The backyard

Chapter 1: The day Lincoln died

 Lincoln was sitting in the passenger seat of Lori's old ketchup red car. He was on one of his rare trips to Great Lakes City to visit Ronnie Anne, piggybacking on a date with Lori and Bobby. He was looking forward to it, as face calls with Ronnie Anne only went so far.

"Thanks for taking me all the way out here Lori," Lincoln said.

"No problem Linc," Lori said. "Happy to help out."

In the distance the skyscrapers and towers of Great Lakes City grew into sight. The trees and green grass on either side of the road slowly changed into concrete lining and steel buildings. Lincoln looked at the jumbotrons advertising soda's and fashion brands as they passed through downtown.

The car came to a stop outside of the sun bleached yellow apartment. Lincoln and Lori stepped outside of the car and walked up to the doors of the Mercado. Lori pushed the door open which made a jingling noise and Lincoln followed her in.

Bobby walked out from behind a shelf to greet them. "Hey Babe!"

"Boo-Boo Bear!" she replied, rushing up to hug him. Lincoln walked up to Bobby after Lori broke away from their embrace.

"Hey Bobby," he said. "How's it going?"

"It's been good," Bobby replied. "Nice of you to come down here to visit us."

"Of course! It's been too long since I visited you guys in person."

"And you're right. Want me to go find Ronnie Anne?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you."

All three of them passed the shelfs to an apple red door at the back of the mercado. Bobby pulled it open and entered. Lincoln saw Ronnie Anne sitting on the stairs leading upstairs with her hands in the pocket of her purple hoodie. She looked down at the visitors and said, "Hey Lame-o."

"Hey Ronnie Anne," Lincoln replied as he walked up the stairs. "How are you doing?"

"I've been doing fine," she replied. "How about you?"

"About the same."

"Good to hear. Want to come to my room?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

Both of them turned to the apartment door while Lori and Bobby went into Bobby's apartment. They entered the great room of the apartment, turned and walked down the tan hallway. He counted the doors as they passed by. One, two, three, four, five and six. Almost the same amount as the upstairs hallway back home.

"What are we doing today?" Lincoln asked.

"Well, we got some time to ourselves," Ronnie began. "Afterwards I was thinking of going to the zoo."

"Cool. What do they have there?"

"Just about everything. Lizards, crocodiles, too many marmosets and an elephant to name a few. What animals do you want to see?"

"Do they have any fish?"

"I think so."

They reached the farthest door down and entered Ronnie Anne's room. Lincoln looked at the bed and desk tucked into the walls of the room and the various skateboard themed posters on the walls. Her room looked reminiscent of his. They sat down on the purple covering of the bed.

"How long do you think it will be before we go to the zoo?"

"Long enough for Bobby and Lori to do this," she said as she faked making out. Both of them sniggered at this.

"Well, in that case we'll have plenty of time on our hands," Lincoln chuckled. Ronnie Anne pulled one of the drawers under her bed open with the toe of her foot. She bent down and pulled out two Portable Game Boys with accompanying Muscle Fish cartridges. She handed one to Lincoln.