User blog:Discofurby/Lola's Nightmare

This is based on a similar nightmare I had when I was a kid.

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It was seven AM on a Friday morning in Royal Woods, and young Lola Loud woke up with a start: she'd had a nightmare.

It had started off as quite a nondescript dream, of the whole family sitting on the couch channel-surfing and talking about how everybody's day had been. Then, the scariness had happened when Rita asked Lynn Sr. how his day had been:

Lynn Sr. in the dream had been silent for a few seconds, before getting a worried expression on his face and throwing his hands up in the air for about two seconds and putting them back down.

"Lynn...?" Rita had asked in a concerned voice, before Lynn Sr. threw his hands up again, but this time he didn't put them down and looked sort of like he was surrendering, except his face still had an expression of what looked like fear, but he didn't blink or speak, even when prompted. That was when Lola had woken up.

She looked towards Lana, who was still asleep, but not for long: Rita's voice said, "All right! Everybody up and get dressed!".

Lana woke up and both twins began to dress. "Should I tell Lana about the dream?" thought Lola.

Then she thought, "No, I don't want to scare her, and if she doesn't get scared, she might laugh at me."

When they were dressed, they all went downstairs for breakfast and Lola deliberately chose the seat farthest away from Lynn Sr. She also tried hard not to look in his direction.

Rita then piled all the kids into Vanzilla to take them to school or, in Lily's case, daycare.

At school, Lola forgot about the nightmare for a while, but then she remembered it again when Lynn Sr. came to pick her (and Lana, Lucy, and Lincoln) up from school.

She went into the van, trying not to look in his direction, and sat in the middle between Lucy and Lana.

Back at home, Lola proceeded to do her usual activities, but she'd leave the room whenever Lynn Sr. entered. Then, at dinner, Rita said, "How was your day, Lincoln?". This scared Lola, because that was just how the dream had started.

After Lincoln had shared details about his report on snow leopards and how he and Clyde had been dared to sneak into Principal Huggins's office and asked Rita how her own day had been, Rita asked how the days of Lori, then Lola herself, then Lisa, then Leni, then Lana, then Luna, then Lynn Jr., then Luan, then Lucy had been...

Then she said to Lynn Sr., "So, honey, how was your day?" and she said it with the exact same inflection as she'd said it in the nightmare.

Before Lynn Sr. could answer, Lola dashed up to her bedroom screaming.

The next thing she knew, both her parents and all ten of her siblings were standing around her with expressions of both concern and confusion, except for Lucy and Lisa, who were their usual poker-faced selves.

"Why did you run from the table, sweetie?" asked Rita.

"You've been a bit on edge literally all day," said Lori.

"Especially around me," said Lynn Sr.

"Why would you be afraid of Dad?" said Lincoln.

"You can tell us anything, sis," said Luna.

"OK, can you tell me why there can be an eclipse if the sun is bigger than the moon?" said Leni.

Lisa facepalmed.

"OK, here goes," said Lola, "Last night, I had a nightmare about you, Daddy."

"You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you," said Lynn Sr.

"No, not like that," said Lola, "In the nightmare Mommy asked you how your day was just like recently which is why I left the table because it reminded me of the nightmare. Then, you put your hands up like this-" she demonstrated the gesture, "-so she said your name and you put them up again only you didn't put them back down and you stopped moving. You didn't even blink."

"I can see why that'd scare you," said Lynn Sr., "But you don't need to worry. I'm perfectly healthy and would never do something like that."

"You passed out on Halloween," said Lincoln.

"You thought I really passed out?" said Lynn Sr., "Actually, I was just pretending to get out of Halloween. Lying still for five straight hours is worth it."

"Suit yourself," said Lynn Jr., "But the only reason I'd lie still for five hours is if I was asleep."

"What about when I was born?" said Lincoln.

"I was just exaggerating," said Rita, "I meant he was so distracted by his fear he was just as good as unconscious. The President, though, he really did pass out."

"Huh?" said all the sisters except Lily.

"It's a secret," said Lincoln.

"I don't really pass out," said Lynn Sr., "And I would never stop moving with my hands in the air. Now how about we go down and finish our dinner?"

"Good idea!" said Lola.

"Do you mind if I use your nightmare as part of my poem?" asked Lucy.