Lincoln yawned as he rose out of bed. He stretched as he walked over to his closet and chose the least wrinkled jeans and polo. Ronnie Anne was visiting from the city today along with Lori and Bobby. It would be the first time since the accident they had met in person, and he wanted to look his best.
He stepped out of his room and walked into the hallway heading for the stairs. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen to make himself breakfast. He stopped and looked at the backyard through the window, looking at the green leaves on the oak tree swaying in the wind. It was already warm, as spring had turned to summer a few weeks back and summer break was just around the corner.
He reached up into the kitchen cabinet looking for the box of Zombie Bran cereal. He pulled it out and poured some into a bowl. He filled it up with milk and sat down at the table where the twins were eating. Lana had a bowl filled with what suspiciously looked like Charles dog food and a grape juice box while Lola was cutting up some french toast. He took a seat on the opposite end of the table from them.
"Good morning," Lincoln said to them.
"Morning Linc!" Lana said before grabbing a handful of whatever was in the bowl and stuffing it in her mouth. Lola shivered at the sight.
"Lana! Don't speak with food in your mouth!"
"Wasn anytin i me mouf," Lana retorted, spraying bits of kibble onto the table cloth.
Lincoln moved his bowl a little bit more away from Lana. "What are you guys going to be doing today?"
"I'm going to be digging a hole in the backyard with Charles!" Lana proudly exclaimed. "I'm going to dig up a bunch of bugs and worms!"
"I'm going to visit Roxanne today to have a tea party, far, far away from any mud and dirt," Lola said, looking at Lana with a frown as she ate another handful of dog food.
Lincoln finished his cereal and walked back into the kitchen. He turned on the tap and began to rinse what remained of the milk out of the bowl. As he was placing the bowl and spoon into the dishwasher a reflection of the sunlight stung his eyes. He stood up to see where it was coming from.
The light was reflecting from off the hatch, which was hanging open. Lincoln saw Lisa climb out of the bunker with a black, rectangular object in one hand. Lincoln watched Lisa walk up towards the house and disappear from view as she started up the stairs.
The door handle turned and Lisa walked into the kitchen, not stopping to say good morning to Lincoln.
"Good morning Lisa," Lincoln said. He saw that the object she was carrying was an obsidian black briefcase, about a foot in length and about half her height.
"Good morning brother," she lisped, only slowing down slightly to talk.
"What's that?" Lincoln asked, pointing at the briefcase.
"It's for scientific development," Lisa said without looking at him, moving back at full speed and around the corner of the wall.
Lincoln shrugged. He figured he should stay out of whatever she was up to, lest it literally explode in his face. He decided he should instead prepare for Ronnie Annes visit. He walked upstairs to his room to think of how today was going to go. As he entered the room he had come up with a rough idea; he'd take her out to the park, get her a flippee from Flips Food & Fuel and then go to Gus' Games and Grub before she left for Great Lakes City again.
He suddenly thought of how to make that good day even better for Ronnie; She liked that pop music group, Twelve is Midnight, if memory serves. Luna should still have Dad's old walkman. He could have some of their songs downloaded onto it and give it to Ronnie Anne, with some help.
He exited his room and walked across the hallway to Luna's room. He knocked on the door and waited for a response. "Come on in," he heard Luna say. He pushed open the door and walked inside. Luna was sitting on the bean bag tuning the string of her guitar.
"Hey Little Bro, what's up?"
"I wanted to ask if you still have that old walkman."
"Oh that? Yeah, it should be around here somewhere," Luna said. She placed her guitar gently on the ground and walked over to the closet and started sifting through its contents. She eventually pulled the walkman out, a small screen coated in plastic with headphones attached.
"Here you go," Luna said, passing it off to him. "Whatchu want it for?"
"I'm going to download some songs on it for Ronnie Anne," Lincoln answered.
"Cool. Just plug it onto your computer and download the songs you need."
"Thanks Luna!" he said. He exited the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked back into his room and sat down at his desk. He flipped open the screen of his laptop and plugged in the walkman. He selected the desired songs and waited for the downloads to complete.
Boom!
Lincoln flinched in his chair and almost knocked the walkman off the table. He sighed and stood up to see what had happened. Hopefully Lisa hadn't caused too much damage. He opened the door and saw to his surprise Lisa running into the room, followed by Lucy from Lucy's room.
"No Lily! Don't touch my stuff!" Lisa said as she ran into the room. Lincoln started to turn, thinking that this would all be resolved by itself when he looked at the open door. He felt the urge to look into the room. He crossed through the hallway and looked through the doorway.
He saw the briefcase from earlier laying on Lucy's bed, along with something else he couldn't make out. Aside from that, the rest of the room looked as it should. He felt a border line urge of curiosity. He stepped into the room and nudged the door shut behind him with the toe of his shoe.
He approached the bed. Next to the briefcase was Lucy's poem book, laying open face down. He flipped it over and held it up to the light. Just more poems. He set it to the side and moved the briefcase closer towards him. It seemed that the upper part flipped open, and in the middle were two knobs, one with a keyhole.
He again felt the urge to know what was in the briefcase. He placed his thumb on the left knob and slid it to the left. He then placed his thumb on the right knob with the keyhole. He slid it to the right but it didn't open.
Shlink
Lincoln jumped back and yelped. He reached for his hand and saw a cut on the fleshy part of his thumb. He looked at the briefcase and saw that a blade about an inch long had poked out of the side pointing straight out. He brought his left hand up to his right, cradling his hand. He didn't feel anything. He looked down and squeezed his cut hand and still felt nothing. He brought his hand away and his arm fell limp to his side. He tried to raise it, but could no longer feel it.
Then his chest constricted. He gasped for air, but his lungs would not comply. He stopped feeling his legs and he fell backwards hitting the side of Lynn's bed. He tried to call out for someone, anyone, but he could not make a sound. The burning in his chest from air deprivation only got worse, and his vision was tinged with a slowly spreading black. The darkness had almost fully claimed him when the door opened.
"Hey Luce, have you seen my-," he heard Lynn say before he saw no more.
Lincoln first felt the sunlight, then the nudging at his feet. He opened his eyes to see Lana's dirt smudged face and the blue sky beyond.
"Hey Lincoln," Lana said. "What are you doing out here?"
Lincoln turned his head to the side and was poked in the eye by a blade of grass. He saw that he was lying on his back in the backyard. "What am I doing out here?" he thought to himself.
"I was just taking a nap, to pass the time," Lincoln quickly came up with. He felt exhausted even though he had a good's night's rest.
"Well since you're up you want to see how much I've dug up?"
"Yeah, I'd love to." He tried to stand but faltered. Lana held out her hand for support.
"Thanks," he said, taking her hand and pulling himself up. He walked over to the hole she had made. It was a yard in diameter and about her height in depth with some small rocks studding the edges. To the side of it was Charles, who was gnawing on a small shovel.
"Nice work," Lincoln said.
"I know right? I found a whole pile of worms!"
She walked over to Charles and scratched him behind the ears as she took the shovel out of his mouth. "I'm going to get back to work. Come on Charles," she said before jumping back into the hole.
Lincoln turned and walked up to the house. He opened the back door and entered. He walked into the living room where Leni was, reading a magazine on the couch.
"Hey Linky!" she said with more enthusiasm than he was expecting.
"Morning Leni," Lincoln said. "Why are you so excited?"
"Just happy to see you're okay!"
"Uh, yeah. Me too." Lincoln felt somewhat uncomfortable and turned to go up the stairs. He walked into his room and saw that the walkman had finished downloading. He unplugged it and put down the screen. Now he could think of why he was laying in the backyard. As far as he could remember he had left his room to check the noise he had heard… and then he was in the backyard.
He figured he hadn't taken his Diazepam. He grabbed the bottle and pulled out a pill and swallowed it, accustomed to taking it without water. He looked behind him to the clock on the wall. Ronnie Anne would be here soon. He looked at the back of his clothes and noticed they had faint grass stains. He sighed and changed into his next best clothes.
Lincoln was waiting in the living room with the rest of his sisters for Lori, Bobby and Ronnie Anne to arrive. He kept glancing through the window at the street looking for them. Dad was in the kitchen cooking up lunch for the guests.
Lincoln looked around the room and noticed was not among them. He leaned over to Luan and asked, "Hey, do you know where Lucy is?"
"Uh, she had to go to the Morticians Club to take care of something," she answered.
Lincoln nodded in acknowledgement and turned his head back to the window. He finally saw the cherry red car pull up to the curb in front of the tree. Lori stepped out of the car along with Ronnie Anne and Bobby. Lincoln stood up, walked over the door and opened it.
"Hi Lori," Lincoln greeted, standing aside for Lori to walk through.
"Hey Lincoln! Long time no see," she replied, hugging him before moving on to the rest of her sisters.
"Hey Ronnie! Hey Bobby," Lincoln said.
"Hey Bro. How have things been?"
"I've been doing nice. School's almost over. Three months of free time and absolutely no tests!"
"Tell me about it. The essays at college are murder."
"Oh Boo-Boo Bear!" Lori called from the other room.
"Coming Babe!" he answered and walked away.
"Hey Ronnie," Lincoln greeted.
"Hey Lincoln. Are you back to your old self?"
"Yeah, I'm all healed and all. Want to come in?"
"Yeah, thanks." She entered the house and followed Lincoln into the dining room where they took a seat next to each other. Dad was dishing out salad to the family guests for lunch.
"My Lu-caesar salad," Dad was saying as he spooned out servings into the bowls. "Named after Lucy." He looked around the table and saw that Lucy wasn't there. "Though it seems she isn't here right now."
"She had to take care of something at the Morticians Club," Lynn said.
"On a weekend?"
"She said she would rather have it done sooner than later."
"Well, as long as she doesn't stay gone for too long."
Dad served up the salad to Lincoln and Ronnie Anne salad before moving on to the next person. Lincoln ate a bit of it before turning to Ronnie Anne.
"So, how are things going for you?"
"Nice. School is almost over. What are you doing for the summer?"
"We're planning to head up to the great lakes and maybe a camping trip. How about you?"
"Just me, Sid, Casey, Sameer and Niki to do whatever we want in the city for three months."
"Hey, uh, do you want to go to the park after lunch?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice."
They finished their lunch and headed out the door of Ketchum Park. "We'll be at Ketchum Park," Lincoln called out as he stepped out the door. They walked off the front lawn and stopped for Ronnie Anne to pull out two skateboards. She handed one to Lincoln and they both skated off towards the park.
When they got to street crossings Ronnie Anne would get off her skateboard and walk across the street even when there were no cars in sight. Lincoln stayed on his skateboard the whole way through.
On their fourth street crossing Ronnie Anne asked, "Hey Lincoln?"
"Yeah Ronnie?"
"Aren't you afraid you're going to get hit again?"
"That was just bad luck. No one drinks and drives in Royal Woods."
"Well, if you say so."
They got to the park a few minutes later, rolling past the sign. They came to a stop at a bench and placed their skateboards on it before continuing on foot, admiring the landscape. Lincoln reached into his pocket and pulled out the walkman and handed it to Ronnie.
"What's this?"
"My dad's old walkman. I downloaded Twelve is Midnight songs for you."
"Thank you Lincoln," she said. She held out the headphones, examining them, before disconnecting it at the middle, the other half which she held out to Lincoln. "You want to listen too?"
"Love to," Lincoln answered. He placed his half on his head as Ronnie Anne pressed the play button. They walked through the park, talking about school, friends and hobbies. When they had fully circled the park back to where they started, he noticed that they were holding hands.
"Well, what now?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"I was thinking of going to Gus' Games and Grub's, for old times sake," Lincoln answered.
"Awesome! It's been way too long."
They stepped back on their boards and skated once more down the streets, both staying on their boards until they got to their destination. They hopped off and left their boards in front of the tiled walls. Lincoln held open the door for Ronnie Anne and they both walked inside. They looked at the rows of arcade machines going as far as the eye could see.
"Where do we start?" Lincoln asked.
"Why not this classic?" Ronnie Anne suggested, gesturing to Dance Battle.
"Perfect!" Lincoln pulled out two quarters, one which he handed to Ronnie Anne. They both inserted their coins and waited for the game to load up.
"You still got it?" Ronnie asked.
"Of course!"
"Well see about that."
The music began to play and the arrows appeared on the screen. Up, right, right, left, up, down, left. The music tempo increased and the arrows cue's came faster and faster. Soon Lincoln was breathing heavily, but still keeping up with the game. Ronnie Anne wasn't breaking a sweat and Lincoln thought he was going to lose until she slipped up after a large amount of lefts.
Lincoln stepped off the platform taking large gulps of air. "Told you… I still had it."
"Is that the most exercise you've ever done?" Ronnie Anne asked with a smirk.
"I think so." They both laughed and moved onto the next game to play.
When they had finished the last game it was late afternoon. The sunlight was now webbed with the shadow of trees. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stepped out of the arcade, blinking in the renewed brightness. They skated their way through the streets of Royal Woods and back to the Loud house.
They put their skateboards back into the car and entered the house. They walked up to Lincoln's room to hang out until the end of their visit. Lincoln pulled out a magazine he had borrowed from Leni and gave it to Ronnie Anne. He took out one of his comics and they both sat on his bed reading.
"Hey Ronnie?" Lincoln suddenly asked.
"Yeah?"
"When the… accident happened, I was knocked out that whole time right?"
"Yeah. At the time I thought you were dead."
"Okay."
"Is there a reason you wanted to ask?"
"Well… I don't know how to explain this."
Ronnie Anne looked up from her magazine, now entirely focused on this.
"I don't remember getting hit by the car."
"So… like amnesia?"
"No, not like that."
"Then what?"
"I woke up at home."
"What?"
"I said I woke up here, in the backyard."
"If you're trying to be funny it's not working."
"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm saying that actually happened."
"Then explain why you were at the hospital."
"Mom and Dad sent my sisters home. I didn't remember being hit by the car and chalked up the whole visit as a daydream. When they got home I found out that I should have died. They switched me and the other one."
"Well then where's the other one?"
"I don't know, Lucy dealt with it."
Ronnie Anne just looked at him, not sure what to make of this.
"You sure you haven't been having mental problems?"
"Yes. But not like that! Just trouble judging space."
"Okay. Can you prove any of this to me?"
Lincoln opened his mouth to say yes, but quickly closed it. How could he prove it?
He couldn't share visions nor bring back the other Lincoln, now most likely six feet under somewhere at the cemetery.
"Lisa's bunker," he thought. "Could you follow me outside?"
He left the room and walked outside with Ronnie Anne. He stopped at the bunker hatch and moved his hand towards the keypad.
"What's this?" Ronnie asked.
"Lisa's bunker."
"Why would she have a bunker?"
"Mostly to hide in when April Fools Day comes around." He typed in Lisa's birthday and the hatch flipped open and they both descended into the bunker.
"Now what?"
Lincoln walked over to the bunk and reached under it for the handle. He grabbed it and pulled it towards him. Ronnie Anne jumped back as the wall swung open without a sound.
"I had a vision of sorts during April Fools. I saw Lucy wheeling something in down that hallway through this door." He walked down the fluorescent lit hallway to the gear shaped door. On the right side of the door was a panel with a lever and a keyhole.
Ronnie Anne looked at the door up and down. "Well, I'm not getting it. How does this prove anything?"
Lincoln couldn't answer. How did this prove anything? It just looked like another part of the bunker, it didn't prove a thing he said.
"I'm telling you, I woke up in the backyard. I can't prove it, but it did happen."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Ronnie Anne spoke. "I'm going back inside," before turning and leaving. Lincoln stayed there for a few moments thinking of how he blew it trying to tell Ronnie Anne about whatever this was before leaving as well. The wall shut behind him. He climbed out of the bunker and walked back into the house.
He sat down on the chair next to the TV. Ronnie was sitting on the couch and they sat there in an uncomfortable silence. "She probably thinks I'm crazy," Lincoln thought to himself. Lynn came downstairs.
"How you guys doing?" she asked.
"Nice," Ronnie Anne said.
"Would you like me to get you some drinks?"
"I can do that," Lincoln butted in, seeing a way out of the situation.
"I'll just have some water," Ronnie Anne said.
"Can you get me one of my protein shakes?" Lynn asked.
"Yeah, where is that?"
"There's a box of them in the garage."
Lincoln stood up from his chair and exited the living room, leaving Ronnie Anne and Lynn alone. Lynn looked back to make sure Lincoln had left before speaking.
"What were you doing?"
"What?"
"What were you doing?"
"Me and Lincoln were at the park, and then we went to the arcade."
"No, not that. What were you doing in Lisa's bunker?"
"Oh that? Lincoln was trying to show me something."
Lynn stepped closer. "What was he trying to show you?"
"I don't know. He was saying… stuff and was trying to back it up by showing off the bunker."
"Well, I think we should stay out of the bunker. And keep it that way."
"Is there a problem?"
"I don't know. Is there? All you need to know is not to stick your nose where it doesn't belong and things will be fine."
Ronnie Anne stood up. "Are you threatening me?"
"Am I?"
They heard the backdoor creak open. Lynn sat down on the seat next to the couch, waiting. Ronnie Anne slowly sat back down as she heard Lincoln fill a glass of water, warily watching Lynn.
Lincoln walked back into the living room, a cup of water in one hand and a protein shake in the other. He noticed Ronnie and Lynn looking at each other. "Did I miss something?"
"No, Lincoln. Nothing at all," Lynn said.
Lincoln handed the drinks to both the girls. "Thanks," they said. Lincoln took his seat again, now noticing there was new tension from when he had left. They sat there for a few minutes before Lori and Bobby returned from their date.
"Ronnie Anne! Time to go," Bobby said. All three of them stood up to say goodbye. Lincoln hugged Lori first. "See you next week," Lincoln said. He then turned to Ronnie Anne, embracing her.
"See you next week," he said.
"You too," she said, looking past his shoulder at Lynn, who was watching them. They let go of each other and Lincoln watched Ronnie, Bobby and Lori walk back to the car. The engine came to life and he watched the car pull off into the emerging dusk. He took one last glance around before closing the door.