Saturday - 1:12 A.M.

"Don't expect an apology from me anytime soon, that's all I can tell you." Lupa sat incorrectly upon the sofa, laying down with her feet over the edge of the arm rest, laying down, facing the television. Next to her, Lyra, sitting correctly and with comfort, had become a little sleepy, but was not about to fall asleep before Lupa, the Queen of the Damned, had gone off to bed first. "We can forget this, I'm sure-"

"You know," Lyra sighed, crossing her arms, turning to her away from the current show Adult Swim's anime block played, "what you said really hurt."

"It was supposed to," Lupa addressed, "but you did the same thing so call it even." She sat upright and moved her feet onto the floor, disconnecting her attention from the show as well. "And never mention this again."

"Never?" Lyra shook her head and sighed. "You can't block the pain out forever. Don't think what you do is subtle for one minute, most of us know the pain you've carried for too long, but we suffer too. We all suffer from the memory of Loanne..." Lyra twitched- not having gone unnoticed by Lupa.

"Don't..." Lupa wished for Lyra to change topics.

"I get it, it hurts you that much, but..." Lyra, who knew what Lupa could do while provoked, let it go, sighing again with exhaustion. "Alright... Say, aren't you tired?"

Lupa shrugged her shoulders. "Eh."

"I figured you'd fall asleep immediately so you could leave right away, isn't that what you want?"

Lupa stood up and scratched her back. "Fucking right, but... Man, I'm gonna get yelled at for leaving. My mom practically begged for Aunt Lola to leave Leia to me for my own good."

"B-but I admitted Aunt Lola didn't trust you completely, so your mom will yell at her instead, I mean. You're gonna have to explain it to her, right?" Lyra figured she had the right idea, up until Lupa pensively gazed elsewhere. "Lupa?"

"Yeah, but..." Lupa shook her head with her eyes closed. "It means nothing, she's going to see that I was real lazy to just hand over the keys to you instead of fighting you. That's not ideal to me, being yelled at for it." She stood up and went over to look outside. "I decide to be stuck here, with you, if that's what it'll take to avoid all that bullshit."

"W-wait, I thought you didn't wanna be here..." Lyra cocked an eyebrow. "What happened to that?"

"See, staying and leaving are shit choices, but the less painful one... Is... Ugh, staying..."

"Look, I don't wanna be here either, not for the entire weekend at least. On my end, if it all checked out and I've confirmed it with Aunt Lola, she agreed I could take off Sunday and let you do your thing. I don't wanna miss church, I think you know that, so... I beg of you, Lupa, to show me you are an effective babysitter all day tomorrow."

Lupa looked at her phone. "You mean today."

"Wait..." Lyra opened her phone home screen and finally noticed the time. "Agh! Get to bed, it really is late!"

Lupa returned to the couch and laid down. "Go to the bedroom and give me a pillow?"

"No, you get up and take one yourself!" Lyra pressed. "I will not be your slave."

"At least I tried," Lupa moaned. She didn't want to put in effort like the insufferable bitch God forged her to be. If it was God who forged her to begin with, actually. "Ugh, I guess I'll have to step it up. Hey, you're gonna give me advice, right? It'll help us both out faster."

"Hey, you've been left with a list, it's not that hard, Lupa." Lyra yawned and stretched her hands. "Well, I'm off. Come and get your pillow from Aunt's room. She said she had a queen for two, means-"

"Wait, why can't I crash with you?"

Lyra sniffed the air and stuck her tongue out at Lupa in mockery she reached the bedroom and closed the door half-shut. She only guessed Lupa would be a nuisance if they bunked in the same bed. Lupa, the opposite of a feminine girl, would hog the covers for herself, or maybe let out some gassy farts, or perhaps both. And that was before Lyra considered the snoring factor. "Come get the pillow."

Lupa jerked her shoulder against the door, going past Lyra and taking the pillow closest to her. "Cool, thanks and bye," she curtly went, turning around and leaving without closing.

"Night," Lyra groaned.

Lupa looked over her shoulder before trotting back downstairs. Lyra had shut herself in her own world for the night, meaning it was game on in Leia's limited world. Let's see what the little shit's got in her room! This is gonna be fun!

She begun her side mission, carefully tiptoeing through the hallway a slow step at a time. I just know she has dolls in there! Barbie accessories, some My Little Pony stuff too! Posters and painted walls! A gold mine of potentially pure blackmail! I'll make her my personal servant once this is all over! Oh what fun we're going to have...

Lupa gripped the knob of her younger cousin's room, turning slowly but tightly to spare it from rattling. She could have been sweating if she was dead set on not being caught, but she had a carelessness to her nature that got her into trouble many a time, part of a package deal that also included the average tough-girl act. Lupa was rather the type who would guard the girls' bathroom at school and make those who needed to use it pay the dollar toll. It only worked well as long as girls were scared, too scared to tattle on her- and for one, Lupa had enough warnings that she had to keep an eye out and take off when it looked like some girl was coming back with the nearest adult. This unethical grind worked less and less, the decline was clear, but she still had the fire burning in her, the fire of her drive.

Once she turned the bronze knob all the way, she pushed forward, keeping up her silent steps. She had gone undetected yet, but maybe Lyra would check up on her in the next half hour at least. Lupa left the pillow behind her after closing the door. The first thing she noticed inside was Leia's bed vertically set against the middle of the wall, with the brightness of a night light plugged into the outlet on Leia's right keeping her company. Lupa guessed it had a role to play against a fear of the dark Lupa didn't know she had. Cupping her mouth to keep from laughing, Lupa snorted joyously. Her stomach flared up with the silent laughter, and pretty soon she removed her hand and exhaled deeply, bringing her elevated heart to a calm. Oh, God, there's no way! An actual night light-

Leia moved about in her sleep, moving the sheets about with her. Lupa made an effort to squat down to avoid being seen if Leia woke up. The girl wasn't snoring, great indication she was a light sleeper. Lupa was met with a challenge, but a challenge she had accepted time and time again.

She waited to see if Leia moved again. And nothing. Lupa went back up and wasted no time to take her phone out, turning the flashlight on. She started her adventure, turning away from the side the night light illuminated. She marched off to the other end of Leia's bedside, finding a small desk six inches from her head, connecting to a four-drawer dresser of a light tan color. Lupa helped herself to it, rummaging from top to bottom. She looked thoroughly in each drawer, left to right and vice versa, finding only clothes of all sorts. While Lupa had a laugh on what Leia wore down there, it was not enough for her to use against her. That was that, nothing to be found here. No diary or hidden grade reports, but maybe those were in another place.

Lupa groaned and went to the end opposite the entryway, coming across a flatscreen television lowly placed over a short stand. Lupa recognized the brand as the average 4K type, and underneath the stand, a customized pink gaming console and controller laid barren. She owns a...?

The last thing Lupa expected the young girl to own a type of gaming console. But she only found the lone console and the controller. No games. Nothing but the cords behind the console that connected to the panel behind the television. Did she have her games digitally purchased? If so, did she have mommy's credit card left as the default payment option?

Was it so that Lola was made out of infinite money, was it that they could really afford to live like this, away from the chainset the other Loud clan of families lived within?

Lupa never paid attention in the solo and group chats she had with her cousins, but she knew for a fact no one had mentioned Leia having a gaming console of their own. That obviously meant they probably didn't know about it, a line that led to be deduced that Leia didn't hand out her handle name. Lupa turned off the flashlight temporarily and wanted to be sure of it. She turned on the Wi-Fi feature of her phone and found only one signal she could connect to, and so easily has access to the household Wi-Fi. Yes, they had it, that meant Leia had online features-

And kept it away from the others; Lupa understood there that Leia really did not wish to associate or bond with her cousins. And at the moment I write this, I lose Wi-Fi. Wonderful.

You really are lonely here, aren't ya? Lupa turned the flashlight on and continued exploring the room. On the right side of the television, a small desk with a tiny plastic blue chair stood against the wall. A single drawer was visible on the desk's underside. Lupa pulled the chair back by lifting it and putting it down carefully, then lightly tugged back on the drawer, causing some crayons and pencils to roll about as she did. Fuck!

So Leia liked to draw. That seemed only natural-

"Uh..." Lupa looked closer into the small drawer. Under the wave of pencils and crayons, a layer of drawings revealed itself to her. Well, hello there! What fantasies does little Leia draw?

Naturally, the albino menace to society counted on Leia to be a heavy fangirl of celebrity boys or overrated boy bands, hence drawings of stick figures of her and her dear sweet dreamy good-looking favorite-

Lupa only found the drawings to be that of Leia herself, either alone or drawn with an unclean, messy version of her mother. Figures in pink with a generic wave of yellow on top of their heads. She skimmed through them all- most of them were only of Leia herself, but in all of them, the face on the drawing version of her was frowning. No smile, not even a positive, upbeat background that indicated the frown was just a frown and nothing else. All of the drawings, depicting a sadness the young girl brought out from inside.

Not even a diary?

Lupa put everything back with ease, feeling like she wouldn't find anything else, unless the closet had more than just clothes on hangers. Shoes, maybe, but if Leia had a secret item or two, it wouldn't be in a cardboard box at one of the edges of the closet. That'd have been too obvious.

She was done. You really are lonely, aren't you, you little imp?

Of course, the buzzing vibrations of her phone kept playing in rhythm. Yes, it was a call, and no, she had no reason to want to answer it. Didn't matter who it was. Could've been mother, angry with Lupa for ditching school yet again, or maybe it was one of the girls checking in on her. Mother had to have shared Lupa's ditch streak with her many aunts, which went to be passed down to her cousins. Yes, one of her cousins trying to reach out to her to understand not only the problem, but the root of it.

Fuck them all, she thought to herself, using that profanity from the Mature Audience shows she'd watch from the streaming services she piggybacked on off of- Wait, who had HBO Max? And did they have Netflix as well? Or was that two separate persons supplying. Thanks for the email and password on both accounts, Lemy, you little fiend, and all that. None of the passwords had been changed as of yet, but even so, leave it to Scruffyhead Lemy to find out what was what.

This moment, she was sorely uninterested in playing the next episode of Euphoria. Today was a rather sad day, as told by the emptiness in her heart that she felt, but how could she feel nothing that so left her heart vacant? What it was, was an aching of a sort. Her heart, still beating but missing something. Her eyes still glared down the window, reflection still visible, but past all of that, the world was still present. The world, as far as she could see it, as much as it could be seen from the window of her own tiny room. Out there, a large world beginning only at the street she lived at. Houses across the road that kept busy, with cars going left and right to wherever their destination was. Mr. Buckner, age fifty-three, mowed the front lawn and minded his own business. He never noticed Lupa looking out the window. On the house over on the right, the Rivers kids played frisbee. The young one, a boy, positioned himself at the empty driveway, and the older one, a girl, was set at the base of the porch, laughing in content from the fun the two seemed to have. It was her throw next, and Lupa sighed as the frisbee flew from one location to another.

Life went on, just like that. As if nobody died of a dysfunctional heart in the bathtub. Why, it wasn't fair. It wasn't, but it was the stuff that made Lupa's blood boil away. Why, she had only been feeling empty and sad, but that fun she witnessed with the kids, and wondering why it could not ever be her with Loanne ever again-

Lupa flinched and checked both her palms; she had closed her hands fiercely and tightly to the point her nails dug into the skin and bled from the line of curves made. "Agh."

She pressed both hands on the sides of her black sweater, patting down and letting the fabric soak up the tiny blood marks. Lupa didn't wipe, but hissed faintly and still, somehow, kept her gaze locked outside. No more of her dreams to come to light. None of that, anymore. None of that, and yet...

Lupa left as she had entered, with all the caution in the world, pillow tucked under an arm, and the other letting go of the twisted knob, not noticing Lyra until she turned away from the room's direction. "Shit!"

"I knew it, you were snooping in there, were you?" Lyra contained her anger to keep herself from yelling. "I went down there to check up on you but-"

"I don't need you to do that!" Lupa barked back, then cupped her mouth.

"Stop standing there, come inside!" Lyra grabbed Lupa and forcibly led her into the bedroom she occupied for the night. Here, Lyra raised her voice. "What were you doing in her room?! Don't tell me you pranked her or something, Lupa, I swear to-"

"You shut the fuck up, she's fine! Sleeping, but fine!" Lupa let go of the pillow to cross her arms angrily. "Fuck you, accusing me and shit."

"Watch your mouth!" Lyra yelped. "You're such a pottymouth, honestly. I wanna go to sleep already, but I knew I was right to stay up a little bit longer."

"Hooray for you," Lupa sarcastically sneered. "You've caught me red-handed, la-dee-da!"

"Tell me you didn't touch anything," Lyra pleaded.

"Relax, everything is as was, I made sure of-"

"SO YOU DID TOUCH SOMETHING!"

"STOP YELLING, I'M TRYING TO EXPLAIN MYSELF!"

"PLEASE JUST STAY OUT OF HER ROOM, YOU CREEP!"

"FUCK YOU TOO!"

"YOU'RE UNBEARABLE! GET OUT, I THOUGHT YOU COULD BE TRUSTED HERE BUT I WAS WRONG!" Lyra closed her eyes and breathed in with frustration, then exhaled it all out in a calm that took place right after the storm subsided. "I was wrong... You've blown your chance to be a mature and responsible babysitter. I've made up my mind, I'm gonna watch Leia myself even if it means missing church." With that, Lyra pressed her right hand over her forehead, letting out a groan of disdain and irritation.

"Whatever then, drive me back then, you self-righteous-"

A firm clapping sound was born out of Lyra's only physical action yet, having erupted with pure internal fire she didn't realize she had, and neither wanted to accept that she had it, for she was always a woman of The Good Lord and purged her innermost poisons in good graces, never like this. But it was that she had a good portion of the vile poison in her that left her disgusted at herself just as well as at Lupa. Whether or not Lupa was the straw that broke this camel's back had yet to be seen, but Lyra ended her physical tirade before she had really begun.

"Y-you were asking for it..." Lyra exhaled with shuddering breath. "G-get out-"

Lupa quietly left the room after turning all the way from Lyra, never closing the door behind her. And all Lyra had been left with was wonder and guilt over it. What was more, her hand didn't sting as much as she'd figured it would. It never stung, and the night continued to play out its quiet movement along, never minding the drama between the blood cousins.