Picking up the Pieces - Chapter 1
parties and poetry
plane-theory
2
In the dark of night,
From what I see,
There is a fright,
Deep inside me.
And as the night turns into day,
The unease wanes but never fades,
This uncomfortable feeling is here to stay,
Coming in spades.
Lucy gnawed at her pen and sighed, she wasn't really sure of the last line in particular. Her initial instinct was to scour the house for aid, for a word that rhymes with fades, but she soon remembered that the rest of her family members were otherwise occupied tonight. Suppressing another sigh, she took a glance out the window. The party was still going on outside, and a small smile spread across her face as he saw her family members and family friends having fun and mingling. Her observation was cut short with the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Lucy slunk towards the door, listening for footsteps. Hearing a pair of footsteps, she assumed it was the twins coming up the stairs. The door to the left opened, proving her guess right, and the edges of her lips upturned slightly.
Lucy returned to her poetry, racking her brain for a better line.
Lucy's reverie was cut short by another set of footsteps coming up the stairs. She heard her mother talking quietly, and she assumed that it was probably Lisa and Lily's time to retire to their rooms.
She returned to her poem, still no closer to finding a better line.
And as the time extends,
I hate to depend,
On the vices
That tie and bind me.
But the vices that hurt,
Cannot compare to the spurt,
Of the blood on the wrist,
As the cut appears with a hiss.
Lucy chewed on the pen again. Lucy had never cut her wrist, well, on purpose that is, but Lisa had told her that it released endorphins, which was a brain chemical and-
Well she had somewhat blanked on the rest of the explanation. Cutting had been something that was present in the more depressive media that she consumed but…
She tapped the desk, deep in thought.
Picking up the notebook, she examined the entire poem she wrote, sighing slightly as her eyes scanned the page. 'A bit darker than what I'm used to, huh,' she mused to herself. She closed her notebook, and flopped onto her bed, covering her eyes with her arm.
"Everything is going to change from now on, huh," Lucy whispered, feeling moisture gather at the corner of her eyes.
'Lori is leaving to go to college, in a year Leni will leave, Luna will leave, Luan…'
"Lynn," she whispered, "Lincoln."
Sitting up, Lucy wiped her eyes and continued to whisper.
"Everything is going to change."
She did not know - just - how right she was.
Lucy placed her notebook back onto the table. Her moisture-filled eyes threatened to overflow, prompting her to wipe her eyes with her sleeve a second time. She let out one sniffle - only one, she was a mature 9 year old, and was above things like crying-
She began a second sniffle and the waterworks threatened to open up when she heard another set of feet coming up the stairs. She quickly dried her tears and wiped her nose - she did NOT want to be caught crying in front of Lynn - but the door didn't open. Lucy waited with bated breath, as the footfalls echoed in the corridor. The footfalls seemed to stop in front of her room - her breath hitched- and she desperately rubbed her eyes a second time, trying to get rid of all of the evidence of tears. After a few agonizing seconds, she heard a knock on her door.
'Lincoln then,' Lucy finally let go of the breath that she hadn't been aware that she was holding. 'Lynn would never knock,' she thought wryly to herself, the smallest smidgen of a smile on her face.
"Come in," Lucy said, now with a genuine smile on her face. The door blasted open, and Lincoln stumbled in. The smile on her face morphed into a look of confusion as she stared at the boy. He was red and flushed, sweaty and stumbling, unsteady on his feet, almost as if he was, "Drunk." Lucy said aloud. "Lincoln, are you drunk? Are you alright?"
Lincoln stumbled towards her, bracing himself with her bedpost, "Yeah I'm just fine Luce." He slurred out with a smile. "Yes to the other question as well… I think." Lincoln attempted to stand up straight again, but stumbled a second time. Lucy stepped forward and steadied him. "Th-thanks Spooky," Lincoln said slowly.
"Yeah no problem," Lucy replied, trying to quell the slight blush that dusted her cheeks as Lincoln clung onto her arm for support. "So what brings you here Linc?" she asked, ignoring the scent of alcohol on his breath and the smell of sweat on his arm.
"Just wanted to ch-check on my favorite sister, you know," Lincoln replied, ruffling her hair. "I saw you disappeared earlier so-" he yawned. "-I wanted to come check on you."
Lucy's blush was in full force now. "Your favorite?" she repeated uncertainty.
"Yes Spooky," he said confidently, "I like your poems, your monotone, your eyes-" Lincoln grabbed her chin and tilted it upwards as Lucy let out a little yelp. Lincoln then swept her bangs to the side, revealing her glittering pale blue eyes. "-your gothic… oof."
Lincoln was cut off by a punch from the red faced Lucy. Her heart was beating out of her chest, she could feel the blood flowing in her head, and she could feel where her fist connected with his shoulder. "Lincoln," she said between heavy breaths, "what did I tell you about my hair?"
"Ah, - to not touch it, sorry Luce." Lincoln replied, slurring the words together. He reached over and ruffled her hair again, and the goth surprisingly permitted it, lowering her head and leaning into him.
"Well I am quite fine in here brother," Lucy said, eyes glued to the ground. "Thanks for noticing that I dipped out though, I don't think that anyone else realized, honestly," she said the second part quieter, with a bit of an edge to her voice.
"T-Thats not true," Lincoln said loudly. "Lynn also-"
The boy was cut off by a finger covering his mouth. "Quiet." Lucy hissed, "Do you want to wake up all of the younger sisters? They're sleeping in their rooms, you know." Lincoln looked a little ashamed and nodded. "Now let's get you to bed, my favorite older brother," Lucy said, guiding him towards the hallway.
Lincoln made a grunt of approval as he and Lucy stumbled their way across the hall. When the duo reached Lincoln's door, Lucy opened the door and guided him to his bed. When she sat him down, she dared to look up again, and saw a large smile on Lincoln's face. Faster than she could react, he had scooped her up into a hug. All of her efforts in suppressing the color from her cheeks were for naught as she instantly felt a heat flush across her face. "Linc-" she started to say but was cut off by Lincoln patting her head once again.
"Thanks for helping me out, Luce." Lincoln said quietly,"and I'm glad that I'm your favorite brother." Lucy didn't reply, but leaned into him again. The boy finally let her go, and she scurried away, once again breathing heavily.
"Good night Lincoln." Lucy said, now with a large smile on her face. 'If any of my sisters saw me right now, they would have thought I was crazy.' she thought to herself.
"Night Lucy," Lincoln replied as she vacated the room and shut the door behind her. Lucy paused for a moment, feeling her heart rate go down as she calmed herself, feeling the cool air in the hallway. "W-Wait I'm your only brother." Lucy smiled as she heard Lincoln ramble slightly. "I have to be the favorite by default."
Lucy slapped her own cheeks and started down the hallway to the bathroom. 'I have to get rid of this blush,' she thought to herself as she traversed the darkened hall.
After a few minutes of calming herself in the bathroom, Lucy made her way back to her room, but in the corner of her eye, she saw Lori, who was visibly flushed red, making her way to Lincoln's room. Lucy had half a mind to walk over and investigate, but a yawn threatened her tired mind, plus she wasn't sure Lori would take kindly to an annoyance, even if she was drunk. Lucy turned and walked into her room, flopping onto her bed, and let sleep take hold. For some reason, she turned towards the clock and read 11:00 PM. She turned onto her back, and let sleep take hold of her, for real this time.
And the girl was awakened again as she heard the door open noisily, and heard someone stumble around the room for a solid minute before collapsing onto the other bed in the room. 'Damn it Lynn,' Lucy thought to herself, as she tried to get back to Morpheus' realm.
…
Fuck.
Lucy inwardly cursed as she couldn't fall back asleep. Turning, she took another glance at the clock, which now read 1:00 AM. Lucy pushed herself off her bed, and walked out the hallway, and began to walk down the stairs for a glass of water. At the bottom of the stairs, she was met with a snoring Luan and Lynn Sr. on the couch.
'Why couldn't Lynn have just slept down here for tonight, huh?' she thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen. Retrieving the water glass and filling it, she greedily gulped it down and left the glass in the sink, then turned and walked back up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, however, she caught a glimpse of a guilty looking Lori exiting Lincoln's room. Instinctively, she crouched on the stairs, not wanting to announce her presence. Lori had silently closed Lincoln's door, dashed quietly across the hallway, quickly opened her door, and retreated inside in a flash. Normally Lucy would have questioned this action, but her sleep-addled brain urged her to return to her room and attempt to fall back asleep.
Lucy laid in her bed, looking up at the ceiling. As her tired eyes slowly came to a close, she thought back to her poetry session from earlier that had ultimately resulted in her crying as she thought about change.
"On second thought, a little change might not be so bad after all." Lucy whispered with a smile, as sleep claimed her.
She would come to heavily regret that statement.
A/N
This is the companion fic to Repressed Memories, written after the first chapter of that story. I wanted to try telling a story from two different perspectives, with each chapter referencing events from two different perspectives.
This fic is intended to be the more expository one of the two, with Lucy and others taking action, and Lincoln struggles to cope on the sidelines.
Rating is T for now, I am not sure if I would touch on mature topics, for now it's not in the outline/works.
The works were intended to be read in the order that they were released, I will probably put some numbers up on the chapters to signify the ideal reading order when I release new chapters.
Reviews Welcome