'BeepBeepBeepBee-' The alarm clock has been blaring for thirty minutes, but Lincoln barely noticed it as he was too absorbed in thought. 'Maybe i should play sick today. No, they'd have Lisa check and she'd see right through it.' Lincoln furrowed his brow slightly then continued his thought, 'maybe i could skip school again.' But he quickly dismissed the idea, as doing that would only land him more trouble. "I guess i have no choice then..." He mutters to himself as he lifts himself into a sitting position. Lincoln glances at his doorway and feels the imposing presence of the outside world beyond it. He quickly shakes off the feeling, and then briskly reached over and turned off his alarm clock.
For a few moments he sat still and attempted to build up the mental fortitude to start his day. After mustering his resolve he got himself dressed, and approached his doorway. He started to reach for the doorhandle, but paused a moment; and pressed his ear against door in an effort to estimate the activity in the upstairs hallway. He percieved no sound, and so he turned the knob and exited his room. Once in the hallway he gave a quick look around, and found it empty. Believing this to be a good sign, he then turned towards the bathroom and approached it; only to find it still occupied. He didn't check who was in it, he really didn't care; He just wanted to get the day over with. So with a discontented sigh he made his way back to his bedroom, grabbed his backpack, and then made his way downstairs.
Once reaching the bottom steps Lincoln noticed the entire downstairs area was vacant and silent. 'Did everyone else head to school already?' Lincoln wondered to himself. Then as if to answer his inquisitive thought; Lincoln heard the upstairs bathroom door open, which was immediately followed by the sight of Lori marching down the staircase while wearing an irritated and stern expression. She continued her rapid pace until she was directly in front of him, and she wasted no time telling Lincoln what was up; "Hey twerp, since your lazy butt decided to sleep in so late everyone else decided to walk to school without you; also mom and dad decided to take Lilly for a walk. So it falls onto me to drive you to school. Are you ready? I really don't want to waste any more time waiting for you." Lori then crissed her arms, and impatiently waited for his response. Lincoln cast his eyes downward when confronted with her sharp words; he then replied, "Uh... yeah, i'm ready. We can go." Lincoln looked back at Lori but she was texting somthing on her phone. Lincoln began to wonder a moment whether or not she had even heard him; but his uncertainty was shattered by Lori giving a sudden outburst, "What are you looking at? If you're ready, then drag your butt into the car and wait for me there!" Lincoln immedietly complied with her order, and made his way to Vanzilla.
He hesitated a moment before entering, still debating whether or not he was ready to face the day. But with one more deeper sigh he opened opened the car door, and sat himself inside. Lincoln wasn't left alone for long before Lori entered the car as well; And after a moment of performing battle with Vanzilla's faulty ignition, she got the old thing rolling its way to school. Lincoln tried to keep his focus on the blurred shapes that whipped by outside his window, but was interupted by Lori tossing a breakfast bar and a apple into his lap. Lincoln jumped a bit at the sudden and unexpected weight that suddnly found itself atop his legs, but was brought back to attention by Lori's voice. "Mom and Dad don't want you going to school without eating breakfast, i guess they don't want you to have any excuse for not paying attention today. You'd better eat it before we get to school, I really do not want to wait in the parking lot for you to eat your late breakfast. It's already unfair enough that i'm neing forced to shuttle you around like this; I shouldn't be punished because of the stupid stunt you pulled last month." She said all of this without even looking at him, as if he was barely even worth her slightest attention. Lincoln wanted to say something back. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't hungry. He wanted to tell her the truth as to why he skipped school last month. He wanted to ask her to stop talking to him like that. But he said nothing, for he knew she wouldn't listen. All his opinions, arguments and feelings will get swept away in a tide of idignation, and a elevated sense of authority; just like always. So Lincoln simply kept his eyes down and quickly consumed the privided meal. He didn't even taste any of it.
Once finished, Lincoln returned his gaze back out his window; only this time his field of view turned upwards towards the sky. The sky was clear, blue, and sunny; A clear indication of the approach of summer. But through Lincoln's eyes, all the light seemed dimmed. He first noticed this phenomenon several months ago, that everytime he went outside all the light and colors seemed to be slightly muted; as if the whole world was blanketed by a permament overcast. Lincoln spent a small while considering why everything seemed so much dimmer to him, before he was abrubtly shaken out of the thought by Lori roughly shaking him; "We're here twerp, now get out." Lincoln brought his gaze back down and found the school building sitting before him. The old building used to have a warm and safe atmosphere to it, but now all Lincoln feels when he sees it is the promise of day filled with failure and isolation. Lincoln got out of Vanzilla and was about to make his way to the school enterance before Lori verbally halted him one last time, "One more thing twerp," Lincoln turned to look at her, "If you cause trouble or do anything that'll force me to come back here to get you; I will send you into a world of hurt. Do you understand?" Lori raised her right eyebrow to indicate that she's in fact seeking an answer. Lincoln only gave a halfhearted nod as his answer; which seemed to be enough for Lori as she immedietly sped off to wherever she was going without even saying bye. Lincoln stared at her former positon for a few seconds before turning back to the school. He looked at the building with a sense of trepidation and dismal inevitability. He sighed, steeeled himself, and made his way to suffer through another school day.
Authors Note: So that's chapter 1. I thought about how i was gonna pace the story, or where i would start it; And i decided to go with a slow paced story that starts after Lincolns social and emotional issues start. I felt that if i did it that way I could then naturaly add in context about the past troubles, as well as add in new ones without resorting info dumps. But it'll likely be a while before the big change occurs. I really want to slowly build up to it. But i would love to hear opinions on chapter 1. Thank you.