The next day, Lincoln woke to the soft hiss of rain in the street. Ashen dusk filled the room and water streaked down the window like drops of silver. Lincoln sat up, stretched, and let out a deep yawn. He got to his feet, scratched his butt, and went into the hallway. Luna, Luan, Lynn, Leni, Lola, Lana, and Lucy were waiting in line outside the bathroom door, and when he walked up, they all turned to look at him. Lynn smirked, Luan hid her smile behind her hand, and Luna's eyes twinkled. They looked like they were up to something, but Lincoln chose to believe that they were just happy to see him. "Hey, guys," he said and fell in line behind Lucy.

"Hey, Lincy," Leni said in a singsong voice.

"Hey, Linc," Lynn said. She hit him with a playful punch to the arm that didn't feel so playful. Lincoln smiled through it, and when she did it again, he hissed through his teeth. "I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" she asked.

Actually, she kind of did, but it was no big deal. "Not really," he said, "I just -"

Lynn's fist crashed into his arm so hard that he stumbled back. Pain exploded in the center of his head and his face crinkled. Hot, stinging tears welled up in his eyes and his lungs burst for air. "Okay," he said, "that kind of hurt."

"Sorry," Lynn said. There was a mocking edge in her voice, and everyone else giggled like it was the funniest thing ever. Lincoln took a deep breath and grinned through the pain. "Okay, that kind of hurt. Not gonna lie."

Before Lynn could reply, Lori's door opened and Lori herself stuck her head out. "Oh, there you are, Linc. Can you come here, please?"

"Sure," Lincoln said.

She stepped aside and Lincoln went into the room. Lori said, "My trash is full. Do you think you can take it out on your way downstairs? I'm busy getting ready."

Lori looked as ready as she ever did in a pair of cargo shorts and a blue tank top, but who knows what kind of daily morning ritual she still had to carry out. "Sure," he said, "just let me use the bathroom and I'll get to it."

"Thank you," Lori said.

Lincoln got back in line and waited as each successive sister took her turn in the bathroom. Usually, everyone did their best to be quick, but it seemed that today, they all took their sweet time. Lincoln's bladder went from kind of full to positively bursting, and by the time he finally got in, he was sweating and shaking. He barely had time to shower, and the water went ice cold after less than a minute. He quickly washed his most important parts and then jumped out, shaking from head to toe. He dried himself off, put on a fresh pair of undies, and went back to his room, where he sat on the edge of the bed with the blanket wrapped around him to warm up. When he was finally ready, he got dressed and went downstairs. Everyone was at the dining room table with bowls of cereal in front of them. Their bowls seemed much bigger than normal. When he got into the kitchen, he saw why.

Three boxes stood side by side by side on the counter.

All of them were empty.

What, they couldn't save him any?

Anger ignited in his chest and he took a deep breath. It wasn't a big deal. They probably didn't do it on purpose or anything. He went to the pantry and dug through it looking for something else. He finally found a stale Hostess cupcake that had fallen behind a line of boxes and took it into the dining room just as everyone else was finishing up. He sat down, checked his phone, and gasped. He had to leave now.

Sighing, he ripped the package open and shoved the cup cake into his mouth. He chewed, struggled to swallow, and got up. He got up and rushed into the living room. Did he have everything? His backpack was by the door with his coat. That was everything, right? He felt like he was missing something but couldn't think for the life of him what it was. He patted his pockets, felt his phone and his key, and grabbed his coat. He was just putting it on when Lori appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Uh…my trash?"

Darn it, he forgot her trash.

"I'm running late," he said, "I'll grab it later."

A dark shadow settled over Lori's face and her brow lowered. "It stinks, Lincoln. I need it taken out now."

"Lori -"

"Now, Lincoln," she said.

Everyone else was watching, some with evil smiles. Lincoln sighed, hung his head, and went upstairs while Lori supervised with her arms folded over her chrest. Lincoln grabbed the trash and brought it down. Lori was still there, glaring. She seriously couldn't have done this herself?

He almost said that, but decided that it wasn't worth it; it would only lead to an argument, and to Lori being mad at him.

Outside, he tossed the trash into the can and then fetched his backpack from the living room. Everyone else had left by then so he walked alone, getting to school five minutes after first period began. As soon as he walked into the room, Mrs. Johnson was on his case. "How nice of you to join us, Mr. Loud," she said, and everyone snickered and giggled. Lincoln flushed with embarrassment, fumbled out a muttered excuse, and took his seat. Mrs. Johnson glared at him like she expected him to do something if she took her eyes off him, then went back to the lesson. For the first half of class, Lincoln fumed at Lori for making him late, but he soon forgot about it. At lunch, he sat with Stella and Clyde. Stella had moved to town a few months ago and Lincoln had had a crush on her ever since. They had become good friends and spent a lot of time together, and Lincoln was beginning to think that they could be more. He was working up the courage to finally ask her out, but he wasn't quite there yet. Stella was really great and with a girl like that, you only get one chance. It had to be perfect, from the way he asked her out to where he eventually took her.

There was no room for error.

"Math sucks," Clyde was saying, and Lincoln realized that Clyde and Stella had been talking for a good five minutes while he stared thoughtfully down at his food.

"You just need to get a handle on it," Stella said certainly, "once you do, it's really rewarding."

Clyde raised his brow. "Rewarding? Don't make me laugh." He unzipped his lunch bag and pulled out a kale and cucumber sandwich on organic poppy seed bread. The crust was cut off and for a side, he had veggie chips and a vegan cookie. His Dads were on some kato health kick and wouldn't let him have real food. They were helicopter parents for real, and Clyde missed out on a lot of stuff normal kids took for granted, like eating sweets and playing video games all night.

"What about you, Lincoln?" Stella asked and turned to him. "Do you like math?"

Lincoln's stomach clutched and the feeling of her gaze upon him made his skin burn as if with fever. "Sure," he said "I love math. Math is great."

"See?" Stella asked Clyde. "You just need to get into the groove."

"That's one dance I'll never get the hang of."

"Never say never," Stella said.

After lunch, Lincoln went to history class and learned about the Civil War. That had to be the most boring war in history. They could only shoot each other once a minute because it took them so long to reload their muskets. Imagine the awkward silence as everyone stopped to reload. More people died of cringing during the Civil War than of any other causes. That was a fact.

At the end of the day, Lincoln walked home alone. As soon as he got there, Lori was waiting by the door, arms crossed. She looked so much like a younger, thinner version of Mom that he had to rub his eyes. "I need some help, please? I know you just got here and I'm sorry, but it's important."

Lincoln went back to the trash incident that morning, but he pushed it away again. It wasn't that she asked him to take her garbage out, it was that she got nasty and demanded it, knowing full well that it was going to make him late.

Anger rose in his chest, and he forced himself to forget it.

It wasn't that big a deal.

"Alright," he said, "what do you need?"

"Follow me," she said.

They went up the stairs, and he could have sworn that he heard his other sisters giggling from the couch.

When Lori asked for his help, he envisioned one task. Linc, help me fix my broken box spring; Linc, hold this picture frame while I nail it to the wall; Linc. Instead, she gave him a list of things to do as long as a baby's arm. It started with patching a hole in her wall, then began vacuuming the carpet. In the end, he had to carry her overful laundry basket down to the basement. His back and knees ached by the time he was done. Her clothes took up three full loads, and he had to spend the rest of the afternoon dashing between them and whatever else he was doing. At last, he was done.

Then had to fold the clothes and put them away.

"Thank you, Lincoln," Lori called from her bed, where she had been sitting on her butt and texting this entire time. She could have at least helped him, since this was all her mess, but noooo, she just parked her butt and watched, occasionally barking orders. He came close to snapping at her, but took a deep breath and let it go. "No problem," he said, "happy to help."

He hoped to God that she didn't have anything else for him, and thankfully, she didn't…well, except for making him fix her plate at dinner and serve her.

And can you believe it? She didn't even tip.

At the end of the day, Lincoln crawled into bed and texted with Stella. Every time his phone chimed, a hazy little smile touched his lips and his heartbeat sped up. When they were apart like this, pangs of loss rippled through his stomach, and when they were in school, he would pray for a glimpse of her between classes. That's how you know it's true, honest to God love.

Soon. He would ask her out soon.

For right now, he was tired. He put his phone away, leaned over to turn the lamp off, and rolled onto his side.

In minutes, he was asleep.

The next morning, Lincoln was standing in line for the bathroom when the door opened and Leni popped her head out. "Lincy, can you help me?"

Oh boy.

Not again.

"What's up?"

What was up was that she had a nasty, puss-filled pimple on her back and needed him to pop it. As gross and unenviable a task as it was, Lincoln couldn't be upset with her. This wasn't an emergency, but it wasn't b.s. slave labor for the sake of slave labor. She turned around and disrobed, and Lincoln averted his eyes so that he didn't see her butt. He found the pimple between her shoulder blades and squeezed.

Nothing.

He tried again, and still, nothing.

Finally, he gave it all his might. The first two times must have loosened things up, because this time it erupted like a flipping geyser. It spurted into his eyes and mouth, and he let out a horrified sequel. He stumbled back, hit the door knob in the small of his back, and dropped to the floor in a heap. He frantically spat and blinked his eyes while Leni watched in confusion, her finger touching her chin. "Are you okay, Lincy?"

"Water," Lincoln moaned, "I need water."

"Oh," Leni said, "on it."

Her idea of giving him water was to turn the shower on and then spray him with the detachable shower head. Cold, dripping wet, and with the taste of blood and puss in his mouth, Lincoln stalked out of the bathroom, hair plastered to his eyes. Luan, Luna, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lori all laughed at him. "What happened to you?" Luna asked.

Lincoln grumbled.

In his room, he took a deep breath and centered himself like a hipster in a whole foods commercial. Don't lose it, Linc, it wasn't her fault. The water part was, but then again, this is Leni we're talking about and you know how Leni is. You should be thankful that she didn't boil it first so it wouldn't be "too cold." He felt a piece of dead skin on his tongue, shuddered, and spat it out.

After getting dressed and putting his shoes on, Lincoln went downstairs. Because the girls had pigged up all the cereal yesterday, Mom bought Toaster Strudels. When Lincoln came along, everyone was happily eating one, and most of them had a second waiting on their plate.

But the box was empty.

He sat next to Luna and stared at her second strudel, lkcking his lips. His stomach growled and his mouth watered.

She didn't even offer to share.

Luckily, he found a half bag of old Cheese Its in the pantry. They tasted like salted cardboard, but they were better than nothing. His stomach rumbled and growled all morning, and at lunch, it took everything he had to not shove his mouth full of food. He would have if Stella wasn't around. He didn't want to make a slob of himself in front of the girl he liked. LOL that would be a really bonehead move.

He thought about her for the rest of the afternoon, and decided that tomorrow, he would ask her out.

Back at home, he had to help Leni with a new design. He didn't want to, but he did it anyway, more as a test for himself than as anything else. After dinner, she made him give her a foot rub, and that's when he learned her darkest secret. Len was petite, girlish, and conventionally attractive. Her feet, however, were a disgusting nightmare that made Aunt Ruth's look angelic by comparison. For one, her heels were dry and cracked and looked like Thanos's chin. For another, she had corns and bunions on every toe. "Jesus Christ, Leni," Lincoln marveled when he saw them, "why?"

"I don't know," she said.

As it turned out, she had been wearing too-small shoes for years. They pinched her toes, and the rest was history.

Lincoln had to take a shower after he was finished.

He'd almost rather eat her pimple juice again than ever touch her nasty feet.

If it had stopped there, Lincoln wouldn't have become suspicious, but the next day, Luna grabbed him in the hal before breakfast and had him tune her guitar and polish her boots. He tried to worm his way out of it, but she insisted, and he gave in, feeling weak for doing so. She was charitable enough to let him stop so he had enough time to get dressed and rush out the door, but she made him promise that would finish later. This time around, he didn't have breakfast at all.

He might have noticed a trend and asked questions if he wasn't so focused on asking Stella out, but he was and he didn't. He amped himself up for it all day long and chickened out every time he decided to do it. He had many opportunities throughout the day - second period math, gym, music, lunch - but each time he resolved to puff out his chest and do it, he got cold feet. What if she said no? What if he bombed? Would he have more than one shot, or was this it? He felt like this was his only shot so that's what he assumed. He could only do it once. If he failed now, he'd never get another chance.

Lincoln almost put it off until tomorrow, but he decided that he was sick and tired of agonizing over it. He wanted an answer one way or the other; surely a no would be better than living in dread and fear. After the last bell, he found her at her locker. She smiled at him and he blushed. "Hey, Linc," she said.

"Hey," he replied and resisted the urge to nervously rub the back of his neck. "How's it going?"

"It's going good," she said at length, a bemused inflection in her voice. "How about you?"

Lincoln shrugged one shoulder. His heart was slamming now and his knees felt like they were going to give out, spilling him to the floor in a hot puddle of embarrassment. "I was wondering if, uh…" he swallowed around a lump in his throat and steadied his voice. No girl likes a guy who gets all weird and shaky when he tries to ask her out. Maybe in cartoons and anime, but not in real life. You have to be bold and confident. That's why jocks get girlfriends and the guys who play Pokemon and grow splotchy neck beards don't. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something Friday night."

Stella opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it closed again. "Uh…you mean, like a date?"

His first reaction was to frantically back pedal. Huh, a date? No! That would only hurt his cause. He was in it to win it now and he needed to go ahead and go full bore, put it all on the line and let her know in no uncertain terms that he wanted to be more than friends. He could feel his face glowing with heat and that embarrassed him even more. He must look like a freaking fire truck. How's that for cool and confident?

Even if he didn't feel bold and full of himself, he had come way too far to back down now. "Yeah," he said, "like a date."

Stella hesitated, and for a terrible moment, Lincoln thought she was going to say now. When she spoke, the tension in his chest broke. "Sure," she said, "that'd be great."

A big smile spread across Lincoln's face. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, her smile matching his own.

He was so happy that even Luna making him listen to her perform her new two hour concept album couldn't bring him down.

The next day was when Lincoln finally started to notice something was afoot. Luan started to order him around as soon as he came out of his room in the morning. Do this, do that. In the afternoon, she had him take her clown suit to the dry cleaners and stop by the joke store with a list of things she needed. She had given him a twenty dollar bill but it was nowhere near enough, so he had to cover the difference out of his own pocket. When he got home and told her, she gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry," she said, "I'll pay you back when I have more money."

Yeah, something told him that wouldn't happen.

Lying in bed that night, one arm bent behind his head, and stared up into the darkness and thought about Stella. They're big date was tomorrow and he was so nervous that he could barely stay still.

Then there was Luan. Something was up with his sisters. It had to be.

If Lynn started bossing him around tomorrow, he would know for sure.

He got his answer the next morning when Lynn shoved a mesh bag full of balls into his arms and made him follow her to school. He went along with it even though he was beginning to get really mad. Were his sisters taking advantage of him?

Lincoln didn't know but he wanted to think that it was a coincidence.

All day, Lincoln's excitement for his upcoming date with Stella built and built until it reached critical mass. At the end of the day, they agreed to meet at the park at six. "I'll see you then," Lincoln said.

"Good," Stella said with a smile.

That smile followed him home.

Where Lynn instantly got him.

First, she dragged him into the backyard and forced him to play football with her. Next, he had to wash her smelly gym socks and jockstraps, then he had to clean her room. His phone buzzed at one point and he checked it.

A text.

From Stella.

Where ru?

Lincoln's blood ran cold.

He was late.

"I gotta go," he told Lynn, "I have a date with Stella."

Lynn furrowed her brows. "Not until you're done here you don't."

"But -"

"But nothing, Linc," Lynn said. "Finish doing my socks then you can go."

"Please, Lynn, I -"

Lynn towered over him, her hands balling into fists and her eyes narrowing. If he didn't do what she said, she would kick his ass. He was maybe more cunning than she was, but face to face, he was no match. Hating himself, he backed down. He texted Stella to say that he wouldn't be able to make it. Her response: Oh :(

That made him sick with nerves and he apologized profusely. She seemed to accept it but he just knew that his one chance with Stella had been blown to hell.

All thanks to Lynn.

Rage and hatred filled him and nothing he told himself could tame it. He didn't dare walk away from Lynn's tasks, but the moment he was done and she let him go, he stormed into his room and slammed the door. Purple twilight filled the space like black water, and he laid in bed staring up at the shadows on the ceiling. His sisters were up to something, he knew that now. He had been telling himself for days that he was just being paranoid but there was no way on earth that this was coincidental.

He needed to talk to Lori.

Getting up, he went into the hall and made his way to her room. The door was ajar and he went to push it open, but stopped when he heard voices from beyond. "...best idea ever."

Lynn.

"Right?" Luna asked. "I almost feel kind of bad for taking advantage of him."

Lori chuckled. "Don't. He made the decision to be lenient with us, so really, it's on him. He should know by now that if you let people walk on you, you're going to get covered in footprints,."

A dozen voices laughed, and Lincoln sagged against the wall.

He confided his innermost thoughts to Lori…and she betrayed him. She told all of their sisters that he was trying to be less uptight and they played on that for their own gains. They made him do their chores, made him late for school, left him without breakfast, and ruined his date with Stella.

And was too stupid to realize it was happening. That they would use him that way was bad enough, but that they were laughing at what an idiot he was…that was ten times worse. He felt so stupid, so used, so violated. Tears filled his eyes and his bottom lip began to quiver.

Before he started crying, he pushed away from the door and slunk back to his room. In the dark, he buried his face in the pillow and began to sob.

The next morning, Lincoln emerged from his room with a bitter, broken expression on his face. He made his way to the bathroom, where a line waited. On schedule, Lucy held up her finger, "Lincoln, can -?"

"Fuck off," he grumbled.

Lucy gasped and Lynn, at the end of the line, spared him a quick, tired glance that said I can't believe I heard that, but I'm too out of it to care right now. None of the girls bothered him as the line grew shorter and shorter. He used the bathroom, went back to his bedroom, and dressed. Downstairs, everyone ate cereal at the table. Lincoln walked up, grabbed the bowl from in front of Lana, and plucked the spoon from her hand. "Hey!" she cried.

"Thanks for the breakfast," he said and went into the kitchen.

For a moment, Lori looked shocked…then called his name. "Come back here."

"I can't hear you," he said around a mouthful of food, "I'm eating. For once."

"You can't just take people's food away from them like that."

Lincoln came back into the dining room, holding the bowl. "Oh, but you can do it to me? You people pigged up breakfast for the past four days and I'm sick of being hungry. Stop being so fucking rude and selfish."

Everyone's jaws dropped. Lincoln sat the bowl on the table, spat into it, and then walked away. "Fuck all of you."

It wasn't until after the front door slammed close and Lincoln had gone that everyone looked at each other. "What's his problem?" Lynn asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said, "but he told me to eff earlier."

Lori chuckled. "He didn't last half as long as I thought." She skimmed her spoon through the bowl and thought for a moment. "Maybe we should talk to him later."

Later came just after school. Lincoln was in his room and as she approached it, Lori could feel dark vibes radiating from beyond the tightly closed door. The others looked nervous but didn't say anything; she was their elder, after all, and had to know best. Lori knocked, then opened the door when Lincoln didn't answer. He was sitting on his bed and staring angrily into space. "Hey, Linc," Lori said, "what's going on?"

He shot her a withering glare and she almost shrank back. "You know damn well what's wrong."

Taking a deep breath, Lori hung her head. "I guess we have been running you kind of ragged lately. We're sorry. We didn't -"

"Running me ragged?" Lincoln asked. "That's what you call it? Is that what you think this is? I don't care that you had me do your laundry, I care that you told everyone what I told you specifically to use me."

Lori blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, I know," Lincoln said and got to his feet. "I overheard you guys talking. LOL Lincoln's such an idiot hehehehehe. Sorry's not gonna cut it this time. What you need to do is turn your fuck asses back around and leave me alone. I don't want shit to do with any of you."

As he spoke, he stalked forward, and all nine girls fell back, fear in their eyes.

"We were just trying to show you our love," Lori fumbled.

Lincoln laughed. "If that's your love, I don't want to see your hate."

When they were out of his room, Lincoln slammed the door so hard that it shook in its frame. For a long time, they stood there, too shocked at their brother's venom to speak, then they broke up and went back to their own rooms with hung heads. Each one of them knew that they had majorly screwed up. Lori called a meeting and everyone glared at her because this was her idea and her fault. "We just need to give him space," Lori said. "He'll get over it eventually."

But he didn't. Days turned into weeks, and Lincoln refused to speak to them. He shot them dirty looks, cut in line at the bathroom, and spread nasty rumors about them at school. Somehow, some nudes that Lori had sent to Bobby wound up online, and everyone saw them. On the day of Lola's big pageant, Lincoln told her, "I hope you fall off the stage, you little bitch." Another day, Lisa came into her lab to find that someone had dumped acid all over her computer, frying it and destroying two years of hard work. Lincoln was so mad that he wouldn't even acknowledge Lily even though she didn't have anything to do with her sisters' scheme. Lincoln and Lily had been so close, and it was heartbreaking to see her smiling and reaching for Lincoln, only for him to walk by. The look of hurt in her eyes made Lori regret what she had done more than anything else could have.

She tried to talk to Lincoln, but he would either snap or outright ignore her.

A month after he started this, Lana fell down the stairs and broke her arm. She swore up and down that it was an accident, but Lori had the sneaking suspicion that Lincoln had pushed her and she was covering for him out of guilt. Lori didn't want to accuse him in case she was wrong, but she was certain that he had done it.

Two weeks later, Lola found all of her trophies broken, and when she went to Lincoln about it, she shoved her so hard that she fell down and banged her head on the floor. She cried and felt dizzy for a while, but she didn't tell Mom and Dad. Lori needed to put a stop to this right now, but she didn't know how.

"I say we get him a present," Luan suggested.

"Nah," Luna said, "we need to get him a mega fuck ton of presents."

"He just needs more time," Lori said. She was in denial about how serious this was. She was losing sleep and clumps of hair over this.

And she wasn't the only one. Everybody was stressed about this, Lincoln included. He had picked up a smoking habit to cope. Lori didn't know where he got cigarettes, but she assumed they came from Flip; he was so greedy that he'd totally sell Newports to a little boy. The one time Lori brought it up, Lincoln glowered at her. "Oh, when did you start caring?"

That stung Lori. "I've always cared."

"Yeah, about yourself."

She opened her mouth to reply but he held his hand up. "Just don't."

Everyone was really worried about him. Lucy threatened to tell Mom and Dad, and he dared her to. "You'll be sleeping in a coffin for real."

Lucy backed down and despite their concern, none of the others stepped up. Maybe if they let him do what he wanted, he would forgive them. They would give anything to have Lincoln love them again.

But every time one of his sisters tried to hug him or say that they were sorry, he'd simply blow smoke in their faces or fix them with a cold stare before asking, "Are you done yet?"

The realization that she had probably damaged her and her sisters' relationship with their brother forever dawned on Lori slowly. Fear and desperation filled her, and she went to Lincoln one night. She dropped to her knees, balled her hands, and tearfully begged his forgiveness.

All Lincoln said was, "That's nice. Now leave."

Lincoln's personality changed so much that everyone noticed. Gone was the happy and energetic boy they all knew and loved, and in his place was an embittered middle aged man who hated everyone. Mom and Dad found out about him smoking and put a stop to it, but when they asked what was wrong, he wouldn't tell them. They figured out that whatever happened, it involved the girls, so they came to Lori. She broke down in tears and told them, and Mom and Dad hugged her. "That was awful, Lori," Mom said. "But he'll come around."

Something told Lori that no, he wouldn't.

Not this time.

And she was right. Another month passed, and he was still mad at them. The ever present tension in the house got darker and more intense, cloying, choking. At school, Lincoln's friends worried for him just as much as his family did. "I know your sisters have done some shitty things," Clyde told him, "and that last one was really messed up, but you're kinda taking this a little too far. I mean, you pushed Lana down the stairs. That's a gross overreaction. It's okay to be mad and upset, but not to try and kill someone over it."

Cldyde was the only person Lincoln had admitted to pushing Lana down the stairs to.

He shrugged. "They only care about themselves, so fuck them."

Lincoln's attitude turned the Loud house into a misery, but Lori couldn't bring herself to blame him even though she, too, thought he was overreacting. She finally decided that Luna's idea of giving him a butt ton of gifts was a good idea. She was so sorry for what she did and wanted to express that. Presents would be the best way to do that, right?

She and her sisters planned their big apology for a week. Lori, Leni, Luna, and Luan pooled their money to buy him comics, video games, new clothes, and DVDs. Luna wrote him a song, Lucy composed a poem, and Lana and Lola worked hard on macaroni art spelling out WE R SORRY and PLZ FORGIVE US. Lisa concocted a serum that she claimed would "Turn him into Spider-Man for several hours' ' so that he could live out his fantasy of being a superhero, but Lori forbade her giving it to him. "You'll probably poison him, Lise," she said. "Draw him a picture or something."

On a Saturday afternoon, while Mom and Dad were running errands, they piled all of their gifts onto the coffee table and called Lincoln into the living room. He came in smoking a cigarette and looking grizzled, as though he had aged four decades in the last three months. Seeing him put cigarette smoke into his body hurt Lori's heart, but she didn't say anything. "What do you jokers want?" Lincoln asked and took a drag.

Lori drew a deep breath. "Lincoln, you have every right to be mad at us. I know what we did - what I did - was awful. You bore you soul to me and I…I used that against you." Tears flooded her eyes and she wiped them away, "That was disgusting of me. You don't have to forgive me, but I just want you to know how truly sorry I am."

"You can be mad at us," Lynn said, "but don't be mad at Lily and the others. They're kids, they don't know any better."

Luna stepped forward. "I know we screwed up, man, and I know you'll probably never trust us again, but we miss you. The old you. We'd do anything to have it back."

Out of nowhere, Leni began to sob into her hands. "We're sorry, Lincy. We'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

"We'll do your chores for the rest of our lives," Lucy said.

"We'll be your slaves," Lola said.

"Please forgive us," Lana begged.

Lily held up her arms and opened and closed her hands in the international sign of wanting to be picked up. "Incoln," she said, lip quivering.

For a long time, Lincoln darted his eyes from one sister to another. Their eyes welled with hope and something about that pissed Lincoln off. They thought they could violate his trust, fucking metaphorically rape him, and then get off by saying "sorry" and handing him a pile of junk. He didn't want their sorry, didn't want their comics or their games ot their fucking poems. He wanted to be treated with basic dignity and respect.. They had never done that, ever, now they wanted him to believe that they would?

Pfft.

"Please, Lincoln," Lori said.

On the other hand, they all looked genuinely sorry. Maybe Clyde was right and he really was taking this too far. People make mistakes, especially kids. Was it really fair to hold a grudge against them? Was it healthy? The stress of hating them and being angry at them was taking a major toll on him. His stomach always hurt, he barely slept, he had lost joy in everything he loved. To be honest, he was miserable and holding this grudge was destroying him.

He could let it go.

He could move on with his life and forgive them.

"Please?" Lori asked again.

Lincoln stared down at all the gifts, a pile of his favorite things.

Finally, he made up his mind.

He flicked his cigarette onto the pile, and it instantly went up in flames with a low whump. Everyone screamed and jumped back. Except for Lily. Her eyes widened with fear and her mouth dropped open. She tried to get away, but her feet tangled and she fell forward, hands shooting out to catch herself. Her hands came down in the center of the conflagration and she shrieked as the flames roasted her flesh. Lori screamed in horror and grabbed her. Lily screamed and thrashed in her arms, tears streaming from her traumatized eyes. Her skin was angry red and beginning to blister.

Lincoln threw back his head and laughed.

An emotion stronger than horror, stronger than disgust, stronger than anything she had ever known washed through Lori and she gaped at Lincoln, face white and eyes wide. "You're a monster," she breathed.

The entire table was aflame now, crackling as everything withered and shrank. A piece of burning paper landed on Lincoln's shirt, and it went up in an instant. His smug expression turned to a mix of pain and fear, and he fell back. In a second, he was up like a human torch. Everyone screamed, and Lisa, Lola, and Luan ran around the table to help. Lincoln pulled away from them and tried to run up the stairs, but he fell. The most inhuman screams Lori had ever heard rose from his chest. "Here!" Lori cried, panicked. She threw Luan and blanket and Luan draped it over Lincoln. "LEAVE ME ALONE, BITCH!" Lincoln screamed.

Luan, Lola, and Lisa patted the fire out and took the blanket off. Lincoln was charred and burned, His clothes and skin had melted and fused and most of his hair had burned away. His eyes popped and leaked down his cheeks, and the flesh had burned from his lips, ragged tatters ringing his teeth. "Oh my God!" Luan shrieked.

Lincoln rolled onto his back and stared up at them with his dying gaze. Everyone was crying and Lily howled in agony. "Lincoln," Lori said tearfully.

"Come closer," he muttered.

She knelt beside him.

"Closer."

She leaned over until his lips were pressed to her ear. The smell of smoking, cooked meat filled her nose and turned her stomach. "What?" she sobbed.

In a low whisper, Lincoln said:

"Fuck you."

With that, he sank into death, and he no longer held the grudge that had killed him.

THE END