**Luan's Nightmare**
Lincoln stepped on the thread, releasing the boot to kick him from behind. The white-haired boy slid on the grease and plowed in the frig, causing a heavy box to fall on his head. As he struggled to get on his feet, he ended up opening the frig, thus releasing the spring-loaded boxing glove to punch him. Lincoln flew screaming right into the oven, causing his football helmet to shatter.
"Ow," Lincoln ached in pain with a black eye.
However, it didn't end there. A group, or gaze, of wild raccoons, emerged from the oven and attacked Lincoln. A dust cloud appeared as they were all over him, biting and scratching him.
Luan popped from the doorway, "I made that dish from scratch! Ha ha ha!"
Lincoln continued to set off all the pranks while getting a beating as well from it all. Clyde arrived to set off all the pranks in Lori's room. When it was over, Lincoln had two black eyes, pieces of pie and green gunk on his head, no eyebrows, his foot stuck in a bucket, and his shirt torn. Clyde's head was mainly shaven off, his shirt torn, and pieces of white cotton stuck to his head. Both boys were aching in pain. By the time Ronnie Anne arrived, only one person was laughing, and it was Luan.
"I won! You thought you'd outsmart me, but you got the worst pranking ever!" Luan stated confidently.
"I only set off those pranks because Ronnie Anne was coming over," Lincoln replied.
"Who do you think invented her over genius? I knew I had to lure you out of your room, so I called Ronnie Anne and told her how much you love April Fool's Day, and here she is to deliver the final blow!" Luan explained.
Lincoln turned around to see Ronnie Anne holding a cream-filled pie. Lincoln closed his eyes, expecting it to be thrown at his face, but instead, Ronnie Anne dropped it on the floor. Lincoln opened his eyes to see she had a serious look on her face as she glared at his prankster sister. Before anyone said anything, Ronnie marched over to Luan and delivered a hard punch to the face, causing her to fall to the floor. Luan was speechless as her hand hovered over her cheek where Ronnie Anne punched her. She looked up to see her standing before Lincoln with her fists clenched.
"You think this is funny? Huh? You're really getting a laugh out of this?" Ronnie Anne questioned.
Luan tried to speak, "Wha?"
"Look at your brother! Do you see him laughing?!"
Luan looked at him and his current state. Lincoln was giving her a fierce glare as well.
"These pranks weren't funny! They hurt! All those pranks really hurt! Do you ever notice Luan that during your pranks, no one is laughing but you?! Even with an audience, no one is laughing!" Lincoln shouted.
Suddenly, the house's walls came down, and Luan found herself surrounded by an audience. Even though they were under a shade of darkness and she was under a lone light, she could see all the disappointing looks on their faces. Some of them were shaking their heads, while others had disgusted expressions.
Then Mr. Coconuts approached her from the audience, "Now that's not funny."
Luan was shaking, and her heart rate quickened, "Mr. Coconuts?"
Before she could say anything more, light orbs appeared and showed images of her, Lincoln, and her family.
"You know what, Luan? I can't work with you. I can't even crack a joke with you anymore. You abandoned and neglected your own brother," Mr. Coconuts said as the light orbs showed Lincoln outside the house, begging to be back in.
"You abused him and your family with your pranks. Your pranks have gotten so out of hand that your family isn't annoyed with you. They're afraid of you. Every year, there's something that they truly fear, and that's you and what you're going to do to them," Mr. Coconuts explained as the light orbs showed all the times they've gotten pranked.
Luan saw all the pain and humiliation that was brought upon them. Each family member cringed and ached in pain from Luan's pranks. The light orbs showed all her family members showing fear of April Fool's Day – how they were preparing looked like they were preparing for the apocalypse. Luan's eyes widened at what she was seeing. Seeing her family be afraid of her left a hole in her chest and filled her with guilt and shame.
"A good comedian makes other people laugh, not themselves. Have you ever noticed that with all your pranks and all your puns, you are the only one laughing?" Mr. Coconuts questioned.
The light orbs showed all the times she pulled a prank and cracked a joke. The only person laughing was her. There wasn't a single orb that showed any of her family laughing. They mainly groaned a tired sigh while rolling their eyes.
"You know why they're not laughing, Luan?" Mr. Coconuts asked.
Luan turned to face him, only to see that his eyes were eyes glowing red. "It's. Because. You're. NOT FUNNY."
Luan felt weak to her knees. She tried to speak, but no words came out as she only uttered. Then, a hard tomato hit her right in the face. She closed her eyes from the impact and felt the stinging of the tomato juice get into her eyes. Luan wiped the tomato off as she looked at it.
Someone from the audience hollered, "But that is!"
"Let's see how you like being pranked bitch!" another audience member yelled.
Another tomato smacked hard into her face, followed by another. More hard fruit was thrown at her, and each impact let pain. Luan used her arms to shield herself but did very little to help.
"Stop it!" Luan shouted.
However, they didn't stop. They kept throwing fruit, vegetables, and eggs at her. Luan tried to escape but slipped on the wet fruit juice and fell hard on her back and head. The audience laughed at that. Some pointed and called her names. Luan struggled to get back on her feet to run away.
"Where ya going?! The fun is just starting!" a man from the audience hollered.
Suddenly, a rope lassoed around Luan's neck. With a hard yank, she fell on her back, choking for air as it gripped tightly around her windpipe. The crowd cheered and clapped as another rope grabbed her wrist. Luan yelped and cried out in anguish. Absolute fear gripped her as she panted.
'What is this?! Why is this happening?!' Luan thought to herself.
As they pulled tighter, Luan used all her strength to try and break away. She grunted angrily to get out of the ropes, but soon more lassoed on her. Before she knew it, two men held her down and tied her. Luan ached in agony as the abrasive ropes dug into her wrists and ankles. Luan was on her knees with her hands tied behind her back, and the rest of her was restrained to a wooden wheel.
A man slammed a bucket of cow feces on her head.
"Ow!" Luan cried.
"Wow, kid. You really paled it!" he joked.
The two men chuckled as one of them placed a plush jester hat on her head.
One man mocked, "Hail to the Queen Prankster!"
"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.
Lincoln lifted the giant mallet high up. It eclipsed the light, putting Luan in the shadow. Her pupils shrank down to little dots.
"You," Lincoln said before swinging the mallet down on Luan's head.
**End of Nightmare**
Luan woke up screaming. She panted as her heart was pounding out of her chest. She was drenched in sweat. Even though it was a nightmare, it all felt real to her. Luan could still feel all the hard fruit and materials flung at her. She could feel the stinging in her cuts. It was like she experienced what Quasimodo went through but dialed to eleven. What was worse was everything Lincoln said was true. This realization was like a cold, hard slap in the face. It was as if everything Luan did and believed in was a sham, or she was a sham.
She couldn't get Lincoln's angry face and demonic voice out of her head right, nor could she get what he did with the mallet. Luan hugged herself and shivered.
Luna's head popped down, "Luan?"
She gasped in fright.
"You okay?" Luna asked.
Luan couldn't hold back the tears as she sobbed. Luna came down from the top bunk, and the two hugged each other close in comfort.
"I-I had a terrible dream. A really, really, bad dream," Luan sobbed.
Luna hesitantly replied, "Me too."
Luan looked at her, "Was Lincoln in it?"
Luna nodded.
Luan sighed, "We were horrible to him. I was really horrible to him . . . and to you – to every one of this family."
"Luan, don't say that," Luna said.
"It's true. All this time, the one person I made laugh was myself, and every April Fool's, you guys are afraid of me. That's the opposite of a comedian. I should be making other people laugh, not me. And I especially shouldn't make my own family afraid of me!"
Luan wept some more in her sister's arms.
"I have to make things right with everyone, especially Lincoln," Luan said.
Luna gently patted her back, "Me too, dude . . . me too."
**Lola's Nightmare**
Lola was on stage for another Little Miss Beauty Pageant with all the other girls dressed and dazzled up. The stage lights shined brightly on them while the audience was hard to see in the darkness. Lola smiled proudly and confidently as the judges decided who the winner was. Then, a man walked up to the stage – most of his head shrouded in darkness.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Lola Loud!" he announced.
Everyone clapped and cheered. Lola was so excited she squeed with glee. However, her smile disappeared when the sash was put on her. It was black with bloodred letters that said:
Monster Queen
"Uh, excuse me? I think this is the wrong sash," Lola spoke.
"Oh no, that's the right one. You've earned it. Royal Woods most horrible little monster," the man said.
Lola looked at him, confused, "Wha?"
"Come on, this isn't a Little Miss Beauty Pageant contest. This is Royal Woods's Biggest Monster Pageant."
He pointed to the other girls standing on stage. Lola looked over and saw that they were all hideous and horrible-looking monsters. They all had fangs, horns, claws, slimy or scaley skin. Lola gasped in horror.
She turned to the man, "But-but I'm not a monster!"
The man grinned and snapped his fingers. A big, tall, and wide mirror was being lowered from the ceiling.
"Oh, but are you?"
Lola looked at her reflection in the mirror and saw an even more hideous monster than the others. The beast in her reflection had tentacles, snakes for hair, razor-sharp teeth, long claws, black eyes, and cold, clammy skin. Lola uttered in shock and was weak to the knees.
The man pulled out a clipboard, "Let's see here. Manipulative, a control freak, and oh! Blackmailing to get others to do what you want and . . . oooo (makes cringe noise) violent temper and intimidation. Maybe that's why your siblings are afraid of making you mad and don't want to spend time with you."
Lola shook her head, "No, no, no! This isn't true! I'm not a monster! Ask anyone. Ask my family. They'll vouch for me!"
The man chuckled, "Vouch for you? They're the victims of your cruelty. See?"
Then light orbs appeared, revealing all the times Lola yelled and screamed at her family. All the times she twisted their arms. All the times she blackmailed them into doing what she wanted — whispering secrets so she wouldn't hear them and use them to blackmail them. The times they quivered at the mere thought of making her mad.
"Ask any of them, and they'll vouch that you're a monster. Especially—"
The man stepped into the light to show his face.
"—your dear brother, Lincoln," her brother said.
"L-Lincoln?" Lola spoke.
Lincoln's eyes turned red, and his voice deepened, "I think it's time for everyone to see exactly what you are, Lola."
With a wave of his hand, Lola turned into her monstrous reflection. Lola watched in horror as her beauty slowly vanished, and her ugly inside became her outside. Her dress was torn to shreds. The crowd gasped in horror and called her a monster. Even her own family looked away in fear and disgust as they ran away. All Lola could do was scream in disbelief.
**End of Nightmare**
"No!" Lola cried as she woke up.
She sat up and moved her sleep eye mask. She took a moment to catch her breath but couldn't stop the tears as she cried into her pillow. Then she heard the sounds of frightened moaning. Lola looked over to see her twin moaning and jerking her head in bed.
"Lana?" Lola spoke.
**Lana's Nightmare**
Lana was in an alligator wrestling match ring. She just defeated one that she could handle easily. However, a cage burst open, and a big bull gator came at her. Lana yelped and screamed in terror. She ran for the exit but only found it was boarded up. There was a note on it, and it read:
"Sorry Lana, but because you're cruel enough to board up your brother's room because of bad luck and not care about his well-being, we can't risk that cruelty spreading to the rest of the family. It's for the best."
– Mom
"What?! Are you serious?!" Lana exclaimed.
The big bull gator growled as it charged at her. Lana felt the same fear as she did before during her first attack.
"Dad? Lincoln! Lincoln!! Help!" Lana cried out.
Then the gator bit her leg, and Lana fell face down on the ground. She screamed in agony as the gator's teeth dug into her calf. The gator pulled her hard, and she was dragged through the dirt – her blood already wetting the soil. The gator violently swung her around as she desperately tried to escape, but then another gator showed up and bit her arm. Lana screamed and cried in pain as the gator did a death roll, rolling its whole body to tear her arm off. Once it was ripped off, it was too painful for Lana to even scream. The pain was overwhelming. Then, more and more gators showed up to devour their prey. Soon, everything went black, but Lana could feel everything.
**End of Nightmare**
Lana was screaming. Lola shook her, "Lana! Wake up! Lana!"
She was jarred awake. Her eyes were wide open, and she was almost hyperventilating. Lana turned to her twin sister. Her tears burst from her eyes. Lana wrapped her arms around Lola, sobbing. Lola hugged her back and cried with her. She didn't need to ask to see she had a horrible nightmare. The two twins lay in bed with their eyes red, puffy, and wet from their tears. They didn't bother trying to go back to sleep. They were too afraid to get more nightmares.
**Lisa's Nightmare**
Lisa was awakened by a bright light shining on her face, causing her eyes to squeeze tight. When she tried to block out the light with her hands, she found them restrained. Lisa looked over and saw that she was strapped to a table. Then suddenly, the table slowly moved to the upright position, and more lights turned on. When her eyes adjusted, she saw she was in a big examination room for demonstrations for students studying to be doctors or scientists. Students were sitting in rows, each going up so everyone could get a view.
Next to the table that Lisa was strapped to were trays with medical and operating tools and several equipment like LED lights, cameras, etc. There was a big whiteboard, a desk with a computer, a sink, a giant projector screen, and a projector. Then, three men walked in wearing green scrubs while everyone else sitting wore lab coats.
One man with his face mask off and a thick German accent spoke, "Good afternoon, everyone. My fellow colleagues and students. Thank you for joining us in this demonstration. We will now show inside Subject Lisa Loud. A.K.A. The Heartless One."
"What?" Lisa spoke as her eyes glanced everywhere.
"Now, can anyone tell me what is the greatest thing in all mankind? The thing that drives us? The thing that gives people meaning and reason to live?" the professor spoke.
One student raised his hand, "Love."
"Ja! Correct, love," the professor wrote on the whiteboard, "Love is what gives us reason to live. Love is arguably the greatest thing in the whole world. Greater than power, money, land, and resources. Greater than the latest and most advanced technology known to man. Without love, many would say that life is meaningless. Some can live with little to no love but have something that drives them. Something that they are passionate about, even if they are not aware of what it is."
Lisa struggled to loosen her wrists and ankles out of the tight straps that held her.
"We humans are very social and passionate creatures. Many of us have explored the boundaries and layers of love. Love can cause us to be very passionate toward one another. It can make us care very deeply about one another. Some of you may have someone or more than one someone in your life that you care very much for."
Then the professor turned toward Lisa and said, "However, there are those in this world who are incapable of love."
"What?! What on Earth are you talking about, you deranged hooligan?!" Lisa barked.
One of the other men in green scrubs brought out X-rays of Lisa's body – mainly her brain and torso.
"As you can see here, her brain is more developed and intelligent than the average individual's. However, while she has the physical heart, she does not have the emotional heart where love should be," the professor stated.
"Oh, poppycock! I do, too, have emotional love. You can see that on an X-ray," Lisa objected.
The professor ignored her, "Because she has no emotional heart, she has no passion, no care, no empathy towards others."
A student with a British accent asked, "Is that how she was able to experiment on her own siblings without worrying what the consequences would be of the results of her experiments, professor?"
"Correct! That is exactly why," the professor replied.
Lisa's eyes widened, and a cold chill went up her spine, giving her goosebumps. Then, the projector showed images and footage of her experimenting on her family. Some of them resulted in severe consequences that caused her siblings to be hurt.
Never in her whole life had Lisa felt so stupid and so ashamed. In her path of pursuing science, one variable she overlooked was her family's well–being. Not only was using her family as experimental guinea pigs wrong, but it was also inhuman. Lisa hung her head down in shame.
"But professor, I don't understand. If she believes so strongly in science with that big brain, how did she succumb to something as superstitious as bad luck?" a student questioned.
Just like that, Lisa saw all the visions that her brother showed her and her sisters at the hospital. Lisa felt a hole in her chest. She tried to speak, but the words did not come.
"Let's examine that. Shall we?" the professor replied.
He pressed a button to lay the table flat. Then he put on his face mask and grabbed a scalpel. Lisa was petrified as they cut off her shirt and slowly cut her torso open to reveal her chest cavity. Lisa uttered what she was witnessing. For some reason, she felt no pain but was in awe that it was all happening. The professor had one of his assistants change the projector to show an image of another chest cavity looking different. The one on the projector showed a glowing heart-shaped element next to the physical heart.
"As you can see here, no emotional heart, but also you notice these black veins here and here. Those are 'ruthless veins.' The black material pumps negative emotions to the brain from the void of the empty space where the emotion heart should be. Because of this, even though the subject was aware that luck does not exist, she chose not to do anything simply because she does not care about her brother," the professor explained.
Lisa's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, "What?!"
"It's also possible that she saw an opportunity present itself. If her brother was no longer in the house, she could claim his room as her own so that she could continue to experiment in solitary without interruptions from the baby Lily."
Lisa growled and struggled to get free.
"That's not true! I do care about my sibling units! I do care about my family! And I especially care about my brother Lincoln! Now release me from here at once!" Lisa yelled.
The professor snapped his fingers and pointed to her mouth. The other men in green scrubs gagged Lisa's mouth to silence her.
The professor explained, "Now, what you saw just now was a natural response called denial. Basically, the subjects feels compelled to reject the idea of her being heartless. That is why her sudden outburst of false claims that she has compassion toward her family, but we all know the truth. Don't we, Dr. Loud?"
Lisa stopped fighting and looked to where he was looking, and in walked another man in green scrubs – her brother Lincoln Loud.
"Affirmative Professor," Dr. Loud answered.
A student asked, "Doctor, what is to become of the subject?"
Lincoln picked up a mechanical saw.
"We are going to remove her brain to examine it closely. Further studying into the ruthlessness of the brain may reveal a way to counter such heartlessness and thus help create a better world," Dr. Lincoln answered.
Lisa's eyes were wide as dish plates, and her pupils were little dots. With her chest cavity open, she could see and feel her heart pumping faster and faster as fear sank in.
Lisa shook her head, "Lincoln! Please, no!"
"Sorry, Lisa. This is for the benefit of science and mankind," Dr. Lincoln answered with glowing red eyes. He pressed the button to make the saw buzz, "Surely you can understand."
"No, no, no! No! Please! Don't! NNNOOOOO!!!"
**End of Nightmare**
Lisa was so jarred awake that she fell out of her bed. Lisa quickly checked to make sure that her body was intact. Physically, she was fine but could still remember and feel everything. She couldn't get Lincoln's face out of her head. That satisfied smile as he cut open her temple to extract her brain. It didn't take long for the tears to stream down her face. Lisa wasn't one to usually show human emotion but felt she couldn't hold back her feelings anymore.
Lisa whimpered, "Oh, why did I let my passion for knowledge eclipse my passion for my family?"
The young brilliant girl silently wept in the dark room until she wiped her tears, "No. I refuse to wallow in self-pity. I may have wronged Lincoln and my family, but I intend to do something about it. Where's that rock that Lincoln mentioned? He said it was in a shoebox under his bed – a blue and green rock – if memory serves. Let's examine this stone, shall we?"
Lisa exited her room and was about to enter Lincoln's bedroom, but then she heard sobbing. At first, Lisa was confused by this as she slowly opened the door. There, she saw someone lying in Lincoln's bed hugging Bun-Bun close to her – the athlete of the family, Lynn Jr.
I skipped Lynn to save her for last. Her nightmare will come next.