"Lincoln!" cried Lynn Sr., hearing his son's voice for the first time in what felt like forever. "Thank God you're okay, sport! Girls! He's on the line! He's here!"
"LINCOLN!" The ten sisters crowded around their father and the phone, hoping that their voices would be heard. Outside the home, an additional police vehicle arrived, having been called in on the chance that backup was needed.
"Lincoln, my baby!" cried Rita, tears streaming down her face. "Lincoln, it's your mother! I'm so, so sorry!"
"One at a time, one at a time," said the Loud patriarch. "We don't want them to hang up on us, not now. Lori, you first."
"Lincoln!" said a tearful Lori.
"Is that you... Lori?" asked Lincoln from the child care center.
"Yes, it's me!" she said. "Lincoln, we're SO, so sorry! You literally have to forgive us!"
"Lori, go easy on him!" said Luna through gritted teeth. Lincoln looked extremely guilty, but it was either because he really didn't want his family to suffer as he did or that he shouldn't even be feeling guilty towards them at all.
"Uh... how are things?" he asked, hoping to start off casual.
"We're not okay, Linc!" said Lori, starting to cry. "We're literally miserable without you!" Something about these words unfortunately got both Lincoln and Lyra pissed off, the obvious reason being that the Loud sisters were okay with throwing the boy under the bus like an animal and locking him out in the cold for two nights straight. It's like they thought a simple apology would make everything fine in the blink of an eye.
"Ooh, I need to set them straight for that," said a seething Lyra. "May I?" Lincoln nodded without hesitation and the manager tapped his chin with his finger.
"Just remember to keep it down to best of your ability... even if you pull no punches," said the manager. Lyra nodded, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself so she could use some rather choice words while keeping it down and not going off the rails due to the environment she was in.
"You've got some nerve... saying those words," said Lyra.
"Wait, what?" said Lori. "Wh-who is this?"
"I'm his caretaker," Lyra simply answered. "And need I remind you that you all had no problem at all locking him out of the house! Why didn't you miss him then?! Why did it take you all going overboard with what could have been a simple punishment to get you all to come to your senses?! Perhaps you really don't know what you've got until you lose it. Is that it?" Lori realized that the lady had a point, so she couldn't come up with a response. However, Lynn Sr. talked for her, but not in a good way for some reason.
"Hey!" he said. "Don't talk to my daughters that way!"
"That's not helping you," said Lyra. "Why have all of you treated this poor boy like a block of concrete, like you can do anything you want to him and he won't complain... No, I'm wrong... He can't complain because he's too afraid to say or do anything! Admit it, he was just a patsy to you, wasn't he?"
"How dare you!" yelled Lynn Sr. Lyra let out an angry sigh.
"You're impossible, you know that?" she said.
"Please!" came Leni's voice. Lincoln's eyes lit up.
"Leni?"
"Linky! Listen, I'm sorry about our dad, but we really are sorry for everything!"
"I... I know you are." Lincoln knew that it was Leni who called both the police and for an ambulance, the former in the hopes to get her family to stop. Although, this was likely because she heard Lincoln in anguish and crying that his life was miserable. And Lyra's choice of words directed at Lynn Sr. did imply that Lincoln couldn't just call the authorities on his own because he was too sad and scared. That and he had become too sick and frail as well.
"Aw, bruh," said Luna. "I dunno if you're ever gonna be up for it, but... wouldn't you at least want to look into our eyes? You know... just so things don't have to end so bitterly between us."
"We really didn't think our parents were just playing along with us," said Luan. "So whatever it is, we're sorry! We just want you to know that."
"I betrayed you," said Lucy. "And here I never thought I could actually be consumed by darkness."
"I'm the princess of disaster!" Lola moaned.
"Lincoln..." murmured Lynn Jr. It was obvious the sports player was easily the most sorry and broken up, knowing it was her choice of words that made things fall apart to where the family was now. She started to cry. "It's all my fault... It's all my fault! I'm sorry... I'm so sorry for everything I said! You're not bad luck! You were never bad luck! It was all me. I took things too far and I blamed you... Your caretaker is right about us. You've always been here for us and all we ever did was treat you like a... a scapegoat..." Lincoln sniffled and let out a few tears of his own. He then realized that even if he and his family could make things right, there might not be such a chance to do so. A trial was to be held soon in which his parents were likely to be held accountable.
"Girls," he said, teary-eyed. "Things are just too hard for me right now... and even if you all changed to make things better for me... well... you know what's coming."
"That's true," sighed Lisa. "And this endeavor is not likely to end on a good note."
"Come on, bro," said Luna, trying to liven things up or change the subject. "Think of all the good times we had." Lincoln just sighed sadly instead.
"Sorry, but that just makes it worse," said Lincoln, choking up.
"Ooh..." Luna realized what he meant. "So sorry, bruh. I didn't mean to put it that way."
"We just wish we could see you again," said Lana. "So far, only Leni got that chance."
"We will get that chance, girls," said Lynn Sr. "We all will. Because Lincoln's coming home. Am I right?"
"Dad, don't fool yourself," Lori warned.
"We haven't lost him yet! There's still time!"
"Dad!"
"Listen, sport," said Lynn Sr., who was now descending into freneticism. "They're not keeping you." The Loud sisters grew increasingly nervous.
"But I love it here," said Lincoln, a bit confused by his father's words. "Lyra's really nice. She was just upset a minute ago. And I-"
"What have you done to my son?!" Lynn Sr. began to lose it as he intended to address Lyra, the receptionist, and the manager on duty. Now for some reason, he deludedly thought Lincoln might have been brainwashed.
"Sir, we haven't done anything-" the manager started to say.
"My son's coming home or I'm reporting a kidnapping!" There were gasps on both ends. And of course, the call itself was still being recorded.
"Sir!" said the manager. "You're acting like a maniac!"
"I don't care! I want my son back!"
"Sir, don't do this!"
"Hold on, son!" Lynn Sr. shouted, sweating bullets. "I'm coming!"
"Dad!" cried Lincoln. *Beeeeeep*. The call and the recording ended abruptly. Lincoln started to hyperventilate slightly. "Oh... no..."
"Honey! STOP!" cried Rita in vain back at the Loud residence. "We're under house arrest!" The daughters shouted too, but Lynn Sr. was in no condition to listen. He tore out of the house and made a beeline for Vanzilla. But a cop grabbed him before he could open the driver door.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Return to your house at once!"
"Not without my son, Little Boy Blue!" the Loud father snarled, attempting to resist the officer.
"Ooh, real mature, you son of a...!"
"You're the one who's gonna burn, punk!" said a second cop, both of them attempting to restrain Lynn Sr.
"Dad, NO!" Lori called from the house.
"Daddy!" screamed Lola.
"Let me go!" beseeched Lynn Sr., still resisting. "Please! I want my son! I'll do anything!" It took a total of four officers to finally subdue the broken father. "My son..." he blubbered. "My son!" Overpowered, he cried loudly on the ground as he was bodily carried and loaded into a police vehicle. The rest of the family could only watch helplessly as the vehicle drove off with its new cargo.
If there was any way things could get worse, then this was a successful demonstration, no questions asked. The trial was mere days away and one of the parents to be held accountable just made an unnecessary and unprovoked spectacle. Lynn Loud Sr. had been blinded by an unexpected and unexplained delusion that somehow things could go back to being hunky-dory if Lincoln returned. Maybe he would even treat his own son like a king. But now, things definitely weren't that simple, and after all that, they never would be again.