Ghost of a Smile

The Quiet Loud

Lori Loud was used to being the one in charge, in control, the one that had to take the lead when her siblings couldn't do something, but now she had to talk to Lucy.

She had never been very good at talking to Lucy. Out of everyone in the house her and Lucy probably had the least in common. Lori was known to raise her voice over the slightest thing, but Lucy rarely spoke above a whisper (or a sigh in her case). Lori enjoyed gossip and Lucy enjoyed quietly reading poetry. Lori was always popular, everyone loved her, but Lucy was shy and spooky which made her extremely unpopular, everyone was afraid of her, even her own family would jump and scream when she spoke even though she was standing right beside them.

Lori didn't know how to relate to Lucy so talking to her wasn't easy. Of course she loved her little sister, she loves all her siblings, but being able to communicate that love wasn't always easy. Lucy and Lisa were the hardest to relate to because of Lucy's overall aesthetic and Lisa's infinite knowledge of things Lori doesn't understand or care about. But Lisa was louder than Lucy and still needed her big sister so even if she couldn't comprehend half of Lisa's experiments she still helped whenever she was asked and made sure Lisa was being safe so she wouldn't get hurt if something went wrong and blew up.

However, Lucy wasn't just the quietest Loud, she was also the most independent. When she was eight she still asked for help, but after she hit double digits she didn't seem to need her siblings for anything, or so they thought, because Lucy always kept to herself and didn't ask for help.

They weren't trying to ignore her. They were busy with their own lives and they thought Lucy didn't need them anymore. They didn't know she was being bullied, they didn't know she got into a bad relationship, they didn't know she starting skipping classes, and they didn't know she was hurting herself. Lynn found out, but it's not something that rolls off the tongue with ease so no one blames her for not saying anything about it. But now Lori has to be the one to talk to her about it because all her younger siblings begged her too and she can't say no when it's something important that upsets her sisters or her little brother. That's just part of being the oldest child.

Lori looked over at her siblings who were practically in tears then she took a deep breath to calm herself and knocked on the door.

"Lucy, I need to talk to you." She wanted to approach the subject gently, but her stern older sister voice was coming out with her nerves making it sound like Lucy was in trouble which she wasn't.

"As do I. Enter." Lucy said as she creaked the door open to allow her eldest sister into her room.

Lori walked into the room and went to sit on Lynn's bed since Lucy's coffin was up on hers.

"Lucy, we never meant to ignore you. You were the one who shut us out. Why didn't you just tell us that you were being bullied?"

"I saw no reason too." Lucy stated. "I tried to tell Lynn and she agreed with them so I figured telling any of you would have the same results, without being pushed out of window, you would just agree that I am a freak."

Lori sighed. "Look, I'm not going to lie to you. You are kind of creepy and you like morbid things and maybe that might make some people see you as a freak." Lucy looked down. Lori took her hand and pulled her towards Lynn's bed to sit beside her. "But that doesn't matter. What people think of you doesn't matter. All that matters is what you think of yourself and so what if you like things other people think are creepy! You like what you like and you never have to change that to please someone else! You are Lucy Loud, the quietest member of a family of freaks!" Lori smiled. "We are all freaks, Lucy. You're not the first Loud to be called a freak."

"I'm not?"

"No. Luna, Luan, Lincoln, Lynn, Lana, Lola, and Lisa have all been called freaks before, but it's just because they like things that normal people think is weird."

"Even Lola?"

Lori smirked. "You didn't hear it from me, but not everyone likes Lola crazy side. Several of the girls at the Little Miss beauty pageant think Lola is a freak, but it's okay because she is who she is and you are who you are. There is no reason to let what people say bother you and if you would have come to us I would have told you that a long time ago, Luce."

"Sigh." Lucy stood from the bed and walked over to her coffin. She opened it up and climbed in.

Lori thought she got through to her sister, but now she was beginning to have her doubts. She thought Lucy was trying to shut her out and walked over to the coffin, but before she could say anything it opened again and a bunch of paper fell at her feet. Some was crumpled up, some was folded, and some landed face up.

"What is all this?" Lori asked bending down to pick up a piece of paper that said 'die' on it.

Lucy climbed out of her coffin. "Sigh.. All the notes the kids at school have been leaving in my locker and on my desk."

Lori frowned. She grabbed a handful of paper and started reading all the awful things Lucy's classmates were writing to her.

Why are you so creepy?

If I was you I'd wanna die too

Why can't you just be normal?

I'd so kill myself if I was you!

Like no one likes you

Do us all a favor and kill yourself already. No one wants you here.

With every note Lori kept getting more and more angry. She felt warm tears stinging her eyes. She crushed some of the notes in her fist and threw them to the floor.

Lucy frowned. "They all hate me."

Lori looked at her little sister and saw tears streaking down from her black bangs. "No one cares what they think! Listen to me, Lucy." She leaned down and pulled her sister into her arms. "We love you. Your family loves you and it makes us sad that you didn't come to us about this." She whispered in Lucy's ear trying to fight back her tears. "It makes us sad that you would hurt yourself because of some hateful bitches."

"I-I thought you guys would agree with them. That you'd be happier if I just k-" Lori grabbed Lucy by the shoulders cutting her off.

"Never. Okay? I never want to hear you say that again because we would never agree with them. You are our sister and we love you and we want you to stay with us."

Lucy nodded making more tears fall. "I'm sorry." She cried. "I'm sorry I tried to kill myself."

Lori wrapped her arms around Lucy again crying against her head. "It's okay, Luce. It'll be okay. You survived and that's all that matters, but please don't do it again. Please." Lori begged softly.

"Okay." Lucy nodded. "I won't."