A Woman After My Own Heart | By : AberrantScript Category: +G through L > The Loud House Views: 3846 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House and make no money off this work of fiction. |
Author's Notes:
Reader be advised: Dark themes lie ahead, plus some lewd humor~
Additional notes at bottom. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The Loud House Copyright Nickelodeon (2017)
Chapter 3: A Close Call
Later on that day, college was just as boring and uneventful as it always was.
Margaret Frost received a perfect score on a returned research project; an analysis on local small business administration models, with an emphasis on CEO leadership practices.
Her mind was so full of useless garbage that she couldn't even delve into the dreary swamp of despair she normally favored.
It was in the afternoon by that point and she could see the town car down by the curb.
She hurried to it at an even pace, with a straight posture, and her hands affixed to her sides. Everything was prim and proper. Everything was perfect, just as her father wanted.
A brief burst of anger burnt across her veins like a solar flare.
When she came up to the car, she happened to glance at Alfred's hands on the steering wheel.
She paused.
He normally got out and opened the door for her.
And… and his hands were clenched on the wheel; bony and white and quivering with strength.
Ice settled in the pit of her stomach as she dropped into her seat and strapped herself in.
There was a question itching on the tip of her tongue to be let out into the open…
But she was too afraid of the answer to open her mouth; sitting in the back seat like a cowardly girl.
"Maggie?"
She closed her eyes and focused on the static vibration of the car.
"Are you listening?"
She couldn't bring herself to feign ignorance or being deaf. She nodded her head, balling her fists up upon her lap.
"We're heading to the hospital now."
She could hear how lifeless his voice sounded; how much he dreaded to bring her the news she feared would come at any moment, on any day.
"O-ok," she feebly replied.
She looked out of the window just at the same time as Alfred rounded a corner in some intersection, and her eyes fell upon a lone coffee shop.
"Do you want to talk about it before we arrive?"
She saw a certain barista exit the building along with a blonde haired girl holding a beagle to her chest. For some reason, that gave her strength… gave her a feeling of longing.
She turned her eyes toward the rearview mirror and caught her friend's gaze. She gave him a weak smile.
"No, it'll be fine."
Alfred nodded to her in the mirror and turned back to the road.
Both didn't know what they would run into when they arrived…
And both silently prepared themselves for the chance… the rather great possibility… that tonight their family would be smaller… by one man.
At the end of her shift, Luan casually leaned against the counter as she watched the scene unfolding before her eyes. She was smirking wildly and enjoying her friend's show.
Luna stared menacingly at the two seventeen-year-olds cowering in front of her.
The one on the left was some nerdy dweeb with a freaking albino cowlick sticking off the back of his head. He was shaking like a leaf under a hurricane as Luna tore into him for shirking his duties last night.
The one on the right was some faux-hardcore tomboy, blushing to the very roots of her black hair as Luna railed them both for not cleaning up the building.
"Fine, then! If you weren't goofing off and you weren't cleaning up the workspace, then what were you doing?"
Luna leaned down toward the shaking nerd-boy, alternatively known as Lincoln "Linc" Miller, and narrowed her eyes at him.
Linc froze as stiff as a board as she got closer and closer into his personal bubble… and started sniffing him. His eyes blew open wide in horror as she gasped and leaned far away from him.
"Oh. My. GOD!" Luna cried out
The girl beside Linc jumped, looking back and forth between them, dizzily.
Luna looked at her, Ronnie Anne Santiago; and the girl leaned back, suddenly scared. And then, Luna looked toward Linc and gasped even louder.
The boy shrunk back, a huge blush erupting over his cheeks in self-conscious guilt.
The girl looked at her best friend for support, but started blushing, too, when she saw how guilty he looked.
Why were they blushing from guilt!? They did nothing wrong!
Luna glared at them, tsking with her fingers. "You were shirking your duties to have sex last night, weren't you?"
The girl gasped loudly.
The boy only blushed harder. And when he turned toward Ronnie Anne, his face turned a deep red.
Ronnie Anne caught him staring at her and blushing… almost like he was being suggestive, and she nearly choked. She recovered with a shocked, "Lincoln!" and soundly punched his arm in outrage.
Rubbing his sore arm, he looked at Luna pleadingly. "No! It wasn't like that, I swear! We're just best friends!"
But Luna wouldn't listen.
"I swear to God, if I find a used condom in one of the drawers-"
Ronnie Anne grabbed onto her arm, trying to shush her up, "Please stop! We're innocent, we swear! None of it's true!"
Luna recoiled in disgust; Luan was giggling behind a hand the whole time.
"Eugh! Don't touch me with that! Heaven only knows how many handjobs you gave skippy here." She pointed at Lincoln before rounding on him; the poor lad shrunk back. She looked him up and down before leaning in and sniffing again, exaggeratedly and annoyingly. "I can smell the sex on you, Miller…"
He gulped, too embarrassed to say anything.
Ronnie Anne, however, came to his defense.
"No, that's definitely not true because I was with him and we weren't doing anything!"
Luna crossed her arms as she leaned onto her hip, fixing the blushing girl with a deadpan stare. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'd expect a vixen like you to say. The only question I'm curious about is how many times you sunk your claws into him last night…" She turned away and started walking back toward Luan, but she paused and turned her head for a second. "Actually, don't tell me… like, seriously, don't tell me…" And she shivered uncontrollably in pure faux-disgust.
The two teens were left standing awkwardly beside each other, rubbing their arms. Their wide, horrified eyes were staring at the tiled floor. Their bodies were stiff. And their faces were blushing darkly.
Luan chuckled as she and Luna headed over to sit at a table. She plopped in a seat tiredly, but Luna paused and leaned down to inspect it.
She leaned back up and called to the teens, "Hey!"
The two jumped and turned to her, their eyes wide and scared.
Luna was looking straight into Linc's eyes…
"You guys clean up after you're done, right? Because, I swear, if I sit on this chair and somehow get pregnant from the mess you two have made, I'll take your skippy butt to the cleaners!"
Luna sat down, chuckling with her friend.
Luan leaned over the table on her elbows. "Oh, Luna, why are you so hard on them? They're not even in love! They're just friends."
Luna gave her best friend a crooked smile. "Uh huh, they have as close a relationship as you can get without some special lovin'… but, guess what?"
Luan followed Luna's eyes as they settled on the two blushing teens slowly inching toward each other. They saw Ronnie Anne's hand bump into his pathetically… then, Lincoln's pinky caught hers and a small smile lit up both of their faces.
Luna put a hand on her friend's elbow, giving her a squeeze. "Now they're thinking about their relationship~"
Luan beamed, devious affection swelling in her breast. "Since when did you get so good at giving love advice?"
Luna smirked with lidded eyes as she swatted at her friend. "They call me Dr. Love~"
Luan snorted with laughter; a beautiful sound to both girls, but still so foreign, so unfamiliar from its long hiatus.
Luna, encouraged, leaned across the table, so calm and chill. "You just look 'em in the eyes, tell 'em how you feel, and let the good times roll~"
Luan struggled to control her laughter. It felt so good after so long, and she just couldn't stop!
"Oh, gosh, Luna! B-but what if, ha ha, i-if Bugle goes number two on the couch!?"
Luna's face never changed as she leaned closer like she was sharing a dark secret. "Then, you look him in the eyes, tell him how you feel, and let the good times roll~"
As the two girls broke down into tears of laughter, a certain beagle's ears perked at hearing his name.
He stood up on four spindly paws and sniffed this way and that way.
His wet, pink nose followed after a smell he now associated with home, and he called out, "Barooo!" and took off running through the propped open door.
He darted through the legs of an awkward pair of teens, his front paws splaying out with each bound he took. His floppy ears bounced and flapped in the turbulent wind as his eyes caught sight of his precious home.
"Baroooo!"
If he were a human, he would have been smiling, crying, shaking with the joy that flooded his itty bitty heart.
"Bugle!"
If Lana would have been a dog, she would have been running at full-speed on all fours, her floppy ears following after her as she ran into the arms of her best friend.
Lana ran toward him, dropping to a slide on her knees as Bugle leaped up into her arms. She laughed as he licked every inch of her face that his pink tongue could reach. She lifted him up in her arms and rubbed his nose with her own before nuzzling into his fur.
"I'm so glad my sis kept you safe."
He licked at her fingers, communicating his own unconditional statements of love and affection.
"I love you, Bugle."
I love you, master!
Maggie's head hung low as she held her arms around her chest. She was following the sight of her butler's shoes as he led her onto an elevator.
When he pressed the button and the doors closed, the breath left her body.
She shrunk back into a corner but it wasn't enough.
The walls were closing in.
The ceiling was shrinking.
Alfred was growing bigger.
The door was going to crush her against her metal cage!
She closed her eyes tightly as her heart sped up and everything spun from the back of her eyelids and bile began rumbling deep in her stomach.
And then a beep shattered her world; her eyes bursting open in shock; her body freezing like it'd been dunked in ice-cold water.
Alfred exited first, and Maggie followed behind like a dead man walking his last trek… to a noose.
"Maggie, are you ok?"
She could barely hear him through the water rushing in her ears. Her wide eyes looked up at his. She saw the pink tinges from emotion and tears that he could not hide for all his professional integrity.
She knew her own were pink and puffy.
She couldn't bring herself to nod or shake or indicate her feelings in any other way. She was just there. A specter that existed between two realms; neither alive nor dead.
Her feet felt like lead as she forced herself to the last door on the left in the UC wing.
A nurse hurried out, leaving the door open for a split second, and Maggie could see…
Could see the cords and wires running around a motionless body.
She could hear the slow beep of a heart monitor, so weak and frail.
She could feel the sounds of tears wash over her body like an ocean's waves, crashing into her and slowly ripping out her soul as they retreated into the void of silence.
Alfred push the door open more, and Maggie could see her mother's face; so full of sorrow.
Maggie took a single step inside, unable to breathe or even think.
When her freedom was taken away, she'd been furious.
When she'd accidentally overheard a frightening conversation a few months later, her hate was replaced with anguish.
But now that the moment was upon her, she didn't know how to respond. Her body was quickly falling into shock as her lungs failed to work fast enough for her beating heart.
The only thing that kept her on the ground was a belief her parents had instilled in her from childhood.
The sun rises on the good and the evil; and it rains on the just and on the unjust.
As she stepped up to her unconscious father, tears streaming down her eyes, she regretted every bad thing she'd ever thought toward him.
She wished she could go back to when she was little and she could trust that he'd always be there when she woke up.
She could crawl into his arms when she awoke from a nightmare.
She could fall asleep to his gentle words.
But now…
Now she was terrified of waking up from this nightmare.
Because her eyes may open to never see her father ever again.
"Daddy…"
Her hand fell on his cheek…
A tear fell onto his chest…
And Maggie cried to the rhythm of her father's deteriorating heart.
They had to make a stop at a dollar store on their way home. Money was really short and they honestly couldn't afford Bugle. Still, Luan managed to snag some training pads and a collar. They couldn't afford food at the moment, but Lana offered a share of her own without a moment's hesitation.
Luan's bosom swelled with affection for her sister: whose love knew no bounds. Lana was truly something special~
As soon as they paid, Lana grabbed the green collar and fastened it around his neck. It was adjustable so it'd last him for a while, but he'd need a new one when he got older. She leant back on her legs and watched as Bugle scratched at it with a back paw in frustration.
"Aww, you look so cute!"
Luan nodded her head in agreement, smiling.
The trip back home went along without hiccups.
On their way in the front door of the apartment complex, Lana stuffed her dog inside her jacket and held her backpack in front of her stomach for extra protection.
They lived on the third floor.
Mr. Grouse resided in his own room on the second.
They crept slowly up the first flight of stairs and paused to look at his door.
It was partially open, letting light spill into the hallway…
The sisters held their breath and stayed very still for a few moments.
Luan held up two fingers and motioned forward; Lana nodded her head and followed after her.
They reached the top and everything seemed clear. Their door was in sight. Luan reached for her keys-
"Summers!"
Luan felt her heart thump in her throat as a scream nearly ripped from her body. Sweating nervously and quivering like a snake's rattle, she turned slowly toward the stairs from whence they'd came.
And there an old man hobbled toward them on a wooden cane. He was squinting his eyes and sneering down at them. Even with a back bowed with age, he still stood a few inches taller than Luan.
Unconsciously, she urged her sister behind her as she looked fearfully toward her landlord.
"This month's rent is due tomorrow, young lady."
Oh, God. She forgot. And she'd just spent her extra money on Lana's new pet!
No, no, no, no, no, noooo!
He gave the shocked woman a cold shoulder. "You know my policy, Summers. You only get a week to pay up or it's out on the streets for you and your delinquent sister."
Lana gasped but kept her mouth shut from replying. I am an angel from heaven, meanie!
No one expected the sudden whine…
Especially Mr. Grouse.
He turned around swifter than his crippled body should have allowed.
"What. Was. That?"
Lana hurriedly whined from the back of her throat. "S-sorry, j-just doing a dog impression for a homework assignment on domestic animal communication."
Luan would have whistled if she had the heart. That was utter brilliance…
But she was literally frozen in mind, body, and soul as her landlord slowly crept up to her.
"You have one strike left, girl. If I so much as smell another pet from your apartment, I'll have you out faster than you can blink."
She shivered as his eyes trailed down her neck and settled onto her chest. She closed her eyes to keep herself from seeing the darkening lust pooling in his aged eyes.
"But I'm sure we could work something out… if that happens. Wouldn't you agree, Summers?"
She turned her head to the side and nodded stiffly.
"Good."
When she opened her eyes, he was gone. And then Lana was pulling her to their apartment door and reaching into her pocket for the keys.
Luan was too shocked to do anything.
It wasn't the first time that'd happened, and call her whatever you want, but she was growing desperate.
If she fought back (and even won), she risked losing their home… she risked losing her sister to the state.
She went to the bathroom and took the hottest shower she could stand; scrubbing until her skin was sore and raw. Even still, she felt dirty.
Would it honestly hurt if she let him… watch or something… if it meant Lana would be safe… if she could keep her sister?
And she hated herself for even entertaining the thought…
But she wasn't entirely sure on the limits to what her love for Lana would lead her to do…
Their parents sacrificed their lives to get their two daughters safely out of the fire that burned down their home.
Luan…
…if it came down to no other option…
She'd be willing to sacrifice anything for her sister.
And that thought disgusted her just as much as it terrified her.
In her bedroom, Lana knelt by her bed and prayed.
At her knees, Bugle laid down and closed his eyes as he listened to his master's whispering words.
When she was done, she stripped herself down to her undies and threw her stupid training bra in a corner with a bit more excitement than was really warranted. And she put on her sleeping overalls, with holes all over it. With the tears across her backside and how loosely it hung from her shoulders, it left her basically indecent. But that was ok because she was in her room, and it was just her and Bugle.
She picked him up as she laid down on her bed. She placed him on her chest and kissed his nose. "Snuggle up with momma."
Bugle curled up into a ball and almost instantly his breathing evened out.
In a dark bedroom, a pale arm pulled raven hair out of a bun.
Two blue eyes looked into a mirror and saw the fresh, thin scabs of two red lines. One per wrist.
A naked body fell onto the sheets and instantly began to cry; a silken pillow growing wetter by the second…
In a dark bedroom, two hands slowly braided silky brown hair.
A pair of dark brown eyes looked into a mirror and saw the pain and disgust and horror residing deep inside her soul.
When those hands finished braiding, they reached over to the nightstand.
They pulled out a pocketknife and flipped open the blade.
With a steadying breath, those two eyes closed as her pain left her body in a blood-red ooze.
In two rooms, in two separate places in the city; one in a rundown apartment; one in an upper class mansion; there were two girls in pain.
And, together, they fell asleep to the tender melodies of their bleeding hearts.
Additional Notes:
Luna's justification for provoking Lincoln and Ronnie Anne was borrowed from Bunny's Bi Advice from deviantart! Go check it out~
I know it looks bad now guys, but I promise things will get better for them... eventually.
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo