Trigger warning: Attempted suicide in this chapter
Lucy and her siblings rode back to the house, all of them were shaken up by the coroner's story. The idea that Death was, in reality, a living entity that would not stop until it completed its plan sent shivers down Lucy's spine. But she could not accept it. There had to be a way to defeat Death without taking someone else's life. The little goth held her head tight, trying to remember the rest of her vision. She remembered that her father and Leni were the first two to die, which then happened after they got off the train. Which meant…
"Luan is next!" She yelped.
"What?" Luna turned around in her seat.
"S-s-she was the one who died after Leni in my vision!" Lucy explained. "I remember who died and in what order." Then, it struck her. "Maybe… maybe, if I remember who died... then we can see the design. And if we see the design, we can interfere. We can defeat the design!
Lori rolled her eyes. "Lucy, are you, literally, going to listen to that nut? I mean, sure, it's crazy how Dad and Leni died after the crash, but it was just a coincidence."
"No…" Lincoln shook his head. "A coincidence would be if just one of them died after the crash. But both of them? It sounds too weird."
"So, you really think we can do this?" Lynn asked her roommate.
"Oh, my God!" Luna realized. "What about Lily?! She's just a baby! She doesn't deserve-"
"No, no, no, Luna, calm down." Lucy soothed. "Lily wasn't on the train. And my vision didn't show her or mom being killed. So we just need to worry about-"
"Oh, would you all get a grip?!" Lori fumed. But the oldest Loud calmed down, quickly, knowing that her anger wouldn't defuse the situation. "Look… we control our lives. Not some list that death has put together, okay? We're all gonna be fine."
But just after Lori finished, she slammed on the brakes. An ambulance and a police car was parked outside the house. The five siblings hurried out of the van and rushed into the house. Much to their terror, they saw a girl with a brunette ponytail being carried out on a stretcher.
Luna fell to her knees, sobbing at the sight of her little sister's motionless body. Rita was cradling Lily in her arms while Lisa, Lola, and Lana tried their best to comfort her. It was true that the aspiring comedian often got on their nerves, but they still loved her. Lincoln, Lynn, and Lucy hugged Luna tight, while Lori propped herself up on the side of Vanzilla.
"N-no… no!" The oldest Loud rushed into the house, with Lincoln and Lynn in hot pursuit. When they found her, Lori had opened the safe in their parents' bedroom, and was now holding a fully loaded pistol. "I control my life!" She screamed, shakily.
"Lori, stop!" Lincoln tried to reason with her, unsure of what she was about to do.
"Yeah! Yeah, just relax!" Lynn added.
Lori held the barrel of the gun against her head. "If I'm gonna die, it's on my terms!"
"Lori, no-!" Lincoln and Lynn flinched at the sound of the hammer snapping, but nothing else. The gun didn't fire. Lori tried again, but it still wouldn't shoot. The tormented college student slumped to the ground, crying as she kept pulling the trigger.
Lynn took the gun out of her hand and inspected the load. "Six duds in a row?" She asked no one in particular. "How is that possible?"
"It's not her turn, yet…" Lincoln and Lynn jumped. Despite how shaken up she was, Lucy still clung to her habit of popping out of nowhere and scaring people.
A week had passed. Lori had to go back to college after Luan's funeral, leaving Lucy, Lincoln, Lynn, and Luna to warn the other sisters of their impending doom. The group held their meeting in Lucy and Lynn's room to discuss their gameplan. "Okay, Luce…" Luna started. "Who's next?"
"Lisa." Lucy answered. "In the vision, she died right before Lana and Lola."
"Okay, and then which one of them died?"
Lucy thought for a moment. "I… I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Lynn crossed her arms.
"I-I don't know!" Lucy grabbed the sides of her head, trying to concentrate. "They were side-by-side! They got crushed at the same time!"
"Lucy!" Lincoln hugged her. "Lucy, just calm down…" Lucy's breathing steadied as she listened to the relaxing rhythm of her older brother's heartbeat. "Now, think. One of them had to die first. Even if it was just one second before the other."
"Okay, dudes, why don't we worry about that later?" Luna suggested. "Lucy just said Lisa was next, so let's focus on her."
With that said, the siblings got up from their seats and moved down the hall. But when they got to the little scientist's room. But when they got there, all they found was a two-year-old girl, peacefully resting in her crib. Lisa wasn't dutifully scribbling in her notebook, or sketching complex equations on her chalkboard, she was gone.
"Kids?" Rita's broken voice came from the hall. The Loud kids didn't like seeing their mother like this. Losing her husband and two of her children had taken serious toll on her. But she was trying to stay strong for the family she remaining family she had. "Is there something wrong?"
"Uh, mom?" Lincoln asked, nervously. "Where's Lisa?"
"She's giving her lecture at the university, why?"
"What about Lana and Lola?" Lynn added.
"Lola's at a pageant and Lana's at the park. They said it was helping them cope." Rita saw the concerned looks on their faces. "Kids, are you alright?"
"Mom, we need the keys to Vanzilla." Luna led her siblings out of the room and down to the garage.
Meanwhile, Lisa had taken her place at the front of the class in the chemistry lab. Despite the recent events that currently plagued her and her family, she still needed to fulfill her contract with the Royal Woods University to pay for her scientific equipment. And it always comforted her to know that she could teach a room full of young adults at age five.
But while she introduced herself, one student who arrived a little late accidentally bumped the table with the chemicals on it. A drop of hydrochloric acid spilled onto the table, causing it to burn a hole in the wooden surface. The hole grew larger, causing other jars of chemicals to tip over. The mixture created a small flame that quickly spread.
One of the students, that was dozing in the back, woke up to the smell of smoke and looked around. When he saw the fire, he panicked. In no time at all, the room burst out into a horrific frenzy. Lisa tried to keep everyone calm and direct them out the door, but they were too hysterical to listen to reason.
Vanzilla screeched into the university's parking lot and the quartet of Louds scrambled out. "Which building is she in?!" Luna asked.
"She's in Building C!" Lincoln pointed to the far-west building.
"No, she's not! She's in Building F!" Lynn pointed in the other direction.
"That was last year, you chowderhead!"
"How the hell would you know, asshat?!"
"HEY!" Lucy stamped her foot on the ground. "Maybe she's in the building that has the fire alarm going off?!"
Lisa was trying to make it through the doorway, but the crowd of students was blocking her path. Thinking quickly, she made her way to the room's window, but the latch was stuck and wouldn't go up. Worse still, the flames were getting dangerously close to the fuel tanks for the bunsen burners. Any minute, there could be an explosion.
"LISA!" The five-year-old peered through the window and saw Luna rushing to the window from the outside. The rocker girl banged her fists on the glass, trying to break it. Lincoln and Lynn joined in, but their efforts were in vain.
Lucy looked around until she saw a gardener helping other students evacuate from the neighboring building. She rushed over to him, grabbed the tool in his hands, and rushed back to the window.
"Stand back!" She ordered. Her siblings all moved away just as the shovel's head shattered the glass.
Luna reached inside and lifted her little sister out of the burning building. The group managed to get three yards away before the lab exploded. Lisa hugged Luna tight, burying her face into her chest as she sobbed in fear. Lincoln, Lynn, and Lucy soon joined in the hug, assuring her that she was safe.
One down, two to go.
After quickly dropping Lisa back off at home, Luna was driving the group down the road once again. "Okay, Luce. Now what?"
"Uh…" Lucy pounded her fists against her head, trying to get an idea of which twin was first. As she thought, she saw Lincoln's bike and an idea came to her mind. "Okay! Luna, you take Lincoln to go help Lana! Lynn, you and I will get Lola!"
They didn't waste any time. Luna stopped the van long enough for Lynn and Lucy to get out with the bike. As soon as they were clear, the rubber of the tires burned from the friction against the road as Vanzilla zoomed away. Lucy balanced herself on the handlebars, and Lynn peddled as fast as she could to Lola's pageant.
At the same time, Lana was playing down by the creek next to the park, while Lola was putting on blush for her performance. Both twins were having a lot of fun, being with their friends to help them cope with their recent losses. But what neither of them were aware of was the dangers that appeared.
The rope swing that Lana and her friends were using was starting to come apart. One swing too hard and it could either break while one was over the water, or the rocks. Additionally, one of the spotlights over the pageant's stage hadn't been installed properly, and the loud music was beginning to shake it loose.
Lori had spent the last few days back at college in fear. She spent almost every second of the day looking over her shoulder, worried of what could happen. She never sat too close to a window in class, she always made sure to be the last one out of the room, and she bolted her dorm room shut every night. But she couldn't keep it up; her teachers and friends were getting suspicious of her odd behavior, and would soon start to ask questions.
Then, she remembered what the coroner had said about taking a life. If she killed someone else, the remainder of their lifespan would become hers. "But that would, literally, be murder…" She thought to herself.
Just then, her phone vibrated on her desk, startling her. She tapped on the screen, and groaned; it was from Carol Pingrey. "Hey, loser. Don't forget cheerleading tryouts 2 nite. Not that you'll make it! LOL." As Lori asked herself, for the hundredth time, how she got her number, an idea popped into her mind.
She would take someone else's life, without it seeming like her fault.
Author's note: Okay, folks, I need another opinion. We've already covered that after Final Destination the next Loud Horror will be Saw. After Saw, I will have one more Horror story before my next Loud House fan fiction. Should it be: A) Get Out starring Luna or B) Child's Play starring Lana? Let me know what you prefer in the reviews!