CHAPTER 2
Wake up Lincoln, you're gonna be late for school.
Lincoln slowly opened his eyes and touched his forehead.
"Strange. It doesn't feel hot, so I'm not sick or imagining anything. Oh well, my alarm was gonna ring in a few minutes anyway", Lincoln whispered while rubbing his eyes.
Sighing, he got up, took a new pair of clothes, went to the bathroom-fortunately for him, it was free because he was the first to wake up, he took of his pajamas, showered himself quickly, but just as he put on his fresh clothes on him, a door opened. The sun was already up but it was still rather dark so Lincoln couldn't see who it was.
"Lincoln, you're already up? Good morning", Lucy monotone voice greeted him as she closed the door behind him.
Lincoln felt himself getting frozen.
"Uh, yeah, pretty ironic considering that I had difficulties sleeping last night", Lincoln nervously smiled. Lucy then started to walk to the bathroom as he left outside.
Now is the time…
"Uh, Luce, I wanted to ask you something...", Lincoln wondered just as Lucy was about to close the door.
"What is it?", she asked with a neutral expression.
"Before I went to sleep last night, urm, I saw something outside, in our yard, and it looked like some dark, shadowy figure walking towards the streets, I figured maybe you would know something about those supernatural things...", Lincoln looked his younger sister straight in the bangs of her hair covering her eyes.
Was I too direct with that question?
"That sounds rather interesting, but I do not have any knowledge about that. Maybe it was a wild animal running around or just your imagination. You did say earlier that you had trouble sleeping. didn't you?", Lucy replied, without any hint of emotion in her voice.
"I guess, I guess you're right, it must have been just my imagination..."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have my morning ritual to do", Lucy explained as she closed the door, locked it.
"See you later then", Lincoln said awkwardly as he returned back to his room.
If she was lying, she was doing it expertly. Since she doesn't show any emotion when communicating with other human beings, one would have an extremely hard time discerning whether she's lying or telling the truth.
He's on to me, what the hell was he doing that late staring out of the window like that, Lucy thought to herself as she moved her bangs to the sides, revealing her icy blue eyes, and looked at the mirror.
"I really don't won't to hurt him, but if he keeps meddling into things that don't concern him...", Lucy whispered as she put on an artificial smile to see how it looks. When she's alone, she occasionally tries smiling, but gets grossed out every time by how disgusting and vulnerable she looks. That's what she thinks at least.
By the time Lincoln had breakfast, the rest of his family had woken up and gotten ready for school, work or in Lily's case, kindergarten.
"Come on now, I'll drive you to the school with the Vanzilla", Lynn Sr. said to his kid as they left the house and took their places in their old family car. Even after all these years, it was still working, to the awe of the Loud family.
They left Lily at her kindergarten, Lisa, Lola, Lana and Lucy at the elementary school, Lincoln at the middle school and the eldest three, Lynn, Luan and Luna at the high school.
Luna was in her final year of high school and her parents had ordered her that she must attend college, leaving her musical career behind.
"If Leni was able to enter one, then you should to", was their reasoning, but Luna knew the true reason behind it. They didn't want her to live the life she wanted to, a life of rock-and-roll.
Shaking her head from these unpleasant thoughts, Luna waited for Lynn and Luan to go with their own business, as she located Sam sitting on a bench away from the front door of the school. Seeing her secret girlfriend brought a smile on her face, a smile that no one in this world can hope reciprocate.
"Yo dude, what's up", Luna greeted her as she took a seat by her side. Sam responded by kissing her on her left cheek.
"Nothing interesting. I got into another fight with my brother and my parents tonight, as usual. They are really driving me crazy", Sam sighed as she was smoking on her cigar. Luna took a cigar from Sam's bag and lighted it up with her lighter.
"I know that feeling love, I have an equally shitty family who sees me as a freak. Truth, not all of them, Lincoln, Lily and Luan are cool dudes, but the rest is just, ugh", Luna lamented as the bell started to ring, signalling the beginning of the first class. But the two soulmates didn't mind it that much.
"I still don't understand what their problem is, we're both eighteen, we're adults now for fuck's sake, who gives them any right to dictate us who we should love, and make love to", Sam groaned as she finished smoking her cigar.
"The same bullshit as usual, 'my house, my rules', maybe when we finally move out from them, we will be able to live in peace", Luna grinned. Sam returned the smile.
"Yeah, I hope so. Let's go now, we shouldn't be too late", the two of them got up, exchanged a brief but passionate kiss on the lips then went back to their classroom.
A loud knocking on the door could be heard. Sighing, Lori lowered the volume on the TV and went for the door to answer. When she opened it, it was the mailman.
"Mornin' Mrs. Santiago, I got something new for you here", the mailman smiled as he handed her a blue envelope.
"Thanks, have a nice day", Lori returned the smile but knowing the contents of the envelope made the smile more bitter than anything else.
"You to Mrs.", the mailman waved her goodbye as he left and Lori closed the door.
She went back to the living room, sat on the couch and started to unwrap the envelope.
Oh God, I only hope that this isn't what I think it is…
But unfortunately for her, it was the worst case scenario. Another warning from the bank.
It concerned the credit loan that Bobby had raised to buy back his own house. When the Casagrande family (his mother's family), learned about Lori's pre-marital marriage, their reactions were even worse than those of the Loud family. With them being devout Catholics, this was highly unacceptable and heretic, and they severed any ties to the new family of three. When little Diego Lynn was born, the Louds did soften up and have occasionally visited their first grandson, but the Casagrandes got even worse towards them, kicking Bobby out of their house from Great Lakes City, and since then, only Ronnie Anne has maintained contact with her older brother, but even that is kept in secret.
"Twenty thousand dollars...where can we possibly find that much money...", Lori threw the envelope and its contents on the ground and grabbed her head.
Should she ask her family? Bobby would most likely say no, he doesn't want to be in anybody's debt, even if it concerns their child and home. Unfortunately for Lori, he's as stubborn as a mule concerning that question.
But as she was brawling with her own thoughts, she didn't notice that her phone was ringing. Just as the caller was about to hang up, Lori picked it up and answered it.
"Who is it? I'm not in the mood to speak now...", Lori groaned to the unknown number. She didn't care at this moment if she was rude to him or her.
"My dear Lori, why are you so upset? I only wanted to see how you were doing", an old man's voice could be heard from the other side of the line.
Lori's hands started shaking and she could feel some strange cold spreading through her body.
"Oh, Mr. Tetherby, how're you doing?", Lori gulped as she turned off the TV and stood up.
"Nothing particularly to be honest, I was just thinking on which yacht I should spend the next week, I get bored being in the same place for too long", Tetherby chuckled as he was gulping expensive red wine from a golden cup in his private jacuzzi.
"About your offer...I'm still thinking and I don't know if...", but Lori stopped when she heard little Diego crying from his room. He must have woken up.
Holding her phone in her left hand, she rushed to his room (formerly Maria's room), which was located between the bathroom and her & Bobby's room, the kid was one his feet in his crib. Humming to him a lullaby, she gently picked him up and went again to the living room.
"Lori? I know your situation, you're in debt for twenty thousand dollars, you have never seen that amount of money in your life, let alone held it. I am your only solution."
"How do you know about that?"
"I know everything about this town, my little birds whisper to me anything I need. Now, it's your choice, but for the kid that you're holding, think about him, do you want him to end on the street because of your and your husband's incompetence and cowardice."
"What do you offer then?"
"Two sessions that are long one hour each. Ten thousand dollars per session, that's more than a fair price if you ask me."
Lori bit her lip as she lifted her shirt and bra, and started to breastfeed her son Diego.
"I guess...I guess that sounds fair, but where would we...um, where would we do it...", Lori stuttered as she was on the brink of crying.
"In my yacht, of course. It will be stranded away from the city, so you don't have to worry of being caught or seen by anyone you know."
Lori took a deep breath as Diego was busy drinking her milk.
This decision was about to change her life completely. She was gonna have sex with an older rich man to stay in her house and prevent getting homeless with a two-year-old child. Just thinking about an old fart's penis getting into her womanhood made her physically cringe.
There is still time, right? I can ask mom, dad, anyone...but Bobby won't listen. He won't admit it but all this has also taken an emotional tool on him but he refuses to accept it. He's only absorbing it into himself, he doesn't want to make me worry. But this was my mistake after all, I was the one who forgot protection…
"All right then, I guess I'll accept it...", Lori sighed, finding it hard to believe at what she had just accepted to do.
"Wonderful my dear! I'll contact when the first session will take place, it'll be an unknown number again, so stay tuned", Tetherby laughed as he cut the line.
"Fuck my life", Lori whispered as Diego looked at her confused while still sucking on her big and swollen breast.
The final class for today was finished at the delight of many students. The halls of the Royal Woods Elementary School was crowded with children cheerfully bantering between themselves and either going home or to any school-sponsored sports clubs they were playing.
However, Lucy wasn't going to either of these two. Instead, when she finished for today, she went to the Morticians Club room, where Haiku and Silas were already waiting.
"Took you long enough Luce", Haiku sighed as she was reading a book about black magic.
"We have a new member if you haven't noticed", Silas said with a bored expression. He was half-sleeping in an open casket with arms crossed in an X shape.
A girl taller and older than all of them was sitting on the chair and writing down something in her notebook.
"Greetings mortal, what's your name", Lucy sighed as she approached the newcomer.
The new girl stopped writing and stood up.
"Maggie, what's yours?", said the girl as her big breasts bounced as she got up. Lucy followed them as they went up and down.
In Lucifer's name, what size are those monsters? How old is this feminine creature? Sigh.
"Lucy, I hope that we'll be decent to another", Lucy said bluntly.
"Likewise", Maggie quickly replied.
"Maggie is gonna join us tonight in another raid. Lord Darkstar has tasked with more sacrifices so that the ritual summoning can go flawless", Haiku said as she closed her book and joined the two other girls, forming a triangle.
"I don't think that I'll be able to come tonight. Lincoln has already started doubting me, it would be extremely risky. My apologies."
"That might pose a problem...all right then, I'll contact the Lord and tell him your situation. In the meantime, Maggie is going to write us a requiem for all the poor souls that are chosen to be sacrificed for the sacred ritual", Haiku explained as she glanced at Maggie.
Maggie just nodded and went back to writing her stuff. She was the oldest of the four with as she was sixteen-years-old, and the tallest.
"You know what you have to do if he finds out what you are doing, don't you?", Haiku whispered with a hint of a threat in Lucy's right ear.
"I do, the extraction of the spirit even if it's my own family", Lucy sighed as Haiku gave her a small smirk then went back to reading her book.
Silas then got up from his casket and went to Lucy's side.
"Come, I want to show you something", Silas said bleakly as Lucy followed him outside the room and closed the door.
The pair went to the old boy's restroom, which wasn't in function anymore.
"Why did you bring me here? I'm not in the mood for cuddling or kissing, if that's what you wanted", Lucy groaned.
"You promised that you would me your eyes. I think now is the time for that", Silas said, with a hint of lust in his eyes.
"Not now it's still too early."
"Okay then...can you show me your pussy?"
"Sigh...all right then", Lucy sighed again as she lifted her dress and lowered her pants.
Silas gulped, got on his knees then leaned closer to get a better look.
"It looks pink, and dry, and alien...kinda weird though...", he scratched his head. What was he supposed to do with this? Why did he even ask to see her vagina?
"Are you done inspecting?"
"Yeah, let's go now, Haiku's gonna be angry", Silas said nervously as he ran off without waiting for Lucy.
Lucy dressed herself again, sighed, then followed Silas to the Morticians Club base.
What a spineless pussy...no pun intended...Luan would be proud...I wish Lincoln would have seen my organ of reproduction...wait, what?!
"Are you sure that you won't come with us?", Clyde asked as they were going home after school. Today was a surprisingly warm day for late October.
"No, sorry man. I'm just not in the mood for anything, just wanna go home and sleep...", Lincoln shook his head as he yawned. He barely managed to suppress himself from falling asleep today in class.
"Well, this would be a good thing for you, it's gonna make you happier. Come on dude", Clyde insisted.
Go with him Lincoln, he's right. It will make you feel better.
"No...sorry...I'll just make the mood bleak and dark, I would only ruin the atmosphere for everyone with my miserable presence...", Lincoln mumbled as they continued walking.
"Linc, listen man, Girl Jordan is gonna be there. There are rumours that she has the hots for you, and only a blind man couldn't see it", Clyde winked at his best friend.
"Clyde, I appreciate your attempt to help, but you know that there's only one girl that I like, in that sort of way", Lincoln groaned.
Clyde rolled his eyes.
"Mate, she dumped you, it's over. Plus she lives in an another town, relationships on distances rarely work. And add the Lori and Bobby situation to that...yeah, there's virtually no chance of you two ever getting back together."
Lincoln clenched his right fist and bit his lip. He was right, Clyde was right. That hit him the most.
For whatever reason, Ronnie Anne now holds a grudge against Lincoln because her family has rejected Bobby and his son. Ronnie Anne, his younger sister, is the only member of Bobby's family that has had contact with her older brother ever since then. And it has been two years.
Lincoln did knew that his relationship wouldn't be the same with his secret girlfriend after she had moved to another city. But for one full year, they managed to maintain a stable relationship, and then, boom, Lori's unexpected pregnancy happened. The biggest hypocrisy that Lincoln had ever seen in his life had occurred right in front of his own eyes. Both families didn't allow Lori to abort the child, out of religious reason, yet when little Diego Lynn was born, the Casagrandes didn't want to see or hear anything about the poor kid, but the Louds did soften up a bit and have seen him several times, even buying him presents.
Then, Ronnie Anne just finished their relationship. For reasons only known to her, she had ignored every attempt of Lincoln to contact him. Lincoln asked Bobby to send her a message but she didn't respond. Clyde, Rusty, Zach, Liam, they all also tried but to no avail.
Did she hold him responsible for what happened between Bobby and his family? Lincoln couldn't feel anything else but believe that the full resentment that Ronnie Anne felt against the Louds was all directed at her former boyfriend and the first man in her life that she has genuinely loved in a romantic way.
"Lincoln, you okay? You seem worried about something...", Clyde wondered.
"It's fine...see you tomorrow...", Lincoln waved him goodbye as the separated at the crossroads.
When Lincoln finally arrived at home, he was the last of his siblings to be home. The rest of them were already eating lunch.
"Look everyone, Lincoln's here!", Lily was more than overjoyed to see her big brother enter the house.
"Come eat with us bro while it's still warm", Luna waved her hand.
"Sorry everyone, I'm not in the mood now...I'll come later, I promise", Lincoln sighed as he went straight to his room.
"Who would have guessed this shit again...", Lynn rolled her eyes.
"Lynn, what did I say about swearing on the dining table?! Or swearing at all?!", Rita rasped at Lynn, startling the rest of her daughters.
"Come on guys, can you keep it down when we're eating at least", Luna lamented as she hurried up to finish her meal. The stench from the cigars that she had smoked with Sam was still strong so she had to brush and floss her teeth as quickly as possible.
Lincoln tossed his bag under the table and jumped on his bed. Putting his hands on his head, he closed his eyes, apparently trying to sleep.
You can't solve your problems by sleeping or ignoring them. You have to face them eventually.
Who are you?! What do you want from me?!
I just want to help you Lincoln, that's all. Trust me.
Yeah, that's totally what I'm gonna do, trust some strange voice that has been attacking me…
"Hey, check this out. One of the most infamous beauty pageant judges, Marie Rose (42), has been found poisoned in her own house the last night. Police still don't have a suspect but it is rumoured that some of the contestant's family members were enraged by her judging system so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Again, these are just unconfirmed rumours so please don't take any of this seriously. Marie has been hospitalized and is in stable condition, but she will remain in the Royal Woods Clinic Centre for at least a month", Lynn Sr. read from the newspaper as he was drinking his standard black coffee.
"My goodness, how can someone even think of doing such horrible things over such trivial matters?", Rita shook her head as she was helping Lily clean herself up after eating.
"Yeah, how could they...", Lana glanced at her younger twin as the two were finishing their meals. Lola furrowed her brows and grinded her teeth.
"Oh, also this. A beloved car and bike mechanic, Ryan Jones (48), nearly died in a car crash after his brakes failed to work when he was driving on the high road to a nearby village. According from an anonymous source, the motive for the sabotage and attempted murder was a competition in bike mechanics. He broke both of his legs and his collarbone but he's in a stable condition and is not in life danger."
"Who could have done that Mr. Ryan?! He's such a sweetheart, how many times has he helped Lana to repair hers and our bikes, all for free."
"You're right mom, only an absolute monster would do such a gruesome thing", Lola glanced back at her older twin, causing Lana to grow red from anger.
That little pink bitch, but if she tries to blackmail me, I can do the same to her, Lana smirked.
The dirty cunt thinks she can beat be at my game, huh? Well, I guess we're now at a stalemate, Lola returned the smirk.
Upstairs, Lincoln had just left his room to go relieve his bladder in the bathroom when he stumbled upon his older sister Lynn, who just had finished her lunch and was headed to her and Lucy's room. The two siblings nearly hit their heads from the collision.
"Watch where you're going idiot!", Lynn cried as she punched him in the shoulder.
Taking a step back, Lincoln somehow ignored the pain and looked Lynn straight in the eyes, confusing her.
"How did you do today? Did you get into another fight, were you hurt", Lincoln asked with a genuine smile.
"You little bitch...are you mocking me?!", Lynn rushed at him, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up his door.
"What? No, I meant are you fine, not in that way. I hate seeing you hurt yourself over some useless trash like me...", Lincoln lamented as he was on the brink of breaking down.
"Your tone gave me a different picture...I'm fine, thanks for asking, I didn't fight anyone...why I even stick to getting hurt for your pathetic ass, is beyond me", Lynn sighed, letting her little brother go, turning her back and going to her room.
"But you are right about that thing...you are useless trash and a wimpy coward", Lynn growled as she slammed her door shut.
No shit, thanks for the clarification.
You should have stood up for yourself. Not fight your older sister, but try to explain to her in words what's happening to you.
Oh shut up, I don't have time for you too now.
After Lincoln had finished his business in the bathroom, he could hear his older sister Luna playing the guitar in her room.
Maybe I should ask her to play something for me, it might make me feel better.
Lincoln stepped closer to her door and knocked several times.
"It's me, Lincoln. Can I come in?"
"Sure bro."
Lincoln opened the door then entered her room. He took a quick look around then sat on Luna's bed. Luna was sitting on her bean bag.
"What's up mate, how was school today?", Luna asked as she was playing some tunes on her guitar.
"It was all right, just fine. I was wondering if you could play something for me, if you have any free time."
"Sure bro, let me just get my acoustic, it goes better with it", Luna exclaimed with her raspy faux British accent. She put her current electric guitar into a box bellow her bed and pulled out her acoustic one.
"Just lay back and enjoy fella."
Luna coughed a bit to prepare her voice, then finally started playing:
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, darling kiss me
Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you
"Wow Luna...that was awesome, you really are talented and gifted at this. Can't wait until I see you become a famous musician", Lincoln said as he clapped to his sister's beautiful singing and playing.
"Aw thanks bro, that's so cute. Now if only mom and dad thought the same thing about that...", Luna sighed as she put away her guitar.
"Well, I have to go now, a lot of homework to do. See you", Lincoln waved her goodbye as he left for his room.
But before he could enter his room, he glanced at Lisa's and Lily's room. It was wide open, which was odd considering that Lisa hates being interrupted during her experiments and researches.
"Uh, I hope I'm not disturbing...", Lincoln said as he stepped in. Lily wasn't there but Lisa was writing something in her notebook. Lincoln saw many symbols that he was unfamiliar with.
"What's wrong now? I still working...", Lisa said absentmindedly.
Maybe I should joke around a bit with her...she's too serious…
"Do you have anything for a quick and painless death?", Lincoln smirked, trying to taunt her.
"As a matter of fact, I have been working on a gas that shuts down your organs and let's you float away forever, but it's still a prototype. Plus, I don't think that you would be the one to try it first, for now", Lisa elaborated, her face dead serious.
Lincoln's mouth went wide open.
Geez, I meant it as a joke...this girl is dangerous…
Some things are not meant to be joked about Lincoln…
"Fine then, continue your 'research', I'm going to my room", Lincoln closed the door to Lisa's and Lily's room and went into his own.
"Huh, what?", Lisa suddenly raised her head and looked around. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued to write in her notebook.
Night had fallen and Lincoln faced the same problem as yesterday: he couldn't fall asleep. He tried everything he knew, counting sheep, drinking a lot of water, but that only made him go to the bathroom a lot more times than usual and get into unpleasant confrontations with his older sister Lynn.
"I haven't jacked off in a while...maybe I should now...", Lincoln whispered to himself, grabbed his laptop, and laid on his bed.
He had a porn stash of around ten gigabytes of various porn videos. Real, animated...and all kind of weird fetishes, which disgusted even Lincoln.
I'm such a degenerate scum...no normal human being would watch what I watch, let alone get horny off it…
Sighing, he pulled down his pants and started to rotate his willy like a helicopter, but to no avail. He just couldn't get hard, no matter what type of video he watched.
"Fuck this shit", Lincoln groaned, pulling up his pants and putting away his laptop. He started to look out of his window again.
"It's not even midnight yet...", Lincoln watched as some clouds started to cover the moon. Tonight's night was much darker than the previous one, but Lincoln saw it again, the same dark figure from last night.
However, this time it was moving in a zig-zag pattern, apparently trying to make it difficult for any bystanders to recognize his true identity.
But Lincoln was sure this time: this was his younger sister, Lucy. He knew all about his sisters, how they moved, how they reacted.
Now the question was should he report it to his parents or should he go into an investigation alone?
"No, alone is too dangerous, I should find someone to accompany me...but who?", Lincoln whispered as he scratched his chin.
You should have told your parents Lincoln, this is too much for you now.