Author's Note: Last time, Lincoln seemed a bit shook after hearing Lori's story about Leni, but that's not the last revelation he will face before the sun sets. What will his parents do? What ideas does he or his sisters have in mind? Will his anxiety worsen? Hopefully not, but only time will tell.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Nickelodeon. No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 7: Joker In The Pack
When there ever was a problem among the Loud family, whether it was about room placement or deciding where to vacation, Lincoln always had a solution. Even though some of his past plans were far-fetched to some of his siblings, the way he tried to accommodate them was one of the things they loved most about him. Alas, Lincoln ultimately came face to face with a quandary that one would probably never recover from. At a time like this, he didn't have his buddy Clyde to help him. It was a time he had to deeply converse with his sisters about the happenings in the house.
Lincoln sat next to one of the girls that witnessed what happened to his second eldest sister. Luna hadn't been her cheery self since the incident. She had a feeling of despondence and consternation written all over her as she starred deeply into her reflection in the lake. She wasn't in her usual attire, as she wore a grey t shirt over a long sleeve stripped shirt with jeans. The roadie wasn't writing lyrics for a song or enjoying the summer weather. Instead, she slowly strummed on an acoustic guitar with the constant reoccurring images of what she witnessed, haunting her. Turning her head, she saw him place his right hand on the strings of her guitar.
She sighed. "Hey dude."
Lincoln moved his hand away. "How are you holding up?"
"Not well, as one could tell." She said before messing up a chord. "Dang it!"
Lincoln refrained himself from chuckling. "Could you stop strumming for a moment, we really need to talk."
"Sure, what about?"
"Leni's still distraught over.. you know, and Lori is worried sick, but you saw what happened. You gotta tell me."
Luna felt butterflies in her stomach. "No can do dude, you'll end up havin' sleepless nights."
"But you have to, I-"
"No way little bro, not happening." Luna interrupted before strumming down on all 6 strings.
"Luna, just tell me, I'll be fine." Lincoln pleaded before hearing louder guitar chords in response. He asked her a couple more times, only to hear her yell over him. Rather surprised of his sister's abnormal behavior and realizing yelling back wouldn't work, he had finally lost his patience. With swift arm movements, he stood, grabbed the guitar from his sister and launched it like a football into the lake.
"WHAT THE HELL DUDE?! That was a limited edition D-21!" Luna bitterly yelled.
"Well I'm sorry, but I'm glad to have your full attention!" Lincoln replied, re-obtaining his cool.
Luna starred at her guitar for a brief moment, which was now at least 60 feet away. Luna then gave Lincoln a glare. His first instinct was to run as he would expect a beating, but he couldn't ignore the importance of everyone's safety. After a short while, she looked away and sat back down. Lincoln followed suit.
"Luan. She didn't want me to tell you this, it was confidential."
"Wait, you spoke to her since yesterday?"
"We do share a room, dude." Luna responded.
Lincoln nodded. "Right. Since it's only between you two.."
"Woah little bro, after what you just did, you're surely hearin' what happened." She said, sounding a little cross. "But it's alright to cry if you're spooked."
Lincoln gave her a wry laugh and a nervous look.
Luna looked towards the lake. "Initially, Luan and I were talking about... the noises you and I heard the other night. We both agreed on tellin' everyone else about your belief, so we exited the room, and there it was."
Lincoln gasped. "You s-saw it?"
"Heavens no, I would've screamed a lot louder if so."
Lincoln prepared himself. "What did you see?"
Luna had to control herself as she began to relive the moment.
She looked her brother deep down. "She was off the ground, and appeared... asphyxiated, as if she was choking. Luan and I talked all night. We don't know much, but one thing's for sure. It's evil, and it's out to get us."
Lincoln was severely shook in the least. It sounded way worse than being pushed to the floor. For one, he was able to breathe during the ordeal. He though nothing could cap what he heard from the 15-year old, until he heard her next words.
"Also." Luna hesitated. "There's something you should know about Luan."
"What now?! Did something happen last night?" Lincoln asked, triggering memories of his unpleasant dream.
"No, it's actually something health-wise. It would be cool if you don't think any different of her, she can't control it."
Lincoln was used to hearing shocking facts about people he'd known for awhile, but what Luna revealed to him next was the frosting on the cake. Needless to say, he couldn't be more wrong about everyone's welfare being top priority.
The day went, revealingly enough, with no incident. Besides Leni not wanting to leave the comfort of her parents' bedroom and Luan wanting to be alone, the majority spent most of their time outside. It allowed them to take their mind off of things, to distract themselves from their feelings of dismay. Lincoln stayed out the longest, in which he didn't go back inside til the evening. Throughout the day, he ate from Lori's cooler, and he was just in time for the chaos. He was barely at the end of the foyer when he heard yelling from the living room.
"I apologized to her, okay?!" Lynn yelled.
"Then why is she still hiding in her room?" Lola asked, demanding an answer.
"I don't see you trying to comfort her." Lynn retorted.
"Well...ugh!" Lola yelled before storming off towards the back exit of the house. Lana and Wendy followed her.
Lincoln wanted to avoid a confrontation, but telling by the sound of things, it was only going to get worse. He stepped out from a wall he hid behind and approached them. Everyone except a few were present. Before he could get a word out, Lynn stopped him.
"You!" Lynn started as she stood from her seat.
Instant regret.
"Lynn Jr." Rita ordered. "Sit back down, being angry isn't going to solve anything."
"Thanks for scaring everyone with your fake story, Lincoln. Now everyone believes they're real, thanks to you." The athlete ranted.
"It's not like that, L-Luna told me what happened." He responded while looking at Luna.
"Yeah.." Lynn sighed before giving her brother a look of vexation. "She also told us about your little scare the other night."
Lincoln and Luna glanced at each other with looks of embarrassment.
Lynn Sr. chimed in. "Lincoln. It's okay if you feel uncomfortable sleeping in a new environment, it's natural. You know, the first time I ever visited this island-"
"I know what I saw. I'm not going crazy or anything" Lincoln interrupted, now focusing his attention on Rita and Lynn Sr. He couldn't understand how they could appear to be calm after what happened. "I didn't know how to tell you, but what attacked Leni also attacked me."
This wasn't new to the Loud siblings, but Rita and Lynn Sr. jumped from their seats.
"Oh, come on! You guys are going crazy for nothing. He's nuts, and so is Luna for believing him." Lynn Jr. shouted without a care.
"I know what I saw, mate." Luna retorted with venom.
"Yeah, don't you have somewhere to be riding a bike or something." Lincoln added.
Lynn took off her helmet in disgust.
"You should've told us!" The matriarch and patriarch said in unison. "If you children aren't safe-"
They stopped dead cold in the middle of their sentence when they heard a scream come from upstairs. It was shortly followed by Lori running down the stairs at full speed. Her face was red and she was visibly shaking, as if she went outside under dressed in subzero weather. Everyone was taken aback. The eldest sister struggled to get her words out. Her speech was incoherent due to how shaken up she was. However, what caught Lincoln's eye was how Lori didn't blink once.
Lincoln assisted his parents as they helped Lori sit on one of the sofas. It took her a moment to get her thoughts together, something Lincoln and Luna understood completely. Luna stood close to her parents and Lori as Lynn Jr. stood just feet behind them, enormously baffled. After being handed a glass of water by Lisa, Lori downed it and held a hand over her chest. The anxiety felt in the room could be cut with a razor blade.
"I was doing my hair in the bathroom with the door agape. The curling iron was plugged in, and I was about to turn it off, but something I saw in the reflection of the mirror literally threw me off for a moment."
Everyone nodded in discomfort. Lynn glared at her sister, her freckled cheeks bloodshot.
"I didn't see anyone in the hall behind me, so I just packed up my stuff and left the bathroom. Afterwards, I went to my room."
Lincoln gulped as he thought how much of a bad idea that was. A new priority he had in mind: Nobody can be alone in the house. She began to shake again.
"The door.. it was closed behind me. I put on a pair of sweats and out of the blue, I begin hearing footsteps nearby. I jumped and ran to my bed after a vase fell from where I heard the sounds. It was silent for a few moments, so I slowly got off the bed. Next thing I know, I feel.."
Everyone leaned in to make sure they don't miss a word.
"I f-felt a hand touch my right shoulder, and then a voice whispered in my ear: The bad ones are coming.
"W-What?" Rita said articulately.
"It was the voice of a young girl, like, younger than me, mom! I heard it louder two more times before I literally flipped off the bed and flung open the door." Lori said, feeling her heart racing.
Lincoln and Luna looked at each other for a brief moment before taking their turn to speak.
"Did you look behind you?" Luna questioned.
"I didn't have to."
"You see, mom, dad? It's all true. We just hope this could end." Lincoln said as calmly as possible.
"We need to take affirmative action. Rita, I'm contacting the real-estate agent pronto!" Lynn Sr. announced while fishing in his pocket for his phone. What nobody expected was to see a baseball flying towards a mirror in living room, just feet away from where Lisa sat. It shattered into pieces, catching everyone off guard. In an instant, they turned towards where the ball came from, and there stood an enraged Lynn. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were peeled.
"Lynn.. what the actual fu-"
"We're not about to leave the best freaking vacation house we ever been to because everyone's convinced that this place is haunted!"
"Honey, you JUST BROKE A MIRROR!" Rita yelled back.
"Bickering isn't going to solve this issue, but one can receive up to seven years of bad luck for doing that." Lincoln added unsurely.
Lynn Sr. was stunned by how the day had turned out, but he continued to call Mr. Masterson. The first attempt went to voicemail.
"You aren't serious, dad." Lynn said angrily.
"You seemed serious about throwing that fastball." Rita responded.
"But you know Lori has issues with hearing voices."
Lori was being comforted by Luna when she turned around at the mention of her name.
"I literally do not."
"You literally do. Anyone remember that time she was jealous of Leni getting too much attention from that kid Clyde? She was talking to herself in the bathroom, then answered herself back. That one belongs in the looney bin."
"You wouldn't understand that situation, and besides, what I heard was real and very frightening! I wouldn't just make that up! Lincoln is right, at least three unpleasant things have happened in this house so far, an it's only been nearly three days! Were not crazy, but you are for actually throwing that ball in our direction." Lori said, nearly blue in the face.
"I gotta commend you dude, I only saw Leni and I was barely able to control my tears." Luna chimed in.
As Lynn was being chewed out by Rita in the kitchen, Lynn Sr. finally put his phone away after five failed attempts to reach the real estate agent. Some, such as Lincoln and Luna, couldn't agree more that it was time to leave the vacation home behind. Something seemed to happen everyday, and they feared the predicament would only worsen.
Lynn Sr. nervously sighed. "We can't leave unless the agent arrives."
"I must add that someone needs to speak to Lucy about this. She'd have the knowledge of such an eerie subject." Lisa stated.
"Where she at anyway?" Luna questioned.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her much either." Lincoln added.
That night, Lynn Jr. had gone to bed early. Rita told her not to complain about anything for the rest of the trip, an addition to having to help the housemaid clean the broken glass. She had a lot on her mind as she sat in the kitchen alone with the over overhead light on. She was always there for her children when something was the matter, when there was a brawl happening, or when they were scared. Whenever she teamed up with her husband, they always figured out a way to resolve issues, most issues. However, it was different now. For the second consecutive night, Lynn had to comfort his second oldest daughter back to sleep and Rita was left alone to ponder what had recently been burdening her children.
Lincoln and some of his sisters were in the library room, which had four chairs and a mahogany coffee table with a glass center. Besides the kitchen, it was the only lit room in the house. To no surprise, they couldn't bring themselves to sleep. In an attempt to distract themselves, Lincoln, Lisa and Luna agreed on playing a card game, hoping morning would arrive quickly. Lori, on the other hand, was reading a book. Like Lincoln, she was determined to keep the family safe. She felt she was responsible and old enough to protect her siblings from the anomalies.
"Hmm, I call hearts." Lincoln said as he placed down an eight card.
"Okay, mate. Ace of hearts, pick up." Luna responded.
"Well, you started the fire." Lisa responded before dropping two aces. "Lincoln, anything useful in your hand?"
"No, not really... except this last ace." He said with a grin of confidence.
Luna dropped her hand on the table. "Drats! That's what, sixteen cards I have to grab?" She asked rhetorically.
"A great way to pass the time." Lisa said with a chuckle.
"Sure." Luna responded sarcastically. "You know, Chunk is great at playing Crazy Eights. Only if he were here."
"Cool.. wait, no. We wouldn't want that." Lincoln responded while looking behind himself. Luna and Lisa did the same. They began to feel paranoid again. They were about to continue their game when their attention was drawn by Lori slamming books into a nearby shelf.
"Lori. The library room is suppose to be a quiet room."
Lori approached them with a two large books in her hands, which peaked their interest. "My bad Lisa, I'm just looking for something."
"What you got there, Lori?" Lincoln questioned, his eyes wide with wonder.
"Just this book about.. well, you know." She responded before everyone felt goosebumps. Lori took a deep breath.
"One of these talk about this guy that can bust a ghost in any house. He even has useful tips, like using special guns."
The book sounded awfully familiar to him. "Is that by any chance called: Hunter Spector's guide to defeating the undead?"
"Y-Yes. How did you know?"
"He has a TV show, but all the info is fake. I'm sorry, but you might as well put it back where you found it." Lincoln sighed.
"Fine, well, maybe this will interest you." Lori responded before dropping a different book on the table. It was hardcover, had a black color and consisted of at least 400 pages. The book was also in poor condition. Dust clouds immediately rose when the book made contact. The four Loud children took a moment to clear their lungs after inhaling the dust. After a short coughing session, Luna wiped the remaining dust off the cover. They definitely were interested in this book.
"Where did you find this, behind the bookshelf, mate?." Luna said before coughing one last time.
Lincoln took a closer look. "Well, it reads-"
"History of the North Peninsula Island." Lisa finished. Everyone looked at each other before opening the book. The corners of the pages were a slight yellow and everything was written in script, as if it was the original copy of it's kind. However, the book wasn't written in chronological order. Strangely enough, it was in categories. After further observation, Lincoln realized it was the perfect book regarding their recent scares.
"This can very well tell us the history of this house. Shall we start?" He asked.
"Why would this house be mentioned in this book? This place seems fairly new." Luna said with a befuddled look. She was quickly taken aback when she noticed the light flicker on and off. She went from her lounging position to sitting with her back straight and quite tense.
"Did anyone of you catch that?" She asked quickly.
"Yeah, that's normal. Perhaps, the light bulbs need to be substituted." Lisa responded.
"We should put the cards away and see what we find out." Lincoln encouraged as he quickly rushed through the table of contents pages. The quick skipping of the pages was something he'd regret sometime later. Luna nodded to both Lisa and Lincoln as Lori took a seat. It was then the lights flickered again. This time, Luna and Lori stood from their chairs and held one of their fingers up, indicating they were listening carefully for something.
"Ease your nerves, you two. Remain calm, the light bulbs just need to be replaced, again I tell you this." Lisa stated.
"But their not suppose to make sounds when they flicker." Lori said.
"It sounded like.. the light switch. Am I going crazy?" Luna added.
Everyone remained quiet for a couple minutes as they began to notice things about the room. For the first time, they began to notice how odd certain things looked. The bedrooms, kitchen and living room seemed modernized, compared to other rooms. However, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the house, especially the room they were currently in. The decorative molding, furniture and even the decorations on nearby shelves and tables seemed very different to the things they were used to seeing. Lincoln had began to question the house they currently inhabited.
He broke the silence.
"Luna, you may have been wrong about this house being new." He said before pointing to a grandfather clock and some antiques on a high shelf.
"I should've said this sooner." Lisa whispered. "Based off of my observations a couple days ago, this place may be updated, but it probably was built decades ago."
Lincoln and his two older sisters shook their heads in surprise. What else was new.
"Probably?" Lori asked with clarification.
"It was certainly constructed a long time ago." Lisa replied.
The small group stood close to each other before looking around again. What Lisa stated became almost too obvious to them. Reacting to her new feeling of trepidation, Lori cleared her throat.
"I speak for everyone when I say this. It's literally time for bed." She announced with a yawn.
"Okay, but first I need to get bun-bun off the couch." Lincoln said with a look of concern. Luna and Lori looked at each other and raised an eyebrow.
"We've been through a lot thus far, so don't judge me, I'm only eleven." He looked down before speed-walking to the living room to retrieve his beloved stuff animal. He didn't need to undergo anymore traumatizing events.
"You sure you can sleep? W-What if something happens?" Luna asked her older sister.
"Please, please don't say that." Lori said sternly. She still hadn't fully recovered from what she had encountered earlier.
"Besides, sleep deprivation is bad for the human body, in case none of you knew that common knowledge." Lisa added before heading to the room she shared with Lily. The 11-year old had made his way back to the library room when the two teenagers slowly exited the room and headed towards the stairs. Luna turned around before noticing Lincoln wasn't behind her. She got Lori's attention and quickly ran to her brother. Lincoln stood over the coffee table as he starred at the old textbook.
"Lincoln? Come on, let's go dude." Luna anxiously whispered.
Nobody was brave enough to turn the light off, so Lincoln nodded as the two made their way to their respective rooms. He took the old black book with him.
Rita sat in one of the kitchen chairs, half asleep with her head held up with one arm. It had been three hours since the remaining Loud children called it a night, and she was the only one awake in the entire house. It was well past midnight, but that factor didn't stop her from writing in her notepad. Similar to a time she tried to write her own book, solely based on her life as a dentist, she also had a journal that she recorded her thoughts into daily.
There were a ton of things she had to figure out before she could tell herself it was time for bed. It wasn't easy figuring out a solution to a problem so unusual, frightening so peculiar, besides vacating the place. She told Lynn Sr. it would be best to leave this place as soon as possible and not wait to find out what possibly lurked in the shadows, but he didn't want to have the money spent on the vacation days be wasted. He dearly wanted to speak with Mr. Masterson, concerning the no reimbursement policy. Because that couldn't be done as of that moment, she spent her recent hours starring at her paper while tapping a pencil against her head. Every once in a while, she'd stop and read what she wrote.
Dear Diary,
Today, my family had another unsettling day in a place that I would consider a dream home. It's way bigger that our regular house, and nobody has yet complained about sharing rooms or having guests in the house. Other than the immense seclusion from other people, I'd buy this place in a heartbeat, if Lynn and I had the funds. At least, that's how I felt when I first saw the place. It's different now, very different. I almost cried myself to sleep when thinking about what happened with Leni, and seeing how scared Luna and Luan were only made things harder for me emotionally. I just couldn't write yesterday, which is why I'm out here so late. Unfortunately, today, things weren't any better. Some of the kids were too afraid to be anywhere in the house alone, Luan refused to answer to anyone that tried to speak to her and I had another argument with Lynn Jr. I hope she didn't take going to bed early too harshly, but there are bigger problems. Lincoln had experienced something that he didn't even think to tell Lynn and I about until today. Lori had also seen or heard something, and I can't help but wonder if other things happened, or will happen. I hope everyone sleeps through the night with no incident, especially Luan.
After reading this aloud to herself, Rita competently sighed before thinking to add one more sentence. She began to add on to her diary entry when the sound of something shattering hooked her attention. She was already on edge about what had been happening with her children, and she knew whatever broke wasn't outside. Out of instincts, she gripped her pencil tightly by her side as she slowly rose form her chair. She anxiously made her way out of the kitchen, one foot in front of the other. The living room was dark, but she was able to see the outlining of the furniture. Her vision finally began to adjust right before she slammed into a corner table.
"Dang it, dang it, dang it!" She whispered loudly as she clutched her knee. Hoping not to wake anyone, she turned on the living room lights and just inches in front of her was a vase, shattered in a thousand pieces. She was relieved that it wasn't one of her kids or Lynn Sr. that inadvertently hurt themselves in the dark, but that thought led to a spiral of emotions. She felt her skin crawl when she realized something else. Nobody was in sight, and she knew objects couldn't just fall on their own. Every window in the living room was closed shut. Besides, she doubted that a breeze could knock over a porcelain vase. She took a quick walk around the bottom floor of the cottage, but saw no signs of anyone in the hallway or any other rooms.
Okay, an object falls and breaks, things like this happen all the time. Rita thought in an attempt to ease herself.
She quickly cleaned up the pieces and headed back to the kitchen. Right before she took her first step into the room, she was greeted by something terribly wrong. She nearly screamed and froze in place when noticing every kitchen cabinet was now open. The size of the kitchen was overwhelming to begin with, being that there were at least twelve cabinets around the room. From her still position, she looked around and once again, saw no indication that someone was near after a brief moment of breathing exercises. She had never experienced anything peculiar as this, strikingly since some of the cabinets required a ladder in order to reach, which made little sense to her.
Without question, the mother of eleven urgently trashed the broken vase and rushed to close the cabinets. She could've claimed a record for closing the cabinets as fast as she did. She only hoped it was all a dream, but she knew it wasn't. She was the only person in the entire cottage that was awake, and it scared her to no end. She only had herself and the extra sharp pencil gripped tightly in her right hand. Her diary/notepad remained where she left it, so she placed it in one of her pink robe pockets. However, it was her cellphone she had forgotten on a counter, which began to ring right when she was about to exit. Her heart rate increased slightly when she turned around to see it. In response, she speed-walked to her phone. The caller ID was one she didn't recognize. A little voice inside her head told her not to answer the call, but her curiosity got the best of her.
"H-Hello?" She said before receiving static from the other end, a sound similar to what would be heard when an old TV receives no signal or input. The white noise was eerie, but for reasons she couldn't even explain, she kept the device to her ear instead of hanging up. Over the island in the kitchen, pots and pans that hung from hooks slowly began to sway back and forth. Every window in the room was closed, and Rita was none the wiser to what was happening right behind her. She continued waiting while looking out a window. It was then she caught her reflection.
Hmm, I look pretty good without makeup. She thought, before something else caught her eye. Her eyes went wider than ever as she slowly turned around to see the pots and pans swaying back and forth like pendulums.
Once she laid eyes on the swinging objects, they began to pick up speed. She kept her back to the counter, almost ready to bolt out of the house when the situation became dangerous. Once she took a step closer to an exit, the aforementioned cabinets flung open before her, one cabinet door smacking her in the head like an abusive husband. The cooking ware started banging into each other violently til one flew off. A pot with a handle went off one of the hooks and nearly struck her as it went through the window just inches away from her.
One would've thought she was going down a roller coaster drop when she screamed running to her and Lynn's bedroom. She ignored the fact that she stubbed her toe on a table while running, including the pain she felt from hitting her knee earlier. The kitchen ware stopped moving right after she was spooked. It was a moment she'd probably need therapy in order to recover from.
At that exact moment, in a bedroom not far away, was Luna. She laid in her bed when she was awoken by the scream of her mother. She didn't know it was that which caused this, in which she was used to waking up during the night. Sometimes she did it to work on her music, and other times just to grab a quick glass of milk or respond to a craving for food. She slowly sat up and wiped her eyes to rid them of crust. The room was nearly pitch black, but she had impeccable vision, to the point that an atmosphere considered "dark" wasn't difficult for her to navigate her way around.
Her eyes adjusted within seconds before something caught her attention. Her bedding was a mess, as the quilt was wrapped around her torso and her sheet was on the floor. She was always a calm sleeper, as her sheets were always neat as she slept. It was odd to her, but she took the quilt off herself and dismissed it. She shared the room with her close sister Luan. The two had very different interests, but it didn't affect their emotional band. They shared stories and confided in each other whenever then needed someone to talk to. The rock star of the family thought to have a nighttime conversation with Luan, something they often did at times. She glanced at her sister's bed when things in the house became more chaotic. She was the only one in the room.
"Luan?" She whispered before jumping from the bed. She turned on the lights to double check. She definitely was nowhere to be seen. Luna thought about where she could've gone when she began to freak out.
"She never wakes during the night, unless.. oh no no no no no..." She repeated to herself before anxiously exiting the room in a hurry. The anxiety-ridden teenager searched the entire second floor of the house for Luan, including her sibling's bedrooms, but to no avail. There was no trace of her, so without thinking, she ran to her second closest sibling.
Lincoln was sound asleep in his room. Surprisingly, he didn't hear his mother's scream and it was the first night he was sleeping adequately at the vacation home. This luck wouldn't last through the early morning as he was awaken by rapid knocking at his door. Unlike Luna, his vision wasn't as good in the dark. His bedroom door was quickly opened when he saw a figure approaching him. Almost in an instant, he brought his knees to his chest and scooted towards his headboard, shaking in fear. His sister noticed this.
"Please don't h-hurt me." He whimpered.
"Lincoln, its me, mate. It's Luna."
Thus far, his experience at this house wasn't remotely close to what he'd anticipated. At this point, he was uncertain after being on edge for so long.
"Oh yeah, what's Luna's favorite color and music idol?"
Luna could talk about her favorite music idol all day and night, but she was too urgent to find her sister. "Purple and Mick Swagger, now c'mon Lincoln!" She replied sternly.
Lincoln stopped shaking and rose from his bed.
"Heh heh, my bad. Why are you here, something happen?" He asked, dreading the idea of another fear-provoking event.
"It's Luan, she's not in the room and I can't find her. Remember what I told you earlier about what can happen when she's overly stressed?"
Lincoln nodded before realizing his sleep session was over. It was time for him to help his sisters, something he had no problem doing. He remembered how Luan felt when Lynn accused her of hurting Leni. The 14-year old was devastated, and no one besides Luna had seen her since that moment in time. She had spent the entire day in her room. Lincoln was wise enough to know many negative decisions can be made from being alone for a long period of time, especially if one is upset or depressed. He cared for his sisters equally, so it became vital that he'd find her.
Luna took a deep breath and promptly exited the room as Lincoln followed her. The two knew to stay close together. Luna double checked the bedrooms, only to see the rest of the girls sound asleep, but no Luan. In an instant, Luna pointed towards the staircase to direct Lincoln where to go next. There was light at the bottom of the spiral stairs, reminding them of the talk they had in the mini library. It was an odd staircase. Lincoln nodded to her sister, before the light reminded him of something else. In his mind, he heard the screams from his recent nightmare. They manifested his brain, almost making him relive it all. This somehow struck him more than what he encountered his first time alone in the house. It felt impossible to become acclimated to such an environment, despite it's intriguing looks. He stood at the top of the stairs.
Luna starred at him with confusion. From her perspective, he seemed to be in a trance. He stood motionless with an intense stare towards the light. All of this made her uncomfortable in the least. The scariest thing a girl her age could imagine, besides rejection, is coming face to face with the paranormal. Whatever inhabited the house had definitely made it's presence known. It had been heard and felt in more ways than one, but never seen. She knew there was a such thing as clairvoyance, which left her hoping Lincoln wasn't a medium of some kind.
She felt more worry when Lincoln's face began to change. He still kept an intense stare, but he began to look fearful, as if something was approaching him. He began to slowly open his mouth and whimper when Luna took action. To prevent things from escalating, she yelled his name in his ear while shaking him back and forth. He gasped before looking into his sister's eyes.
"Oh, man. My dream... it's like I was reliving it all. What am I going to do?"
It was an understatement that Luna strongly disliked seeing her siblings feel hopeless, especially her only brother.
"Lincoln, dude. I'm also scared shitless, but we're not going to lose our sanity while were here." Luna said reassuringly. It was easier said than done, but the love and respect the Loud siblings had for each other from time to time was nearly unbeatable. Lincoln nodded at his sister before they made their way down the staircase.
Given that a couple lights were on at the bottom floor of the house, the duo ran through the house as if there was a countdown for finding their sister. It certainly seemed this way to them. After their slight delay, Luan could've been anywhere. They ignored feelings of drowsiness by allowing their determination to take over and aimed to search every room, starting with the parent's bedroom. The room door was wide open, and upon entering, their eyes met Leni. While sucking on her thumb, she laid quietly in their parent's bed. It was a bit relieving to see her sleeping well. However, it was another thing they noticed that brought their anxiety to it's boiling point.
"W-Where's mom and dad?" Lincoln asked while feeling flustered.
"Shush!" Luna whispered. It was that instant they heard their mother's voice from down the hall. One thing Lincoln and his sisters knew about Rita was how calm she was when things got out of hand. In spite of that, she didn't sound like herself. They were too far away to hear her exact words, but she sounded delirious, almost scared out of her wits. As such, they both detected a major red flag.
"Follow me." Luna added with a serious look before the two quietly and urgently exited the master bedroom. They made their way down the hall, to the kitchen. Not wanting to walk in on anything, they stopped near a wall that accompanied the fridge. Simultaneously, they lowered their heads and listened to Rita speak with Lynn. Telling by her speech, she sounded deadly serious.
Rita stood close to her husband, nearly shaking, while Lynn Sr. leaned against the sink with a worried look, almost identical to hers moments earlier. As a way to prevent more fear from stirring up inside the Loud children, she yearned to keep the incident between the two. Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy task. The kitchen looked untouched, as if nothing had taken place, except for one obvious thing.
"So your saying a pot, a pot I repeat, flew through this window, on it's own?" He articulated his last words.
"You need to believe what I'm saying." Rita said while red in the face.
"Rita-"
"Lynn! I'm not lying." She interrupted.
He looked at the silver pot and broken glass outside the window. After the recent events and by the look of things, he believed every word. He couldn't ignore his developing stress. He placed a hand over hers and despondently looked into her eyes.
"I know.. but what about our vacation? I just.. wanted you, the kids and I to have a good time, you know? Now it's thousands of dollars wasted, and they'll be truly disappointed when we tell them-"
"We won't, dudes. At least, we'll try not to be." Luna said after stepping out from behind the wall. She received looks of shock and worried confusion from her parents.
"Sure thing, but what did I hear about cabinets violently opening and closing at once?" Lincoln added, going from sounding reassuring to fearful.
"What are you two doing out here so late, by yourselves?" Rita asked while hugging the two tightly.
"Mom, we came to look for-"
"Is anyone else with you?"
"No, we even saw Leni was sound asleep." Lincoln responded with a slight smile. That smile faded when he noticed his dad starring out the window. From Lincoln's viewpoint, Lynn Sr. looked as if he saw tanks and buzzard choppers approaching. After Rita ended the hug session, he walked towards him.
"Dad?" He asked puzzled.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Lynn said no nobody in particular.
Lincoln leaned over the sink and looked outside. It was difficult to see the lake from their location. There were many trees, and the darkness made it all the more challenging. He couldn't understand what his dad was looking at, until he spotted something peculiar. Far away, something that one would mistake for a bush or a small tree, was a figure resembling a human. It was private property, so the thought of someone unknown being in the area was alarming. He squinted harder, and that's when he saw it. The 11-year old was stunned to see the figure had a distinctive ponytail. Only one person came to mind.
"Luna, what did you say you came to look for?" Lynn Sr. asked wide-eyed.
"Oh shoot, Luan!" She responded before the two ran towards the exit and out of the house. They ran at a speed even Lynn Jr. would be impressed by. Lincoln also did the same before stopping at the storm door to look at his mother.
"We both should stay inside, especially after what happened to Leni. Her and the little ones need to be looked after."
"Are you sure, because, you know." Lincoln asked while avoiding to mention what was unpleasant.
Rita rubbed one of her forearms.
"Mom, I just need to ask you." Lincoln said before taking a couple steps towards her. The discomfort in her eyes stood out, but he couldn't live blissfully among his family members anymore. It was time he'd become aware of their family history.
"How long has this been going on with Luan?"
Rita was taken aback. She was clueless as to how he figured it out. What Luna revealed to him earlier was something she never thought to tell her son. It was very confidential, something Luan was enormously sensitive about. Just twenty-four hours ago, only three people in their family knew about it. She sighed heavily. It was for Luan's safety, it was time.
"Your sister has been a sleepwalker since she was very young. We discovered that she could perform these complex behaviors while asleep when she was four. It rarely happens, but more often than not when she's stressed or depressed. It's also an addition to her insomnia, which is why it was vital for her to arrive here with both of her prescribed pills."
Lincoln nodded as he remembered Lynn Sr. telling his sister about pills before they departed from Royal Woods.
"It's much more common in children around the twins' age, but thankfully, they sleep without incident. The day the family doctor informed your dad and I that Luan would suffer from this disorder for the rest of her life, we were brought to tears. It's the first time this has ever happened while on her meds. Your dad and I both know she'd never skip a night, and we always found the best ways for her not to find out when they happen, but somehow, she always knew."
Lincoln had never felt more sorry for one of his siblings. He even felt more blue than the time Bobby broke up with Lori because of the way he treated Ronnie Anne during their double date, an incident he was involved in. Lincoln had his head down as he took in everything.
"Originally, Luna wasn't going to find out, but it was a few years ago when she saw it herself. One night, she nearly spilled her glass of milk when she saw Luan approach her like a zombie. Personally, I believe that's why Luna is somewhat protective of her." Rita added while trying to read her son's face.
"Well, is there a reason why my hair is white?" He had to wonder.
"Sure, look at your pop-pop. His hair was always the color it is now."
Lincoln grinned before thinking about his 14-year old sister. What she was going through wasn't something that should change their relationship. Everyone has their differences, and he always knew to be accepting of them. Moreover, it was a sad, yet a relieving conversation. It allowed him to take his mind off of the things that bothered him most. Shortly after the two had spoken, Rita opened the door, allowing Luna to enter. Surely, Luan was carried in by her father as he put a finger to his lips. Everyone nodded as they quietly went to the second floor of the house.
The five entered the aforementioned sister's bedroom, which was shortly followed by Luan being gently placed on her bed. She was lying on her side as her parents, Luna and Lincoln looked at her. She slept without a sound.
"She was just inches away from walking into that lake." Lynn Sr. said quietly.
"What?!" Rita automatically yelled, causing everyone to freeze as Luan began to yawn. She opened her eyes as everyone except Rita and Lynn took a step back.
"Luan, it's okay Luan." Lynn said softly.
Her vision was temporarily blurred, as she couldn't quite make out what she was seeing. It lasted about twenty seconds before her mind drifted again. Her eyes slowly closed before she turned to her other side, her back now facing them.
"Phew." The four voiced in unison.
"Well, it's been a crazy, crazy night, and it's getting late." Rita whispered.
"Getting late?" Lincoln responded sarcastically.
"Yes." She responded, knowing the question was rhetorical. "I decided it's best I'd stay here for the remainder of the night."
They couldn't agree more that it was a smart idea and equally as safe. Because she was a caring mother, she'd intended to watch over her fourth oldest daughter til she'd wake from her sleep. Lynn grabbed a chair from the lounge area on the second floor and placed it by their beds.
"Mom, won't you fall out?" Luna asked.
"Trust me, I'm not sleeping tonight."
"We'll speak in the morning, well, later today." Lynn said before wishing the four goodnight. Soon after, he took one last look at Luan before heading downstairs. He was still shook by what happened, including what Rita told him. Rita kissed Luan on her head while Luna showed her love for Lincoln.
"You don't have to hug so tightly." Lincoln said while returning the action.
"Just my way of saying thanks, bro."
"Don't mention it, we're all family, no matter what I found out about you people." Lincoln responded, receiving a laugh from his sister.
"You said you had a dream.. you think you can sleep alright in there?" Luna asked concerned.
"That dream is permanently tattooed in my memory, but I could sleep alone. Right now, I just choose not to." He responded with a smile before leaving for a short moment to find something he brought with him. He was glad he took advice from Clyde on the account of bringing a duffel bag.
Shortly after, Luna laid in her bed while Lincoln set his bedding at the foot of one of the beds, and within minutes, they were in another world. It was the longest nights of their lives, a search for their sister whey wish to never embark on again. Rita sat in her chair, thinking about what she underwent. It was something hard to believe in the least, but her kids were the main things on her mind. As she reread her diary with a flashlight from her phone and contemplated what should happen next, she didn't hear Lincoln's bedroom door open down the hall. Every night, there's something.
Author's Note: Well, I hope that wasn't a lot to take in. Yes, I could've ended this sooner, but it was necessary for the Loud parents to finally witness something close to what has been unsettling their kids. As for Lincoln finding an appealing piece of literature, things climb from there.
One of the most difficult challenges Lincoln may face with his sisters is simply being on the same page, as you could tell by Lynn's behavior. Will everyone's reactions to the recent events affect the way they view one another? Their bonds seems strong thus far, but it only takes one decision to create a domino effect. As always, I hope you enjoyed this.
