Lincoln sits there and stares at tipsy Lori.
"Y-Y-You see.." she slurred. "When you left, everyone was kinda upset. W-We love you and to have have you home with us hurt us a lot. We knew you..messed up and had to accept the fact you were going to be gone for a while, but it didn't stop us from falling into despair…"
She pours up another glass and takes a long, grainy sip of whiskey.
"You see, I'll tell ya what I tried to tell ya before," Lori resumed. "The reason I k-kinda got on to you about not mentioning...him...is because...well, he's not here anymore.."
Lincoln's expression drops, his pupils shrunk, and he gasps lightly.
"Like...he left us?" he asked.
She nods.
"That's why mom isn't here. Went to finalize some devoice stuff and it's straight to the night shift," she said. "She had to take up another job and Teal-Mart to help pay for everything here."
Lincoln just sat there-trying his damndest to absorb and properly calculate this bombshell that was dropped on him. He thought about all the phone calls back during his sentence.
"H-How long has this been going on..?" he asked with a break in his voice.
Lori takes a drag and ashes on the floor.
"Uhh...maybe about a month or two after you were gone," she answered.
Lincoln knew then and there. He reminded calling home on a few days before his twelfth birthday back at the academy. He remember it being kind of a bipolar day, looking like it was going to rain but never did. He remember being in a long line for the phone, just to ask if his parents were coming. He remembered being the fourth in line to use the phone, only being allow five minutes per person and the two school officers who stood next to the phone, maced and tasered up in case anyone in the line wanted to cause a commotion. Lincoln could sorta remember who was in front of him. The boy in front of him was in there for drug dealing. The one in front of him was arrest for unlawful discharge of a firearm. The one on the phone in front of him is there for bringing a set of blades to school. As time inched on, the three ahead of Lincoln were gone and Lincoln was next up.
He recalled the phone. The phone was on a square table in the east part of the main lobby area on a box-lock grid. Basically, a cuded protective box is placed over the phone when not in use to keep contact with the outside world to a minimum. That and that it required a single dollar to use, which isn't super common on school grounds in normal circumstances unless you do extra labor on grounds or during community trials.
With that said, he handed one of the officers his dollar. The officer takes it, holds it to the light to confirm its legitimacy, and puts it in an armored till. The officer nodded, prompting Lincoln that his five minutes started now. He quickly picks up the phone and dials the phone for the house.
It rings.
As soon as the phone picked up, there was a cacophony of bitter arguing on the other side of the phone. Lincoln said hello to his mother, who tries to put up a happy tone for the sake of her son. The two talked and laughed for a limited time. The mother asked if he was okay, Lincoln gave a simple answer. Lincoln asked about his siblings. There was a pause. He didn't understand why she paused so heavily, but it made him uneasy. His mother changed the subject completely, talking about how the neighbor Mr. Grouse slipped a disk the other day. Lincoln talked with her about the various things she switched to for almost the rest of his running time before finally asking if they were planning to visit him on his birthday. The mother sniffled and said they'd be there, obviously upset. Rather it was about the arguing from the start of the call or having to celebrate her son's birthday in a juvenile reform school was unknown at the time. Before he could ask what happened, he has cut off by the officer. His time was up. He had no more money to stand in line. All he did was hung up the phone and walked away.
When his birthday came, no one showed up. No letters were sent. No gifts were mailed to him. Not even a call on the phone explaining why they couldn't come. Just a cold, silent day alone.
But now, things started to fall into place.
"I get it now...he left because of me…" Lincoln said, snapping back into reality.
Lori laughed.
"Shut up!" she said playfully. "Yeah, he was stressed you were..g-gone, but it hasn't your fault. T-Thing were bad here after you left anyway, so there was more to it than that."
Lincoln gazed at the drunk Lori, lost.
"T-Then, what happened between mom and dad?" he asked.
Lori shrugged.
"Dunno" she said pouring another drink. "Mom gets kinda upset when I ask, so it must have been something prrreeetttty bad."
She takes a drink, as well do Lincoln. Seeing how bad things have become since he was last here, he felt like this was or the best.
"So….about you.." started Lincoln.
Lori leans in and flutters her eyes and gives him a wide smile.
"What about me?" she asked in a eerily flirtatious farsetto.
Lincoln leaned back in his chair, not finding that display safe.
"That's weird. You're being weird-stop being weird," he demanded.
She laughs at her brother's response.
"I was just joking, Lincoln!" she said, stilling holding her strange farsetto.
Lincoln shakes the thought. Her lust fueled voice, joke or not, didn't sit well with him at all.
"W-Why aren't you at college somewhere again?" asked Lincoln.
Lori pushes back her seat and sighs. She takes another sip, this time from the bottle rather her glass. Clearly getting drunk to a point her slur was no longer something that could be ignored. With a hiccup, she answers.
"Welp...mom said she needed help around the house since...d-d-dad moved away...w-with Lily and-"
"Dad has Lily?" asked Lincoln in shock.
"Judge...J-udge said…'Fuck it-give him the baby', pretty much. A-As I was saying, before your cute little face interrupted me.." she said suggestively.
Lincoln's face shifted to one of extreme discomfort.
"M-My cute little what?-"
"Mom needed help" she resumed, disregarding Lincoln's question. "Plus, I didn't really make the grades or the e-entry score, so I kinda just settled and started working to try help o-out."
Lincoln sighs.
"And Leni?" he asked.
"D-Dropout. Not like she h-had that many option while in school. Her grades were so poor, it didn't even matter. But m-om said..*hiccup*..mom s-s-said if she-if she was going to drop out, s-she'd have to work too. Too bad she sucks at…*hiccup*..everything."
Lincoln sighs and grips his hair.
"W-What about the others?" asked Lincoln.
"Y-You mean besides Lynn?I-I figured she told you what happened?" asked Lori.
Lincoln just nodded.
Lori laughs hysterically.
"Oh, God!" she said as she takes a drag of her cigarette. "I-If you see how much of a sad circus of..*hiccup*..dysfunction this family has become, you'll lose it! Just wait until then get home later."
Lincoln had no idea what awaits him when the rest of his family gets home. To see how far the first three sisters have fallen from grace was already alarming, along with the fact his father was no longer around added a lot of extra weight he just wasn't at all prepared for. He sits there and worries silently. Lori, still smiling turns up the vaporwave on the radio and takes off her hoodie. Lincoln noticed the sound of the music increase and hears the movement and looks up. He noticed Lori was wearing a light blue crop top. The crop top was unusually small on her. So much so, it could have just doubled at some sort of push-up bra, for they made her breast nearly pop out of her shirt. Lincoln quickly pieced the elements in the room and realizes that now would be the best time to get out of the kitchen before this could escalate further.
Lincoln stares at his sister with deep worry and confusion. She just as there. When she winked at him, Lincoln has limit the very pinnacle of his worry and now feel pretty unsafe.
"I think I should go up to my room…" said a nervously smiling Lincoln as he makes an attempt to get up.
Lori noticed this and sighs.
"You know…" she started. "Ronnie Anne has been asking about you."
Lincoln stops for a second.
"She has? W-What did you tell her?" he asked.
"That you'd be coming home soon," she said suggestively as she puts out her cigarette. "She was worried you guys wouldn't be a thing since me and Bobby took a break."
Lincoln raises his eyebrow at her.
"You and Bobby? On a break? Was I gone THAT long?" he said in jest.
Lori just laughs.
"You know, she's been into a lot of bad stuff lately.." she teased.
Lincoln looked at her.
"What do you mean by that? W-What is she doing?" he asked, worried about Ronnie Anne.
Lori just slowly shook her head.
"Let's not talk about her…" she says as she stands up. "Let's talk about...you and me."
Lincoln gets up and backs away slowly before Lori nearly tackles him into a hug. Lincoln's face was basically buried in her breast face first, He could barely breathe and have grown red in the face. Not blushing, but due to the lack of oxygen. He tries to break away, but can't. Rather it's twisted fate or Lori's drunk strength, he wasn't breaking embrace. She picks him up and started walking to the couch in the living room.
"B-Bad touch! Amber alert! Stranger danger! Help!" Lincoln yelped.
"Oh, com'n…" Lori said as she sits him on the couch. "You're fresh out. You'd assume every ex-con would be looking forward to something like this."
"I-I'm twelve!" shouted Lincoln.
"You're a growing boy, then" she says with a smile. "Don't be scared."
Lincoln starts to shiver when he hears a loud groan from upstairs.
"LYNN!" yelled Leni. "Lori is at it again!"
A loud gasp is heard.
Lynn quickly flies down the stairs and sighs.
"Made it in time…" she said under her breathe.
"Lynn, go back to your room!" Lori demanded.
"Lynn, DON'T go back to your room!" Lincoln demanded.
Lynn shook her head.
"Lori, you know you can't handle your drinks. Lincoln is your BROTHER-your family member. He just got back home. Look at him-you're scaring him."
Lori looks down at Lincoln. She studies him. Lincoln sat in his uniform shaking, sweating cold sweat and looking like his heart was going to blow up in his chest from fear. Lori shook her head and covered her mouth. Her face grows red with embarrassment. She looks at herself and realize her attire was hyper sexual. She quickly covers herself up with her hoodie back in the kitchen. She walks slowly to Lincoln with watery eyes.
"I-I'm sorry you had to see me like that-I dunno what came over me!" she said honestly, clearly shameful.
"You should feel bad, you pedo-whore!" yelled Leni from her room.
"Leni, hush! I got it! It's fine-it's over! Just...shut the door and look for a job!" shouted Lynn from the bottom of the stairs.
Leni groans and shuts the door while Lori it's on the couch, unable to look at Lincoln out of shame.
"Lincoln…" she said, clearly her drunkenness starting to fade a bit.
"Y-Yeah?" replied Lincoln as he scoots away from her.
"You...know I love you, right?" Lori asked.
Lynn's brow raised and she shook her head.
"Yeeaahh...not the best set of words to use right now, ain't it?" said Lynn with a snark.
"Shut up, ya con…" said Lori.
"At least I'm not a pedo" said Lynn with a laugh.
"I-I am NOT a pedo!" snapped Lori.
"Then...what do you call that?" Lynn asked.
"It was….I-It was….uh…" Lori started.
"Nothing" said Lincoln.
Lori and Lynn looked at him with lost faces.
"Lori, I will pretend this never happened if you promise it won't happen again…" said Lincoln, still not willing to look Lori in the eye.
"Y-Yeah, that works for me," Lori said quickly, wanting this conversation to disappear.
Lincoln turns his head around to look at Lynn, hoping for some approval.
Lynn shrugs. "Whatever ya want, bro" she says unenthusiastically. "I said the same thing when she did it to me."
Lincoln turned white.
"Wait-what?-"
"Nevermind that!" said Lori as she walks to her mother's room with a nervous expression. "Let's not talk about this anymore!"
She shuts the door behind her. Lincoln turns to see Lynn with an empty liquor bottle in her hand. She walks to the porch in the icy rain and sits it on the step. She sighs at stares to the road before looking at her ankle monitor once more. She walks back inside and shuts the door.
"Why...why did you do that?" asked Lincoln.
"It's a signal we came up with to warn whenever Lori is drunk," said Lynn as she walks over to him. "She gets like that sometimes with random boys around...ever since her and Bobby took their little break and stuff."
Lincoln darts his eyes around.
"Didn't you just say she tried that with you? Why would it only be boys is she tried to-" Lincoln started.
Lynn flashed him a face. Lincoln looks at Lynn up and down and thinks on Lynn's overall mannerisms and traits. With that in mind, he realized why Lori would do that.
"Nevermind" he said.
"Look, you wanna just...hang in the room with me until everyone else gets home? You might need someone to talk to…" asked Lynn honestly.
Lincoln sighs and accepts the invite without saying much of anything else. The two walk upstairs and into the Lynn's room. Lynn turns on the radio back to the heavy rock beat with hip hop overtones. Lincoln sighs.
"You...listen to Draco 47 too, huh?" asked Lincoln, looking at her with a weak smile.
She smiles.
"Yeah, this is my favorite album by him" she replied.
