Walter parked the car before he and his wife exited.
"Winter's teacher has a free slot on Friday, I will talk to Lincoln about it later." Sophia said. "You don't think it's too soon, or too much? I don't want to be like those Chinese tiger moms."
"We signed Winter up when she was seven, so I don't think it's too soon, but it definitely isn't too much. It's twice a week if he decides to continue." Walter said. "And I wouldn't say you are a tiger mom. Mama bear, maybe, but definitely not a tiger mom."
Sophia laughed sarcastically. "Be more serious, this isn't a joke. I don't want him to resent me for pushing him too hard."
"Don't worry, you are doing great." Walter kissed her before opening the building entrance. "He might not love it now, but he will thank you when he grows up."
"I know, but I don't know if we have that luxury. We are on thin ice with him. One wrong move, and he could never come back after he's eighteen, or younger." Sophia said worriedly.
"It won't come to that. It takes a lot to make a kid run away and I don't think offering a kid to learn an instrument counts as that." Walter said.
"I guess..." Sophia got lost in her thoughts before looking up. "Right, I almost forgot, I asked around and-" she stopped mid-sentence and looked straight ahead.
Seeing her, Walter did the same before peeking around the corner of the staircase. "Lincoln?" he asked his son.
Lincoln raised his head. Tears and mucus were running down his face and ruining his shirt, his eyes were red like he cried for hours, and he was visibly shaking. His hitched breaths were all to audible in the baren hallways, echoing through the silent concrete room like torture for the ears.
"Lincoln, what happened?" Sophia was too stunned to give her voice emotion. She came over to him and crouched down to hug him. Lincoln didn't react, only murmuring something to himself. It took some time, but she managed to put together what it was.
"I'm sorry."
"What are you talking about? What did you do?" Sophia asked.
When Lincoln didn't speak up, Walter came over and pried him from Sophia's arms. He put his arms firmly on Lincoln's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. "Lincoln, calm down, breath."
He was reluctant at first, but he did as instruct. Just as he started to calm down, he said: "You promised..." before starting to cry again.
"Lincoln, please, you are scaring us. Tell us what is happening." Sophia pleaded.
"Lincoln, Lincoln, listen to me." Walter shook him lightly. "It's okay, no one will hurt you. Take deep breaths and tell us what is going on."
Lincoln breathed in and out, repeating the same thing for a few minutes before he felt he could speak again. "I'm sorry I lost the dogs. I'm sorry I got lost. I'm sorry I'm bad luck. I won't do it again, I promise, just don't kick me out, please." He started tearing up again.
"Kick you out... No one will kick you out, where did you get that idea?" Walter struggled to remain composed when remerging the where.
"The... the door is locked." Lincoln sniffled.
Walter gave him a confused look before looking at Sophia. She returned the look before taking out her key and going to the door. It's supposed to be locked, she thought. However, when she tried to unlock the door, it wouldn't budge. She tried different keys and turning the lock different ways, but it changed nothing.
Seeing her struggling, Walter took Lincoln's hand and came to investigate. Sophia moved out of the way for him to try his key and took Lincoln's hand. She held it tightly and brought him closer.
Walter tried the same things as Sophia and got the same results. "What the..." he rang the doorbell several times before knocking on the door. "Winter!" No response came back, however.
Walter looked at his wife for advice before calling Winter. "Winter, where are you?" he asked angerly.
"In my room." Winter was confusing. "Is something wrong?"
"Can you come and unlock the door, your mother, Lincoln, and I are stuck outside." he said, trying to calm down.
Winter said yes and ended the call. A minute later, she unlocked the door. "What happened?" she asked upon seeing Lincoln.
"Take him to his room." Walter told Sophia who was well on her way by the time he got the idea. When everyone was inside, he closed the door before looking at the lock. "Why is the key inside the lock?" he asked Winter.
"Oh..." Winter bit her cheek. "I forgot to take it out..." she said fearfully.
Walter looked at her with eyes blazing with fury.
"I'm sorry, I was going to the bathroom and saw the door was unlocked and..." Winter shrunk. "What happened to Lincoln, is he okay?"
"Lincoln had a panic attack, because he couldn't get inside." Walter exhaled.
"What?" Winter looked at her father weirdly. Why didn't he call her to open the door?
"Do you know why exactly Lincoln's last p-" Walter stopped himself. "Lincoln was locked out of his house before. When he couldn't get into the apartment, he thought that was happening again."
"I..." Winter couldn't come up with anything to say.
"We'll talk about this later. For now, give Lincoln some space, alright?" Walter asked.
"Yes." Winter nodded.
Walter left to check up on Lincoln and Sophia. Winter followed closely after him, only taking a peek into his room before going into her own. He was sitting on his bed with her mother's arms wrapped around him. Even if it was for a brief moment, she saw Lincoln hadn't changed in the slightest from how she first saw him. It was hard for her to believe that he could be like that because she forgot to remove the key. Why didn't he call her? They didn't exchange phone numbers, so he couldn't do that. But the doorbell was an option, she would have heard it even though the headphones. Maybe she set the piano volume too loud.
Now she's done for. Walter did his best, but she knew why he had a breakdown over a locked door. Her parents locked him out. Because of her, now he thinks the Whites are the same. Why didn't she put the key back in place? Why does their lock even jam if there is a key in it? It was a reoccurring issue. She remembered Walter promising to fix it for years, yet nothing happened. It doesn't matter who is really at fault. She was the one to forget about the key, so she will be the one to bear the consequences.
Sophia comforted Lincoln in his room. The young boy hugged her back and wept into her while Walter stood by and watched with a mix of pity and guilt. That lock should have been fixed years ago, but he kept putting it off and now it came back to bite him. Nothing changed for a few minutes until Lincoln calmed down enough to let go of Sophia.
"Are you better now?" Sophia asked on the brink of tears.
Lincoln nodded. "Yeah... I'm sorry I acted like that. I just-"
"Lincoln, there is nothing to apologies for, it wasn't your fault. We should have changed the lock a long time ago or left another key with a neighbor." Walter said. "I promise, I will have the door fixed by tonight."
"Lincoln, why didn't you call us, or Winter, when you couldn't open the door." Sophia asked.
"I don't have her number, and my phone is dead. I forgot to charge it and the scooter." Lincoln wiped the tears off his face. He didn't need to charge it for more than a day, and he forgot to do it at all.
"It happens." Walter sighed.
"Did you really think we would lock you out?" Sophia asked, her voice cracking.
"N-No..." Lincoln couldn't look her in the eyes. By the voice alone he could hear how much that question meant to her.
"Lincoln, we will never do that." Walter said. "I promise, I swear to god and everything there is. We will never, ever, throw you out. Not for luck, not for something you've done, not any reason."
"You are our son." Sophia said. "I know that things could have been better, but we don't love you any less because of it."
Lincoln nodded. "I know." he sniffled. "I'm sorry, I have to clear my nose, and wash my face." Lincoln said before leaving the room.
Walter and Sophia stared at each other. Contemplating whether to say something or wait for Lincoln to come back.
"I'll take my vacation days now." Walter said. "I think you should too. We need to get to know him properly and he needs to do the same for us. Also, I don't know if he will want to leave the house now if he doesn't know one of us is inside."
Sophia nodded. "What do we do with Winter?"
Walter sighed. "It wasn't her fault."
"I'm not talking just about that." Sophia said. "She hasn't said a word to him since he moved in. I know she's not the outgoing type, but this is bordering on... I don't even know. Should we take her to a therapist?"
"I don't know." Walter shrugged. "I know we need to do something; I just don't know what."
Sophia wanted to say something but stopped herself when she heard the bathroom door open. Lincoln returned moments later.
"Are you better now?" Sophia asked caringly.
Lincoln nodded.
The three waited in silence before Walter spoke up. "If you don't need me, I will get started on the lock."
"Okay." Lincoln said.
"You should rest, you look tired." Sophia got up and went over to him "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm fine." Lincoln said.
"I'll get started on the dinner, if you are hungry now, you can order something." Sophia said.
"No, really, it's okay." Lincoln said.
Sophia nodded and left the room.
Now alone, Lincoln put his phone and scooter on their respective chargers. As soon as the phone powered one, he was hit with a call from Ronnie Anne.
"Lincoln, where are you?!" Ronnie screamed as soon as he answered, making him regret answering. "I've been trying to get you for two hours! What's going on?"
Lincoln cleared his ear to hear again. "Sorry about that, my phone was dead."
"Sid said it was probably that." Ronnie said, returning to her normal voice.
"Yeah, sorry..." Lincoln sat down. "Listen, I lost the dogs."
"Don't worry, Sid came in just in time and we managed to catch all the dogs." Ronnie told him. "Remind me to never take up half as many dogs, this was just a nightmare."
"You're telling me?" Lincoln said, too tired for sarcasm.
"I'm guessing you are home. Did you get back in one piece?"
"Yep." Lincoln looked at the clock. He had a call with Lisa at eight, but there was still plenty of time before that. "What about you?"
"As I said, we got all the dogs. Bobby is with us now, so we shouldn't have any more problems." Ronnie paused while someone else talked for a moment. "Bobby says hi. Sid does too."
"Hi!" Lincoln said with a small smile. "Sorry I messed up. I should be there to watch the dogs; you shouldn't have to drag Bobby off work."
"Don't worry about Bobby, we ran into him in the park." Ronnie stopped for a moment. "He was sulking about Lori anyways." she whispered. "The important part is that you are okay now."
"I am now." Lincoln said. "I'll see you in school then, I guess."
Ronnie said her goodbyes and ended the call, leaving Lincoln to stare at the wall. He released a long breath while sulking deeper into the seat. He was relieved everything turned out well but the fact it happened at all still plagued his mind. Walter and Sophia were, and still are, scared out of their minds because of what he did. There were so many things he could have done to avoid this. He could have knocked on someone's door and asked to borrow their phone or asked someone on the street, heck there might be a payphone somewhere nearby. He didn't even have to call anyone. If he just went to one of the parks, he would have found Ronnie eventually.
"Well done." Lincoln said under his breath.
