"It's finished!"
"Finally!"
"Mom and Dad are gonna love it!"
After a long month and a half, the loud siblings have finally created a miniature replica of their home. Each loud child helped out with the project in their own way. Just to name a few contributions, Lincoln built the exterior of the house using materials he bought from the local model store, Luna recorded the song that played when the model home's door was opened, and Leni designed the outfits that the miniature characters representing the loud family wore.
The children would present the gift to their parents the following morning in celebration of their 20th anniversary. It would be their biggest anniversary present yet, as they've planned far in advance this year.
The third-youngest loud child started to complain. "I'm tiiiiired! Can I get my beauty sleep already?" Lori answered her little sister's request. "Sure Lola, we should all head on up to bed. We've been working on this project for literally three hours today". The loud children put the model house on the floor, pushed it under a table, covered it up with a sheet, and started up the basement, their hard work would finally pay off.
Or, so they thought.
After waiting two hours to ensure the rest of the family was asleep, Lincoln Loud slowly cracked his door open to take a peek at the hallway. After making sure it was empty, the 11 year old grabbed his flashlight, walkie talkie, and a string of LED lights. He tiptoed out of his room, and went down the main staircase, careful to be as quiet as possible. One sound, and his entire plan would be ruined. Once he was in the living room, Lincoln opened up the door leading to the basement stairs. The room was pitch black. Good thing I brought this. Lincoln flipped on his flashlight, and proceeded down the staircase. While the white haired boy was usually terrified of the dark, he knew that he needed to get over his fears in order to accomplish his goal. Now at the bottom of the stairs, Lincoln turned on his walkie talkie.
"Clyde, are you there buddy?". After a brief pause, his best friend answered. "Roger!" Lincoln smiled. He knew he could count on his buddy. "Phase one of operation secretly make the model house one hundred times better to impress my sisters in the morning and also think of a shorter name for this operation is a success".
"You're in the basement?"
"Affirmative!"
"And you brought the lights?"
"Correct".
"Lincoln, remind me why you needed me to stay up late for this?"
"For moral support, Clyde. Now keep it down, I don't want to wake anyone up".
Lincoln has been wanting to add a string of lights that spelled out "Happy Anniversary!" to the base of the model house ever since the Loud children came of with the idea for the gift. But, because he thought it was such a good idea, Lincoln wanted to do it without his sisters knowing. If the lights were put on as a surprise, they would be even more impressed with his handiwork.
Time to do this!
Adding the lights would be quick to do, all Lincoln needed to do was pick up the house and put it on top of the table so he could glue on the LED string that he already had prepared. He knew that he still needed to work fast, since his parents would be arriving home soon. Not only that, but if one of his sisters went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, they might be able to hear him as well. The less time he spent working, the less likely it was for him to get caught.
He carefully removed the sheet from over the top of the model, and wrapped his arms around it so that he would be able to hoist it on the table. The boy grunted as he picked the object up. "This… is a bit heavier… than I thought…" Lincoln was not the strongest person in the family, for multiple reasons. He didn't play any sports, he rarely went outside, and he never worked out. He didn't let his weakness bother him, though. His favorite activities didn't require any amount of exercise, so why go out of the way to get all sweaty or smelly? That's what he thought, at least. In a few moments, however, Lincoln would be regretting his inactive lifestyle.
Unable to hold up the heavy object any longer, Lincoln felt his grip on the model house slip away. No no no no no! Before he knew it, he lost his hold on the project that he and his sisters had worked so hard on. It hit the ground, shattering into dozens of fragments and shards, making a loud BANG! in the process.
Lincoln stood dumbfounded and stared at what was now an unrecognizable mess of broken modeling plastic, cardboard, and wood.
"Lincoln? Come in, Lincoln?"
"Clyde, I have to go! Talk to you later!"
Lincoln quickly said goodbye to his friend and turned off his walkie talkie. What should he do? His parents anniversary was THE NEXT MORNING! My sisters are going to kill me for this! As if on cue, Lincoln heard footsteps from upstairs. "What was that sound? It's literally almost midnight". Based on the voice, Lincoln could tell that Lori had definitely heard the sound of the model house hitting the ground. The white haired boy could do nothing but look at the floor in shame and wait for the inevitable. Lori soon after walked down the basement, followed by the rest of the siblings who she had gathered to investigate the sound. Each loud child gasped at the rubble in front of Lincoln's feet. Shock quickly turned to anger. Lincoln could tell that his sisters were enraged at him. He's seen them mad before, but their expressions showed anger on a brand new level.
Lori was the first to lash out at her brother. "Lincoln, why did you break the house?! We literally spent over a month on that!" Lincoln tried as best as he could to explain himself. "Guys, I was trying to make it better! Really!" Lola stepped forward, clearly furious with her brother. "You tried making it better by dropping it on the ground?!"
"I was g- going to put on some lights on it, but-"
Lola took another step forward.
"Then why did you wait until the middle of the night to do it?!"
"I just wanted to surprise you guys! Really, I never meant to break the house!"
Lincoln's story didn't seem to calm down his sisters. In fact, it seemed to make things worse. They took a step forward, ready to pummel him.
"Guys, l- let me explain myself!".
Lynn, being the athletic girl and reckless girl that she was, didn't want to wait for Lincoln to try and defend himself any further. The jock started to charge at her younger brother. Afraid of the pain about to come his way, Lincoln quickly put his arms up in an attempt to defend himself. He closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.
Much to his surprise, Lincoln felt nothing. The boy opened his eyes, and thankfully for him, he saw Lola holding Lynn back from her bull charge. "Keep it together, woman!"
"Lola, he broke our house! Do you know how long we spent on that?!"
"I know, and I'm just as mad as you! But listen, Lynn! Beating him up right now won't solve anything."
"Then what are we gonna do, Lola? Give him a warning?!"
"No. I have a better idea." A sinister smile spread across the beauty queen's face. "I call an emergency sister meeting!"
Lincoln was dumbfounded. Had he really just escaped a rage filled Lynn beating? He thought about what Lola said. A sister meeting. Being the only brother in the family, he was obviously not invited. Where they going to vote on whether to forgive him or not? Where they going to discuss how to punish him?
Lori brought Lincoln's train of thought to a halt. "Alright girls, let's head upstairs. Lola better make this worth our time". Lola released Lynn, who had by now stopped resisting. Every girl with the exception of the athlete started up the basement stairs. Lynn stared Lincoln in the eyes, with a bitter expression on her face. She was clearly still heated about the broken house. After making her anger clear, she started after the other sisters.
Lincoln stood in the basement alone, wondering what horrors awaited him.
Lori hit her shoe on the desk. Bang, bang. "I hereby declare our sister meeting to be in session!." Lynn was the first to speak up. "Lola, we're all mad at Lincoln. You better have a good reason for letting him skip out the one versus nine beatdown he deserves". Lola smiled. "Lynn, if we senselessly beat him up right there and then, that would be it. His punishment would have been painful, but quick". Lynn nodded. Lola had a point, after all. "We need to punish him in a different way. He ruined two and a half months of work, people!". Luna interjected. "That's great and all, but what can we really do other than rough him up? Once again, a sinister smile formed on Lola's face. "We can declare full on war against Lincoln". Still angry at their brother, the Loud sisters agreed mutually that this was a good idea. "But what exactly do we do to the little twerp?", questioned Lori. Lola had not thought this far. "We need ideas. Brainstorm, people!"
"We can force him into a dutch oven whenever we get the chance!" said Lynn.
"We can clog the toilet whenever he's after to use it!" added Lana.
"Orrrrr", started Lisa, "We can do all of that and more. Our male sibling hates an abundant amount of our annoying habits. Why not increase our output of these habits and direct them solely at Lincoln?"
Luan couldn't resist making a pun. "That's a painfully good idea! … Get it?" Silence filled the room. "As bad as that joke was," started Lana, "Lisa has a really good idea. Luna, play music as loud as you can while Lincoln tries to do his homework. Lynn, be as rough as possible with Lincoln. I can rig the shower to be scolding hot before he uses it. Think of all the possibilities!"
"I can move my bat colony into Lincoln's room while he's watching TV!"
"I can make Lincoln test some of my most explosive experiments!"
"I can hide my smelly clothes in his room after a big game!"
"There's also lots of things we can do together to annoy him." started Lori, bringing the conversation back. "We can all take as long as possible in the bathroom when we know Lincoln needs to use it". Lori expressed her approval of the new plan. "This is probably your best idea ever, Lola!" The pageant queen smiled. "Don't thank me, guys. We all came up with this marvelous plan!"
"So, like, when are we starting? Literally first thing in the morning, right?"
Luna butted in. "Let's not start yet, dudes. We should stay peaceful tomorrow for Mom and Dad. It's the least we can do on their anniversary if we don't even have a present for them. Besides, it's better if Lincoln gets comfortable before we start messing with him bigtime." The sisters nodded in agreement. Lori stood up, ready to end the meeting. "Is everyone in favor of a full on war with Lincoln starting in two days?" After she heard eight different "Aye!"'s, Lori once again hit the shoe on the desk. Bang, bang. "Meeting concluded!"
Lincoln paced back and forth down the bedroom hallway. What were they planning to do to him? Beads of sweat emerged on his forehead. His sisters have been in Lori's room for over half an hour by now. At long last, Lori's bedroom door opened. Lincoln saw that his sisters were… smiling? Each sibling walked back to their bedroom, closing their door behind them. Lori poked her head out of her doorway. "Goodnight, Lincoln". She flashed him a smile, and closed her door.
Lincoln now had a fragment of hope. Did they agree to forgive him? Of course, he knew it was wishful thinking, but given the circumstances, it could have been the case. His sisters had never before went from being angry enough to turn him into a human pretzel to total calmness. Something wasn't right.
Although he was very confused, Lincoln knew was that all he could do for now was to remain uninformed and get some sleep.
When Lincoln woke up, things were surprisingly normal. He opened his door slowly, half expecting his sisters to be waiting on the other side ready to ambush him. All he saw in the hallway was Luna practicing her electric guitar, Lana chasing down one of her reptilian pets, and Lily walking down the hall (without a diaper, of course). It was just like any other day. He walked downstairs and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Some of his sisters were already there before him eating their breakfast too. Lincoln was astonished. Had his sisters forgotten about last night? This is strange, but I shouldn't let my guard down.
The day carried on as normal. Nevertheless, Lincoln was extra careful. He peeked around corners before moving on, he opened doors slowly just in case there was a trap waiting for him, and he did his best to steer clear of his sisters.
Later that night, when it came time for the celebration of the Lynn Sr. and Rita's anniversary, the children gathered around in the kitchen. It was tradition for the Loud children to cook for their parents on special days like their anniversary and their birthdays. The last time all of the Loud kids tried cooking together, the meal turned out to be a godawful mix of different foods that didn't mix together very well at all. So, this time around, Lori directed the cooking rather than simply allowing everyone make their own part of the meal. In the end, it turned out surprisingly well. The kids had cooked a meal of dinner pancakes, chilled fruit, and popcorn chicken.
The Loud family sat down to eat. Usually, this would be the time that the kids would present their gift to their parents. Lori, being the oldest, broke the bad news. "We're sorry we don't have a present for you today, but Lincoln literally broke it last night". Each sister all turned to face Lincoln, who gave a nervous laugh in return. "I'm really sorry Mom and Dad, but I tried to add something to the gift last night, and well… it kind of slipped out of my hands and broke". Lincoln slumped in his chair and looked at the ground in shame. Luna spoke up. "But don't worry dudes, we're going to work hard to fix it. We're sorry that we can't give it to you on your anniversary, but taking the time to patch it up is better than nothing I guess". Lynn Sr. and Rita nodded. "It's still thoughtful of you kids to think of us. Take your time fixing up whatever it was that you made for us".
After dinner, Lincoln went on up to his room to think. Did his sisters already cool down from last night? Was he home free? Lincoln doubted it, but then again, they've done nothing the entire day to him. Usually when his sisters were angry with him, they'd pummel him on the spot. It was especially strange since Lincoln ruining the model house was one of the biggest things that he's done to anger his sisters.
Something wasn't right.
Annnnd, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my first chapter of my first fanfiction. So far the story has been mostly set up, but things will really start to pick up next chapter. Criticism and feedback are greatly appreciated. Since this is my first story, I'm sure there's lots I can improve on. Chapter two should be hopefully ready by the end of this weekend. Stay tuned!