A Lonesome Time

A Sibling Meeting

Even though Lucy slept well that night, the following day at school it finally dawns on her that Rocky is really gone. She had to admit that it felt pretty jarring to see Lincoln hanging out with his friends without Rusty around. School felt pretty empty without both Spokes brothers around, yes even Rusty. She starts to feel sad again to the point where her change in behavior was more noticeable.

That Wednesday afternoon, while Lucy was sitting on the couch somberly watching her favorite show "Vampires of Melancholia", the rest of her siblings were in Lori and Leni's room holding a sibling meeting. They were discussing Lucy's behavior.

"We all know why we're here," Lori began, "It's only been 3 days since Rocky left, which was Sunday, and Lucy has been very gloomy."

"She doesn't really do anything in school," Lana comments.

"Yeah, she's very quiet and most of the time such as lunch and recess she just kind of sits there and stares into space," Lola explains.

"I concur," Lisa reported, "Not only has she been incredibly distant outside of class, but I happened to eavesdrop on a teacher's meeting. Lucy's teacher talked about how she does very little class participation. Luckily this won't affect her grade."

"Can I add something?" Lincoln requests, "Earlier today Haiku came up to me and wanted to know what was wrong with Lucy. She says that Lucy doesn't even talk to her or Silas, much less hang out with them."

"She's not much better here at home either," Lori laments.

"Yeah. I tried telling her the spookiest jokes I could think of, but no laughs. Not even a smirk," Luan says.

"Like what?" Luna asks.

"Things like: What do spooks with poor eyesight wear? Spook-tacles! And, how did the vampire race finish? Neck and neck! And what is a skeleton's favorite instrument? A trombone! And what type of coffee does a vampire drink? De-coffin-ated!" Luan listed the jokes she told Lucy.

Lynn raised an eyebrow indifferently, "No wonder she didn't laugh. Those jokes were pretty lame."

"Eh, I don't know dude. That 'de-coffin-ated' one was good," Luna says.

"Thank you," Luan groans.

"Guys, can we just stay focused?" Lori commands.

"Right. My point is that I've told Lucy a bunch of spooky jokes but she didn't even crack a smile," Luan explains.

Leni jumps in, "I also noticed that she barely answers me when I try and talk to her. Like I'll say hi, ask her about her day, ask if I can get her a snack. But she just looks at me and sometimes just says 'hmm' and 'meh'," Leni explains.

"She also has been eating dinner in her room instead of at the table," Lincoln points out.

"Wait," Lola interrupts, "I thought we weren't allowed to eat in our rooms?"

"We're not. She somehow manages to sneak away and take her food up to her room," Lincoln explains.

"She doesn't even do anything with us anymore. No game nights, no trips to the store, no going out for ice cream," Lana laments.

"I forgot to mention that she constantly holds and stares at her picture of her and Rocky. Sometimes she even hugs and kisses it," Lynn comments. "I never thought Lucy would be so torn up over a boy, especially so young."

"Hey you guys, Rocky is Lucy's first love. It's normal to act like this when you're away from your first love," Lori argued.

"I thought Edwin was her first love?" Leni says.

"Edwin doesn't count because he's not real. Rocky is Lucy's literal first love," Lori explains.

"It's not like her to be so anti social. We have to do something," Lincoln sighs.

"There's no point. We've tried everything," Lynn groaned.

Lola gets an idea, "Doesn't she like Silas? Maybe she can hang out with him."

"Silas and Lucy are just friends who are keeping it casual. Besides Haiku says that she's completely isolated herself from both of them," Lincoln explains.

"I have an idea," Leni jumps in. Everybody turns their attention towards her.

"How about Lucy hang out with Clyde," Leni suggested.

Everybody's eyes widen and a few of them raise an eyebrow. Leni is confused by her siblings' bemused reactions.

"What's the problem?" Leni asks while shrugging.

"Lucy can't hang out with Clyde. They don't have anything in common, so what are they supposed to do?" Lori protested.

"But Lucy and Rocky didn't have anything in common either," Lola says.

"Uh, yes they did dude. They both liked making fake blood, Rock liked Luce's poems, they both watched Lucy's vampire show together, and they really liked being together," Luna argued.

"But I do agree with Lori that there's no much she and Clyde could do together," Luna added.

Before they knew it, all the sisters (except Lily) started arguing about whether or not this was a good idea. Some say that it's pointless, while others say that this is their last option. While his sisters bickered, Lincoln took a minute to think about this suggestion.

Once he finally has the answer, Lincoln tries to quiet down his sisters. "Guys! Stop!" Lincoln shouts.

The commotion immediately dies and everyone turns their attention to their only brother.

"Maybe I should just ask Clyde about this and see what he thinks," Lincoln says simply.

The sisters start to nod in agreement. Meanwhile, Lori was a touch skeptical about this.

"What do we do if he says no? Just the worst case scenario," Lori wonders.

"I'm sure he'll understand if I just explain it to him," Lincoln explains, "I think he'd do the same for me, so he might help Lucy too."

"I'll ask him first thing tomorrow afternoon," Lincoln declares.

"Good luck," All his sisters say.