The Failure of a Father
Ch 24: Epilogue: One Happy Family
The day after the Afton family reunion had happened, everything was now back to normal. William puts on his gray tux and badge, he fixes his purple necktie, puts on a gray pair of pants and well-polished shoes.
Olivia came out of the closet, dressed up in her work outfit. They came upstairs, and saw Michael changed into his day clothes, consisting of a grey T-shirt with red outlines on the sleeves, dark blue jeans, and black shoes.
Elizabeth and C.C. came downstairs dressed in their day clothes for the day. Elizabeth puts on her red bowtie, she wore a pink shirt, a blue skirt, white socks, and pink flats. C.C. wore a black T-shirt with gray stripes, a blue pair of shorts, white socks with red and blue lines, and brown laced shoes.
William greeted Michael as he came in with a cup of coffee. "Good morning, sunshine." He said, sipping his coffee.
"Morning, Father." Michael smiled, as he ate his buttered toast.
"William," Olivia said to her husband, stern. "lower your caffeine intake, it can make you cranky and tired."
"Oh come on, Olivia, you didn't have to reprimand me." William said, chuckling as he sipped his coffee.
"Mommy's looking out for you, Daddy." Elizabeth said to her father, eating her waffles.
"I agree with Lizzy, Dad." C.C. said, eating his toast sandwich. "Mum doesn't want you to drink too much caffeine."
"I guess I can agree with that." The Afton father said to his youngest child. "I'll try to eat some carbohydrates in my diet."
"That's what I'm talking about." Olivia agreed with C.C. "I'm looking out for your lives, so watch what you eat. Don't eat too much junk food," She turned to husband, pinching his cheek. "or drink too much caffeine." The woman kissed her husband's affected area.
William blushed lightly. "OK, Olivia, I'll take your word of advice."
The three Afton children chuckled to each other, knowing that their mother always looks out for them.
Later, at school…
Michael was greeted by two of his friends, Robert and Elijah.
"Hey bro!" Robert smiled. "I'm glad you got back with your family after such a long time!"
"Thanks, Rob, I really appreciate it." Michael smiled. "Where's Stephanie?"
"She's sick, so she'll have to stay home from school." Elijah said.
"That's sad, anyway, let's get started with school." Michael told the duo as they went to their classroom.
Many days later…
Many days have passed, and now it was the day of Lynn Jr.'s softball game. Lincoln had to attend so many of his sisters' events, but good thing, Lori told him that it's OK if he didn't want to come.
"Hey, Lincoln!" Lynn Jr. said to her brother. "Do you want to come to see me play at my softball game against the Hazeltucky Lions today?"
"Uh, no thanks, Lynn." Lincoln said to his sportsy sister. "I have some important business to do today, like reading the latest Ace Savvy issue, 'Issue #7: Wild Card vs. One Eyed Jack and Ace Savvy'."
"Oh come on." Lynn Jr. pleaded. "Please come?"
"I told you, I'm not—" Lincoln was interrupted when he saw his sister of an athlete hold up a bat; ready to swing it in front of his face.
"Sure you don't want to reconsider?" Lynn Jr. threatened.
"Fine, I'll come!" Lincoln said, angrily. "Geez, you didn't have to threaten me or anything."
Later, they were in the van, and they sped off to the Royal Woods Stadium. It was the softball season, and Lynn Jr. was sure to win the game against the Lions of Hazeltucky.
They saw Junior go against the Lions, but it was tough luck for her and her team as the Lions started scoring more runs around the field.
"Our poor Squirrels! Would you look at that, Pep?" The commentator asked the mascot.
"Oh no, the Squirrels are losing!" Pep pretended to be worried for the team's loss.
"I think you're a little too sarcastic, Pep." The commentator said to the mascot.
Pep rolled his eyes in the suit. "That kid believes in too much superstitions and fallacies, if she had practiced more, of course she wouldn't lose against those Lions."
Later, after the game, Lynn Jr. and her team lost to the Lions, who were rejoicing their victory. Lincoln came up to her and shared his condolences for her team.
"Hey, Lynn." Lincoln said, feeling pity for the jock's loss. "I'm sorry that—"
"Stay away from me!" Lynn Jr. commanded as she threw a banana peel at Lincoln. "You're bad luck!"
"That is absolutely…" Lincoln sparked an idea in his head. "…true." He began to think to himself. "Wait a second, if I use the fact that I'm bad luck, maybe I'll get all the time I want to myself!" The 11-year-old Loud smiled.
Later, at home, Leni wanted Lincoln to come with her to her fashion show.
"I'm sorry Leni, but I'm afraid that I might jam a zipper, or break a heel!" Lincoln said to Leni.
"That's it, you're not coming to my fashion show." Leni told her brother.
Two weeks have progressed into April, and Lincoln started to feel bored and lonely, when he heard from Lynn Sr. that they're going to the movies, he took it as his chance to spend time with his family, but Lynn Sr. excluded him due to something bad happening due to his bad luck.
"Someone will get molten butter on them!" Luna said, worried.
"The tickets could sell out!" Lola added.
"Or even worse, we'll have no seats in the cinema!" Lynn Jr. said.
"We'll tell you how it ends." Leni smiled.
This made Lincoln very angry as he stomped upstairs to his room and closed the door. Later, the family went away to watch the movie. Later that night, they returned happy and lively, talking about the fun times they had at the movies.
Lincoln brushed his teeth, flossed it, and got ready for sleep in his PJs. He heard the sound of nails being hammered onto boards, the 11-year-old Loud passed it off as his father cooking something up in the garage. Later, he spat out the toothpaste foam, and rinsed his face with warm water.
He came out of the bathroom, and he saw his bedroom, locked with chains, boarded up, and covered in hazard tape. Lincoln came up to the door and he saw a note, reading it aloud.
"We're sorry, you can't sleep here tonight, we just can't risk it?" Lincoln turned to his sisters. "Are you kidding me?!"
"No!" The Loud sisters close their doors altogether, as he put an irate frown on his face.
Outside, Lincoln prepares a bed of leaves for him to sleep on, when he saw Charles in his doghouse.
"Oh hey, Charles." Lincoln said to the dog, who growled at him. "Aw, you too, Charles?" He said with a crestfallen face.
He slept on the pile of leaves, unknown what was coming for him the following day.
The next day, he woke up, when he felt something in his pants, he shook it off, and it was revealed to be a squirrel. The other two were still sleeping on the pile of leaves, as he went to the door, he tried to open it but it was locked from the inside, he had no spare keys on him.
"Um, guys, I think you accidentally locked me out!" Lincoln called out to his family, who was ignoring him.
"We have a treat for you kids!" Rita announced. "Since your father's presentation went so well…"
"And your mother's root canals too…" Lynn Sr. added.
"We're going to the beach tomorrow!" The Loud matriarch said to her children.
The children rejoiced at the news.
"We're going to the beach tomorrow?!" Lincoln said, smiling.
"Oh no, not you son, something terrible might happen." Lynn Sr. said to Lincoln.
"Aw come on, guys, you know I'm not bad luck, right?" Lincoln pleaded.
"Someone might get attacked by a shark!" Lori said, worried.
"Or caught in a riptide!" Lynn Jr. added worriedly.
Luna added up to what Lynn Jr. said. "Or stung by a jellyfish!"
"If that happens, I call peeing on the wound!" Lana said.
"Come on, you guys, be reasonable!" Lincoln replied to them.
"You're bad luck, Lincoln!" Lola said, as she pushed Lincoln's head out of the doggy door. "You. Can't. Come!"
Lincoln sighed as his family put his breakfast out of the doggy door. "Guess I brought this on myself, didn't I?"
What he didn't know, William and Olivia were there, just watching from their window…and so were their children…
William and Olivia looked at each other, with shocked and crestfallen looks.
The End
A/N: Sinister ending, isn't it? The Afton family is back together, but who knows what can happen afterwards? Lincoln just wanted some time to himself, and then he gets kicked out of the house for no reason? Now it's time for the Afton family to step in and help Lincoln back.