It was literally a dark day for the middle-child child, and it was not just the sky. Lincoln felt himself drowning in the raindrops. Tears poured down his eyelids, although it could have just been Rainwater. He was completely drenched to the point of catching a cold as his mind was in shutdown mode. Lincoln's was anything but the world he was living in. It is as if his own sorrows have taken over him as Lincoln barely even notices his former crush right in front of his face. He did not even stutter one second even around Ms. Dimartino very appearances.
He made absolutely no response to her whatsoever. Now the substitute teacher definitely knew something was up with Lincoln. By the wetness on his face, she could tell that these were not ordinary tears.
"Lincoln!" The substitute teacher called out.
Just like that, the middle-child was snap back to reality. The first thing, the teacher's eyes were on was Lincoln's injury to his knuckles. She was tempted to ask, but his emotionless face made it clear that he did not want to talk right now.
"Why don't I get you home, your folks must be really worried about you?" Dimartino offered her hand. Dimartino car windshield as damaged, yet it was the least of her concerns right now. She did not care how much rainwater was getting in her car.
Dimartino took Lincoln to her car; she wasted no time turning on the heater. She knew Lincoln had been frozen from the cold. Lincoln was silent throughout the ride home.
The Loud parent paced back and forth as a lot of things went through her head. Looking at the harsh sky outside, she knew it was definitely not a pleasant evening. In addition, there were still unanswered calls from her son and friends claim to have not seen Lincoln since school. Rita's worry grew from every minute that passed. No matter how much she hoped, there was still nothing.
"Luan, have you heard anything from Lincoln yet?" Rita asked.
"Nope, he's not answering my calls either, wherever the heck he is, it's not like it matters to me anyway," Luan responded in a bitter tone.
Rita winces at the sudden attitude. "What's wrong honey, usually you're the happy one?"
"Lincoln has been really cold lately, and not in a funny way."
Rita begins to suspect something as she was told the same response without a care. "Now Luan I'm sure there is an explanation of why Lincoln is acting this way lately."
"Indeed mother, brother's negativity outputs are all the signs of clinical depression what our male sibling has been going through." Lisa had explained.
Rita was intrigued. "Okay girls, I want to hear the whole story."
The Loud children spared no expense with the details. They put it in the simplest words possible without any complicated explanation, at least for the young scientist. Rita also took a surprising gasp over the situation that was just explained to her.
"Look, I know you girls were only trying to help, but the problem is deeper than that. You should have told me or your father." Rita clarified. "What your brother is going through is more than just a common sickness. Nonetheless, I am going to have a talk with him. Right now, get ready for bed."
Rita continued to ponder to herself. After a half hour, Rita checked her watch again. "That's it, I'm calling the police." Before Rita could touch her phone, she heard a knock at the door.
"Hello Mrs. Loud, I believe this belongs to you." Ms. Dimartino was at the front door with the soaked Lincoln.
"LINCOLN! Oh, thank goodness!" The mother was quick to pull him into a hug, yet Lincoln did not embrace back.
"It would seem like he was lost somewhere, luckily I was there. Also his phone…" Ms. Dimartino held the busted pieces of Lincoln's cell phone. Guess this saved the trouble of Rita even asking.
Rita also glanced at Lincoln's poorly bandage knuckle, which caused greater worry for the mother. Lincoln had a dirty appearance just like any homeless person. And Lincoln's silent emotionless expression was enough to put Lucy's to shame.
"Wait in the kitchen sweetie, I'll be there in a little bit," Rita said with both a worry and angry tone. As Lincoln left to his room, she turned her attention to the substitute teacher. "Thank you so much for finding Lincoln Ms. Dimartino. I was so worried."
"Not a problem Mrs. Loud, but I must say, your son is not his usual self."
"No kidding, from what I heard from my daughter's, it's anything but usual. I would dare say unusual. Anyway, thank you for finding Lincoln, and I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble."
"No worries at all. Aside from that, I have another matter I wish to discuss with you."
The conversation came to an end as Rita gently shut the front door. As she met up with her quiet son, she pulled out the First Aid Kit from the cabinet. No matter how much Rita wanted to scold her son until the cows came home, her first priority was taking care of her son. As the tissue bandages were taken off, she applied rubbing alcohol onto the wound. Rita was surprised how much he did not react to the stinging sensations applied to his wound.
Rita felt blind for not seeing it at first. If all, the mother thought it was a natural faze. The depression really showed on his facial expressions, making the Goth look happy-go-lucky by comparison. Lincoln held the face of both sadness and hopelessness. The more she glanced at her son's face, the more her worry meter increase.
As Rita grabbed Lincoln's hand, she tossed a dry towel upon Lincoln's wet head. She then started to put on the new bandages on his knuckles. After the final wrap, she sat at her son's level.
Breaking her silence, Rita asked, "Lincoln is everything okay?"
In a quiet Mello tone, Lincoln replied. "I don't know."
"Head to bed, right now you look exhausted and need to rest. We will talk about this tomorrow." Rita told her son, trying to hold back her anger. "Also, I'm still going to punish you for being out so late. You are grounded for a week. And for failing to tell me about your note from Mrs. Johnson, make that two weeks."
Once again, Lincoln was not fazed by this outcome as he dragged himself to bed. The parent only hoped that the boy did not have dangerous thoughts.
Okay kids, up and Adam, I want to hear your feet on the floor." Rita called out. As she heard everyone's feet, she did not hear everything that morning. "You too Lincoln, wake up!" There was no response. "Lincoln get up right now!"
"I'm right here!" Lincoln replied, behind his mother, nearly scaring Rita. Even after last night, he was still feeling cranky. "Seriously, I'm not the only lazy one in this house, you know."
"Sorry Lincoln, force of habit. Either way, you all set for today?" Rita inquired.
"Yeah, I am," Lincoln, replied as the mood was still melancholy.
"Oh and Lincoln; I had a talk with Ms. Dimartino about the damage you done to her car. Luckily, we don't have to pay anything out of our own pocket as she has agreed to let you work off the damages." Rita stated. "So for the next few Saturdays, you're going to be helping her with things which means you're going to, unfortunately, miss out on our trip to Dairyland."
"I understand," Lincoln replied again. After hearing the news, Lincoln's mood suddenly changed. "Wait, you guys are going to DairyLand?"
"Yeah, it seems like your sister Lucy was fortunate enough to win a family trip that's good for a month."
"No surprise there." Lincoln rolled his eyes in sarcasm, but he was not too disappointed.
The day was just beginning, the girls excitedly rushed downstairs. Teeth were brushed, hair was combed, and they were dressed for the wonderful weekend trip. All except Lincoln of course. Each of them was bursting with excitement to the max. Too bad, he could not share their happiness or happiness in general, not that he cared anyway.
"Hey kids, you ready for a day of fun at DairyLand?" Lynn Sr asked, causing more cheers among the girls. Lynn checked his watch. "Well, we better hurry as a fast as we could before the line for the new ride crowds up."
"Hold your houses dear, first we got to drop Lincoln off," Rita interjected.
The ride over to the first destination was silent. Lincoln nor the girls had not spoken a word. No doubt, the girls were still angry at his past behavior, which he could not blame them. It was concerning of how he remained quiet over being denied a trip to DairyLand since the very mention of it would bring him happiness. That happiness was far away from home right now. Still, it was not one of his concerns right now. Maybe was what he really needed, there was so much praise attention that he could possibly take.
"Okay Lincoln, have fun working with Ms. Dimartino, and do try to keep your eyes on something other than her." Rita reminded Lincoln, leaving the girls laughing at him.
Well, at least they did not lose their sense of humor. With a breath, Lincoln walked to the front door. He watched as his family left for a day of fun, while he was on community service.
As the door open, the lovely substitute teacher greeted in a white T-shirt and black pants. "Hello Lincoln, why don't we get started."
Not happy or enthusiastic, Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure, whatever."
Venturing into the one-story house, Lincoln noticed a lot of boxes unorganized. "Moving out?" He was the first to ask.
"Moving in actually, since I got a new job here in Royal Woods, I hadn't had time really settle in." Ms. Dimartino replied. "But that is where a strong man like you came in." Ms. Dimartino winked and giggled.
Even upon a glance, Lincoln was the same. Not once did he have a love-struck reaction to the substitute. Ms. Dimartino figured the problem was deeper than he thought when Lincoln did not even smile.
The day started out with manual labor. It started from one box place to another. Knowing women, there was more than a couple of boxes. With Dimartino supervision, he was instructed the different places she wanted them. Quietly and remotely, he obeyed her orders without question. By each label and weight, he had a clue was in it. Not one instance did Lincoln ever take a glance at the beautiful substitute.
The following task, she instructed was cleaning up the house. Fortunately, he did not have to clean up the whole house, since she was already doing that, just a few things. The task would include cleaning the windows and taking out the trash. For a woman living alone, he was shocked at how much garbage she had laying around, something no woman would have.
The third task for the day was pulling weeds. Since the summer was in session, the heat was scorching. It was not too bad at ninety-five degrees. He could only imagine how worse it will get throughout the season. As always, he followed his assignments, not one second was his mind on a good time he could have been having at DairyLand. Not that he cared anyway.
Ms. Dimartino came in with a picture of a yellow cold drink. As she poured the first patch, she presented Lincoln a cup. It was a good thing too because Lincoln was parched. Even if Lincoln did not show it, signs of depression were still obvious to his face as the teacher seen. She knew for sure that this was not the same happy child she met before. So one way or another, she had to get to the bottom of it.
"Why don't we take a break dear?" Ms. Dimartino told Lincoln. She went to the backyard porch and instructed the boy to sit next to her.
Without a nervous sweat, Lincoln followed. He was not happy about it. Lincoln scoffed as he avoided eye contact. As Dimartino had seen, Lincoln's facial expression was whatever.
"I saw you attempting a lot of activities the other day." She stated. Getting the elephant out of the room, she decided to ask. "Don't you think you may be carrying a lot of weight on your shoulders for an eleven-year-old?" Dimartino inquired to Lincoln with seriousness.
"Why bother, I'll amount to nothing anyway but a dirty street corner, while everyone is just living it up with their new lives."
The substitute now had a clear idea what was going on. "You know, there was a naive girl with a lot of uncertainties when she was your sister's age. Like you, she wanted so badly to catch up with someone and eventually be recognized. The list of choices was lining up for her. First, she wanted to be a Firefighter, but she froze on the sight of fire. Then she wanted to be a Dentist, but could not stomach the sight of unhealthy teeth. The next thing she wanted to do was an act, yet she could not even remember the lines, not one bit." Dimartino explained to Lincoln.
Lincoln listened to the conversation. "So what happened then?"
"She then tried getting in the construction business but was terrified of heights. She intended to give up until something came calling to her." Lincoln continued to listen. "She came across a runaway child. To avoid the child making a huge mistake, she convinced her not to run away. Before she knew it, the child was already back home to her mom and dad. Therefore, after that time, that is where the naive girl had deep realization and she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to make a difference just like the little girl and she did."
"That must have been something."
"Yes it was a hard challenge, but at the same time she did not let that overwhelming pressure consume her, so she continued to follow her own path." Dimartino kneed down to Lincoln's level right in front of him. "Lincoln, you are still very young, you have your whole life ahead of you. You should not be letting this stress and inferiority of others get the better of you or else it will end up driving people away from such as your friends and even your family."
Lincoln then held his head down as he started to reflect. He remembered the times that he was not exactly nice and fair to his sisters. Just the very harsh reminder made him guilty inside.
Mrs. Dimartino words sunk in as he continued his work. When he grabbed the next box in the house, he carried it to the next stop. Lincoln's pursuit ended as his mind was distracted. He slipped on a plastic cup, which leads to his crash. Alerted by the noise, Mrs. Dimartino rushed to the den.
"Lincoln, are you alright?" She wasted no time helping the middle-child on his feet.
"Yeah, I just tripped."
"Then be more careful, are you hurt anywhere?" Mrs. Dimartino inquired with worry in her eyes.
Lincoln got up on his feet, rubbing his forehead. On the top of his head, he pulled off a female inside shirt. He may have been young, but he knew what it really was. Mrs. Dimartino quickly snatched it away before Lincoln could even touch it. She turned around hiding her obvious embarrassment. She handled the clothes instead.
"I would appreciate it if you never speak of this again." She ensures Lincoln.
Once again, Lincoln did not react and just remained calm and quiet. As he helped with the mess, Lincoln's eyes caught something. He picked up a sketch drawing, yet it was more than one. Eyes caught with interest as he started looking at the sketches.
"What are these?" Lincoln asked with curiosity.
"Oh, those are some old drawings I did back in college, nothing special." Dimartino held out her hand as Lincoln handed her the papers. The teacher went to catch her watch and realized how much time past. She guessed time flies when you achieve. "Well looks like your work is at an end, dear."
"It is?" Lincoln asked.
"Yep, so you are free to go, but I'll see you next Saturday," Dimartino said with a wink.
Upon arrival home that evening, Lincoln found his siblings doing their usual thing. As the boy ventured into the house, he still held his blank expression as he shown zero emotion. With a deep inhale, he knew what he had to do.
"Hey Lincoln, sorry you missed out on the trip to DairyLand, so we got you this." Luna presented a cow doll and souvenir cup.
"Thanks, please put it in my room for now," Lincoln told.
"Sure thing."
When made his to his parents' bedroom. He swallowed his spit. He knocked on the door, and immediately they answered. Still facing off with sad but the blank expression, he was first to talk.
"Mom, dad, I need to talk to you, do have a minute?"
"Of course sweetie, come in," Rita answered, leading Lincoln inside.
As Lincoln took his seat on his seat on his parent's bed, Rita and Lynn Sr. Stared at the middle-child with worry. They waited for his truthful confession.
"Mom dad, lately, I've been feeling like…" Lincoln paused for a minute as his mouth went dry. "I have been feeling like left out lately." Lincoln held his head down in shame.
While the conversation started, Luna was in the bathroom. When she heard the parents talking from the vents, the rocker decided to listen in. Plaguing their curiosity, the other girls joined in the snooping. Together they listen in as they intended to get to the bottom of Lincoln's attitude.
"Where on Earth would you ever get a thought like that son!" Lynn Sr inquired.
"With all the things my sister's had accomplished, I guess I've been feeling left out. They have so many unique traits to be recognized by you and others, and yet I got nothing." Lincoln continued to soak in depression. "Just a boy, always cheering and always sitting on the sidelines, while they get praised and worship like some kind of goddess."
Rita grew concern, "Oh honey, if you were ever feeling that way, why did not you ever tell us before?"
"I don't know, I guess I didn't want to make it look like I was making an excuse, or fear you would just say 'family supports one another, no excuses' or make it look like I was lying again about the luck Fiasco." Lincoln grasped the strands of his hair. Lincoln's eyes still faced the ground. "So for the longest time, I swallowed my sorrow attending their activities. I am sorry Mom and Dad, I tried my best to be supportive as I always was in the past, but I cannot anymore. I can't do it without it constantly reminded me what they have and what I don't."
"So that is why you've been acting this way lately Lincoln because you feel inferior to your sisters?"
Lincoln nodded as tears rolled down his face, yet it was not the tears of crying. Now Rita knew his depression was worse than she thought.
"Son, just because your sisters have something special does not mean we love you any less, we love all of our kids equally." Lynn wrapped his hand around Lincoln's shoulder.
"We love you no matter what Lincoln, and if it ever made it feel like you had to earn our love, then we're sorry." Rita had spoken feeling remorse for her little man.
"I just don't know what to do," Lincoln said as the depression was still showed in his tone.
"We'll help get through this."
Little did the parents know that the conversation grabbed the attention of the siblings? All of the sisters remained in the bathroom listening to every word Lincoln had said. From everything they heard, even their hearts started to feel sorrow for the brother's situation. Another side of them felt guilty for always dragging Lincoln to the activities without considering how he felt.
After his talk with his parents, everything was cleared up. It had helped ease his tension, but not clear his depression. By himself, Lincoln sat in the dark of his room. Many thoughts clouded his mind on the situation. As he looked at his bandaged, he thought about how worse the situation has caused him.
A thought came to mind on his Homeless self as he stared at the mirror again. However, this time it was a different image. He watch as his future self-lied down on the cold streets, all alone. The image alone was enough to make the middle-child shake. The image ended as Lincoln's door flung open, once again by his sisters.
He watched as each of them held worried expressions on their faces.
"Whoa dude, you okay bro?" Luna was first to ask.
"Yeah, you look like heck. You look like ten times more depressing versions of Lucy." Lynn added.
Lucy injected, "Hey, I'm not that moody."
"When I sensed your vital patterns spiking, there was a cause for concern, thanks to the monitor I installed in your room." Lisa added, looking at her device.
"When did you...?" Lincoln paused. "You know what, it doesn't matter."
"Lincoln, we overheard your conversation with Mom and Dad." Luan discloses to the boy.
"Look I'm fine, for the most part…" Lincoln spoke in denial, but the sisters saw the obvious lie on his face. "No, everything is not well. I am actually glad you are all here. I have something to say." Lincoln conceded, holding the girl's attention.
Lincoln stammered for a bit, "Look, I owe you all an apology for the way I acted. I was drowning in pride, envy, and of course jealousy. Sure it does not justify my recent behavior, but I do hope it explains it."
"What were you jealous off, the trophies?" Lola inquired. "I mean you have your own."
Lincoln shook his head. "No, it's not the trophies; it's the fact that you girls have special talents to really define you, while I do not have any talent, at least nothing to be fully recognized by my mom and dad. It makes feel like I'm a burden." Lincoln laid his head on the wall, looking at the ceiling. "Those abilities of yours are going to get you so far in the future, while my fate is at a broken down street corner."
The rant and face of defeat were enough to pull at the Loud Sisters heartstrings. They felt like bigger fools for not recognizing the problem a lot sooner. Lori was the first to get close and wrap her arm around Lincoln shoulder. The other sisters followed after that.
"At ease elder brother, the average homeless rate is about 80% to none as far as Royal Woods is concerned but that depends if they ever reach or lose their job goals for…"
Lori cut Lisa off from finishing her sentence. "Not helping Lisa. Lincoln, none of us have ever viewed you that way, not ever."
"Yeah bro, you got some good qualities in you." Luna tried to encourage Lincoln.
"Yeah but," Lincoln continued to bow his head in shame.
"It's okay Lincoln, we understand," Luan spoke, trying to put on her best smile.
"Here, why don't we stay with you for the night?" Lori offered as she comforts Lincoln.
The other Loud sisters followed the eldest. Together, the sisters stood close to their suffering brother. As they held him that night, Lincoln felt at ease. Most of Lincoln's tension of negativity was starting to deteriorate. Not one single thought of Lincoln's future self-clouded his mind as his sister's comforted him, and that was enough to rest peacefully during the night.