"Okay, son," Lynn Sr. announced as he walked down the stairs, drenched in sweat. "Your bedroom's all ready! Everything's set up just the way it was!"

"Awesome! Thanks, guys!" Lincoln gave his parents a hug and ran upstairs to his room, where he was overjoyed to find it looking exactly as it always had. He grabbed an Ace Savvy comic, kicked off his shoes and clothes and jumped onto the bed, relishing in the comfort and security of having an actual mattress to sleep on for the first time in two weeks. It didn't take long before the book's account of Ace Savvy and One-Eyed Jack's latest adventure had him fully engrossed, and he was unaware of the fact that Lucy had entered his room until she spoke.

"I see you have your furniture back."

Lincoln yelped in surprise and fell off his bed, but quickly recovered and climbed back onto it, rubbing the top of his head as he did so. "Y...yeah I do, Lucy, and it feels so good. Now I don't have to sleep on the floor anymore!"

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Of course not! Get up here!" He patted the space next to him, and Lucy accepted his invitation. When she sat down, it almost felt like she was sitting on a cloud. She remarked, "Wow, this mattress is really comfy...almost as comfy as a coffin."

Lincoln flashed a nervous grin and replied, "Yeah, that's why I chose it. Nothing but the best for a good night's sleep...or eternal sleep, for that matter."

A faint smile crept across Lucy's lips as she pulled out her poetry journal. "Would you like to hear my latest anthem to the darkness?"

"Uh...sure," her brother responded as he put the comic down. "What's this one about? Gothica? Vampires? Gothic vampires?"

"Actually, it's about what you went through...and how badly my black heart aches about it." Lincoln's eyes softened as he put his arm across Lucy's shoulders and said, "Let's hear it."

"Very well. This poem is called 'Apology.' Ahem...

When superstition and fear take over the mind,
It will often lead to deeds unkind.
Keeping you in that costume was a total disgrace,
Blinding us to the pain written all over your face.
Using you as nothing more than a lucky token
Undoubtedly left your poor heart broken."

"You have no idea," Lincoln replied. Lucy nodded slightly and continued.

"To say nothing of mine, as black as the night.
I feel terrible for adding to your plight.
I wish I could conjure a spell to destroy
These last two weeks. That would fill me with joy.
But now it's all over. We're a family again.
And my heart swells with love and compassion when
I say this to you, dear Lincoln, my brother:
Welcome home. Will this happen again? Never.
I love you more than you'll ever realize
And from the bottom of my heart, I apologize."

Lincoln's heart swelled as he moved in to give Lucy a hug, but she put her hand up, stopping him in his tracks. "I appreciate the sentiment, brother, but...could you at least put a shirt on?"

Lincoln's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. "Sure thing." He threw his orange polo on in record time as he reached out once again for a hug, and this time, Lucy accepted. A small sniffle was heard as the normally emotionless goth fought back her tears and whispered, "I missed you, Lincoln."

"I missed you too." He kissed the top of her head and added, "Thanks for the poem."

"Anytime. By the way, what's a good rhyme for 'grave?'"

Lincoln had no idea how much he'd missed Lucy asking him that question, so to hear it again was like a symphony of delight to his ears. With a confident grin, he exclaimed, "Let's see...there's brave, knave, slave, behave, rave..."

"Perfect," Lucy said as she jumped off the bed. "You're the best, Lincoln."

"Thanks, Lucy." She smiled and closed the door, allowing Lincoln to return to his comic. He took his shirt off again and resumed reading, only for the door to blow open as Lynn entered with all the grace of a drunken buffalo. "Cool, bro! You got all your stuff back!"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes and buried his face in the pages of the comic. "Oh, giving me the silent treatment, huh? Well, how about...THIS?" Lynn dropped into a karate stance and poked Lincoln in his side, hoping for a reaction, but he didn't react in the slightest. "Come on, bro! You can't ignore me forever!"

Once again, Lincoln said nothing. Frustrated, Lynn grabbed the top of his comic and pulled it down to look at him face to face. "Dude, what's your-" When she saw just how angry he was, however, the question died on her lips. Without saying a word, he grabbed the comic from her and jumped off his bed, exiting his room and leaving Lynn in the lurch once again. All she could do was blink twice in shock and shout, "Dude! Seriously?!" Her question went unanswered as she left her brother's room, shutting the light off and closing the door as she did so. The shock she felt had by this point curdled into confusion, which had her racking her brain for answers. Gotta do something to clear my mind...well, it's been a while since I dusted my trophies. Let's do that!

Feather duster in hand, Lynn set about dusting off her trophies-namely, the ones that didn't fit in the family trophy case-in the room she shared with Lucy. She hummed "We Are The Champions" under her breath as she glided the duster over, around and through her awards, grinning as the memories came flooding back. From scoring the winning touchdown in the Royal Woods football tourney to having the best costume in the Royal Woods Color Run, every trophy brought a smile to her face and a rush of adrenaline as she made her way down the line. The good memories continued to crop up: a winning assist in youth hockey...bowling a 300 game...a five-minute mile run...

And then she reached the last trophy. The trophy for the Royal Woods Junior Baseball championship. As she glanced at the achievement, the smile faded from her face and melancholy began to set in. Instead of her game winning, 0-2 pitch grand slam, instead of a solid pitching stat line, instead of the joy and excitement of sharing the victory with her teammates...the only thing that she remembered was three words.

"You're bad luck."

Lynn shut her eyes and let out a heavy sigh as the memories came flooding back. From hiding behind the dumpster to the sad, humiliating saga of the squirrel costume, every memory brought tears to her eyes and a rush of regret as she stared a hole through the trophy. If she had just kept her mouth shut and taken the loss to the Daisy Hill Daisies like the pro she thought she was, none of what Lincoln went through would have happened.

"You're bad luck."

Those three words kept echoing over and over in Lynn's mind, torturing her to no end. As the words replayed, so did her actions throughout the past few days. Every vignette was like a dagger to her heart as she began to realize just how badly Lincoln had been treated...