"Huh? Is it almost over? That short, I'll give almost an S rank."
What Lynn said shocked everyone, perhaps even the word shock was not enough to describe their mental state.
"What are you staring at?!" Lynn poked Clyde on the shoulder, but he didn't react. "I don't even know a single Lincoln who, in your opinion, I offended! Well?! Anyone?! Quickly, someone open your mouth and start talking or else I'll throw you all out of here now!"
"This is... your brother..." Polly tried to say something, but like everyone else, she was too surprised.
"I don't have a brother!" Lynn stomped her foot. "No one was born, only sisters! I wanted one, but it didn't happen!" She turned away from them and began whispering to herself. "It would be so great if he was, maybe we would play sports together, I would protect him from bullies, I would teach him to fight, I would spend so much time with him, I would be the best sister in the world... but why didn't mom succeed?!" Lynn tried to set the floor on fire with her gaze.
"I doubt." The voice brought the athlete back to reality.
"What did you say?!" Lynn quickly turned around and saw Ronnie Anne in front of her, who was looking at her skeptically. "What do you mean you doubt me?!" Lynn was beginning to move from suppressed anger to uncontrollable rage.
"I doubt that you would love him." Santiago heard Lynn talking to herself and decided to play by her crazy rules.
"Why would that be?! I would love him with all my heart!" Lynn clenched her fists, wanting to hit her opponent, but held back.
"You said you would play sports with him, but." Latina crossed her arms. "What if he didn't want to?"
"What do you mean?" This statement knocked down Lynn's arrogance a bit.
"What if he didn't like sports? What if he preferred to play games and read comics most of the time? What if you didn't have the same hobbies?" With each question, she leaned forward until she slammed her forehead against Lynn's forehead.
Lynn became angry again. "So what?! I'd try his hobby! Maybe we could find something else!" She pushed her opponent back.
"I believe." There was no faith in Ronnie Anne's voice. "I think you yourself would be a bully for him. I don't think that in your case "hit means love" would work."
"Have you lost your mind?!" Lynn straightened up in surprise. "Why should I bully him!?
"You'd think he was a weakling." Ronnie Anne moved closer to her again, now trying to tower over her. "Since he's a boy, he should be strong, he should play sports, that's what you would think about him. And comics and games are clearly not the kind of activities that use muscles. You simply wouldn't understand him."
Lynn tried to say something in response, but she couldn't form a single word; each sentence trailed off midway.
"Taunts, random hits for no reason, Dutch ovens, forced sports. That's just part of what you do with him." Ronnie Anne had a sadistic smile on her face. "And who knows, maybe one day you will screw up and he will be there to see it, and you will blame him for your failure, knowing you, you will act as if he doesn't exist, as if he is less than even nothing, and you will not stop, you will turn his life into hell, make him an outcast in his own home and family... who knows, maybe you won't even care if he dies..."
Ronnie Anne quickly raised her hands, covering her face and preventing Lynn's fist from hitting her. Even though the block was painful.
Lynn's appearance could only be described as "Absolute anger": Her pupils, clenched to the limit and shaking, her fists clenched until they turned white, her rapid breathing and fighting stance spoke of it.
"Get...out...of...here...now!" A growling voice, coupled with clenched teeth, made her voice unlike herself. She examined everyone present. "Get lost! All of you! Or I swear I'll beat you to death!"
"Guys." Clyde whispered quietly to everyone. "We'd better go, she's insane right now." Everyone began to leave, looking fearfully at Lynn, Clyde began to pull his friend by the hand. "Come on Ronnie, it's best not to start a fight." She allowed him to drag her, and finally she looked at Lynn with a satisfied smile.
Once on the street, they were surrounded by others.
"What were you thinking?!" Margo grabbed her by the shoulders. "Why did you make her angry?! She could have killed you. I know Lynn's strength. You wouldn't have gotten away with a broken nose and teeth!"
"Severe concussion.", Joey said
"Maybe she would have got to the skull." Jorgen added.
"Or worse..." She finished the Haiku for everyone.
"Let's not think about the worst." Dana politely moved everyone away from Santiago. "Why did you do it, though?"
"I thought that maybe if I reminded her of what she did, she might suddenly remember..." A smile appeared on Ronnie Anne's face again. "And I just wanted to piss her off."
Everyone just sighed at the answer.
"Well." Trent broke the silence. "Apparently that's it; we couldn't do it." He, Lance, and Jorgen already wanted to leave.
"Guy, stop." Clyde stopped them. "We may not have succeeded, but we tried, we showed our intentions to her and to each other. I think Lincoln will be glad to hear that at least."
The boys smiled at his words.
"Huh. Thanks Clyde. I guess I needed to hear that." Trent exhaled.
"Yeah." Lance patted his friend on the shoulder. "That's right, that doctor of yours should take you on as a student, you're doing an awesome job here Clyde."
Jorgen simply gave a thumbs up.
"But we'll still go." Trent said. "I don't think we'll be trying to reason with Lynn again. Plus, I'm so tired it's like I passed every test I took this year in an hour." Lance and Jorgen nodded in agreement.
With that they left.
"They're definitely right about you." Becky ruffled Clyde's hair. "I was already thinking of considering myself useless today, but i guess you made an important point here.
"Glad to at least try." Joey bumped fists with him.
"It's better than nothing." Dana agreed.
Older students also left.
"Phew, I never thought those things were so complicated." Maddie wiped the sweat from her brow. "Bye guys, if you need a support group again, you know where to find me." She left.
"Yeah." Paula sighed. "Next time I'll need to take a couple of hockey sticks.
"And a few more bats, and that thing for protecting teeth in boxing." Margo added.
"Bats with bats..." A small smile appeared on Haiku's face. "Do you mind if I help?"
"Not at all!" Polly answered and took goth's hand. "Bye guys, see you next time!"
Girls left loudly talking with each other.
"It definitely radically turned up to 11, but not the way I wanted." Tabby sighed, but there was no sadness on her face. "Well, it happens." She shrugged. "See ya out next time and don't try to die." She left.
"And the guys left too..." Clyde said, noticing the absence of Rusty, Liam and Zach. "Oh, they'll obviously feel guilty, they didn't count on failure."
"Sadly." Ronnie Anne responded neutrally, she looked more devastated than indifferent. "I don't know about you Clyde, but I'm going home, Lynn's punch really hurts..." She hesitated. "And I will be ashamed to look Lori in eyes when I tell her everything." She waved to her friend before leaving.
Clyde wanted to call her, but she quickly disappeared from sight. "And I left alone." He inhaled. "I definitely need to calm down." He took out his phone and was about to call, but changed his mind and put him back. "I should not bother Dr. Lopez that much, she's probably tired of me and my dads. Maybe this time it's really serious, but still. Eh, I'd rather just go home."
"Wow..." Lana said in surprise. "That's a lot." She and Luna were sitting on the couch, and Luan was standing opposite them.
"That's the point! The more the merrier!" Luan exclaimed enthusiastically and gave her sister two more lists.
"Give me one." Luna took one list from Lana, who said nothing and was busy trying to understand what was written. "So... performances, competitions, games...ugh, invisible orchestra..? comedy show "mind reading"..? running with ferrets in your pants..?" She looked up at Luan in confusion. "Dude... how should I say this..."
"It's weird and a little creepy." Lana gave the second list to Luna. "I didn't even understand half of it, it feels like most of these... "ideas" are just there to be. No, I mean running around with ferrets in your pants sounds fun, but only for me."
"Yeah, something like that." Luna continued. "I know you tried your best, sis, but..." She quickly went through the second list. "Wow... um, what I mean is, it's just a party, not some goth festival, science fair or any other unusual thing, just take normal ideas, don't need anything special." She handed both lists to her sister. "And I think setting off a thousand fireworks so that they form in Lincoln's face is a little bit too much."
"Well... I guess the idea... burned out? Ha, ha, ha..?" She turned away from her sisters, crumpled the lists and stuffed them into her pockets.
"Still upset?" Luna turned her back.
"Is it that obvious?" Luan was surprised.
"Dude, you told me yourself." Luna smiled encouragingly at her, and Luan smiled back at her.
"Told you what?" Lana asked after minute of silence.
"I think it's easier to show, give me a minute." The rocker ran up the stairs.
A few minutes later she returned holding a piece of wood.
"Here she is, even covered in dust, we haven't gotten her out for so long." Luna turned the piece of wood around to face it.
The tree depicted a simplistic drawing of Luan's head and the inscription "quality of jokes depending on mood" and ten levels, the first five were green, which became paler as they descended and had the inscriptions "absolute euphoria", "laughing T. Rex", "good day" , "pleasant breakfast" and "regular day". The remaining five were red, became brighter as they increased, and had the inscriptions "an ordinary day", "stubbing a finger on the table", "a bad grade at school", "wild sadness" and "indescribable grief".
"Don't pay attention to the weird names, we made this thing back when I wasn't a kick-ass rocker." Luna let Lana look.
"It turns out... the worse Luan's mood, the worse her jokes?" The tomboy asked uncertainly.
"Yeah." Luan replied. "It seems like an obvious thing, but surprisingly no one understood it except me, not even dad. I once told Luna about this and we made this board, now I don't even know why, but apparently back then it made more sense.
"The sense is to support you and rise from sadness to T-Rex." Luna put her arm around her shoulder.
"Why not up to eith... eif... etro... that first one?" Lana poked at the first level.
"This is April Fool's level." Luan responded neutrally, Lana let out an embarrassed "oh".
"I think we got away from the main point a little." Luna placed her hands on Luan's shoulders. "Sis, you are doing a great job, just act as usual without any strange innovations, and thus bro and everyone else will definitely forgive you, i believe it."
"Heh, thanks, Moony." Luan hugged her sister. "I definitely needed that third opinion.
"Isn't it the second one?" Luna asked.
"Mr. Coconuts isn't a very good listener, but don't tell him that." The comedian answered in a whisper. "Well, I'll go, the party won't do itself, thanks again girls!"
Luna waited until she left the house and turned to Lana. "What am I doing wrong?"
Lana was very confused by these words. "What?"
"You saw how well I helped Luan?" Lana nodded uncertainly. "The point is, I just can't." She covered her face with her hands and cowered.
"Luna, what are you talking about?" Lana tried to remove her sister's hands from her face. "Can't do what?"
"I can't be a good big sister." Luna removed her hands and looked at the tomboy with sadness. "I get along well with Luann, but that's because we're roommates, and the rest? I rarely talked to Lynn even before all this. I only became close to Lucy after all this and because Luann was in a bad mood and often wasn't at home. It's the same with you and Lola, I never even tried to reconcile you, but I should have. With Lisa it's a total zero, Lily doesn't count, but with Lincoln it's completely separate, what kind of big sister am I..? Useless? Absolutely! Responsible? Not at all!" Luna sat down on the floor in frustration.
Lana was at a loss, she didn't know what to do, a child her age was simply not ready for this. But an idea suddenly came to her.
"It's not impossible!" She put her hands on her sister's cheeks and smiled at her.
"What are you talking about?" Luna was confused.
"You were a bad big sister, well, in your own words. So why not try and become a good one?"
"It's not that easy dude..." Luna removed her hands from her cheeks.
"I can dispute that statement." Lisa said suddenly appearing.
"No offense to you Lisa, but I don't think you understand this." Luna hid her face in her hands again.
"It's not that a complex part of psychology that I can't understand it, my rock loving sister." Lisa calmly opened Luna's face. "Some of your words can be considered self-flagellation for no reason."
"Yeah!" Lana didn't understand some of her sister's words, but she understood what she wanted to convey. "It's hard for me and Lola to calm down, even Lincoln don't always can pull us away, so you don't need to blame yourself, it's our fault."
"Precisely, you think that uncontrollable factors are your mistakes, which is not." Lisa wiped her glasses. "Our infrequent communication, or "total zero" in your words, is only the result of my actions, not yours, even if you tried, I don't think that the old me would have agreed to spend time with you, don't take my social skills personally, they were clearly insufficient for the social being that man is."
Luna sighed and looked at her sisters with a smile. "Wow, girls, you're doing a good job with this, I think even better than me." She grabbed them both into a hug. "I'm so proud of you guys." Without her seeing, Lana and Lisa high-fived each other.
Luna sat down herself and put the girls on the sofa.
"Let's watch something... besides Dream Boat?"
"Yeah, the show has become kind of lame and boring." Lana took the remote control and began flipping through the channels.
"Agree." Lisa agreed. "The creators clearly decided to get only profit from the show, which significantly reduced its quality. But I think the concept is already outdated."
"Sad." Luna sighed and took the remote control from Lana, who didn't mind. "It was the only thing I liked to watch with everyone. And we didn't even try to watch each other's shows."
"What for?" Lana asked in surprise. "If I'm, like, not interested in Leni's fashion shows, then why should I watch them?"
"I don't think that's the point." Seeing that the tomboy wanted to hear an answer, Lisa continued. "I guess the main point of watching other people's shows is as much about entertainment as it is about supporting someone else's hobby." She sighed. "Which we are not doing at all."
"Gosh, another problem that needs to be solved." Luna put her hand on her forehead.
"I think Lori will handle it." Lana patted her sister on the leg.
"Our older sister is definitely determined to make a normal family out of our bunch of selfish people." Lisa also patted Luna.
"Eh, okay then, when she start I'll help her as best I can." Luna calmed down and began flipping through the channels again, sometimes asking her sisters' opinions.
They sat like that for half an hour until Lynn Sr. appeared in the living room, he looked tired, noticeable bags under his eyes indicated this, and in his hands he was holding a mug of coffee and a book called "How to be a good parent."
He looked at them silently for several seconds, then turned his gaze to the book, and then back. "Hey girls." There was a little excitement in his voice.
"Hey popstar/Hey dad/Greetings father." Luna, Lana and Lisa looked towards him for a second, and then returned to the TV.
"Did you want something?" Luna asked and turned to him.
"Oh, no, no." He shook his head. "Just checking on you. The book says what to do." He opened the book and began to read.
"It's a laudable idea to gain knowledge from a book." Lisa turned to her father. "But, parent unit, I don't advise you to take all the advice as truth; I believe the book contains advice for ordinary families, which we are not."
"I know sweetheart." The Patriarch took the pencil from his ear and scribbled something down. "I try to use only the ones that actually work. And I get the feeling that the author of the book doesn't fully understand how the parent-child relationship works."
"At least you're trying." Lana crossed her arms unhappily. "Unlike mom."
Luna looked at her sister disapprovingly but didn't say anything, Lisa nodded in agreement, and Lynn St. had a determined look on her face.
He stood in front of them, blocking the TV with himself. "I think you girls don't understand something."
"There is no need to infringe on our mental abilities, father." Lisa stood on the sofa to have less difference in height. "Our female parent unit has clearly decided to completely ignore the problem it has created, and she has succeeded so well in doing so that her mental health is now in question. And also..." Lisa would have said more, but Luna gently sat her back down.
"Dude, let Pa finish." She sighed. "I think there's something more complicated here."
"That's right, Luna." The head of the family sat down with them and sighed. "I was so hoping that I wouldn't see her like this ever again."
"Has this happened before?" Lana asked in surprise.
"Yes sweetheart, the last time was a long time ago, back when she was pregnant with Lori." He put his head under his hand.
"A really long time ago." Lisa said. "But what was the reason?"
"Yeah, pops." Luna placed her hand on her father's shoulder. "What happened, maybe if we find out, we can return her to normal?"
"No, Luna." He removed his daughter's ouka. "It's a long process, unfortunately it's very long." He hesitated when he saw their wary glances. "Your mother, she... she's terrible at change, especially when it's sudden and bad."
"I think I'll tell you how I found out all this myself, so that you can figure it out... Ahem-ahem, I first started noticing this after two months when we found out that she was pregnant, at first she was even more happy than me, but since ... strange things began. She seemed ... began to behave as before pregnancy, she again actively exercised, although she had already been told to stop this during pregnancy, and when asked to stop, she stated that she was not pregnant. The longer it was, the more worried I became, and in the end, I needed answers too much and so I turned to Albert."
"Pop-Pop knows what's going on?" Lana asked.
"He knows. He knew even when I called him. It was... perhaps my most intense conversation with him, even more than when I asked his blessing for the marriage. According to him, Rita never tolerated change well, and he explained why. It's... it's her defense mechanism."
"Defense mechanism?" Lisa muttered. "So this strange behavior of hers is an attempt to defend herself?"
"Yes, Lisa. And when I asked if she always had it... Oh, I think then I really pressed Albert sour spot. I already thinking that this was all because of some very bad event, and unfortunately I was right. Father-in-law explained me everything, it happened when Rita was only 13 years old. When... when... when her mother... your grandmother... died..."
Lynn didn't see his daughters' faces, but he knew that what was said shocked them.
"I... I never tried to ask Albert or Rita everything in detail. Then, I saw how painful it was for him to talk about it, and I didn't want to make it worse. He spoke little, tried to restrain himself, but I understood the main thing, it was painful, very painful. Rita, she could not stand it, and began to behave then as she does now, pretending that nothing had happened. It was painful for Albert to see her like this and he began to try to reason with her... it ended badly, the sudden realization broke her ...she fell into depression and came out of it after finishing school. He started crying when he finished telling me, I offered my help... but he said not to do anything... and asked me to promise that this would not happen again ...And I failed him..."
He finished speaking and hid his face in his hands.
Lana cried and tried to wipe away the flowing tears. Lisa turned her back and just let the tears fall. Luna looked sadly at the floor, small tears formed at the edges of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.
"Children, I..." Lynn Sr. voice was breaking. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Luna's hand interrupted him.
"No, Dad...we had to find out." She smiled forcedly. "Otherwise we would continue to blame her, thank you, and... we will told this to everyone, don't worry."
"That's okay." He also smiled exhaustedly. "I... I'll go and rest, children... this is too tiring for me..." He kissed each daughter on the forehead and went into his room.
Luna glanced at her sisters; Lana quietly sniffled and rubbed her eyes, and Lisa significantly wetted her sweater.
"Come on." she took both. "We need to rest too..."
"This is all." Lucy thought out loud while looking at the pile of paper. "Your time has come, but I think we'll have to postpone the purification by fire until later." She put all the papers under the bed. She wouldn't tell this to anyone, but the young goth found advantages in the fact that her hair no longer covered her eyes, now she actually sees better.
She turned her gaze to her sister's bed. "Poor petty soul, it's a pity that you've driven yourself so deep that it's almost impossible to help you. Sigh." She shook her head slowly.
Seeing no point in being in the room anymore, Lucy left, she didn't know what to do, she had no desire to write poetry, and the sisters were hardly in the mood, she had already seen Luna, Lana and Lisa, they were despondent, but the eldest assured her that it was temporarily and also warned that when everyone returns to normal, they will have a serious meeting of sisters, the most serious that ever happened.
Speaking of getting back to normal, Lucy headed to the twins' room.
Opening the door, she did not care about maintaining silence; the door creaked loudly, notifying the younger twin standing near her bed, however, she was still looking at the ceiling with a half-dead gaze.
"Hi Lola." Lucy grabbed her sister by the armpits and led her out of the room and into the bathroom.
Lucy found out about her sister's condition a little earlier than Lori, and immediately decided that she would be the one to take care of the princess. She didn't disbelieve in her sisters, she wanted to take the extra burden off them, maybe then she hadn't yet paid attention to the situation with her brother, but she understood that in the turmoil no one would take care of her sister, and Lucy knew what apathy led to, some novels had sad endings and she didn't want the same for Lola.
"Here we go, I'll give you time." She put her sister on the toilet and left the bathroom. Lucy has already been through this, she thinks that Lola does some actions just by muscle memory, say the right word, and the body will remember what needs to be done. She knew that her sister was not pretending, this could not be faked, but one day, wanting to establish herself for sure, she used Lisa's cameras, everything was exactly as it seemed, the body acted on its own, the mind was in hibernation. Knowing Lola's personality, she would definitely be squeamish about some moments, but not this many times, the dead look spoke of it.
She heard the treasured sound of flushing and went inside, Lola stood near the white throne. Taking her sister, Lucy led her to the bathroom, not to the sink; there was no more treasured bedside table for those who have not yet grown up enough.
Turning on the water and changing the shower mode, she wet her hand and began to wash her sister's face, trying to do it carefully, closing Lola's eyes and not doing it too harshly. Afterwards she carefully dried her and took to the kitchen.
At the beginning, she didn't know how she fed her sister, but then she saw how birds do it, no, she didn't chew everything for Lola, Lucy only turned the available food into liquid porridge. Lola didn't chew, but she swallowed, and that was enough.
After making sure that her sister had eaten and drunk, Lucy led her back. On the way, she stopped at a cabinet with trophies, her attention was attracted by the very prize her brother received for pity."
"You deserve better than this." Lucy spoke to herself.
She didn't notice how Lola's eyes came to life and how they looked at this prize.
Goth brought her sister into the room and left her there. After that, she wanted to go out into the backyard, but she was stopped by something extremely surprising, Lori was carrying the sleeping Lincoln to his room. They noticed each other, Lori put her finger on her lips and waved for Lucy to follow.
The eldest carried her brother into his room, came out of it and looked at her sister sternly. "I see you took my advice seriously Lucy."
"I realized that I was wrong, you opened my eyes." Goth answered.
"Achoo!" Luan sneezed. "Someone accidentally made a good joke, and I wasn't near to hear! That's sad..."
"Fine." Lori nodded and went to her room. "Behind me."
Going inside, the eldest sat down on the bed and invited her sister to sit next to her.
"I'm sorry for screaming and scaring you... but I just didn't know how to convey this to you." Lori sighed.
"It's nothing." Lucy patted her sister on the shoulder. "We were wrong and you brought the truth to us. You did everything right." Lucy smiled. "You're good at scaring people, I'm impressed."
"Heh, I learned from you." Lori ruffled her hair. "How I missed your cute black eyes, I still don't understand what they were afraid of."
"I can, a child with a blank look is a common trope in horror films." Lucy rolled her eyes.
"OK." Lori stood up. "I hope Ronnie Anne makes it..."
"Makes what..?" Lucy's further question was interrupted by Lori's phone ringing.
"It's Ronnie. Cross your fingers." Lori answered the phone.
The conversation was calm until the eldest's face distorted with surprise and a loud "What?!" didn't break the silence. Lucy listened carefully to what her sister said, she often asked for details. When she hear "doesn't believe in his existence?!" goth just sighed.
"So it's hereditary." Lucy decided to leave her sister alone and left the room. She knew what her brother's friend had told Lori. Goth knew her athletic sister well, Lucy was a witness to her victories... and defeats, unfortunately the latter always evoked more emotions, bad ones, they led to behavior like this, Lynn simply rejected the reality in which she was a loser. Lucy is only worried about how deep the hole of understanding is that Lynn accused and tormented her brother just for nothing, perhaps the guilt is so strong that in her reality Lincoln lives a happy life in another family, without being bullied by her. "It's a pity that Mom's illness was inherited by Lynn and Lola."
She pulled the cross necklace out of her pocket and squeezed it in her hand. "I hope You can forgive her sins and restore her sanity." Lucy put the necklace back.
"Oh, who are you?" She heard Leni's voice, she stood in front of her. "You know, you remind me so much of my sister Lucy, only you have eyes, they are so beautiful, it suits you cute girl." Leni pinched her cheek. "Sorry, but I really need to talk to Mr. Smiley. Toodles!"
After waiting for her sister to leave, Lucy took out the necklace again. "Forget about Lynn, please give Leni some brains." Goth didn't know what was wrong with her second older sister, Leni is usually not the sharpest tool in the shed, but now... let's just say that even a blade of grass will be more smart than her.
After that, Lucy simply wandered along the corridor, sometimes she heard Lori's voice, indignation and a question were heard in it.
She walked up to her brother's room, but didn't go in, just touched the door and let her hand slowly slide down.
Lucy sighed, she was so ashamed of herself, she didn't even tell Luan, or Luna either. After all, the story with the book has a one more secret, a secret for which Lucy hates herself. Yes, her brother protected her from others, she said that she would like to have the same thick skin as his, she said that she would become like him.
But she lied, to him and to herself. She didn't want this then, then the thought came to her mind that it would be great if Lincoln always protected her like that, always took her blame upon himself. That he would be her meat shield. Why worry if your brother, to whom you owe nothing, will protect you without demanding anything in return? How terrible she is...
"Lucy?" A sudden voice made her flinch; it was her father.
"Yes, dad?" Lucy turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, everything will get better soon." He knelt down next to her and hugged her. She didn't answer and hugged back.
"Feeling better?" The elder saw her nod and stood up. "That's good. Tell me, have you seen the others, besides Luna, Lana and Lisa?"
"Lori is in her room. Lola, you know. Luan is getting ready for her apology party. Nothing new about Lynn. Lily is sleeping." Then Lucy remembered. "Leni was in the bathroom, talking about some Mr. Smiley."
For some reason, upon hearing the last, Lynn Senior's pupils shrank greatly, and he raised her so that their eyes were at the same level. "Please tell me that I misheard!"
Too surprised by the sudden change, Lucy simply shook her head. Lynn sighed, lowered his daughter back down and ran at full speed towards the bathroom, he tried to enter it, but he discovered that the door was locked and he began to hit the door with his hands.
"And no one will hear it now... Lisa made walls soundproof just in time." Lucy thought. She stood next to her father, she could immediately climb into the ventilation and open it from the inside, but she wants to find out what is happening.
"Oh, it's a little busy in here!" Leni's voice came from behind the door.
"Open the door right now, young lady!" The Patriarch began to hit the door even harder. "Or I swear to God I'll break it!
"Now the goth looked at her father in surprise, she didn't even know what was stranger; that he is ready to break the door into pieces because of something, or the fact that Leni did that something.
Remembering that her daughter was nearby, Lynn literally knelt in front of her. "Lucy, sweetheart, I'm begging you!" He put his hands on her shoulders. "Please crawl through the ventilation and open the door from the inside! This is very serious!"At first she wanted to know why he needed it so much, but seeing how tense this made him and the fact that he was literally on his knees begging her, Lucy decided to silently agree, she pass Luna who left her room and until that moment had not heard this noise, but now she looked at this scene in surprise, and when Lucy passed by her, she grabbed her hand. "Dude, what's going on?"
"Something serious if dad is ready to break down the door." Even more surprised by this answer, Luna released her.
Climbing into the ventilation in her room, Lucy began to crawl towards the bathroom. And now she discovered one small disadvantage of her hair no longer covering her eyes: the ventilation was dirty and, therefore, dust was just asking to get into her eyes.
The closer she was, the louder the sounds of banging on the door became. And now she was already there, the voice of Leni asking for five minutes definitely spoke about this.
Jumping to the floor, she greatly frightened the blonde who was not expecting it.
"Oh, it's just you, Lucy-like girl." Leni breathed out a sigh of relief; goth saw that she was hiding something behind her back. "I didn't know that you live in our walls. Hey, where are you going..?"
Ignoring her, Lucy calmly opened the door, letting in her angry father and a confused Luna.
"Where are they?!" Lynn stood in front of Leni.
"They?" Leni asked incomprehensibly, then she looked dispersedly at the toilet. "I knew that someone else lived here, in the toilet someone often causes the water to spin!"
"Where are the antidepressants, Leni Leilani Loud?!" The patriarch asked louder.
Lucy sighed, she didn't say it, she did it. She never would have thought that Leni, of all people, would become addicted to antidepressants. Now this explains her strange and dumber behavior, Lucy once read about their side effects out of interest and weakened brain function was one of them.
"Oh my God..." Standing nearby, Luna hid her face in her hands.
"But daddy!" Leni tried to object. "I like them, they are so tasty and sweet, they make me feel so good!"
"I'm not asking you to give them up, Leni." Lynn said unexpectedly calmly. "I DEMAND!" He shouted very loudly.
"But Mr. Smiley is so nice!" Leni took a step back. "I don't want to leave him!"
"Dude." Luna whispered to Lucy. "We must take them from her, even if by force.." Luna finished gloomily.
Lucy didn't want to harm her sister, but the poison in Leni's hands harmed her more, so the goth had to do it.
They stood next to their father, seeing their support, he began to walk towards Leni, she continued to back away until she hit the wall.
"I'm sorry Leni..." Lucy covered her eyes with her hair, now she needed all the intimidation factor she could muster.
"It's for your own good..." Luna's bangs somehow created a shadow on her face.
"Give me the antidepressants, Leni, I won't say more." Lynn held out his open hand.
Leni looked at each one, her pupils shaking in panic. She shrank into the wall as if not wanting to show what she was hiding behind her back.
"NEVER!" She ran into her father, but he was able to stay on his feet and he grabbed her, Leni tried to kick her legs, but Luna grabbed them. Lucy saw that Leni was being held in her hands: a multi-colored jar with smiles painted on it. The goth dug her nails into her sister's hands and was able to take the jar away.
"Run Lucy!" Lynn began to push Leni against the wall. "Throw it away!"
The blonde, who had lost her pills, began to try with redoubled strength to get out of the grip; she actively kicked her sister and father with her feet and hands.
Lucy, feeling the mad adrenaline, ran out of the room, her imagination was already painting a picture of how Leni knocked out Lynn Sr. and Luna and how she was chasing after her with a mad smile.
Not noticing or knocking down any obstacles, Lucy ran out of the house, now she looked around in panic, not knowing where to go.
The house of their neighbor, Mr. Grouse, caught her eye. Her hands acted faster than her head, swinging, she threw the jar into one of the windows. Lucy didn't hear the sound of breaking glass and the neighbor's screams, there was a frightening silence in her ears, she was afraid to go back into the house, what if her imagination turned out to be true? What if Leni is already running after her?
She walked slowly into the house, and there was dead silence. This is the most terrifying moment of her life.
Rising up, she reached the bathroom; the door was closed, but not locked. She grabbed the handle, her heart beating fast, too fast, a little more, and it couldn't stand it. Opened the door slowly, Lucy sighed with relief.
Leni lay unconscious on the floor.
Lisa stood next to her with an empty syringe. She constantly repeated "This shouldn't have happened..."
Luna covered her left eye, the bruise was already beginning to be visible.
Lynn Sr. looked at his unconscious daughter with a lifeless gaze.
Slowly lowering her hand from the handle, Lucy fell unconscious.
"Do you need more ice?" Lana asked as she was about to get out of bed. She and Luna were sitting in the rocker's room.
"No, dude, I've had enough thanks." Luna touched the bruise. "I think even too much, I don't feel the touch."
"I didn't know that Leni could do something like that..." Tomboy looked towards the door.
"Yes... that's why drugs are dangerous, even the most harmless ones." Luna's eyes suddenly opened wide. "Oh, that explains..."
Lana looked at her waiting for an answer.
"Do you know what Lori taught me first when I was little?" After a short pause, Luna continued. "That drugs are bad. I understood it as how you shouldn't put random pills in your mouth, then I didn't know why she told me this. But now I know..."
"Lori taught this? I don't remember that." The tomboy scratched the back of her head thoughtfully.
"She stopped on Lynn." Luna shrugged. "Either she got lazy, or she thought that this was no longer needed, I dunno." Luna stood up. "Okay dude, I'll go at backyard, if you need me, I'll be there." She left, leaving Lana alone.
She sighed, she didn't want her sister to leave, the rest were busy with Leni. Lana didn't want to be alone.
Leaving the room, she saw a passage to the attic and she remembered: all the pets are there, Lana personally moved everyone there, she punished everyone for bad behavior and under the threat of being sent to an animal shelter, forbade them to leave it. Whole family knows about it, and they don't mind. If pet attacks his owner, it's bad, but Lana decided to give them another chance, but nothing more.
Going up to the attic, she found all the pets calmly lying on the wooden floor, noticing her, they all grouped around Lana making animal sounds.
"Quiet!" She raised her voice a little, she crossed her arms and looked at each one with a dissatisfied glance, singling out the dog, the cat, the bat and the snake. "You seem to keep order here." The pets nodded. Her face suddenly became angry. "You won't appease me with this! When I let you out, you will maintain the same order throughout the whole house whole time, do you understand me!?" The animals nodded in fear.
"Fine." Lana looked at the four pets she had previously focused on. "Now you. Do you think you can get away with biting Lincoln?! Especially you Charles! You'll all be out later than the others. And then I'll teach you how not to bite." She leaned towards them with a furious face. "If this happens again, believe me, I won't feel guilty about giving you up for euthanasia..."
She looked at the frightened animals, she didn't like saying words like that, but she had to do it as a responsible owner.
"And now everyone quickly gathered in the corner, don't think about stopping me from cleaning up your mess." She began to remove the pet waste from the litter box, then in a fit of anger she punished them all by using the cat litter box, now she is glad that she did this, it's easier to clean up.
After removing the waste, she took dog food out of box, she carefully examined can, another punishment, only dog food for everyone, she didn't care that it wasn't suitable for everyone, if they don't want to, then starve.
"It's not damaged... I see that last time taught you not to eat without a command." From girl's gaze, Izzy hid behind Cliff.
She poured dog food into one large bowl, stepped aside and commanded the pets to eat; they quickly rushed to eat.
"I'm leaving. No funny business. Otherwise, Lola will have a snake-skin wallet, and Lucy will have a necklace made of fangs."
Speaking of Lola, lately Lana has begun to worry a lot about her twin, even though tomboy is frightened by Lola behavior, she knows that the princess is trying to figure out how to apologize, Lana doesn't even need words for understand this, it's twins intuition.
Sighing, she opened the door to the room and something was immediately wrong, as if something was missing... or someone...
"Lola?!" Lana looked around the room. "Where are you?!" She checked her sister's bed, it was empty, she look into the closet, the same. Then she looked at the wall where the princess's tiaras hung, they were not there. "She didn't just leave... did she take her crowns for some reason?"
She got the idea to also inspect the trophy case, maybe that would provide an answer.
When she got there, she was right; most of Lola's trophies were missing. And the strangest thing was that Lincoln trophy was also missing. Lana had an idea what was going on, but she wanted to make sure, so she went to Lisa's room.
Finding that the door was not even completely closed, she entered the room. In her crib, Lily was still sleeping, and Lisa was lying on her bed looking at the ceiling.
"What is it?" Lisa asked emotionlessly.
"Um, this is serious Liz." Lana approached the bed. "Lola is missing."
Lisa stood up abruptly and grabbed her by the overalls.
"This is not the time for jokes. I'm clearly not in the mood for them." Lisa clenched her teeth.
"I'm not kidding!" Lana pushed her sister away. "She really disappeared, taking her tiaras and some of the trophies and gone!"
Lisa looked at the floor bashfully. "I am sorry." She sighed. "What happened clearly upset me greatly, I promise it won't happen again."
"It's nothing... it happened to me too." Lana patted Lisa on the shoulder.
"Thank you for the emotional support, I appreciate it." Lisa went to the computer. "I assume you want me to establish the location of our sister using her phone, I'm already working on it." Pressing the key one last time, the Royal Woods map with a pink dot appeared on the screen. "Hmm, for some reason the closest building to her is a local trophy manufacturing facility."
"Phew." Lana let out a relaxed sigh. "I guess everything's okay then."
"Do you know the reason why our sister came out of her stupor?" Lisa turned to Lana.
"Yeah." Lana rubbed Lisa's hair. "Finally figured out what to do, and I think it's a pretty cool option. But I'll still call her." She hugged her sister. "Thanks Lizzie."
"Glad to help." Lisa smiled tiredly. "If you don't mind, please invite our rock loving sister here."
Lana nodded and went to call Luna.
The house was still silent, except for Lori and Leni's room, so Lana calmly walked into the backyard. Tomboy explained to Luna that Lisa wanted to see her, and as soon as the rocker left, she pulled out her phone and dialed twin's number.
"Hello?" Lola's voice rang out.
"Hey sis." Lana was very happy to hear her voice. "Glad you came back to life."
"Me too." The princess's voice sounded a little hoarse. "I found how to apologize to Linky."
"Cool, a good new trophy for him really sounds awesome, I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself." She giggled.
"How are you..." Lola was confused. "Ah, Lisa..."
"Hey, I care about you, that disappearing made me worry, so don't blame me."
"Sorry." Lola cleared her throat. "I was just... so excited about my idea and... well... I forgot..?"
"Happens." Lana chuckled. "How soon will you be home? I don't think Lori will take your disappearance calmly."
"Well, um...soon?" Lola sounded unsure. "I was carrying bag whole time, and then I was also tell people how to make a trophy and... I'm tired."
"Oh." Lana sighed. "Maybe bag of trophies is actually very heavy... But it will be worth it, right? And when you come, I'll help you rest... Let's just avoid scary sleepwalking, please..?"
"Sorry for scaring you..." Lola whispered shamefully. "I just thought for so long about what to do. I just didn't hear or see anything... I was scarier than Lucy?"
"Yeah, she could learn from you." Lana giggled. "If Lori will be mad at you, I've got your back."
"Something happened?" Lola asked worriedly.
"Well, how can I tell you this..?" Tomboy thought out loud.
Lincoln looked at the ceiling. The ceiling seemed wrong, like the walls and the door. He wasn't sure whether he was dreaming or not. He has already tried different ways to wake up, including pinching and now his whole arm hurts.
The events taking place confuse him very much. According to Lori, all his sisters, and parents are trying to improve, well, almost all of them. And his own behavior up to this point was also surprising, literally withering away alive. This behavior just doesn't seem like him. And still having a headache didn't help at all.
He was very willing to leave the room; even Lori encouraged this, promising that the sisters would not bother him. But for some reason it seemed that this was not a home, not his home, as if a very similar place that was trying to match the original as much as possible. It's a little bit the same with the sisters, it's strange to see that they change, as if this shouldn't happen, like there's nothing to fix.
Lincoln groaned into his pillow. He had an idea what was going on, but he wasn't sure, one part was clearly against it, and the other part was definitely for it.
And the idea itself was absurd, it's just...
Several knocks on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Lincoln, it's me." Lori's voice rang out. "Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily are also with me. Can we come in?"
Oh, that's right, she said that she would soon come in with someone else.
"You can." He answered and rose to a sitting position.
The door opened and the older sister entered the room, younger ones followed her, twins looked nervous, and the youngest remained calm, Lily was holding a roll of paper in her hands.
"Did you sleep well?" Lori asked.
"More or less, yes." Lincoln shook his head. "But my head still hurts."
"Headache?" Lisa approached her brother.
"No pills, Lisa." Lori took her sister back.
"I didn't intend to, thank for your trust." The scientist looked touchingly at the eldest.
A guilty expression appeared on Lori's face, sighing, she set Lily down on the floor.
Lily clumsily got to her feet and walked up to him, holding out the roll.
Slowly taking the paper, Lincoln opened it: the roll of paper was a summer drawing with five scenes in different places, each involving a larger orange stickman and a smaller lavender stickman, he quickly realized that this was a simple drawing of himself and Lily.
"What's this?" He didn't know what exactly Lily wanted to say with this.
"Older brother, this is." Lisa came closer again. "The method that our younger sister chose to apologize to you.
Apology? For what? Suddenly, cloudy memories flashed in his head, sounding like Lisa's voice: "Let me translate... hmm... how rude for an individual of her age... I'll put it in simple words... get lost, otherwise you'll ruin my good dream with your bad luck..." The memory ended and Lincoln put his hand to his head, groaning in discomfort.
"Incy..?" Lila tugged at his pajama leg.
"It's nothing Lily... I'll take a look..." Lincoln exhaled.
He began to examine the drawings:
The first one was a drawing of Lincoln feeding a drawing of Lily porridge, smiley faces around Lily showed that she liked it.
The second one showed how how she sat on his shoulders, there were also those smiles.
The third showed them sitting on the couch and holding joypads, still have smiles.
The fourth showed how he helped her walk, by holding her hands, still have the same smiles.
And the most different from the rest was the fifth picture located in the center: It looked much more elaborate than the others, of course they were still stickmans, but if Lincoln had seen such drawings at another time, he would have immediately realized that it was them. White hair, chipped tooth and freckles, even with a passing glance it's clear that it's him. And the yellow hair and diaper said the same about Lily. But what was more captivating was what was happening: Lily was lying in her crib, and Lincoln was sitting next to him on a chair and holding a book. Instead of smiles, there were hearts around the drawing. And at the bottom there was an inscription: "Sawy fo bein rud ples fogiv me, Lily."
"You will definitely become a wonderful artist in the future, come here." Lincoln picked Lily up and hugged her, she giggled and hugged her back, others smiled looking at it.
"She tried so hard for a long time, she didn't even allow me to help." Lisa chuckled, Lily said something in children's language. "My creative skills are fine, thank you."
"I see that she tried her best." He smiled. "And she deserved a reward." Lincoln began to kiss his baby sister cheeks, making her giggle even more. Then he put her back on the floor and turned his gaze to others.
"I guess it's my turn, just a moment." Lisa dragged a stack of papers from the corridor. "Among these documents are agreements prohibiting anything that I have done illegally to you, as well as the right to make a request at any time, the right of first use of tested equipment, an agreement to maintain confidentiality... and a formal letter of apology..." Saying the last thing, Lisa began to shyly look at the floor.
Having quickly skimmed through the letter, he realized that Lisa wants to apologize for all her misdeeds, promises to direct her research in the right direction and promises her help at any time.
He placed letter on the bed and look at sister with smile.
"You're still the same scientist that I love. I'm glad that you understood what's right and what's wrong. I'm proud of you." He hugged her. Everything was repeated as with Lily.
Now twins stood in front of him, to his surprise Lana looked quite clean, and Lola was a little unkempt.
"Sorry Linky!" Lola started first. "I'm sorry for behaving so badly, for blackmailing you, for forcing you to help, for being bad!" Tears flowed from her eyes.
"Forgive us please!" Lana continued. "I'm sorry that I often didn't notice how bad you were, for laughing at you, for let you being bitten by animals!"
"I beg you to forgive us, big brother! We love you! It's bad without you!" They knelt down. "We will do whatever you say!"
"Girls, girls!" Lincoln got out of bed and sat down next to his sisters, hugging them. "Nothing is needed! It's enough for me that you really understand what you did, apologize for it and try to improve." He smiled at them. "You're growing so fast, I'm so proud of you too."
They hugged his neck, Lola kissed his cheek and Lana pressed hers to his, then they stood up and with happy faces went back to Lori.
"And I'm the last one left." Lori sighed, she knelt down to be on the same level as her brothers. "I think I need to apologize for a lot more things: for being rude, for making fun of you, for dumping my responsibilities on you, for ignoring... for not being the big sister I should was to be for all of you and you in particular, Linky..." She had already lost her gaze to the floor when she suddenly stood up. "But I will fix everything, I will become who I always should have been, the best sister who is not indifferent to the problems of her younger sisters and brother, a reliable listener and assistant, mentor and best friend." She took all the sisters into a hug. "We all will, Lincoln, I promise, do you believe me?"
Lincoln joined in the hug, he believed his sister words, but it was something else... it's such a shame to lie to your sisters... even if they are not real...
Darkness obscured his vision...
"And we're done!" Blue Hedgehog closed the book with the title "Out The Loud House". "Not really my cup of tea, but I think it's quite suitable for rank A, the ending tried to come too quickly, so no S rank. What do you think, Kid?" Hearing no answer, he turned to Lincoln which was lying on the floor. "Kid? Are you okay? Hey, I know it can be grueling first time watching a story, but not that much."
"Watching..?" Lincoln raised his head and drawled wearily. "But I didn't watch..."
"What do you mean..." Sonic dropped the book. "Oh no! Please tell me you didn't become part of it?!" In response to his question, the boy simply dropped his head. "Oh Chaos Almighty, I screwed up again!" He took the phone out of his thorns. "Don't worry buddy, I'll call a special guy, he helps when this happens..."
While Sonic was calling, Lincoln tried to piece together what was happening: In the morning, he received a secret letter from Sonic offering a more detailed tour, agreeing to it, Lincoln later checked with hedgehog a less visited area of The Internet; fan works. They watched a lot of drawings, videos and songs, than they got to the stories. Not being a fan of reading, Sonic suggested literally looking at the story from the inside, as if it was happening right in front of you. Interested, Lincoln agreed, they took a random story and... Then he woke up in his apartment... for some reason thinking that the sisters did the whole bad luck thing again... All this time he was part of the story..? That's why his thoughts are confused and his head hurt...
"Enough." Sonic's voice brought him back to reality, raising his head, Lincoln saw that he was talking to an old man in a strange suit, divided in two in purple and yellow.
"You've done it again, little hedgehog." The man poked the hedgehog with a strange staff, the top of which looked like heads with mouths wide open. "I already told you that the road to madness must be voluntary, but you ignored that and almost drove a random child crazy, again. I wouldn't let you into my Islands."
"I don't need your crazy islands, Sheogorath..." Sonic poked the man in the chest. "Yes, it's my fault, but who else will show what it's like here? No one else agreed, who will meet the newcomers then? So shut up and please help him already."
"Okay, okay..." Sheogorath raised his hands up in conciliation, and then took Lincoln in his arms. "Come on child, Uncle Sheogorath and his anti-madness therapy will help you." They disappeared in a purple flash.
Sonic sighed. "Well done,"fastest thing alive" you again forgot about what could happen and an innocent person suffered, again. There were signs... but I didn't notice." He put his hand on his forehead and moan. A sudden glow from throwned book caught his attention. "Hmm, has the story been updated?"
"Waking up one night, Lincoln felt a strange desire to touch the monitor screen, raising his hand to the screen and touch it he felt... nothing, only glass. Shrugging his shoulders, he went back to sleep."
Sonic scratched his head thoughtfully. "So there was no actual interaction with The Internet in the story? Looks like kid apparently brought it with him... but why this explained only now..?" A sharp consciousness hit him, he dropped the book back and looked into the void.
He looked at you.
"It's you again, guys from the 5th wall. And I was wondering why today felt so strange. And you were watching me again... or... or Lincoln?! You have no conscience left at all!? They said that you are some kind of energy vampires, but I didn't believe it then, but i should have! It's a pity that only a few people know about you, if there were more of us, then maybe someone could make sure that you leave us all alone..."
"I hope you are satisfied with what you saw... you were probably attracted by some interesting title... maybe that from book... yeah, kid left "this" world and the bonds "broke"..." Hedgehog threw book away. "That's it, nothing more to see here, get lost." Sonic left.
And that's the end of the story guys, what do you think? I want at least one detailed answer.
I said end of story, but not fic yet. I will release a couple more parts with the titles "Aftermatch" and "Internet Stories".
Aftermatch will tell about what happen in story world after.
And Internet Stories will focus on Lincoln adventures in Internet. So that's not all.
Ask questions, I will answer as many as you ask (if I know what to say), I will insert answers in new parts.
I was with you, the (in)comparable DaedricOver.