**Lynn's Nightmare (Part 3)**
Lynn waited and waited in the dark, cold night with only the howling wind and the creaking sound of the swaying tree branches to fill in the silent void. She shivered as she tried to warm herself by rubbing her arms, but it did little good. Then she noticed thick fog formulating on the ground, and slowly, a pale light shined in the near distance. Lynn looked at the light to see a standing shadow shaped like a hooded man above the thick, cloudy floor fog. It was as if she was looking at the Grim Reaper without his scythe.
"Are you-are you the spirit that Blaine said could come?" Lynn asked.
The shadow nodded.
"Then you're the Ghost of the Future, aren't you?"
The shadow nodded again.
Lynn stood up and took a few steps toward him, "You're going to show me things that haven't happened but will happen, right? If that's true, then I don't understand. Lincoln already showed me and my sisters what would have happened. Are you just going to show me the other things he didn't, or what?"
The Ghost didn't answer her question. He merely stood menacingly as if flexing his arms and muscles. Lynn could see that the Ghost of the Future was not a skinny, cloaked creature but a man – a big, tall, strong man. The way he stood with his arms flexing and his fists clenching was the same way a man would murder someone with their bare hands. Under the hood, the Ghost opened his eyes, and there were two glaring daggers of white light. Lynn got a sudden cold rush of fear, driving goosebumps up her spine as she backed away. The feeling was worse than the feeling of standing on thin ice cracking or standing at a really tall height and you just looked down.
"You scare me more than anything I've seen," Lynn spoke.
The shadow Ghost said nothing but relaxed his arms and gestured as if saying, 'Don't be afraid.'
"I'll see whatever you want to show me. Are you going to say anything?" Lynn asked, but the Ghost remained silent, "Fine, lead on. Let's get this over with."
The Ghost raised an arm and pointed in a particular direction. Lynn walked in the direction that the shadow was pointing. As Lynn walked, she found herself in a dark fog but continued to press on. Then it started to clear, and she saw that it was the road in her neighborhood. As soon as she recognized it, she ran for home. When she arrived, she saw Lincoln with a megaphone asking to be let in, but her family refused. Lynn's blood boiled when she saw herself talk about the whole luck thing and when her family told Lincoln to step away from the house.
Lynn growled with steam coming out of her ears. She ran to the front door and pounded on it with her fists, yelling in a furious tone, "Hey! Open the door!! OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR AND LET HIM IN!!!"
Lynn pounded on the door more and tried to kick it, but it wouldn't budge. She hit the door so hard with her fists that they bled, and she yelled so hard her throat hurt.
"You maggots, open this goddamn door right now, or I'll kill you!! Do you hear me?! I'LL SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE AND BURN YOU OUT!!!"
Despite her efforts, it didn't matter. They could not hear her, for these were only visions. Illusions. Lynn turned around to see Lincoln walking away with his head down. His sorrowful face and the tears streaming down his face were like knives in Lynn's heart. She watched him walk all the way to Ronnie Anne's house. What followed was about what she expected. Lincoln told her and her family everything that happened. They called the cops and came to see Lincoln as he explained everything.
Lynn watched as the police arrived at her house. She was in awe of how she and her family acted like nothing had happened. They were planning a trip to the beach with smiles on their faces . . . and they just abandoned their son and brother. Lynn was so disgusted and ashamed that she felt like throwing up.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lynn spoke.
The police banged rang the doorbell, and Lynn Sr. answered it. Their smiles vanished.
"Lynn Loud Sr.?" the officer asked.
"Yes?"
"And are you Rita Loud?"
"I am," Rita answered.
"Are you the parents of one Lincoln Loud?"
"We are. What's this about?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, you're under arrest for child abandonment, neglect, and abuse," the officer said as he handcuffed them.
Everyone gasped as more officers walked in.
"Which one of you is Lynn Jr.?" a female officer questioned.
"I am," Lynn nervously answered.
"Turn around," she ordered and then handcuffed her, "Lynn Loud Jr., you're under arrest for threatening assault & battery with the intent of harm."
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, the court will assign one to you. Do you understand these rights I just read you?" another officer stated.
They nodded with a worried look on their faces.
Lynn approached her other self. She glared at the other Lynn and spoke in a tone of pure loathing with venom, "You're pathetic. You worthless, inhuman—" Lynn swung several punches, but it was like punching the air as her arms went right through, "—bastard! You goddamn neglectful bitch! You had a brother! You had the best brother in the whole stinking world! And you just threw him away! For a stupid game! For luck! You don't deserve him!!"
Then the Ghost of the Future appeared and pointed. Lynn followed while still catching her breath from yelling and wiped the sweat from her forehead. As she walked, she heard whispers of her family asking what have they done, what were they thinking, and comments of realizing the mistreatment of Lincoln . . . followed by remarks of Lynn and her stupid luck. When they got to the police station, the Loud family was shocked to see Lincoln with Ronnie Anne and her arm around his shoulder.
"Lincoln?! You called the cops on us?!" Lynn exclaimed.
"You made me do this," Lincoln replied.
They were all interrogated—what happened, what they all did, etc. Arrests were placed on the other elder Loud sisters. Then everything went dark, and Lynn saw a pale light shining from a doorway with the Ghost of the Future pointing toward it. Lynn walked through, and inside, she saw a courtroom.
Lincoln was with three lawyers sitting at one table. Then, walked in Lynn with her parents, and all three were wearing orange prison jumpsuits with chains around their waists and attached to their handcuffs. Like Lincoln's visions, the jury found them guilty of all charges. The other Loud sisters sat with the public along with Lincoln's friends, who glared sideways at the Louds.
"For Lynn Loud Sr. and Rita Loud, on the charges of child abandonment, how do you find the defendants?" the judge questioned.
"Guilty, your honor," the jury member said.
"On the charges of child neglect, how do you find the defendants?"
"Guilty."
"On the charges of child abuse, how do you find the defendants?"
"Guilty."
"For Lynn Loud Jr., on the charges of threatening assault & battery, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, I'm sentencing you both to life in prison without parole."
The parents were devastated. Their hearts sank, and they went pale. Their lives and freedom were over.
"Lynn Loud Jr., I'm sentencing you to five years in a juvenile hall without parole, and I am placing you on a permanent blacklist forbidding you from participating in any and all sports within the United States," the judge declared before hammering his mallet.
People breathed a sigh of relief mixed with satisfaction. As the guards came to take the parents away, Lynn desperately made her Lincoln to comfort him.
"Lincoln! Wait! Please, I just want to say I'm sorry!" Lynn pleaded.
Lincoln over his shoulder. The guards tried to restrain her, but she resisted.
"Let me tell him I'm sorry! I'll come quietly afterward, I swear!" Lynn stated.
The guards looked at each other momentarily and then released her to allow her request.
"Lincoln, please, you have to know that we're sorry for what we did! I'm sorry I didn't realize what I was doing to you. It was wrong, and I'm sorry, but please!" Lynn pleaded.
Lincoln at first showed a face of indifference, but as she went on, his expression slowly changed to anger. His parents stood by with a look of fear mixed with sorrow.
"Please don't do this, Lincoln. Please give us a chance," Rita pleaded with tears building up in her eyes.
"We're sorry, sport. Please drop the charges. Think of the family," Lynn Sr. begged with a broken voice.
"Do you realize what's happening?! You're locking away your family and tearing them apart! We already said we were sorry before! We know what we did was wrong! We see that now. We love you! Why can't you accept that we're sorry?!" Lynn demanded.
Lincoln's eyes were full of red-hot rage as he turned to her.
"I don't care that you're sorry! I don't care that you regret what you did! I don't care that you wish you could take it all back! I don't care that you realize how wrong you were! I don't care how much you want to make things right! I don't care that you love me!" Lincoln yelled.
Those last words shot through their hearts like a canon. They couldn't hold back the tears. It was worse for Lynn. Her lips trembled, she felt weak to the knees, and the tears streamed down her face.
"I don't care about any of that because I don't care about you! I don't care about any of you, and I never will! You guys were my family! I trusted you! I loved you! I believed you when you said that you would never hurt me! I believed you when you said you would never get rid of me, but that's exactly what you tried to do! Now, I don't want anything to do with you people ever again! I wish I never had a worthless sister like you to begin with! You're the worst sister of all and a horrible excuse for a human being! I wish you were never my family! I never want to see or hear from you, ever!" Lincoln roared as he delivered a hard punch to Lynn's face.
Lynn fell hard to the floor while still crying. She looked back at her brother with a hand hovering over her bruised cheek and bloody lip. Lincoln's lawyers held him back.
"I don't love you anymore! None of you! I hate you! I HOPE YOU ALL DIE!!" Lincoln yelled at the top of his lungs before he and his lawyers walked out.
The courtroom was silent, with the Loud family's sobs filling the quiet void. Current Lynn watched as the guards took her and her parents away. She was so emotionally devastated by Lincoln's harsh words that she fell to her knees. She hiccupped sobs and gasps. Her hands were trembling. The Ghost of the Future changed the environment to show her future self sitting in a cell across from her parents.
First, her father looked up with a broken expression and spoke grimly and hoarsely, "You're a disgrace, LJ. You've ruined this family."
Then her mother looked up with the same tired, broken expression mixed with dread and anger, "You were a mistake. I never should have had a sore loser like you."
The environment changed again, showing Lynn going into juvie. It was the same as prison but for kids. Uncomfortable lumpy bed, small toilet, sink, crappy food, etc.
"You know what I love about bad people like her?" an inmate asked her friends, "You can do whatever you want to them and not feel bad about them."
Present Lynn didn't care when she saw other inmates beat up Lynn. She was so emotionally wrecked that she lost Lincoln. Then, the Ghost of the Future pointed to a doorway with a light. Lynn forced herself on her feet and walked through it. The door led to a room with two big separate windows. One showed Lincoln, and the other showed Lynn and her family.
The window with Lynn showed her walking out of juvie with a nasty scar on her face and a bad limp on her leg that had a leg brace from an injury that never healed properly. Present Lynn watched her future self go from one crappy job to the next – never lasting long until someone finds out who she is. Eventually, she had nowhere to go.
Future Lynn, in dirty torn clothes, approaches Luna, who has tattoos all over her arms and a half-shaved haircut. Luna had a bottle of bourbon in her hand as she walked out of an ABC store.
"Luna," Lynn spoke.
Luna turned around and was surprised, "Lynn?"
"Hey, long time no see, huh?" Lynn asked with a gentle smile.
Luna frowned and glared, "Not long enough."
"Yeah, good to see you too, big sis."
"Fuck you."
Luna walked away and uncorked her bourbon to drink it.
Lynn chased after her and grabbed her shoulder, "Luna, wait!"
"No! I'm not listening to a goddamn word!" Luna barked.
"Luna, please! I'm begging you. I have nowhere to go. I'm down to my last few dollars. I just spent the last few nights under a bridge!" Lynn protested.
Luna chuckled, and that got Lynn's attention as she was baffled.
"Oh, you had it bad because you slept outside like a dog? How do you think Lincoln felt when you forced him out of the house?! News flash, by the way, everyone hated us so much that nobody would buy our old house. They thought it was cursed with too much hatred, so they burned it down! So, some of us had to sleep in Vanzilla. You wanna cry poormouth to me? Go to Hell!" Luna stated.
"Luna, please! I'm your sister! I'm homeless! I have nothing! I've lost everything! I need your help!" Lynn exclaimed.
"So did Lincoln!" Luna snapped.
Lynn flinched at that with her eyes wide open.
Luna had tears forming in her eyes, and her angry face turned to sorrow, "Lincoln needed us. We were his family. (sobs) We were supposed to protect and take care of him (sobs) But instead, we listened to you! You and your bullshit luck rituals. Now he hates us, and he's gone forever."
Lynn's heart broke down in pieces seeing Luna like this.
"Do you know what you've done? I am never going to see him again. I'll never be with my baby bro again. Never again will I hold him close and tell him how much I love him or play him music . . . or sing him lullabies like when he was a baby. I'll never hear his voice again or rustle his cute white hair. I never got to see him grow up. I never got to see him graduate. I never got to sing at his wedding. I have nieces and nephews I've never met and will never meet. (sobs) Because he hates me . . . because of you and your fucking bullshit. So, just go away, Lynn. Get the fuck out of my life . . . you already ruined it," Luna explained before walking away.
Future Lynn stood there, her eyes tearing up, lip quivering, and hands shaking. She covered her face with her hands as she wept. As for present Lynn, the aching of her broken was unbearable as she stood there panting in broken breaths. Then, she saw future Lynn succumb to drugs and alcohol to numb her pain and guilt. It was all downhill from there as it went from bad to worse.
The window with Lincoln showed him moving on. Graduating high school and college with honors, getting married, and having beautiful kids. Lynn's heart sank and felt cold as she saw how happy he was . . . without his family. He was so full of joy that he was glowing.
His children were beautiful. Some had his white hair and cute trophy ears. Lincoln smiled as he picked some of them up and swung them around playfully, making them laugh with cute belly laughs. Then she saw Lincoln sitting while looking at the sunset over the ocean. Lynn was able to get a good look at him in his adult state, all grown up. He really grew up into such a man. He grew broad shoulders, firm athletic muscles, and a neat, well-cropped beard that went perfectly with his hair that grew a little length. Lynn was amazed at how handsome he looked. He was sitting on a rock with a young son and daughter in his lap with his arms wrapped around them as they were napping peacefully on him. Lincoln looked down at his children with a warm smile as he gently rubbed their heads.
Lynn shook her head and asked, "Is his life really so much better without us?" Lynn turned to the Ghost of the Future, "Did I really make him that miserable?"
The shadowy ghost said nothing as Lynn looked back at Lincoln. Then the windows vanished.
"Wha-what?! No! Where'd he go?!" Lynn exclaimed.
The Ghost of the Future remained silent as the environment. Lynn found herself in thick, dense fog. She coughed as it was as thick as smoke. She wandered aimlessly forward until she bumped into something hard. Lynn looked down to see a tombstone. She gasped with fright. She looked around and saw more of them, realizing she was in a cemetery. The place was covered in a blanket of snow, which explained the freezing cold. Lynn looked back at the shadowy ghost, looking down at her with his hands on his hips.
"What am I doing here? What do I need to see?" Lynn asked.
The Ghost of the Future raised his arm and pointed as the fog cleared. Lynn followed the path that the shadow ghost pointed to. As she walked, her shoes crunched into the snow. Then she saw something in the distance. On top of a small hill with a lone tree and a miserable red sunset was a group of people. When Lynn got closer, she saw that it was her family, her sisters.
They were all so much older. Lori looked like she was in her mid-50s, her hair tied in a bun with the bangs out. She had a pair of glasses and looked almost like Rita. Leni was still thin but looked frail with her skinny arms and legs underneath her jeans and warm winter coat. Luna changed her half-shaved cut to an undercut and wore a purple winter coat with her boots. Luan had her hair cut short and wore a dark yellow fur coat. Lucy still wore black and gothic, but she looked different in her old age – more depressed. Lana had her hair in a long, braided ponytail while wearing a navy blue heavy coat. Lola didn't look like her twin because she looked like she gained weight. She looked pumped under her pink jacket. Even as an adult, Lisa still dwarfed compared to her older siblings, and her green coat looked small for her. Three Louds were not present – Lincoln, Lily, and Lynn.
They all looked miserable as they stood staring at two tombstones. Lynn walked around cautiously to see the names of the graves. She gasped; an unfriendly chill ran up her spine, and her eyes were wide open. The names were her parents' names – Rita and Lynn Sr. Lori sniffed a sob as she gently lay a small bouquet of flowers – one for each grave. Lynn Sr.'s deceased date was one year before Rita's.
Lori spoke with a hoarse, broken voice, "Mom, Dad . . . we're sorry. We're so sorry. We failed you. We (sobs) We did this to you, to us. We failed this family."
Leni, Luan, Lola, and Lucy couldn't hold back their tears. Lisa looked away in shame while Luna took a quick sip from her flask while holding back her tears.
Lori inhaled deeply as she wiped her nose and eyes, "Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad. We love you."
Lori stood, and after a long moment of silence, she turned to face her younger siblings.
"Guys . . . we're all we've got left in this whole world. We don't have anyone else. Why don't we stick together?" Lori requested.
At first, no one said anything. Leni broke the silence, "I'd totes like that, please. I don't want to be alone anymore."
"Me too," Luan added.
"Us too," the twins spoke.
"Life would be far less depressing if I had you guys," Lucy said.
"I conquer," Lisa added.
Everyone turned to Luna. She shrugged, "What the hell? I got nowhere else to go anyway."
As everyone walked away, Leni spoke, "Guys, wait. Shouldn't we visit her grave too? She's being buried today."
Luna growled, "I got nothing to say that . . . that freak."
"Luna," Leni scowled.
"No, Leni. She's right to be angry," Luan said.
"But guys—"
Lori put an arm around her shoulder, "There's too much sorrow for one day. Maybe we'll visit her in the future, but not today."
"Maybe not ever," Lola said.
"I sure as hell won't," Lana added.
Leni breathed a sad sigh as they all walked away.
Lynn turned to the shadowy ghost, "I didn't want this to happen. I never wanted any of this. Please . . . please tell me that all these events can change. Tell me I can do something about this."
However, before Lynn could ask who Leni was talking about, the most unexpected sound broke the dreadful quiet of the cemetery – laughter. Lynn turned around and saw in the distance two men by another grave. They were laughing as they were chatting to each other. Lynn approached them to hear them.
"In all my years of digging graves, I've never seen a funeral like this one," one man said.
"Yep. No mourners. No friends or family to bid her farewell," the other man said before dropping his cigarette down the hole.
"Of course, it makes sense though. You know who this is, right?"
He scoffed a laugh, "Yeah, I know. Everyone knows who this bitch is. Good riddance to this sore loser."
"I hear ya. I wouldn't spit on her if she were on fire. Did you know that if you google 'sore loser,' her name pops up?"
"Huh, how about that?"
"Yep. Go figure," the man said before checking his watch, "Let's grab dinner before we have to fill the hole. She ain't going anywhere. Her ticket's punched for the red hot place. Maybe the devil can teach what real winning is, am I right?"
They chuckled a laugh as they walked away. Meanwhile, Lynn stood nearby with the Ghost of the Future. She carefully got closer to the grave hole and looked down. Seeing how deep the dark hole was gave her goosebumps.
"Hey . . . whose grave is this?" Lynn asked.
The shadowy ghost pulled out a match from his pocket, struck it against the tombstone, and held the light close to the words. Lynn froze as her pupils shrank to little dots when she read the words and then gasped.
R.I.P.
LYNN LOUD JR.
The ghost pulled his hood off and then lit his cigar. Lynn's fear gripped her even harder when the Ghost of the Future's face was none other than her brother, Lincoln. However, he looked different. He was grown up. He was big and very strong. None of that intimidated her more than his bloodred glowing eyes.
After exhaling smoke, he answered with a devilish grin, "Why, yours, junior."
As he said those words, suddenly, there was a change in everything. The clouds were black, with bloodred light breaking through, casting a red shade on everything.
"The biggest—!"
Lincoln smacked Lynn by the back of her legs, causing her to fall into the grave hole.
"—sore loser in all of sportsmanship! And the winner of the cemetery's most unwanted dead!"
Lynn desperately grabbed onto a tree root and hung on for dear life. Lincoln stood over, looking down while laughing hysterically.
"Lincoln! Wha?! What are you doing?!" Lynn cried out.
Then, suddenly, she felt a heat wave coming from below. She looked down to see a coffin at the bottom of the hole. It creaked an ungodly sound as it slowly opened. As it did, smoke came out of it and bursts of flames. Once fully opened, violent flames and black smoke rose from the coffin. It was as if the bottom of the Earth cracked open and a small hope into Hell had been opened. Lynn could feel the flame's heat, and the smoke was already filling her lungs and stinging her eyes.
Lynn was petrified with fear as her heart rate skyrocketed in her chest, causing her to pant like no tomorrow. Then Lynn screamed in terror as she desperately tried to climb out, but it was useless. She was too weak due to the fear and fatigue. The more she pulled on the root to get out, the more the root was removed from the dirt.
"Lincoln! Lincoln! Please! Help me!" Lynn screamed.
Lincoln said nothing as he continued to laugh. With the smoke and the light of the flames coming from the grave hole, Lincoln looked like the devil at this point – especially with his laughter. Lynn frantically tried to climb out as she clawed at the dirt wall while pulling on the root.
"No! No! No! Please! Please! No!" Lynn cried.
Lincoln's laughter echoed down the grave hole.
"Please! I'll be better! I'll change! I'll change! I'LL CHANGE!!" Lynn screamed at the top of her lungs before the root gave out.
Lynn fell down the grave hole, screaming into the fiery pit. Words fall short of the agonizing pain that fire does to the human body.
**End of Nightmare**
Lynn fell to the floor of her bedroom, kicking and fighting. Then she was jarred awake. She quickly pulled the blanket off and scanned the room. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and in a horrible cold sweat. Her hands were trembling. She was so terrified that remembering where she was took her a while.
She was too exhausted to cry at that moment. Lynn forced herself on her feet and went to Lincoln's bedroom. The room was unchanged since the last encounter when she and Lola confronted Lincoln about the bus ticket. Pieces of a broken action figure lay on the carpet, along with drops of Lynn's blood. Lynn rubbed the side of her head over the bandage, remembering that. The wall had a sizeable crater in the shape of Lynn's back from when Lincoln grabbed her and threw her against the wall after smashing his toy on her head – the carpet underneath had a blood stain when her head slunk down. Lynn lifted her shirt and looked in the mirror to see the purple and blue bruise on her back. Even though Lynn was tough, it still ached with pain.
Lynn sat on the bed and stared at her hands, remembering that moment – the fear in his eyes, how he looked at her like she was a monster. Lynn held Bun-Bun and stared at the stuffed animal for a while before she hugged it close to her. She lay in Lincoln's bed and softly sobbed. All she wanted in that moment more than anything in the whole world was her brother Lincoln.
"Lincoln (sobs) Lincoln . . . I'm sorry. I love you (sobs) I love you so much, Lincoln," Lynn wept.