The cold night reigned over Royal Woods and the stars flickered in the desolate sky. The Loud family was resting well. Their obnoxious snoring played over the sweet sound of crickets. The house was filled with a somber black, covering everything in a layer of darkness.
It was almost blinding.
Almost, if it weren't for a faint light creeping under one of the sister's door, down the hall… near Lincoln's room.
Lisa was huddled near her work space with papers scattered everywhere. The genius buried her face into her palms and let out a shaky sigh. She felt the bags under her eyes pulling at her face. Her fingers combed through her hair as she tried to control her rugged breathing and relieve the tight pain in her chest.
On the desk was an abundance of surveillance monitors stacked on top of each other. Each one displayed a still image of her brother. He was either sleeping, eating or playing. So on and so on.
But the small genius interest was caught by the monitor directly in front of her.
Another still image of Lincoln.
But this one was different. All the other videos had Lincoln seem unaware of any presence, but this time her brother stared directly into the camera.
He was in his room, recording from his desk. The video was formal, showing only his chest and face. The still image showed the boy with a pained smile and sad eyes.
Lisa looked at the monitor again. She stared for a brief second, capturing every inch of her brother's features before her eyes began to sting. She pushed her glasses aside and eagerly wiped away the tears.
She was a mess.
Lisa looked to her side. She shoved a bunch of papers away and painfully reached for her keyboard. She brought the device close and pressed a random button.
The recording was a jumble of high-pitched nonsense for a while, but once the video finished rewinding, it paused with a click.
Lisa took a deep breath. She gulped heavily despite her dry mouth. She was quivering and her eyes threatened to leak, but she violently shook her head and continued.
Lisa pressed another button and the video made another click.
The recording started off with loud rustling as Lincoln tried to steady the camera. Once the camera was set, Lincoln stayed still and stared at the camera, hoping it wouldn't fall.
"Okay," he mumbled under his breath. He cleared his throat and brought his hands to his side.
He sat there for a while, doing nothing and saying nothing. The boy only stared silently into the camera for a good five seconds before he began.
"Lisa," he softly called with a smile, "If you're watching this then it probably means I'm dead." The boy's delicate smile fell. He took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, the whole 'dimension traveling' thing was a complete and utter failure."
Lincoln looked to his sides, inspecting his well-known surroundings. "Now I'm stuck who knows where," Lincoln said hopelessly.
"Heck! By the time this reaches you, I would've probably lived out my entire life already." The boy glanced and nodded at his door. "At least, that's what this Lisa told me."
Lincoln turned back to the camera. His eyes were full of sorrow, but Lisa couldn't help but always notice a glimmer of hope.
"But in the off chance that I'm there with you, watching this video, then everything I say from here on out wouldn't have mattered."
Lincoln ran his thin fingers through his white hair. He let out a rough chuckle. "That's probably not the case, though, so I need you to listen to me very carefully. My life just might depend on it."
The boy shifted awkwardly in his chair and cleared his throat. "When I got here, I don't know how, but the watch stopped working." Lincoln explained. "It just completely died on me, I swear." The boy pleaded.
He stopped for a second and sighed. "Then, of course, I started freaking out. There was still that time limit thing I needed to worry about. But with the watch not working, what was I supposed to do?" The boy sunk into his chair.
"I got scared and did the one thing everyone knows not to do." The boy nervously looked away then back at the camera. "I meet myself." Lincoln jumped and brought his hands up. "But before you get mad, let me explain. I knew that the only person that can fix the watch was you. And I also knew that this dimension had a version of you. But in order to find you, I needed to find myself."
Lincoln chuckled nervously. "He was so nice. I told him what happened and he brought me to you. I begged her for help. I gave her the watch and told her everything I knew." Lincoln shook his head. "That was a week ago, I think." He added
"Then she started screaming at me, telling about the consequences of being in the same dimension and stuff," Lincoln hung his head. "but I didn't care. I just wanted to go home." Lincoln sighed.
Lincoln hesitantly turned his attention back to the camera. "Then she came up with a plan," Lincoln quickly looked away, "but there was a small problem."
"You." He stated. "She knew that you'd be trying to find a way to get me back too, but she said that that would only make things worse. She said that if you mess with the dimensions again, then she might accidentally sling shot me into another random dimension instead."
Lincoln looked uncomfortably. "But she found a way around that too." A tiny smile stretched across his face. "Of course she did." He muttered.
"So, I need you to do one simple thing for me," Lincoln slightly leaned in. "nothing."
Lincoln looked into the camera. He stared at Lisa across the monitor as if he could see her pathetic state. The boy's crooked smile countered his somber eyes.
"It may seem a bit cruel, but believe me, this is the best shot I got at making it home."
Lincoln grabbed the camera and brought it close to his face. "Lisa, I know this might be difficult for you, but I need you to find a way to make sure no one knows about this." Lincoln pleaded. "Make sure everyone believes I'm there. R-replace me with a robot or clone or... something. Anything. P-please.
Lincoln paused for a second. He took in a shaky breath. He was on the verge of tears. "I d-don't know if I'm asking for too much here, but I really need y-you to do this for me."
Lisa needn't worry about his request. She already did what she was told. She fiddled with the dimensions one last time and abducted a sleeping Lincoln from his world. When he wakes up, he will go on with his days as if nothing ever happened. Both 'Lincoln' and her sister would be completely clueless.
A mix of a chuckle and cry escaped from her mouth. Her quick, risky actions left her thoughtless.
What would she do when her Lincoln came back? Is she going to just toss this Lincoln back into his dimension as if nothing happened? Was she really going to break up a family just to keep her's intact?
Lisa was scared. She clenched a fistful of her brown hair and softly pulled. She cursed herself for being curious. If she didn't have to experiment and test everything, then none of this would have ever happened. Putting her brother into this situation was a huge mistake.
But she couldn't really blame herself, could she?
She was only curious, but so was every young child. How is she different from them?
Lisa began to cry for the umpteenth time. The tiny genius began to hiccup and choke as the tears ran down her cheek.
She waited for the best part.
"And Lisa," Lincoln said with a shaky voice. "P-please, don't blame yourself for any of this." The boy paused for a second. He took in a deep breath and tried to compose himself. "I-I love you. Bye."
Lisa buried her face in her hands and wept. After minutes of crying her heart out, Lisa did the only thing she could think of.
She reached for the keyboard and pressed a familiar button.
The video began to rewind, then quickly stopped with a click.
She pressed another button and the video played.
"Lisa, if you're watching this then it probably means I'm dead-"