Author's Note
Okay, I'm going to debate what I stated in the last authors note, after reading the part about punishment in his adopted father's basement. It does have sexual molestation vibes. I'm going to try to contact MutedBadger on his other account and see what he had in mind. If not, I will figure it out.
Lincoln Loud
In his short life there had been a numerous times that he truly felt panic. Out of all those times, there had only been three that stood out to him. Constant reminders of how unfair life truly is.
The first of those three, was when he was sat down by a police officer and a social worker, and was told his parents were in surgery and had a very low chance of surviving.
The second, had to be when he was taken from the orphanage where he was finally starting to open up, and had started seeing the orphanage staff as family, until 'he' adopted Lincoln.
Finally, the third, when he found out what his adopted father meant by punishment in the basement.
And now, he could easily add this encounter to the list as fourth moment he was in full panic mode. The look in Lynn's eyes as she seemed to question everything about him. Those dark brown eyes stared into his soul. How he saw the range of emotions in those eyes flicker back and forth until she looked determined. While he didn't know Lynn loud too well, he imagined a determined Lynn Loud, was not a force to be trifled with.
Lincoln looked around, trying to figure out what he was going to say, how he was going to explain this. And he was going to have to explain. There was no version of this where Lynn let it go.
"Hey, Lynn, funny seeing you here. I was j-just here to g-get something to eat." He stammered out, wishing he sounded less hesitant, and more confident He looked into her eyes, trying to figure out what she was thinking.
"This is a soup kitchen, Lincoln. Why would you be coming here for food?" Lynn questions me, and he couldn't argue her logic. Normal people didn't come here for food. Opening his outh to answer, to throw out some kind of excuse when someone from behind me interrupted me.
"Hey kid, what's the hold up? Some of us need to eat you know." A gruff voice that sounded angry enough that Lincoln didn't even bother looking back, a few other voices behind hi agreeing with him.
Lincoln looks at Lynn shrugging his shoulders, giving her a look that he hope say that they shouldn't talk about this there and hold up the line. She apparently gets the gist of it as she nods.
"Fine, Lincoln. I will be done in about twenty minutes. Then I'm coming for answers." Lynn fills his bowl with soup. Soup that he probably won't be able to eat now with his stomach doing flips. A sick feeling settles at the bottom of his stomach as he realizes how unlucky he was. The one day he decides to go to the stupid food kitchen, happens to be a day where one of the Loud sisters was volunteering. He had wondered several times over the past month or so, how he managed to run into them so often. In a past life he must have done some horrible things.
'I know I keep saying the fates are against me, but that was supposed to be a joke,' Now, he wondered to himself if he hadn't been right about that.
Lincoln took his bowl of soup and went to sit down at a table where no one else sat, that he could also see Lynn, who kept looking his way to make sure he was still where she last saw him. He couldn't blame her, if he thought he could sneak out without her seeing he would be doing that.
He was thankful that the person that was behind him in line had made a fuss about him taking so long. It gave him chance to figure out what he would tell Lynn when she come for answers. Though, he couldn't think of any way this was going to work out for him. Even if, when, he came up with a lie, there is no way to know if Lynn will buy it. All he could do was hope for the best, and be prepared to run if he had to. Lincoln wonders to himself trying to find some excuse, some way out of this, as he pushes around the soup in his bowl with the spoon.
As the twenty minute mark was coming up, he feels like he has a plan, and begins to formulate the plan as fast as he could hoping he had time to finish before Lynn showed up. If she believed the lie he was about to tell her, she may look at him in a different light. Might not even want him to hang around her or her sisters anymore. But that was better than her finding out the truth.
Lynn had taken a few more minutes before finishing up. And ever minute that passed, the more he thought about his plan. Wondering if there were any holes in the plan that he hadn't thought of.
'I could run,' He thought to himself for what felt like the millionth time. He could just run out of there, and not face Lynn, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't want to lose the Loud sisters or their friendships. He would, if he up and ran. There would be no way they would forget about it, and would only cement the question: Why was he at a soup kitchen?
Lincoln jumped as he heard the chair across from him scrap across the floor, creating a screeching sound as it goes, kinda setting the mood for the conversation that was about to be had. Lincoln looked up to Lynn, who was looking at the bowl of soup in front of him that by now he was sure was cold, and he hadn't eaten a single spoonful of it yet. She raises her eyebrow before shaking her head.
He didn't want to say anything first, he waited for her to say something, but apparently she didn't want to say anything first either. Though, after a few more seconds Lynn broke the silence first.
"Lincoln, what's going on here? Why are you coming to a soup kitchen of all places to eat?" Lynn starts off with two good points.
'Well, here goes.' He thought, hoping that he was as good as he thought that he was.
"Lynn, I'm not sure how to explain this." He starts, looking down at his bowl, "But, see the things is. I don't- I mean, my parents don't make much money. And sometimes, when the fall on hard times, I, y'know, come here and try to help take some strain off." He lied through the skin of his teeth, trying to ignore the guilt he was feeling, and hoping that she believes him.
It most definitely wouldn't win him any awards for best lie, but he was hoping that it would at least take root. He only had twenty minute to come up with it. And that was on an empty stomach, and having only gotten a couple hours of sleep in the last two days. He kept watching Lynn to see if there was any hint on if she was buying any of his story. But she was giving nothing away. Maybe she was just thinking about his lie.
He had never understood the term, 'the silence was deafening' until that moment. It was so quiet at their table he could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and it sounded deafening to him. It was torture. He had to tell her the truth. That he was nothing but a homeless boy. That he was trash no one wanted. And he would have too.
"Guess that's why you never really had any money," Lynn mutters more to herself, than to him. He cringes at the words involuntarily, the guilt getting worse. Not only was he lying to her face, he was being reminded of the times he took advantage of her and her sister's kindness. He felt lower than trash. And he got an inkling of why Skippy had done what he did. While Lincoln didn't want to take his own life, he could understand that guilt, and shame, building up over time. It was enough to drive someone to... well.
"Uh- Yeah." Was all that he could manage to squeak out. What else could he say?
"But, you shouldn't have to, Lincoln." Lynn reached her hand over the table, placing it on his arm. The guilt was building again. Not only had he lied, took advantage of her, but now she was feeling sorry for him.
"I know, but I feel like I have to do something. I mean, I am partly to blame. So, I want to help out any ways that I can." The lie easily rolled off my tongue leaving an after taste of guilt.
'One day, I'll tell her the truth,' he thought to himself. After he did, he didn't think she would be his friend anymore. But one day he would make it right, telling her and the others the truth so he can rid himself of those feelings.
Lynn stands up, pushing the chair back as she does causing the legs to screech once again. The sound drew the attention of every other person in the room around them, most of which giving him dirty looks due to the sudden noise.
"C'mon, Lincoln. Lets go get something proper to eat." Lynn held out her hand to him, a look of care on her face.
"What? No, Lynn. I'm alright with this. The soup looks like it tastes good." he gestures to the soup in front of him, that was now cold, and some of the oils from the meat had solidified, it didn't look appetizing anymore. But he had eaten worse. He was sure if he had told her that he had eaten food out of the dumpster behind her dads restaurant she would lose her mind. "You and you sisters have already done so much for me. I can't continue to take advantage of that."
"Lincoln," Lynn gets his attention again, making him look up at her. He was met with that puppy dog look that the other girls, and Leni seemed to be an expert at. That look that had the ability to make him do what ever they wanted.
'Jokes on her, Leni already bought my soul,' He thought to himself sarcastically.
"Lynn, that's not going to work on me..." He wanted to look away, but at the same time he couldn't. How did they manage to get the tears to pool at the corners of their eyes like that?
Lynn doubles down on the look and bats her eye lashes. Which was something he wouldn't associate with the athletic girl. While she didn't seem to be into girly things, it seemed she would use girly things that gave her an advantage.
'Yeah, they are evil geniuses.' He thought.
"Fine, alright. Just stop with that look!" He gave up, he couldn't handle that look anymore. He was already wracked with guilt, and that only made it worse.
"Works every time," her face returned to normal, as if she hadn't been looking like a sad puppy, throwing her arm up in the air first pumping as if she scored a goal at a soccer game.
"One day, I swear, that will not work on me." He mutters to himself loud enough that Lynn hears him and laughs.
"Last one outside is a rotten egg," Lynn says as she turns, and makes a run for the door, leaving him to stare after her.
For a moment he stands here looking after the girl, admiring the athletic build of her thighs and bottom, before shaking his head. Mentally scolding himself. He knew the girl had already figured out how to wrap him around her finger, along with her sisters. No need to keep giving her more ammo.
He picks up his tray, and carries it to the trashcan, throwing away the soup, and placing the tray and the bowl where they belonged before walking out the door to meet Lynn.
"Looks like I won, no surprise there," she cheers and begins to do the same adorable dance that she did on the soccer field, and at the carnival. He stood there applauding her victory over himself, because he thinks that she if trying to lighten the mood. She stops dancing and looks at him.
"Before we go grab some grub, I have to pick up my sister, Lisa from her ceramics art class." Lynn explains and I nod my head and follow her as she leads the way.
'Lisa? Which one was Lisa?' He racked his mind trying to place this Loud sister. It was one of the ones that he hadn't met before the carnival. Not the baby. The one with glasses. The genius one.
AVAVA
Apparently, the art studio was close to where the soup kitchen was. Then again the soup kitchen was a rec center by day, so it only made sense that the art studio would be near by, most cities put community centers like that near each other. That could also be why Lynn was in charge of picking up her little sister.
As they made it to the studio, his hunch was correct. As he sees the young loud girl waddle out of the building Lynn stopped at, unlike before when he had met her, she looked absolutely furious.
"Never again, elder sister! I am reluctant to ever associate with these neanderthals again! I am above such mundane activities!" the bespectacled girl complained while throwing her arms in the air, in frustration. He wasn't even sure if she noticed he was even there.
"C'mon Lise, it couldn't have been that bad. Some of us got it way worse. Like Lana, wouldn't wanna be in her shoes." Lynn let out a shiver, though Lincoln wasn't sure what Lana had to do, only that it seemed pretty bad to Lynn.
"I suppose you are correct about that. At any rate, there is no use to be had from complaining about it, now that it is completed." Lisa grumbles out before turning to him. "Hello Lincoln. It is once again pleasing to see you again. I hope that you are well."
"Thanks, it's nice to see you too." He returned her greeting, and it was true. He looked over this Loud sibling. He wondered if she could answer any of his questions. But then again, as smart as she seemed to be, he doubted that he would be able to fool her with a hypothetical scenario.
"Anyways, Lise. Me and Lincoln," Lynn starts, only to be interrupted by Lisa.
"Lincoln and I." Lisa adds, why Lynn ignores her.
"-were going to grab something to eat, would you like to come?" Lynn asks her sister.
"Well, I do admit, after that frustrating class, I am a bit ravenous. So, I could utilize something to eat." Lisa shrugs in a noncommittal way even if she agreed.
"Great, follow me!" Lynn takes the lead walking in a seemingly random direction, with Lisa walking at her side, complaining about her 'plight' and how she refuses to repeat such tomfoolery again. As for him, he just lets his mind wander, while letting his body follow Lynn, and Lisa.
Lincoln was sure that Lynn believed his story, or at least he hoped that she did, because if not he was screwed. He had no chance at all in convincing her not to get Child Services involved if she found out his secret. What he knew about the Loud family, they were all good people. He could feel it in his bones. And in normal situations it would be a good thing to get Child Services involved. They would want to do what was right, not knowing that it would make it worse for him.
As they continued on their path, the two sisters broke off from him a little moving ahead, and talked among themselves. He couldn't make out what they were talking about but he was pretty sure they were talking about him, because every once in a while one of them would glance back at him. Though, they could also be making sure he was still with them. But he was sure that Lynn was telling her sister what had happened, and coming across Lincoln at the soup kitchen. This was making him nervous, while I think Lynn believed me, I could also tell that Lisa was extremely smart for her age, and he didn't mean normal smart. This girl was a certified genius. It worried him that if Lynn decided to go into more detail about his story, that the younger genius would start poking holes in the story.
'I have to be more careful about what I say from here out, and keep track of what I say,' He made a mental note to himself.
The two sisters continued their conversation until they came upon the place that Lynn had in mind. At first he had thought that it was going to be her her dad's restaurant, and was kind of surprised that it wasn't. If he had a family member that owned a place where he could get free food, that's where you'd find him. It looked like a nice place though, even if it was on the smaller side. Based on the Chinese lettering on the window, he assumed it was an Asian restaurant.
Once inside, they took their seat, the sisters on one side of the table, and him across from them. Immediately he picks up the menu to stall talking to the sisters. Lincoln scans the menu looking for the cheapest thing on the menu, which seemed to be a salad of some kind. When the waiter came up to the table.
"Can I take your order?" the waiter asks with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, me and him will be having the egg fried rice, with beef curry." Lincoln was stunned, did Lynn order for him because he knew that he was going to order something cheap.
"Um... is it spicy?" Lincoln asks, looking to the waiter. Lately with the food he had been eating his stomach was a little upset, and adding something spicy on top of it might end up badly.
"The beef curry is spicy." The waiter says.
"My- uh- stomach can't do spicy. Sorry, Maybe just the salad?" Lincoln said looking over to Lynn who raised her eyebrow. "Alright fine, Sweet and sour chicken."
"Then I'll take the fried rice and the beef curry, And the sweet and sour chicken for him," Lynn said, and the look she gave him basically told him that she knew he was going to try to go cheap. Then Lisa orders something, that he didn't understand, thought the waiter seemed to understand and nodded.
"So, tell us about you family," Lynn asks, and he knew that he should have been prepared for that question. Knew it was only a matter of time before it was asked. The more he hung around with them, the more that they would be interested in him.
"Well, I'm an only child, so I don't know what it's like to have siblings. But meeting you girls, it seems like it would be nice to have sisters." He started the lie, with a truth, to help keep him grounded. The best lies were braced on reality "My parents, they wer- are great parents. They are the kindest people in the world. And they, they love me. Went out of their way to make sure that I had everything I needed, even though we didn't have much." he said thinking back on happy times with his parents.
"They sound nice." Lynn says in reply but that's not what caught her attention.
Lisa was staring at the food that was placed in from of her while he was talking about his family, she looked as if she was deep in thought, and he wonders what she was thinking about. Lincoln thinks about everything that he had said, wondering if he let something slip. He had started to refer to his parents in the past tense. Had she caught this? Of course she did. She had been correcting Lynn today about her grammar.
'God, I'm an idiot.' He thought to himself.
"Hey, Lincoln," Lynn takes a break from her curry, looking up at him. "Where do you go to school?"
This was a question that was hard for him, as he had never been to a regular school, his only experience was home schooled with his adopted father. He wished he could say that he was home schooled, but it would be weird if his parents were always working, yet had time to home school him. Lisa would definitely pick up on that. Also he didn't know much about the schools in this area.
"Royal Woods Elementary," He blurted out, because he had seen a sign for it at the carnival, they were having a fund raiser or something.
"Weird, I never saw you there before." Lynn muttered to herself, and sounded as if she was trying to figure something out. Lynn was rubbing her chin and seemed to be deep in thought.
"That's probably because I don't stand out." Lincoln stutters out hoping that they take that answer.
Lynn seems to take it, and accept it as truth, but Lisa eyeballs him from across the table the rest of the meal isn't going to be fun.
AVAVA
He had been right in assuming that the rest of the meal wasn't going to be fun. As Lynn had continued to ask him more questions about him. Some questions were your normal every day questions for getting to know someone new, 'What's your favorite color?' 'What kind of games do you like?' and oddly 'Boxers or Briefs'. Then there were other questions that were obviously a ploy to try to get information from him. 'Where do you live?' 'When is your birthday?'
If this had been a movie, he would have gotten some kind of award for how he had been able to improvise answers to some of the questions, while not giving away too much information. Every answer he gave it felt like was being analyzed by the young Loud. And every now and again, Lisa would give him a questioning look.
Just when he thinks the questions will never end, he looks over to the clock, and gets an idea.
"Hey, I got to go." Lincoln stood up, and the two girls look up at him.
"What? Why?" Lynn asks looking concerned.
"My- ah- parents, will be expecting me home soon enough." He lies before turning and making his way towards and out the door. As he steps out of the restaurant he gets the feeling that he's being watched again. This time it was stronger than it had ever been. Lincoln looks around trying to find out where the look was coming from. At first he thought that it was Lisa, or Lynn. The moment he makes it out of view of the windows, he takes off as fast as he could, though the feeling never went away. And he didn't take a break until he was a few streets away leaning against a wall in an alley.
Out of the corner of his eyes he catches a glimpse of a red jersey, and a green sweater duck behind the corner to the alley.
'Damn it, Lisa figured him out.' He thought to himself, as he pushed himself off the wall, and took off down the alley, turning at random. At first he hear the feet of his two pursuers behind him. While Lynn was more athletic than he was, the alleyway was his home, his domain. So, while she was faster than he was, he knew how to get around in alleys better. And after several turns, he was several streets away from where he had spotted Lynn and Lisa, before stopping.
After he stops hearing footsteps following him, does he finally take a break, panting as he leans against the wall sliding down it. At this point if Lynn comes around the corner, he was going to give up and take his chances. He was exhausted, running on barely any sleep, and his stomach was cramping again.
Lincoln glanced around the alley, it didn't look much different fro any other alley. It was dirtier, because it was father back from the main road. If he remembered right the stores that connected to this alley were empty, so no one was likely to come back here. Maybe he would check some of the doors and see if any where opened, though he doubted it. But it would be nice for a night or two to have some kind of shelter.
He pulls his pack off his shoulder, and rummages through it, pulling out his blanket, and sleeping bag, along with anything else he would need for the night. As he does this, he heards a noise coming up behind him. And he panics. He's been caught. There is no way he'd be able to explain to Lynn or Lisa why he was using a sleeping bag in an alley. Lincoln turns quickly to try and explain that this isn't what it looks like, when he is slammed against the wall behind him, a hand gripping his mouth keeping him quiet.
His vision flashes black and white a second on impact with the wall.
'Damn, thats going to bruise.' he thought to himself.
Opening his eyes, he sees two figures in front of him, both were wearing masks covering their face from sight, He pushes against the figure holding him seeing if he can get away, only to feel something sharp and cold press into his throat. He whimpers in fear as he wonders if this is how it all ends.
"Don't make a fuckin sound, boy." The guy holding him sneers at him, "We wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we?"
This day had gone from bad to worse. He really wished it was Lynn or Lisa standing here, and not these two guys.
"Check the boy's bag." The man holding hi against the wall growls out to the other who prompt grabs the bag pulling things out tossing it to the ground. It was painful to watch everything he owned item by item hit the ground. Being thrown around without a care in the world.
"Brats got nothing worth, nothing. The guy going through his bag say, "This was a complete bust."
"Fuckin, useless piece of shit, ain'tcha boy?" The man holding him looks him in the eyes
'Well I'm sorry for not having anything worth you stealing' He thought to himself.
He tries to push away from him again, causing him to move his hand from my mouth, to move to grab the front of my shirt.
"Wait... Now what's this?" the man murmurs as he feels around the top of his shirt. It took him a moment to realize what the man was talking about, but when it hit him he start ed to struggle.
Not his necklace, they can't take that. That was all that he had left.
"Shit, I said don't fucking move you little shit," the guy said moving the knife from his neck.
Pain burst through his shoulder as the sharp blade cuts through the jacket, and into his shoulder, as if his skin were butter. Blood welling up through the wound. He yells out in pain only to be silenced by the man as he put his hand over his mouth. He feels the hand at his neck, ripping the necklace off looking at it. "Might get a couple bucks outta this., not what I wanted, but better than nothing."
"What do we do with him?" The guy holding him asks the other guy.
"Eh, knock him out or something, doesn't matter." the guy said without a hint of care.
He was going to protest until he feels intense pressure on the side of his head. He falls to the ground. He tries with all his might to get up. When he couldn't he just tried to keep his eyes opened, even then he couldn't. Though he caught sight of the pair of legs walking away from him before everything goes black.