Four weeks ago…
It was a typical day in the Loud House. And as typical days went, the Loud children were in the living room, each wrapped up in their own hobby. Lincoln was reading comics, Lily was playing with her blocks, Lisa was experimenting with some test tubes, Lola was putting on make-up, Lana was having a tug-of-war with Charles the dog, Lynn was bouncing a soccer ball, Luan was practicing some jokes with her ventriloquist dummy Mr.
Coconuts, Luna was rocking out on her guitar, Leni was reading a fashion magazine, and Lori was texting on her phone. The only sibling not accounted for was Lucy, who walked into the living room, parents Lynn Sr. and Rita at her side.
"Kids, please quiet down!" Rita yelled. Once everyone was silent, she spoke. "As you all know, tomorrow is the first day of October, which means Halloween will soon be here."
All the siblings nodded.
"Well," Rita said, "We have something special planned for this Halloween."
Lucy stepped forward. "Our parents have finally given me permission to put on a haunted corn maze and I was hoping you all could be a part of it."
"So, you want us to dress up and scare people?" Lynn asked excitedly, "Awesome, I'm in!"
"Me too," Luna said.
"Don't forget us," Luan spoke for her and her dummy.
"Sure, I've literally got nothing better to do," Lori said.
"Well, it sounds like fun," Leni said, "but what's so scary about corn?"
Lucy typically didn't show emotion, but seeing her siblings agree to help her almost made her want to smile. Almost.
"Excellent," she said, before looking down at the clipboard in her hands. "Now, our first order of business: your costumes. I'm going to be the Grim Reaper. I've gone ahead and already chosen all of yours."
Leni raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're choosing our costumes? No offensive Lucy, but I've seen all the icky stuff you like. I totes don't want to be covered in blood."
"As cool as that would be Leni, that won't be happening," Lucy gave a small, but audible "sigh" before continuing. "I've chosen your costumes based on your personal traits. You should have no problem getting into them." She checked her clipboard and began reading off.
"Lori, you bend us to your will, inspire fear in others, and from what I've heard, are considered very attractive. You will be a vampire."
Lori shrugged, "Sure."
"Leni, you have a love of fashion. You will be Marie Antoinette."
"Who?" Leni asked.
"The Queen of 18th century France," Lucy explained. "She was famously decapitated." Leni was still confused. "But I don't drink coffee."
"Sigh." The goth girl went on. "Luna, for your energetic personality and ability to create spontaneous musical numbers, you will be a skeleton and provide our music."
"Rock on, sis!" Luna shot her a pair of devil horns.
"Luan, in your pursuit of comedy, you have a talent for being unpredictable and manic," Rita nudged her. "No offense. Therefore, you will be a mad scientist."
"Can Mr. Coconuts be my monster?" the jester asked excitingly.
"Sure."
"Yes!" the dummy (via Luan) cheered.
"Lynn, for your athletism, you will be a chainsaw-wielding maniac."
"Yes!" the jock hollered.
"But the chainsaw has to be fake," Rita added.
"Aw, mom!" the jock moaned.
"Mom, you lumber and trudge through life, exhausting all your life energy in your efforts to keep this household together. You will be a zombie."
"Sounds great, honey," Rita said. "Wait, what did you say?"
"Uh Lucy," Lincoln cut in. "Your whole plan sounds great and I'd be more than happy to help, but-" "We're going trick-or-treating," Lola and Lana interrupted in unison.
"I too will be partaking in the receiving of sugary confection," Lisa added. "And I will be needing Lily."
Yeah," Lincoln pushed past his younger siblings and said, "And Clyde and I were planning on going together, so-"
"Kids, no one's stopping you from trick-or-treating," Rita said. "The older girls and I will do the corn maze. Lynn will be taking the rest of you trick-or-treating. Right dear?"
Lynn Sr, who'd been silent up to this point, snapped to attention and said, "O-of course honey." His nervous demeanor and stammered speech was not lost on any of the Louds. Everyone who lived in the house knew that Lynn Sr was terrified of Halloween.
"Phew," the younger kids sighed in relief.
"But we will do whatever we can to help," Lincoln promised. The others nodded in agreement.
"Good," Lucy again sounded unfazed, but everyone knew she appreciated the help. "Oh, by the way, you'll all have to make your own costumes. I'll be too busy perfecting my fake blood for the maze."
With that, everyone cheered for the exciting Halloween that was to come.
One week ago...
It had taken lots of corn syrup, but Lucy had just about perfected her fake blood. While it cooled in the fridge, she made her way upstairs, peeking into each of her sibling's rooms to check on their progress on their costumes.
She peeked into Lori and Leni's room.
"Oh Boo-Boo Bear," Lori was at her desk, having a Skype call with Bobby. "Halloween isn't going to be the same without you."
"Sorry babe," he replied, "Now that the family's back together, Abuela's not letting anyone miss Día de Muertos. I'm sure you'll have a great time without me."
"Oh well," Lori sighed, before taking on a serious tone, "but just remember: If I hear anything about you hooking up with any chicas, living or dead..." She lunged at the screen, revealing vampire fangs, "I WILL LITERALLY SUCK ALL YOUR BLOOD!"
Lucy smiled as she heard Bobby give a high-pitch yelp.
"I-I promise," the boy stammered.
"Oh, I know you will," Lori purred, sly and seductive, "Bye, Boo-Boo Bear." She ended the chat.
"Ta-Da!" Leni stepped out of the closet and struck a pose in her homemade corset, chemise, and drawers. "What do you think?"
"Hmm," Lori looked her over, "it's good, but where's the skirt?"
"Oh, I'm working on that now. You would, like, not believe how big it's going to be. Women in the old days must have had, like, huge bottoms." She glanced at her own rear, as if in comparison, before going on. "Luckily, I was able to find enough fabric."
"Kids," Rita called from downstairs. "Have you seen my blue curtians?"
Leni gave a nervous chuckle and stepped back into the closet. "I was totes never here." She slammed it shut.
Happy with her eldest sisters' commitment to their parts, Lucy stepped out and went over to Luna and Luan's room. Luna was painting white bones on a black bodysuit while Luan stitched a costume for Mr. Coconuts.
"This Halloween is going to rock," Luna grinned.
"Yeah," Luan agreed, "No bones about it."
The two laughed and Lucy left, again satisfied to peek into Lynn Jr and her's room. Inside, the young jock was dusting off an old blue jumpsuit and hockey mask.
"Now all I need is a chainsaw," she snickered, rubbing her hands together.
Knowing full well that her sis would more than pull off her role, Lucy left her to her work. Before heading to the attic, she poked a head into Lisa and Lily's room, where the little genius was working on her trick-or-treating costume. While neither she nor Lily would be taking part in the maze, Lucy still owed it to Lisa for her latest (and greatest) contribution.
Flashback
Lisa and some farmer were standing out in the grass plains on the edge of the city.
"And with the application of my insta-growth furtilizer...," she pushed a button on a control panel and several drones flew overhead, dumping furtilizer onto the ground. Immedately, huge rows of ten-foot tall corn stalks sprouted up. "You have fresh crops ready to harvest. This will no doubt put you ahead of any and all competition and ensure you achieve maximum profit."
The farmer excited rubbed his hands together. "Thank you so much, Ms Loud!" He said, "How can I possibly repay you?!"
"Well, this for a start," she handed him a bill, "I also would like to rent out several acres for the upcoming Royal Woods Halloween carnival."
Flashback ends
Lucy couldn't be happier. Originally, she'd planned on doing a simple cardboard maze in their driveway. Now, not only was her maze going to be bigger and ripe for more scares, but it would also be on front display for the whole city to try out!
Trembling with excitment, Lucy pulled down the attic stairs and climbed up. As always, the room was dark, dusty, and full of cobbwebs, illuminated only by the light from the single window. Fishing around in one of the boxes, she pulled out the framed picture of her late, great grandmother (who bore a striking resemblance to her) and held it close to her chest.
"Oh, Great Grandma Harriet," she said to the picture, "I can't believe it's finally happening! After so many years, I'm finally going to be able to inflict my dark and morbid sense of horror on the mortal realm!" She paused, her smile fading a bit as something suddenly came to her mind, "And yet...I can't help, but worry. How can I present the true face of horror with such an emotionally diverse family? What if Luan makes the maze too funny? Or Luna goes for the wrong type of rock music? Or Leni...well, does anything?"
She paused, as if hearing a response. "No, you're right, Harriet," she went on, "I can't be angry at my family, not after all the help they've been giving me. Without them, this wouldn't even be happening in the first place."
She sighed, slumping against a wall of boxes...before her attention was grabbed by a new idea.
"Maybe I'm looking for help in the wrong place." She went back over to the picture's box and began fishing around inside it. "Instead of seeking help from the mortal realm..." she pulled out Harriet's Ancient Book of Spells, "maybe I need to look for it in the spirit realm."
She opened it, found the Spirit Summoning section, and began flipping through the list of potential spirits. She froze as one particular entry caught her eye.
"Dormus, the Sumarian god of fear," she read, "Believed to have been the creator of nightmares, this ancient being thrived on spreading fear and terror throughout the mortal realm."
She looked up. "Perfect."
Gathering her seance supplies, Lucy lit a ring of candles and covered the attic window, plunging the room into near-darkness. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of her ring, Lucy concentrated, building up all her spiritual energy inside her, and began to speak.
"Dormus, ancient god of fear, I beg you," she said, "Please make this the most horrifying Halloween the mortal realm has ever experienced." She paused, quickly adding, "And please let in happen in Royal Woods, Michigan."
With that, she relaxed, letting all the energy out. Feeling a bit more confident now that the deed was done, she peered over at the picture of Great Grandma Harriet. For some reason, Lucy got the impression that her deceased relative didn't approve of her actions.
"Oh, what's the worst it could do?" She said, "Besides, it's not like any of your spells actually worked anyway."
From downstairs came a high-pitched scream.
"Uh-oh, looks like Dad found my fake blood." Lucy quickly blew out all the candles and jumped up. "I better get down there before he ruins it." She rushed out the attic door, slamming it shut behind her. In the dying embers of her candles, her grandma's framed smile turned into a frown.
The silent darkness was soon broken by a cold, cackling laugh.