Colin woke up with a start. He had slept on air mattresses before, but that was because he was staying over at friends houses. He was in a completely different universe than that. It didn't help that the basement was the creepiest room in the house, either. He had went to bed slightly hoping that everything that had happened was a dream, and that he would wake up in his normal bed with Mama and Chica in the other room. But he realized when he woke up that this was no dream.
He got up and paced around the room, using a flashlight that he had found at the foot of the steps as a guide. He had never been too far away from Mama, but now he we felt like he was all alone in the world. Or his world, or whatever this world was...
Pretty soon, he found himself tired out from walking on the concrete floor. He laid down on the bed, closed his eyes, and was soon back to sleep.
The next morning, he got up, walked upstairs, and was greeted by mass chaos in the kitchen. He wondered what all the siblings could possibly be arguing about, until he heard Lana say "The last pancake is MINE!," followed by Lola saying, "No! It's MINE!"
Pretty soon, Lynn Sr came stomping downstairs, obviously not pleased with being woken up so early.
"QUIET!" he yelled. Almost immediately, the arguing ceased, and the kids all looked up at the source of the voice, save Colin.
"What in the name of God is going on down here?!"
Lola was the first one to speak up, saying, "Lori made us all pancakes for breakfast, and now there's only one left! And I should be the one to get it, because I WAS HERE FIRST!" she yelled as the argument resumed.
Once again, Lynn Sr quieted the kids down, then resumed talking.
"Have ALL of you had at least one pancake?"
The sisters and brother all nodded their heads.
"Well, I know at least ONE person who hasn't." He then turned to face Colin.
"Would YOU like the last pancake, Colin?"
Now, Colin didn't usually eat breakfast. Most of his time in the morning was spent getting the store opened in time for rush hour. But it turned out that everything that had happened the day before was making him a little hungry.
"Yes, sir, I would like that very much."
"Well, alright then! Girls, Lincoln, get our guest a plate and a fork. I'm going back to bed." with that, he walked back upstairs to sleep.
After a couple of minutes, Colin sat down and ate the best breakfast he ever had. When he did eat breakfast, it was mostly microwaved waffles with a slab of butter, but of course, today was not a normal day for Colin.
After eating the pancake, he walked into the living room, where Luna, Luan, and Leni were all sitting at the couch. Not really knowing what to do, he sat down on the floor in front of the couch.
"Uh, dude," Luna said to him, "you DO know you're allowed to sit on the furniture, right?"
Realizing he was allowed to do anything a normal person would, he got up and sheepishly sat down. After an uncomfortable silence, he finally turned and asked Leni, "So, who exactly IS everybody in this house?"
"Ummm, wait! Don't tell me!" Leni said, straining to come up with an answer. "Just hold on! I can do this!"
Luan quickly jumped in with an answer. "Well, you've probably seen Mom and Dad. There's Lori, who's the bossy one, Leni, the clueless one, Luna, the musical one, Me, the funny one, Lynn, the athletic one, Lincoln, the only boy, Lola and Lana, who are the twins, Lisa, the smart one, and then there's finally Lily."
Colin, counting all 10 siblings on his hands, asked, "Geez, how do you survive with 9 peopl-"
"You forgot me." A familiar voice behind Colin said.
"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot about Lucy, the dark one! Hey, are you feeling alright?" Luan asked to Colin, who was currently trying to recover from the mini heart attack he just had.
"Yeah, I'm OK," he replied a couple seconds later. "But I couldn't imagine living in a house this big. I'd personally prefer to live in a smaller home." He said, thinking about Mama and Chica again.
He suddenly remembered what Lincoln had told him the other night. Lisa! He had to go tell her his problem!
"Hey, where can I find Lisa?" He asked to everybody in the room. Luna, confused, asked him, "Why do you need her?"
"I, uhh, have to discuss with her my latest scientific research," he lied, which just made the sisters more confused.
"LISA! THE HOMELESS DUDE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" Luna suddenly yelled to the top of the stairs. Pretty soon, the young girl that Colin saw with the chemicals last night came down the stairs.
"Whatever this is about, I expect it to be good," she told Colin. "I was in the middle of working on my latest thesis, and I have no time to lose."
"believe me, I think were going to have a lot to talk about, chica," he said to her, "But can I just get a little privacy in here?" Pretty soon, it was only him and Lisa in the room.
Hs he told his problem to the girl, her expression changed from curiosity, to confused, to startled, to pure awestruck.
"Incredible!" She said! "A portal to a different dimension, you say? And you say that this all happened?"
"Believe me, I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried. I need to get back to my dimension, and Lincoln said to talk to you about it."
"Of course he did," she sighed. "Like I expected him to help you deal with opening interdimensional portals. I actually may be able to help you out here..."
"Really?! You have something?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I've been working on my latest invention lately, which is conveniently able to, you guessed it, open portals to other universes. It's still not functionable, but if you give me a couple minutes, I might be able to get it up and running."
"Take all the time to need! I just want to get home as quick as I can!"
"Very well. Wait right here for a minute." With those words, Lisa went upstairs to get her portal machine. As soon as she was gone, the sisters started filing back into the living room, unaware of what had just happened.
"Hey, has anyone seen my sunglasses?"
"They're right on your head, Leni."
"Oh! I always forget to check there!"
"Sadness. Regret. The feeling of a soul dropping into the abyss of life."
"Hey, why did the turkey cross the rosd? Because it was the chickens day off! Ha ha ha, get it? Hey, what are you smiling about?"
Colin, quickly realizing the huge smile on his face, simply said, "I have a feeling that I won't be staying here for much longer, amigo." In reality, he was thrilled that he might be able to see Mama and Chica again, and hopefully write this whole thing off as a distant memory. Honestly, these people were starting to make him a little uncomfortable, and he couldn't wait to get away from all of them and get back on the normal train of things.
Soon, they heard Lisa walking to the steps. Colin yelled, "You all set, Lisa?"
"Yes!" she said as she walked down the stairs, a large, bulky object in her arms. "Now to just run over a few things down there and we should be all-"
CRASH!
"Oh my God, Lisa!" The sisters yelled as they ran over to the stairs. When they got there, they saw her sitting down and rubbing the side of her head.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just tripped over my foot..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the spot her experiment layed.
"What happened?!" Colin said as the rest of the family came down to help Lisa. He then noticed the experiment. While this might not have broken anything in her body, you couldn't exactly say the same for the machine. Pieces of it lay all around the base of the stairs.
"My interdimensional jumping device..."
"My way home..."
"Geez, talk about a fall from glory!" Luan interjected in an attempt to lighten the mood, but it was met with nothing but cold stares.
Colin crouched down, making himself level with Lisa. Quietly, he asked, "Do you think you could fix it?"
"No. All of the key exponents to the parts are shattered. I'll have to rebuild it from the start."
"How long will that take you, chica?"
Slowly, she answered. "Considering all the time that I spent upon this machine, plus reobtaining all of the rare parts to replace, and the sheer cost of it all, my best estimate is...about 12 to 14 months."
Colin was speechless. 12 months? That's an entire year! Lisa was trying to calmly break the news to him that he was stuck in this world for an entire year?! What about the store?! His friends?! MAMA AND CHICA?! He expected just a few minutes ago that he was leaving this hour, now he had to wait an entire calendar year?!
Colin stood up, and holding back tears, walked down to the basement.