07-. Knowledge Hurts

Lincoln had sat on the bench at the bus stop, ignoring the cold air that for half an hour had been hitting his still body. It had begun to snow lightly.

But none of that really mattered to him. His mind was still replaying Lori's call...

"I was with Bobby at the university when the fire happened, it was yesterday at noon. Today the insurance declared a total loss, I guess they wanted to look good in front of the media... or something, I don't know, that apartment building was some kind of historical symbol" Lori blew her nose for the third time during the call. "But no one could celebrate, Maria; Bobby's mother, she's still hospitalized... they won't tell me how she is, but I think it's serious."

Lincoln's heart began to beat faster as he remembered the next part of his talk with his older sister. Yes, he had known about the fire thing before, but he didn't know the details, and Lori in the first unconscious act of her life was telling him all of them, holding nothing back from him.

"You haven't heard anything from Ronnie Anne? You guys were always close, I'm sure if she's talked to anyone it has to be you."

"What? Something happened to Ronnie?"

"I... I don't know if it's right to tell you what she did."

"Lori, I think it's too late to try to hide the ugly parts from me now" perhaps he could help relax his sister with some friendly comment, something to take their minds off the horrible direction the conversation was taking, but before Lincoln could open his mouth to say anything, Lori beat him to it.

"Bobby's grandmother, Doña Rosa... she assures that it was Ronalda who started the fire..."

-o-

Lynn was standing in the doorframe to the basement, Luna and Luan were hiding behind her, all three were staring at Lucy, who only occasionally moved to tear a page out of one of her old books and copy its contents into a new notebook. The girl was kneeling writing some notes and looking sideways at the wall would count; she had left the half-empty glass at her side, the dissolved sugar clouding the water.

The youngest chestnut was barely mustering the courage to descend the stairs when the goth stood abruptly causing the two sisters behind the athlete to flinch, Lynn rocked the weight of her old bat between her hands before backing up a couple of steps.

"All set big sister, what do we do now?" Lisa never thought she would say those words, she, who was always the one with the answers to everything was now forced to play the role of technical support.

"Draw this on that wall with the necessary means to prevent it from being easily erased," Lucy approached her little sister, almost sliding across the smooth cement floor of the basement before showing her a hand-drawn illustration in her black notebook, "and bring me some more water."

The little know-it-all obeyed her sister's first indication, and upon receiving the signal from Lisa's laser pointer, a machine resting on a tripod fired a laser at the wall that had been pointed out by the gothic. Slowly it began to print in an intense black color on one of the bricks of the wall a strange drawing, the third rune they had carried in the afternoon, they planned to draw nine more.

Lucy leaned her neck back so she could drink what was left in the glass tumbler, the cloudy liquid slid down her throat in a choppy fashion; it occurred to Lisa that she was actually forcing herself to swallow the contents.

"Lucy, don't you want to rest? We've been down here for a few hours and you still won't let me check your throat."

Hearing Lisa's words, the blackhead spat some of the liquid on the floor, the little genius' shoulders shook a bit as she saw the liquid opaque mixture dripping on the floor. The know-it-all's first impulse was to run to hide behind her older sisters at the top of the stairs, but she could already hear Lincoln's voice: «Don't bother Lucy, we need to be there for her, show her that she's important to the family.»

"Child... I think our real purpose is more important" between each word said by her older sister Lisa heard again that cicada chattering, the noise became more and more striking, "think, little one, you are so close to obtain invaluable knowledge, don't break down so soon."

Using all her willpower, Lisa went upstairs to the kitchen and returned to the basement with the glass filled again with sugar water and a paper napkin.

From the corner of the door, Luna's phone vibrated, and upon unlocking the device the rocker stumbled upon a notification from 'Flipp's, Food and Fuel' ever since old Flipp learned how to use the internet, not a day went by without saturating the web with his annoying ads. She was about to turn the screen off again when she saw the Wassup app icon light up with a small number 1 in bright red.

It was a message from his mother that said:

«Don't stay up too late. The pasta you guys made was very tasty. Your father and I are sorry we are late.

We love you, M and P.»

Luna had opened the chat with her mother had just received the message, knowing that her mother had not yet closed the chat and that she had probably noticed the double-check, the chestnut had no choice but to respond.

«No problem :D»

She frowned as she returned the device to her pocket; the digital clock off the cellphone indicated that it was now two minutes to nine p.m., if Lincoln didn't arrive in the next two minutes she would have to go out and look for him.

"Dang it! Luan, you're in charge."

"Did something happen?"

"Nah Lynn, he's just going to look for Lincoln" the comedian couldn't even smile at the sight of her gothic sister's affected state, the little girl seemed to suffer some kind of deep trauma, "our little cotton head said he was just going to walk a little bit and it took him long enough."

Then there was a knock at the door, four dry, rhythmless knocks. None of the sisters moved, the twins and the youngest of the whole family came running from the living room, Lily announced with her little voice.

"Someone knocking at the door, do you want me to go open it?"

"We already told her no," Lola spoke first, "that first she must..."

"... know who's knocking," Lana's raspy voice finished. "That's what a responsible person should do."

"I'M HERE!" Lincoln's voice thundered from outside.

After hearing the scream, any hint of 'responsibility' vanished from the twins' faces. The first to react was little Lily, who ran as fast as she could and was the first to reach the front door, Lynn and Lana arrived moments later.

The youngest Loud opened the door with the rest of the sisters behind her, fighting with each other to see through the door frame.

In front of the girls a smiling white-haired teenager held some black plastic bags and three unmistakable square boxes, at the sight of the pizza boxes all the sisters began to salivate with anticipation but what caught Lily's attention wasn't the promise of a delicious dinner or the strange bags her brother insisted on hiding behind his body, it was the marks under Lincoln's eyes, he had been crying.

"Did you girls order pizza?"

A shout of happiness was the general response. Using every trick and trickery he has mastered as a big brother he carried the boxes to the table, and only then did he feel the reproachful look from Luna and Luan «Where did you get the money?» said Luna moving her lips, but Lincoln downplayed the matter with a shrug. The white-haired boy already had a plan to avoid his older sisters' questions.

All recriminations for being late or worried comments were forgotten as soon as he opened the first pizza box, no one hesitated to take a slice. Lately, they only had two meals a day, not counting the small lunch they all took at school, in Luna's case it was at the record store, so they were always hungry.

With food in their mouths, the group mood began to improve. Then, once he was completely sure that he had managed to elude his sisters, Lincoln noticed a new empty chair and Lisa filling two plates with three slices of pizza each. He remembered the conversation with Lucy and supposed that both of them would continue with their investigations of their 'secret' project, he would help them as soon as they asked him, his time of solving his sisters' problems in exchange for his dignity was over.

Immersed as he was, listening as always to the conversations that came from one end of the table and ended at the other, contemplating the familiar walls and furniture of his home and his sisters devouring whatever was in front of them, Lincoln got what he wanted, a feeling of normalcy. But almost immediately afterward he discovered that in everything he contemplated there was some change caused by the slow passage of time: the twins now had perfect teeth, Lisa was starting to grow some teeth of her own, and neither Leni nor Lori were eating with them... physically at least since Leni was too busy going out to the backyard to come in seconds later and go out again; the illusion of well-being was finally broken when he saw Lily smiling and sticking her tongue out as a game to Luan.

His eyes gradually filled with water until the contents began to spill over his cheeks, in a last stubborn attempt not to cry he kept the smile on his face and just kept silent. Remaining still in the chair, on the sidelines of all conversations.

"Daddy... Why are you crying?" The first to notice her guardian's depressed state, as always, was Lily, "Did something bad happen to you while you were away?"

When Lincoln looked up he found six pairs of eyes watching him attentively, with one hand he wiped the few tears from his face even though he was about to shed more, "absolutely nothing happened to me, my little baby. I'm crying to get even for the money I spent on feeding you all..." he sniffled and continued talking between his fake smile and the tears he could no longer contain, "all my savings wasted, on you girls."

The boy's crying became bitterer but most of his sisters were no longer paying attention to him, they were still too affected by Lucy's strange behavior to notice the way their only brother was trying hard not to break down in front of them because of the news concerning his best friend and prospect of something more.

-o-

Lisa was walking into the kitchen, the bite of her cheese pizza was finally starting to cool enough to chew and swallow when she heard a noise, one of the boxes in the basement had fallen over.

Lisa stood motionless at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. Not daring to come down.

More than the noise of things falling to the ground, she was startled by the absolute silence that followed.

Nervous, Lisa turned to the dining room, where long ago was "the grownup table", there, surrounded by an atmosphere of relaxation and enjoyment, her older brother with tears in his eyes was making an almost inhuman effort to keep the smile on his face while he served the rest a second round of pizza.

The little scientist returned her gaze to the basement, thinking she saw a pair of glowing eyes down there, watching her with the attention of a hungry predator. However, the rational part of her brain reminded her that she couldn't really see anything, the place was completely dark, something strange even for Lucy since every time the gothic girl went into dark places to read alone she always carried a flashlight with her so she could see freely around her.

Muttering words, that under no circumstances would she exclaim out loud in front of her family, Lisa began her descent to the basement. She didn't want to make the situation between her and Lucy more uncomfortable, so she didn't bother to turn on the light without consulting the goth first.

Halfway up the stairs, Lisa stopped with her heart pounding hard against her small chest as she caught a glimpse of a body kneeling against the wall where they had been laser engraving the runes. It was Lucy, her older sister, the other person in the house capable of putting aside her own activities to listen to her problems.

The gothic girl seemed to be checking the inscribed symbols with Lisa's laser machine... only she was doing it peculiarly, the arm she didn't use for support, the left one, was completely stiff at one side of her body, the right arm was resting tersely on the black leather-covered notebook she had been writing on in a neurotic manner since she returned home, and seemed to be licking the most recently engraved cryptic inscription as she had her mouth too close to it, because of the strange posture of her older sister's head, and because her childish imagination was too excited due to fear, it seemed to Lisa that Lucy was reading the inscription with eyes that were coming out of her throat.

She was so focused on watching her sister, that Lisa didn't notice how one of her feet slipped off the surface of one of the steps and fell to the one below, causing the little scientist to almost fall down the stairs. Hearing the noise behind her, Lucy closed her mouth, turned around, and saw her younger sister recovering her balance; Lisa waved her hand, even more nervous than before.

"I bring you food, major fraternal unit," said Lisa, feeling ashamed of the fear in her voice, "you can't refuse dinner."

When she finished going downstairs, the chestnut left the dishes with pizza on the washing machine and reached for the switch, without asking for her older sister's permission, as she had planned she would do, she turned on the lights.

Nothing happened.

More nervous than before, she tried several times, obtaining the same result in all attempts.

"We have to do this phase in the dark," as usual, Lisa didn't feel her sister approaching, but this time she was more frightened when she noticed her appearing next to her, "that's why I took the liberty of removing the light bulb."

The basement ceiling was eight feet high, not even Lynn could jump that high. Lisa's breathing began to quicken as strange thoughts began to plague her «my room is not the only place where there are risks of being contaminated with some dangerous chemical or having contact with a physical overstimulant, and Lucy has been spending a lot of time in my room lately... I would have to investigate, I would have to analyze her, I would have to... quarantine her.»

"I used the ladder," a lonely pale finger pointed to a folding ladder at the back of the room, "even Lynn can't reach the ceiling without help."

Without another word, Lucy picked up one of the dishes resting on the washing machine and stared at what it contained. Seeing the hesitant way her older sister looked at the food, Lisa thought, if she had been a more normal child she would call it 'intuition', that her sister had forgotten or did not recognize the characteristics of the pizza, she seemed confused before the dish.

After a few unsettling seconds, the gothic woman popped one of the slices into her mouth and chewed.

"Excuse me, between the room being dark and the hair over my eyes I can't see very well..."

The cicada hiss sounded faintly as soon as Lucy finished saying that.

-o-

Lincoln put the black bags with the gifts among Lola's old stuffed animals, it had been years since the little princess had stopped looking for them and Lily didn't like plush toys enough to go into the dark linen closet to snoop around on her own.

He stuck his head out of the door frame and checking that the coast was clear he closed the linen closet behind him and advanced to his new room, opening the door he ran into his older sister with her back to the door; Leni was sitting on Lori's old bed, staring out the window at Franklin Avenue. With his face alight, Lincoln quickly closed the door.

"I'm sorry Leni, I didn't mean to eavesdrop!" He had spoken without thinking, Luna, who had just come out of the bathroom, with a look between concern and reproach went into her room without bothering to correct her only sibling.

"I'm sorry Lu, I guess I got out of habit," Lincoln said to the closing door of his older sisters' room, "I... it doesn't matter."

Alone in the hallway again, Lincoln opened his bedroom door, his golden-haired sister was nowhere to be seen anymore. «How will it feel to be in her place?» he thought as he sat down on his bed, the same one Leni was sitting on moments ago.

A slight tug on his sleeve brought the white-haired man out of his thought cloud, turning down he saw his baby sister, Lily, offering him a solitary yellow cookie.

"Linky, look what Lucy gave me" the little girl had some crumbs on her face and shoulders "there were a lot of cookies but then something happened and..."

As he brushed the crumbs away from her, Lincoln listened intently to the excuses Lily was telling him to explain why she hadn't saved him more than a single cookie. Lincoln was always surprised to hear her talk, the babe did it so clearly and so matter-of-factly that he was sure Lisa had something to do with that little accomplishment.

"... and that's why only this cookie was left, but I want you to eat it, I saved it especially for you, daddy."

Hearing those words, Lincoln felt a pleasant warmth begin to flood his heart. With a big smile he took the cookie from his baby sister's hand, and as he did so he felt one of his eyes tremble and the smile began to get smaller; the cookie was cold and watery, surely the little girl had had it in her hand all the time while she devoured the rest and when she discovered that it was no longer crunchy she simply decided that she would not eat it.

Still, Lincoln placed the treat in his mouth and chewed, as he did so the blonde baby girl's face lit up with pure joy. With a high-pitched cry, Lily threw herself into her big brother's arms, showered his forehead and one cheek with kisses with her wet, slimy little lips. Suddenly the cookie wasn't so bad anymore and even the smile returned to Lincoln's face with renewed intensity.

After slobbering on her big brother, Lily ran out of the room with a smirk on her face, as she passed the door she had to be careful since Lynn Jr. was leaning against the door frame. The jock had seen the whole scene. When the two were finally alone she spoke to her brother.

"I remember dad used to do that when one of us didn't want to eat something, of course, that was when we were still babies," the chestnut girl had a warm smile on her face, "you know... I think you would be a great father."

Memories of the awkward scene with Lucy and Lori's call came back to Lincoln's mind, haunting his conscience. Suddenly the intense look his sporty sister was giving him made him very uncomfortable.


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And remember, I am not a native english speaker so I am also open to opinions and criticisms 'bout my written english