Chapter 10: Memory Day

Luan hadn't done much in the last couple of days, on the day Benny died her siblings knew of it immediately as they heard her wails as they entered the house. When the funeral was organized she couldn't even stand or walk on her own, she needed her siblings to prop her up. She couldn't even speak, it was just too hard for her. After that she went to her room and never left, especially once she learned that her roommate Luna had to go away.

So now she just lies in her bed and sleeps most of the day. When she isn't asleep she stares at some of the comedic props in her room, she even looks at Luna's rock posters from time to time. She also never changed out of her pajamas and kept her hair down, she even decided to forgo her staple bunny slippers. She figured if her feet were cold she would at least be feeling something. Just as she was about to drift off yet again Lori walked in to check on her.

"Luan?" Asked Lori.

Luan remained silent.

"Are you gonna get up?" Asked Lori.

More silence.

Lori made her way to Luan's bed and sat down next to her younger sister.

"Luan, I'm so sorry about Benny…" Said Lori.

Lori then heard a whimper in response.

"…And I know all the other stuff…and…" Said Lori as she trailed off.

Luan was silent again.

"Just…you need to eat. You need to move around. This isn't good." Said Lori.

Luan was still silent, but this time she lifted up her arm and pointed towards the door.

"Fine…I'll leave you alone for now." Said Lori with a defeated sigh.

Lori then got up and left the room as Luan turned around and stared at the bottom of Luna's top bunk. She stared out for a few minutes but was suddenly jolted by a noise from the hallway.

"Lori why did you hide this from me?!" Shouted Lucy from the hallway, though it was muffled by the walls.

Luan didn't really pay attention to the conversation leading up to that so she just decided to ignore it. She then turned around again and shifted her gaze to her dresser, where her beloved ventriloquist dummy Mr. Coconuts sat on "his" stand. The last time he was used was before the bombs fell, in fact it was on the day of the attack. Not wanting to be haunted by more recent memories she went to look for something else to reminisce over.

Next to the bunk beds Luna kept some vinyl rock albums that she was either gifted or had bought over the years. Luan decided to grab a few and just look at them, that way all she would think about is Luna who she knows is still okay.

The first album she picked up showed a robot with a borderline melancholic facial expression holding the presumed corpses of some long haired men that Luan didn't recognize. All of this was under a title that said "News Of The World." Luan remembered when Luna got this album and as soon as Lola saw it she screamed and hid in her room. She then remembered when Lana borrowed it and used it to keep scaring Lola, of course her parents put a stop to that quickly and grounded Lana for a whole week. Luna also had to keep the album buried within her stack in the off chance Lola entered the room afterwards.

The next album she grabbed showed a naked baby underwater seemingly swimming towards a dollar bill on a fishing line. There was another memory tied to that, this was from around the time her and her other siblings bought a swimming pool since their hijinks resulted in them pretty much being banned from all the local public pools. Before Lincoln caught Lily without her swim diaper Luna thought that she could take the opportunity to re-create that image but Lori put a stop to that once she saw Luna carrying a fishing rod. After that recollection though Luan went to grab another album as she didn't want to be haunted by the memory of Lily's illness and passing.

This time she saw what looked like the logo of a sports car on the cover with the silhouette being a guy with a fuzzy viking helmet. Below it she saw the words "Virtual Insanity" and was immediately reminded of a story her parents occasionally tell the siblings. Before entering the restaurant business Lynn Sr. used to work in Information Technology, in fact the job he quit was at a company that was founded during the dot com bubble and Lynn Sr. was one of the very first employees there. That was a stroke of luck for him because by the time he finished college the bubble was on the upswing, it was also at this time that he had his eye on a certain crossing guard. The album she was looking at was somewhat popular at that same time and in true Lynn Sr. fashion he would insert his name into the lyrics. Needless to say "Virtual Lynnsanity" rocked Rita's world and it helped set their relationship in motion.

That happy memory predictably turned sad for Luan as she was reminded that her parents were still not home and that she had just recently lost her love. She put the albums back and tried to go back to sleep but couldn't, her mind was just too active. But fortunately that's when Lincoln walked in to check up on her.

"Luan?" Asked Lincoln.

Luan turned to face him but remained silent.

"Oh good you're up." Said Lincoln.

Luan just looked at him.

"How are you doing?" Asked Lincoln.

Silence.

"Luan?" Asked Lincoln again.

More silence.

"Luan please…" Said Lincoln.

Luan then realized that Lincoln would be harder to get rid of than Lori and so decided to finally respond.

"…not good…" Answered Luan.

"That's the first time I've heard you speak in a while." Said Lincoln.

Luan quieted down again.

"If you're worried about Luna and Leni, they're in good hands with Liam's Mee Maw." Said Lincoln.

"I know…" Said Luan.

"I'm also sorry about what happened to…" Lincoln said but stopped himself from addressing the elephant in the room.

"Sorry…I just…I…" Stammered Lincoln.

"…it was sweet of you to let him use your room…" Said Luan though with noticeable tears this time.

"He and Lynn were very sick…I just didn't know that…" Lincoln stopped himself again since he would just bring on tears of his own.

"Lincoln?" Asked Luan.

"What?" Asked Lincoln in return.

"Can you bring out the photo album?" Asked Luan.

"You usually don't look at that." Said Lincoln.

"I…I just want to remember…happier…times…" Said Luan.

Lincoln saw his sister with even more tears this time and immediately went downstairs to grab it. A few minutes later he re-entered the room with the album in hand. When he opened it up he was instantly greeted with a photo taken a few months earlier. It was of all the siblings in the most disorganized manner possible. Lori and Leni were on their phones, Luna was jamming away, Luan was wearing her signature Groucho glasses, Lynn was catching a football in midair, Lucy had her face stuffed in a book, the twins were fighting, Lisa was scribbling something on a clip board, Lily was naked, and the pets were running amok. All while Lincoln was standing in the middle of it all looking as exasperated as ever. This picture used to upset Lincoln to no end but not anymore, he and Luan both knew they would give anything to have that be their biggest problem again.

"You were so perfectionist." Said Luan.

"Yeah, I was legitimately convinced all of you were tag teaming against me." Said Lincoln.

"The twins maybe but the rest of us certainly weren't." Said Luan.

"I knew I messed up when I saw how unhappy you all were when I got my perfect picture all set up." Said Lincoln.

Their attention then shifted to Lynn and Lily and the torrent of emotions their memory presented to them.

"Do you think they're watching over us right now?" Asked Lincoln.

"I like to think so…" Said Luan.

"As sad as it is at least they're not suffering anymore." Said Lincoln.

"I know… and Benny… he must have been in so much pain…" Said Luan with tears reappearing.

"Let's turn the page…" Said Lincoln.

The next page had a picture of Lucy in her grim reaper costume standing in front of their house's corn maze while holding "Leni's" severed head. Lucy also had the largest teeth grin she ever made in that picture, and who could blame her? Halloween to her was like April Fools Day to Luan.

"Lucy went all out that year." Said Lincoln.

"Yeah, it took me the rest of that year to get the face paint off of Mr. Coconuts." Said Luan.

"You still sent those Hazeltucky jerks running though." Said Lincoln.

"Well we all did, especially mom with her zombie costume." Said Luan.

"That was probably Lucy's best work right there." Said Lincoln.

He turned the page again and this time saw a photo of Maggie taking a selfie with Luan while the latter was in her mime attire.

"How did we get that one?" Asked Luan.

"I think her mom texted it to you after the gig." Said Lincoln.

"I know you nearly crashed that party." Said Luan.

"You definitely saved my bacon there." Said Lincoln.

"Well I couldn't just leave my best assistant hanging." Said Luan.

Lincoln smiled for the first time in a while when she said that, in fact Luan did too. They spent a little while looking through more photos and while the ones of their deceased sisters or parents were hard on them they were able to lean on each other and such solidarity helped them deal with the emotion even if it was just a tiny bit. By the end Luan got tired again and went back to sleep, cueing Lincoln to leave the room. As she drifted off she heard the cadence of Lincoln and Lucy talking but she paid it no mind. Just as she had gotten to sleep she was jolted awake by a very loud shout.

"No Lori! You fucked up big this time!" Shouted Lucy from one of the bedrooms.

Luan could sense the urgency in her voice and for the first time in days got out of bed and went into the hallway. The second she opened the door she saw Lori run by crying and go into her room. Luan then heard the sounds of Lucy and Lincoln sobbing and knew something was up. As she went down the hall she realized that the sound was coming from the twins' bedroom and her heart immediately sank. Dread increased as she made her way to their doorway and when she looked into the room for confirmation she immediately collapsed.