Loud Visions

Chapter 26

"Don't expect her to make you laugh unless you prank her! The more pain, the more gain!" the other man joked.

The crowd busted a gut at that. Then, the same raccoons that attacked Lincoln came for her. They bit and clawed at her from all over. The raccoons bit her face, ears, and hands while scratching her all over. Luan's severe pain made her scream as she tried to shake them off, but it was useless. Now, she was bleeding from raccoon bites and where their claws dug in.

The men shooed them away. As they snickered, they spun the wheel, causing her to spin around and around as well. The laughing and cheering crowd continued to throw more fruit, vegetables, eggs, and even rocks at her. Soon, fresh bruises on her body showed along with cuts – they stung as fruit juice and yoke seeped inside. Luan could barely open one of her eyes as it became swollen.

As she was spun around, she saw Lincoln and Ronnie Anne with Benny. She gasped when she saw him. Benny, Ronnie Anne, and a few others helped Lincoln get the gunk and pie off of him while cleaning him up. A woman with a first aid kit began applying hydroperoxide to his cuts and scratches.

"Lincoln! Benny!" Luan cried out.

They glared sideways at her.

"Please! Please help me!" Luan begged.

Both her brother and her boyfriend turned away. Benny brought his doll puppet. Due to the laughing crowd, Luan couldn't hear what they were saying, but Benny was cracking some jokes. What really hit Luan's heart like a bus was that Lincoln actually laughed at his jokes. He was smiling and laughing with Ronnie Anne.

An hour of painful humiliation that Luan never dreamed that she would ever experience felt like an eternity. Then they stopped. Luan, covered in filth while aching in pain, sobbed her eyes out. Luan couldn't tell which hurt more, the physical pain or the humiliation. Then, a shadow formed in front of her. She looked up with a whimper to see her brother Lincoln.

"It's not a good feeling, is it?" Lincoln asked.

Luan said nothing. She was still crying and aching in agony and embarrassment.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Being laughed at and humiliated, plus it literally can hurt when you're being pranked. So, how do you think I felt? Or how our family felt?"

Luan looked around and saw members of her family. They were standing in a circle surrounding Luan while glaring at her. They were all in a state of being victims of Luan's pranks. They either had cream from pies dripping off of them, covered in scratches or cuts, had black eyes, parts of their hair or eyebrows missing, or even had burns. Luan softly gasped as she looked around at them closely at their pain.

Lincoln continued, "Maybe that's why we're not laughing whenever you do your pranks on April Fools. A good comedian and prankster makes other people laugh. Not themselves. Luan, if you're the only one laughing, then you're doing something wrong. In fact, we're far from laughing. We're downright afraid of you. Doesn't that bother you, Luan? Your own family afraid of you?"

Luan's heart shattered as those words sank into her core. It was as if her eyes were open for the first time in her whole life. All her pranking amounted to nothing more than her own amusement. She never once considered a joke or a prank gone too far. She didn't stop to realize what she had done to her family.

Then Lincoln's voice slowly turned demonic, and his eyes were glowing red, "Maybe that's why people don't like you. Maybe that's . . . why . . . you're. Not. FUNNY."

Lincoln then lifted a heavy mallet hammer. Luan quickly panted and struggled to get from her binds.

"Why don't we 'crack' your final joke, Luan? What's black and white . . . and red all over?" Lincoln asked.