( Lincoln )

Lincoln had finished his shift at Lynn's Table, excited to return to the house that he, Lisa, and Lana had checked out a couple days prior. Lisa and Lana had requested that he stay out of the house until they were finished. Other sisters had went to help with the house, and would stop talking whenever he or Lucy were near. It was frustrating, but he assumed they just wanted to keep their surprise. Lucy had wanted to see the house, since she hadn't gotten to see it, originally. Though, the girl that Lynn Jr had introduced Lucy to had panned out pretty well, and had become a welcome distraction for the monotonic girl. While he could tell that his sister was still interested in the house, she had other things to occupy her.

Lucy had been introduced to a club that the kids like her had joined, and while it was made up of kids from the schools, they welcomed her. At least as welcome as the gothic group could be. Still, she was beaming in her own way. She now had access to full collections of her favorite series of books, and introduced to other series that would interest her. Lincoln was thankful that Lynn had introduced Haiku to Lucy.

Lincoln had met the girl, Haiku. She was about his own age. She wore a long, flowing, purple dress. Her long purple hair, that covered one eye. This girl seemed to have a lot in common with his sister. While he had once wished his sister was 'normal', he had long stopped wanting that, loving his sister for who she was. So, having a friend that understood his sister would be good for her. Lynn had swore that she wouldn't reveal their situation to Haiku, just to be careful.

Even though Luan had offered him a ride home as soon as she finished up a couple things at the restaurant, though he was too excited, since Lisa had told him that she wanted him to check out the house to see what he thought about it. So, even though it would probably have been faster to wait for Luan, he couldn't stand still. While it had only been a week since he had been working at Lynn's Table, they got paid weekly, and he was paid differently than the others. Mr. Loud paid him in cash, Almost five hundred dollars, so he was going to stop at the store to pick up a few things for Lucy.

…

Lincoln was making his way to the abandoned house, carrying a several bags. He had made stops at a few stores, to get things that he and Lucy would need. Since they would be living on their own again. After most of the trip, he wished he had taken Luan up on her offer to give him a ride. He had been thinking about that for the last three blocks. Though, now, as he turned onto the street to the house it wouldn't matter so much, however, if Luan did drive by he wouldn't hesitate to have a ride the rest of the way, no matter how short a distance.

Looking from the street, you could barely see the house, which could have been why it had stayed vacant for so many years. After a while once the greenery had taken over, it was no wonder why it had went unnoticed. If Lincoln had been a spiritual person he would say it was fate that the house had been forgotten. Lucy would say that the spirits were looking out for her. She might have a point. As much as he might not understand the paranormal, she had hardly been wrong.

He made his way through the forest like front yard, while calling it a forest was more than an exaggeration, that's what it felt like. He made sure not to be seen, as he waded through the over grown grass. The last thing he wanted was to be found out, and run out, before they had even moved into the house. Though, it wouldn't be much of a problem later on. The first few runs would be the hardest, carrying extra items into the home. If Lisa had managed to hook up power, then they would be able to store food, and cold drinks. Except for living with the Loud family these last couple weeks, that was a novelty that he hadn't been able to have access to, when he was at home.

Then they would need blankets, even if they had power. There was a fireplace, but Lisa advised against using it. Smoke from the chimney would give away that someone was squatting in the house. So, they would have to rely on electrical means. Which, he would have to use some of the money he had earned to buy a couple heaters. He didn't know what kinds to get, he would have to ask Lisa. She would know which ones would heat the areas they needed.

He stopped at the back door of the house looking at it. He tried not to get his hopes up, even though they were already high to begin with. He had been let down many times before. Something had always backfired. But still. He was excited. He sighed out, before turning the handle and entering the kitchen. As he looked around he noticed several changes. The cabinets had been rebuilt, a different refrigerator had been brought in, along with a stove. He had remembered that the old stove was gas, and had to be replaced, since Lisa had no way to get gas into the house without the risk of someone seeing. The two windows that he could see were covered by a thick black fabric.

'That must be the blackout curtains that Lisa had mentioned.' Lincoln thought as he set his bags down on the table in the kitchen. He looked around noticing that the kitchen had been cleaned. Not a speck of dirt anywhere. It looked amazing, he thought as he made his way into the dining room. Which was nothing like it used to be. The dining room had been changed into the living room. He continued through passed the stairs that had been repaired, though closed off at the top. He wasn't sure why, but there had to be a reason. He entered the living room, it was decorated like a bedroom. It was sparse, but he didn't have much to begin with. Though, the bed and the dresser wasn't his. He wondered if it had already been in the house.

As he was looking around he heard voices from the other room. He slowly made his way over the door that lead to the other room. As he looked into the room, he noticed several of the sisters facing the room, and away from him. The walls had been painted black, with red trim. They had brought the black gothic style canopy bed from their house. A coffin sitting in a corner. An old black wood desk, book case, and dresser. Some might be a little jealous over the time they seemed to have spent on Lucy's room. But not him. She deserved this. Where he would be happy with anything, and he didn't care as long as what he had worked. Lucy would be polite and would be grateful but he knew that she would want other things, she just would never admit it.

"She's going to love it." Lincoln said, causing all the females in the room to jump, and look at him. And he understood why Lucy did it. It was fun.

"You do that too?" Lana asked, clutching her chest dramatically.

"It would seem that prolonged cohabitation with Lucille, had rubbed off on him." Lisa adjusted her glasses a bit, and shuffled towards him.

"Well, that was not funny!" Luan said standing straight, and brushing her skirt down a little.

"At least you didn't wet yourself." Lincoln smirked a little, "That would have dampened your spirits."

"Hey!" Luan frowned a little.

"Water you waiting for? Wanna show me around?" Lincoln chuckled, as did the other sisters.

"Hey! Well... that was actually a good one." Luan said thoughtfully.

"Let show Lincoln around." Lisa said standing next to him. Then gestured towards the room they were currently in. "As you can see, we decorated this room in the style of our Lucille. Do not worry, we didn't focus on this room and neglect yours. The Mortician's Club donated the paint, and some of the furniture. And since she was so smitten with the bed..."

"We decided to drag it on over." Lana interrupted. "But we'll find some neat stuff for your room."

"I'm fine with anything." Lincoln said sheepishly, he really didn't wanna fuss made.

"That's literally the point," Lori's voice came from behind them. "You work so hard, that you deserve something nice."

"When did you get here, Lori?" Luan asked.

"I left Rob in charge, to lock up and stuff." She put her hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "I wouldn't miss this for anything. By the way, Haiku's mother is dropping her and Lucy off soon. I ran into them at the Burpin' Burger."

"Anyways, As you saw, we changed the living room into your room, and the dining room into the living room. For obvious space reasons. The upstairs had been blocked off with a door, since heat rises. It'll be easier to heat the area down here."

"I fixed the stairs, and put up the door. You can store stuff up there!" Lana said as they made their way towards the kitchen.

"Yes, the power is working, You'd want to give it a couple days before you 'go crazy' with the power, letting the power cell fully charge."

"Dad happily stocked the cabinets and the refrigerator with food from the restaurant." Luan said, opening the appliance mentioned showing off the food in side.

( Lucy )

'It's been a delightfully dreary day,' Lucy thought to herself from next to her new friend, in the back of the SUV she was in. Haiku had proven to be a kindred soul. She didn't know that there was a group of people like her. Yes, she knew that there were others like her. Based on the books that Lincoln had managed to get her. But she didn't know how many there were. And so close to her. As many times as she had visited the cemeteries in Royal Woods, she wondered how she had never saw them before. Maybe she had ran into them, and just assumed they were mourning. Mistaken them for the mundane funeral attendees, instead of people that shared in her love of the dark and morbid.

When Haiku had asked her to join her today, that they were going on an outing, she had went along with it because it was something to do. And she would get to hang around with her new like minded friend. Haiku's mother was not what she had expected. In looks, she looked like your average suburban mother. Though, she was encouraging to her daughters life style. From what she read, she had assumed that parents wouldn't like the morbidness. And from her experience at the orphanage, she wasn't well accepted.

The day had been much to her liking. The book store had been like a nightmare for her. She loved being surrounded by the billions of words in the store. Luckily, they had stopped at the restaurant where Lincoln worked before the trip, just to say hi to her brother, and to let him know she was going out, if he came home early. Lincoln had given her spending money. More than she had ever had before. Okay, so maybe twenty dollars was not a lot to most people, but to her, it was a fortune. She had managed to get a couple books from the series Vampires of Melancholia. She could have gotten a new book. But used books were cheaper. She could get more used, and only one new book, and still have money left if she got hungry. So, she decided the used books would be what she would get.

Then it was a trip to the cemetery, just to look at the older headstones. While it might seem disrespectful, Lucy always wondered why there wasn't a little shop for like drinks or something. Some families had lunch at the cemetery. Though, she supposed that people would just litter throughout the cemetery. She had never seen some of those tombstones. The details on the sculptures had been beautiful.

Then, finally the Burpin' Burger. She liked the food at Lynn's Table. But she had a fondness for the fast food burger joint. Lincoln had always got her something from there when he could afford it. It brought good memories for her.

When they finally pulled up to the Loud's residence. She knew that she was supposed to meet Lincoln at the house they were going to be moving into, but she didn't know if Haiku's mother could keep the secret. No matter how understanding the woman was. This was something that she would trust very few people with.

"Thanks for the day out. I really appreciated it, and the visit to the book stare."

"It was our pleasure." Haiku said, a vague, almost nonexistent, smile on her face.

She went behind the house, after Haiku and her mother pulled away. Weaving through the grass and trees to get to the other house. She took a deep breath, and went inside. She was excited. She had waited to see the house for a couple weeks. And now their house was ready.