They never thought they'd face this. But just as it often happens in life, specially for the Loud sisters, their days were full of surprises.
As soon as they made their morning routine and ate breakfast, they began to discuss the logistics of the meeting, they all tried to remember what happened back then, trying to get every single single detail they could think of; they were about to meet with their brother, after all the pain and the time it took them to forget, after all the adversities they faced, the day they al dreaded was around the corner.
After Lynn changed her mind, Leni was positive that the other would do the same and would like to join them, that's why she talked to them with hopes to convince them.. Unfortunately, they were still firm with their decision. Lori, Lucy, Lisa, Lola and especially Luna remained adamant with their decision when Leni asked them; none of them wanted to go; this sort of caused some division between the sisters: on one side were the ones who would go, and in the other were the ones who didn't want to. The last ones stopped talking with the ones who were going, they only did it when it was necessary.
Lori was in her bedroom, browsing her social networks in an effort to distract her mind from the problem she has been trying to avoid. Much like the other sisters of the group she was in, she did everything in her power to avoid the subject; despite being the oldest, despite being labelled as the wisest, she still didn't feel that she could deal with all this. Lori still loved her brother, and she wanted to see him again more than anyone, even more than Lana (in her own words). But still, watching how he made his life with Sam, watching how he was happy with another woman that was not her...
Lori knew she wasn't strong, she knew she didn't have the strength of Leni to put her own pain aside and actually feel happy for him; she was aware that it was selfish and couldn't help but feel guilty for it. But also she couldn't help to feel that way.
Sighing, she got on her feet and walked towards her bed, where she let her body limply fall over the mattress as she wondered what to do. She wanted to see her brother again, but at the same time she didn't want to face him, but she wanted things to be what they used to before all this happened, but she was scared to face the fact that he was with another woman...
This was stressing, she knew that whatever she chose to do would have consequences, but she didn't know if she was ready to face those consequences or not.
The door of her room opened and Lily stepped into the room. "Lori?"
Lori sat on her bed and fixed herself. "What's the matter, Lily?"
The little sister sat at Leni's bed in front of Lori. "I just wanted to know how you were."
Lori sighed, unsure to tell Lily about her problem. "I'm...I'm ok, why you ask?"
"Because I can see you're not ok."
When did she become this perceptive? Lori didn't know, but what she did know was that she could no longer hide it from her. "Alright, you caught me." Lori slightly chuckled.
The little sister smiled, she hit the nail.
"Listen, I just don't know what to do, I still love Lincoln, I want to see him, but..."
"But you don't feel ready to face his new life." Lily completed the sentence.
Lori just nodded. "Yeah, and to be honest it's frustrating; I'm supposed to be the oldest, I'm supposed to be the big sister who support the others with their problems and struggles and...I'm the one who needs help with my problems..."
Lily understood, it must not be easy to be an adult and have to be emotionally comforted by your little sister. "I understand it must be difficult for you, but please don't forget that you're still human; yeah you're our big sister and all, but it doesn't mean you can't have fears and insecurities."
Lily's words began to make sense in Lori's mind. "I-I guess you're right..."
"I know I am, and please don't forget that I'm here for you. It doesn't matter if we don't agree on something, please don't forget we're still sisters, and we must be there for each other."
Lilly hugged Lori, letting her know that she meant every word she just said. Lori got the message, feeling that warmth inside of her. She had been in the big sister mode for so long to help her sisters with their problems, she forgot she also had problems and have been making them aside, not confronting them and letting them build up like like a balloon being pumped up with air to the point where it would explode at any moment. That hug felt like a huge release, it made Lori shed some tears.
"We know you want to see him, but at the same time it's something difficult and you still don't feel ready to deal with it. We're not gonna pressure you into trying, we're gonna tell you everything once we're done talking with him."
Lori smiled, knowing someone had your back really felt nice. "Thank you, sis."
Lily got up and left the room, leaving Lori alone with her thoughts. The oldest of the Loud sisters was more confident now, not enough to go with her sisters to meet their brother, but she knew it was only a matter of time for them to meet again. This time, she'd be ready.
Luan was at the dining table with a pencil on her hand and a notebook in front of her. Recently she was trying to come out with more jokes for her stand up performances, but it's been hours since she started, and all she ended up getting was a butt ache for being seated for a long time.
She knew exactly why, she couldn't stop thinking about her brother, about the meeting and how would he react after all these years. And she was also curious about how would they react with him. Was the love they felt for him gone? Was it stronger than ever? Would he come with Sam? She wasn't sure.
Lana told them that she was in conversations with him to plan the meeting, and not having an answer was eating her alive. She was one of the few sisters who accepted Leni's proposal of going with her and Lana to see their brother; the more she thought about it, the more she began to make the connections inside her head of why the others didn't wanna go. They were still scared, after all these years they feared their brother. She stopped feeling that way a few years ago when she understood that Lincoln was going through a lot, and the last straw for him was the death of their parents. And though she haven't talked about this with the ones that are going to see him, she thought it was about the same.
But if she was sure about something they all had in common, was that their brother helped them to become better people. They all improved just so he could accept them, and even if it didn't go as they expected, she had noticed how everyone started to behave different: Lisa and Lucy were more open, they had made a lot of friends and were more extrovert. Lori used to be an authority figure who liked to give orders and thought the that her way of doing things was the absolute truth, and if things ever went wrong it was someone else's fault. She learned to be more open to the ideas of the others; she found that there was a whole new world of ideals and expanded her point of view.
Lily and Leni learned to be way more aware of their actions, they knew they couldn't go by the life thinking lightly of every decision they had to make, and to not let anyone underestimate them just because they made a bad decision. Lana learned that just because she wasn't as girly as her twin it didn't make her less of a woman, and even when she still prefer to dress casual and/or for work, she loved to dress properly and go shopping with Lola and Leni. Luna had found the confidence she needed to create good music; she was able to create such beautiful melodies that would make the most hardcore metalheads shed a tear, and was also able to create such head-bang inducing metal songs that would make the most serious of the old-fashioned adults bang their heads and create a moshpit.
The problem with Luna was that she didn't play them, actually, it's been years since she played an instrument, and those songs she wrote would end up inside a drawer to never be seen again. How did Luan find out about them? She couldn't find her watch and searched every drawer in the room. They were there, gathering dust and getting yellowish as they aged. She have talked to her, asking why she stopped playing, encouraging her to do it again, but she said that every time she wanted to play, the image of her best friend putting her tongue inside his brother's mouth would come to her mind, reminding her why she stopped. It just hurt.
It was not that she had given up on music completely, she still loved listening to it; actually, it was all she did when she wasn't working. The others knew it was useless to cheer her up, she would only end up angry.
Luan grabbed her notebook and got on her feet. Things are gonna change. she thought, walking uptairs heading towards her room. I'm gonna make sure.
Lana was on her bed, browsing her networks looking for something interesting to focus her mind on. It's been two days since Lynn said that she wanted to go with them to meet their brother; she expected more sisters to join her, but unfortunately nobody else offered to go. It was sad, she wanted them all to receive him with open arms, but...she understood that some of them just weren't ready.
She got off the bed and walked out of her room towards the kitchen, there she met with Lynn and Lily, who were talking about that sport game they saw last night. Lana was thirsty, if she was right, there was still a soda on the fridge.
"No news from him?" Lynn asked.
Lana shook her head. "Unfortunately not." she replied. "Don't worry, girls, I'm sure he'll eventually..."
She stopped talking as her cellphone began to ring. Feeling the vibration on her leg, Lana immediately left the can on the counter and grabbed her phone; as she saw the screen, her eyes opened wide as a loud gasp left her mouth.
The others saw this, knowing that only one thing could cause such reaction on her.
"I-Is it..." Lily tried to say, but the sudden rush of emotions didn't let her speak. It wasn't necessary, Lana got the message.
"Yes..." Lana responded, looking her in the eyes and seeing her own expression on her sister's face.
Both Lynn and Lily got on their feet and rushed towards their sister. Lana picked the call and put the phone against her ear. Both sisters tried to listen to the conversation, but all they heard were hums coming from the phone. Lana didn't help either, all she did was respond with "yes" and "no" to whatever he might be asking. After some moments Lana nodded, saying goodbye and ending the call.
"What did he say?" Lynn eagerly asked.
Lana just stared at the floor with nervousness.
"Did he say something?" Lily asked, trying no to pressure her sister.
"Yes..." she finally responded. "He said he'd meet with us in three days at the park."
The park. That place have seen their lives pass year by year with not many changes except for a new pop corn stand. The place where Lincoln had his last date before they found out that his girlfriend was Sam. The place where...everything would start over.
"I'm...I'm gonna go and tell the others." Lynn said before disappearing from the kitchen. Now Lily and Lana were alone, processing all of this, unable to say a thing.
"Lana, I don't know what to think..."
To be honest, Lana felt the same way. What could they do? Throughout the years she have dreamt about this day, she always imagined how it would be to meet her brother again, to hug him, feel his warmness all over her...
But she failed to think about what she would do, what she would say; she didn't even think what would she tell the others. How do you explain that you are talking to the one that have caused them so much pain when he left?
Still concerned, Lana proceeded to hug Lily. Yeah they didn't know what to do or think, but if they had each other they'd be okay.
"I don't either," she responded. "But I'm sure that something good is gonna come out of this."
Despite what she just said, she was sure that things could go bad as well. All she could do was hope for the best.
Steps could be heard coming from the stairs. Luan came down, followed by Leni and Lynn. At last arrived Lola, Lucy, Lori, Lisa and...Luna.
"Is that true?" Luan asked. "Did you talk with Linoln?"
Lana nodded. "Yeah. He's coming in three days. In three day we're gonna meet our brother again." She sighed. "Are you ready?"
Some girls nodded, some didn't, but they were gonna do it anyway. The day was around the corner.
Their brain played them dirty, playing image after image of that bastard who killed their parents. A wave of sadness and anger made them stand still, an old pain struck their hearts. But they didn't let it win, they toughened up their hearts, they became more confident, stronger.
Looking at her cellphone, Lana saw a picture of her brother about from the time where it all started, that's how she saved his contact That's how he looked about five or seven years ago. How would he look now?
It doesn't matter, that's not stopping me or my sisters. We're gonna end this once and for all.
Her brother's smile on that picture gave her the necessary strength to face her fears. In just a few days they'd meet him again, they'd find out all about his life...whether they liked it or not.