An hour had elapsed since Lincoln vanished, and the sisters remained stunned, their earlier quarrel between Lynn and Luna forgotten, as they now rallied around Lisa, who was attempting to restart the machine following the brief power interruption.

Lily, the baby sister, was heartbroken and wouldn't stop crying after Lincoln's disappearance, Leni had cradled her in her arms to try and calm her down.

The parents arrived soon after, as Lori had phoned them saying it was an emergency, although initially she was unsure whether to reveal what had happened, and it was a topic of discussion with Lisa and the others, but ultimately they decided to come clean about the entire ordeal. Initially, they thought it was a prank (perhaps because they were in denial about their son's disappearance), but the reality of the situation eventually sank in.

Rita was overcome with shock and nearly collapsed, while Lynn was gripped by a panic attack, and just as Lisa's machine was showing some promise, a fresh wave of argumentation swept over the family.

"Can you bring Lincoln back or can't you?" Rita asked her youngest daughter, her voice laced with impatience.

"I've already gone over this, but the machine effectively dematerializes an object or person, like Lincoln, by dissolving its molecular bonds and reducing it to its constituent atoms, which can then be reconstituted..."

"Stop beating around the bush! We don't care about the science, can you just tell us if you can bring him back or not?!" Lola exclaimed, her frustration evident.

"I apologize, I lost my train of thought. The machine appears to have been overloaded by the energy surge from the lightning strike, because I hadn't finished calibrating it, and when I inadvertently activated the laser, I... hadn't completed entering the coordinates, which means... I have no idea where he might be."

Those words seemed to put pressure on the entire family just by hearing it.

"Are you able to bring him back or not?" Lynn Sr. asked, his voice trembling with apprehension.

"Yes, I can" - that response seemed to calm the entire family. Some of them let out a sigh they didn't know they were holding in - "but it will take some time".

"How long?" Lana asked, her voice laced with concern.

"...I'm unable to give an exact timeframe... but potentially around a week."

And that response causes another impact on the family.

"A WEEK?!" they all shouted in disbelief.

"I know, but I'll need time to repair the machine, and I have to start now."

"A week seriously!?" It was Lori who screamed.

Lisa hesitated, trying not to alarm her family further "I don't know where Lincoln is, but we have to consider the possibility that he was teleported to a nearby location, maybe just outside the city limits, or maybe he's in the Atlantic Ocean, or maybe he's even in the atmosphere, or..."

"Shut up!" Lynn Jr. yelled in a burst of anger, while the others looked on. "Do you want to keep spouting that nonsense, little girl...!"

"Lynn!" Both Rita and Lynn Sr. said in a firm and stern tone, cutting off their daughter before she could finish.:

"But... she's right, you shouldn't say that, it's not funny" Luan added, sounding upset and sad

"Look, I'm sorry, I admit I let my mind get carried away, but I need to start now if I want to bring our blood relative back, please."

"Can't you ask for help from the government? I mean, Lisa, you're a genius with connections, I mean, this invention of yours looks advanced, maybe there's something they can help with" Rita asked her young genius daughter, which only made her become nervous.

"Uh..." Lisa let out a small, uneasy laugh, before composed herself and returned to her usual monotone tone "I'm afraid we can't involve outsiders in this, not the government, not the police, no one, just trust me, if my invention gets out, I'll be in big trouble, and you all could be affected too, being my family, I'm sorry, but this has to stay within the family, I'll take care of it."

That didn't exactly lift the mood, Lynn Sr. was about to ask Lisa to elaborate, what kind of problems would they face, when one of the other Loud siblings intervened.

"But why would we need to talk to bodies... you don't mean talking to headless people or wait... you mean lifeless bodies?" Leni asked, now a little frightened by the thought that Lisa might be referring to corpses, while still holding Lily, who was still sad but was able to relax a bit now.

"No, Leni, I'm referring to... Never mind, it's not relevant... Just listen, time is running out, I have to continue with the machine now, if you'll permit me, please."

The family wasn't very happy about having to wait a week and leaving everything to Lisa, I mean, she was a genius at a young age, but it was the same machine that sent Lincoln away, and how were they going to hide it? Obviously, there would be questions from their friends, like Clyde or Ronnie Ann, not to mention school, they couldn't just tell everyone that they had sent their son to another place because of their little family member's crazy invention, the parents didn't feel good about having to depend on their youngest daughter to fix the situation, they felt guilty and useless, as for the rest of the sisters, it wasn't going any better, Lynn and Luna had already forgotten their previous fight, and the two just looked down with sadness and shame, Lori had a feeling of guilt for not having acted when she should have, and the rest were sad, comforting each other, for now, all they could do was wait and believe that wherever Lincoln was, he was okay.

XXX

Time and reality can be more complex than people are used to, we live by their laws but don't understand them, we just accept them and can continue our lives that way. But there are places where the physical laws we know don't apply as such, flat planes of existence that seem to be ruled by completely different rules, that a simple human mind couldn't possibly understand.

Amidst the turmoil, a consciousness awakened. A lone thought echoed

'Where am I?'

A small being was conscious, but didn't know where it was or how it got to that place.

His name was Lincoln Loud.

His world was spinning wildly, and not just in a figurative sense, as Lincoln's body, which had been shattered into a million pieces, was now miraculously reconstituting itself.

'Lisa... girls' was the thought that surfaced in his mind, and gradually, the memories came flooding back. His little sister's ingenious invention, and the heated argument between his two older sisters, Lynn and Luna.

Why had he tried to interfere? Why did they have to start fighting right there? Well, that was his family, he should have known better, but maybe he wanted to do it because he didn't want the rest of his sisters to witness that scene. Although, truth be told, recalling the fights was not something foreign in that house, maybe he should have thought better of it. It was a chaotic situation and he knew how to deal with his family's chaos. Well, almost.

His thoughts drifted through those recollections, it was odd, he couldn't explain why, but he felt as though that family incident had taken place ages ago, when in reality it should have only been a few hours prior, he supposed it was strange but it was as if time had warped in some way, or was he simply delirious, seriously, how long had he been out cold?

But what if he had died? What if he was now a ghost trapped in limbo? That would explain why he couldn't feel his body.

Honestly, he had no sensation in his body. It was like he was asleep or in some kind of suspended state, because he couldn't see or hear anything at all.

"This isn't how it's depicted on 'ARGGH!'", Lincoln thought, thinking of his favorite paranormal TV show. But that notion was short-lived, as he abruptly started to feel his body and a surge of pain.

The pain that spread through his body was unlike anything he had ever experienced. The feeling that permeated every inch of his skeleton was intensely painful, yet his senses remained dulled, he couldn't see or hear a thing. However, there was one thing he didn't feel, and that was the ground, he literally felt as though he was suspended in nothingness, floating in mid-air.

Gradually, but with certainty, his body recovered its senses. And a primal instinct, inherent to all living creatures, which alerts them to the presence of an observer and triggers a response to escape or conceal oneself from danger, surged through Lincoln's mind, wherever he found himself in that instant.

He was not alone.

Something wasn't right in that place, his body still couldn't move fully, and his vision was blurry, along with his hearing. But something was watching him, and he could feel it consciously, there was danger nearby.

Whispers. He was now able to make out the faint sounds, emanating from various directions, in an unintelligible language, or so it seemed. A creeping sense of dread enveloped him, unlike anything he had ever felt before. Moreover, the strange words inflicted a sharp, stabbing pain in his mind and ears.

Just as things seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, a savior appeared, and his vision began to clear. Lincoln could have sworn he saw a radiant light ahead, like a shimmering gateway, and felt an unseen force propelling him towards it. The whispers around him transformed into menacing snarls, brimming with rage and frustration, or so it seemed to Lincoln.

Slowly, Lincoln began to feel safe as he was enveloped by the light, and finally, when he reached the light, everything turned white.

Next came the shock of a fall, the chill of a hard surface, and the unexpected sensation of... grass beneath him?

"What?" was the first thing Lincoln said with his physical voice, now that he could feel his whole body, which would have been a relief if he wasn't also feeling pain. He could feel the wind... and the sun? Was it already daytime?

"Good. I'm alive, at least, and not dead as I'd assumed."

With effort, he slowly lifted his head, his vision blurry and disoriented from the harsh sunlight that enveloped his surroundings.

Squinting, he could have sworn he saw people, or at least their silhouettes, not far from him. They seemed to notice him and began to approach him.

He was about to speak, but it seemed that the intense pain and a weariness he had never felt before, or hadn't noticed, overcame him, and he fell unconscious again.

His last thought was 'Seriously?' as he couldn't believe he was going to pass out again.