Hello readers, this story came to me due to recent circumstances. Over the past month, I have been struggling a lot when it comes to believing in myself as well as the people around me. I felt like I didn't know what I wanted to be and felt angry and confused most of the time as well as feeling not welcome by my peers. But I ended up falling in love with the band Korn, their music really touched me on how I can just be myself and be happy. Reading about Jonathan Davis and his tragic childhood really affected me. So I thought I could write about this story of how Lincoln falls in love with korn as well as metal in general, metal really helps me get out my frustration and I felt like Lincoln could as well. There is one very big thing that I need to put into context though. Heavy meddle never happened, so Ronnie Anne still picks on Lincoln and she still lives in Royal Woods. Ok I hope you enjoy the story
To say that Lincoln Loud was not in the best mood would be a gross understatement. Currently, he was sitting in detention afterschool doing his homework. His day started with him being drenched by one of Luans bucket pranks, his clothes were soaked, so he had to rush back inside and change while his older sister was yelling at him to hurry or she would leave him. As Lincoln was heading for the door in clean clothes, he passed the trophy case that held many of his sisters' trophies. Everytime Lincoln saw it, he was put into a sad mood. He felt like it was a reminder, a reminder of how unsuccessful he was compared to his sisters. He looked at all the trophies, Lola had her pageant trophies, Luna had her 1st place music competition trophies, even Lily had trophies. The white haired boy stared down at his space, it was nearly empty compared to all the others, only one trophy was in the compartment, his Most Improved Brother trophy given to him by his sisters. At first he was really excited, he finally got a trophy that he earned, but he soon lost the excitement. He saw it as a pity trophy, something that his sisters gave him to make him feel better instead of something he worked hard to earn. Realizing that he needed to get to Vanzilla soon, he shook away these emotions and ran out the door.
School wasn't better either, he had to deal with Chandler and his goons. Chandler was considered the bully of the school, he picked on those he deemed weak and Lincoln was considered one of them. They would trip him in the halls, shoot spitballs at him, and call him names like loser, freak, and other harsh vocabulary that he didn't want to repeat. Lincoln sometimes wondered how he ever wanted to be friends with him. But if that wasn't enough, Ronnie Anne Santiago, the toughest girl in all of school, still kept picking on him. She would pull his pants down in the halls, pour milk on his head, and put trash in his locker. Her prank during lunch is the reason he was in detention. They were waiting in the line to get food and once Lincoln got his meal, he started walking to the table where his friends sat, only to trip due to Ronnie Anne tying his shoelaces together and spilling his food onto a teacher that was monitoring the cafeteria. Enraged, the teacher gave Lincoln detention. Sighing to himself and glaring at the smirking hispanic girl, Lincoln walked to his table thankfully. his friends were willing to give him some of their food.
Lincoln's daydream abruptly ended when he heard the slam of a book. Lincoln looked up to see the detention monitor getting up from her seat.
"I am going to the bathroom and will be back shortly, don't do anything stupid or else its more detention." She said sternly before leaving the room.
Lincoln decided to continue working on his homework as he got back to work.
"What happened?"
Lincoln, realizing that he wasn't alone, turned to look at the boy who spoke up. It was Anthony Russo, he just recently moved to Royal Woods and already gained a reputation. He usually kept to himself but was still polite to those around him. He wore a black t-shirt with the word Slayer on it in red and blue jeans. He had short jet black hair. Lincoln stared into his brown eyes confused.
"Come again"
"I said what happened, what got you into detention" he asked with a puzzled but relaxed look.
"Oh, I spilled food on a teacher because someone tied my shoelaces together."
"Dang that sucks, I told Chandler to f off, not realizing a teacher was right by my." he said chuckling
Lincoln couldn't help but laugh, after a few seconds, he stopped. "I wish I had the guts to say that to Chandler"
Anthony studied the white haired boy for a few seconds before speaking again, "You seem upset, wanna talk about it."
"Dude, I just met you"
"So, it seems you are really upset about something, and it's not because of detention. If you can't tell, I have some problems too, it's best to just let it out."
Lincoln stared at the black haired boy before sighing, realizing he was right.
"Okay, okay I'll tell. The truth is that I just feel inferior to everyone around me. My sisters are all amazing at something while all I can do is read comics and have a coin collection. All 10 of my sisters have tons of trophies."
"Wait you have 10 sisters" Anthony asked shocked
"Yeah, I have a big family. Anyway, they always come home with some new award and my parents are so proud of them. I just come home with decent grades, and they don't even bat an eye. I always have to help out my sisters with their activities and I never feel like my own person. I feel like a vessel to be used for whoever needs me next. The bullying at school doesn't help either, Chandler and his gang pick on me a ton, and Ronnie Anne targets me like I'm a deer who is being hunted. I get called a freak, and I get treated like a punching bag. I'm just a pissed man, I want to figure out what to do."
Just when Lincoln finished speaking, the detention monitor came back and told them to be quiet. Lincoln got back to his homework, although he noticed Anthony looking up at him once and a while out of the corner of his eye. When detention finally ended, Lincoln had all of his homework done and Lincoln and Anthony left the classroom, they were both silent for a while until they walked out of the school doors and onto the sidewalk. Anthony turned his head to look at Lincoln.
"Dude, I'm really sorry you're going through all that garbage, I know how it feels to feel pissed off at the world, people treating you like shit, feeling like you are not as good as your peers. I can relate to that."
Anthony stopped walking to pull off his backpack, he opened it and was ruffling through his backpack looking for something.
"What are you doing," Lincoln asked confused
"I wanna lend you something", he said pulling something out and handing it to Lincoln, it was a cd.
Lincoln took the cd and examined it, it had a little girl on a swing set with a shadow of a big man towering over her, the shadow also spelled out the word Korn with a backwards r. Lincoln stared at Anthony puzzled.
"It's the metal band Korn's first album, it got me through some difficult times and I thought it could help you out." He explained, "They sing a lot about relatable topics and the singer Jonathan Davis is inspiring to kids like us. Listen to it tonight and tell me what you think of it tomorrow during lunch."
"Okay thanks man" Lincoln said, giving Anthony a fistbump as he walked off.
Lincoln started heading towards his house, as he entered the front door, he headed up to his room and grabbed the cd player that Luna gave to him as a hand me down. Deciding to listen to it after dinner so he could be at peace. He placed it down next to it and layed down on his bed.
"A quick nap wouldn't hurt" Lincoln thought to himself as he closed his eyes
"LINCOLN, JOIN ME FOR A TEA PARTY" Lincoln's eyes snapped as he groaned, heading towards his sister Lola's room, he spent the next 20 minutes doing tea party.
"You really got to work on your posture Lincoln, you gotta act like a gentleman" Lola reprimanded him. What followed over the next few hours was Lincoln helping his sisters as usual. Lynn needed him to practice sports, Lucy needed him to judge her poems, Leni needed him to wear a new outfit she designed, and so on and so on. Dinner finally came, Lincoln sat at the dinner table, hurting on the inside as he listened to Lynn talk about how her soccer team won their latest game again. He watched as his parents told her how proud they were of her and it hurt even more. Lincoln knew that Lynn really worked hard and he was being selfish, but he just wished his parents would say those words more often to him. "We're so proud of you."
Dinner finally ended and Lincoln dashed up to his room, he was really hurting on the inside now and was really hoping Anthony was correct on this album helping him. Lincoln grabbed the cd player and headphones and sat on his bed. He inserted the cd, hit play, layed down, and started listening.
By the time the album ended, Lincoln was in tears. The music was loud and angry, but above all else, relatable. Songs like clown hit him hard with how he felt about himself and bullying, why did people like Chandler hate him. Blind hit him mentally, he sometimes felt like his mind was the only escape. Daddy disturbed Lincoln heavily, he was thankful he never had to experience sexual assault, but the screaming at the end is what got him to tears, hearing Jonathan Davis breaking down and sobbing pushed him to the limits as he started crying as well. He needed to know more about these guys. He eventually calmed down and got ready for bed. Lincoln was starting to look forward to speaking to Anthony again tomorrow. But as Lincoln rolled over into bed, one song kept entering his mind.
The song faget was one of his favorite songs on the album, thankfully Lincoln never had to deal with being called homophobic slurs. But hearing Jonathan Davis singing about being called strange and looked at as a freak. Lincoln understood what Anthony meant about Korn being relatable. But one line stuck out to him the most, and it was repeated many times.
All my life, who am I?
All my life, who am I?
All my life, who am I?
Lincoln wondered to himself, who was he.