Lincoln Loud loved summer break. He loved having free and open days ahead of him. He loved riding bikes and going to the beach and not having to worry about school. He loved staying up late and sleeping in.
There was one major downside, though: His sleep routine. During the school year, Lincoln was in bed by nine and asleep by ten or ten-thirty at the latest. During summer break, he'd stay up later, then later still, then later still, until he was up until three in the morning and asleep until nine, whereupon he'd rise, have breakfast, that wander off to nap for a while before finding something to do. Sometimes it felt like his entire day was a bust because he was either asleep or tired.
Tonight, Lincoln was sitting by his open window, reveling in the cool night air, while he read a comic book. He didn't know what time it was, but his internal clock told him he wouldn't be ready for bed for hours yet. Even though he knew he'd suffer tomorrow, for now, he was at peace. The others were either asleep or turning in, the noise level was to a minimum, and there was nothing to bother him.
Just as he turned the page, a loud roar filled the night, startling him. He looked up just in time to see a massive shadow in the shape of an airplane bank left and disappear behind a stand of trees separating his backyard from the panhandle of Washington Park, a massive wetland preserve. Seconds later, a ball of fire erupted in the night. The world shook and windows rattled (some, though he couldn't say where, even broke). The force of the impact knocked him off his perch and onto the floor. Lincoln's heart leapt into his throat, and he covered his head with his arms.
When it was over, silence crashed down around him, so loud it hurt his ears. He struggled to his feet and stuck his head out the window. Flames reached high into the heavens. Thick black smoke rolled ever up.
Oh, wow! This was crazy!
He rushed out into the hall just as the others were emerging from their rooms. "What was that?" Luna asked.
"A plane crashed!"
"A plane crashed?" Luan blinked.
"Yeah!"
Lincoln threw himself down the stairs and rushed to the back door. On the porch, smoke hung thick in the air. Fire raged through the trees, a big, crackling wall of bright heat. Some of the neighbors were coming out of their houses, gasping and talking excitedly. Someone screamed, and someone else yelled, "Call 911!"
"Holy shit," Luna said, startling Lincoln. All of his sisters clustered around him. Soon, mom and dad appeared.
"Oh, my God!" mom gasped.
"A plane crashed," Lynn said, fighting for position, craning her neck like a common rubbernecker.
"It had to be a big one," Lana marveled. "At least a 747."
The shrill cry of sirens approached.
"Let's go back inside," dad said cautiously.
"Come on, dad," Lincoln said. "I wanna see."
"Inside. Now."
His tone was firm. He meant business.
Defeated, the Loud children filed into the kitchen while mom worriedly made a pot of coffee. Emergency lights flashed across the ground. People, some of them in heavy firefighter suits, trampled through the yard, trailing thick yellow hoses behind them.
"That fire's really close," mom said. "We might to have to evacuate."
"Maybe," dad said. He sat at the table and pulled on a pair of tennis shoes. "I was just going out to ask that very question.
"Can I come with you?" Lincoln asked.
"No. Stay here."
While dad went out into the chaos, Lincoln and his sisters watched through the kitchen windows. Cops and firefighters rushed back and forth now. Groups of firemen sprayed jets of water along the edge of the forest, to prevent the fire from spreading, Lisa said. Craning his neck, Lincoln spotted dad talking to a man in a fire helmet. The man was gesturing wildly. After a few moments, dad came back in.
"We're okay for now," he said, "but the fire chief said the flames could spread at any minute, so we have to be ready to leave in a hurry. Kids, get dressed and gather the pets. Honey, get the photo albums and important papers from the safe. Everyone pack an overnight bag. Just in case. I want shoes on."
While Lori and Lana gathered the pets, Lincoln went to his room, put his shoes on, and threw a couple days' worth of clothes into his school backpack. He paused several times to watch the emergency workers: A fire engine, its becons flashing, pulled into the sliver of yard between the Loud house and Mr. Johnson's house. A team of firemen unloaded and joined the fray. The fire didn't look like it had spread, but it didn't look contained either: It hungrily consumed innocent trees, several of which toppled over as Lincoln watched in wonderment. One almost came down on a bunch of firemen. This was insane.
"Mom and dad want us in the living room," Leni said, poking her head in the door. "Just in case."
"Yeah, I'll be there," Lincoln said without turning: He watched as another tree fell; firemen screamed and danced out of its way.
"Now!" Lori said sharply.
"Okay, okay!"
Lincoln grabbed his bag and went down to the living room, where everyone else had gathered on the couch. It may have been a typical movie night at the Loud abode, had everyone not been so tense, ready to spring up and out the door at a moment's notice. Lola griped about not being able to pack all of her trophies while Lisa worried that she might lose "years of research." Luna clutched her guitar the way a child would a favorite doll, and Luan tried to lighten the mood with her dummy, but it didn't work. For the first time the gravity of the situation hit Lincoln. In all the excitement he'd forgotten two things: One, he might lose his home, and two: He was watching at the exact moment a bunch of people died. People who were loved and had families like his. He looked around the room, and imagined it was his sisters on that plane. The thought disturbed him, and he shuddered.
An hour later, the fire chief knocked on the back door. The fire was contained and there would be no evacuation order. In his own room, Lincoln turned the lights off and tried to sleep, but he was still shaken, and the noise of the first responders kept him awake. He replayed the scene of the plane crashing over and over in his mind, and wished that he had been looking in the other direction when it happened.
Lincoln Loud slept very little that night, and when he did, he dreamed of planes, death, and his family.
