After Lana's breakdown, everyone who were at home gathered in the kitchen.
"And how is that supposed to help, Pops?" Luna crossed her arms and looked at her father with a "Are you serious?" expression on her face.
"Well, that sounds good in theory, right, Lucy?" - Lynn Sr. was already desperately looking for support from at least one of his daughters.
"No." She shook her head. "Such heartbreaking pain cannot be cured so easily."
The patriarch of the family just sighed sadly and laid his head on the table. It didn't help that everyone looked at him as if he were an idiot
"Dad, leave it to me." Lori put her hand on his shoulder. "Look after Lana. Girls and I will think about what to do in my and Leni's room." After these words, everyone, except Leni and Lynn Sr., looked at her with skepticism, but said nothing and began to go upstairs.
Well done, Lori!" Leni hugged her sister. "You finally realized that this is my room too. I'm so proud of you!" The eldest smiled faintly, but said nothing and followed the others.
"I should never forget that." - She thought to herself.
"What's the idea, egghead?" - Luna asked Lisa indifferently, she did it not for the sake of the question itself, but simply to dispel the silence, she didn't like the lack of sounds.
Luna, along with Lucy and Lisa, who were accompanied by Lily, had already taken their seats when the eldest sisters arrived, and it was noticeable that they sat down in order to be as far away from each other as possible.
"The cause is the cure." Lisa didn't even look at the rocker, she was too busy playing with Lily.
Before Luna could say anything, Lori interrupted her. "Don't even think about starting it again, Luna." She sat down next to the rocker and put Lola sit next to her, although Lola was still lost in thought, before that Lori dragged her by the hand. Leni, in turn, sat down next to Lisa and tried to take Lily to her, but baby was against it. However, Leni wasn't offended; she was still smiling broadly.
Lori tapped with her hammer-like shoe several times. "Do we all understand why we are here? Good. Luna, shorty, what happened?
"Honestly, I don't know." She shrugged. "Lucy and I was im my room, and then I saw Lana walking past us crying, so we both quickly followed her. When we asked her, she said something about a note from Lincoln and that he supposedly doesn't love us anymore. That's all.
"Her soul screamed in pain." Lucy added.
"Something happened," Lori thought and turned to Lisa. "Lisa, did you see what happened?"
"Of course, me and my assistant watched it." The scientist stopped playing and turned to his older sister. "We started a few minutes before the note was discovered and it looked like Lana wanted something from Lincoln." Lisa responded indifferently; it was clear from her and Lily's behavior that they didn't want to be there.
"The shadows whisper that you're not telling everything." Lucy pointed an accusing finger at Lori. Lori silently thanked her Goth sister.
"I think this information was just useless to you; so I don't see any point in telling it." Lisa shrugged and rolled her eyes, clearly showing disdain. But noticing Lori's stern look, she decided to speak further. "Fine, on the way to his room, she was talking to her pet amphibian, expressing her disappointment with all the pets and the amphibian itself."
Lori noticed this; Lana usually doted on animals and rarely got angry at them. However, she herself did not feel sympathy for pets. They fully deserve hatred of dirt lover.
"And judging by her monologue when we first started watching her, she wanted to earn the forgiveness of our genetic male relative." She continued.
"Pfft, that's stupid." Luna chuckled. "We already asked Little Dude for forgiveness, and he forgave us."
"Exactly." Lucy nodded. "His aura still feels the same light and pleasant as it did before Lynn wanted to kick him out."
"Then this is simply naive self-deception and unnatural practices that cannot be proven." Lisa stood up and took Lily's. "This meeting is a waste of time and our brain activity, so we're leaving."
Lori wasn't going to stop them. After listening to them and thinking about the situation carefully, she realized: unfortunately, her bad assumptions had come true.
"Well, if that's all, then we..." Luna was interrupted when Lori hit her on the shoulder.
"We aren't done yet." Lori growled slowly and coldly, and then turned to Leni with a forced smile. "Leni, my dear little sister, can you help me?" The sweetness in Lori's voice made Lucy turn green. Leni nodded with an even wider smile. "Cool. Go to twins room and take Lola, I think she'll be happy to have a tea party with you, I'll come soon."
The blonde with glasses happily clapped her hands and ran out of the room, not forgetting to grab the princess, who, judging by her expression, didn't care at all.
"She's absolutely furious. I'm actually terrified." Lucy spoke quietly. This made Luna herself scared; if a fearless goth is afraid, then things are definitely bad.
"I hope you two don't actually mean what I think you mean." Lori grinds her teeth together.
"What are you talking about?" Luna tried to stay calm, but it was hard.
"Do you really think all this 'no luck' is gone, like water under the bridge?!" She approached both of them with clenched fists, her knuckles white from anger. Luna and Lucy hugged each other in terror; they had never seen Lori so angry and bloodthirsty.
"Do you really think a simple 'Forgive me' will fix everything?! And our actions have no consequences?!" Her face turned red and steam seemed to be coming from her ears. She grabbed both of them by the hands and led them out of the room, not caring how painful it was for them.
They came to Lincoln's door, the same note lay on the floor. She let go of their hands, the grip area had turned red.
"Dude, what the heck..." Luna cradled her sore arm.
"It hurts...", Lucy sobbed.
"Shut up!" Laurie snapped angrily. "If you think Lincoln has forgiven us, then why does he always stay in his room and avoid us?! Is this part of forgiveness?!"
"Maybe he's just taking a break from all this? I would, too." Luna timidly suggested.
"NO!" Lori slammed the note into Luna's face, making her scream. "Read it, damnit!
"I'm helping Zach... in the park... if you don't believe me, ask Leni." Luna read and now looked at her older sister in fear.
"Didn't you get it?! Here's a little hint. I was with Leni all day, except one when she went to mow the lawn. I wasn't with her because dad asked me to help. Lincoln didn't leave the room all day. He's definitely was not around Leni today! And if even Lincoln had spoken to her yesterday or earlier, she would have told me!"
She poked Luna on the forehead. "Luna, you're not deaf. Use your damn ears and understand what I told you and think with your brain!"
She then removed Lucy's hair from her eyes. "And you, Lucy, open your damn eyes. You know, the same ones that our cowardly parents decided to hide and never look at things adequately!" Lori was shaking with anger and began taking deep breaths.
"Understand the truth already, Lincoln hasn't forgiven us, he only said something that made us leave him alone. He doesn't want to see us, much less talk to us! And think about how many times you've seen him this week? You don't know!? So I'll answer; not very much! We only see him when he goes to school and when he comes back, he doesn't eat with us, someone always takes food to him, he doesn't even go to the toilet, he uses that damn bucket! And why?! We almost kicked him out of the house, cleaned everything out of his room and treated him worse than an animal! He probably thinks we hate him! So use your brains if you have them... Otherwise I will personally beat this into your heads, got it!?" Without waiting for their answer, she went to twins' room, her movements were very sharp and jerky, red foam was coming out of her mouth.
The rocker and Goth didn't say anything; they got down on their shaking knees and hugged each other, still terrified. So were their thoughts. Had they screwed up that badly..?
"If our elder sister's method works, there is still hope for them. Unlike others. Do you agree with me, Lily?"
"Poo."
"Suck it up, losers! The great, invincible, and amazing Lynn Loud Jr. always wins!" She broke out into a dance.
"I swear to God, she's completely gone crazy." - Paula sighed tiredly, looking dissatisfied at her teammate. "If they want to beat her up, I'm all for it."
"Yeah." Margo, standing nearby, moaned. "I never thought I'd say this, but I want her legs broken, and maybe her skull. I'd even be happy to do it myself."
"At least her family isn't here; if I were them, I would die of shame." Paula led Margo towards the benches where their two acquaintances were sitting.
"Hey girls." a dark-skinned boy with glasses waved at them.
"Hi, Clydesdale. What's up, Santiago?" The Latina simply raised her hand without saying anything. "How's it going?"
"We're still trying, but it's not working." McBride rested his head in his hands. "We've tried so much that I'm starting to lose hope."
"Aw, come on, my guy." Margo and Paula sit next to each other. "If you give up, then that's it: Linc will be more of a recluse than the entire Morticians club... and Lynn will continue to get on my nerves... And in one moment, I will break her teeth." There was an enormous bloodlust in Margo's eyes.
"Quite you." Paula poked her friend with her crutch. "But she's right. Have you tried everything yet? And nothing helped?"
"Yeah." Ronnie Anne took out a candy bar from her bag and began to eat it. "He almost never speaks, only when teachers ask him, and he's always like 'Everything is fine, everything is great.' And even with help from almost everyone, it still didn't help, even Chandler sincerely wanted to help! I just don't know what else to do..."
"But what about his sisters..." Margo hesitated, noticing the narrowed glances. "Well, at least normal ones, like... ugh... the rocker one, or that in sunglasses, or maybe the creepy goth."
"All of them are bad." Santiago answered briefly and continued cwewing bar.
"Jesus Christ, then i don't know, if there's nothing left at school, then their house is the only choice! Take your brother with you, Lynn said that he was dating her older sister or something like that, I didn't really fully understand because she was nonstop laughing." Margo was already desperately asking Ronnie to act, but she didn't even look at her.
"Ronalda." Clyde decided to go all in, using his friend's full name. "I'm afraid we have no choice, either enter the beast's lair, or everything will be like Margo said.
The Latina was silent for several minutes.
"OK." She stood up. "We'll go along with Bobby, but I won't care if I 'accidentally' break someone's nose."
"Can we come with you?" Paula spoke for both of them. She decided to respond to the surprised looks. "Hey, what's wrong with us wanting to help? This whole situation is completely dark, and like our Snow White doesn't deserve this. Plus, I won't miss an opportunity to finally shut up Lynn and fix her damn ego."
"Did you forget?" Margo nudged her friend with her elbow. "Lynn has gone crazy and joined all possible sports clubs. She said she wouldn't be home before curfew."
"Crap." Paula sighed in disappointment. "Well, to hell with her! There will only be useful things, no pleasant ones. When are we performing?"
"Not today." Ronnie Anne cooled her ardor. "Bobby will only tomorrow return from Great Lake City, and I still need to convince him, I not gonna lie to him. So give me your numbers, I'll call, and maybe there will be more of us."
"So how did it go? I think I heard screams." Lynn Sr. asked his daughter, who was sitting next to him. From her appearance, he realized that she was unhappy, but decided not to mention it.
"Just your imagination." Lori exhaled loudly. "I think it went well, if it works, they won't behave like mom." Then she began whispering. "How is Lana, Dad?"
The Patriarch whispered back. "Okay, at least she's calmed down, but I think she needs a little more time and rest." Father sighed and stroked the head of his youngest daughter, who was concentrating on the screen. Then he looked at the eldest. "Do you really have a plan?" She nodded. "Okay, at least someone has it now. But I'm the parent, and I suppose to have it, but I don't, and that says a lot." He signed sadly. "Lori, can you look after the house for a while? I need to go to the bookstore."
"Bookstore?" She asked, confused.
"Maybe there will be answers how to be a better parent. I'm going there right now; the house is on you. I will support any action you take." He kissed her forehead. "I'll be back in an hour or two."
The eldest daughter silently watched as her father left the house.
"At least he's trying. Unlike mom." This thought made Lori a bit happy; the thought that both parents didn't even understand what to do, was the worst and making her think about the worst-case scenario. But for now, she decided to discard these thoughts and focus on her sister.
"Lana, are you sure you're okay?" She knelt in front of her, blocking the TV. Tomboy just shook her head. Lori grabbed her into a hug, and a few sobs came out of Lana. But they no longer threatened to turn into hysterics, and after a few minutes she calmed down.
"You need to rest, I'll take you to your room." She had already taken her sister into her arms and was starting to walk, but Lana stopped her.
"C-can I sleep with you?" This surprised Lori; usually Lana was the least likely to deal with nightmares, so it was something else.
"Did you have another argument?" The eldest could only sigh, that was her only idea.
"N-no... T-this is different... S-she s-scares me..." Little girl whispered in fear.
Now Lori was even more surprised; Lola usually angered her twin, but she didn't scare her in any way. Especially in her current state.
Seeing her sister's confusion, Lana continued. "You already know, for several weeks she just... does nothing... barely eats, barely drinks, almost always looks at the ceiling. She missed school and her competitions, even that girl Lindsay was worried, so she asked me if everything was okay, I just said she was sick. But everything is different at night..."
"What happens at night?" Now Lori was very worried; she knew that her princess sister, according to Lisa, was in a state of apathy. According to the scientist, she would be harmless, but she can only get out of this state on her own. No matter how much it hurt Lori, she couldn't help it and had to leave her sister alone. And Lana's words made her worry even more than before; maybe Lisa was mistaken?
"Almost every night, she wakes up, starts talking to herself, takes her tiara and trophies, and just looks at them. She doesn't react to anything else. She looks creepy: shaking eyes and hands, very small pupils, fast breathing, but the worst part is different. Sometimes she begins to twitch and shout out different phrases: "I'll kill it," "I'll fix it," "Never again," and others. She pleaded with her sister, "Lori, please, I'm scared, I can't take this anymore, I'm afraid that one night she'll realize that she's not alone in the room and... I beg you..." The frightened girl pressed herself against her sister as tightly as possible, not wanting to let go.
"Shhhh." Lori stroked her panicked sister's hair. "You can sleep in my bed. Why didn't you ask earlier?"
"I thought you wouldn't care." She spoke shyly.
It was painful for Lori to hear this, and she deserved it. She had spent little time with her siblings for a long time, which was one of the pillars of her bad reputation.
"I will redeem myself, now if something bothers you, you can ask me, and I will answer. Okay?" She raised Lana in front of her and looked at her pleadingly, to her joy, the tomboy simply nodded. "Now we go to my room and I'll put you to bed. I know its early, but you know you need it."
"Can you read me a story? I don't think I'll fall asleep easily today."
"Of course."
"Can you believe this Luan? Another beautiful day is ending. Today was such a beautiful morning, and an equally beautiful afternoon. There will be another beautiful evening, and tomorrow it will all happen again; I'm so happy!" Rita spoke more to herself than to her daughter while she was driving the car.
"Yeah, mom, that's right." Luan simply leaned against the glass with a neutral expression.
Not wanting to listen to her mother's crazy nonsense anymore, the comedian plunged into her own thoughts. Another day in this mood, in a completely non-joking mood. Another day when her friend Giggles performs instead of her at birthday parties, and Luan acts as an assistant, with her emo face she would scare everyone away.
This did not happen in one day, but it accumulated gradually. It all started on that one April Fool's Day, when she invited Ronnie Ann. Starts from the day before, when her family was rushing to make a defense against her and her pranks. She didn't understand then, but she understands now that her family is very afraid of her on this day. Even more; they consider her a terrible monster, and this is probably true... Harmless pranks do not lead to concussions, fractures, or a possible risk of contracting rabies and death. Normal comedians do not laugh sadistically at the suffering of others. She long ago violated one of the basic comedy rules: "A prank must not cause real harm." She isn't a comedian; she's a bully.
It's not surprising that family doesn't like her jokes, except maybe dad, but he also has a limit. Painful pranks don't make it easier. If Luan had a friend who mercilessly bullied her once a year, she would instantly stop being friends with him, so it's surprising that they still tolerate her.
But Luan didn't know how to fix everything. A simple "No more April Fool's" won't change what has already happened. She simply had no ideas, and idia to ask her friends... Let's just say April Fool's Day was a noticeable stain on her reputation, and the "Incident" made things worse. She's probably the worst person in Royal Woods right now, next to Lynn. Only Giggles did not stop communicating with her and did not consider her a psychopath. The idea of asking her sisters or father for help was tempting, but she doubted whether they would want to help her.
And she had an even bigger mistake than April's Fool's: Lincoln. She remembered how in childhood she promised that she would always make him smile, but now? It's hard to even see him at all, and that's partly her fault. It was she who, as a joke, suggested that Lana board up his room, which may seem unimportant, but if she hadn't done this, then nothing would have happened; his things wouldn't have been sold and he would not have been kicked out.
This was the worst sin on her back, and she hoped that at least someone would help her... Or this would be the end of her not-very-funny life...
"Isn't this exciting, Lola?" Leni drank her tea even though it wasn't actually there. "Only your tea keeps somehow disappearing; I still don't have time to drink it!" Lola answered in silence. "But this tea party is still amazing!" Her phone started ringing. "Oh my! Sorry, Lola. I need to go out for a second; I need to talk with Smiley and Sidny!" Lola continued to stare blankly at the ceiling. Leni left the room with a huge smile.