It was Halloween. Not just any Halloween, but one with a blood moon. Lucy Loud held Leni's hand as she led her down to the basement. Her older sister was wearing a blindfold.

"So, like, how does this game work again?" Leni asked

"I'll explain as we go along," Lucy replied. "Bear with me, it's a work in progress. I haven't quite figured out all the details yet. Just please do exactly as I tell you to."

"Whatever you say!" Leni said with a bright smile.

It made Lucy fell a tinge of guilt, but this needed to be done.

"Now stand right…here," Lucy instructed her blindfolded sister.

"Okay!"

"Now stay perfectly still while I recite an incanta—a magic spell."

"Ooh! You mean this game has a magic trick in it?"

"Yes. But it's a surprise. I need you to please keep the blindfold on until I tell you to take it off."

"Sure!"

Leni didn't see the demonic pentagram painted in red on the floor. Though she felt it heat up as it started to glow around her while Lucy recited the chant.

"Ooh! This feels tingly! Great trick!"

She even tried to singing along with the incantation, using whatever words she thought sounded close to the archaic language Lucy was reciting. Though a few minutes—

"Um, how much longer?" Leni asked as she fidgeted and squirmed. "It's getting really hot. It's even starting to hurt."

"We're almost done," Lucy told her, pausing her chant. "You're doing great. Just please hang in there a little longer." She resumed.

The basement was soon filled with a red light and made an unearthly sound.

"C-Can we please stop now?" Leni cried. "I just don't think I can take it an—"

The large knife plunged into her heart and she went limp before falling to the floor. The pentagram and it glyphs stopped glowing and roaring.
Lucy fell on her knees, breathing heavily and shaking as her heart pounded. She looked at the blood on her knife and hands. She crawled over to Leni and pulled the blindfold off. Leni's eyes were closed. She even looked peaceful. Lucy kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm sorry," she told her second oldest sister. "But thank you."

It had been easier than she could've ever hoped. It was almost perfect, even. Even knowing that Leni would be so easy to trick and lure to her doom. She sighed for real. Leni would be the easiest to sacrifice. The rest would take more effort and she'd have to be more careful. Now that one sibling was dead, there was no turning back. What little hesitancy she'd had at doing this was gone. She never truly liked her siblings aside from Lincoln and lately Luan anyway. Though that didn't mean she wanted them to suffer. In fact, she wanted to make it quick and painless as she could for as many of her siblings as she could. Like with Leni. Her stupidity had often annoyed Lucy to know end, but it was tempered by her boundless compassion. She deserved a merciful death. She never knew what was happening and had died instantly. With any luck it would be that way for the rest of them.

***

Lincoln marveled at the scene waiting for him in the basement.
"Wow, Lucy! You really went all out!"

"Thanks."

"Though some of it seems a little hardcore for you."

"Yeah, I think I might have gotten carried away."

Lincoln looked over at the bundle wrapped up in bag.

"I-Is that supposed to be a body?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. The pentagram and demonic symbols were nice, but it felt a little empty. So I had to put a dummy in a bag and tie it up. Though it was kind of a pain…"

"Nice touch," her white-haired brother said approvingly. He noticed something on the floor. "Is that some of your fake blood?"

"Yeah. I think it really brings it all together. Though could you check it out for me. I needed a second opinion."

"Okay," Lincoln told her with a frown. "But I think you're way too young for this kind of thing. I know you're into dark stuff, but I think this is a little TOO dark for an eight year-old. Though this a cool set up."

He leaned over and got down on his hands and knees to inspect the dark red liquid that stood out against the paint of the runes. He even put a finger in it.

"Wow, you really outdid yourself. It looks and even feels like the real—"

Symbols started to glow and thrum while Lucy said the incantation quietly.

"Whoa! Hey, how did you—"

He never got to finish the question as Lucy ran him through from behind. Like Leni, he died instantly to flop to the floor while Lucy chanted. When she stopped and the glyphs stopped glowing and thrumming. She paused to cry and pull Lincoln's eyes closed. She quickly wiped the tears away. She'd cry for him more later. Right now she had seven more sisters to kill in order to gain her desires. At least the emotionally hardest one was out of the way.

***

"I'm glad you came to me, Lucy!" Luan cheered. "If you're going wo pull a Halloween prank, I'm you're woman! Come to think of it, I usually don't do pranks on Halloween. I'm usually so busy preparing for April first it slips my mind. But Halloween is just as perfect for pranks as April Fool's! Looks like I've been making a GRAVE mistake all these years!" She laughed at her pun.

"Well I needed some help to make sure it has a GHOST of a chance," Lucy told her.

Luan laughed even louder. "Good one! That's getting into the SPIRIT of things!"

Luan's eyes brightened and her smile grew at the satanic scene in the basement. "OOOH! This should make a great trick! What, are you going to lure some people down here and scare them with some dark ritual?"

"Something like that."

"Oh hey! You even have some dead bodies in bags!"

"All the better to scare them, my dear."

Lucy stood in the middle of the pentagram and started to recite the words for it glow, heat up, and make that strange sound.

"Neat!" Luan declared. "How the DEVIL are you doing this? HAHAHAHA! Though seriously, just how—"

Lucy had meant to strike while Luan was enjoying her last laugh, but her timing was slightly off. At least the jokester was looking at the floor when the hammer slammed into her head. Lucy just hoped that whatever pain she felt was brief.
She quickly started covering the body. She was worried about running out of bags, sheets and especially rope. Having the bodies out in the open would ruin everything. And as more siblings disappeared, the rest would get more suspicious and paranoid. She had to work fast now. Their parents had gone to a costume party and would be back late. They'd even mentioned spending the night at their host, or at a hotel. Lucy hoped it was the latter. She tied the sack, she tried to think of other ways to get her sisters down to the basement as fast as possible. Some of them would be more trouble than others…

***

"Sweet set up, Luce!" Luna told younger sister as they entered the basement. "This will make an excellent music video. And I'm not even into deth metal!"

"Thanks I put a lot effort into getting it right."

"Though are the bodies necessary?"

"Yeah, that was going overboard. Though I'll keep them around for Halloween."

"Okay, that makes sense. Though make it quick, I've got a gig at a Halloween party."

"I just need you to help with the sound effects and speakers. First let me just do a run through."

"Sweet trick!" Luna exclaimed at what happened next. She closed her eyes to listen "Hmmm…seems to be working good to—"

***

"If you think some scribbles on the floor are going to convince me that the supernatural exists, you a sadly mistaken," Lisa told Lucy with a frown. "Let's move this along so I can get to going from door to door receiving candy for how I'm dressed, street name trick-or-treating."

Lucy smiled. She was actually going to enjoy this. Always butting heads over what was real what andwasn't, Lisa had always been a thorn in her side…

Whether through luck or fate, Lily was asleep. She'd just begun to stir from the glow and sound when Lucy plunged the knife into her. Again, Lucy shed some tears, and vowed to shed more when she was done. Though she took comfort that Lily's death had been the fastest and most painless.

***

Lucy looked at the clock. She was making good time. She thought might even be a little ahead of schedule. Four sisters left…but they'd be the hardest ones. Not only would it be a lot harder to lure them to the basement, but they were the ones with most fight in them. And was running out of time before someone would be missed. Ten children and teenagers missing would mean ten circles of friends that would be worried about them and looking for them. All of Royal Woods would be searching for them within a day. Lucy felt a twinge of guilt. The heartbreaking part would what this would do to Mom and Dad. But it was far too late to do anything about that now. She went into the room she shared with Lynn.

"Lynn, could you could you please come with me to the basement? I have something to show you."

"Nope, sorry. Me and my girls got big plans for the night."

"It'll only take a few minutes."

"Not in the mood for any goth stuff this time. Besides, I need to be getting into my costume."

"Sigh. Then I guess I have no choice…"

Lucy had been trying to avoid doing something like this all evening, but had felt like it would happen sooner or later. She pulled out a length of rope as she lunged at Lynn. It was no secret that Lynn was a formidable fighter, but she still had her guard down. And Lucy been practicing how tie knots and loop rope as fast as she could just for this night. Lynn's wrists were quickly tied, a thick cloth used the gag her, a strap was secured around her ankles, and another cloth was used the blindfold her. Lucy caught her breath as she watched her least oldest sister struggle.

"Hey!" Lori's voice called from down the hall. "Where is everybody?!"

Lynn cried out through her gag. Lucy scooped her up and put her in her coffin while Lola replied Lori's question.

"I'm getting ready for trick or treating while Lana's outside. I don't know where everyone else got off to."

"Well, I need Leni. She was literally supposed to help me get ready. I was going to get Lincoln, but I can't find him either."

"I'll help," Lucy told her oldest sister as she closed their door to muffle the knocking coming from her coffin.

"Why ar—fine, I don't have time to wait."

Neither did Lucy. This was the part of her plan she'd been most fearful of. It was hard to kill a house full of people without the rest noticing sooner or later. Besides, it was almost time for them to leave for Halloween events.

"Could you literally help me with my hair?" Lori asked, sitting in front of their mirror. "Bobby will be here in half an hour I need to get made up and into my costume. Ugh, Leni's so going to get it. She KNEW how important this was to me. And she's usually so dependable at this. In fact, it's literally the only thing I can depend on her fo—HEY!"

Lori was easier to restrain than Lynn was. She didn't even start reacting until the blindfold was over her eyes. As she struggled and "mmph!"ed, her phone buzzed. It was a text from Bobby checking on her. Lucy texted him back.

"I'll be late. Sister trouble (as usual). Nothing I can't handle. Meet you there later. Luv u, Boo-Boo Bear."

He fell for it. That bought Lucy more time. She used it to run into the twin's room and tie up Lola. There was no longer time for talk or trying to be sneaky. Though Lola put a good struggle for a six-year-old. Lucy hadn't even finished securing her when Lana came. While Lucy was tying her, Lola was able to flee the room, screaming through her gag. Fueled by terror, the little blonde led Lucy on quite a chase through the downstairs area until she tried to get out through the dog door in the kitchen. Lucy was scared she'd get away since she was small enough to get through. Instead she got stuck. Lucy grabbed her little sister by her kicking legs and pulled her in. She just hoped no one had heard the muffled screams and cries for help. She tied Lola's legs, blindfolded her, and carried her to the basment. She went back upstairs to blindfold and fetch Lana, then Lori and Lynn.

"Sigh," she told them. "I'm very sorry about this. I'd hoped to do this the easy way like I did with our other siblings, but I'm afraid you left me no choice."

She sacrificed Lori first. It was a different experience killing a struggling, noisy victim over someone unconscious or didn't know what hit them. At least being blindfolded spared her the sight of Lucy raising her knife, or seeing the growing number of bodies around her. Plus, it only took one good hard stab to finish her. Lana wormlike wriggling made using the knife too hard, and Lucy had to use the hammer.

Unfortunately, Lola's blindfold came off amid her struggles. Her eyes widened and her face lost all its color at the grisly scene before her. She also wet herself. She flinched and closed her eyes as Lucy cradled her cheek.

"I'm sorry your last sight had to be this. That's what the blindfold was for. I suggest keeping your eyes closed for what's next. It'll all be over soon."

Lola's sobs mixed with Lucy's chant until the knife went into her heart. Lucy turned to her last sister. Lynn also managed to get her blindfold off. She glared at Lucy in hatred even as tears streamed down her face. She tried to kick and headbutt Lucy as she was put into the pentagram. Lucy had a feeling she didn't want to know the word's her sister say through her gag. As Lucy chanted and the runes glowed and hummed, Lynn flopped around like a fish. Just before Lucy bought the knife down, Lynn managed to get free of the rope on her wrists. One hand swatted Lucy's arms away while the other removed her gag.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" she shrieked as she tried to stand and hit Lucy. "WE LOVED YOU! YOU PSYCHO BITCH, I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL Y—"

The knife plunged into her stomach.

"No," Lucy told her. "It's the other way around."

She stabbed Lynn two more times, then slit her throat. She wanted to make sure she finished her off. Lynn fell to the floor, a puddle of blood coming from that made a bigger mess than any of the other.

The deed done, Lucy fell to the knees as tears streamed down her face.

"Well done…" a deep, echoing voice whispered.

Lucy looked up to see a shadowy figure in the pentagram. It was an indistinct shape with eyes like balls of red light.

"It has been so long since I've had such a great harvest…"

Lucy glared at it through her tears. "I…I gave you everything I love. From now on my life had better be absolutely perfect."

The figure was clear enough she could see it nod. "But of course. Here, let me give small taste of what's to come…"

The basement started was filled with a blinding red light. When it cleared, Lucy saw that she wasn't in the basement. In fact, she wasn't even in her house. It was her friend Haiku's. Her Halloween party. Lucy had meant to come here as soon as she could for an alibi. Instead she'd been transported here instantly…

"Hey, Lucy!" Haiku called to her. "Come on, it's almost time for our séance."

"Huh—yes, of course."

"And don't forget the poetry reading. Everyone's really looking forward to hearing you."

"Um…I seem have forgotten my poetry book."

Haiku gave her a confused look. "What are you taking about? It's in the living room with everyone else's writings. You put it there when you first got here."

"Yes, of course. How silly of me."

The party went over extremely well. Everyone loved Lucy's poems, and loved her. As she made her way home, she felt a great sense of satisfaction. The first thing she did when she got home was get a shovel from the garage and head to the basement. It was completely empty. No bodies, no pentagram, no blood. At least that saved her some work. As she went upstairs the phone rang. It was Bobby.

"Hey, Lucy? Have you seen Lori? She didn't show up at the Halloween party. She texted me that she was running late, but she never showed up, and she hasn't responded to my calls or texts."

"That's strange. She left as soon as she could. In fact, she left in kind of a huff. I thought she'd make it there at least for some of the party."

"Well, let me know if you hear from her, okay?"

"Sure."

As soon as Lucy hung up, the phone rang again. It was Clyde.

"Lucy, where's Lincoln?! He never came to go trick or treating with me and I'm getting worried."

"You mean he never made it?"

And so it went. The friends of her siblings called looking for them, and she feigned ignorance and innocence. The worst part was when her parents called, on their way from their party and she had to break the news to them.

In the following days, the news that ten of the Loud siblings had vanished without a trace swept Royal Woods. There were no leads, no clues. Lucy played the role of a grieving, confused sister well. She had everyone's sympathy and love. She secretly relished being the center of attention. With one child left, Lynn Loud Sr. and Rita doted on her, giving her everything she asked for or even hinted at. She in turn comforted and consoled them, as well as cried with them. It was a good way to help trough her guilt. She was able to so whatever she wanted without any competition or distractions. She relished it too. All these years of dreaming of being an only child…and the dream had come true! Not that she'd let anyone know that.

There were drawbacks, of course. Mainly seeing what the disappearance of her siblings did to her friends and family. She couldn't help but feel remorse at the sadness and hopelessness they felt. She felt even worse for the ones who foolishly thought they'd be found someday.

There was also another problem in the form of Lincoln's friend Ronnie Anne. She was always glowering and glaring at her. One day she confronted her.

"Must be nice," she said with a frown. "Going from having ten siblings to be being an only child."

"I'd rather have them all back," Lucy replied in a miserable voice.

"I get the feeling they never will. But you already know that, don't you?"

Lucy hesitated. How could this brute of a tomboy know?

"I don't know what you did, or how," Ronnie Anne continued, "but I know you did something. Everyone disappears but you? That can't be coincidence or luck. Besides, you've had it too good since then."

"Look," Lucy told her, "I'm sorry about Lincoln, and I hate what this has done to Bobby, but I can assure you I know nothing. Do you really think I would do something horrible to all my siblings?"

Ronnie Anne shrugged. "From what Lincoln told me, maybe."

Lucy didn't know whether to call for help or try to kill the Hispanic girl. She wouldn't lose any
sleep over her at all. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I can't prove anything, and no would believe me. They'd probably give me grief for even suspecting you. But I'm going to try to find out, and check on you every chance I get to see if you slip up."

Lucy keep her sad expression, but fought back a smile. Poor, simple Ronnie Anne. She had no idea the dark powers on Lucy's side…

"If that will make you feel better. But you won't find anything. I am innocent, and miss Lincoln and my sisters dearly."

Ronnie Anne just frowned at her before turning away.

Nothing ever came of it. The next thing Lucy knew, a year had gone by. And then another. And another.

During that time, she stepped up her efforts to get her writings out there by submitting them to different magazines, websites, publishers, and writing contests. She won first prize in every contest, and soon various magazines, websites, and publishers were coming to her. She became very popular—and profitable—for someone her age.

In the year she turned 13, her parents were killed in a car crash. She'd long had a feeling the fairly unreliable Vanzilla would be the death of them. To ensure that she had complete freedom, she had herself emancipated so she would require no guardian. Not only did she have a decent sum from her writings, but her parents left her everything they had. Not mention the insurance money. It kept her going as until her poems were gathered into a book, which became a best seller. She later wrote her first novel, which also became a best seller.

"Must be great," Ronnie Anne told her one day, "having everything go your way when anyone else's life would be falling apart."

Lucy shook her head. Ronnie Anne had become her stalker, but she didn't mind. For all she knew, something unfortunate would happen to Lincoln's girlfriend if she got too close.

"I told you all those years ago I didn't want it like…this. All this success is meaningless without my family. The only reason I don't kill myself is because I know they'd want me to carry on. And writing is the only thing that even comes close to filling the void in my soul."

Ronnie Anne gave a dismissive snort. "I'll bet," she said before turning to stomp away.

She would continue to be a pest, but no threat to Lucy. Lucy went on to write numerous books. Mostly horror, with some mysteries, and a few kids' books. She even wrote some issues of horror comics, dedicating them the Lincoln.

She and Rocky grew closer as they grew up, and as soon as they could they were married. They moved into a nice gothic house, and every Halloween they went all out. People would come from all over the country to see it. They even went so far as the turn it into a scare house that became very popular.

Meanwhile, some of Lucy's books were adapted to screen with some hit movies—including a few that broke box office records—and some TV episodes. She even wrote some screenplays herself and got awards for them. Everything she did, she greatly succeeded at. All the while with a handsome, devoted husband by her side.

***

"So tell us," the talk show hostess asked her. "What's it like being one of the most successful women in the world?"

"Nice," Lucy replied. "I never would've imagined my life would turn out this way. I mean, I'd fantasize sometimes, but I never thought it would happen or that it would be this good."

"I'll bet! Though, um, if you don't mind my asking…"

"Do I ever think about my brother and sisters? Or that their disappearance is the one dark spot in a shining life?"

The hostess nodded. "You put that better than I could."

"Of course I think of them. Especially on Halloween, the day they all disappeared. Today is twenty years."

The audience made sad noises.

"What do you think could've happen?" the hostess asked. "The authorities and volunteers did everything humanly possible and not a single lead for even one of them."

Humanly possible meant nothing. "To be honest…something got them. A dark force beyond human understanding or reason. It was All Hallows Eve after all. What's more, it was a blood moon, meaning the dark forces were even more active. Whether they were claimed all at once, or taken one by one, I'll never know." She wiped a tear from her face. "It was only because my party started first that I was spared. Sometimes I wish I'd been there to help, or that it could've taken me as well."

Now there was sniffling among the crowd.

"But know they'd want me to carry on and be happy. I even wrote a poem to commemorate the occasion."

The studio became silent as she got out the poem. She took a breathe, then started.

Lori, Leni, Luan, Luna, Lisa,
Lynn, Lola, Lana, Lillie and Lincoln.
Always by my side, then one day you were all gone.
What happened to you I may never know
yet know I will always miss you so.
Without you all by my side, twenty years have gone in the blink of an eye.
I have all this fortune and all this fame,
but without you it's not the same.
I seek comfort from parents, then friends, and now husband,
though this pain will never truly end.
Yet I have to go on as the last of our brood, for it's what all of you would want me to do
As I go through the years, I feel your unseen smiles and mute cheers
Though you have forever gone away, deep in my heart you've always stayed

Lucy felt like it wasn't her best work. In fact, she thought it was saccharine and sappy. But the audience loved it, most cheering and some crying. She had to contain herself as she smiled. Fools.
It was later that night she returned to childhood home, feeling wistful. No one has lived there since they'd moved. Her parents couldn't bear to live there without the rest of their children. Lucy had loved the new house they'd moved into, if just because being an only child meant to much more room and that their new house wasn't falling apart. The old one was even more run down and dilapidated than before. Clearly no one wanted to live where ten children had vanished without a trace never to be seen or found. It almost DID look like it could be haunted. It made her like it
more than she used to.

She approached the door. Out of curiosity, she turned the knob. Unlocked. Strange. Her curiosity piqued, she went inside using the light on her phone. The old place was surprisingly good shape save for a fine layer of dust. It was like time had stood still for house after the remaining Louds had left. While looking around, she saw that the basement door open. As she went downstairs, she heard chanting. There was also light from candles and a strange smell. She arrived to find a figure knelt in what looked like prayer. A large white "triquetra" symbol was on the floor where a red pentagram had been. Though instead of paint it appeared to be…salt. In fact, salt on top of chalk. Around it was incense and scented candles.

"Who are you," Lucy asked as her frown grew, "and what are you doing?"

The figure turned to her. It was—

"Ronnie Anne?"

She'd grown and changed, but it was definitely her. Especially her smirk.

"Ah! My prayer is working already! I was hoping you'd be here for this."

"What are you doing?" Lucy repeated.

"My grandmother was into the supernatural just as much you. But it was the opposite of what you were into. Good magic. I've spent years learning everything I could about from her, then from other sources all for this night."

Lucy held back a chuckle. "Oh, Ronnie Anne. What are you going to do? Turn back time? Bring my siblings back? What's done is done and nothing we can do will change that."

Ronnie Anne continued to smile. "Not change, but make things right."

She resumed her prayer. Lucy watched in amusement. This kind of so-called "magic" was amateurs and posers who sought power through light instead of the darkness. This wasn't magic, just superstition.

She quickly changed her view as the triquetra started to sparkle and shine with a white light and made a chiming sound. The smell of the incense seemed to grow strong. No. It couldn't be! Lucy kept her composure as she approached Ronnie Anne from behind. Before she could strike, the smell of the incense and candles hit her nostrils to suddenly overwhelm her sinuses. She fell back, choking. Was it merely their scent, or what there indeed something at work?

Lucy saw something appear on the floor. Something taking shape and color. Her eyes widened as she saw the pentagram repaint itself on the under the triquetra. If this was how it was to be, then she'd fight fire with fire.

She still remembered the dark incantation from that night. She'd spent weeks practicing and had used it to full effect ten times in one night. The strange words came out of her mouth like it was yesterday.

The two symbols light up at once, filling the basement with a red and white light while the chiming and thrumming mixed in an usual sound. The next thing Lucy knew, bolts of energy went from one symbol to another like small red or white lightning. There was a scream. Lucy recognized the voice of the shadowy figure from that night, howling in pain. It appeared in a flash glowering at Ronnie Anne as she continued her prayer.

"YOU BLACK HEARTED BITCH! YOU DARE—AAUUUGGHHH!"

There was an explosion of light and Lucy, Ronnie Anne, and all the objects were thrown across the basement. The first thing Lucy did was pick up a candle that was still lit and look at the floor. Both symbols were gone as if they'd never been there. All that was left was some smoke.
Rage filling her, Lucy turned to Ronnie Anne, who was still on the floor.

"What did you do?" she asked with a slow growl.

Ronnie Anne smiled as she laughed. "With any luck, made things right. I expect you'll be in for some harsh times soon."

Lucy looked around the basement. She saw a hammer—maybe the same one she'd used that night—and grabbed it. She stood over the fallen, laughing Ronnie Anne and pulled her arm back. A hand grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"No you don't," said an eerily familiar voice.

Dread filling her, Lucy turned around, then screamed.

It was Lincoln. His skin was dry and discolored, his hair was dry and limp, his clothes were ragged and dirty, and his eyes were sunken, blank, and glowing. On his orange shirt was a dark stain where blood had been.

Lucy ran up stairs as he grabbed at her. At the top of the steps was Leni, in the same condition Lincoln was. Lucy dodged her as she grabbed at her. She ran to the door and opened it to be confronted by a zombie Lori. She slammed the door closed and ran to the kitchen, only to be blocked by the twins. As she ran toward the stairs something grabbed her leg and she fell. She looked down to see a bloody Lily holding her leg. The undead baby looked up at her older sister and giggled. Lucy screamed and kicked her off.

Lucy ran up the stairs to see Lisa, Luna and Lori coming out of their rooms, and Luan the bathroom door. Lucy ducked into her old room and looked the door. As she looked for something block it, something crawled out from under one of the beds. It was Lynn, holding a hand over her throat and smiling wickedly.

"Welcome home, sis…"

Lucy was about to jump out the window when the door burst apart, and several rotting hands grabbed her.

"Come on, Lucy," Lori told her. "It's literally time to face what you did."

"You've had your fun," Luan said, "now there's HELL to pay! Hahahaha!"

"It's the last night of your life!" Luna declared.

"Do we have to?" Leni asked. "It was really nice of her to kill us quickly. I barely felt a thing!"

"I suppose it was fairly considerate of her to give us instantaneous deaths we didn't know were coming," Lisa said with some agreement.

"Speak for yourself!" Lana said in annoyance.

"She literally made our last moments our worst!" Lori said.

"She even ruined my dress!" Lola said, gesturing to the dried urine stain.

"She enjoyed killing me," Lynn said with an angry frown, as she removed her hand to reveal the
slash on her throat.

"I didn't enjoy any of it!" Lucy said defensively.

"Then you shouldn't have done it," Lincoln told her. "Your life has been one big success story since while out lives stopped. Now you're coming with us."

"We can be family again!" Leni cheered.

"NO, PLEASE!" Lucy screamed. "I'M SORRY!"

"TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE!" they replied in unison

Thrashing and screaming, Lucy was held by sixteen hands with Lynn carrying Lily in her free hand.

"Thanks, Ronnie," Lincoln called Ronnie Anne as they went back into the basement.

She just nodded with a smile.

They went into the basement. Several of them let go of Lucy to tear out the floor to make a large hole. Lucy was thrown into it. Before she could make a move, Lana and Lola jumped in to land on top of her. The rest of their siblings went to pile on top of her. Even as she struggled to get some off, the weight of the others kept her from barely moving. The last ones end pulled part of the floor back in place to bury them.

"HEEELLPP MEEEE!" Lucy screamed at the top of her voice with what strength she had left.

"Nice wailin', sis!" Luna told her. "But there are no listeners."

"You made your grave, now lie in it!" Luan told her before laughing. A laugh meaner than usual.

"It's literally been twenty years," Lori said. "With our deaths avenged, we can finally get some rest."

"We better…" Lola said.

A cold hand cradled Lucy's face. "And this way we can all be together," Leni told her sweetly. "Forever…"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

***

It would be a media sensation. Famous author Lucy Loud, vanished without a trace 20 years ago on the day her sisters and brother did, on a Halloween with a blood moon. It would cause speculation for decades to come.

No one would ever know what happened. The Loud house would always remain empty. It would fall apart, but remain standing. As Royal Woods changed, it would remain the same. Everyone was too scared to live in it, and accidents would befall anyone who tried to remove it from the neighborhood. Sometimes, kids who went in one a dare would say they heard a woman screaming and crying coming from the basement…