I would like to apologize for the long wait. I guess it was writers block or a lack of commitment on my part, though I'm definitely not dropping this story. I hope the wait was worth it. Enjoy Chapter 2: The two Lincolns!
Lincoln looked at Lynn. "What do you mean I'm dead?"
"C-car crash," Lori stuttered. Lincoln turned his attention to Lori. "Lori," he said slowly, "I didn't get into a car crash. I've been here the whole time."
"But, but you were there! In Great Lakes City! You and Ronnie Anne on the skateboards! And then-," She started sobbing again. The mass of sisters moved towards Lincoln and they collectively broke down crying. They tightly embraced him as if determined not to let him go again.
He tried to squirm out of their grasp but they only held on tighter. "At least let me put some pants on," he said. They eventually let go and dispersed around the edges of the living room. He grabbed his jeans from the coffee table and placed them back on.
"You, you guys are saying that I died in a car crash?" he asked as he pulled up his zipper.
"B-brain dead," Lisa corrected. "But yes."
"That's not possible. I was here this whole time."
"No, you weren't," Lori said. "You were literally there with me! I saw you get hit!" Lori stopped talking and started taking deep breaths.
"Linc, do you not remember any of it?" Luna asked.
Lincoln began to respond, but he stopped himself. He could remember visiting Ronnie Anne in the city. He remembered them scooting along on their skateboards and how they had started their race… but nothing after that.
"I, uh…" Lincoln started. "I'm not really sure how to say this… but I think I do remember. But I couldn't have done that! I just dozed off or something. I woke up in the backyard and you guys were gone. It was only a dream."
"Lincoln, we saw you in the hospital, tied up to the machines! How can there be two of you?" Lynn said.
Two of me? "Wait, wait, what? You're saying that there are… two of me?"
"Yes I am," Lynn answered. "We all cried over you in the hospital."
"But shouldn't there only be one Lincoln?" Leni asked confusedly. Everybody looked over to Leni realizing what she had just pointed out.
"Yeah," Lola said. "How are we going to explain this?" They all looked at Lori.
"I literally don't know what to do," she said.
"What if we didn't have to explain it," Lucy said. "What if they never found out?"
"But how would we do that?" asked Lynn.
"We could sneak him into the hospital and switch the two. Everyone would think he made a miracle recovery."
"But, uh, what about the… other one?" Lincoln asked.
"I could sneak it into the graveyard and take care of the rest," Lucy said emotionlessly. Lincoln felt unnerved at how little the situation seemed to bother her.
"Uh, weren't they going to unplug the other Lincoln from the machines tomorrow?" Luan asked.
"Oh, that's not good," Lynn said. "We have to switch him today!"
"You guys get in the van," Lori said. She turned and ran up the stairs as the rest made for the door. Lincoln stood up from the couch and followed. Luan held the door open and the rest walked outside. They dashed for the van trying to get out of the rain as fast as possible.
Lincoln sat in the middle of the van between the twins who leaned on him. A minute later Lori entered the van and threw him a hoodie and sunglasses.
"What's this for?"
"Can't be having you have being seen," Lori answered as she shifted the van gear into reverse. "Put that on and try to stay out of sight."
Lincoln pulled the green hoodie down and placed on the sunglasses as the van began to move down the road. They rode in silence for some time. All of Lincoln's sisters wanted to ask him more questions but at the same time didn't want to question how he was alive.
Lana finally broke the silence. "Hey Linc?"
"Yes Lana?"
"You're… you're going to be okay, right?" she asked as moved her arms around Lincoln in a hug.
"Yeah Lana," he answered, hugging her back, "I'm going to be okay." They drove on the rest of the way in silence.
They reached Great Lakes City hospital as the street lights flickered on one by one, illuminating the soaked pavement. Lori parked the van at the edge of the parking lot and switched off the engine. She turned to her siblings and asked, "What's the plan?"
Lisa spoke up first. "I have an idea. Me, Lynn, Leni and Lincoln will go to do the switch. The rest of you will need to distract the doctors and our parental units while we do it." She opened the door, bringing in the smell of rain. "Follow me."
They all stepped out of the van with Lori carrying Lily. Lincoln pulled the hood over his head and tightened the drawstring. They walked through the rows of cars lined up until they reached the entrance.
"Remember, it's of the utmost importance that we aren't caught, especially Lincoln," Lisa reiterated as sliding doors opened up to make way for them. Lincoln sat down on one of the chairs and looked around. Only a few other people besides themselves were around.
Lisa leaned over to him and whispered, "Walk over to that staff door." Lincoln stood up and walked over to the door. He was joined shortly by Lynn, Leni and finally Lisa.
"What now?" Lynn asked as Lisa arrived.
"We wait," she answered.
"For what?"
The door suddenly opened and a support staff member exited the room and walked outside. Lisa pulled a pen out of her pocket and placed it between the door and the frame. The door stuck, but in such a way it looked like it was closed.
"When no one's looking, we go in," Lisa said. "Just tell me when."
Lincoln looked around the room. The lady at the desk was doing something on her computer and all but one of the other visitors besides themselves was facing the other way. The only one that didn't only had to turn his head to the left to see them.
He had to cause a distraction. He turned to Leni and asked, "Hey Leni, could you call Lori with your phone?"
"But she's just over there. Can't I just walk over to her?"
"When her phone rings it'll distract everyone. Then we can go through."
Leni pulled out her pink cell phone and dialed the number. On the other side of the room the buzz of Lori's phone broke the silence. The visitor turned his head to the left to see what the noise was.
"Now," Lincoln said. Lisa wedged the door open with the pen and they all entered the room. The room had open shelf lockers on one wall and maintenance materials on the other. Next to the material shelf was a closed janitor trolley.
Lisa walked over to the locker shelf. "Leni, please come over here." Leni walked over to Lisa as she pulled a set of blue nurse scrubs from one of the hooks. "Place this on."
"Uh," Leni cringed, "This is totes unfashionable."
"As true as that may be, for this to succeed you must look like a support staff member," Lisa explained. She looked down at Leni's sandals. "Oh, and wear these instead." She removed a pair of shiny black shoes from the locker and placed them at Leni's feet.
Lisa turned her attention to Lynn. "Lynn, I need you to empty that push cart. And try to be gentle with the contents as you remove them." Lynn opened the cart and kneeled down to remove cartons of cleaner. She rolled them over to Lincoln who placed them on the shelf.
"Carts empty," Lynn said to Lisa. "Now what?"
"Lincoln, now you get in the cart."
Lincoln climbed into the cart as Leni put on a cap and a surgical mask.
"Okay," he asked. "What now?"
Lisa pulled out a plastic name tag. "Stay hidden in there until I tell you to come out." Lynn shut the doors and Lincoln was left in semi darkness. He heard a soft thump and Lisa said, "Excuse me, you seem to have dropped your name tag."
"Why thank you for telling me," he heard Leni say. He heard a clipping noise, most likely Leni placing it on her scrub.
"Excuse me Nurse Rachael," Lisa said again, "I believe you were taking that cart up to Intensive Care Unit 12."
"Thank you for reminding me, I totes forgot about that."
Lincoln rolled his eyes. How Leni could be so easily tricked into becoming a whole different person was a mystery to him. The cart started moving, jolting Lincoln forward a little. He heard the doors open as the cart pushed through them, and he was in the hallway. He watched the doors pass by in the sterile white hallway through the gab in between the doors.
The cart was passing through another room that looked like a waiting room. Through the gap in the doors he saw Mom and Dad sitting on the chairs, holding each other and softly crying. Then the cart went into the next hallway, blocking them out of sight.
The doors in this hallway were marked differently. ICU 2, ICU 4…. He had almost made it. The cart slowed down, but they hadn't reached room 12. What happened?
"Where are you taking this?"
"No, no, no," Lincoln whispered to himself. That was Ms. Santiago. What if she recognized Leni?
"I was taking this cart to ICU room 12."
"Strange. I don't remember anything being requested for that room." Lincoln felt more and more anxious as she kept talking.
"You look familiar. Have we met before?"
Leni began to say something but was cut off by a shrill noise. Lincoln heard footsteps, a door opening and then closing. The cart started to move again and this time stopped at the correct door. The cart jolted as it passed through the threshold and the door shut behind him.
"Hey, you two aren't supposed to be here," Leni said.
"Lynn, if you will," he heard Lisa say. There was a popping noise, and then, "Oh, hey you guys!"
"Lincoln, you can come out now," Lisa said. Lincoln pushed the doors of the cart open and crawled out onto the vinyl floor. He saw Lisa, Lynn, Leni… and then the other Lincoln. He walked over to the bed. It was him, tied up to computers, IV bags and a respirator. He looked closer and noticed that his clothes were sprinkled with bits of asphalt.
"We have a short amount of time to accomplish this," Lisa said briskly. She passed by Lincoln and began typing into one of the screens. Then she began to unhook the various tubes and wires from the other Lincoln. She removed the respirator and the other Lincoln began to turn pale.
"Is, uh, that supposed to happen?" Lynn asked.
"Yes. Lincoln, correction, the other Lincoln is brain dead and cannot breath on its own. It is now suffering from oxygen deprivation."
"You mean we just…," Lincoln began to say.
"No. It was essentially dead anyways." Lisa answered. "Lynn, could you move him?"
Lynn slid her hands under the other Lincoln and lifted him up. She slowly walked towards the cart and leaned him sitting up inside of it. She closed the doors and the other Lincoln disappeared from view.
"Lincoln, take off the glasses and hoodie and get on the bed." Lincoln pulled off the hoodie and placed it and the glasses on the cart. He walked over to the bed and climbed in. Lisa pulled the cover over him.
Lisa began to reinsert the tubes and wires into him. He winced as each one pierced his skin. She then put the respirator on over his nose. He readjusted his breathing to the rhythm of the machine.
"Lincoln, I felt the need to ask you this before we proceed." Lisa said.
"Yeah Lisa?"
"We're going to have to break some of your bones."
"What!?" Lynn cried out. "Why would we do that?"
"It would raise too many questions if we didn't. The other Lincoln got into a car crash Lynn, and suffered a broken left arm, leg and damage to ribs. They simply won't believe that he was back to normal in twenty four hours."
"Lisa, how are you going to break my bones?" Lincoln asked.
"Lynn's going to do it."
"Do I have to do it? We just got him back from whatever this mess is! And how am I going to break his bones anyway?"
Lisa grabbed some sheets from a nearby folder, x-rays of Lincoln. "You can generate enough force to break his bones. With my guidance you can do it in such a way as to replicate this."
She turned her attention back to Lincoln. "If it makes you feel any better I can render you unconscious before we begin."
"How long would the bones take to heal?"
"The bones should be all healed in about eight weeks. Your arm and leg will be functional again in six weeks. The ribs will take longer though."
Lincoln stayed silent for a moment before nodding his head. "Oh, and could you put me under?" Lisa placed a gas cylinder into the respirator machine and began to turn the nob.
"Keep breathing in the air. You will lose consciousness soon."
Lynn moved over to Lincoln and placed her hand on his. "I, uh, wanted to say sorry before, you know, breaking your bones."
"No worries Lynn. See you soon."
The air began to feel heavier and his eyes began to droop. He looked at the cart one last time before he saw Leni walking out with it, once again under her Rachael alter-ego. He stifled a yawn and shut his eyes.
Beep, beep, beep
Lincoln's eyes fluttered open. He moved to try to take off the covers, but he flinched in pain trying to move his left arm. He shifted his eyes up and saw his parents on both sides of the bed looking down on him.
"Lincoln?" Mom asked in a half whisper.
"Hey Mom," Lincoln replied. He then moved his head towards Dad. "Hey Dad."
Both of them broke down and cried tears of joy that their son was alive. They knelt down and hugged him, careful to avoid touching his arm. Lincoln saw through the door his sisters peering into the room, all smiling that they had pulled this off.
Lincoln smiled too. He didn't know what had happened, but now everything should be fine.
After getting taken out of the ward, Lincoln got his left arm and leg placed in a cast. His torso was encased in a rib splint, he was given a crutch to walk with and his parents were given some pain medication.
Lincoln overheard Ms. Santiago was talking to his parents about his recovery. "I can't believe how quickly he's bounced back! Vitals normal, hemorrhaging stopped, even his neural activity!" she said in a somewhat baffled tone.
"He just has a very resilient body," Dad was saying. "Lana, the one in the hat, goes through mud all the time and has never gotten sick from it. Must be something like that."
"Well that's good to hear. I'll let Ronnie Anne know about his recovery at the end of my shift."
His parents walked over to the rest of them who were waiting at the entrance.
"Are you guys ready to go home?" they asked.
"Yeah," they all said in unison.
Lincoln hobbled his way out of the hospital surrounded by his family back out into the parking lot in the early hours of the morning. Lucy helped Lincoln into Vanzilla and sat next to him.
"Where's the-,"
"Between the last row and the back door." Lucy said.
"Are you sure you can get it out without anyone noticing?"
"I'm pretty sure."
Lincoln relaxed a little in his seat. The car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the empty highway heading home.
Vanzilla pulled into the driveway at around four o'clock in the morning. The younger sisters had dozed off and were carried inside by their older siblings and parents. Lincoln managed to step out of the van by himself and entered the house himself.
He slowly made his way up the stairs, one step at a time. He crossed over into the hallway and saw that the bathroom had no line. He walked over to the door and tried the knob. The door opened and Lincoln entered. He might as well knock off brushing his teeth.
He laid his crutch on the sink and pulled out his toothbrush and toothpaste. He squeezed a line of toothpaste onto the bristles and then stuck the brush in his mouth, going over his molars first and then over his full incisors-
What? Lincoln stopped brushing his teeth. He moved the brush over the same spot again. The bristles went straight over. He spat out the foam from his mouth and looked in the mirror. Opening his mouth he saw the chip in his tooth was gone.
"What?" he asked himself. Teeth don't grow back. He rubbed his upper jaw line to be sure he wasn't seeing things. Yes, it was all there.
"Huh," Lincoln didn't remember having that fixed. He probably just forgot about it. He grabbed his crutch and hobbled out of the bathroom. He got to his room and flopped down on the bed and, ironically, slept like the dead.