Lynn wasn't better by dinner. She barely spoke or touched her food. While everyone else was talking about their time at the fair, she was a wallflower.
Near her sat Lincoln. The boy had been filled in on the rest of the story and knew the current step of their plan was to get Lynn to forget about Jumbo, just like Lynn Sr had 10 years ago.
As always, the man with the plan had come through once again. All ten siblings had planned out activities for Lynn to join them in, the first of which was to make place right after dinner and the rest taking up most of tomorrow. By Lisa's calculations, (though she and Lucy remained doubtful of the risk of the matter), she should be back to her old self by tomorrow's sunset.
All they needed was to get through dinner.
"So, thanks to Ms Stinkbug over here," Lola rudely pointed at her twin, "we got banned." "I can't help it if you're a sore loser, Sparkle-Butt," Lana retorted. "You started it."
"It doesn't matter who started it," Rita lectured, "You two should have known better."
it was Lincoln's idea for them for them to spend all of dinner talking about their time at the fair, that way their parents (hopefully) wouldn't notice Lynn and get her talking about Jumbo. So far, it seemed to be working.
"Let this be a lesson, girls," Lynn Sr added.
"So anyway," Lori jumped in, "Bobby and me had the MOST romantic virtual date on the ferris wheel! I think the guy in charge must have been a friend of Bobby's because he let us stay at the top for, like, half an hour!"
"Sorry to ruin your romantic fantasy elder sister, but I think that may have actually just been the case of a typical ride malfunction," Lisa elaborated.
"Killjoy," Lori muttered.
"Well, I…" Luna pointed to herself, "got autographs AND selfies with all five Go-Gos!" "By hyjacking their concert?" Luan teased. "They probably just wanted you to go-go away. Hahaha!" Luna threw her a dirty look.
"Well, thanks to my cute little lucky charm," Leni bopped Lily on the nose, making her giggle, "I won every prize at the water ducky game! The guy there said it was a new record!"
"I actually got a job offer as a scare actor for their haunted house," Lucy took a turn to speak. "Would it be okay if I apply for emancipation?"
"Sweetie, you're eight," Lynn Sr answered, before, to everyone's displeasure, looking over and noticing Lynn's state.
"Everything okay, Jr?" He asked. "You've hardly made a noise."
"Did something bad happen at the fair?" Rita joined in.
The kids all exchanged nervous glances. Despite the emphasis on keeping their parents oblivious to Lynn's state, they hadn't actually planned any contingencies. Lincoln's mind raced around for an answer.
"Oh, she's fine," The boy abruptly answered for her. "She's just… feeling a bit bad over a little accident we had." "Accident?" Lynn Sr's eyes went wide.
"What happened?" Rita asked. Lynn briefly looked up to shoot him a glare and Lori nervously did the throat-slit gesture.
Lincoln suddenly felt like punching himself in his gut for bringing up something that could not only get Lynn in trouble (not to mention worsen her mood), but also make her less likely to want to spend time with him later on.
"It's nothing!" He hastily explained, "She was just jumping off the climbing wall while I was passing by and knocked me down. If anything, it's my fault for not paying attention to where I was walking. I was too busy gourging myself on fried junk and she couldn't see me from up there."
"Is that true, Lynn?" Rita asked.
Lynn nodded without looking at her.
"Hehe, you'll never believe what happened to me-" Luan started.
"Jr," Lynn Sr cut her off, still addressing their depressed sister. "Is there something else you want to tell us?" "Some kid probably just beat her at the climbing wall or something," Lola said. "Anyway-" "I wish," Lynn interrupted her, startling her siblings. This was the first time she'd spoken. "Honey, what happened?" Rita insisted, now sounding very concerned.
The siblings all exchanged nervous glances. Their plan was rapidly derailing.
"She lost at the ring toss," Lincoln blurted out. "I was there, I saw it. She had to land rings on five bottles and she kept missing the last one."
He thought if he explained it thoroughly enough, his parents would buy it.
"I must have tried like 30 times!" Lynn grumbled, "What gives?!"
"Don't fret, older sister," Lisa assured her. "Most fair games are typically rigged in order to draw the most money out of contestants."
"Probably had some sort of anti-magnet or something," Lincoln added.
"The rings were plastic, Linc," Lynn muttered. "It's bad enough that I lost, but I lost him." ' Oh no .' Lincoln thought.
"Him?" Rita asked.
"Jumbo."
' Dang it !'
Even the mere mention was enough to make the older sisters all cringe.
"Jumbo?" Lynn Sr asked, before suddenly chuckling. "Wait… was he from that funny little show you used to watch as a tot?"
"Ooh, I think I remember that," Rita was laughing too, "That was that exercise show with the monkey, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was!" Lynn Sr smiled, "I remember always seeing you exercising in front of the TV. Cutest thing in the world."
"And you would always jump around and act like a monkey."
"I think you even went as Jumbo for Halloween one year!"
To say the plan had nosedived would have been an understatement. Lincoln looked helplessly at this older sisters. They had all broken out into sweats. Luan even looked like she was about to cry.
"Yeah, they had him as a prize," Lynn sadly explained, "and I just… kept… losing." Her voice broke. If they weren't all stressed as heck, the kids may have actually felt some sympathy for their sister. It was rare she'd even gotten this low. "Thanks for letting me use your tickets, Linc. I actually got you a funnel cake for it with the last few. It's in the fridge."
"You took your brother's tickets?" Rita was surprised.
"No, I gave them to her," Lincoln quickly explained, now eyeing the fridge with interest.
Rita looked from her son to her daughter and sighed, "Lynn, I'm sorry you lost, but I think you're overreacting a little."
"I mean, it's just a doll," Lynn Sr added.
Lynn's eye twitched and the sisters winced. Their father just HAD to rub salt on the shared wound.
"Hey, I'm sure it meant a lot to her," At this point, Lori was just trying to keep Lynn from going off. "Like my phone means to me."
"And my glasses to me," Leni added.
"And my axe," Luna threw in.
"And Mr Coconuts," Luan was desperate to quell the beast.
"You can do it too," Lynn had ignored them. "That's what Jumbo always said. So why couldn't I?" "Lynn, if it means that much to you, we can buy one of those dolls online," Rita suggested. Lynn scoffed, "And a participation trophy to go with it?"
Now Rita was starting to get annoyed. "Lynn, there's more to life than a silly stuffed animal from a silly show. You'll get over it."
Lynn pushed her chair back. "I need to go lie down."
"Lynn-"
"Let her go, hon," Lynn Sr said.
' Well, Dad did one thing good. '
Rita sighed, wiped her mouth, and started to rise from the table. "I'll put her salad in the fridge in case she comes back. Lincoln, I don't want you eating that funnel cake."
Lincoln looked away from the fridge. "Sure thing, Mom."
"Okay…" Lincoln said, twiddling his fingers. "So dinner didn't quite work out like we planned."
"You think?" Lori yelled. She and the others were all back in her room. Shaking her head, the oldest sister sighed. "It's not your fault, Lincoln, but that literally couldn't have gone worse."
"Parents," Lola grumbled.
"They might as well have handed her a plate for her cookies," Luan moaned.
"Nobody panic," Lincoln said. "We just have to double down on Phase 2. Lori, you still have the movie for tonight?"
"Yeah, just once Mom and Dad go to bed," Lori said. "And I take it you all have your plans for tomorrow ready?"
The kids all nodded.
"Lucy? You have the most important job."
"I'll keep an eye on Lynn," Lucy promised.
After the meeting ended, Lucy went to her room to do some poetry. She saw Lynn lying in her bed, still huffy over dinner. The goth girl considered saying something to her, but was interrupted by the sound of knocking. To her non-surprise, it was Lori.
"Hey Lynn," she said to her moody sister, "a bunch of us are about to watch Hot Fuzz. Come join us." Lynn looked up. "Isn't that rated R?"
"Yeah, but I'm 17 and it's just us older girls and Linky." She turned to Lucy. "Sorry Luce."
"It's okay, I've got poetry to write," Lucy slipped into her coffin and shut it. Lynn looked up, seemingly curious (much to Lori's delight).
"Leni's into that stuff?"
"She thinks Nick Frost is cute."
"Luna?"
"She loves all the British actors in it."
"Luan?"
"It's literally a comedy."
Lynn fell back. "No thanks."
Lori frowned. "Come on, you love action movies." Lynn didn't move. "Please? It'll make you feel better." She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry Mom and Dad put you down at dinner. They're old, they don't understand the stuff we enjoy. I actually thought it was pretty brave of you to admit you still liked Jumbo. You know, I don't really remember much about him. Ten years and five more sisters has literally wrecked my brain."
That was a blatant lie, obviously, but it made her sound sympathetic and would (hopefully) keep Lynn from realizing her siblings' true intentions, so it was as good as the truth.
For a few seconds, Lynn was still. Then, she slowly got up and sighed. "All right, fine." She even gave a weary smile.
"Yay!" Lori skipped over and put an arm around Lynn, leading her out of the room. "You'll literally love this movie. The main character is SO cool"
"Lincoln! Hurry up! The movie's about to start!" Leni called from the living room.
"Let me finish the popcorn!"
That wasn't the only reason for Lincoln's absence. True, there was a bag of popcorn popping in the microwave, but the boy's attention was fully focused on the fridge, debating with himself on whether to eat the funnel cake inside.
On one hand, his mom had said no and he'd just gotten sick over eating too much deep-fried food. Wouldn't they just make him sick again?
On the other hand, he'd already flushed all that other crap out of his system and drank a lot of Pepto Bismol. He felt much better. Besides, he'd just had an extra leafy garden salad for dinner. That had to be worthy of a single dessert. On top of that, it was a gift from Lynn. It would be rude to ignore it, especially after she'd had such a bad day at the fair.
His stomach rumbled. That salad apparently hadn't filled him up.
Obviously, Lincoln's stomach won out and he opened the fridge. Lynn's gift was the ultimate funnel cake. Perfectly rolled lines of deep-fried golden dough sprinkled with sugar and topped with chocolate sauce. Even cooled, Lincoln could still see light reflecting off the grease dripping from it.
He devoured it in three bites.
"Lincoln! It's starting!"
Lincoln rapidly licked the evidence off his lips and grabbed the bag of popcorn from the microwave. "Coming!"
True to Lori's word, the opening montage that introduced the main character, police constable Nicholas Angel, played by Simon Pegg, did capture Lynn's interest. After all, the character was pretty much a cop prodigy, having not only graduated top of his class, but also achieved records in physical and extracurricular activies, won several awards in the line of duty, and gained the highest arrest record in London. In short, he was badass.
"I like this guy." Lynn had uttered this after seeing him getting stabbed in the hand by a man dressed as Santa Claus at the end of the montage. Leni winced, Luan giggled, and Lori grew the biggest of smiles. It was working.
For the next hour or so, things went on just as well, if not better, than hoped. Luan laughed at the humor (even if the others didn't get the jokes), Luna kept pointing out every well-known British actor ("that's Jim Broadbent; the guy from Moulin Rouge, Leni"), Leni kept gushing over Nick Frost ("he's like a big teddy bear"), and Lincoln and Lynn cheered during the action scenes.
Until… one certain scene.
About halfway through the movie, there was a scene of the Standford (the main location in the movie) villagers putting on a fair ("look fair -miliar, guys? Hahaha!") and Angel had just won a prize at the fair's shooting gallery for his partner, Danny (played by Frost).
"Okay," the vendor in the movie said to Angel, "you win… the cuddly monkey."
Lincoln's stomach flipped and they all gasped and went wide-eyed as the vendor handed Angel a huge, black, stuffed monkey. Grabbing the remote, Lori smashed the fast-forward button. "Oh, I think this next part's really bloody."
She looked over at Lynn, but, to her utmost horror, it was too late. The jock's brows had arched into a sharp V over her eyes, her mouth had sank into a frown so deep that both her upper lip and her chin were jutting out, and her arms were now tightly folded together in her lap.
In short, she now resembled a pouty toddler.
' Oh no,' Lincoln felt his stomach girgle. Looking away from his sister, he shoved a huge handful of popcorn into his mouth, hoping her mood would improve.
But it didn't. Lynn stayed that way throughout the rest of the movie. When it ended, she didn't thank Lori or say goodnight to anyone, she just grumpily got up and went back upstairs, leaving her siblings behind on the couch.
"Lori!" Lincoln whisper-yelled to his sister. "Out of all the movies you could have choosen, you went for the one with the stuffed monkey?!"
"I literally hadn't seen it in years!" She quietly-shouted back. "I forgot it was in there!" "Well, that's just bleeping grand, isn't it?" Luna exclaimed.
"Now, what do we do?!" Leni cried.
"Uh…?" Her face breaking out in a sweat, Lori's eyes nervously darted left and right before landing on her brother. "Lincoln?"
Lincoln sighed, his stomach agreeing with him. "Well, I guess we'll just have to work super hard on distracting her tomorrow."
"Yeah, there's no way she can say 'no' to everything?" Luan half-heartedly said, "And who knows? Maybe a good night's sleep will put her in a better mood."
Lucy was just finishing a poem when she heard the door open and slam. Peaking out of her coffin, she saw Lynn slunk over to her bed and plop down with a huff.
"He won the monkey," she muttered.
"Sigh. I take it the movie wasn't good?" Lynn shot her sister a look that said "duh dingus" and pulled back the covers.
Lucy feared as much. Even though she didn't show it (or much of anything for that matter), the goth girl actually felt a deep sense of empathy for her sister. As different as they were on the surface level, Lucy still felt like she and Lynn shared an inimate connection. After all, on top of being her roommate, Lucy also had a talent for stay unnoticed. There had been times where she'd unintionally became an audience to her sister's highest highs and lowest lows.
Lucy wasn't a snoop by any means, but more than a few times, Lynn had come barging into to their room on the verge of tears and collasped into bed without checking to see if the room was empty (or if the closed coffin next to her was empty and not occupied by a gothic eight-year-old writing poetry or pretending to be a vampire). She'd heard Lynn cry many sob stories to herself, many throngs of regret, anger, and frustration, over lost games, broken equipment, and worse of all, ruined friendships. And while Lucy herself dwelled in the dark and relished in the gloomier, bleaker side of human life, they all still felt like stakes to her heart every single time.
She almost felt guilty for inadvertently spying on her sister and many times, had wanted to come clean about it to her, but the stronger part of Lucy's conscious (yes, even she had one) knew that would likely only make things worse. Lynn would probably lose any trust she had in her sister, maybe demand that she pack up and leave her room, or maybe both with a bloody nose, black eye, and broken teeth thrown in for good measure. So, like always, she hide behind her bangs and stayed silent.
Bottom line, Lucy knew her sister roommate better than probably any of their other siblings and if there was anyone the goth girl felt deserved to know her own deepest, darkest secrets, it would be her. It would be SO easy for Lucy to admit to Lynn that she not only understood her on a surface level (via her love for Edwin), but on a deeper level as well (via her love for another toddler-targeted media figure, Princess Pony).
However, even easier, would it be for Lynn to flip out and either rat her secret out to the rest of the family (or even worse, all their friends) or save it for future blackmail. As petty as it may seem, the family could at times be that shallow and Lynn, with her giant ego and obsession with winning, was certainly no exception.
To Lucy, this was a fate worse than… well, not death since she was actually excited for that, but something else equally as bad. So, reluctantly, painfully, she decided to keep to the old tradition and stay silent.
"Jumbo, my monkey buddy," Lynn quietly cried under her breath.
-at least on the secret level. Surface level empathy will at least be something.
"Lynn?" To her surprise, Lynn didn't yelp or jump. She merely squirmed, which Lucy took as a "yes."
"I know you're still bummed out about not winning that Jumbo doll, but it's not the end of the world. Life more often than not is a series of disappoints and regrets, but you don't have to let them consume you. Just be happy for what little happiness you have and what things you can still accomplish. Take me for example. I may never be able to fulfill my dreams of becoming Edwin's undead bride," she gazed sadly at her beloved vampire bust,
"but I still have a chance of becoming the youngest mortician in the world. That is something to be hopeful for, no matter how miniscule. Even if you may never win Jumbo, you still have a chance of winning the World Series or becoming the youngest athlete on the NFL or NBA or whatever sports league you like. What's more, I believe in you."
Lynn paused and then turned over just far enough for Lucy to get a glimpse of her tear-striken face. "Thanks Lucy." She plumped right back into her fetal position.
"Trust me," Lucy added, reaching over to turn the light off. "Once you stop dwelling in the misery of your failure, you'll be able to see the beauty in it. Remember, tomorrow is a new day."
With that, she settled back in and closed her coffin, leaving the room in dark silence.
Lynn sniffed. She tried to hang onto Lucy's words, but the stones in her heart just kept pulling her down. It felt like huge weights were pulling her underwater and no matter how many times she managed to break the surface, she couldn't escape the icy depths. Eventually, slowly, she let the cold darkness envelope her and drifted off to sleep.
Lynn opened her eyes to find herself sitting on a tree branch in the jungle.
"Whoa!" She jumped in surprise and looked around. All around her were trees and the endless squak, cherp, cry, and howl of animals. Below, the trees sank into darkness, but Lynn wasn't afraid. Grabbing a vine, she let out her best Tarzan cry and dived off her perch.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh-UhUh-UhUhUh!"
She swung through the air, the wind whipping past her and making her ponytail dance. When the vine started to rise and slow, she grabbed another that was hanging nearby and swung on.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh-UhUh-UhUhUh!"
Another vine, then another and another. She was swinging so fast that the jungle around her morphed into a beautiful array of green streaks and patterns. Over the cry of the rushing wind, she could hear bird chirps and monkey howls, as if the jungle residents themselves were admiring her skills.
"Lynnnnn!"
Lynn's vine skitted to a dead halt. The jungle became clear and she looked around for the source of the voice. "Up here, Lynn!"
She looked up to see a large, black chimp in a red jersey and shorts standing on the high branch of a nearby tree. Her rapidly beating heart almost exploded.
"JUMBO!" She deafened the rest of the jungle as tears filled her starstruck eyes. Turning, she began swinging towards her idol. The chimp had a huge smile on his face and jumped and cheered and did his signature screetch as she drew closer and closer. Lynn felt like she was on fire with ecstasy. This was it, this was a chance to meet the man (or monkey) that had defined her, much like Mich Swagger had done for Luna.
Once she was close enough to the tree Jumo was on, Lynn jumped off her vine and grabbed onto the side like the expert rock climber she was. Digging her fingers into the bark and knobs of the tree, she began slowly climbing up, her eyes locked onto her idol above her.
"I LOVE YOU, JUMBO!" She cried. "YOU TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING!"
She got closer and closer, but with every grab and every pull and every foot gained, something omnious happened. Slowly, but surely, Jumbo's smile lowered into a straight line and then fell into a frown. He stopped jumping and went dead silent.
Lynn froze. Before she could even think, the chimp turned and jumped to a higher branch.
"Jumbo, wait!" Lynn frantically climbed after him, using every fiber of muscule in her body to speed herself up. "JUMBO!"
Now on the very top branch, Jumbo turned and looked down sadly at the climbing girl.
"You abandoned me, Lynn." His formally cheerful voice was now filled with disappointment. "I thought we were friends."
"It's not my fault!" She cried. "It was my dumb family! They wouldn't let me watch you!"
As she said this, something flashed in front of her eyes. It was a scene (or maybe a memory) of toddler her trying to get to the couch, only for little Lori and baby Lincoln to snatch the empty spots. They laughed and pointed as she froze in place.
She saw it replay over and over, only with Lori being substituted with Leni, Luna, and Luan. Rush for the couch, siblings appear, laugh at her.
Jumbo appeared again above her. "And you forgot about me," he added. "You wanted to play with your daddy instead."
As soon as it had stopped, Lynn's eyes were hit with another vision, this one of Jumbo watching her sadly from inside the TV as little her and her father walked outside to play ball.
"I'm sorry!" More tears, these of sadness, flowing down her cheeks.
"And when you had the chance to win me again," Jumbo kept piling on the guilt, "you gave up."
Another vision, this time of herself leaving the game stand, a sad Jumbo reaching for her from the top of the prize wall.
"I-I…" The guilt was so heavy, it was starting to tax Lynn's strength on her hold. "I ran out of tickets! The game was rigged!"
"Then why was I able to win him?" Nicholas Angel suddenly stepped up from behind Jumbo, looking down at Lynn with the same cold, emotionless expression he'd started off the movie with. "What's the difference between you and me, Lynn?"
"Nicky can do it," Jumbo shook his head. "I guess you just can't do it too."
Lynn's grip began to buckle as her whole body was now quivering. "I can! I can!" She wailed. "Please! I learned everything from you!"
"Then you shouldn't have quit!" Trish was there, scowling down at her.
"He helped you win all those games and all those awards," So was Mary, her normally cheerful face twisted into a look of deep disgust, "and you couldn't even be bothered to thank him."
"Much less win him!" Her sister spat.
Lynn slipped a few feet down, now struggling to hold on. "S-shut up!" She sobbed desperately. "I will win you! I WILL! JUST GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE!"
"Come on Jumbo," Angel pulled on his cop hat and picked up Jumbo, "Let's get to work. We got bad guys to bust." Carrying the monkey under his arm, he and the girls turned and disappeared from sight.
"NO! JUMBO! DON'T GO!" Lynn's fingers snapped and she fell from the tree. The wind screamed in her ears as she plummeted down, faster and faster, her frail body now feeling like lead-
-and then she fell through the darkness… and kept falling. The colorful treetops and vibrant animal sounds all faded from her mind, leaving nothing, but an endless black chasm and a deafening choir of voices screaming " it's just a doll " and " that silly show " and " disappoints and regrets. "
"JUMBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"AHHHHHHHH!" She suddenly sprang up to the sharp squeal of her mattress springs. Gasping for breath, Lynn still felt a feeling of weight, realizing moments later that her whole face, chest, and shirt were drenched in sweat. Regardless, she was back in her room, the whole thing having just been a bad dream.
No, not a dream, a message, a sign.
"I'VE GOT TO WIN THAT DOLL!" Lynn croaked in place of a cry, her throat bone dry. As she got up to change her shirt, she didn't notice (or hear) the creak of Lucy's coffin, it's sole occupant having once again been cursed with knowledge.
Lynn wasn't the only one have trouble sleeping.
In his room, Lincoln was tossing and turning, unable to find a comfortable position. Ever since the movie had ended, his stomach had started acting up again. The boy had simply assumed it was just settling, but several hours had passed and it was back to it's post-fair state.
No. It actually felt worse. Much worse.
Lincoln could feel the contents bubbling around, surging and crashing up against the stomach wall like waves on the shore during a stormy night. Every so often, there would come a nasty stabbing feeling that would jolt his stomach and make the internal typhoon feel even worse. He felt bloated, yet strangely empty. Chilled, but at the same time, warm. Tired, but unable to switch off his body.
Not helping matters was some unpleasant taste that seemed to be soaked into the lining of his throat. A taste so permanent and so lingering that no matter how sips he took from his bedside glass of water, he could still sense it. It wouldn't be later until the boy learned that what he was tasting was grease… grease that the majority of his food from the previous day had been soaked in. And it was nauseating!
As much as he tried to ignore it, Lincoln had the horrible feeling that he was going to throw up again. However, as the seconds ticked on and the stomach pain persisted, Lincoln found himself becoming less and less mentally resistant to this looming biological event. At this point, it seemed like the only path to relief would be to flush all this crap out of his system.
Suddenly, and without warning, Lincoln felt a drop in his stomach and the feeling of churning liquid in his intestines. His stomach rumbled and he realized that his wish was about to come true… but not in the way he'd anticipated.
Jumping up, Lincoln sprinted for the bathroom, his bowels now feeling like a dam about to burst. To his relief, it was devoid of anyone else. He flicked the light on and lunged for the toilet seat. Yanking his pajama pants down, Lincoln barely had time to place his butt on the porcelain seat before he exploded.
Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.
Midway through, the noxious smell of the business managed to break his remaining hold on his stomach and he threw up three times. While he'd managed to catch most of it in the neighboring trash can, that didn't stop the smells of vomit and duty from mixing and filling the bathroom (and his nose) with the foulest of foul stenches. It was a wonder that alone didn't make him throw up yet again.
By the time he flushed for the final time, the toilet paper roll now next to empty, Lincoln felt like he'd lost about 10 pounds. His body felt frail and his stomach now had the feel of a deflated beach ball. His throat felt like he'd been gargling acid. Despite flushing his system, he didn't feel any better than before. If anything, if somehow still possible… he felt worse. Not only that, he felt extremely weak and tired. It was if every single hint of energy had been flushed out, along with the food.
Moaning, he reached down and pulled his pajama pants back onto his waist. Wanting desperately to return to the relative comfort of his bed, Lincoln leaned forward in preparation of getting up, but he couldn't find the energy to push himself back onto his feet (which may not have worked anyway since his legs currently felt like noodles).
Before he could think of what to do, he heard a knock on the bathroom door.
"Lincoln, I have to go!" It was Lola. With a twist, the doorknob turned and she appeared, her face obscured by a goo mask and her hair in curlers.
"What are you-" The noxious smell hit her nose. "Pee-Yew!"
Beep!
Rita pulled the thermometer out of her son's mouth.
"Oh dear, it's 100." She gazed down sadly at her sick little boy and shook her head. "I TOLD you not to eat that funnel cake, Lincoln."
"Well, too late for that now," Lynn Sr sighed. Both he and his wife had been shaken awaken by Lola, her green face (from both the mask and the smell) having given him a fright. "I'll go see if we have some medicine in the bathroom."
"Make sure to keep the window open," Rita called as he walked past the sisters, all clad in their pjs and daring looks of concern and sleepiness.
"Is Linky alright?" Leni asked.
"We think he has food poisoning," Lynn Sr explained. "It must have been either something he either ate at the fair or…" he put his hands on his hips, "Jr, where did you get that funnel cake?"
"I bought it, I swear!" She cried. Her father groaned.
"Well, sooner or later, we will find out what caused it and if it's you, young lady-"
"Lynn, medicine!"
He sighed. "Just go back to bed, please."
The sisters all complied, heading off to their various rooms.
"Poor Linky," Leni sighed as Lori closed their bedroom door behind them.
"He'll be okay, Leni," Though Lori wasn't entirely sure. As she settled back in her bed and tried to fall asleep, she was distracted yet again by the sound of banging in the vents. A moment later, Lucy jumped out.
"Lucy!" Lori grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight app as Leni sprang up from her bed in fright.
"Sorry guys, but this is important." Once she had both her sisters' attention, Lucy said, in a bit of a worried tone. "I… I heard Lynn in her sleep. I think she was having a nightmare about Jumbo because when she woke up, she yelled that she had to win that doll."
Both girls went pale in the darkness of their room, lit up only by the screen of Lori's phone. "If Linky really is sick," Leni whimpered, "then Mom and Dad will probably be busy taking care of him."
"Too busy to notice…" Lori gazed at her gothic sister, who starred back at her with wide (hidden) eyes. She no longer doubted her their story.
"I think history is about to repeat itself."