A crisp breeze of winter's wind blew through the city of Detroit, freezing all the hapless souls who wandered her bustling streets. Car horns blared as far as the ear could perceive. The buildings soared high above the clouds, cutting the clouds and the heavens above in their majesty. Blindingly bright neon lights shined across the rooftops, mesmerizing its viewers upon sight. This was the place that Lori had chosen to call her new home.

She had heard magnificent stories of this metropolis, where aspiring men and women come to raise their dreams high off the ground and ascend into realms of fame and glory. But in a more practical outlook, it could simply serve as a place where one can transform themselves; run away from whom they were before and start a new life. Believing this was the best path for her, the 8-year-old walked along the sidewalk, gazing in awe at the sights that lied in her view.

In her little mind, making it big could wait until later. After all, she needed to get used to her new home. Walking around with a polka dotted knapsack hanging from her shoulder, Lori thought of all the things that were at her fingertips just ripe for the picking. Perhaps she could attend a baseball game. Or maybe she could take a ferry ride across the lake. What about simply lying back in a park and gazing at the stars? She looked at her possibilities with glee and anticipation, until...

-Grumble-

The blonde's stomach gave off a miniature roar, and she felt a sudden need for nourishment ravage almost every single one of her priorities. Of course, this came as no surprise to her, as a 2-hour bus ride with only a few chocolate bars as snacks would not really suffice as a full meal.

"Okay then…" Lori said as she pulled out a gigantic map from her bag. "Let's see where I can...can…" She stopped in her tracks as she began to notice something peculiar about her guidance. Mainly, it was borderline illegible with how many lines intersected with each other, red lines being crossed with blue lines, symbols being almost completely obscured by roads. Although, she could not entirely blame her map for its complexity; for when she looked up, Lori noticed a myriad of intersections with hardly any lick of difference apart from the street names that labeled them. But those came of no help to Lori, as she hadn't seen them before in her life.

But even so, her stomach kept growling and growling away, eating her alive from the inside. As she looked around for even the faintest clue as to where she could gain a feast that would last the night, her little nose began to smell a peculiar scent coming from the horizon. It was...it was….

...the scent of homemade pizza, cooked to perfection in a brick oven. Paired with that was a batch of tender pepperoni, the meat steaming as its pork flavors invaded Lori nostrils and picked away at her sanity. The 8-year-old felt her legs begin to walk by themselves, as she felt herself being hoisted along the concrete step by step towards the source of the delectable smell; even going so far as to-

-HONK- -HONK-

In the midst of her hunger induced trance, Lori found herself smack dab in the middle of the street, a red hand beaming right above her, and a driver shaking his fist out of his window, yelling out: "Hey! Watch where you're going, missy!"

"O-Oh! S-Sorry, mister," she stammered, gaining her bearings and making a mad dash off the road. Once she reached safety, she let out a sigh as the aroma from before reached her once more, enticing her movement to be rendered involuntary, as if nothing had ever happened.

In the midst of her hunger induced trance, Lori felt her senses leave her body, as she found the sidewalk she was walking on suddenly become littered with gumdrops. Curious as to her findings, she looked up to see the sky had turned pink and the buildings that surrounded her had turned into various stacks of pancakes, waffles, and french toast wedges. For most men, such a phenomenon would probably be perceived as a sign of lunacy.

Lori, however, could do no more but drool at the sight, as she felt her stomach grumble even more as the scenery began to grow more and more vibrant. Feeling herself prance around in the air whimsically, she eventually surrendered to her fantasies as she pranced on forward through the confectionary filled town.

Eventually, Lori found herself face to face with a graham cracker made structure right before her very eyes. Her mouth began to drool as her fingers began to uncurl from her sides and place themselves against the soft, warm feel of the savory snack, each digit shuddering upon contact. She then felt that all she required was but a tasty nibble, a subtle taste for her hunger to be sated. With her primal urges in high gear, Lori pressed her nose against the brown, honey baked cracker, only to find that it felt an awful lot like...

...solid brick.

At that moment, Lori felt her eyes blink, as she looked around to see the streets had returned to their shade of gray, the buildings were reverted back to their tall, concrete stature, and the sky had once again become midnight moment her senses returned and her bearings were straightened, she looked to see herself with an all too solid brick wall. Lori instinctively smacked herself on her forehead, and looked around to see where she wound up.

"Uuggghh," she groaned. "There's gotta be some place to eat…"

Fortunately for her, the moment she looked up, the eight-year-old took notice of a gleaming sign that shined right above her head. And as fate would have it, what read from the sign was:

Sal's Pizzeria

Lori almost felt like questioning how she randomly ended up at the very thing she was looking for. However, those queries were silenced entirely when her stomach growled a final time, more powerfully that all the other times combined. And so, she grabbed the handle on the door, and swung it open, feeling a hot breeze hit her dead on.

The store itself was like a narrow hallway, adorned with high tables and long standing aluminum chairs, red brick decorating the walls, and a checkerboard patterned floor. At the end of the hall, there was a bar-like counter with three more tall chairs placed right next to it. And on the other side of the counter, a 5 foot 5 man stood, wearing a white apron and a chef hat not unlike the ones seen in novelty shops. Thinking nothing of her surroundings, Lori promptly walked straight over to the nearest table and sat down. It was at that moment when the man perked up, took notice of his latest customer, and went over to her.

"Ah, why, hello there!" he affably said. "What can I do for you?"

"Yeah...I'll have a personal pizza with… Hmmmmm…" she replied before turning towards the table's center. "What do you guys want-" She stopped in the middle of her sentence as she realized something missing from her surroundings, before letting out an "Oh…"

"Hmm? Something the matter, little one?" the waiter inquired, taking notice of Lori's look of confusion. Hearing him ask that made Lori look back at him with a startle.

"N-Nothing. Nevermind. I'll just have it with pepperoni, thanks," she said, beginning to look down at the table.

"Your wish is my command," he said back with a tip of his hat. He then went over to the kitchen and started to work his magic. Once he arrived, he took out a small, wooden paddle and laid it out on the counter. With a crack of his fingers, he took out a healthy dose of pizza dough and pounded it over and over, before laying it flat on the paddle. Next, he took out a ladle and scooped out a big batch of tomato sauce, with which he spread all over the dough. After that, he pulled out a block of strong scented, bright yellow, mozzarella cheese, took out a cheese grater, and went straight to work with making numerous strands of the dairy product, all of which he made rain all over the sauce covered uncooked bread. And last but most certainly not least, the pepperoni was brought out from a cabinet over to the chef's side, and with almost machine gun equse speed and precision, he chopped up the meat ever so thinly and with great quantity. From there, he laid each and every slice onto the bed of yellow and red.

Once they were all in place, the man took a step back to admire his handiwork, relishing in the raw yet succulent scent of all of his ingredients blended together into an artisan's subjective masterpiece. And with a swift motion and a strong lift, he hoisted the wooden paddle up, made his way over to the brick oven, and slid his half baked creation straight in. It was only then, turning back towards the counter, when he noticed little Lori leaning on the top of the maroon wood top, staring at him with drool coming from the corner of her mouth and stars glittering from her eyes.

"Ohohohoho. Well, you're lookin' pretty ravenous there, eh?" he asked, a small smirk sprouting from his mouth. In response, Lori looked up the tiniest bit, shook her head, and let out a sheepish giggle.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. I just haven't eaten all that much in the last few hours."

With a twist of his wrist, Lori's host cranked a handheld timer to its 30 minute mark, placed it on his workbench, and leaned forward on his side of the counter. "Well, while we're waiting for that," he said, "why don't we have a little chat, you and I?"

"Huh?" Lori bewilderedly asked. "Don't you have other custo-" As she prepared to finish her sentence, the little blonde took a look around to see not a soul other than the two of them. "Wait a second...we're really alone in here?"

"Ehehehe. Well, you did come here just when I was about to close up for the night," the man replied. "I mean, I hardly get any customers at this time of day anyways, and yet here you are, all by your lonesome self."

Hearing that made Lori sweat a bit from her brow, now realizing the natural suspicions that could be inferred from her state of being. Thinking on her feet, she said back to him: "Oh, no. I'm not here alone, sir. I'm actually just waiting for my Mom and Dad to come."

"Oh?" the man said. "You mean they aren't here with you?"

Sweating a bit more profusely, Lori scrambled out: "W-Well...you see, they're at...a drugstore! Yeah! We needed to get some milk for this super long road trip we're on right now and they sent me here to hold a table." Even with the rushed explanation, she let out a miniature sigh of relief on the inside.

"Well, I guess that'll do for now." her host then said, to Lori's delight. "But to be a bit more friendly, what's your name, little one; or do you just want me to call you that the whole night?"

Giggling at first, Lori answered: "My name is Lori. Lori Loud!"

"L...La-ood?" the chef said, chuckling a bit on the inside.

"No, it's Loud. LAAOOOUUD."

"Hah, I'm just joshin' ya, little Lori. My name's Sal, the one from the sign." Sal chimed, prompting Lori to sigh and give a little shake of her head. "But really though, is that what you're named after? You mean to tell me that your family of three is loud enough that you all are explicitly named after the word itself?"

A sudden burst of laughter then erupted from the eight year olds lungs. "If only!" she gasped, before taking a moment to calm down. "No, it's actually a really crazy story." And with a inward wag of her finger, Sal inched his head in closer to her's. "I'm actually in a family of, including me, six kids."

The man's eyes went wide for the briefest of moments. "You're joking me right now!" he exclaimed. "You really have that many guys in your little home?"

"Yep!" Lori replied, eliciting the happy little giggle.

"Well that must be quite something. What exactly happens in this large family of yours?"

"Oh, you have no idea," she said, putting her elbows and sporting a childlike grin. "Well, first things first, you can forget about ever having to go to the bathroom whenever you want. Then, there are nonstop pies flying everywhere, filled diapers littered on the floor, goofy airheads walking into walls; it's an absolutely crazy place."

"I see, I see," Sal chimed, listening intently. "And may I ask, where do you stand in your sextoplet?"

"Oh, me? I'm the oldest. Large and in charge!" Lori decreed, huffing her chest out with pride.

"Mmmmmm….So I take it that you're the one who sets down the law and keeps everyone from killin' themselves?"

Feeling a bit queasy, Lori then scrunched back down. "W-Well, I-I wouldn't say that they'd die without me, but yeah, I always do my best to keep everyone in line...even if I end up failing miserably and end up finding myself going back into the chaos myself," Lori stated, blushing towards the end. "But at the end of the day, we all love each other more than anything in the world, and I…" Subconsciously growing a bit downtrodden, she concluded with, "I only want to do what would make them happy in the end…"

A deep silence fell upon the two, as the lights gave off a flicker one by one. Letting out a hefty sigh, Sal said: "Gee, you lookin' real sad there. Something the matter, little Lori?"

"N-No…" Lori lied. "I-I just...kind of...uuhhh…" Her words began to jumble in her mouth, as she felt a beefy finger touch upon her lips.

"Uh uh uh. No need, my friend," Sal whispered, "I think I've got it all figured out already." With her curiosity piqued, she looked him dead in the eye. "Your folks ain't really comin' here to meat'cha...are they?"

Lori's eyes wide as her head reeled back at breakneck speed. "W-W-WHAT?!" she involuntarily screamed, before stopping herself almost immediately and regaining her composure. "I-I mean...no, you're absolutely wrong, and that's final!"

"Is that so?" Sal asked, minisculely shaking his head. "Well you just gave yourself three strikes that helped me see through your little ruse."

Scoffing at the idea, Lori snidely said back to him: "Oh, yeah? Well, what might-"

"Strike one!" Sal interrupted with one finger lifted. "You told me that you were here with your folks on a "super long road trip", and just minutes later you're screaming to the wind about you havin' this large family. Whatever happened to the rest of them?"

Feeling her gut drop to the pits of her groin, she stammered: "U-U-Uhh...You see...I...We left them with-"

"Strike two!" he interrupted again, this time holding up two fingers. "When I first came to you, you looked over to the side, almost by instinct to ask your family what they wanted. If you were really here with them, why'd you feel the need to do that?"

"I-I-I-I-I g-g-guess I just...um-"

"And strike three!" he interrupted once more, predictably holding up three fingers. "You claimed that you came in here lookin' to get your folks and you fed, but you ordered a personal pie. More than enough for just you, but not nearly enough for three of youse."

Lori felt her forehead against the counter, as tears began to fall from her eyes, before Sal concluded with the final blow, "So just tell me the truth, will ya?"

Sniffling and weeping, she looked up. "Oh, all right!" she suddenly yelled. "Yes, it's true. I'm a gosh darn runaway! I left home without a trace! I went here hoping to start a brand new life! HAPPY NOW?!"

Through gritted teeth and clenched fists, Lori felt as if the world had conspired against her, as if all of her efforts to be left in her own solitude were for naught, and now her number was up. Though little did she know, that Sal had ceased from his relentless pressing, and now adopted a sympathetic look in an attempt to calm her nerves.

"But why?" Sal quietly said. Lori then lifted her head the tiniest bit, not even bothering to look him in the eye.

"Because every one of my siblings hates what I do for them. They think I don't notice their groans whenever I try to get them to go to bed or do their homework, but I do! I do and I…!" Lori paused, starting to feel her anger fade away, and give way only to sadness. "I only wanted to make them happy in the long run, so I left them all alone, just like they wanted…" It was then where her tears finally began to break out from their ducts, as she felt a steady stream of liquid fly down her cheeks and land on her shorts. "After all, isn't that what a big sister does for their family?"

Sal didn't utter a word, for he didn't even know what there even was to say at that point. Sniffling much more profusely, Lori finally looked all the way up, and with red eyes and a runny nose, she said: "Mister...can you please just feed me and leave me alone? Please?"

The chef didn't even move, for he was too busy lost in his own thoughts about what he could do. He figured that he'd never be able to talk her out of her dilemma, but he knew that he couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

...That was when a thought occurred to him, and he subsequently went over to his workbench, pulled open a drawer, and took out a fairly new newspaper. He then went over to the downtrodden Lori, who was too busy looking at her feet to even notice him.

"Little one...you need to realize that what you're doing is stupid. I hate to be blunt, but it's true."

"Oh, yeah…?" Lori replied, regaining the teensiest bit of her anger from before. "And are you going to lecture me about how I shouldn't be out here and how my family actually loves and all that stupid junk?"

"No….no, I'm not gonna do that."

"Then what do you-"

-SLAM-

Lori felt a jolt go up her spine, as she looked to see the newspaper Sal was holding had been turned to a certain article somewhere to the right of the main ones.

"I'm gonna show you why it's wrong," he said. "Read that little tidbit there, and it'll all make sense."

Even though she was a more than a little annoyed about her pity party being spoiled, she couldn't help but feel a bit intrigued at what he wanted to show her. And so, she took her hands and brought the article in question into her field of focus. But what she read out loud almost made her heart stop.

Renown Police Lieutenant's Son Missing. Whereabouts unknown.

Sensation! The young child of citywide known Lieutenant has run away from his own home!Two weeks ago, a young 8-year-old male by the name of Scott Lorenzi was reported to have run away from his home in the middle of the night. Reports remain hazy and undetailed, but around the evening of the day in question, neighbors reported young Scott and his family being involved in a heated argument. Search parties were sent out by the DPD almost immediately, as the boy was apparently the child of renowned Lieutenant Salvatore Lorenzi, who was almost maddened to find his son by whatever means necessary. All of his usual haunts were searched with nothing found of his location, and in the following days, there were almost no clues as to where he ended up. Eventually, at around the 10th day of the search, Lt. Lorenzi resigned from his position, presumably because he couldn't handle the pressure and shame of his failure to find him. His fellow officers were saddened to see him leave the force, and vowed to find his son to make up for their Lieutenants shortcomings. If you have any information as to any clues that could lead to Scott, don't hesitate to contact your local police department immediately.

Feeling all of the sadness and anger dissipate from her brain, she looked up in wonder as she began to notice Sal look down at her with tears of his own forming under his eyes.

"Shocking, isn't it?" he weeped. "A hard boiled cop who can't even find his own son."

Rendered entirely speechless, all Lori could do was just stare right back at him, still trying to make sense of all that she was hearing.

"...I loved the little guy, y'know?" Sal eventually said, breaking the everstill silence. "He'd come home from school every single day and we'd sit on the couch watching our favorite shows while my wife would just sit along, groaning at our giggling heads as we kept on being our happy little duo."

"I…." Lori started, with the slowest speech that her mind restricted her to. "I'm sorry for your loss…"

Hearing her words come out made her cringe at herself. She didn't know how to talk to someone who had that kind of problem and she knew it, but saying nothing almost felt cruel. Thankfully for her, Sal didn't even seem to hear her, as he knelt down to where his head was at her level, wiped out a corner of his left eye, and whispered: "You gotta understand something, Lori. This here...this is Detroit, the big city, the urban jungle. It ain't worth it trying to find refuge in these parts." And then, with a huge amount of determination in his glare, he concluded with, "You should get on home before you get hurt."

Lori didn't respond. She didn't have the willpower to….

….

….

….

-RIIIIING- -RIIIIING-

"Oh! Now what might that be?" Sal asked himself, as he turned around to see his windup timer was ringing like crazy. Raising his brow in attention, he then got up and ran over to the oven, pulled out his trusty wooden pan, and took out his savory meal straight out of it. From there, he took out a wheel cutter from his cabinets, and sliced the pizza into eight even pieces. Lastly, Sal went over to Lori, where he laid it out in front of her.

"In all this talk about sadness and runaways, I almost forgot about your pie!" he affably said, trying to brighten the mood for his guest, who just sat there ever more silently. "And since you were such a good sport, this one's on the house."

Lori's eyes laid down on her dinner, as she began to quiver her lip at what she noticed. It was just like the pizzas they had back at home, whether it be what they ordered, or what their kooky dad made in the kitchen. The bubbling hot cheese, the succulent tomato sauce, the fluffy crust, and not least the tender pepperoni. Whenever one came into the Loud siblings' sights, it was devoured in ten seconds flat. And a member of the ravenous pack was Lori herself, eating happily along with her posse of sisters and brother. With the feelings of home deep within her subconscious, she lifted her hand...and pushed the pizza away.

"N...no thank you, sir. I...I'm not hungry anymore. You can have it," she muttered.

Sal let out a sigh. "I don't blame you," he replied.

With that, Lori got up from her seat, pushed it back in, and made her way back towards the door. But not before Sal went over to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Can you make it back on your own? Need any help?"

After a brief moment of pause, Lori said: "No, I'm okay. Thanks, anyways."

"Hmm… Then you'd best get on out of here, little one. And I don't just mean out of my restaurant."

Bidding him goodbye, Lori then went outdoors, her sack in hand, as she looked towards the sky. The city's lights weren't as bright as they were before.