
"No you back off,you had your show on yesterday!" Lana shot back.
Yells and shouts now filled the room as Lincoln rose back to his feet with a groan,rubbing his back he looked at the two clones and sighed.
"Will you two ever stop fighting for the remote" out of all his sisters they were the most rough when it came to possession of the tv remote.
They briefly stopped to turn to Lincoln and they both yelled "NO!" in unison,then went back to wrestling each other.
"But can you just-" Lincoln started but was cut off.
"NO!" they yelled again not even bothering to stop this time.
Lincoln decided not to take it any further and walked away with a face full of defeat,he walked back into the dining room where his mother had just set up a work space ready to write away in a type writer.
"The twins are fighting over the remote again" he blankly told Rita,acknowledging the statement she leaned to the left to look past her son to indeed see the twins fighting again,she sighed.
"I'll take care of this" she told him before getting up off her chair and walking over to the wrestling pair.
Lincoln stood back observing the matriarch as she set to work,both girls noticed their mother's presence and quickly got off each other and fixed themselves up a bit,both trying to smile innocently.
As Rita began telling off the twins and Lincoln continued to observe,a presence appeared behind him,without letting him know that their there and a hand belonging to that presence reached out and clasped Lincoln's shoulder causing the young boy to jump and look behind him.
That person was Lynn...as far as he knows.
"Sorry,sorry didn't mean to scare you" she said,but the smile on her face suggested otherwise.
"Lynn?" he questioned,he would expect the sudden appearances from Lucy,but not Lynn,far from her actually.
"I know,impressive right?I've been taking some lessons from the very best" she said referring to the goth.
Lincoln straightened up and cleared his throat "so what do you want?" he asked for starters.
Lynn brightened up "I'm glad you asked" she put one arm around the comic book nerd and smiled,walking him further away from the scene behind them.
"I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go for walk...just me and you and y'know bond as siblings or whatever" Lincoln raised an eyebrow.
"Uh-huh" he doubted.
"Look,I know I've been a garbage sister,mostly to you but I want to make that up to you" she said in a voice that sounded sincere...it had been a long time since the one actually behind her voice had spoken to anyone in this way.
"A walk?" Lincoln checked.
"That's what I said" confirmed the disguised entity.
"Right" Lincoln said unsure.
He pondered this for a moment,wondering if he was in a dream or maybe he's hearing things,it had been a while since Lynn's change and he still hasn't come to terms with it yet,he can't even remember the last time she bragged about winning a board game and she doesn't make anything into a competition anymore,not that he didn't like the change but it still shocked him that she's a completely different person now,and he found it even more strange that it all started the first time it was announced he could stop wearing the squirrel suit.
"Um I don't know Lynn" he started.
"Oh c'mon,look if a long walk isn't your thing we could go to an arcade maybe even grab a snack" Lynn pushed further.
"No walking is fine it's just that,why are so nice all of a sudden" Lincoln enquired.
"Well like I said I want to make up for all I did to you" she repeated.
"Why do I get the feeling that's not your true motive" Lynn's smiled innocently.
"Does look like the face of a liar?" Lincoln just deadpanned at that remark.
"It looks like the face of someone who would threaten me with a bat" Lynn laughed.
"Okay,no threats with bats involved" she raised her hand drew an invisible cross where her heart is "cross my heart and hope to die"
"Or threats in general?" he asked as more of a side note,Lynn gave another short laugh.
"Or threats in general" she assured.
"Okay then"
Lincoln pondered some more,and after some time he gave his answer.
"Okay Lynn if your serious then...I suppose...I'll go with you on this walk"
"That's the spirit" she clapped him on the back "we'll go sometime after lunch how 'bout that?"
"Sounds great" he put on an awkward smile,still unsure.
"Good..good,I'll see you there then" after another pat on the back she walked off and disappeared out of sight before Lincoln could say anymore.
"Okay,I definitely dreamed that right?" still in doubt he one hand to the other and pinched himself,letting out a tiny grunt of pain "nope,wide awake"
His mother entered the room again having just finished lecturing the twins "well,that's that sorted out" she said out of breath,she must of been talking really fast,she turned to her son "anything else,honey?"
"Huh?..oh,no thanks mom" he said before going back to his own thoughts.
"Okay good...I'm gonna go back to work and you have fun doing whatever you're doing" Rita said happily before going back to her seat.
Lincoln wasn't in the mood for tv anymore and let the twins watch whatever they liked,he turned to his mother one last time.
"Actually mom?" Rita turned in acknowledgment.
"I was talking with Lynn earlier..." he started,Rita hummed in response "...she was talking about me and her going for a walk"
"A walk?" Rita questioned.
"Yeah,she said it was for...um...sibling bonding" Lincoln revealed,a small smile broke Rita's face and an eyebrow raised.
"Oh...well how sweet of her,I didn't know Lynn could be like that" out of all her children she never imagined Lynn would propose something like that being the tough girl she was.
"When are you planning on going?" Rita asked.
"Sometime after lunch" responded the middle child,Rita raised a hand to her chin in contemplation,one minute later she turned back to her son.
"Do you want to go?" she asked.
Lincoln sighed "yeah,I don't see why not"
"Okay then,after lunch it is" Rita piped up in a cheerful tone.
Meanwhile,Lynntrap was making some final preparations for their departure out into the day,it was only a few small things,making sure absolutely no one was looking they packed into their rucksack a rag,a small bottle filled with clear liquid,duct tape and some zip wires and hid it all under a small white towel they took from the bathroom and topped it with some snacks and bottles of water,Lincoln could bring whatever he liked from his own room...it was going to be his last few days after all.
A few days because obviously they had to keep up appearancewhen Lincoln tragically'disappeared' after being left on his own becausehe decided hehad enough of Lynn and went to his best friendshousefor the day.
But of course that won't be what actually happened...
The more the demented entity thought about it the more his smile through Lynn's face got wider.
This is going to be fun...
Hope you were able to enjoy this chapter.
Thank you for all the support on this fic so far,I hope for it to grow and thrive for as long as possible.