So progress and other stories has been kinda slowed and that's because of work. Now you might be wondering (or most likely not) exactly what kind of work I'm doing. The answer? I'm a scare actor. Yep, my work this month is scaring the crap out of people in a haunted attraction. It's great fun, but very taxing as sometimes I don't get home until 1 AM. All worth it in the end.
In this chapter, we finally get to the story Lynn has to tell. It's most likely going to be a little more graphic than my usual content, but I am going to try to keep this in the T rating. Also if anyone is wonder about italics in this chapter it's due to Lynn telling her story over scenes from the past.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House.
"It all began all the way back in the year 1900 when this town was merely a few settlements and some shops sitting near Detroit. Just a simple little place for people to live to be out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the city," Lynn began with her story.
Lincoln suddenly interrupted and said, "You do know that at that time Royal Woods was already an incorporated township in the county seat right? You make it sound like the middle of the nineteenth century instead of the early twentieth."
Lynn glared at him and said, "Hey who's telling the story here? Do you want to hear it or not?"
Lincoln shrugged and said, "Don't shoot me. I was only saying."
Lynn nodded and said, "Good. Now shut up and listen up."
In a more isolated section of town there was once a row of houses near the woods that have since been lost to time. There is no one alive today who can recall the exact location of where the heinous crime occurred. The only thing remaining are old newspaper articles from that time.
A simple family of five stood in front of their small home on a simple small town street. A man and one of his son's are later seen chopping firewood in the backyard as the lady of the house hung laundry on the clothes line. While the family's other son and their only daughter chased each other around in their family's garden.
They were a simple and loving family. Chopped their own firewood, grew their own food, went to church every Sunday and even gossiped around the town whenever they got the chance.
"Sounds like the early twentieth century in a nutshell. Kind of generic," Lincoln mocked.
"Lincoln do you want to hear the story or not?" Lynn asked angrily.
Lincoln was a bit taken aback and said, "Sorry."
Anyway, things were great for them. Things were simple for them and sometimes things were hard for them. But they had each other and life was good for them.
The same family could be seen in their sitting room as night fell, all enjoying each other's company as a fire roared in their fireplace. Not one of them could see as a mysterious shadow formed by their back window.
Things were great. That is until one moonless night over one hundred years ago. As the family slept, someone snuck into their house and committed one of THE most heinous crimes anyone could ever think to commit.
As the family departed the main room for their own bedrooms, the shadow at the back of the house wandered over to the nearby tree stump containing the family ax. And as the family settled into the bed, the mysterious being pulled the ax from the stump and crept up to the back door of the house. As he reached the back door, he slowly creaked it open and walked into the house with the ax in hand. The first thing he did was quietly creep over to the closest bedroom door and looked in to find the parents of the household asleep. As he slowly, stealthily crept over to the sleeping duo, he carefully raised his ax and as it seemed to levitate in the inky darkness, it came down with a heavy swing.
It's not known how the killer managed to carry out his evil act without disturbing anyone who was still alive in the house with each killing or any of the neighbors nearby. But however he did it is still a mystery to this day.
The house is seen the next morning as the bodies are carted out and put into wagons to be taken away for examination and burial preparation as many locals looked on in horror. The heads of the family members were placed in bags to keep the onlookers from being able to see them.
The bodies were swiftly taken away so that no tourists to the scene could take any souvenirs. Not even the bloodstains beds were left inside the house. The ax itself was found sitting on the kitchen table with nothing else missing from the house.
The beds in questions were being broken apart by police and then burned in the household's back yard along with the bloody table as well. The ax being carried off by another officer.
Nothing except for the head of the man in the family. Which was nowhere to be found in his house or anywhere on the property.
"So why would the police destroy valuable evidence? They couldn't have lifted any fingerprints off of the beds or tables? What about the ax?" Lincoln asked.
Lynn shrugged and said, "How should I know. Maybe they were incompetent in their jobs. Maybe they were trying to hide something. Maybe they knew who the killer really was and just wanted to keep the name from being revealed. Either way, they lost all of the evidence that had to try to track the killer down. As a result, they never caught the person responsible for the killings. All five members of the family were killed in cold blood and no one paid for it in the end."
"But what about the missing head? Did they ever find it?" Lincoln asked.
Lynn smiled evilly at his question and said, "As a matter of fact they did."
A large number of people were clustered around a tree on the side of a road as police climbed down a ladder, pulling a burlap sack down with them as a photographer snapped a picture of the scene.
One week after the murders, someone who was walking along the road near the house where the murders took place took a rest under a tree near the house where the evil event occurred. They had looked up and found the severed and rotting head of the family man, impaled on the branch of the tree, eyes still locked in terror.
The officer carrying the sack, tripped and the head sitting inside the sack rolled out and came to rest at a woman who then proceeded to faint as everyone else either gasped or screamed at the sight. The officer in question frantically grabbed the head and put it back into the sack before departing.
Everyone who had witnessed the scene was never the same again. The killer was never found and the case was never closed. And it is said, that on moonless nights, the spirits of the murdered family return to woods where the head was found. Searching desperately for the clues that will lead to the identity of the man who slew them all. But it is also said, that it's not just the spirits of the family that have returned to the woods-
"THE KILLER HAS RETURNED TOO!" Lynn shouted out loud and gave the best evil laugh that she could muster.
But as Lynn told her story, Lincoln just sat to the side with a look of unamusement on his face and even yawned as Lynn laughed her evil laugh.
"Are you done yet Lynn?" Lincoln asked.
Lynn calmed her laugh down and even wiped a tear from her eye, giving out only light chuckles as she finished up.
"Yeah yeah I'm done. Come on, let's get home," Lynn said as she caught her breath.
They started walking again along the path, this time the forest was beginning to thin a bit as the sunlight began to stream in through the gaps in the leaves above. It wasn't long before they could see light at the end of the row of trees.
Lincoln sighed and said, "Finally."
As they reached the edge of the forest and out onto the sidewalk, Lynn looked up and down the street. Almost like she was looking for something.
"What is it?" Lincoln asked.
Lynn used her hand as a visor and said, "I'm looking for the tree that they found the head on. I think it might be on this street."
Lincoln gave her a hard glare and said, "You are so full of it Lynn. You expect me to believe that story you told me?"
Lynn glared right back at him and said, "It really happened Lincoln. Just go to the library and look up this town's archives. It's all true."
"Yeah sure it is," Lincoln said sarcastically.
Lynn snorted as steam was practically coming off of her head at this point. But she completely surprised Lincoln, when she suddenly calmed down and began to smile again.
"So you don't believe me then? Well then, I'm sure you'll have no problem coming out here tonight then. There's no moon tonight and the ghosts come out on nights like tonight," she said calmly.
Now this is what caught Lincoln off guard. Knowing Lynn, she'd make a challenge like this and the last thing he had wanted was for Lynn to make this a challenge against him, he simply wanted her to try her best to scare him. He really did not want to come back out here after dark.
"Well? Will you do it or are you a chicken?" Lynn asked teasingly.
Now that caused Lincoln's eye to begin twitching. Did she just call him a chicken?
"What do you say Lincoln?" she asked.
Lincoln started trying to find the right words to say for an argument, but as Lynn began to assume the chicken position and was pursing her lips to begin making the "bawk-bawking" sounds is when he finally decided that he had had enough.
"Alright alright I'll do it. If you claim it's real, I should have the right to gloat when it's not," Lincoln said right back at her.
Lynn continued to laugh as Lincoln began to glare on again. But as he watched her laugh, a sudden thought came to Lincoln and he began to smile a sinister smile of his own.
"Of course, you'll have no way of knowing if I actually came out here. In other words, if I came out here and coming running home scared, I know you will laugh over it, But you might be laughing over a lie," Lincoln said with a smile plastered over his face.
It was here that Lynn had suddenly stopped laughing and her eyes shot open faster than a speeding bullet.
She glared at Lincoln again and said, "What are you saying?"
Lincoln smiled his smile and said, "Well I could hide out somewhere else and come running back, pretending that I was there. I'll be sitting comfortable while you look foolish."
"SAY WHAT?!" Lynn screeched with her face going red.
Lincoln's smile grew. He had her now.
"Of course, you'll know properly if you, oh I don't know, come out here with me as well. See who can last the longest," Lincoln stated.
Lynn continued to seethe and said, "Oh you would just love that wouldn't you?
Lincoln nodded and said, "Unless you're chicken yourself."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" Lynn shouted.
Lincoln continued to smile and began to laugh. Even assuming the chicken position and began bawking. Now Lynn had had enough.
She grabbed Lincoln by the collar of his shirt, pressed her nose against his and said, "I AM NO CHCIKEN!"
Lincoln just continued to smile.
She released him and said, "Fine we'll do it. We'll both come out here tonight and hide out in the woods until dawn. See if those spirits come out for us."
Lincoln laughed and said, "Are you sure you want to go that long? Lori is always up at the crack of dawn and will notice us missing before then."
Lynn pondered this and said, "Hmm good point. Fine, we'll come out here tonight and stay until three in the morning. We'll wait until Lori goes to bed and when she does, we'll make our way out here."
"And the stakes?" Lincoln asked.
Lynn was already prepared for this and said, "If you run off before three, I get to use you as my practice dummy for a week."
Lincoln nodded and said, "Deal. Now if I do stay-"
Lynn grabbed him by the collar of his shirt again and through gritted teeth she said, "Then you DON'T get to be my practice dummy for a week. Got it?"
Truth be told, Lincoln found Lynn's anger scarier than anything except for Lori's anger. So much to where Lincoln decided it was a better stake than anything he could offer up.
He gulped and said, "Deal."
Lynn smiled triumphantly and said, "Good. Now let's shake on it."
She brought her hand to her face and hocked a loogy into her hand and extended it to Lincoln. He looked at her saliva covered hand and cringed in disgust at the sight of it. But not wanting to anger her anymore, Lincoln grasped the tip of one of her fingers and shook it like that.
Lynn merely frowned and said, "You're such a wuss Lincoln."
Well I was hoping to get another chapter for Out of Sight next, but I really really wanted to get some ground done on this story as I want to get it done before Halloween. So I made this chapter top priority.
Also if anyone has a problem that I didn't give the family in the story a proper description, I may be imaginative, but I'm not THAT imaginative. The family can look however you want them to be.