Chapter 2: Visions
~?~
Lincoln's eyes fluttered open, but instead of his bedroom, he found himself standing in an empty, dark void. He looked around, confused about where he currently was.
'Where am I...?' He tried thinking back to the last thing he did...
'The last thing I remember was going to bed, now I'm here...but where is here?' He thought to himself as he started walking forward, hoping to either bump into a wall or a door, but there was nothing in sight, it felt like he was walking forever.
Suddenly, the scene shifted in a blink of an eye, and he now stood in the middle of his living room. Lincoln couldn't help but feel that something was off.
The house was eerily silent, devoid of the usual chaos and noise.
"Hello?!" Lincoln called out, but no one responded.
'They're probably somewhere upstairs' He thought.
He decided to wander through the house, searching each room, trying to see where his family might have gone.
But to his dismay, they were all empty.
"Where is everyone?" he muttered, feeling a lump form in his throat. 'Maybe they went out...? No, they would have at least told me...'
Panic began to set in as he realized he was completely alone.
"Something's wrong, why am I suddenly feeling so anxious about being home alone..." He said about loud.
He soon found himself standing back downstairs, as he moved across the floor, the walls of the house suddenly started to close in on him.
"AH! What's happening?!" He screamed out loud.
Scared, he rushed back upstairs. However, as he made it to the top, the rooms began to become smaller and darker. Shadows loomed around Lincoln, and he began to hear whispers echoing around him.
*Pshpshpshpshp*
"Huh...?" He said turning his head around the hallway, searching to find the source...
Pshpshpshpshp*
"What-? Hello?" He said again, no response... 'I can't make out what they're saying...'
*PshpSpSpshSphpPS*
'The whispers are growing louder and more distinct!' He thought.
PpSPPSPpSPSPSPPSPSPpSP*
'It's so LOUD! Yet I can't understand a single word!'
In a split second, the whispers had come to a complete stop...just before Lincoln's ears began to ring, he quickly put his hands on his ears, trying to dampen the piercing noise.
*rnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng*
'*EUGH!* WHAT IS THAT NOISE?!'
*rnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng*
'My head hurts so much! Someone please! Make it stop!'
"You wantme to make it stop? Huh?" A twisted voice sneered. Loud enough for Lincoln to clearly make out the words.
He quickly turned his head around, trying to find the person behind the voice. The ringing that had been there had suddenly stopped just like the whispers.
'Am I hallucinating all of this...?'
"Who's there!?" He called out, not being able to locate the person behind the voice.
"Pathetic...what a sore sight too look at." the voice mocked back.
"W-What...? W-Who said that?" He called out again,
"Who am I? You knowu̶s̶ me very well...hehehehe" The voice replied sinisterly.
but it didn't receive an immediate response from Lincoln.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Who-?" Lincoln replied. He had no clue who this was or even what they wanted, but he could feel that there was something off about the whole thing, and specifically who he was currently speaking too...
'I got a bad feeling about this.' He thought.
"*HAH*...Come on Linc, you don't remember m̷̢̝͚̟̩͋̾̂͒̃͋̾͗̉͘e̸̢̜̱͚̱̣͎͒̀̑̎̓̂̎̉̒ͅ ? " The voice responded, more twisted then before, the words harder to understand.
"What are you talking abo-" But before Lincoln could respond to the voice;
The 2nd floor of the house slowly began getting covered by shadows, Seeing this, Lincoln sprinted back down the stairs, running away as fast as he could. The voice still mocking him with its eerie laughter.
" *hAHAHAhAhAHaA!* You can run as much as you want, but in the end you'll have nowhere to go! Your obsession won't be enough, and so, you'll come right back to what you have left! In the end, your EGO will be all that remains!"
Lincoln's heart pounded in his chest as he tried to block out the voice. He had no clue what the voice was saying or what any of this meant, but he was frightened and he wanted to get away from all of it. So he kept running, away from it all...
He managed to stumble through the living room and into the dinning room where he found his family sitting around the table. He found this odd as only moments ago he was down here looking for them. However, that wasn't what weighed on him most. Something far more urgent occupied the young boy's mind. He stood there, staring at his family, their faces strangely blurred, and when he stumbled his way into the room...they didn't seem to acknowledge his presence.
'Why can't I see their faces...?' He thought; as he rubbed his eyes,
"Mom, Dad, Everyone?" he called out, but they didn't respond. "What are you guys doing down here? I was looking everywhere for you guys!"
"..."
"..."
No response...
"Guys...? Everyone? Hello...can you hear me?" He asked again, waving his hands in the air to grab their attention.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Once again, the no one in the room answered his question, but they weren't sitting at the table silent; that's when Lincoln realized something. Everyone in his family were whispering amongst themselves, while completely ignoring him.
"H-Hello? Come on you guys? Why are you all ignoring me?" He asked, but again, no response came, as his family continued to whisper to themselves.
'Can they not hear me?' He worriedly thought.
Not wanting to be ignored, he took a deep breath, *inhale* before he loudly screamed out; "LORI, LENI, LUNA, EVERYONE! ITS ME LINCOLN! HELLO!"
As he did, the whispers came to a complete silence, as all the blurred faces turned and looked at Lincoln. The walls of the room fell, as the dark void once more encapsulated the house, leaving only the Loud Family at the table, and Lincoln standing in an endless void. Which startled Lincoln.
'WHAT?!' He thought,
Before he could dwell on that thought, he heard his sisters' voices next;
"God, Lincoln, you're so fucking needy..." Lori said, her voice dripping with disappointment.
"Right? Can't you do anything on your own? Stop bothering us so much. What a pain in the ass..." Leni added in a disgusted tone, something Lincoln was not familiar with; Leni usually never used a tone like that when talking to him...
"..." His mouth was wide open...he was taken aback...that kind of response to him calling them, was something he wasn't expecting, specifically the words that come out his sisters mouth. They could be mean sometimes, but they wouldn't just up and say something so harsh to him...or would they?
It was sudden, but Lincoln felt a pang in his heart, as tears started welling up in his eyes. "That's not true!" he shouted back instinctively to defend himself; however his voice sounded weak and distant. He didn't know what made Lori and Leni say something like that, he hadn't provoked them...had he? Nonetheless, Lincoln didn't get a chance to think about his eldest sisters sudden bad mood before-
"Bloody Hell! Would you keep it down? Even your voice is irritating! it's giving me a fuckin migraine!" Luna responded slamming her hand on the table, her voice filled with resentment towards him.
"But I-" before he could retaliate to the comment he was cutoff,
" *UGH!* You can say that again, what an absolute buzzkill! It would have been better if he was born mute!" Luan added, her usual comedic tone replaced with contempt.
Lincoln stood there, speechless, he didn't know what was going on; why were they suddenly being so spiteful towards him, but it hurt, it hurt really bad. He couldn't explain it but he could feel each remark hitting him deeper then it usually would. It felt like that time again, his family turning their backs on him...
"You'll never EVER be as good as us. You know that right, Stinkin? No matter what your scrawny ass does , no matter how hard you try, you'll always be second fiddle to the rest of us." Lynn Jr. said, her tone cold.
'L-Lynn? Why would you say that...?' Lincoln thought
Lynn's words cut deep, Lincoln felt a tears stream down his face, Lynn had a habit of being brutally honest to him, but this was something he never imagined she would say to him...it was much more cruel then her usual critics of him; he was used to being called weak or a baby by her but this time it didn't sound like her..
"Lincoln, in the void, you drift unseen, a shadow of mediocrity. " Lucy's added, her voice echoed hauntingly as he read out the poem in her hand.
"Not you too Luce..." He muttered; Lucy was the last person he was expecting to say anything hateful about him, even after everything his had done for her...for them...
"Wish we got another sister instead!" Lola voiced out, "Yeah! Anything would have been better then what we got now!" Lana added.
"But I-" Lincoln tried to protest again, but his words got lumped up in his throat, as a stream of tears continued to fall down his cheeks. He couldn't believe what he was hearing...
"It's a scientific mystery that someone average could be related to the rest of us. I still can't believe you weren't adopted." Lisa's said in a demeaning tone, completely ignoring her brothers miserable state.
Lily, who was sat on her mothers lap, looked at Lincoln, as she made a disgusted face seeing her older brother; before turning her head away from him.
This hurt Lincoln, a lot. Lily to him was the most innocent and caring little loud sibling. To have her react to him like that, while he's already in such a depressed state, made him feel like shit.
"We should have him be sent off to live with your dad, dear; we could finally make good use of that room he stays in..." Lynn Sr said in a cold degrading voice, seemingly not caring for his only son, balling his eyes out in front of him.
This made Lincoln feel even worse, his dad, the person he would turn to for support and guidance, his supposed male role model; now could give less of a crap about him, after each of his sisters took turns ripping into him, calling him worthless and unwanted. Then to add on it, he had suggested Lincoln be sent off, so they could find use of the room he slept in; it was as if him being here was a waste...
Lincoln couldn't understand why they would suddenly turn on him like this, but it was inevitable right?...
"Maybe, honey...but I don't want to burden my dad with...him..." Rita said making a disgusted face, her caring tone nowhere to be found.
'M-Mom..?' He had hoped she would be his saving grace, but no, she felt the same about him as the rest did...
The words cut deep, and Lincoln felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness and despair creep over his heart. He sank to his knees, feeling utterly defeated. He couldn't believe what he just heard. It felt like his world was crumbling around him, his family were turning their back on him again...his insecurities had become true.
He couldn't handle the feeling growing in his heart; it was the same feeling he had felt countless times before, each time he felt true loneliness.
As he kneeled on the floor, the room around him disappeared as the void from before incapsulated everything, his family vanished, leaving only Lincoln.
He looked up and saw them disappear into the void, and the only thought that came to his mind was;
'I'm being left behind...please don't go...'
The tears continued to fall, as he began to sob softly in the endless void of his mind...
Just when he thought he couldn't bear the feeling any longer, a bright blue light burst into his dream, casting away the endless darkness.
A shadowy figure emerged from the light, and Lincoln heard a whisper, "Time...Out."
The figure moved closer, and Lincoln could barely make out its features. The presence was both comforting and powerful. The figure leaned in close to Lincoln, and whispered again, "Wake up, Phantom..."
"H-Huh...?" Lincoln uttered under his breath.
"Time In"
~Lincolns Room~
Early Tuesday Morning (August 20, 20XX)
Lincoln suddenly jumped awake in his bed; he was covered in a cold sweat, and his heart was pounding rapidly. He quickly glanced around in a panic, looking around to see the familiar door and dresser, he calmed down realizing he was in his room.
*hhhhhhaa* 'just a dream...' He thought, rubbing his forehead with his hands.
'Wha-what was that...' He thought trying to remember what the dream was about, his mind still in a complete daze.
As most of the details slowly started to come back to him, a wave of sadness washed over him.
'It's not real...they...they would never think that...they would never say stuff like that to me...'
The entirety of the dream was still a haze, but the part where his family degraded him was clear on his mind; as he kept thinking back to it, there was more he remembered, but most if not everything in the beginning felt cloudy, almost if he had subconsciously erased it from his mind, while keeping the parts he wished he forgot.
He looked at the clock on his nightstand; it was only 4 AM. The realization that he didn't want to go back to sleep settled in, so he laid there, staring at the ceiling.
Parts of the dream replayed in his mind, his family calling him all those things, them disregarding him, looking down on him. Even though it wasn't real, it stung deeply, amplifying the insecurities that had been gnawing at him recently. These feelings weren't new; they'd been there since he was about 10 or maybe 11? He couldn't remember exactly when they started, but the weight of them had been growing ever since.
His thoughts drifted to a dark place, as he began remembering some of the worst moments in his life. The trophy case... He hated that memory; he remembered how worthless he felt, standing there with nothing to show for his efforts. His case was to no ones surprise was empty, a stark reminder of his perceived failures.
He remembered how, after feeling like crap, he had come up with a plan to get a trophy. His grand plan to finally fill the case with a trophy, was winning the 5th grade video contest. Lincoln started off by trying to make stunt videos, but they ended up not doing as well as he thought they would.
Lincoln then had the bright idea of uploading funny moments from his day to day life with his 10 sisters; it was perfect, everyone loved his videos, and he was so close to winning the trophy. However like usual, his plan ended up going wrong and he ended up making his sisters hate him for uploading stuff making them look bad.
That however wasn't his intention at all; Lincoln for all his faults, would dare to try and hurt them, but looking back it was kind of obvious; he wished he had that thought it out more before doing something so stupid. Still, he didn't plan on having his sisters hate him and to have the plan blow up in his face.
To make up for it, he ended uploading a videos of himself doing humiliating stuff which, now felt downright shameful. They were so much worse then anything from the previous videos.
'It was really degrading...' He thought;
His sisters made sure there was 10 videos each, one for every sibling he had embarrassed. This didn't end well, as his entire school for the next month made him the laughing stock. The girl he had a crush on, had seen him making out with a pillow with a picture of her on it. To say she found him as weirdo after that was an understatement, even some of the other girls in his class thought he was a complete creep...
He despised this memory;
It was really selfless, his sisters had done worse to him, yet instead of letting it all blow over; He went ahead and took the initiative to take all the embarrassment off them and onto himself. He had hoped his sisters would forgive him, and thankfully they had, but this didn't stop them from joining in on with others to ridicule him. It was his fault, yes, but it made him feel worse then before...
But he had tried to look past it, telling himself that he didn't need to prove anything to anyone.
He didn't need to be someone that was praised like some kind of hero...
'...Ace Savvy, now that's a real hero...' He thought.
Maybe he always wanted to be one. Reading comics your whole life would do that to you. He remembered dressing up as Ace Savvy, pretending to be a hero in front of all his siblings. Though, most of what he remembered was them making fun of his costume. However, he tried not letting it get to him; so what they made fun of him? He would take the mocking with a stoic stride, not letting it bother him...
But truth be told, it did bother him.
It hurt seeing his family ridicule his hobbies, and his interests. He tried not to hold any animosity towards them for it...but being laughed at by your own family for wearing a costume of your favorite hero, a fictional character you looked up too, wanted to be like, didn't help...especially since he knew each one of his sisters were hiding something even more embarrassing. If Lincoln were to laugh at them for their secret interests, he would be the one in the wrong, he would be forced to apologize to them, while they continued to mock him...
Maybe he had grown out of it a bit. He still liked reading comics, but the thought of becoming a hero had long lost its luster.
After reaching his early teens, he would still attend some Ace Savvy conventions with his best bud Clyde, and sometimes even Luna's girlfriend, Sam, would come along with him. Surprisingly, she was a fan of the comic and show. Who knew? Though, Luna had always seemed to find a way to get out of going with him and Sam to any of the events...
'The conventions...they were fun.' Even if it was just him and Sam sometimes, they always had a great time. Sam would even cosplay with Lincoln, something Luna and the rest of his siblings, found to be childish and stupid. Sam was cool, she was like the big sister that he could share some of his hobbies with...but there was something that always bothered him;
'Was she just hanging out with me because I was Luna's little brother, and she was her girlfriend..?' Don't get him wrong, Lincoln was happy she spent time with him, but at the same time, he couldn't help but think that Sam was going out of her way to spend time with him, because she pitied her girlfriends loser brother...
'Maybe Luna put her up to it...' Now he was just overthinking it...wasn't he?
' *Sighhh* Whatever...it's not like I go to any of them anymore...' He thought, Lincoln was sure of one thing, he had lost the passion for stuff like that...
"Still..." he said out loud in the darkness of his room, before pushing it aside, as he went back to his thoughts.
As he continued to lay there, a memory, a bad memory to mind...
It was, the memory of being a "Unlucky Curse" during the whole "Bad Luck" fiasco. Yeah it was a while ago, and he had gotten over it; sort of.
It was his fault in a way, so there was no need to dwell on it anymore, but there was something that stuck with him...It was him being kicked out of the family, that fact even after all this time had lingered with him. Although looking back, the worst of it came when he was forced to dress up as a squirrel for weeks...
It was all because his family after thought he was suddenly "A Good Luck Charm" after all of it...
Of course, it was an insanely stupid thing, and everyone apologized for acting out of their minds during the debacle, but that feeling stayed with him. He couldn't shake it off. It was so easy being left behind, getting booted out...but welcomed back when he was shown to be useful...
'What if they did it again?' Now, his head beginning to burn, as tears went down his face.
"Wouldn't trade it for the world...yeah right..." He muttered under his breath.
'Guess I didn't really get over it...' He thought
As he laid there, more memories flooded in, each one a painful reminder of his insecurities. Soon, his ears started to ring. He felt himself giving in to those negative thoughts. He jumped out of bed, shaking his head to stop the ringing, and wiping away the tears.
'There, it was gone now.' He couldn't take another second of it. He needed to do something else, anything to distract himself.
Lincoln walked out of his room and made his way to the bathroom; slowly creeping across the hall, making sure to not wake his sisters up. Walking in he headed to the sink and splashed cold water on his face. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, trying to push away the lingering doubts. He couldn't let his insecurities win.
Not now, not ever.
Some time later
Lincoln hadn't gone back to sleep. Instead, he had gone down to the living room and sat on the couch, idly scrolling through the TV channels with the volume very low, so as not to wake the rest of the family.
The first ones to wake up, besides Lincoln, and a certain hyperactive Loud sister, were his parents. As they exited their rooms on the first floor, they noticed that the TV was on. Entering the living room, they found Lincoln staring blankly at the screen.
"Lincoln, sweetie, why are you up so early watching TV?" Rita asked, concern evident in her voice.
Lincoln glanced at her, his eyes tired and unfocused. "I couldn't sleep," he mumbled.
Rita sensed there was more to it but decided to let it go for now, hoping he would talk to her if it was important.
"Alright, but you know you can always talk to us if something's bothering you," she said gently.
Lynn Sr. joined them, his brow furrowing slightly at the sight of his son. "You have a nightmare, champ?" he asked, trying to sound concerned.
"Something like that," Lincoln replied, not wanting to delve into the details.
Lynn Sr. decided to let it go as well, figuring Lincoln would come to them if he needed to.
"Alright, well, let's get some breakfast going. It'll make you feel better," he said, heading to the kitchen to start preparing the breakfast for the family.
As the morning broke, the rest of the family began to wake up, starting with Lori and Leni, then down the list by age. The house quickly filled with the usual noise and activity, becoming truly loud as everyone got ready for the day.
After everyone had freshened up, they gathered at the dining table for breakfast.
"Morning, everyone," Rita said, serving breakfast. "So, what are everyone's plans for the day?"
Lori spoke first. "Leni and I need to finish shopping for our move back to campus."
"Yeah, we still have a few things to get," Leni added.
Luna grinned, replying; "I'm going out to spend time with Sam. We've got some gigs to plan."
Luan chimed in, saying; "I'm getting together with my theater club. We have a show coming up soon."
"I've got practice with the team; today's morning run has me fired up!" Lynn Jr. said, already dressed in her sports gear.
Lucy, looking indifferent as always, said in her usual low voice, "I'll be working on my gothic poetry and maybe a seance later."
Lola, always the social butterfly and wanting to let everyone know her plans, responded, "I'm meeting up with some of my pageant friends. We have a lot to catch up on"
Lana added, "I'm gonna fix up Vanzilla a bit. She needs some TLC."
Lisa, announced in a monotone voice with a slight lisp, "I'll be continuing my work on my latest project. It's going to be groundbreaking."
Lily, with her enthusiastic voice, replied, "Playtime!"
Rita and Lynn Sr. chatted with their kids, as the conversations broke into discourse between each siblings an another. Lincoln, however, remained completely silent and indifferent to everything around him. He sat there, a slight ringing in his ears, trying to remember what happened after the figure appeared in his dream; since waking up he had remembered most of the dream, except for the beginning of it. The part that stood out more then his family berating him, was the blindingly bright light, which was followed up by the mysterious figure coming into his dream...
'Time...something' He thought to himself. 'Damn it, I can't remember...'
Every time he tried to think about it; his head would hurt. He couldn't help but obsess over it since the dream.
'Who was that...It all felt so real...what was it...time...time...over? *Eugh!* Why can't I remember?!'
"Lincoln, you okay?" Lori asked, breaking his silence.
"..."
"..."
No response, Lori called out to Lincoln once again;
"Helloooo earth to Lincoln!" Lori said.
"Huh?" He responded, being broken out of his thoughts.
"I asked if you were okay?" Lori repeated, raising an eyebrow at Lincoln's weird behavior.
"Uhh...yeah...umm, I'm fine," he replied, forcing a smile, and rubbing the back of his head... But deep inside, he wasn't; he was still troubled, unable to shake off the lingering effects of his dream.
Lori eyed her brother, 'Something's up with him...' She thought to herself.
She was mid-conversation with Leni, when in the corner of her eye, she noticed Lincoln just sitting there, his head down and his usual smile missing. Lincoln's whole demeanor, in her eyes was giving off the impression of someone deep in thought.
As the oldest sibling in the family, she could easily catch when her younger siblings were in a mood or were having a bad day, and she usually would try reaching out and checking up on them, maybe even help them work it out, but with Lincoln it was sort of different...
Lincoln being one boy out of 10 girls, Lori had always tried to give him space when something was up with him; try and let him work things out...but;
Lincoln was acting off. She had lived under the same roof as him for years, and she knew when he was having a bad day or wasn't in the best of moods. He always had a habit of burying it under that bravado of his...
'He would usually smile and hide if he wasn't feeling it...so we wouldn't worry...but right now...he wasn't hiding it at all. What's going on with him...?'
His response was something she expected. Her little brother was going through something.
Lori smiled and responded, "You know you can talk to me if anything is bothering you; right, Linc?"
Lincoln, removed from his again thoughts, responded indifferently, without even making any eye contact with her; "Yeah, Thanks, Lori. I will."
He had returned his head back to looking down at this plate of food, staring endlessly at it; Lori couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness cross her heart, as she looked at the state of her little brother.
*Sighh* 'I hope you do Linc...don't try to bury your feelings...' She thought to herself before turning her head back to Leni, who didn't seem to even notice Lori's short pause in their conversation.
Sometime Later
Lucy sat on her bed after breakfast, with her laptop out looking up all mannerisms of gothic related topics. Ranging from the newest vampire teen dramas, to all the best locations in royal woods to host a group seance. Though her mind was filled with panic.
Lucy had been nervous, real nervous about high school starting soon. It was a big change for her, and she wasn't sure if most of her friends would be attending the same high school. Since middle school graduation, she had been keeping in touch with them through Bat Carrier and found out most of them were thinking of attending schools closer to them, which left Lucy disheartened.
To make it worse, Haiku her best friend, wasn't going to be starting high school with her until a few weeks later. She was out of state and wouldn't be back for another 4 to 5 weeks. This made everything so much more nerve-racking, but Lucy wasn't going to be alone, Lincoln was going to be with her.
Being one year younger then Lincoln, Lucy looked up to her brother a lot. Ever since they were kids, no matter what, Lincoln would have her back.
As she absently watched a MeTube video reviewing the latest season of The Vampires of Melancholia, she reminisced on the many times Lincoln stepped and helped her out of a bad situation. A Smile creeping up to her face, as a light blush covered her pale skin.
'At least he's going to be with me' She thought to herself.
Going back to her laptop, Lucy decided to check some supernatural forms, when something caught her eye. It was a blurry image of a green shaped animal that looked like large Bear. The post went into detail of how an elderly couple living deep within the forest of Wisconsin, had been constantly hearing growling noise throughout the night just outside of their house and every time they went out to check, nothing but a puddle of green goop would be found.
'Green Goop?' Lucy wondered.
The couple had gotten so sick of it, that they installed motion detection cameras, and they were able to capture this creature outside their house. The post contained another image, this time it showed the greenish glowing goop. This had Lucy's mind racing to the Jar of her so called Ectoplasm in her basement.
Since buying it, she was skeptical of the stuff, and it didn't help the fact that it looked so much like a DIY Tutorial Slime. But, the resemblance of the goop from the post and her jar of "Ectoplasm" were uncanny.
'Could it be...?!'
With that, she decided she was going to have Lisa test the stuff out, figure out what it was, but maybe after she was done with that invention she was making.
Looking at the time on her Laptop, she remembered her little promise from yesterday with Lincoln. Which put a smile on her face instantly as she began putting her stuff away, and making her way down to the living room.
'Maybe we could watch a movie, or hangout around town.' She thought gleefully behind her cold stoic face.
After another morning, Lincoln went back to sitting on the couch.
On the corner of his eye he spotted Lucy coming down.
"Hey, Lincoln, do you want to hang out? Maybe we can watch a movie or something?" Lucy asked, hopeful.
Lincoln, still feeling off, responded, "Sorry Luce, maybe tomorrow?"
Lucy felt a small sting in her heart. She couldn't explain why, but when Lincoln had said no to spending time with her, she got that feeling.
'It's probably not related...' She thought.
"O-Ah-Okay...n-no problem...Lincoln, are you feeling all right?" She replied, concerned about his sudden change in demeanor since this morning. During breakfast, Lucy had noticed that he was acting off...
Lucy, like Lori, could easily tell if one of her siblings weren't in the right frame of mind. Maybe it was due to her being more emotionally intelligent then others, or maybe she just had a deep care for her siblings, specifically her only brother. Lincoln and her were basically twins, even though they were a year apart. Lucy was going to ask him about it earlier, but Lori beat her to it, so she had instead observed her brother with a careful eye.
"Huh? Yeah...just don't feel up to it today. Ya know?" Lincoln replied
Lincoln didn't notice the slight dishearten tone in her voice; his mind was a mess and he couldn't keep focus. He had been scrolling endlessly through channels since the morning. It all felt like a blur to him. Every time he found something to watch, the events of the dream would come rushing back to the fore-front of his mind. There was something so vivid and odd about that dream that couldn't leave Lincoln's mind...
"Yeah...well if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"
"Okay." Lincoln responded back indifferently,
'Why did that bother me so much when he said no?' she wondered. 'Maybe acid reflux?.' She thought as she walked back to the stairs.
She let the thoughts disappear from her mind, trying to push that feeling away as she went back to her room.
Getting bored of switching through channels, Lincoln decided to play some video games. It had been a while since he last played with his gaming console, so as he got up and went towards the TV stand; he couldn't find it.
'Oh yeah...' He thought, remembering that it had been moved to the basement.
Lincoln turning around walked out of the living room towards the kitchen, before reaching the basement door.
He opened it and was immediately struck by the loud noises coming from below. It had been so quiet a second ago, and now it extremely noisy.
'Why is it so loud all of a sudden?!' He thought.
Lincoln went down to the basement, and as he descended, the noise picked up. "Lisa! Why is it so noisy down here!?" he called out.
The noise included the hum and whirr of machinery, a constant whooshing sound from the portal, and occasional beeps and buzzes. It was like stepping into a sci-fi movie.
'So That's why...' Lincoln thought.
Lisa, hearing her brother through the noise, turned to him and greeted him, "Hello, male sibling unit."
"How's the project coming along!?" Lincoln asked, trying to make himself heard over the loud noises.
"It's almost done," Lisa replied, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Let me show you around the machine and how it works!"
"Sure, but I was loo-!" He tried answering before Lisa cut him off and began explaining.
She led him to the portal, pointing out various parts of the machinery. "This is the dimensional portal! It works by generating a high-energy field that can theoretically bridge the gap between different dimensions. The sounds you hear are from the plasma stabilizers and the quantum flux generators! The hum is the main energy core powering up. The whooshing sound is the dimensional field stabilizing, and the beeps are from the control panel monitoring the stability of the portal!"
Lincoln looked impressed but slightly confused. 'Barely followed any of that'
"Wow, that's... a lot of science stuff!"
Lisa nodded. "Indeed! However, it's still very unstable. Due to this instability, I had to add an immediate turn-off button to the portal!" She pointed to a button located just below the shelf with the ectoplasm jar.
'Huh; Is that Lucy's Jar of fake ectoplasm...? What's it doing down here...?' He thought,
"In case of any emergency, this button will shut down the entire system instantly!" Lisa said, finishing her explanation;
"Cool! Always need an off switch," Lincoln replied. "So anyway, how come none of the noise is leaking upstairs!? I opened the door and suddenly there was so much noise!"
"Well, because, eldest brother," Lisa began,
"Our parents told me to stop making so much noise, since it kept waking them up late at night, given the fact that their room is on the first floor; so to counter this issue, I installed a noise-canceling device throughout the basement ceiling! Though they aren't foolproof, a loud enough noise could completely make them useless, but the chances of that are low!"
"Got it!," Lincoln said, nodding his head.
Shortly after the tour, Lincoln located his console and headed back upstairs.
"Thanks for the tour and explanation, Lisa!" he called out.
"You're welcome, Lincoln!" Lisa replied, turning back to her work.
Lincoln returned to the living room, setting up his console, and prepared to lose himself in video games, hoping to distract himself from his troubling thoughts.
Later in the afternoon
Quite some time later, the sun began setting. Lincoln stood up from the couch stretching his arms. He had enjoyed his time playing on his console. It allowed him to cancel out all the thoughts that were swirling around in his head.
'That was fun,' he thought to himself. 'It helped take my mind off stuff...'
Walking away from the living room and making his way to the stairs, Lincoln suddenly felt as though his head had been hit by a bat...a very steel-like bat. He put one hand on the railing, trying to keep his balance on the stairs, while the other hand pressed against his forehead.
'What is happening to me? My head is pounding so hard I can hardly think,' he thought, gripping the railing tightly.
As he stood there, trying to steady himself, he slowly started to remember the events after he saw the blue light in his dream. He could vaguely recall a better image of the dark figure, but the words the figure had said were still unclear.
The memory was frustratingly foggy. Pushing through the pain, Lincoln finally reached the top of the stairs.
He stumbled his way back up to his room, managing to avoid the sisters who were at the house at the time. He didn't want to burden them, nor did he want them going crazy and shocking him with a defibrillator or worse. They had a habit of overreacting when it came to him showing any signs of being ill or hurt.
No one noticed his strange behavior as he made his way to his way inside, making sure to close and lock the door behind him.
As soon as he reached the side of his bed, he crashed onto the mattress, passing out almost immediately and proceeded to sleep through the night. However, his presence wasn't the only thing in his dark dimly lit room;
In the darkness of Lincoln's room, a shadowy figure, hovered up above his bed, before it murmured a singular phrase;
"Soon, everything will change..."
End Chapter