"Linky!"
It was Leni who found Lincoln minutes later and he was still crying his eyes out. He looked up, hearing Leni's voice and Leni saw a few blades of grass stuck to his face from him sobbing face-down. He did not try to run, so Leni knelt down, pulled Lincoln onto her lap, and held him tight.
"Linky!" she cried. "Oh, Linky!" She hadn't held her little brother properly since the day he had to start wearing the squirrel suit, but she knew then and there, if it was one thing her parents were right about, it's that Lincoln was never bad luck. She stroked his white hair on the top of his head. "Oh, it's been too long since I got to hold you like this! That's all I wanna do right now! I should never have listened to LJ... She's feeling really awful, by the way." But Lincoln could not stop crying. "Oh, Linky... it's gonna be alright, I promise. I'm sorry I told you what Mom and Dad said about you... but I had to! I couldn't keep it a secret and have you be hurt even more if you found out later!" Lincoln hung limp in Leni's arms, just letting his tears fall on her, so Leni did what a big sister and a mother would do. She gently began to shush him and rock him slightly back and forth. "It's okay, Linky... At least now... your parents can't hurt you anymore." Lincoln's crying quieted a couple of minutes after Leni's words and at the same time, Clyde caught up to him.
"Lincoln..." he murmured. Normally, Clyde would likely be furious at any of Lincoln's sisters, since each one of them went along with the bad luck fiasco, but he knew that Leni somehow had enough sense to bring it all to an end, so she was one sister Clyde didn't have to be mad at, especially since he overheard much of the phone conversation. Instead, he formed a three-way hug with the brother and sister. They held each other for a long time.
School was in session the next day, but this was a problem for Lincoln because when all his possessions had been sold, it included his school supplies. Also, word spread about the arrest of Rita and Lynn Sr., so it wasn't long before gossip spread about Lincoln's misfortune like wildfire. Agnes Johnson, Lincoln's fifth grade teacher, was devastated and didn't want one of her favorite students to be held back a grade because his supplies were sold by idiotic parents who didn't think everything entirely through, even more so because they just played along with Lynn Jr.'s foolish superstitions and rituals. They weren't afraid of playing favorites. They were afraid of playing favorites only if it regarded their only son, Lincoln. It was no wonder the poor white-haired boy had a slight meltdown in that park the other day. Howard and Harold still sent Lincoln to school, but for another ulterior motive - for the young boy to seek help rather than attend classes. And Mrs. Johnson was determined to help see to that. Before classes began, she arranged a quick one-on-one meeting with Principal Wilbur Huggins, who of course also got wind of what happened to the Loud boy. The two agreed that Lincoln's mental health would likely need to recover first, knowing that he was surely suffering from post-trauma and crippling depression. Eventually, Lincoln and Mrs. Johnson were able to meet one-on-one.
"Lincoln," Mrs. Johnson sighed. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am for what's happened to you. I have a right mind to give your parents a verbal lashing, but they've already been detained, so that won't do any good. The McBrides are looking after you, correct?"
"Yes," Lincoln croaked.
"Alright. I will forward them some information about a child care service I know of that can help you. It might be best if they check you in tomorrow."
"...What's gonna happen to me?" Lincoln sounded like he was going to cry.
"Oh, Lincoln," said Mrs. Johnson, taking pity and holding her student's shoulders gently. "I know you'll be missing school, but hopefully it will just be for a few days. You'll be someplace quiet and safe, and... given what has happened recently, I think you'll need it. As my student, I'm proud of you. And as any other teacher would, I want you to be able to do your best in school. You have a future ahead of you and I would hate to see it taken away from you. So I am going to do my best to make sure you won't be held back from graduating. You just worry about getting better. Okay?" Again, Lincoln nodded.
"Okay." Mrs. Johnson gave Lincoln a warm smile and a hug. She then handed him a copy of class notes she took for him.
"Principal Huggins and I will try to locate your school supplies, so here are some notes from today for now. Take care, Lincoln."
On the morning after their arrest, Rita and Lynn Sr. were led by Officer Schoffner to an interrogation room. Rita had cried for hours the night before and her guilt and sadness deprived her of much of her sleep. The parents sat at one side of a table while Schoffner faced them from the other side.
"Is it true you sold all of his belongings?" she demanded. Rita nodded while dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief provided to her. "You realize this included his school supplies? How do you expect Lincoln to finish his school term without anything to work with?" This made fresh tears fall from Rita's face and Lynn Sr. was sweating up a storm.
"We... didn't think that through..." he confessed.
"Of course not," grumbled Schoffner. "You had to be rid of his bad luck by leaving him with nothing. No, I'm wrong. You KNEW he wasn't bad luck, so you took everything away from him because he lied to you!" Rita began sobbing again.
"We didn't mean..." she wept. "We didn't mean to..."
"Didn't mean to?!" roared Schoffner. "You realize we're treating your actions as intentional because you not only did all this for pretty much no reason, but also kept it up for over half a month! If you wanted to punish your son, why didn't you just take away his privileges for that amount of time?!" This hit the Loud parents extremely hard. Now that they thought about it, they could have just simply grounded Lincoln and taken away his comics and video games for two weeks rather than having locked him outside in the cold. Oh, what stupid morons they were.
"Can't we just... t-t...take it back?" stammered Lynn Sr., starting to tear up.
"What?"
"Can we please... j-just... t...take it back... take it all back...?" Officer Schoffner was obviously unimpressed by Lynn-sanity's sudden plea. "P-please... officer... Our family... We'll be ruined..."
"Hmph," Schoffner simply sneered. "Then that's the way these things go, isn't it? Sometimes, actions you think are so simple can haunt you for the rest of your life." She stood up from her seat. "You two should pray for your good luck charm that you call your son to show up wearing that idiotic costume again... because the way I see things, you'll be an example for other families to choose their actions more carefully so they don't end up like you." And with that, she left the room and closed the door behind her. Rita put her face down on the table and cried again.
"Well, Lincoln," said Howard. "Looks like you did get some help." Lincoln had shown them the business card that his teacher gave to him.
"We knew you would," said Harold. "So we'll just drop you off tomorrow and see how things go from there." Lincoln just nodded.
"It feels like you only just got back from the hospital," said Clyde to his best friend. "And now I gotta say goodbye to you again. If only my dads would adopt you." Lincoln only sighed, knowing things weren't that simple.
"Don't worry, Lincoln," said Harold. "Your teacher is doing what she can to help and so are we."
"The place you're staying at has a good reputation and we should know," said Howard. "If I'm not mistaken, Hare-Bear and I were there once and that's how we first met! Long story short, we've been proudly together for 20 years!"
"Huh," said Clyde. "Talk about your first impressions."
Later that evening, Clyde and Lincoln turned in for a good night's sleep. In the guest room, Lincoln couldn't help but feel bad for his parents, despite that they did betray him and quite possibly made Leni afraid of them too. Even if they did regret their actions, it wouldn't be their saving grace, not even close, especially given that their neglect of him went on for far too long. And as far as Officer Schoffner saw it, possibly beyond redemption. All Lincoln could do now was just get some sleep, as tomorrow would begin a transition from one chapter of his life to the next.