"Hello?" Lin answers on the fourth ring, Pippa on the other end of the phone. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd want to meet for lunch. I haven't seen you in a while..." Pippa replies, speaking quickly and nervously. She hasn't seen Lin at all within the past few months, barely anyone has, and she is desperate to rekindle with him.
"Uh, sure. Olive Garden? I'll meet you at two." Lin suggests and Pippa agrees, hanging up and sighing to herself. She knows something has been different about Lin for a long time- distant from everyone, an angry atmosphere surrounding him constantly.
Pippa misses the old Lin, the one who would call her just to say good morning sometimes, the one who would randomly bring flowers for her when she was going through a hard time. She fears she will never see that Lin again.
-~-
Pippa sits at an empty table for about 30 minutes, waiting impatiently for Lin to arrive. Tapping her fingers in an inconsistent rhythm on the table, she angrily dials his number, "Hello?" He answers in a small and slightly high pitched voice.
Pippa's confusion replaces her anger for a moment, "Why are you talking like that?" "Talking like what?" he replies innocently. Pippa shakes her head, "Nevermind, I don't care. Why did you blow me off again?" She demands, her tone rising slightly. "What do you mean?" Lin asks after a few seconds of silence, seemingly distracted.
"What do you mean?" Pippa retorts. Before Lin can respond, she rants on, "All I'm trying to do is be a good friend, Lin. I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. And you're not trying at all, which makes it even harder. Call me sometime when you're ready." Pippa hangs up and slams her phone down on the table, putting her head in her hands and doing everything she can to hold in all the emotions that are begging to escape her frail mind.
-~-
Lin suddenly finds himself standing on a chair in front of the kitchen cabinets, his hand halfway in a box of cookies. He looks around, bewildered, and wonders why he used a chair in the first place. Before he steps down from it he realizes his head is aching with a painful headache, and he looks at the clock hanging above him.
His breath hitches, the time on the clock reporting that Lin had completely missed the lunch he was supposed to have with Pippa, now seven PM. A wave of guilt drowns him, and he racks his tired brain to figure out what he did after talking to Pippa on the phone. But all he can remember is hanging up after the call, then... Nothing. No recollection of the time that had passed between one-thirty and now.
Where did Chris and Jon go again? Why can't he remember anything? So many questions run through Lin's head. Fear bubbles up in his chest.
He walks slowly to the couch in the living room and hesitantly dials Pippa's number. After several rings Lin is certain she won't answer, but then her voice disrupts through the silence, "What do you want?" she asks. She sounds exhausted.
"I am so sorry Pip.... I don't even know what happened. One moment it's One-thirty, the next it's seven, I just-" He replies, scratching the back of his neck nervously, his hands shaking. "You blew me off. Again. I don't care if you can't make it just don't lie to me.." She says, her voice quivering. "I'm not lying Pippa, it was an accident, I swear-" "It's ok Lin, bye." She softens at the last word, and then the line goes dead.
Lin knows it's not ok. Knows she's not ok.
He screams in pure frustration, slamming his fists down on the coffee table.
Lin doesn't know what's wrong with him, but he always knew something wasn't right after the accident. He feels so lost, and he decides in that moment that when Chris gets home they'll go to the hospital together.
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Shattered ( Lin Manuel Miranda )
FanfictionTwo years after his family is killed in a fatal car crash, Lin continuously struggles to live on, tries to learn how to begin to move on. The only thing standing in Lin's way? His own mind.
