**Lynn's Nightmare (Part 1 of 3)**
Lynn found herself in her bedroom but noticed that Lucy was not in her bed. She went to the hallway and called out to her and the other sisters in the house, only to find no one in their beds. She was all alone. Her heart rate increased, and her senses dialed up as she took several deep breaths to stay calm.
Then, a bright light appeared behind her, along with a shadow of a man. When Lynn turned around, she saw that it was a man – her first coach, Jim. Coach Jim stood in his track pants and a t-shirt with his whistle around his neck.
"Coach Jim?" Lynn spoke.
"No, I'm the Ghost of the Past, but you can call me Jim if you wish," answered Jim.
"The past? Like the Ghost of Christmas Past?"
"Sort of, but your past and not just centered around Christmas past. I'm here to show you your past."
Lynn squinted her eyes with a raised eyebrow.
"My past? Why?" Lynn questioned.
"Because . . . you have forgotten Lynn. You have forgotten what should be remembered. Some are things you wish you had forgotten, but now it's time. It's time to remember," Jim said.
Then the downstairs lit up, and Lynn heard voices, familiar voices. She glanced at Coach Jim with a confused look, but he nodded for her to see for herself. She cautiously went down the stairs and saw her family, but not all of them. She saw her older sisters, but they were all young, younger than the present. Lynn even spotted herself. She had nearly forgotten what her sisters and herself looked like when they were little. However, they were all centered around Rita and Lynn Sr. As the young athlete got closer, she saw something that melted her heart – her brother Lincoln when he was a baby. She softly gasped with a warm smile.
"You remember this day?" Jim asked.
Lynn nodded, "Yes . . . it was the day Mom and Dad brought Lincoln home . . . our first and only brother."
"You felt something that day, didn't you?"
"I did. I felt love. I loved my sisters all the same, but . . . I don't know. There was something special about loving Lincoln. We all felt it. I don't know if it was because he was a boy or our younger brother, but we adored him."
"You did."
Lynn watched as Lori and Leni put makeup on little baby Lincoln, Leni trying to teach him how to do the rock hand sign resulting only in Lincoln poking her nose, Luan using him as a puppet, and her past self playing with him and making him laugh. Lynn grew a warm smile seeing all the love she and her older sisters showed as they adored Lincoln.
"At least, for a while, you did," Jim said, "Then more and more babies came home."
Lynn saw her parents bring home Lucy, the twins, Lisa, and finally Lily. She saw how Lincoln was forced to move out of her room and into the closet once Lucy came into the family. Her smile vanished when she remembered how bummed out that day was. Lincoln was actually a little scared to have his own room – he was just a toddler at the time. A thunderstorm came one night, and Lincoln was so scared out of his little mind he couldn't sleep.
"Oh my god, that's right! Lincoln's first night alone was the worst – that stupid thunderstorm. I knew; I just knew he would get scared. So, I snuck out of my room and into Lincoln's bed to keep him company," Lynn explained.
"For a while after that, you two were inseparable," Jim said.
Lynn saw as Lincoln grew up, and they grew closer. They played a lot and made each other laugh, and Lincoln was supportive of his athletic sister in her pursuit of sports. There were dozens of visions showing happy memories. Seeing them all melted Lynn's heart and filled her with nostalgia.
"I forgot how adorable he was when he was little," Lynn said out loud.
Then, the visions and environment changed when they were outside in the streets at night. Lynn looked around and saw all the houses lit with Halloween decorations and kids in costumes.
"Within a few short years, that inseparable bond would grow a gap between you two and shortly over time drifted you two apart," Jim said.
Lynn raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Wha?"
Then she turned and saw her younger self running excitedly with Lincoln falling behind. Both were in Halloween costumes. Lincoln was dressed like Ace Savvy, and Lynn was dressed like a track runner. Lynn's heart sank, and she felt a cold chill up her spine. It was coming back to her. She knew this night all too well. Over the years, she had repressed it, but now she remembers the aching feeling.
"Lynn, wait up! Mom said you have to stay with me!" Little Lincoln called.
Little Lynn ignored him and kept running. She jumped over Clyde, and Lincoln accidentally ran into him. Clyde got a nosebleed.
"Oh geez, I'm sorry. Here, use my cape. Ace Savvy is always ready to lend a hand," Lincoln said with a wink, giving Clyde his cape.
"Thanks. I'm Clyde. What's your name?" Clyde asked with a smile.
"I'm Lincoln. You wanna trick r' treat with me?"
"That'd be awesome."
Jim stepped forward with his arms crossed, "That was the day that Lincoln found a best friend – a best friend that would later become his brother. A brother not in blood, but by bond."
Lynn watched as they laughed together while walking the streets. They talked about their costumes and what they were into – Ace Savvy, ARGGH!, cooking shows, comics, video games, etc. Little Lynn finally realized that she was alone after scoring some good candy.
Little Lynn looked around, "Lincoln? Lincoln! Where are you?!"
She continued to search while calling out for her brother. She ran around down different streets, scanning all the roads and houses for her Lincoln. Little Lynn lost count of how many Ace Savvys she spotted that weren't her brother. Fear started to grip her as her heart rate began to rise and her senses dialed to eleven.
Finally, she spotted an Ace Savvy with white hair. She breathed a sigh of heavy relief as she marched over to him.
"Geez, Link, you had me worried. You gotta keep up and stick—"
She stopped at what she saw. She saw Lincoln with another boy she never met before, and a hole grew inside her chest. She felt weak to the knees, seeing him look so happy. Instantly, she knew what that meant.
"You always thought he was always going to be yours forever. You never thought he'd go his own way . . . but he did," Jim said. The images and environment changed with what Jim described: "You and he continued to slowly drift apart. Your love of sports grew, but he grew a love of comics, video games, cooking shows, magic tricks, and other stuff you would call nerdy."
Lynn felt a great sense of longing as she reached out to her brother, even if it was just a mirage.
"However, things took a turn for the worse for you," Jim said. Lynn turned around to face him, and he stated two dreadful words, "Middle School."
Lynn's eyes widened at that, and before she knew it, she saw her past self in her first year of middle school. Everything Jim said, the visions showed her. It was like she relived the horrible past she hoped to forget.
"You had it rough. The wild goose chase in the tunnels underneath the school. You didn't even make it to the bus. That time, you got stuck with the crummy desk. Which, by the way, how do you get so stuck in a desk that you have to be greased out with peanut butter?" Jim asked.
Lynn blushed in embarrassment and looked away. It didn't help that she saw her past self getting laughed at for admitting to a fart. She rubbed her arm as seeing all this was making her cringe.
"You were bullied, mocked, belittled, and laughed at. But then you toughened up. You got hard. You got tough. You got mean, and that did the trick to make everyone stop messing with you . . . but you brought some of that tough, hard, meanness home with you," Jim stated.
The visions showed her getting rough with her family, especially Lincoln.
"Ha! You snooze, you lose Stinkin!" past Lynn mocked.
Lynn's eyes widened at that as Jim spoke in her ear, "That's not his name, is it?"
"Oh, come on! It's not like I meant to hurt anyone, especially not Lincoln!" Lynn said.
"Ah, but you did. You did it over and over again. All the roughhousing, all the name-calling, you became what you fought off – a bully."
The visions showed Lynn everything Jim said. Lynn felt absolute guilt eating away at her as she saw Lincoln and her sisters show expressions of pain mixed with anger. Her eyes widened at all the times she booed and mocked Lincoln during his magic trick shows, and it pained her to see him perform for his other sisters, making sure to do it whenever Lynn wasn't around.
"Sure, they toughened up themselves, especially Lincoln because he was the main target of it all, but with bullying comes resentment," Jim said.
Lynn watched as her past self mess with Lincoln and to see him get so angry he punched a wall, followed by him breaking something. Lynn let out a soft gasp as she saw the red fire in his eyes.
"Lincoln," Lynn breathed.
Jim explained, "One hit and a mean comment, you can walk it off, but every week in your own home by someone that's relentless? It piles on and on. You keep pushing someone, and eventually, they'll burst with anger. Even for someone like Lincoln, his anger has a breaking point. It never crossed your mind that other people's feelings might get hurt . . . and I guess it was too hard for you to call your brother by his actual name, or was that just you being bitter that he replaced you with an actual best friend?"
Lynn uttered at that and didn't have a response.
"And how could it get any worse than that? Luck. Your obsession with luck," Jim stated.
Lynn's heart dropped at that as the visions showed her forcing her friends, teammates, and even her own family what to do for good luck. The ridiculous routines she forced her teammates to run through before a game, like not letting them go to the bathroom.
Lynn's guilt continued to claw at her as she saw her teammates, friends, and her family shoot glaring daggers behind her back while whispering harsh comments about her – among them was, of course, Lincoln.
"You had something truly precious, but your love for competitive winning and your obsession with superstitious luck outgrew your love for your own family. Thus pushing not only Lincoln but everyone else around further away," Jim explained.
Lynn could no longer hold back the tears, "Jim (sobs) please, I've seen enough. Please, just take me home. I can't look at this anymore. I get it. The ugly truth about me is I'm a horrible person. (sob and sniffs) Now take me home."
"Remember LJ, you fashioned these memories yourself," Jim said with his voice echoing.
As everything went dark, Lynn found herself back at her empty home. Lynn sat in her bed and silently wept in her self-pity and self-loathing.
"Why was I so stupid and blind? Why? Lynn Loud Jr. what have you done?" Lynn whimpered.
**To be continued in Lynn's Nightmare (Part 2 of 3)**