Disclaimer: Based on The Loud House created by Chris Savino and owned/published by Nickelodeon. I am not and do not claim to be the creator. Also inspired by Bleach created by Tite Kubo. An AU to the Loud House canon.


Chapter 2

Waking Up to a New Reality

The next thing Stella heard was the sound of her alarm going off. She looked around and saw that she was in her bed. There was a stillness in her room that she felt uneasy about. Everything was normal, but after last night was it supposed to feel that way? Maybe nothing happened at all at the party, maybe she just happened to drink too much and she blacked out. Yeah, that's what happened. It happened before. Jordan must have found her and taken her back to her house. Of course, there was no eel-like crocodile that tried to eat her. It was all a messed up dream in a drunken state.

She began to sit up only to feel a rush of pain sore throughout her stomach. She looked down to see that she was still wearing her clothes from last night but they now had a massive slash across them almost like rubbing up against concrete. She examined her body and noticed a nice bruise against her skin in the exact place the tail had hit her. Stella frantically got up and moved towards her mirror. She examined her face to see if the creature had left any damage on her. Her eyes widened when she saw that there were no burn marks on her face. She still remembered the intense heat. Stella closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands. "It just couldn't happen," she whispered.

A sudden knock broke her out of her trance. "Stella," her grandmother called, "You better get a move on. Jordan should be here soon." Jordan. She needed to talk to Jordan. Jordan must have seen the creature.

Stella got up and moved towards her closet. It was simple: get dressed and wait for Jordan. Talk to her about whatever happened last night. She moved away from her closet and moved down the stairs with wobbly legs. She looked out and saw her grandmother busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Why wasn't she worried about her or even Jordan? Did no one report a monster attack a group of children last night?

"Stella," her grandmother called, snapping Stella out of her thoughts. "When is Jordan getting here? Doesn't she normally pick you up at 7? It's already 7:25; I hate for you to be late for school."

"I-I don't know Mamay," Stella responded. She reached down and checked her phone to see if it really was much later in the morning.

"Stella, do you feel okay?" Stella looked up with wide eyes. The elderly woman had made her way across the room and stood in front of her granddaughter. She stretched her arms forward and rose on her toes to reach Stella's forehead. "No fever, but you look like you've seen a ghost, Stella. What did you have to eat at the study session at Christina's last night? Her family better be feeding you properly."

"They, um, they had pizza last night, Mamay." It wasn't a complete lie. There was no study session, but Jordan's party did have pizza. "I just did not sleep well last night, that's all." Stella stepped away from her grandmother. The elderly woman grew a concerned look at her granddaughter and looked to ask another question before they heard a honking. "That must be Jordan," Stella said while turning away from her grandmother and moving towards the door.

"Love you, Stella," her grandmother said.

Stella paused before continuing through the door and down the steps towards Jordan's Volkswagen. She opened the passenger side and saw Jordan wearing jeans and a sleeveless shirt. Her hair was a mess, and she wore sunglasses over her eyes as she stared out over the steering wheel. Stella slowly got in and began to buckle up as Jordan began to drive away.

"I have such a terrible hangover," Jordan groaned. "Other than the dance floor, I can't remember anything from last night."

Stella stared right at her, "Y-you seriously can't remember anything from last night?"

"Nothing at all."

Stella stared at her. That confirmed it; she was just imagining things from last night. But the stinging in her abdomen came back to her, reminding her of the experience of being thrown by that giant tail. Her hands moved to her stomach as she closed her eyes trying to forget the horrific eyes that were so close to her. What could have happened last night to cause such a bruise if everything she remembered was just her imagination?

"Stells, you comin'?"

Stella opened her eyes realizing that they were already at their school. "Oh, yeah sorry, just, um thinking about something."

"Whatever," Jordan said as she moved through the parking lot and towards the doors.

Stella looked around and saw that everyone acted like nothing happened last night. She moved through the hall, holding her bag close to her, with her head down, as she got to her classroom. She entered it and looked around. People were standing with smiling faces, and laughter filled the room. Groups of people were standing around having fun. The only person left out of this was a person with white hair in the back of the room.

Lincoln. He could confirm everything for her about the party, the creature, and what he was doing there. Stella began to move past a group of boys towards Lincoln who was staring into one of his notebooks. He looked up and saw that she was making her way towards him. His face fell and he shifted in his seat before looking towards the wall avoiding her. Stella was almost towards him when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Chandler.

"Hey Stells," he spoke calmly.

"Chandler," Stella replied trying to move away from him.

"Stells about last night," Stella paused and looked him in the face. "Can we admit that it was a mistake about us? I was drunk, with no control over myself. You know that I would never hurt Christina. So let us just forget about it. There is no need to bring it up to Christina. I mean, nothing happened between us."

Stella paused at his statements. "I-I can't talk to you right now Chandler." She tried to move away from Chandler to try to talk to Lincoln. He went and grabbed her by her arm similar to last night.

"Stells, come on. I need you to promise me that nothing will happen." He looked at her with a frown and began to squeeze tighter on her arm.

"Chandler, please let go."

"I need an answer."

"Chandler, Stella both of you sit down class needs to get started," Mrs. Johnson announced. Chandler still held on to her arm before sitting down with a frown. Stella slowly towards her seat and looked back to see Lincoln staring at her. She needed to talk to him soon. Stella constantly kept her eyes on the clock wishing that time would somehow speed up. Her foot was tapping the floor in a quick beat.

"Psst." Stella turned around and saw Jordan was leaning over her desk trying to get to her. "What did you get for question 16?" Question 16? Stella looked back towards the board and saw that there were problems on it. When did those get there she wondered. "Well," Jordan said, "what did you get?"

"I'm, uh, not sure. I haven't gotten to it yet." Stella said.

"Great," Jordan replied rolling her eyes.

Stella looked back at the clock and saw that it was almost time to go. She looked back and saw that Lincoln was already packing and began to get up from his seat. Stella quickly began to follow his example and when the bell rang got out of her seat only to see that Lincoln had already walked out of the classroom. She briskly made her way into the hallway and began to follow the white-haired boy as she maneuvered through the passing students.

"Lincoln," She loudly said. This caused the boy to pause before turning around to face her. He stared at her before looking away. His hand reached up and scratched the back of his head before his eyes went back towards her. He took a deep breath before responding to her.

"How much do you remember from last night?" His voice was soft, and she almost missed what he was saying.

"I remember that thing coming after me," she said her eyes tight. "It was so close that I could feel its breath. There were thoughts about my funeral and whether I would be found and -" She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Lincoln's hand resting on her shoulder. His face was soft and his eyes focused on her.

"It's okay," he said. "There is a lot to explain." He paused and dropped his arm whale biting his lip before continuing. "Can you meet me after school? I can explain everything then."

Was he serious? Why couldn't he just tell her right here? Stella wanted to yell at him that she needed answers now, but she thought about how that would look. Her yelling at him. Drawing everyone's attention to them. That might change his mind about his offer leaving her without anything. He was the one with the leverage.

"Yes," she replied begrudgingly.

"Alright, try to go through the day as if everything is normal. It will draw less attention to you." He turned around and began walking off. Stella continued to watch him as he walked off until he turned into another hallway. After a few moments, she slowly walked off anticipating the talk that they would have.


The rest of the day felt like a blur to Stella. Sure she tried to follow Lincoln's advice but how could she when she would finally get answers that she was waiting for. Her eyes kept glancing at the clock waiting for it to reach the final minute. Throughout the day she has made so many mistakes. She walked right into Christina during lunch causing both of them to be covered in the school lunches, then she walked into a completely differen class, and during gym, she was hit face first during volleyball. Luckily it was the end of the day, and Stella could finally talk to Lincoln. She began packing up before she felt someone tap on her shoulder.

"Stella," Jordan said, standing behind her, "do you want to head down to the mall after school? I heard there is a sale at Bed and Bath."

"I can't. I'm meeting Lincoln today," she said quickly before realizing what she said.

Jordan's face contorted at her statement. "Bunny boy?" she looked at Stella while leaning on her desk. "What are you doing with him?"

"Oh, we have a project for, uh, English," Stella told her. She turned around and continued to pack her bag while Jordan continued to stare down at her. Soon the bell rang and Stella got up and began to leave. She turned around to tell Jordan quickly, "I'll see you next week Jordan."

"Yeah," Jordan said softly.

Stella went out into the hallway and began walking towards the school entrance. She kept her head down as the memories flooded back into her mind. Details from that night that didn't stand out came rushing into her head. The floor she fell on was mainly flat and freezing against her palms despite the boiling breath she felt coming from the creature that was chasing her. Those eyes pierced her body as the creature crawled and slithered towards her. It footsteps were heavy cracking everything beneath it while the tail made a sound that reminded her of a boat crashing against waves.

She shut her eyes and began to shake as she felt the tears slowly leak out of her eyes. Stella wiped them from her eyes before looking up and seeing Lincoln leaning against some of the lockers staring at his feat. He was holding his notebooks in his hands whilst moving his feat slightly. She tapped on his shoulder causing him to look up at her with a nervous look in his eyes.

"So," he paused for a moment before moving away from the lockers with a stiff look, "you ready for some answers?"

"Yeah," Stella said with her eyes glued on him.

He took a deep breath, "Alright, I've got somewhere I need to take you."