Chapter Text
One night, the Belcher children went to bed, and the next morning only two woke up. Tiny and loud Louise was nowhere to be found. Leaving behind a pristine room and untouched bed it was as if she stepped onto the fire escape and simply flew away leaving behind her scrambling family. Not at first though, Tina and Gene only looked at each other both knowing that wherever their sister had slunk off to, she’ll be back. Louise may be the youngest but she was also the toughest, nothing bad would ever happen to her, Tina was sure of it. Despite the worry gnawing in her core, Tina knew that any second now, Louise was going to walk through the front door, probably clutching fistfuls of cash and a hundreds of smooth apologies ready to soothe their parents’ rightful worry and anger. Tina was so sure of it but Louise didn’t walk through the door or sneak in through the window. Not that day, and not the next day or the next day or even the day after that. And now the questions are more frantic and it isn’t just Bob and Linda asking them but it’s the cops, and the teachers and the entire god damn town. Their eyes dark with grief leaning closer, digging their nails into Gene’s and Tina’s shoulders.
“Where is your sister? Did she talk about running away? Did she say anything to you? What do you know?”
Time drags on in a steady fog. Louise Belcher has been missing for five months. Linda drinks more and more, Bob talks less and less, Tina’s panic grows, and Gene doesn’t smile. Their days are consume with missing person flyers, and ads, and private detectives, trying as hard as they can to cling onto that fading hope. Linda is the first to accept it, she sobs and gets wildly drunk but she packs up Louise’s things in neat little boxes. Tina finds her Mother passed out in bed, clutching Louise’s baby pictures and she understands. Time to let go of her little sister.
Tina doesn’t cry. Her eyes are dry and her breathing gets ragged but she doesn’t cry. Until Tammy makes a flippant remark about Louise during lunch. She can’t remember what Tammy said, maybe something about how does it feel to be the only daughter but Tina remembers going cold and then nothing. Her world is a swirl of crimson anger and numbing darkness but when she snaps out it, her fist is full of Tammy’s fake blonde hair as Tina uses it to slam Tammy’s head into the ground. Again. And Again. And Again. Until Tammy’s face is covered in runny makeup with snot and blood, and Zeke and Jimmy Jr. are trying to tug Tina off but she fights them off as she cries so hard she feels like she’s choking. Cause fuck Tammy, she doesn’t get to talk about Louise, no one does. Nobody is allowed to talk about bright, young, funny Louise who isn’t coming home and it’s not fair.
Tina gets suspended. It’s almost worth it until she’s sitting in the restaurant, it’s been six months since Louise vanished and Mr. Fischoeder walks in with Teddy, Jimmy Pesto, and Mort. Their voices are soft and mournful like most folks are when they talk to the unfortunate Belchers. They wish to speak to her Dad. Tina can only hear bits of the conversation, Teddy and Jimmy are uncharacteristically quiet but Mr. Fischoeder and Mort are all honeyed charm as they offer to pay for the entirety of Louise’s funeral. And in the first time in six months, Bob breaks down. He swears at them to get the hell out of his restaurant, who did they think they are to barge in like this? His little girl isn’t dead. She isn’t, she’s just missing. She can be found. She will be found. Bob doesn’t need their fucking charity or pity. Louise isn’t dead, she isn’t. She can’t be. For the first time in Tina’s life, she sees her Dad cry. He stops throwing ketchup bottles at the men and breaks down sobbing in Jimmy Pesto’s arms of all people.
During the seventh month, they hold Louise’s funeral. The casket is filled with her toys. It’s a small casket for a small funeral. Gene sings a tearful song in tribute to his little sister, his voice cracking and breaking he can hardly get through the song before Rudy silently stands to join him. Andy and Ollie follow Rudy’s lead and Gene is able to finish the song with the help of his sister’s closest friends. The service is brief, over too fast and before Tina knows it, she’s throwing a fistful of dirt onto her little sister’s grave. Louise was only twelve years old.
Life after the funeral continues to plod on but overtime the Belchers can smile and laugh if only for a little bit. Louise’s absence is always felt but somehow they must continue on. It’s been a year since Louise disappeared. Bob and Linda are gently bickering over the grill. Tina and Gene are doing their homework in one of the booths. Tina is trying to guess Gene’s crush of the month when they hear the door open. Linda screams and Gene’s face goes pale and then Tina sees her in the doorway.
Small and pale, Louise with her pink bunny hat smiles at her family. She has dark bags under her eyes and dirt underneath her fingernails but nothing else has changed. It’s been a year since she went missing and she hasn’t aged a bit. Bob is the first to rush over and hug her, squeezing so tight, it should have hurt but Louise only hugs back just as tight. Then Linda is kissing her face over and over again, whispering tearful exclamations. Gene and Tina rush over too but as Tina hugs her little sister, she notices the faint smell of decay and copper.
Louise feels fragile in Tina’s arms and so cold, like an ice box. Louise smiles up at Tina and that’s when she notices that Louise’s teeth are looking a bit sharper and pointier. I’m starving! Louise announces and then off Bob goes scrambling to make her a burger. Linda is running her fingers through Louise’s hair as she guides her to a booth. Tina follows, knowing that the time for answers will come later but she can’t help but wonder if anyone else notices that Louise’s eyes are too dark or that her hair has never been that shiny and black before. Or the fact that there’s a pink scarf wrapped around her neck, that Louise seems almost anxious to remove.
Tina sits across from her little sister, who despite being a year older still only looks twelve and watches as she requests for a rarer burger. Tina should be happy. Her little sister is back but as she sits across from her, Tina looks at the pale, pointy teeth, girl and wonders if life will truly ever be the same for her family.