"This time I'm gonna do it, I can feel it, I just need to give my best!"
Lynn Loud, proud jock of the family and number one fan of sports in the Loud house, clung from one of the holds of the wall; she had promised herself to learn how to climb before the end of the month, and before the beginning of the X games. Climbing was one of the sports she wasn't that good at, but that was about to change; even when she was the bravest of her sisters, truth is, she was afraid of heights.
Maybe 'afraid' was not the correct term; she didn't mind the sensation of dizziness when she was at the top, but she knew if she ever fell, she would be helpless and might end up hurt. Being at the top of a building or riding a roller coaster was different: in the roller coaster everything was calculated, there was no way for her to end up hurt since she was secured to the kart. In a building, come on, you really think she'd jump off a building?
At that moment, she was six meters up the floor, climbing one of those walls with colorful plastic rocks. It was the safest option to climb, or at least to gather more experience so she could get to do the real thing in the future.
"Come on Loud, many times you're almost at the top and many times you chicken up." she said to herself. Fear has been something she had experimented many times in the past: fear of getting hurt, fear of not achieving something. But this was by far, the most stupid fear she have felt yet. "You're gonna do five hundred squats for every time you fail!"
Barely one meter to reach the top, she felt that fear taking over her. Her sight grew dim and her heart pounded like a drum inside her chest. She took a deep breath, took impulse and jumped, reaching the top of the wall for the first time since she started climbing about two weeks ago.
"One more victory for Loud!" she cheered at the top, foolishly jumping with excitement and slipping on the border. She nearly fell again, but somehow managed to get a firm grip on one of the rocks. 'It wouldn't hurt to be more careful next time.' she thought, totally ashamed as she climbed down the wall.
Over the course of the week she continued climbing, improving her times and greatly reducing the amount of falls. Once she managed to make a perfect climb in a short time, not doubting in grabbing the next rock, and reaching the top without hesitating, she knew she had mastered this sport.
That day she returned proud to the family residence, finding some of her sisters gathered around the table waiting for the dinner.
"Mom! I managed…" she began, but was abruptly interrupted by her mother's voice.
"Lori, come and get the plates!" she yelled from the stove.
"Coming!" Lori yelled, getting up from the chair and grabbing the plates.
"Oh, well." Lynn said, a little bit disappointed. She walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs to clean herself before eating dinner. She found her father walking out of Lola and Lana's room. Maybe he'd be excited to listen.
"Dad, today I…"
"Just one minute, sweetie," Lynn Sr. said, stopping her mid sentence. "Luan! Come here and separate the twins! I gotta go and check your mother's stew!"
"I just did it like ten minutes ago! Alright, I'm coming!" Luan replied with annoyance.
Like always, nobody listened to her. She knew it wasn't personal, but she couldn't help but feel frustrated; every time she wanted to talk with somebody about her athletic achievements, everyone seemed to be busy doing their own things. Once she wanted to tell Luna about her first 5k run, but she said that 'she had no time, she was jamming with her mates, sis'. Whatever. Those idiots don't know what they're missing.
She walked to her and Lucy's room, picked some clothes and went to the bathroom. Once she stripped from her sweaty, dirty clothes, she got inside the shower and opened the hot water tap. Steam built up inside the bathroom as the heated liquid fell directly on her head; her muscles, formerly tense from all the stress they went through the day, were now relaxed. Her mind cleared from the negative emotions she felt moments ago.
After a couple of minutes, she came out feeling like a completely new Lynn; her previous thoughts washed away with the steam and her mood improved. Maybe she should go and try again to tell her family about her achievement, they probably were gathered at the table now.
The door of her brother's room opened, making her come out of her thoughts and actually startling her a bit. Her brother, wearing the same orange t-shirt, jeans and sneakers came and walked towards her.
"Hey, Lynn." he greeted. "I see you finished training, how was it?"
"Pretty good actually," she replied. A warmness came from within her chest, and expanded all throughout her body. Was it because someone actually wanted to hear about her day after everyone else ignored her? Probably, but she didn't care. "I managed to shorten my times and now I can climb without problems. I think I'm ready to face the orphan's peak.
"I'm glad to he-wait what?" his interest suddenly turned into surprise and worry. He looked at her with eyes wide open, that was the moment when Lynn realized she had spoken too much. It wasn't common for her to spit certain details about her life, just the necessary so awkward questions can be avoided. Yet, the excitement of having someone who was willing to listen to her made her lower her guard.
"Lynn, isn't that…"
"Royal Woods most dangerous mountain? Yes it is." She spoke with a mask of confidence. "I fear no mountain, I'm gonna climb and conquer it."
"What?! No, Lynn, I mean, wouldn't it be better if…" the boy spoke, but was suddenly interrupted by his elder sister.
"Don't even try to convince me not to, Link, I made my choice and you can't do anything to change my mind." She ended the conversation there and walked downstairs to join the rest of the family at the dinner table. Lincoln stood there for a moment, thinking about what her sister just revealed to him and pondering what could he do that could lead to the best outcome?
Dinner went pretty well for the jock, she told her family about her day, and they actually listened to her, feeling happy and congratulating her sincerely. This time, she remembered to skip certain details, so she wouldn't have to run like the previous situation with her brother upstairs.
The rising sun marked the beginning of another day, an average day for everyone, but for her would be the day where she would test her recently developed ability. She made her usual routine, eating an energy bar with a low fat yogurt and practicing sports outside, so nobody would suspect. Her only worry, though, was that her brother could snitch on her at any moment.
The rest of the morning went normal; she had that bad feeling every time she saw her brother, but analyzing his behavior, he showed no intent of telling anyone about her intentions, which made her relax a little. Just to be sure, she looked for her brother before leaving, but he seemed to be pretty busy helping Luan with something that resembled a puppet show.
A thirty minutes walk later, she was in front of the obstacle that stood between her and the sweet feeling of accomplishment she was so used to: the Orphan's Peak.
She put on the protective equipment and made her stretching routine. After applying climbing chalk, she took a deep breath and gazed up at the mountain; the first part looked dark and dangerous, but this didn't intimidate her. After feeling ready, she started climbing.
She grabbed each rock with confidence, climbing to the next with total calm. It took her nearly one hour, several bottles of water and some energy bars. She was sweating like she never had before, and only stopped for moments because her back started to complain, but she didn't quit. At one point, she saw that her trip was coming to an end, just mere meters remained for her to reach the top and delete this from her list of big achievements. Once she put a hand on the edge, she used her remaining energy to impulse her body towards solid ground. There, she crawled a few meters to get away from the edge, and let her beaten body fall on the dirt. Her legs ached like crazy, her arms pulsated and were red from the immense effort they've been put through, the muscles on her back were on the verge of giving up, but in the end it was worth it. The pain was temporary, but the feeling of success would accompany her for the rest of her days.
After resting for about twenty minutes and feeling better she got up, cleaning the dirt off her clothes and taking a deep breath before letting out a victory yell.
"I FUCKING RULE!" her voice echoed through the several rocky formations that surrounded the mountain. She proceeded to look down the way she climbed, gazing with amazement at the great extension of forests that populated the area. The sun would set at any moment, which created a view postal worthy.
"There you have it, dork." she spoke, clearly referring to Lincoln. "I did it, and I plan to go for more…but maybe another day."
She then set everything for her descent; getting down was actually way easier than climbing up, in less than thirty minutes she was a few meters off the ground. The problem was that she was coming down without much care, using the same rocks she used to climb; some of these were made of earth, and had cracked on her way up. Luckily for her the rock that caused her fall was almost at the base of the mountain, the downside was that she took a four meters fall.
And there was that awful sensation of falling, that sensation that she so much hated and thought she had gotten over after conquering the mountain. Her body hit the hard rocks and started to roll her way down. In an effort to smooth the fall, she landed on her feet.
A cracking sound came along the heavy thud that her body made upon hitting the ground. Lynn grunted in pain, feeling the several cuts, scratches and some friction burns in her body; they hurt, but were mostly superficial.
"I guess I'm lucky. It could've been worse…" she said whilst attempting to get up. That was the moment she realized how grave her fall was.
The moment she supported her weight on her right leg, she felt a sharp, incapacitating pain that made her fall again. The bones beneath the knee, known as tibia and fibula, had shattered, giving her leg the appearance of having a second knee facing backwards. With a fear she had never felt before, she started to hyperventilate, feeling the adrenaline that numbed the pain wearing down.
Negative thoughts fueled by fear started to take over her mind. What if she never recovers from this? What if the damage is so bad she loses the leg? Would this affect her athletic career? She needed answers but received none. Soon she curled and began to cry.
"Lincoln," she weeped. "I should've listened to you and stayed home…I wish I could go back and be more careful…"
"Yup. Now you're a total mess."
"I know…"
"Lincoln was right."
"Yes, but don't tell him…"
"Lincoln is the best brother on the whole planet and you should give him your Buccaneers jersey signed by Tom Brady."
"Yes I shou-wait what?" She realized she wasn't talking to herself all this time. Somehow she turned to look back, spotting the white haired boy looking at her with a smile.
"Lincoln! W-what are…"
"Listen, I only came because I knew how careless and impulsive you are. I knew you'd need my help at some point, and I hoped it wasn't something serious but…it is what it is, I guess."
The white haired boy was carrying a backpack with several curative materials such as bandages, alcohol, some creams, and coincidentally, a pair of steel foldable sticks. He wanted to clean her wounds first, but there was little daylight remaining and soon would be dark. He grabbed the metal sticks and the bandages.
"I thought you were with Luan…" she commented.
"It was just a distraction; I knew you'd do everything to prevent me from coming with you." he said, unfolding the sticks.
"Hold on, okay? This is gonna hurt, so you might want to bite something." He said, positioning himself in front of her. Lynn knew what was coming, and smiled with the little confidence she had left.
"Gimme your best, I can endure everyth-" she spoke, but stopped as her brother quickly grabbed her broken leg and pulled it so it was aligned. A single tear formed on the corner of her eye, as she shouted as high as she could.
"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT" her voice echoed and faded not long after. Lincoln then proceeded to put the metal sticks at each side of her leg, and tied them with the bandages. With her leg now stabilized, it was time to go.
"I didn't come here to see you hurt and wail. C'mon, let's take you to the hospital." With ease, he carried her on her back. On their way, Lynn couldn't help but feel lucky to count with someone as Lincoln, with someone so attentive and eager to help. That day he saved her life, and who knows what would have happened if she stayed there with that injury more time. But that moment…that moment remained in her heart forever.
"Thanks for everything Link, you're the best brother a girl could ever have."
"You're welcome sis, that's what siblings are for."
Hugging his back, she smiled and rested her head over his shoulder. Feeling in peace, they continued their way.
"So, about that jersey…"
"Keep dreaming, dork"