Chapter 9? Damn, this story turned out to be longer than I expected. I originally planned to write 4 chapters only.
If I made a mistake, please comment and I'll fix it.
Lola rolls on the bed, tiredly looking at the night table next to her. She can just barely see the hour displayed on the clock. Quarter past one. Lola sighs before rolling on her back to look up at the roof. This would be a long night, just like the one before… and the one before that.
She had been sleeping poorly for the last few days, waking up around the middle of the night and having trouble to go back to sleep. The first night, she just thought that it was due to the new room. Different space and different bed, she just needed time to get used… but no.
Lola looked at the bed on the other side of the room, feeling a little envious of Lori, who seemed to be sleeping soundly. The girl closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, and waited… and waited… and waited…
"Ugh," Lola groaned as she turned to look again at the clock on the night table. 'What the– It has only been three minutes?!' Lola thought angrily, rolling so her back was facing the clock. As she moved on the bed, she felt her foot touch something. She sat up to look what was it, easily spotting the pink princess doll. The one that Lana had given her.
Lola reached the dolly with one hand before laying back on the bed. She held the doll up on the air, frowning at it. "Stupid Lana," she muttered as her gaze softened. She lowered the doll and rolled on her side, covering herself with the blanket as she hugged the doll close to her. A yawn escaped her and her eyelids started to close on their own.
Her eyes opened as she managed to hear the creaking of the stairs, but she just rolled to face the other side and allowed her eyelids to close again. This house was old, and usually made weird noises whenever it wanted.
Lola was feeling really comfortable and calm now, with her consciousness slowly slipping away for the night. She hugged her little doll a little more tightly. 'Lana…' was her last thought before falling asleep.
The sound of someone moving around the room woke up Lola. The girl blearily opened her eyes and saw her older sister moving from her bed to the closet, and then to the door. Lori had woken up early to make sure she was the first to use the bathroom.
Lola slowly sat up on the bed and used a hand to cover a yawn. She was feeling good, better than how she had felt the last few days. A good night sleep really could do wonders.
The girl got out of bed and quickly gathered the things she would need for her shower. Just before leaving the room, Lola looked back at the doll on her bed with a smile. 'Maybe Lori is right,' Lola thought as she recalled a conversation she had with the older Loud. 'It won't hurt to spend some time with Lana, right?' Lola thought as she lifted a hand to her chest. She did miss spending time with Lana, but… 'It wouldn't be that bad if she wants to… ' Lola shook her head before finishing that thought. It was better for that to not happen again.
The girl left the room and waited outside the bathroom, happy to see that there was no one else there. Shortly after, Luna and Lucy joined the queue in that order. A couple of minutes passed before the door swung open, with Lori walking out. Lola didn't waste time, entering the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Lola was the member of the family that took the longest in the bathroom, as she took her time to properly wash herself and wouldn't leave until she was sure she was looking her best. So after several minutes, the doors of the bathroom opened once again. Lola stepped out, allowing Luna to take her turn.
She looked down the queue, seeing that Luan, Lincoln and Lisa had joined the queue. Lynn had just gotten out of her room, walking with closed eyes and positioning herself at the end of the queue.
"Hey, Lola? Why did Cleopatra bathe in milk?" Luan asked with a grin.
Lola sighed, but decided to humor her sister. "I don't know, why?"
"Because she couldn't find a cow tall enough to have a shower. Hahahaha, get it?"
All the Loud kids present groaned. Lola decided to get out of there before Luan decided to tell more of her jokes, but before she entered her room, another of her sisters had called out to her.
"Lola, could I have a moment of your time?"
Lola turned around to look at Lisa with a frown. "What do you want?"
Lisa walked up to the little princess, while Lynn moved forward, taking Lisa's spot on the queue. "Score!" Lynn said with a pumped fist.
Lisa paid it no attention and began talking. "Would you be so kind as to follow me to my room?"
Lola narrowed her eyes before answering. "I'm not helping you ever again with one of your experiments."
Lisa quickly shook her head. "It's nothing like that. I just need to run a simple test on you."
"Test?" Lola asked, still not lowering her guard. After the incident with Lana, Lola's trust on Lisa had diminished considerably.
Lisa could easily sense the distrust on her sister, so she lowered her head and spoke. "Lola, I promise you that it won't be anything weird slash dangerous. What I will do is just recollect some data from you and see if it helps me find a way to fix my latest mistake. I swear in the name of Isaac Newton."
Lola silently watched Lisa for a moment, then spoke. "Alright, just give me a moment to finish getting ready for the day."
"Very well, I'll be waiting in my room then," Lisa turned around and walked to her room.
"Aren't you going to shower first?"
"That can wait for the moment. Besides, I believe we'll be done with the test before it's even my turn to use the facilities."
Lola just shrugged and entered her room. The girl brushed her hair and then put on her earrings and tiara before leaving again. Without wasting more time, Lola headed to Lisa's room.
As she approached the room, She took a quick glance at Lana's closed door. She lifted a hand to her chest, but quickly turned back and didn't even bother to knock before entering Lisa's room.
"So, what is this test about?" She asked with her arms crossed.
Lisa stood from her chair where she had been working on her computer and went to her bed. "Please, lay on the bed."
Lola lifted a brow but said nothing. The girl began moving, but stopped as she spotted something at the foot of the bed. She picked it up, gently holding it with her hands.
"Ah, that's right," Lisa said as she moved next to her. "Lana forgot her head wear here yesterday. After I'm done with the test, I'll make sure to return it to her."
"No… no," Lola said as she moved to lay on the bed, still holding the red hat. "I'll give it to her."
Lisa was a bit confused by this. Lola had been actively avoiding Lana for over a week, so this course of action from her was strange. She decided not to say anything about this and let Lola do as she wanted. After all, this would most likely be good news for Lana.
Lisa grabbed the sensors she had used the day before and started attaching them to Lola's head.
"Hey, what are these cables for?" Lola looked warily at Lisa. "Are you going to electrocute me?"
"Lola, I promised you that I wouldn't do anything dangerous. This are sensors that will help me measure your brain-waves."
Lola tilted her head. "My brain-wa– Ugh, whatever. Let's just get over with this."
Lisa nodded, attaching a few more sensors to Lola before moving back to her chair. As Lisa worked on her computer, she asked a few question to Lola, like what she liked or disliked, then a little about their family.
As Lisa took a moment to examine the results displayed on the screen. She squinted her eyes as she leaned closer. 'This… is this correct? I…" Lisa looked at Lola, then back to the screen. 'These results are almost identical to–'
"Luna!" Came the voice of Lori from the first floor. "Could you wake up Leni and Lana? If they dont get up soon, they won't be ready for school on time!"
"Sure thing, dude!" Came Luna's answer.
Lisa just shakes her head and returns her attention to the screen, then stands up. "Lola, I'll need to run a second test on you."
Lola sat up. "Why?" she asked.
"I just need to make sure that the information I got from this test is correct. Now if you could cooperate, then we can be done with this in no time."
Lola sighs, pulling the sensors off from her. "Alright, but just one more test.I'm getting hungry and would like to eat something before going to school."
As Lola gets off the bed, and with Lana's hat still on her grasp, the door of the room opens.
Luna stands at the entrance, her gaze moving all over the place before stopping on the two little girls. "Dudes, have either of you seen Lana?" The rocker girl asks, a hint of worry on her tone.
Lisa fixes her glasses as she answers. "Negative, I haven't seen our sibling in the last fourteen hours."
Luna looks at Lola, whom just shakes her head slowly. The older girl frowns before leaving in a haste. The remaining two Loud girls look at each other before running out of the room and towards the one in front. As they enter, they find their older sister Leni looking under Lana's bed.
"Leni, where is Lana?" Lola asked.
The older girl lifts her head and looks at the source of the voice. "I… I don't know. I just woke up, like, a moment ago when Luna came here. Lana wasn't in her bed."
"Well, she's probably down stairs eating breakfast," Lola said as she left the room.
Lisa remained behind. "You just woke up? Don't you usually use and alarm clock that wakes you early in the morning?"
Leni nodded. "Yeah. But I guess I forgot to set it up last night."
Lisa narrowed her eyes and moved to the alarm clock next to Leni's bed. It was a blue digital clock, but there were no numbers being displayed on it. "This clock isn't even connected."
Lola entered the dining room, hoping to see her twin sister. She started to worry when she saw Lori, Luan and Lily, but no Lana. The oldest girl was on her phone, while the comedian was busy feeding the baby as she made airplane sounds.
"Lori, have you seen Lana?"
"No. Isn't she upstairs?"
"No, dude," answered Luna as she entered the room. "I checked everywhere, there's no trace of her upstairs."
Lori frowned, quickly standing up from her place at the table. "Luna, go check the garage. Lola, go look in our parents room. I'll go and check the basement."
All the girls nodded and dispersed. Lola ran to her parents room, opening the door. There was no one inside. Mr. and Mrs. Loud , as usual, had woken up early to go to work, but they weren't the ones Lola was looking for. The little princess searched all over the place, even the closet, but she found nothing. The girl was really worried now.
She left the room, hoping that the others had found Lana. In the living room, Lola noticed something. There on the table was the frame of the photo that Lincoln had gave to their parents a few months ago, but there was no picture inside.
"Guys!" Lori called from the kitchen, and Lola quickly ran there, hoping that the older girl had had better luck than her.
"Did you find her?" Lola asked.
"No," Lori answered worriedly.
"Dudes," Luna started as she came through the back door, "she wasn't in the garage."
"She wasn't in the vents either."
"Aaaahhhh!" Lola, Luna and Lori shouted at the sudden appearance of Lucy.
"Lucy! Where did you…" Lori shook her head. "Forget it, we don't have time for that. We have to–"
"Siblings! I request your presence in my room post haste!" Lisa shouted from the second floor.
All the Loud kids on the first floor ran upstairs. Lincoln, Lynn and Leni were already there, standing behind Lisa, when they arrived.
"Lisa, did you find Lana?"
"No, but you need to watch this," Lisa said as she pointed at the screen of her computer.
Everyone did as told. The screen seemed to be split in sixteen windows, each of them showing a different part of the Loud house.
"Lisa! You installed cameras in our rooms?" Lincoln asked a bit annoyed.
"Quiet! Take a look at this," Lisa said as she clicked on the window that corresponded to Lana and Leni's room. The window now covered the full size of the screen.
The image displayed seemed to be frozen as there was no movement, but it changed soon. Everyone saw as Lana quietly got out from her bed and pulled a little backpack from below her bed. The girl then carefully walked to Leni's bed, disconnecting her alarm clock before moving to the door.
"Why did she–"
"Shh!"
The image changed to the staircase, were Lana was quietly moving down. She stopped in front of Lola's picture, looking at it for a moment. The cameras had such a good resolution that everyone managed to see a tear falling to the floor. She continued moving down, but winced when one of the stairs creaked under her weight.
Lola's eyes widened, her grip on Lana's hat tightening as she remembered that she had heard that sound last night as she was falling asleep.
After that, they saw as Lana moved to the living room, grabbing the picture that Lincoln had gifted to their parents. The girl took the photo and gently folded it before placing it in her backpack, then walked to the kitchen. They saw Lana standing at the door, looking back once before dropping her head. After that, Lana got on her knees and exited through the pet's screen door.
Everyone remained silent for a moment after the video stopped.
Finally, Lucy was the first to speak. "Lana… she… she ran away?"
"It seems like that. She disconnected Leni's alarm and avoided using the front door so it would take longer for us to notice her absence," Lisa said, her voice a bit hollow.
"But why?!" Lynn asked with a bit of anger.
Lisa shook her head. "Well, I…I'm not sure… But maybe…" Lisa started rewinding the video.
"Lana…" Lola muttered, tears running down her cheeks. "Lana," she repeated, a sniff following shortly after. Lola the turned around and ran out.
"Lola!" The other kids called after her, but she didn't stop.
Lola ran down stairs. 'She ran because of me… I was too mean to her!' She thought as she reached the front door. She pulled it wide open and ran out to the sidewalk, looking up and down the street. "LAAANNNNAAAAAAA!" She shouted, holding Lana's hat close to her chest with both hands.
Yeah, it took me way to long to write this, but there is a good reason for that: I'm lazy as F.
But in that time, I also tought a lot about what could happen in the next chapter, and I actually have two ideas. It could either be a time skip to the future or not. I'm not saying more than that. Which one would you guys think would be more interesting? Both have some good points to me, but also bad points.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.