Weekend Getaway

Chapter 9

"MOMMY, DADDY!" a frightened Nicole called from her bed. She moved herself up against the wall on her bed and pulled the blankets close to her. "MOMMY, DADDY!" she cried again.

On the other side of the room Matt stirred in his sleep and then woke up with a jolt "Nicole what happened?" he asked his sister.

"I saw him, he had red eyes" Nicole told her brother.

Matt's eye's widened and then looked at their closet. "On no DADDY, MOMMY" he cried as well and then ran to sit with his sister on her bed.

The saw a light flick on in the hallway and then their uncle Linc entered the room rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong guys? It's three in the morning," he groaned. He saw them huddled together on Nicole's bed and made his way over to them. "Guys what is it?"

"He's here" Nicole whispered and then pointed toward the closet. "He had big red eyes and he was looking at me," Nicole said as she moved to hold onto her uncle. "Don't let the monster get me uncle Linc," she pleaded.

"Or me" Matt said as he also huddled up to his uncle.

Linc wrapped his arms tightly around his niece and nephew. "You're okay, now listen," he told them sitting them back on the bed. "There are no such thing as monsters, its just fear."

"Fear?" they both repeated.

"Yeah and you know what?"

"What?" they asked giving their uncle their full attention.

"Fear isn't real, its just air," he told them "Like the air we breathe."

"So all you have to do is face your fear and the monsters will disappear."

Both Nicole and Matt's' mouths were wide open in aw that the monsters would go away. Linc took their small hands and led them over to the closet. "All you have to do it open the door and the monster will disappear, so on the count of three we will open it together okay?" The twins nodded and put their hands on the doorknob like their uncle. They counted to three and then opened the door to see no monster, just clothes, books and toys.

"He's gone!" Nicole said as she moved to better inspect the closet and saw no monster. A huge grin crept across her face in amusement of her uncle being right. After a few moments Lincoln tucked them both back into their beds and sat with them until they both fell back asleep and had good dreams.

Both Nicole and Matt were up at the crack of dawn the next morning with pure excitement. Their uncle Linc not only got rid of the monsters but there was a surprise for them and they couldn't wait to find out what it was. The two scurried down stairs to discover they were the only ones up. They remembered how their dad had told them if no one else was awake they were to play in their room until their clock said 8:00am. So quietly they went back to their room.

For the next hour they played with their toys. Nicole played with her dollhouse she had gotten for Christmas. She was pretending that an evil tiger broke into the house and Matt's batman and Spiderman had to save the people. The two had very creative imaginations and once they got going with an idea they could play forever.

By 8:00 Lincoln rolled out of bed trying not to wake Hannah who had slept over. With Michael and Sara away, Lincoln had to get up and take care of the twins. It didn't bother him though he loved spending time with them and this weekend especially since he had something special planned for them. As he exited the bedroom he could hear the twins chatting and playing in their room. It amazed him sometimes how long they could play together without fighting. Although when they did fight or disagree about something they could both be very stubborn. They seem to have got that from both sides.

As he opened the door he saw them both playing around Nicole's dollhouse, but as soon as they saw their uncle their attention was on him. They both hopped up from where they were sitting and their eyes still on him. He notice that they had gotten themselves dressed, he realize neither of them had a future in fashion.

"What's the surprise?" Matt asked jumping up and down in front of his uncle. Nicole was just as curious to know what it was. As Linc made his way down stairs the twins followed behind him begging him to tell them what the surprise was. They followed him all the way to kitchen and climbed on the breakfast stools to watch him make them breakfast. "Pleeeease uncle Linc! Tell us" Matt pleaded.

Linc had put the twins toast in the toaster then turned to look at them. Both had their elbows on the counter and their heads propped up on their tiny fists. Their big blue eyes looked at him the same way Michael did when he was younger. He saw so much of young Michael in them; they're facial expressions, actions, and their moods. Every time they did something it usually reminded him of Michael.

"Uncle Linc! Uncle Linc!" Nicole said waving her arm around trying to get his attention. Linc woke up from his daydream and looked at Nicole. She simply pointed to their toast that had popped.

"I'm on it" Linc told them and pulled the toast out of the toaster. "So what do you two want on your toast? Tuna?"

"NOOO!" both Matt and Nicole giggled. "Peanut butter and Jelly" they chirped. Linc smiled as he finished making their breakfast and then placed their plates in front of them. The three of them ate their breakfast laughing and joking around, by the time they finished Hannah and LJ had made their way into the kitchen.

"So are you guys excited about today?" LJ asked his cousins as he messed with their hair.

"Uncle Linc won't tell us," Nicole pouted.

Hannah was pouring herself s bowl of cereal and when she heard what Nicole said she turned and looked at Lincoln in disgust. "Linc you haven't told them yet, you can be so cruel sometimes." Hannah told him as she moved over to the twins.

"Tell us, Tell us" they pleaded.

Lincoln smiled at them and leaned over the counter towards them. "What do you think about the zoo?" he asked them.

Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped, they started clapping their hands for joy and squealed in excitement. The twins jumped of the bars stool and ran over to their uncle and threw their arms around him. Linc picked them up and spun them around. "Plus when we get there we can drop LJ off with he relatives the baboons" Linc said with a grin and was earned another giggle from the twins.

"HEY!" LJ said acting all hurt. "Well that ain't gonna happen unless we drop you off at the rhino's dad. They'll teach how to really head butt people."

"Oh so this is how you want to play now? Well then we…"

"Hey both of you two behave" Hannah warned them and both LJ and Linc started to laugh, along with the twins.

After everyone had their breakfast they made their way to zoo and the twins, especially Nicole was in heaven as they walked around the park and saw all the animals. Nicole shrieked with excitement as they finally found the tigers, her favorite animal. Not only were there several grown tigers but there was about two cubs running around as well.

Linc was going all out on the trip and bought them ice cream, cotton candy, stuff animals and other souvenirs throughout the park. The only thing that was driving him, Hannah and LJ crazy was the twins never ending questions. All day they would ask " Why this and Why that? Most of the time Linc had no idea how to answer their question so would make something up and that only led to more questions.

Six hours later they retuned home, Linc stumbled inside and was ready to collapse. LJ came in next carrying all the stuff Linc insisted on buying. Moving over to the sofa Linc, LJ and Hannah collapsed and all wondering the same thing. "Why did Linc pick the zoo"?

"Gosh I'm so tired" Hannah mumbled as she closed her eyes.

The twins on the other hand seem to be all wired up and bouncing off the walls. Hannah was able to convince them to take their new toys up stairs and they ran off.

Linc watched them in amazement. "How are they still going strong?"

LJ let out a sarcastic laugh "Gee dad I wonder? Could it be you got them high on sugar and we carried them half way through because their feet hurt."

"All I'm saying is when Michael and Sara get back, the three of us are going to run away for a few days, or weeks," Hannah told them.

Linc and LJ turn to her and nodded "Deal!"