Lincoln had carried his sisters all the way to the park. His sisters had been asking him if he was alright. The makeup may cover the bags under his eyes, but did nothing else for his fake act. Lincoln reassured that nothing was wrong with him. He kept his eyes out for the woman in the frog hooded coat, but he had not seen her again thankfully since their last encounter.
"Haah… whew… here we are," Lincoln panted, letting Lola and Lana down while trying to catch his breath. It was obvious to the twins how shaken up he was from the mere suggestion that someone was possibly stalking them, yet it seemed like the presumption was thankfully wrong.
"You alright, Lincoln?" Lola requested, now starting to feel bad for requesting him to take them to the park. If they were not with him their older brother would not have made the rash decision to carry them in a hurry.
"Yeah, don't worry about me you two. I need to do more heavy lifting anyway," Lincoln reassured as he regained his breath. The young boy fixed his posture. The park was eerily empty, but the loud boy assumed that to a lot of people this heat was unbearable for them to handle, but the loud family had survived far worse temperatures outdoors before.
"You're the one who's making us worry to start with!" Lana tugged on his cheek as if to mimic their mother berating him. Lincoln kept a smile up over it until a familiar voice rung out.
"Hey, Dweeb!" they heard. The three heard the sound of a skateboard's wheels against the pavement, the dark skinned rider the same age as Lincoln stopping in front of them. She was wearing black jeans and a purple tank top for the searing summer heat.
"Ronnie Anne! It's great to see you…" Lincoln was ecstatic to see Ronnie Anne Santiago, who was known for being the toughest girl in his school until summer began. Now she was just another adolescent enjoying the few months they had free. The two had become a couple after some seemingly horrible advice from the loud sisters to Lincoln had actually worked out, but they had been keeping it secret.
"Earth to lame-o, you alright?" Ronnie questioned. Her boyfriend had suddenly decided to hug her, which was out of character for him. She hated surprise advancements. Lola and Lana were both shocked to recognize her as their brother's former bully.
"Ye-yeah! Sorry, a lots been going on lately," Lincoln apologized, breaking the embrace and taking a step back from her, letting her take her helmet off her black hair and pick up her skateboard. She then took notice of his sisters, her eyes looking up at him after the two twins. She and Lincoln had talked plenty before about not letting any of his sisters know. Lincoln rubbing his head nervously, knowing she wanted an explanation for this.
"I-I told Lola and Lana about us already, Ronnie. You can drop the harsher treatment to the usual amount," Lincoln told her she could drop the bully act. They weren't in school after all.
"Uh… hi," Lola greeted her awkwardly.
"Wow, Lincoln…" Lana added, not sure what more she could say.
"You two go on to the playground. I need to talk with Ronnie," Lincoln somewhat ordered in a nicer tone. The twins listened and decided to try and enjoy the time at the park, having fun like they wanted. Once they were gone, his girlfriend spoke up.
"Okay, Lincoln, what's going on? You look like you haven't slept in a day, and I thought we agreed to not tell anyone about us!" Ronnie Anne forced the conversation into full gear. Her white haired boyfriend expected this, but he wondered where Clyde was at the moment, he should have been here by now.
"Ronnie, calm down. First off, yes, I have not slept in a day, and I feel ready to pass out if I close my eyes for longer than five seconds. Second, I paid them to not tell the others. I had to bring them along. I really, really needed to see you in person," Lincoln explained. Ronnie Anne already was aware that he had informed his best friend of their relationship, but that was to be expected. She had an eyebrow raised, wondering what kept him up all night, let alone why he bribed his sisters to keep quiet. However the raven haired girl could tell her boyfriend was under heavy amounts of stress, despite his efforts to hide it.
"You told me that your safety was involved. Are you just being picked on?" Ronnie Anne took a seat on a park bench beside him, resting her possessions nearby.
"No, I'm not being picked on… well, I mean, I guess you could call it bullying to a severe degree," Lincoln once again had no idea how to classify it. People wanted him dead just for wearing animal rings with rubies on them. The young boy hated to imagine just how many wanted him dead at the moment, the vivid imagery of it alone brought nightmares to his mind.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Lincoln cried, feeling her digging her fist into his skull to snap him out of his trailed off thoughts.
"Sorry, your rambling was getting on my nerves. What does this have to do with me? I love you, but I'm not exactly going to fend off every last person that gives you a wedgie," Ronnie claimed her refusal to be his personal bodyguard all because they were together. The two had not even had much of a real date together yet. Lincoln really wanted to make up for that, thinking that might just be another one of the many doorways his mafia gig could open up for him.
"You're not going to have to, don't worry. …I just need you to teach me how to fight better," Lincoln stated.
"Teach you how to fight? Lincoln, isn't one of your sisters a black belt or something?" Ronnie Anne replied with a confused look. She was right. Lincoln knew that Lynn had actual professional training, which probably was a lot better in comparison if the two ever had to fight Lynn would probably win.
"I can't give that much time to something. I'm on borrowed time right now Ronnie," Lincoln sighed, rubbing his head, "That and I really can't make them anymore suspicious than they already are. I've seen you in fights, and you're the toughest I know."
Ronnie Anne stared at that pleading look in his eyes, which alone was a good sign how serious he was about being taught how to fight. Her boyfriend had watched her fight several people who tried to 'stand up' to her, and they all failed miserably.
"Again, why? What is going on? You're acting like your family hates your guts," Ronnie Anne declared. Lincoln was acting so timid about requesting anything from his sisters. The young teenager cast his gaze away slightly. They may not hate him, but he sure hated himself enough.
"I wanted to wait until Clyde was here Ronnie. Look, I'm going to show you something. I'm trusting you a lot with this secret of mine…" Lincoln warned her. Ronnie Anne was confused as she watched her boyfriend lick his thumb, before reaching down to his neck and beginning to rub away the makeup to the best of his ability. It took a few seconds before it sunk in, and his dark bruises were exposed. She had to cover her mouth as her eyes widened.
"Lincoln, are those choke marks?!" Ronnie Anne asked to the best of her ability. Lincoln noticed Lola and Lana looking over from the playground, having heard the surprised shouting. He waved, insisting everything was fine before returning his attention to his girlfriend.
"Yeah… I nearly got killed yesterday," Lincoln told the truth, lifting up his arm cover and showing the long gashing flesh wounds. It was too much for his girlfriend to take in at once. Seeing all this on Lincoln of all people was a horrific sight.
"How can you call whoever did this a bully?! This is an attempted murder you're talking about! A murderer! You don't need fighting lessons! You need to go to the police!" Ronnie's reaction was very well negative, and full of suggestions that she thought were logical, especially regarding an attempted murder that he could give full evidence about while he could. Every minute Lincoln spent was another minute those bruises healed, and therefore more evidence lost, but the slashes on his arm probably would last a lot longer than the bruises.
"I can't! I joined the mafia!" Lincoln stopped himself, his face pale.
"…I joined the mafia," Lincoln buried his face into his hands. Ronnie Anne noticed the two rings he dawned. He looked ready to break down and cry. It took all his strength and little energy he had to try and keep everything together.
"You can't be serious."
"I am. I'm working for the mafia. I borrowed money and now have to work that debt off. I learnt this an hour after I let one of these rings get stuck to my flesh," Lincoln claimed. Soon the second ring would be bonded with his finger, yet for some reason, he treated it as a minor problem compared to everything else.
"I thought you were supposed to be smart Lincoln! Why would you do something so stupid?!" Ronnie Anne felt like punching some sense into her boyfriend. The only thing stopping her, was the fact his true misery was already showing, despite how well things had turned out so far.
"Because… I don't think my life is worth much. I wanted to get my sisters presents to make up for me being such a burden…" he said, gripping his wounded arm with his hand, his heart racing while taking in deep breaths to try and keep calm.
"The worst thing is that I feel excited working for them, like I found a purpose in life," Lincoln never had his own future planned yet. He did not want to admit the ultimatum he had, that he either died working for the mafia or continued on his path of ever growing depression and feeling like a burden to his family. The only reason he had confessed so much to his sisters lately was because the young boy had to tell them all something, to get them away from finding out the big truth of it all.
"Gah!" he groaned in pain, feeling a hard punch hit his left cheek that had knocked him to the ground. Ronnie Anne got on top of him, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and yanked his face to hers.
"You are the biggest idiot I have ever known! …But I'll teach you what I know, but this really isn't something you can do alone Lincoln," Ronnie agreed to teach him what she knew, even if it would be a glorified street fighting style of combat, "But I want something, too."
"An-anything, Ronnie… anything for you," Lincoln felt scared, but he was glad at least to know she was going to help him, she had only punched him to snap him out of his own weird thoughts. Ronnie pointed to his ring.
"I want to help you. If you aren't gonna go to anyone for help, then I'm going to go with you to help," she demanded. Lincoln was not sure how to feel. His girlfriend loved him enough to actually join the mafia herself to help him out, but the white haired boy was debating this in his mind heavily. There still was time to take off the crab ring, the ruby shining slightly in the claw of the tiny crustacean.
"Ronnie… I dunno… I can't let you hurt yourself for me," Lincoln claimed. Before he knew it, the crab ring was off his finger and in the palm of his girlfriend's hand.
"Either you let me help or I go straight to the police and your family!" Ronnie Anne threatened, he was annoyed but it was still nice to know how much she did care.
"O-okay, fine! …thanks, Ronnie…You're the best girlfriend in the world," he agreed with a bright smile appearing across his face. It may have been quite a volatile argument, but Lincoln was glad to know she was going to do whatever it took to help him.
"What's going on over there?" Lana asked. At the top of a metal castle, Lola was trying to look through some binoculars that were set up there to be used to view the area from up high. The two were trying to spy on their older brother from there after hearing his and Ronnie's loud outbursts. The two had been trying to see what was going on, but the twins were out of hearing range.
"I… don't know. It looks like she hit him, but he sure seems happy about it," the beauty lover said. If this was what dating was like, then it was weird. She hated to imagine what Lori and Bobby did. She stepped off, letting Lana have a turn viewing, hoping she could read the situation better.
"Uhh… Lola, he looks like he just got a lot of energy back from nowhere," Lana said to her twin. She watched as Lincoln took the ring from Ronnie Anne's hand and sliding it onto her hand for her, trying to show some kind of romantic gratitude. Lola had not seen her brother so happy and relieved before, like Ronnie had took a huge weight off his shoulders.
"Wait, let me see!" Lola shoved her twin off when she saw the distant motions. Lana groaned, half-hung off the ledge and having caught her hat from falling. She sat back up when she heard her twin gasp
"Did he get punched again?" Lana asked, wondering if she had missed out on another minor fight, but instead all she saw were the young couple hugging, and eventually kissing.
"They're kissing! …and a lot…" Lola stated. Lana leaned over to peek through the binoculars, having given up on taking turns and opting into them both just getting one lens to look through.
"Maybe they're getting married?" Lana asked. Not like either would know from what little they knew on the two's relationship. They did not even know how long they had been together. The passionate kiss wasn't nearing an end. Lola was starting to wonder as well if their brother had proposed.
"Oh gosh… Lana, look at the tree behind them," the blonde tiara wearing girl let Lana get both lenses to see what had startled her twin. She saw the all too familiar woman with the bag on her back full of baseball bats. They couldn't miss the person or her frog hood. The scary individual just stood there, watching from the shadows of the tree, but she was not making any effort to hide. Her hands were still in her pockets like they were glued there.
"What are your sisters doing?" Ronnie Anne asked as the moment ended, Lincoln still holding her hands as he looked at the metal castle his younger sisters were playing on. He noticed them waving and looking rather panicked. He turned around to what they were trying to point him to.
"Oh no… it's her again…" Lincoln's heart skipped a beat. The same frog-hooded woman stood there. His hopes of the person not being a stalker were gone.
"Who?" Ronnie Anne quirked an eyebrow, her attention focused on the woman.
"I have no idea. She followed us all the way to the park. I don't know what she wants…" Lincoln explained, doubting this was a random beggar hoping for a donation.
"Is she even awake?" the dark skinned girl questioned. Once again the hooded figure acted sleepy, only now her head was not bobbing side to side. The strange woman suddenly began to walk toward them. Lincoln stepped in front of Ronnie, ready to protect her.
"Ge-get back! I'm warning you!" Lincoln shouted. The person however paid it no mind, hopping over the park bench, the two stepping back. If the frog hood wearing girl wasn't carrying tons of baseball bats on her back, they would be less afraid. She tilted her head back, revealing her half-glazed, green tinted eyes, and short and stubby red hair.
She swallowed the lollipop she had in her mouth whole before licking her lips slowly. Her eyes showed not much life in them, almost like she was in another world of her own. Her eyes were not opening any more than the half-lazy glazed appearance they had.
"Mhm… you two look ripe with life…and I'm very… very… veeeeerrrrrry hungry…" her words shook the two lovers to their core, her weirdly calm tone did not help.