Attention!
This chapter plays out similarly to the first half of the original chapter 9. If you don't want to read all that over again, then skip to this part where he starts to show Luan the book:
"So I… well… I-"
That's where this story picks up and goes in a completely different direction after that paragraph. Thank you for reading, have a nice day!
The Mysterious 'Ship
Chapter 9: Setting Her Free…
Lincoln had suffered their meddling for the last time. Sure, it was partly his fault for believing that this time would be different, that they knew what they were doing.
But if they were telling the truth, then it made it all the worse. They'd planned for him to get his ass knocked out right in front of their own house. Had they been in cahoots with Ronnie-Anne from the start, just waiting for this chance to humiliate him? Was Ronnie-Anne a willing participant, or had she been manipulated as well?
Of course not, he was just being paranoid, Lincoln told himself.
Then Ronnie-Anne cleared that suspicion up when they finally got on good terms.
Still, their meddling had to be fixed, and now. He'd read up on black eyes and how dangerous getting punched in the face could actually be after Ronnie-Anne asked if he was really okay with what happened given what she knew due to her mother's job, and now some small part of him wanted to teach them a lesson. But it wasn't so simple. He had to make it count, to make it smart.
Not hurt.
He didn't want to hurt them.
Lincoln loved his sisters, all of them. Hurting them was the last thing on his mind.
They just had to understand there were limits, and he had to show them.
But how?
It was as he sat there in his room, his eye still twitching after all that time as it remembered the feeling of being punched, that the first inklings of the plan had popped into his mind. He'd considered it, rolled it around in his brain, but when he went to put it down on paper, he hesitated.
How could he keep his meddling sisters from finding out?
It took a few days to find the answer.
The blank pages in the back of a book! He could write his plan down there!
Of course, he realized right away this wouldn't do. There was only so much space in the book he selected, and he had much to plan out. So much to plan meant there would be too little space.
What to do, what to do?
Another idea occurred to him then.
And so, over the next few days he wrote out his ideas on notebook paper and kept it near him as he went to and from school. When he developed another part of his plan, he'd write that down in the back of the main book and destroy the paper he'd used. A few days during class he'd intentionally asked to go to the bathroom just so he could flush some shredded notes, worried that Lana might run across them if he did so at home and she checked the plumbing or went garbage diving.
He'd take no chances. Not for this plan.
When finally he'd finished plotting he decided to wait a bit to put it into action.
And when he did?
This is great!
He knew someone was following him, he could feel it. Of course, he had to act paranoid at times, and while he thought of explaining it to Clyde, the fact was if his sisters interrogated the boy he'd break in an instant.
Especially when Lori got involved.
When he'd learned about Luan's encounter with Ronnie-Anne and what "his weird ass sister" had done, a small part of him cracked up that Luan had been stuffed in a trashcan, glad to know it wasn't just him that suffered Ronnie-Anne's wrath, but only after he was certain Luan hadn't actually been hurt in the process.
But the greater part of him was happier to know his plan was working. It just needed a bit more of a push.
That was when he'd decided to lay some major bread crumbs right in the heart of girl country.
When he left the meeting, he had to force himself not to laugh. It wasn't until late that night, nearly the next morning, that he allowed himself to crack up and laugh about what was happening.
Now he was sure that his sisters would be listening in.
He knew it had been Luan who'd heard him first. He'd seen her shoes through the crack under his door. Those flowers on them were too hard to miss.
But then, things started taking a different direction, one he'd not planned for.
He'd only noticed it when Luan's wardrobe changed. You couldn't miss that no matter how blind you were. Why she changed it he hadn't a clue, but for some reason he couldn't help but wonder if it was connected to his plan. He watched his other sisters for any similar signs, but for the life of him he couldn't find any.
When he'd heard someone in the vents he continued exactly as the plan demanded. He wondered who it was as he went. Was it Luna? Lynn? It couldn't be Lori or Leni, could it? Maybe it was Lola or Lana? It wasn't Lucy, she'd not make such a racket.
But with worry for Luan and her recent strange behavior he'd tried taking time from his plot to talk with her, but for some reason she was avoiding him. And there was that time in the kitchen when she jumped clear up onto the counter out of surprise, too.
And then he began to wonder; was something else going on with Luan that wasn't connected to his plot at all? Sure, she'd said something about those books she was reading, but something still niggled at Lincoln's mind, like that wasn't really what was wrong.
Lincoln tried chalking it up to guilt over their meddling, but with it only being Luan? Was that even possible?
Don't think like that!
He'd wanted to ask her while they were caught up in the attic together, but when she looked back at him, the crazy look in her eyes made him drop that idea. Whatever he was, he wasn't stupid. He was locked in the attic with his sister who didn't seem the most stable she'd ever been at that moment.
When she asked him about this supposed secret crush, he'd figured to just keep going along with it if only to humor her.
And it seemed to work. Suddenly she was no longer crazy, and in its place she was laughing again. This brought a feeling of warmth to Lincoln.
But that warmth soon vanished. Luan seemed only to get worse by the next day.
Why?
It wasn't until he'd heard yet another eavesdropper and laid yet another clue that, after looking under and seeing his sister Luan flee from his door in what could only be terror, he came to the startling conclusion.
Whatever had been eating at her, he was the cause of it.
It occurred to him as he opened the door; had it been only Luan all this time? He'd been sure, so sure, that it was all his sisters. But what if it wasn't? What if Luan was the only one who'd taken the bait and, for some reason, took it badly?
And why would she take it badly, he wondered as he stood outside her bedroom door? His hand was poised to knock, but he couldn't figure out what to say or why it would be bothering her like this in the first place.
Whatever it was, however, he knew what he had to do.
His plan had to come to an end.
"Don't worry, I'll stay here and make sure she's okay," Lincoln said to his father when he'd reached the bottom of the stairs.
His mother and father exchanged looks, sighed. "Thank you, Lincoln," Rita said as she hugged her son. "She really does have a wonderful little brother looking out for her."
Lincoln wasn't so sure of that anymore. He was certain, however, that whatever was eating at her, it was because of him. Luna remarked that it must be because of those books that Luan had been reading, and their mother even suggested they should drop said books off on their way to the restaurant, but Lincoln didn't believe it.
For some reason, he knew it was because of him.
It had to be.
And so, after a quick trip back to his room to grab the book that held the plans he'd written out as proof, he took one huge, deep breath and walked slowly toward Luan's and Luna's bedroom door, raised his fist when he'd reached the portal, and knocked.
"Hey, Luan?" he waited for a moment, took another breath. "You awake in there?"
He was almost about to believe she was asleep when the sound of gentle yet hurried footsteps reached his ears. The bed creaked ever so quietly then, after another moment and just as he was about to call out again Luan said, "Yeah, I'm up."
"Can we talk? I have," he sighed to himself, looked at the book in his hand, "something important I need to tell you."
It took a bit longer than he expected, but she called out to him after a moment. "Come in."
That was it? Just, "Come in"?
He didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Instead, he turned the knob, opened the door, and saw her.
She really didn't look too well.
Luan was huddled up in her bed, her back to the wall. Though she tried to look normal, it really wasn't working. One hand, the right, sat behind her back while the other seemed to suffer tremors for some reason. He didn't mean to, but he was sure she saw him cringe at the sight; his normally happy, funny, beautiful older sister had been turned into a shivering, shaking waif, her eyes following him no matter where he went. And why?
It was all because of him.
He was certain of that.
Setting aside the feeling in the air, a feeling he'd never felt before in his life, Lincoln gulped, closed the door behind him and stood there in the middle of the room for a moment before asking, "Can I sit down? I need to tell you something. About that crush of mine."
Luan noticeably clamped up. Her entire body closed in on itself and he knew, knew now it was because of him she was like this. There was no mistaking it.
He'd screwed up.
Of course I did,he cursed himself mentally, your plans always fail, it's like a requirement in your life!
When she didn't make a move, didn't say anything, he thought it was safe to sit down at the opposite end of her bed. When he did so, she didn't retreat, didn't make any move save for the small tremors he'd noticed earlier.
Looking down at the book, Lincoln bit his lip, wondered where to start, and decided to just go with the flow.
"So, you know how you and Lori and Leni and, well, everyone," he kept himself calm and watched Luan intently. He hoped she wouldn't be too angry with him now, "Wouldn't stop meddling in my life? How the last time you did, I got my clock cleaned out front by Ronnie-Anne?"
She didn't make a move. Was she even listening, he wondered?
But he continued.
"See, after that, I'd kind of gotten… well… angry. I didn't like having to constantly hide what was going on in my life just because I was afraid you'd all start meddling," he paused, sighed. "So, after my eye healed, I got to thinking," when she didn't say anything he looked at the book, chewed his lip for a moment, then continued. "I wanted you all to learn a lesson, so I figured I'd give you all something to meddle in, and when you got into it, I'd reveal the truth and you all would back off after we had a good laugh."
Luan didn't say anything, but he sure she was listening. With the way she was looking at him, there was no mistaking it.
"So I… well… I-" he hated to admit he lied. But he steeled himself, looked at her one more time as he opened the book, and leaned in to show her what he'd written down.
His eye caught sight of something. Just the barest twitch of her body, barely perceptible, just enough to make him pause and ask, "Luan? Is something wrong?"
As Lincoln sat back up, a worried look on his face, Luan fought to keep her shivering under control. But each time she went to speak, her throat constricted so that no sound escaped her lips.
For a few moments, neither said anything. Luan never lost sight of her little brother, staring intently at him the whole time as a sheen of sweat started to form across her body, and Lincoln just sat back, only dimly aware that something was entirely wrong with the situation at hand.
And they stayed like that for a few moments more until, finally, Lincoln looked down at the book in his hand and said, "I-I'll just read it to you, okay?" and, summoning as much trust as he could muster, he took his eyes off his sister and began speaking aloud…
"You liar," she gurgled when he'd revealed his plan to her.
He looked at her, shock writ all across his face. "What-"
"I said, you're a liar!" Luan practically barked, her entire body tense as though ready to pounce. "I know what you were doing, Lincoln!"
Stymied, the look on his sister's face nevertheless made him consider all of his words very carefully. "What was I doing?" he finally asked, leaning away.
She forced herself to stop shuddering long enough to say, in a low hiss, "I know what you did, you little sicko! I know you were touching me!"
His entire brain shut down. It took a few moments, froze again during reboot, finally had to go and install a better operating system when all hope was lost, but finally he managed to say, in a rather calm voice given the situation, "Excuse me?"
Admittedly, he wanted to say something else. Maybe something more forceful, or maybe even contrite. But this was so far out of poor Lincoln's depth that, for once, he just couldn't muster the will.
But Luan was letting loose now, and slowly leaned forward, pointed an accusing finger at him as she said, "I know what you were doing, Lincoln, you told me yourself!"
Again, all he could say was, "What?"
"Remember? In the attic?" her lips curled into a snarl as she shook, her eyes burning holes into his. "About hair?"
"Y-yeah, I remember-"
"Just like mine, sicko!"
"But your hair is brown-" he realized two things at that moment; the first being that it was probably a bad idea to correct the rather unstable girl who did still have a bit more size on him, and that she probably wasn't talking about that hair, but that hair.
His jaw practically dropped.
This wasn't something he really expected to ever know about his sister, and honestly? It wasn't something he could say he wanted to know about his sister, either.
After a moment, he squeaked, "I've never touched you, Luan!" when she started to argue, he started to talk over her. "I swear, I've never—I'd never do that to you, to any of you! Really!"
"Yeah, right!" Luan spat, now willing to close the distance between them. Then she saw his eyes go down and an evil look crossed her face. "See! You're looking down my shirt, you perv-"
But he cut her off with, "Why do you have that pen in your hand like that, Luan?"
The two looked down, saw the object clutched in her grasp. While she did have a notebook nearby, the way she was holding it, wrapped in her fist the way it was, couldn't be explained in any other way…
Lincoln actually looked hurt now.
And, at that moment, Luan didn't quite know what to say.
Finally, thinking over everything he could say, anything at all to reach out to her, to prove his innocence, he looked over at the bureau and said, "Y-your camera!" Luan's eyes suddenly seemed to soften, and Lincoln continued with, "There's no way I could touch you like that, Luan! The only place you'd sleep is here, right? And you always have your camera recording you, don't you?"
This revelation made her sit back on her legs for a moment, even risk a look over at the camera still sitting where it always did when she slept. It hadn't moved an inch since…
When?
"I-I haven't touched it," she gulped, her mind reeling. "S-so you could have crept in and-"
Lincoln didn't let up, however. "How would I know that? And if I did—which I didn't—then you'd know even if I turned it off or paused it since you watch all the footage, right?" he then snapped his fingers, pressed even harder. "Yours and Lisa's cameras, too! I wouldn't do something like that to you, to any of you, but if I did? This place has so much surveillance footage, I'd—any of us would be caught in a heartbeat! Heck, I don't think we even need locks! On any of our doors, at least for security!
"Trust me," Lincoln, despite his misgivings, the fear he currently held for and of his sister, reached out, gently touched her arm, flinched and backed off when she jumped but slowly, ever so slowly replaced his hand where it had lain seconds before, "I'd never try to harm you, any of you! I didn't want to hurt you with this stupid plan I made, I just… I just wanted to get you all…" but he could barely find the words, and so he fell silent, looked Luan in the eye with as much honesty as he could muster and hoped she understood.
And, after a time, it seemed to work.
Then the dam broke.
Luan dropped the pen and swept her little brother up in a hug, the two leaning back against the wall as she cried her eyes out. Fear, anger, horror at what she knew she could have done had things not gone as they did, and for something more than even she could grasp then and there, all of it flooded out of her, washed off her in waves.
And Lincoln cried as well, regret for his ill-conceived plan, for his lack of observation, and for the pain it all caused Luan.
It wasn't until an hour later the two finally calmed down enough to just talk with each other, and when they did?
"-and I can see why Ronnie-Anne's punches could hurt now," Luan chuckled as they laid back, looked at the opposite wall and its adornments.
He grinned. "I heard about it. I'm sorry to say it did make me laugh."
She punched his arm, which elicited a laugh from her brother which made her smile in turn. Then, after another moment's thought, she sighed. "I guess you do have a point, though," when he looked up at her, she explained. "About our meddling? Maybe we do get a tad… into the whole thing. And don't think of the consequences."
It hadn't occurred to her until Lincoln had told her just how dangerous getting punched in the eye could be that, yeah, maybe they had overstepped their bounds too much, too often.
"I guess we should probably pull back on that stuff," Luan finally mused. "I'll talk with Lori and everyone, maybe then they'll let up."
Lincoln felt bad for what he was about to say, but say he did. "It'd be kind of nice." Then, after another sigh he looked his sister in the eye and said, "I mean, it'd be nice to be able to tell you all about that sort of stuff and not have to fear a sister tornado or anything."
Luan, stymied, quirked an eyebrow. "A what now?"
"Forget about it," Lincoln whistled.
The two left it at that and, both of them hungry, decided to go downstairs and make something to eat.
But while they sat at the table, Luan smirked as she looked her brother's way.
"What's up?"
"Hmm?" she was half-way done with her sandwich before she said anything. When he repeated his question she gave him a toothy grin. "Oh, just thinking."
This concerned him. "A-about what?"
"Payback."
"For-"
"For driving me to the brink of insanity," she started counting on her fingers, "as well as not considering that maybe, just maybe your plan should have factored in potential things that might make certain sisters think you had the hots for them, and let's not forget-"
Lincoln sighed. "You'll never let me live this one down, will you, Sis?"
"Oh, dear Lincoln?" Luan sang as she finished her sandwich, then leaned back in her chair. "No way in hell. But," she added as she got up and took both their plates in hand, brushing against his in the process, "I will admit, you got me. I really had no idea."
Lincoln shuddered.
If there was one person he didn't want to get on the bad side of, it was she who was walking straight to the kitchen now.
But as Luan looked at her reflection in the glass of the window, saw just how crazy she looked right then as she put the plates in the sink, she did her best to suppress a shudder of her own as she looked down at that hand in particular.
And bit her lip.
At least now she was sure she knew what she felt.
