Lucy continued driving until she was far away from that place. No music from the radio, no company to talk with, it was only herself, paying attention to the empty streets, in order to not cause any accidents. Just because there weren't as many people as before, it didn't mean a fellow stranger couldn't simply appear out of nowhere. She knew that was possible. She mastered that art during her whole life, after all.

Lucy sighed. "Why do I even do this?" she asked herself. "To simply… hurt myself more, destroy my hope every time I see her?" She remembered all of the times she had visited her sister. It was always the same, jokes and childish games, followed by intensive laugher and giggling. Only by one of the sides, of course. It hurt her so much, the fact that Luan would find all of that funny. Of course, Lucy couldn't try to find logic and sense in the sort of state Luan had been put into.

But, at the same time, she felt like she was doing something good. Maybe not to herself, but for her sister. She heard from the guards at the place that Luan was much more aggressive an even more irrational when she's not present, if the latter was even possible. Lucy didn't like it, she hated going to that place. However, it always gave her the feeling Luan was happy to see her, even if it was overshadowed by… everything else.

"If she doesn't leave that place… at least I may bring her some joy." Lucy concluded. But was it even worth it? She always thought if it was fair that she'd feel bad and depressed, two feelings that, while she enjoyed it on some instances, when applied on that level, delivered more pain that what her family must have suffered that day many years ago, before passing away, only to make the one who's guilty of all of this, and could find something funny at the sight of a blank wall, feel some sort of happiness. Luan didn't needed her, she could entertain herself. Or could she?

"Life likes to play games with us. That's for sure." Lucy was certain that wouldn't be the last time she would be thinking about that, but she wanted to take her mind off of her sister. And she knew a way she might be able to, even if it wasn't exactly the happiest thought she could come with. She parked her car near an iron gate, which read 'Royal Woods Cemetery'. "Small town things. Public places are always named with the name of the city," she told herself, ironically.

She walked through the gate, the place as empty as the rest of the streets. It wasn't a very big place, just like most things around. There was a small church nearby, with graves spread all across the dark green grass. It had a cold vibe and chilly wind blowing. Lucy found it relaxing. Nothing to think of, neither to worry about, and the environment kept her chill. She'd need that vibe, as she reached a series of tombstones. She didn't need to read the names to know who had been buried there. Lucy thanked she found that place relaxing, because the situation definitely wasn't, as she stared at the tombs people were buried

The rest of her family was buried, to be more specific.

She took a quick glance through all of the graves. Everyone, from her grandfather to her baby sister, had their bodies laying six feet below the ground. Sure, most of them weren't there anymore, as their bodies probably have decomposed throughout the years. Yet, their souls met the path to eternal rest right in that spot, if they haven't met it sooner. It made her usual trips to the graveyard less of a hobby, and more as an act of respect.

"Hey guys…" she said, facing downwards, without any reply. "How's it going?"

Just like she hoped Luan's mind would heal, she hoped for having some sort of contact with her dead family members. Yet, that idea faded away after years of attempting contact without any success. That didn't mean she wouldn't go back to their tombs to 'visit'. After all, she felt the obligation to come back, to keep their memories alive. Who knows, she might even get lucky, and her first published story might become a reality right in front of her. She should have saved her ghost story for a moment where she had more experience. That book didn't sold very well, and the critics didn't like it that much.

Lucy just stared to the silence and emptiness of the place. Each piece of stone, the last memory of almost everyone that saw her growing up to at least 8 years old. Only her grandfather lasted to see her go to college, and even then, he soon passed away, yet that time, it was expected due to his age. Lucy knew since she was young she'd burry Pop Pop. However, she never thought she'd be doing that alone. And neither he'd bury with her the rest of the Louds.

There were only 3 Louds left. Lucy herself, her aunt Ruth, who was probably laying in a bed in a hospital away from Royal Woods, waiting for God to take her away, and her sister, who probably couldn't even tell which planet she was on. Lucy felt like she was the only one of her family, and while she didn't care for the whole 'family legacy' and stuff, it felt quite lonely, in a way. She sat on a bench right in front of the graves.

"And who'd think me, the darkest and creepiest of us all, is the only one still alive?" Lucy giggled a bit. "It's quite funny, actually. Everyone may thought I'd commit suicide or something, giving all that happened, but-"

"God dammit, lady." She heard a voice coming from behind her, to see an old man laying flowers on a pair of tombstone. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, you're not the only one who lost people, you know?" he screamed.

"Sorry, sir." Lucy said, a bit embarrassed, as she turned back to her thoughts. "I somehow still made it this far. I don't know how long this will last, though. This is too much for me to handle alone, yet I'm the only one who understands… I just hope we can meet each other again once I've crossed the line. And I hope we can be what we used to be." Lucy finished. She let a single tear escape from her eye, and she began sobbing a bit.

"Sigh!" She heard from behind her. "Look, lady, it wasn't my intention to hurt you. Don't need to get all sad on that."

"Wh-whatever," she hold her tears back, and used her sleeve to clean her nose. "I'm just… it just it brings back memories."

"Yeah, this place is not the best to be…" the man agreed. He went and seated by her side. "Wait a second, don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Maybe?" Lucy replied. Due to her career, sometimes she stumbled across a couple fans of hers. "I live around here. Maybe you saw me somewhere else, I suppose."

"Wait, you're that terror writer, aren't you?" He asked. "My grandson showed me pictures of you."

"Yep, that's me. Lucy Loud's the name."

"My boy keeps telling me about all of your books and stuff. Not much a fun of horror, personally speaking, but you do seem to have some really good stuff. Boy doesn't shut up about your stories."

"Can't please everyone, but thanks." Lucy thanked the man.

"Look, uh, I know you're in a particular moment, but would you mind giving me an autograph?" He pulled a small notebook from his pocket, with a small pen attached to it. "My grandson is crazy for your books, and he always wanted to meet you…"

"Sure thing." Lucy was used to those requests every once in a while. She was quite happy to meet some of her fans. Had the same interests, gave her some interesting ideas, she inspired some people, and most importantly, she kept her mind out of her family for a short while. "What's his name?"

"It's Tommy. The boy loves all of this dark and horror stuff. I think he has read all of your books, if my memory's not failing me."

"Okay…" Lucy began writing on the small notebook. After a few seconds, she finished her signature and dedications to the boy. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Miss Loud. Making my boy smile always makes my day a bit better. Lost both his parents on a car accident. Lived with me since he was seven."

"Oh, I see…" Lucy wasn't sure what to say. She heard lots of tragedies in her life, not counting her own. Honestly, in that particular moment, she didn't want to hear it. She put her tragedies on paper as a way to express her feelings, and it happened to work out pretty well as a career choice. She already had enough darkness around her, and some of the time, other stories actually bored or annoyed her. Of course, she wouldn't admit it. Suggestion from her editor, and herself.

"Well, I won't bother you anymore. Have a nice day." The man said, returning to the grave he was before talking to her. Lucy wasn't sure to be glad the man allowed her to go back to her thoughts, or if she wished he would keep her out of them for a few more minutes, especially considering how things have gone to her today. It wasn't exactly the best morning she ever had.

Lucy sighed again. "Well, guess that's all. Hope you guys are good on the other side." Lucy stood up, and began heading towards the exit. Those times when she used to meet her friends in a cemetery have been long gone. After what happened, she distanced herself from the rest of her friends. They kept in touch, yet she always grew more distant, since they were too interested in what happened, and that was really annoying, so she avoided it. Soon, the loneliness she already felt increased, and Pop pop wasn't enough to fullfill it

Even if Lucy couldn't thank Albert, her grandfather, enough for raising her all of those years, they weren't very close. They didn't have that much in common, and at first he was too sad to properly take care of his granddaughter. After a few weeks, though, he knew there was no use in suffering, when even one still needed him to be strong. And so he did everything possible to make things as tolerable as possible. But still, all Lucy wanted back then was to the incident to never happen. She often remained alone on her thoughts and poetry, knowing her family would help her. Of course, she was closer to some more than others, but just the fact they were gone gave already the feeling she was alone. If she didn't trigger that prank…

Nobody was a huge fan of Luan's celebrations for April Fools day, that's for certain. And yes, Luan sometimes...okay, she went out of hand a lot of times, but Lucy was pretty sure Luan would never want to bring the whole house down, and thus leading to the whole tragedy. She probably forgot that some parts of the house required repairs for ages, or something similar.

After all, if it was intentional, they'd probably never have caught Luan.

Lucy knew her sister well enough back in the day. When she wanted to do something, she had everything planned, and things would only go wrong if it had people other than her as a main part of the plan. She had no reason to do that on purpose, and if she somehow did, she'd not be there waiting for the cops and ambulances to appear. She'd be long gone, and Lucy would probably never see her. Well, Lucy never saw her true sister ever again, only that new insane version of herself.

She kind of understood how she became that way. One thing was witnessing the death of those you love. And that was already enough to drive some people crazy. However, with Luan, the case was different. She didn't only witnessed it, she also was partly responsible for it, on something she loved doing, which was pranking and being funny. Maybe that explained why she always tried to make Lucy laugh when she visited her. She just wants to make people happy, or something...

"Why do I even think about this?" Lucy thought to herself. "I know her. It wasn't on purpose, and I don't have to prove anything to anyone, just… myself." She realised, once again, that even she couldn't be sure of Luan's true intentions. Maybe she turned crazy before, and wanted to kill them all. She was a horror writer, not a therapist. She could only have ideas, not be sure. Even if she wanted Luan to heal, a small part of her still wondered what her true intentions were that day. And an even smaller part thinks she was completely aware of what she was doing.

Lucy entered her car, and soon she was on her way to her house. This time, she turned on the radio. Even if the music wasn't her favourite way to pass time, it was still a method to leave those thoughts away. She didn't even know the lyrics or the name of the song, it was just random pop music teenagers would play in their parties until 3 in the morning. Or at least she thought it was. She hadn't taken notice of any parties of that type in many years.

Her house wasn't that far away from the cemetery, yet again nothing was too far away in the city. She parked her car right in front of her house. Nothing too special about it, just a one floored house, with the white wood that composed the walls slowly rotting, and the brick on the base having a bit of moss growing in them. Somehow, Lucy liked that sort of style, with the vegetation slowly trying to take down the human building.

She unlocked the door and went inside. It was quite a small place, living room to the right, kitchen to the left. The two former had connections with the only other two rooms in the house, being her bedroom and her writing room, respectively, and the first one had a bathroom. She didn't need much else, and she wanted anything else either. Maybe company, but better to be alone than to be with bad people.

She headed towards the living room. Even if the outside of the house wasn't that attractive, the inside was surely comfy. Dark wood made the floor, a single couch, aiming at a wall, which had a small television hanging above a fireplace, with carpet covering the gap. On the side, a window to the outside, and a small cabinet with four drawers, where she kept whatever she felt it could be necessary. Pens, old documents, pictures, old batteries she had to throw away, phone charges… Just because she was a writer that didn't mean she was not modern.

Over the cabinet, there were a couple of portraits. Lucy approached both of them. The first one, a picture of the whole family. Lucy even smiled a bit at its glance. She still remember the day Lincoln went all crazy to take the family picture. She was surprised some of those things survived the whole incident. She looked back at her couch. It was the same one she used to watch TV with her family, being fixed after the incident.

Most of her things actually came from that house. For instance, part of the kitchen didn't collapse, so most of her cooking stuff came from there. Pop-Pop couldn't take it to his place, due to space and legal issues, but at the same time, he stored all of that stuff. Why, Lucy still had to find out. It only brought bad memories to the old man. Even if she also had some memories sometimes, at least she used those objects, instead of just let them gain dust. Cheaper than buying everything again, she always said.

After she placed the first portrait down, she felt a lonely tear come down with it. Yet, she saw the second portrait. It was a picture of only Luan and Lucy. They took that one after she performed in Royal Woods Theater. Lucy was so proud of herself, and so glad at Luan for helping her. Sure, they weren't the closest pair of sisters on the big family they had, yet, they had their fair share of happy moments…

"Moments that won't come back…" Lucy said out loud, to no one, apparently. "And all because of... her."

Lucy kept staring towards the picture, especially at her sister. That smile on her face… she hasn't stopped seeing it in real life… yet, the instances were different, just like everything was different. The whole city changed… her life changed...her family changed...all for the worst.

She felt a slight bit of anger flowing up her veins. All of the thoughts and happy moments with her family being crushed by wood and concrete, all because of a stupid and dangerous tradition her sister insisted to do? She began shaking a bit, even if she didn't notice. A bit of her talk with Luan earlier came to mind.

"Of course I make them happy, I always did!"

"God dammit Luan!" She screamed and threw the picture through the window, breaking the glass in the process. "You just had to do this! You had to ruin our family, our lives, o-our everything...our…" Lucy couldn't feel her legs at that point. She slowly fell on her knees, and layed her back on the wall below the window. She could feel the wind hitting the back of her head, just like she could feel the tears falling from her face. Using both her hands to cover her face, she began sobbing. She tried to hold it as much as possible, but it wasn't very effective.

"Why the hell…" she sobbed. "Did you have to do that…?"

She remember when she first saw Luan after the incident. Whatever way, it was only a matter of minutes, an hour at most, for the rescue to be able to take her out of the debris. She was taken to the hospital, and luckily enough, she had nothing but a few scratches and small bruises.

Once her grandfather arrived at the hospital, and made sure everything was sure with Lucy, he asked about the others, and a nurse guided them to a room. Luan was there, sedated. At that moment, nobody told Lucy she was the only other one that made it. She found out that her sister was completely fine...physically. The same could not be said of her mental state. Even then, it would take years for her to see what that really meant.

Lucy wasn't allowed to go see Luan the next days, like Pop-Pop did. Maybe someone talked to him and she didn't notice, that's why she couldn't go. Either way, she only got to see her sister again years later, after the hope of her returning someday with Pop-Pop faded after a couple weeks, as he stopped visiting her. Maybe he thought it was no use. Lucy wanted to know the answer for all of those questions. Yet, her family's spirits weren't giving them.

She just stayed there for a few moments, when she managed to calm down. Still sobbing, but without shedding tears, she slowly stood up. Breathing slowly, she made her way towards the kitchen. The floor tiles changed to granite, yet the walls had the same white color. She opened one of her cabinets attached to the ceiling, and took a glass out of it. Next, she opened another, this time on the bottom. It had a three shelves, with two columns dividing the area into 12 squares. Almost all of them had a bottle with a dark liquid inside. She pulled one out.

She placed both the glass and bottle on the counter, and Lucy poured the red wine into her glass. She took a sip. The taste of fermented grapes always helped her to calm down and relax. Plus, it had a good taste for her. Kind of reminded her of the days she drank homemade blood, only this time, she had less trouble acquiring it. And of course, it wasn't nearly as sticky or oozy.

She continued to down the entire glass, setting it onto the counter once she finished. She pondered whether to pour herself another glass, further risking the possibility of getting drunk. At the same time, though… there was quite a lot on her mind and she just wanted a break from it all for a little bit. She decided to go to her writing room. Maybe she would get an idea for something to write there' Maybe just a poem to vent a little bit. Or maybe she'd find something to distract herself a bit

So, she poured herself another glass and took it to the other room. Inside the small room, there was a table with a single chair. No windows, which made it look like night, and not the middle of the day. Certainly helped set the tone for her better. Her computer lied there, along with a pile of papers and a pencil holder. Sometimes she thought writing on paper would do better than typing. Not today, though. She just wanted to get away from her own situation for a while, as quickly as possible.

She plopped down into the chair and took a sip of the wine. Lucy sighed and just stared into the darkness of the room. She broke the solitude and quiet of the dark by turning on the computer. After a couple minutes of the whole turning-on process, she opened her browser. The thing was quite slow, but Lucy prefered things that weren't that fast either way. She typed in the URL for a social media site she visited. She wasn't that frequent of a visitor, but she did sometimes get messages from fans and such.

Discussions on other books, updates on her stories, or just publish poems or small stories online made her time enjoyable in those websites, especially since only those who had some liking in the subject were present. It was the best company she'd get these days. And while usually it didn't bothered her that much, some moments she'd wish she had someone closer to talk to her. She isolated herself most of the time, sometimes by choice, sometimes because she didn't had anyone to talk to begin with. And on the last weeks, she hasn't been online, and she didn't warned nobody. She took some time of it, to find inspiration, and to seek peace with her inner thoughts. It didn't work for the latter that much.

She opened her notification page. There were several messages in her inbox. While she was scrolling down and reading the hundreds of messages from the last weeks, her phone vibrated. She pulled it out to find an alert she herself had set. She totally forgot about the convention she'd had the same day, at night. The clock indicated 5 o'clock, even if she had left the sanatorium before 3, and she had to be there at 8. Time definitely went faster than she thought.

If it wasn't due to the nature of the day, she wouldn't have forgotten to get ready as early as possible. Especially since the place was in another city, which usually means a 1 to 2 hour drive. She couldn't be late, obviously. So, she stood up, poured the rest of the wine in the glass in the sink.

She crossed her whole house, which wasn't that much, to her bedroom. Just like the rest of the place, it was no big deal. A bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe, with a door to the bathroom. She opened the latter and took out two towels, as well as a piece of underwear, and a long sleeved dress, both color black, and entered the bathroom, hanging her clothes on the doorknob outside. The bathroom wasn't painted black, though the lack of windows, similar to her writing room, gave that feeling.

She usually took a bath with the light of some candles on one of those days. It helped her relax after an extra stressful day. However, due to the fact that she couldn't be late, she didn't risk herself to have that luxury. She turned on the artificial lights, and after undressing and leaving her clothes in a small basket on the corner, she stepped in and turned on the shower.

When the water began pouring, she waited a few moments before the water became warm. She allowed herself just that bit of confiness. Her straight black hair just fell on her back. Her pale skin showed the muscles relaxing at the gaze of warm water and cleanliness. She didn't took long for the whole process, but it definitely made her able to make her mind go blank, just enjoying the moment.

In five minutes, she was out of the shower, using the towels to dry her body. After she was done, one towel tied on her head, and other on her chest, she took a glance on herself through the blurry glass. She used her hand to clear the vision of her own face. On her right cheek, a small scar was visible for those who payed attention, crossing the area. It wasn't really big or deforming, but it held some memories with Lucy.

She gained that one, alongside a few small ones on her arms and legs, back on the day of the accident.

Lucy never bothered that much with those, and today was not different. She didn't need the physical scars to remember, and she never paid much attention to it. Her fans liked it, even if it was usually covered by her bangs. Only now she could see them due to her hair being held up by the towel. She removed it, and it fell, partly over her face, covering her cheeks and and her eyes. That was something she kept from her days as a kid. Just like darkness in general, and unlike… family and friends. Lucy sighed. "Why must this torment me so much?" she asked herself.

She left the bathroom, along some water steam, and picked up her clothes. She dressed herself quickly, to avoid possible contact of the cold air with her warm body as much as she could. In a matter of seconds she was totally dressed. She took the time to take a small box from her wardrobe. Inside, there was a small silver necklace. She was given it as a gift from her grandfather when she was 18, the day before she went to college. She went to another state to study, only to return to Royal Woods when she graduated, in her early twenties.

She kept that item only for things related to her career. She felt it was too precious for anything else, as it was the last thing she received from Pop-Pop, and she used it a lot in college itself. Even if it didn't look brand-new, the clothes made it shine over the rest. The cold metal around her neck gave what she thought was more elegant, and it broke the 'only dark' style. With everything ready, she picked up the keys to her car, and was ready for a long night which, hopefully, would be better than what she had to go through the rest of the day.

Hours earlier

"Wait, you haven't heard my best joke!" Luan shouted as Lucy began walking away. Right after she had left, the guard for Luan's cell took a deep breath and went inside to cover her mouth again. And once again she growled and attempted to bite him, enough to send him racing right back out. Luan just let out a loud laughter.

"I am good imitating animals, ain't I!" She screamed, before laughing again.

"You're supposed to show that you're funny, not scary! Look what you did." a voice sounded in her head, also sounding much more like Luan's voice back all those years ago, except it was a bit deeper. Only Luan herself could hear it, and apparently she ignored it, as she didn't stop her laughing session.

"Luan, come on! Stop laughing for a second!"

But she did not, at least until 15 seconds later when she finally did stop.

"God dammit. You can't stay serious for 5 minutes. I know what we did is bad, but you only made things worse since day 1."

Luan looked down at the padded vantawhite-colored floor. A tiny part of whatever sanity she still hadn't lost somehow was still there, and it regretted everything she did. Though, her mind and body apparently weren't connected to that part. It was almost like her regrets were a different person.

"Don't you remember when we were sane? When we were able to talk to people, while making some sort of sense?"

"Okay Loud!" Luan's attention went towards a guard, different from the first, holding the mask in hand. "The rules are clear," he slowly approached Luan. Luan turned to him with a wide grin that exposed all of her teeth, and a mad glint in her eyes.

"Oh, but the show hasn't even started, and I still have a lot of jokes to tell. You cannot stop laug- mmffff mmfff" The guard placed the mask back on Luan."

"If you had some sort of sense in your brain, your jokes might be funny." The guard said, before closing the door, leaving Luan all by herself. Of course, this only made things worse.

"See?! I told you, if you were gonna act the way you did, then this is how the world is gonna see you!"

The mask had further muffled her speech, making it difficult both to talk and for others to understand when she did. She still replied with difficulty. "I was just doing my job, to try and make the world happy!" Even though no one was hearing her, and even if someone was, they wouldn't understand her muffles.

"I know we went crazy after what happened, but why don't you ask for help? Like your sister, you saw she still cares for you, yet you just keep telling stupid jokes or screaming nonsense!"

"Hmm, I'd like to eat cotton candy!"

"Why do I even bother with you anymore…?"

"We're two peas in a pod, ya know?"

"If I was still your mind and not just a voice floating around, we wouldn't be here right now. "

"Hey, what does the chicken say?"

"Look at us. We're stuck in a padded room, bound in a straightjacket and with a mask so nobody has to hear us, and you think it's okay? This is where people without their sense nor sanity go."

"Answer my question!"

"You're not even listening to me!"

"WHAT DOES THE GODDAMN CHICKEN SAY?!"

"CLUCK, IT SAYS CLUCK! JESUS!"

Luan calmed down slightly, satisfied with the answer her voice gave to herself. She giggled a bit. "Good joke, am I right?" She mumbled.

The voice, somehow, sighed. "Lucy, if you still care for me… I know all that happened, but please, just help me. I don't like what I did, and I don't deserve-"

"Why did the chicken crossed the road?" Luan asked, and smiled behind the mask the way she could.

"I'm not answering that."

"To escape from the padded room!" As she always did, she laughed like a hyena at the little joke.

"Sometimes I'm just glad I'm the only one who has to suffer with you. Maybe it's safer this may, so you won't hurt people if they don't laugh at you."

"Not at me, with me! They just haven't heard my best material!" She began laughing hysterically

"I don't know how long this will last. Lucy, please, if I'm getting out of this, you're my only way, I know it. I know I don't deserve your mercy, but still..." She knew full well Lucy couldn't hear her, and highly doubted the body and mind she was in would let her tell her anytime probably just ignored her again. But the sanity of someone locked inside a person in the form of a voice could have hope. That, or it would probably go insane. Just like the rest of herself.