Loud Visions

Chapter 10

"Lincoln," Lucy spoke as she appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah!" Lincoln gasped as he was spooked.

He looked up to see Lucy standing at the doorway in her pajamas. Lincoln relaxed as he sat against the wall.

"Sorry Lucy, I uh . . . I threw up. Maybe something I ate was bad. I don't know," Lincoln lied.

Lucy wasn't convinced as she crossed her arms.

"What did you eat?" Lucy asked.

"I can't remember. Maybe a candy bar or a bad breakfast bar. Either way, I needed it out of my system," Lincoln said, getting up.

Lincoln went to the sink to wash his face and rinse his mouth.

"You're hiding something, Lincoln," Lucy stated.

"What makes you say that?" Lincoln asked without looking.

"You haven't been your usual self lately. You even seem miserable."

"I've had a lot to deal with lately, Lucy."

As Lincoln was about to leave the bathroom, Lucy stopped him by putting her hand on his chest.

"You're not telling us everything. You're lying, Lincoln," Lucy stated.

"Lucy, that's not what—"

Lucy placed her finger on his lips.

"Lincoln, we're your family. I'm your sister. You can tell me anything," Lucy said.

Lincoln stood there silently, letting the thoughts race through his mind. What if he didn't tell his whole family? What if he told just one sister? Who would it be? Lucy believed in supernatural stuff like ghosts and spirits. She's the most likely to believe Lincoln about his future vision powers. The question is whether or not she'd keep it a secret.

However, before Lincoln could say anything, their mother called, "Kids! Breakfast!"

Lincoln looked back at Lucy as she looked at him.

Then Lincoln whispered in her ear, "Later. Somewhere private. Only you. Don't tell the others."

Lucy nodded.

Lincoln sat down and munched on his cereal and toast with his sisters. Then their father walked in. He had a bandage over his nose, and the skin around it was purple.

"Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. spoke.

Lincoln looked up from his breakfast with a low glare in his eyes.

"Listen, I uh . . . I owe you and Leni an apology. I'm sorry for getting carried with the whole mascot idea. We weren't thinking about how it could affect you," Lynn Sr. said.

"Aw, it's okay, Dad. As long as you learned your lesson," Leni said.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. Of course, she would forgive him.

"Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. asked.

Lincoln groaned, "Yeah, okay. Just don't do something that dumb again."

"Promise."

Lincoln continued to eat his breakfast.

"So sport, Lana's going to compete in her alligator wrestling match today," Lynn Sr. said.

Lincoln was about to eat a spoonful of cereal but froze when those last four words reached his ears. For a brief moment, he saw Lana getting attacked by the big bull gator and heard her screaming. Even though it was only for a few seconds, Lincoln got a cold chill that gave him goosebumps.

'That's today?!' Lincoln thought.

"And we were hoping you would come with us," Lynn Sr. said.

"Yeah, bro, you can be there to cheer me on!" Lana stated excitedly.

"Uh—alligator wrestling? Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, you and I could do something fun together, Lana. We could play in the mud, or we could find new lizards or frogs or bugs for you to capture. Maybe we could go to the junkyard and find new stuff to weld and make a metal statue figure," Lincoln suggested.

"That's sweet of you, Lincoln, and I would love to do all that with you, but this alligator wrestling match is gonna be huge, and I wanna show my stuff!" Lana replied confidently.

Lincoln quickly grabbed her arm, "Lana, these are alligators. There's a reason why they survived the K-T Extinction and the dinosaurs didn't."

"The what now?"

"Over a hundred million years have not made them less dangerous. More than a thousand people die every year from crocodile and alligator attacks. They're absolute killing machines, Lana—a half-ton of cold-blooded reptile fury with a bite force of twenty thousand Newtons and stomach acid so strong it can dissolve bones, hooves, and even skulls."

Lana raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, "You know I've wrestled these beasts before. Trust me, Lincoln, you got nothing. Come with me, and I'll show how I show them gators whose boss."

After a long pause followed by a heavy sigh, "Okay."

Lana cheered before hugging Lincoln. They finished breakfast before heading out. Lana had a confident smile, while Lincoln looked like he saw a ghost. Lincoln's mind was racing through as many options as possible to change this event from happening. He needed to know how many alligators would be there and which were big bull ones. While brainstorming, he didn't notice all his sisters staring at him as he left with Lana and their father.

"I'm not the only one who saw that, right?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, he was fine at first, but then the mention of Lana's alligator wrestling, and he looked like someone told him there was a bomb under the table," Lori said.

"Bomb?! Where?!" Leni squealed.

"Not a literal bomb. It's a figure of speech, sis," Luna explained.

"Oh."

"Although, I am inquisitive about how Lincoln knew all those facts about alligators and crocodiles. Plus, I'm quite surprised he knows what the K-T Extinction is," Lisa said.

"I mean, he could have looked it up on the internet like anyone else," Luan shrugged.

"Maybe, but something still feels fishy," Lola said.

Lucy sat silently as they continued discussing their thoughts about Lincoln's behavior. She kept her promise not to tell them that Lincoln was going to speak to her in private, but felt conflicted about it.

'Whatever you're going to tell me Lincoln, it better be answers of what's going on with you. If only you knew how worried we all are,' Lucy thought to herself.