The Loud House- Brittle Black Hearts

Lucy loud had grown quite accustomed to the feeling of loneliness and never expected it to leave her side. She was always the one who moved to the back when with a group of people in a narrow hallway. She was always the quiet girl that everyone made their theories about in regards to her life. She was always forgotten.

" I hear she's part of this satanic cult that sacrifices animals. Kinda creepy since the loud family has so many pets.

"I bet she keeps a gun in her bag. People like her always turn out to be psychopaths. "

Lucy sighed at the usual diatribes disguised as whispers. Those types of comments were commonplace and did nothing to sour her already pessimistic mood. Wasn't that type of behavior contradictory in the first place? If you truly believe someone is some evil homicidal maniac, why go the extra mile and make fun of them? That's what people who actually have self-awareness call digging your own grave. Not that Lucy would give them the satisfaction of making their stupid assumptions ring true.

The worst aspect of the school was Krystal Summers. She was closest thing royal family woods elementary school had to a queen bee and she made her status well known. Anyone that didn't fit squarely within the realm of normalcy became an outcast. Lucy would never forget that day in English class when she was writing in her journal and she accidentally dropped it to the floor. She  grabbed for it but Krystal room it first.

" What's this?" She skimmed through the pages and her mouth hung in disgust.

" Oh, sick! This bitch is demented!" She held the book open so people at her table could see. There were drawings of skeletons and creatures of demonic origin. These were accompanied by a drawing of a woman wearing a white dress and veil, barbed wire wrapped around her head.

" Lucy loud is crazy! That's why she never talks. She mentally retarded or something."

While she could handle the sting of individual comments, hearing them build up in one day felt like her soul was stabbed. She was always resented for being a goth. Lucy was grateful for having fellow goths who accepted her but the average populace of royal woods had zero tolerance for her kind. Preppy girly girls like Lori and Leni and macho jocks like Lynn were what was acceptable. There was no room for miserable girls robed in black who wallowed in their despair.

It's not like she wore anything too extravagant in the first place. Her basic attire consisted of a modest black blouse to compliment her (naturally) black hair and contrast her pale skin. She would've loved to be one of the girls who wore thigh-high spiky boots with skull patterned stockings and give off the presence of death itself but she knew her place. The stares and insults were more than enough as they were.

What truly hurt was when her own family was the source of pain. She heard the way they talked when they thought she wasn't there. She wasn't absent; her presence just wasn't registered she walked by her parent's bedroom and heard something that shook her.

" I'm seriously worried about our Lucy. I know it's an invasion of privacy but I've seen what she looks at on the computer and it's just so..."

"Disturbing?Morbid? Gruesome?" Lynn Sr finished for his wife.

Rita nodded. " Almost everything she searched up is related to death and gore. No one her age has any business looking at that filth. I'm going to schedule an appointment with dr Lopez. Lord knows how much this family needs a therapist."

Lucy quickly walked off to the attic before she heard her dad respond. His affirmation would only escalate her depression. She hid behind a stack of boxes and let her repressed tears flow. Contrary to what others thought, Lucy did indeed cry. She just only did it when completely alone.

On days like this when the weight of these harsh words was too much to bear, she fled to the attic where solitude accompanied her. She could cry freely and write in her diary to vent off. She couldn't always be the stoic goth completely jaded towards the world. Sometimes she acted her age and was emotional. Her heart bled like anyone else.

All her suppressed sadness burst out like a flood. Lucy's mind was now clouded with an augmented version of the self-loathing she usually felt. Cursed to never be good enough. Always shamed for being different. For all the contempt Lucy attracted, her morbidness was her only defining feature in her eyes. Without it, she'd just be a girl who existed solely in the background. An actor with no name.

" I've had enough of this. Enough of this constant ridicule. Enough of this self-hatred! I'm going to show everyone exactly what it feels like to be an unwanted outcast. Maybe then they'll learn of that taboo word called empathy." Lucy talked to herself with words dripped in venom.

She scanned the room for her Target and eventually found it underneath a pile of boxes.

" Tome for the blackened hearts"

It was this grimoire that brought her the comfort her soul craved. She'd wash away painful feelings by chanting familiar spells. It gave her a purpose, something she was good at. This time she'd chant a spell she never thought would touch her lips. It was a spell that could only be evoked by someone with rage as Scarlet as hell itself.

Lucy chanted word that seemed to be some weird mesh between latin and German.

The words came out in a cathartic release. There wasn't any grandiose black aura surrounding her but she felt a spiritual presence. She walked down the room and picked up a piece of dialogue from Lori.

" I totes can't believe this! Bobby isn't replying to my texts and all my friends are literally offline ."

" Yeah. My friendlist is completely blank."

"Leni, your phone isn't even turned on"

" Oohhh." She takes a minute to turn her phone on. " Wow, I have way more friends than you do!"

It sounded like normal Lori and Leni drama. Probably had nothing to do with the curse, Lucy thought to herself. Lucy entered her room and immediately hit the bed. She needed a good rest to ease the pain. She woke up the following morning feeling like a giant weight had been lifted from her Shoulders. She hadn't felt so refreshed in all her life. She entered the hallway and noticed how it was unusually quiet. No arguing between siblings and no long line for the bathroom. Admittedly, it was a Saturday morning which was slow-paced, but it was still a weird sight.

" Nice to finally get some peace and quiet around here." She had expressed gratitude but was honestly a bit scared. It was like the house was completely empty, not a soul within it. She wouldn't call it a superpower but Lucy could somewhat sense of the presence of others around her. She knocked on Lincoln's door but found that it was slightly ajar so the door opened all the way. She gasped when she saw the room completely bare. No comics. No TV. No trace of Lincoln loud was there.

Lucy went from room to room, opening doors only to find complete nothingness.

" Luan, if this is your idea of a joke it's not funny! Can everyone please come out?" She felt herself hyperventilating when she was met with no response.

" Oh, I wouldn't worry about them for the moment. This house is only for me and you right now " A voice like to gravel spoke in her head. She parted her bangs and checked her surroundings and came face to face with the tallest man she ever saw. He was cloaked in black robes and had a spiffy top hat, resembling a character from the Victorian tv shows she often watched. His face was an Ashen grey and a Ruby red jewel was carved in his forehead. The man apparently had no eyes as they were completely bathed in darkness.

" Who... Who the heck are you!?"

" Who am I? I'm someone you should know quite well. I'm there whenever you feel the pangs of loneliness stab at your heart. I'm present whenever the cruel words of your peers torment you. You may call me Calypso; your personal oneiric."

Lucy simply stared at the figure with widened eyes.

" I can tell you're confused. Onerics are beings created from the subconscious thoughts of their owners. I was born from your repressed anger. It's unpleasant to keep such emotions bottled up. You have to release them and express yourself. O have a tool that will do just the trick "

He snapped his fingers and a tiny doll puffed into existence. It looked like it was made of white clay and had a black cross motif all around the body. It also had a Ruby engraved in its head like calypso.

" Isn't this just a voodoo doll?"

" Close but no cigar. It doesn't Operate on the rules of equivalent exchange like the voodoo religion. It's much simpler than that. The next time someone angers you, clench onto my doll and focus on that rage. That's all for now."

He snapped his fingers and Lucy immediately sprung up in her bed .she could hear the annoying sound of Lynn snoring and Lori chatting with Bobby down the hall on her phone. She almost brushed the entire event as a dream until she was the doll standing by her side. Lucy had a hundred questions that needed to be answered but for now, she took a shower and headed off to school. It turned out that today was a Friday rather than a Saturday.

Everything had been going well until she bumped into Krystal.

" Watch where you're going, you psycho freak. Maybe you'd see better if you didn't always hide behind those ugly black bangs "

Krystal and the kids around her busted out laughing like she told the funniest joke in the world. Lucy's pale face was now deeply blushing as she was the center of attention. She tried walking away but Krystal stood in her path.

" Get out of my way. I don't want any trouble." She said monotone.

Krystal snorted. " Oh please, you know that's a lie. You should just admit how you're some psychopath plotting to kill all of us. Normal people don't draw the things you do. They don't write all of that fucked up shit. You need help."

Lucy fought back the strong urge to cry and instead dug in her bag for her doll. She remembered calypso's instructions and held the doll as tightly as she could. She hadn't cared that she only drawing even more attention to her self. The girls snickered amongst themselves.

" Aren't you too old to be playing with dolls?" One of them asked in a mocking tone. She ignored him and continued to clench tightly. She offered a silent prayer to the doll and slowly a red miasmic aura had encased it. The others hadn't noticed the aura and continued their Snickering until the miasma had swallowed them whole. Their screams of agony filled the hallways and their bodies bent in unnatural shapes.

Lucy was on her way to having a panic attack and had to get away immediately. She ran down the hall and to the nearest bathroom to collect herself. She vomited in the sink and was washing her mouth out when she caught a glimpse of calypso in the mirror. Her head jerked around and saw the oneiric being towering over her, his Ruby shining radiantly.

" I hope the doll has serviced you well, dear Lucy ."

" You tricked me! I never wanted that to happen! I thought they would have bad luck and go through some karma. I never wanted them to suffer like that."

" Oh but you do. Everything I do Is related to your inner desires. Even the doll is connected to you. You've always wished for those girls to die. You just never had the fall to admit it." Lucy felt a shiver run over her whole body. Could calypso be telling the truth about her murderous intent?

" I... No. That wasn't fair. Krystal and her friends were cruel people but they didn't deserve to die ."

" Do you know for sure that they're dead or are you jumping to conclusions? Even if they are to be killed, it would be karma. Your emotional pain has been converted to physical power. Now others can feel just as hurt as you do. I gave you a precious gift and it would do you well to use it ."

Lucy thought back on all the times she felt powerless in the world around her. How people would always treat her as an afterthought and seemed so much better off without her. How many times had those people got off scot-free? It was about time they met their karma. Look out, Loud family. You're next on the list.