Chapter 3: The Accident
~Loud House~
Wednesday (August 21, 20XX)
Lincoln woke up late the next day, the sunlight streaming in through his window indicating that it was well past noon.
He glanced at his clock—1 PM.
'...1pm...? *uughh*...must have overslept...its so nice and comfy on my bed...maybe another 30 minutes...?' He thought to himself; before realizing it was already past noon, and he probably should get up, no matter how much he felt like sleeping in...
"*haaaaa* No point in staying in bed...might as well get up and find something to do..." He muttered to himself.
Groggily, he got out of bed, before doing a light stretch to get his blood pumping;
He took a quick look at himself in his mirror before noticing that he still had on his clothes from the day before.
' *sighh* ...must have gone straight to bed yesterday...that was a really nasty migraine...' He thought,
*sniff sniff* Lincoln paused... 'What's that smell...?' he paused again before sniffing around himself, before he realized it was coming from him;
'YIKES! I smell like crap...I need a shower...BAD!' Thinking to himself; growing up in a household of girls, personal hygiene was practically instilled into him since he was young.
'Well, it's late so I guess the bathroom line should basically be nonexistent, everyone should already be up...weird though...I don't hear any noise...oh well...' Shrugging off the lack of the usual noise he would be hearing, as it would seep in through the cracks of his door.
With that, he made his way out of the room, and into the hallway, making sure to grab a towel, and a fresh set of clothes;
'Huh...where is everyone...' He thought, noticing a lack of Loudness permeating the halls of the second floor, 'oh well, can't complain about some peace and quiet...especially in this household'
Lincoln walked towards the bathroom, before entering it to freshen up for the day.
After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, he headed downstairs.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he observed that the house was unusually quiet. Walking through the living room and into the kitchen, were he found his mother and Lisa.
Rita was wearing a dark pink [Kiss The Cook] apron over her normal clothes, while she washed some dishes in the sink.
"Good afternoon, sleepyhead," Rita said with a warm smile seeing Lincoln walk in. "You must have really needed the sleep?"
Lincoln yawned and stretched. "Yeah, I guess so. Where is everyone?" He asked,
"Lori is out dropping some of your sisters off, while Leni took Lola shopping and finally your dads at work. So it's just you, me, and Lisa, at the house today!" Rita explained.
"Oh-" Before Lincoln could finish his sentence, his stomach made a loud *Grumble* sound.
" *Giggle* Look's like someone's hungry...guess you did sleep through dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Don't worry Lincoln; I'll whip something up for you real quick!" Rita said, drying her hands on a towel, as she grabbed a pan and placed it onto the stove.
Lisa, who was sitting at the kitchen table, packing folders of papers into a briefcase; looked up. "Actually, mother, I just remembered I have a meeting with the Royal Woods Science Community. The meeting starts relatively soon, and I don't want to be late to it; given the time constraints can you can take me?"
Rita nodded. " *mhm* Well of course, sweetie, but let me make your brother so-"
"It's fine mom, don't worry about it; I'll find something else to eat." Lincoln said, cutting his mom off, before she could finish. "You can take Lisa to her meeting..."
"You sure Lincoln?" Rita replied, not wanting to leave Lincoln hungry.
"Yeah, I'm sure." He responded, as he finished stretching.
"Well okay sweetie, looks like we will be out for a couple of hours, then. We should be back before dinner time." Rita said, taking off her apron before leaving the kitchen to grab her purse;
"That was nice of you Lincoln." Lisa added, as she made her way out of the kitchen as well, carrying her briefcase with her.
"Don't mention it... *Yawn*" Lincoln responded, following behind the two.
As they were getting ready to leave, Rita turned to Lincoln. "Can you keep an eye on the house and make sure the pets don't make a mess?"
Lincoln nodded. "Sure thing, Mom."
Lisa paused before heading out the door. "Oh, and Lincoln, whatever you do, don't go down to the lab. The machine is calibrating, and it's very unstable right now. I doubt anything serious will happen, but it's better to be safe."
"Got it," Lincoln said, watching as they left the house.
Lincoln stood in the empty living room, the silence almost deafening. He sighed and decided to make himself something to eat.
"Hmmm what should I eat...?" He muttered to himself in the kitchen.
'Maybe a peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwich?' Lincoln thought to himself, as he reentered the kitchen;
*Grumble* His stomach let out...
'Well guess that's a yes.'
He opened the fridge and began making his food.
A While Later
After a quick lunch, he sat down to watch TV, but found it hard to concentrate. His mind kept drifting back to his strange dream from the previous night, and the uneasy feeling that lingered from it.
As Lincoln mindlessly continued too watch TV, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he was just drifting through life. The whole summer was about to end, and what had he done?
' *sighhh* All I've done this summer were chores around the house, maybe helping one of my sisters with something small, and just passively watching TV or reading comics...'
Lincoln wanted to break away from this mundane life, but with his luck, something might go wrong.
Every day his siblings would be out and about in some sort of exciting activity. He remembered how a couple of years ago, each day was something new and exciting, his sisters would rope him into doing something fun, or he would end up coming up with some crazy elaborate plan or idea that would take up most of his day;
'...fun times...'
That's all changed now...they had their own things to do now; before summer break started it was even worse, besides spending time at meal times together he rarely saw them.
Lincoln could feel it...
They were drifting away or...was he getting left behind...?
'Drifting away...that reminds me...' he thought, 'Liam, Rusty, and Jack...I haven't hung out with them since the graduation...wonder what they are up too...'
The whole summer went by and none of them had given Lincoln a call, he assumed they were busy; but when he tried reaching out a couple of times, he got no response. He even went to their house to see if they wanted to hangout, but they would always turn down the invite, and sometimes their parents would let him know that they were busy and couldn't come. Lincoln reasonably assumed that they were growing distant, so not wanting to push any further, he just let it happen.
'Growing up...guess it's bound to happen...'
His thoughts however, were abruptly interrupted by a loud, resonant sound coming from below his feet.
*THPHOOM*
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" He yelled out.
It surprised and jolted him out of his seat, while also subsequently stopping his thought process.
As he regained focus, he tried to find out what the sound was, and he quickly received an answer as another loud booming sound came and shook the floor he was standing on.
*THPHOOOM*
'It's coming from the basement?!'
Realizing what it was; he remembered Lisa telling him how the basement was soundproof and how only something going wrong would cause the soundproofing to fail.
'If I can hear that, something's seriously wrong,' he thought.
He rushed to the basement door as the first floor of the house shook.
*THPHOOM*
'Gotta check what's going on!' He thought to himself. 'Lisa said not to go, but I'd be damned before I let it explode the house! I'm not going to lose my house for Christ sake!'
Lincoln didn't know what it was, but whenever he was put into a situation where something that he held dear to him was in danger, he just threw himself at the problem, guess it was his insane level selflessness that was the motivator;
Opening the door, he was immediately hit with loud mechanical noises emanating from the portal; which were much louder then the one's from yesterday.
*WHHRRRRRRLLLLL*
*THOOOMPH*
Another deep, rumbling noise shook the walls and floor of the basement.
*PPHOOOOOOSHHH*
*THOOOOMPH*
He raced down the stairs, as everything shook and rattled...
The jar of ectoplasm that had been sitting on top of the shelf, was dislodged by the thumping sound.
*KRSHHH* The jar crashed onto the various computers, instantly shattering on impact, as the green goop began seeping into all the components that controlled the machine.
"Uh oh," Lincoln muttered, watching the scene unfold as he made it down to the basement.
He was too late...
The portal began to go haywire, sucking in everything around it.
*VHOOOOOOOOOOOSHH*
'I have to stop this thing before it blows!'
Lincoln rushed toward the emergency shutdown button that Lisa had told him about yesterday; as he sprinted towards it, the portal's condition worsened, as it forcefully began pulling Lincoln towards the insane whirling portal.
Just as he was getting sucked in, he acted fast and slammed his hand onto the power button;
*WWWWWWHHRRLLLLLLLLL*
*PPSSSHHHHHH*
Instead of stopping, the portal fully activated, thanks to the mixture of what should have been fake ectoplasm;
"OH SHIIII-!" He yelled;
Lincoln was sucked into the portal...
*VHHMMMMMMMMMMM*
Lincoln was engulfed in the swirling green energy, feeling extreme amounts of ectoplasmic bolts coursing through his body. He could feel his body being torn apart molecule by molecule, his DNA being altered as the green substance fused with it.
Lincoln fought to stay conscious, as he screamed in pain and agony;
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!"
"PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! I-I CANT TAKE THIS!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Lincoln continued to scream as the torment dragged on;
As each agonizing screams came out, he quickly realized something.
This was it; he could feel it...he was going to die!
'THIS IS IT! The portal it's ripping my body part...I'm not going to make it!' He thought to himself, while fighting his hardest to not lose consciousness.
Each bolt of green electricity came crashing into Lincoln's body at rapid pace;
As he slowly felt his energy get pulled out of his body; his mind settled on what he feared were his final thoughts.
Which were mostly compiled of his regret of not accomplishing anything in his now very short life; but even as he was dying, he was thankful that no one else was experiencing this horror.
'Guess, even in the end...I'm thinking something like that...'
As Lincoln was engulfed in the portal, he experienced intense, vivid sensations. His body felt like it was being stretched and compressed simultaneously. His eyes now blood shot red with an ever so slight green tint on his pupils, his skin slowly started peeling off his body, while simultaneously regenerating.
Before once again peeling right off but much faster as it burned in the green swirling portal; his muscles would implode, splattering around him, leaving only his bones. which would crumble as more bolts collided before he once again regenerated. This process kept repeating getting quicker and quicker each time it happened. It was gruesome, something straight out of a rated R slasher movie...
Blood that would shoot out of his body, would be instantly burned; leaving no trace of his suffering.
Every nerve in Lincoln's body was on fire, and his skin felt like it was ablaze as it continued to regenerate. As he was continuously getting pieced back together, the blinding green light surrounding him pulsed and crackled with energy, almost like it was alive.
The inner environment of the portal was chaotic. Swirling vortexes of green energy and lightning-like bolts flashed around him. Fragments of a different dimension appeared and disappeared rapidly, adding to the disorienting experience. The sounds were equally disturbing—high-pitched whines, thunderous booms, and eerie whispers echoed all around him.
*WRRRHHLLLLLLLLLLLLL*
In the midst of this chaos, Lincoln caught a brief glimpse of the other realm. Eerie, floating landscapes with jagged rocks and ghostly structures filled his vision. Ghostly figures drifted in the distance, their forms shimmering and translucent. Some looked menacing, while others appeared lost and forlorn. The surreal, otherworldly colors and the eerie green glow that permeated the entire realm added to the sense of dread.
'What is thi-'
"AAAHHGK"
Lincoln couldn't believe what he was seeing, but before he could dwell on that thought, in a split second, another bolt of electricity pulsed through his body.
"AAAAUUGGHH"
Lincoln's body began to change on a molecular level. His skin glowed green with a slight white hue; his hair changed color, shifting from its natural hue to a stark black strands. His DNA was altered as the ectoplasmic energy fused with his cells, giving him an ethereal, ghostly aura. His senses heightened, and he could hear whispers from the Ghost Zone and see spectral traces left behind by ghosts.
*whsp...whsp...whsp...whsp...whsp~*
'What are those sou-'
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH"
He yelled out again, as another bolt pieced through his body.
It was stronger then the one's previously; it ran through his now altered form, leaving a Lichtenberg scar that ran up from his left leg, through his torso and up to his left eye. It burned and engraved itself onto his body. His skin tissues unable to regenerate and cover the scar...
Through the pain, Lincoln's mind raced; He saw his life flashing before his eyes, he saw his family and his friends, regretting not being able to say one last goodbye.
He wished he had done something with his life, thinking it was better to try and fail; maybe he could have made difference, maybe done something heroic even.
"No...I did try! I tried my ass off!'
There were years worth of effort. Lincoln had tried;
All those times were he was breaking his back for his family, his friends, going out of his way to find a way to come up on top...
'I'm going to die...it doesn't even matter at this point. It's all worthless now...'
The dream from the previous night made it's way back to his mind...even though all of it was a dream, he couldn't help but feel that the words that his family said in his dream were true...
'All I ever do is cause problems; they were right! I'm pretty useless...' Anything Lincoln did barely ever went right, even now;
'What was it that drove me down here?'
'...My selflessness...that's what...'
'What made me think I could somehow stop the machine...?'
'...idiocy? Maybe...'
'Now the portal is going to explode and take me with it...great...'
'Damn it all! I just wish I could have done something worthwhile, is that so much to ask for?! If only I achieved something great...if only I had another chance! I just want to be like them; to prove it to myself that I'm worth something!!'
This struck a cord within Lincoln, suddenly lost were the feeling of hopelessness; They were instantly replaced with something completely different. He felt being washed over by a strong sense of pride.
"I CANT LET GO!" He yelled, trying to hold back against the pain his body was enduring; 'SCREW DYING!'
"NOT HERE! AAAAAGHH" he yelled, "I- AAAGH!"
"I-I CAN'T LET THIS BE THE END OF ME!" Lincoln screamed louder then ever before, his voice reverberating in a deep echo.
With the sudden will to fight; deep within his mind, there was a strange duality that reached out to his soul, as a shadowy substance clouded his mind.
Within his body, rapid changes were happening; and in the middle of his chest, his heart slowly became colder, as a glowing blue light encapsulated it.
But, right behind his heart, something situated itself, hiding behind his now glowing blue heart.
It was dark, almost black, with a faint white outline; it represented a desire that loomed much deeper in his soul, so far deep no one else knew about it, not even Lincoln himself.
Lincoln vision began to fade, and the pain became unbearable. The energy around him intensified, reaching it's climax, and with one final scream;
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"
The Portal Exploded.
Lincoln was thrown back out into the basement, now unconscious and transformed...
Minutes Later
Lincoln's vision was blurry, and his head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache. He struggled to focus, his surroundings a chaotic mess of debris and smoke. He tried to think back to what had happened, but his thoughts were fragmented and jumbled.
'The machine.. the explosion.. the pain...' he thought, each memory bringing a fresh wave of agony. His body felt like it was on fire, every nerve screaming in protest.
'What's happening to me?' He wondered, fear and confusion mingling in his mind.
Being barely able to make out where he laid; Lincoln could see that he was surrounded by a pool of glowing green gooey substance.
Moving his hand slowly over it he could make out the texture to be very viscous. Turning his head around, he saw the source of it. To his horror as his eyes focused, he could see that it was leaking out of his hands, legs and his chest.
His whole body was leaking, pieces of his skin were missing, but slowly regenerating. He could make out his skin moving up, as the wounds slowly got closed, but not fully.
The pain his body was in, was too much, and despite his efforts to stay awake, he slipped back into unconsciousness...
An Hour Later
Lincoln stirred again. The pain had lessened slightly, enough for him to open his eyes and take in his surroundings. The basement was in ruins as smoke lingered in the air, and the remnants of the portal flickered weakly.
Groaning, Lincoln managed to push himself up into a sitting position, trying hard not to slip on the gooey stuff. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out the extent of the damage around him. He looked down at his hands and noticed a faint white glow emanating from his skin, but quickly overlooking it, assuming his eyes were playing tricks on him.
'What…happened...did I make it out...?' he thought, a mixture of fear and curiosity filling his mind.
He felt different, he almost felt stronger, but also fragile at the same time, it was like his body had been fundamentally altered...
Lincoln struggled to his feet, using the walls for support. Every movement was painful, but he knew he couldn't stay in the basement. He needed to get upstairs, to figure out what had happened and what he was going to do next.
With slow, deliberate steps, Lincoln made his way out of the basement, each movement a battle against the pain and exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm him.
As he climbed the stairs, he noticed his hands seemed darker, his skin tanner. Then it hit him, his clothes were completely different. His button-down shirt was now entirely white, his orange T-shirt had turned black, his pants now completely black and shoes were black and white.
'W-What's g-going on?' he thought, panic rising in his chest. 'Am I going color blind...? Is that how that wor-'
"AUGH! MY HEAD" He said out loud, he felt a sharp pain pulse through his head. His vision still blurry, he stumbled into the kitchen.
Still having a hard time standing, he used the counter for support; carefully, he made his way to the sink and splashed water on his face, trying to clear his vision.
It helped a little...
He now could see more clearly; with that he took a better look at the current condition he was in;
His clothes were torn and singed, his skin marked with cuts and green ooze seeping from the wounds.
Fear gripped him, a lump anxiety grew in his throat.
"Something happened..." he whispered, terrified.
Lincoln made his way to the couch and sat down, trying to calm himself. He sat there for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, trying to make sense of everything.
Gathering his strength, he decided to head upstairs to the bathroom.
'I need...to get...washed up...have...to...find...the...first aid...kit!' He thought, his mind barely able to keep up as the pain from his body tried to engulf him;
Lincoln steadily got up from the couch, and made his way to the stairway, making sure to hold on to the banister. Each step he took was a struggle, but very deliberate; he didn't want to accidently lose balance and fall...that would be bad...exceptionally bad, given his current state.
Eventually Lincoln made it to the second floor, before taking a couple more painstaking steps into the bathroom;
In the bathroom, he reached under the sink for the first aid kit. As he did, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and froze...his eyes bulging out of their sockets, something was wrong with Lincoln, something very, very wrong;
A boy with stark black hair, stared back at him. His freckles were now completely white but barely able to be seen unless someone was looking closely for them, and his eyes, once a clear blue, were now a vivid green. His skin, previously a light complexion, was now significantly tanned.
"WAAAAHHH!" He screamed and jumped back, falling backwards into the tub.
*OOOPH!*
Disoriented, he scrambled out and stood before the mirror again.
"What… what happened to me?" he asked, his voice echoing eerily, Lincoln noticed this change instantly;
"M-My VOICE?!" He screamed. "Why does it sound like that?!"
He instinctively went to put his hand over his forehead and he saw something that shook him to his core;
He looked at his right hand and saw it was gone...
"My hand?! My hand, it's gone!" he yelled.
In the split second it had disappeared, his hand once again reappeared...
Lincoln now was having a complete mental breakdown, and the pain coming from his entire body didn't help either;
"H-HOW?! *ha* My hand?! *ha* What happened to it?! *ha*" He yelled, as his breathing became shallow, but he couldn't help but feel there was something off every time he took a breath.
He however didn't dwell on it since right now, he was in a complete panic, he couldn't understand the sudden changes happening to him.
As he looked back up, he saw his reflection disappeared from the mirror...
...Lincoln's heart sank.
'Whaa-'
His now invisible eyes were bulging out of their sockets once again.
"AAAAAHH" He yelled. "WHERE DID I GO?!"
He began feeling up his body with his invisible hands...
'I can feel my body, but...!' For the life of him, he couldn't see himself; his torso, his hands, his legs, his everything!
A millisecond later, his reflection reappeared on the mirror, and so did the rest of his body.
"What's wrong with me?!" he yelled, desperation in his voice.
'I'm losing my mind! This can't be real!' He thought, before a sharp pain throbbed on his arm, as green ooze came out.
'Crap...okay calm down Lincoln, get ahold of yourself...' *haaa* 'I need to bandage these wounds first...yeah that's right, keep a cool mind Linc...'
He steadily opened a cabinet under the sink, and reached for the first aid kit, but his hands went right through it.
The composure he built up quickly vanished into thin air, as his anxiety skyrocketed.
'SCREW THE FIRST AID KIT!'
'I need to figure out what was going on!' he thought,
'...wait...' His eyes widening...
He remembered something...it wasn't anything of real importance. Just a random memory from an old show, a ghost hunting series he used to watch a couple years back. AAARGH!; that's what it was called. He hadn't really thought about it in a long time, maybe caught a rerun once or twice late at night after it had been canceled. But right this moment, stuff from the show came rushing back to him as he stood there; those hauntingly green eyes that stared back at him, his unexplainable and complete change in appearance, the eerie echoing voice that came out of his throat, and his limbs either disappearing or passing straight through solid objects.
'No...anything but that...'
But he didn't want to believe it, he didn't want it to come down to this conclusion, but it seemed as if it was inevitable at this very moment.
He put his hand on his chest as he waited.
Seconds went by.
...
...
...
He stood there, waiting, hoping.
...
...
...
Nothing.
"My heart… why isn't it beating?" he whispered in horror.
His mind raced, trying to make sense of it all...but he kept coming back to the same conclusion...
Lincoln Loud had died;
He had died...
'No, no, no, I can't be dead!' He thought. 'This can't be happening! Maybe it's a dream! Yeah just some sick nightmare again!'
He pinched himself, but his skin was cold and stiff, like the flesh of a long gone corpse.
Panic overtook him.
"No, no, NO, NOO, NOOOO!" He exclaimed, louder each time as his now echoing voice reverberated throughout the walls of this bathroom. 'This can't be happening! NO, NOO! Anything but this!'
"God...please...I don't want to be dead, PLEASE! PLEASE, bring me back!" He called out to whatever higher power existed, hoping they could answer his prayer.
No one answered...
Tears formed in his eyes, as he broke into a sob...
'Why me...!'
For a moment, Lincoln stood there, looking at himself in the mirror, tears streaming down his face.
He cried hard, and until he couldn't cry anymore; he felt completely drained...
He hugged himself, wishing to once again feel that warm feeling of his blood rushing through his body, the warm touch of his hands...but all he felt right now was cold;
'please...I want to be alive again...'
...
...
Then it happened...
A ring of white light with a blue hue appeared at his waist and split into two. One ring moved up to his head, the other down to his feet. The light was bright, almost blinding. When it disappeared, Lincoln felt it. His veins were pumping blood. He felt his body jump start back to life.
He looked in the mirror. His hair was white as snow, his clothes were their original colors but in tatters. He was sure he had died, but now he was back, someone must have heard his prayers. He felt his heart beating once again; It was slower, but it was still there.
"I'm back!" He rejoiced, happiness filling his face, before quickly vanishing.
I'm not dead, but... what am I?' he wondered.
Lincoln reached for the first aid kit again and, thankfully, was able to grab it. He opened it and began treating his wounds. The green ooze seeping from his cuts turned to blood, though if he looked closely, there were green specks mixed in with it.
He took his ripped clothes all off and put them in a bag.
'I don't understand any of this...what happened to me...and why?' *Sigh*
'I should probably shower...wash off all of the blo-' He couldn't finish, the thought of being covered in his own blood made his stomach turn...
Walking into the tub, he turned the water on and took a shower. Making sure not to damage or touch the open wounds, he meticulously scrubbed his body with a loofah.
' *haaa* This is nice...'
The hot water hitting his body was a nice contrast to the cold touch of his skin from before; it felt rejuvenating.
Minutes Later
Putting on a towel, he slowly began using some more Gauze to cover up all the wounds on his body.
'Huh...I could have sworn I had a wound right here' He though to himself as he looked at the bottom part of his arm, which now was seemingly fully healed.
Looking past it; he continued to bandage up the rest of his wounds.
' *sighhh* There are a lot of wounds...' He thought, With all these wounds around his body, he knew one thing for sure, 'When these wounds heal, they are going to leave a lot of scars on my body...'
It wasn't like he was shy of any scars before all of this...but most of what he had were from small cuts or bruises...but this was on a totally different level. He was using up a lot of Gauze, and there were a lot of wounds throughout his body.
'If anyone saw this...' He wasn't sure what he would do, it looked like he was a solider that got deployed into the middle of a battlefield; there were wounds on his back, his upper arms, legs, and a really big one on his chest. It seemed the only place that didn't have a wound was his face.
'That would have been hard to hide...'
The Lichtenberg figure, on his left side of his body had seemingly been covered up by the skin tissue leaving almost no trace of it's existence. Lincoln was unaware of the scar that was once there but he couldn't help but feel a slight burning feeling on that side of body...
He finished bandaging up all the wounds and exited the bathroom.
As he walked out and made his way to his room to get clothes, he began to notice the ceiling getting taller...and taller.
He quickly looked down, as terror washed over his face.
"MY LEGS?!" He shouted;
Lincolns legs had become see through, a blurry outline could be seen, highlighting were his legs once belonged. Everything up to his waist was slowly sinking through the floor.
Reacting fast, he let go of the towel and the bag, putting his hands on the floor and pushing himself up before the rest of his body sank through the floor.
As soon as Lincoln finished pushing himself up, his legs once again reappeared.
'It didn't stop...' He thought, as fear rose through his chest.
Lincoln hoped that maybe becoming his regular self would have stopped these weird paranormal quirks, but it hadn't.
Finally making it to his room, he threw the bag of his old clothes near the side of his bed. As he began putting on a new pair of his usual outfit.
Thankfully, his clothes were able to cover the parts of his body that had bandages on them.
Finished, Lincoln sat on his bed trying to figure everything out.
'The stuff happening to me...are mannerisms of ghosts...disappearing...going through stuff...having g-green blo-ectoplasm...' His thoughts were consumed by fear
'Maybe I did die...' he said, his eyes becoming puffy. 'But with my luck, only somewhat...'
Lincoln didn't full comprehend everything, but he knew one thing, he was dead...but only partially. He still had a heart beat, even though it was delayed by a couple of seconds. His blood was still red, even if it had some green stuff in it.
So he couldn't be dead fully right?
As he continued to think, he wasn't sure if he still existed or if everything after coming out of the portal has been a dream. For all he knew, he's completely dead, and this here is either purgatory or...worse.
A While Later
After what felt like forever, Lincoln decided to get out of his bed. His body was still sort of sore, but he felt better. He had been thinking about what to do;
'I could always just pass out right now, and fall completely asleep... Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow, and all of this might end up being a nightmare or something...'
*sigh* '...no...it wouldn't' Lincoln knew it wasn't.
It was all too real.
Looking at the clock, it was 4:05 pm, his mother and Lisa would be back soon, and he was pretty sure he would see his other siblings come back by dinner time at 6pm.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Lincoln made his way back down stairs and into the basement. Making sure not to suddenly slip through the floor...
Reaching the door to the basement, Lincoln took a second to prepare himself; he wasn't afraid of going back down there, but there was a hint of anxiety rising in his chest.
This was the place he had died...
Lincoln opened the door, and his nose was immediately attacked by a putrid smell;
*ERGGGGH*
He quickly covered his nose, with his shirt;
'WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL?!' He thought, the stench being worse then anything he had ever smelled; more nauseating then any of Lily's used diapers...
Pushing through it, he walked downstairs; when he reached the bottom, he finally understood the amount of damage the explosion had really caused.
Besides the portal being in absolute ruins, the whole basement wasn't any better... The boiler was destroyed, the washing and drying machines were in pieces. The walls were scorched, as debris and ash covered almost every inch of the room.
As he walked around the stench continued to become more potent, it seemed as though it grew the closer he got to the portal. He finally came upon something that made his stomach turn upside down. There a couple meters away from the long gone portal was a pool of green fluid...
'T-That's...' He thought to himself.
He knew what it was, if his assumption was right, when he had became that other form. His red blood became...green ectoplasm.
He felt sick. Lincoln wasn't scared of blood, but seeing your own in a pool, just made him want to throw up.
'I have to clean this up, and I have to find a way to explain this to Lisa and everything else' He thought.
'But...how do I even tell anyone about...me?' He considered looking back down at the pool.
He had thought about it as he laid on the bed earlier, at first he was planning on telling everyone what happened and try and get some help with his...problem, but then came a thought he really didn't want to think of.
'What if they don't accept me anymore...'
'...finding out your brother, your son...is dead, is insane...but hey! At least I only died partially!' Lincoln quipped. Trying to find some thing positive about his situation.
*sighh* 'They might...end up throwing me out the house. H-How do I even go about telling them something like this...this is all...so unbelievable.'
Lincoln loved his family and he knew they loved him, but he had some doubts;
They would either not believe him, because if Lincoln were to be completely honest about his situation; it all felt like some crazy made-up scenario, everything from the explosion to his...problems...felt absolutely surreal. They would probably think he lost his mind and send him off to some mental asylum...
'Are those still even a thing...?'
Or something would happen in front of them; like him turning invisible or phasing through the floor, and they would believe him, before shunning him out of the family. He loved them...really! But they tend to go overboard and are very stubborn...and they do tend to avoid things that may cause them problems...and what's a bigger problem then having a dead son at home!
Lincoln couldn't help but think of a certain situation and having to sleep outside in the backyard. That made him feel even worse. If his bad luck, even though it was a complete hoax, was a big enough problem that they had to kick him out of the house for; being a walking corpse was 10, no, 100 times worse!
'...then again...if I tell them, what would happen to their sanity by the concept of my death, no matter if I'm still here or not, the grief of finding out I lost my life...I can't imagine what that would do to them...' Lincoln didn't want to envision what kind of future that was in store for him if his family found out.
No matter how much uncertainty he felt in his heart, he couldn't help but feel his family would be devastated by what happened to him...
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...I can't tell them...' He thought, finally making his decision.
He was going to hide this from his family. This was all too much, maybe he would tell them later, much later, but for right now, he needed to keep a cool and collected mind...
'I have to be strong, I need to carefully plan my next move...'
His newfound conviction was however masked by watery tears forming in his eyes. No matter how hard he tried to force it down, he couldn't contain the grief he felt at this moment. He had died, nothing was going to be the same anymore.
'But how do I explain the explosion...' He thought to himself, as he wiped away the tears that had formed.
'I should probably lie and say I heard noises coming from the basement but chose to ignore them...that could work...Lisa did tell me not to come down here...'
Lincoln being the man with the plan, he finally decided on what he was going to do;
When Lisa and his mom would get back, he would tell them that her machine was making noise loud enough noises to shake the house somewhat, but it then suddenly stopped.
'That might work, it's believable enough, and there seems to be no damage done to the rest of the house...they might believe it; but before that I have to clean off the blo-green stuff.'
Finding a some cleaning supplies in the mess was hard, but he was able to recover a mop and some rags. He also brought down some air refreshener from the kitchen; the smell was still super strong.
'...I really don't want to think of what the smell might actually be...' A shiver went down his spine as he remembered what happened earlier.
Lincoln, wasn't clueless, with what happened to him down here, and all the wounds he got, he knew what it was...burnt human flesh.
'Maybe opening the basement windows will help.' He walked over to the small windows that were placed at the top of the walls, and opened them;
With that, he slowly began cleaning off any evidence of his presence from the basement.
Around 30 minutes later
Lincoln finally removing all the evidence of him being there during the explosion and the smell no longer lingering; he made his way up to the first floor, and out the back door.
He threw the green stuff and the used rags he had put into a trash bag, and into the garbage bin outside.
Throughout his time trying to clean the basement, his hands would disappear, his pants would go intangible and fall down, his legs would fall through the basement.
All of this frightened Lincoln, as well as annoy him. He didn't understand how any of this worked, would this constantly happen? What would he do if someone saw him falling through the floor?
Even with some sisters not staying at the home much, there were a lot of people living under his house, and there is no way they wouldn't notice Lincoln suddenly disappearing or falling through the ground. He had to figure out how all of this worked, and maybe even try and control it. But that was a task for tomorrow.
He was tired, very tired. His wounds were slowly healing, he checked, and to his surprise most of the smaller wounds that weren't concealed by his clothes, had been completely healed and there were no marks left behind.
'Maybe the accident gave me fast healing or something.'
Now all there was left to do was to make sure his little plan was played out the way he wanted, and then he was going to take a long, a very long nap.
Making it back to to living room, Lincoln looked at the clock on the wall.
'4:33pm, they should be back by 5pm...guess I'll just hang around here until they're back' he thought to himself sitting down on the couch as he slowly watched the clock tic.
5:28pm
"Sweetie, were back!" Rita said as he opened the door and walked in
"Hello Lincoln," Lisa replied walking in behind her mother
"Sorry if we were a bit late." Rita said as he saw Lincoln sitting on the couch
"Apologies Lincoln, the meeting got pretty heated, and it took a lot longer then expected." Lisa added on.
"Hey mom, Lisa...no it's fine." Lincoln said.
'Thank god they can see me, I got kind of paranoid they might no be able to see me; was worried that I might have died too much and was invisible to others!' He thought
"Hope the pets didn't cause you too much trouble' Rita replied
'Huh? Completely forgot about them, where were they?' He thought.
"No they were fine, I uh- think they've been outside this entire time." Lincoln replied, coming up with a quick lie.
"That's good, thank you Lincoln for looking after the house while we were gone." Rita replied.
"No problem mom, and uhh- by the way Lisa, I gotta tell you something..." Lincoln said.
"Sure, what is it?" She replied with a slight lisp
'Here goes nothing!' Lincoln Thought.
"Well you see, uhm..your machine, it was making a lot of noises, and I mean a lot, I could hear it while the basement door was closed; at one point I thought it was going to explode or something. It was shaking the first floor and stuff. Then it all of a sudden, it stopped making noises and the shaking was gone..." Lincoln responded.
'please believe it...' He thought, praying his lie was convincing enough.
"Oh good heavens, Lincoln are you alright!?" Rita responded.
'Yes-!'
"D-Don't worry, I'm okay mom," Lincoln tried lying as best as he ever could.
"Lisa go check on your machine, I don't want this house being blown up, young lady!" She said with an angry tone.
"Y-Yes mother, and thank you Lincoln, I was just on my way down. Also mother you needn't worry, I installed reinforcements to the base of the house, even if my portal were to explode the integrity of the basement and house will stay. I had it installed after that tornado situation we had back a couple of years ago."
'...wait...are you being serious right now?! I didn't need to even go down there...?!' Lincoln was a lost for words. All of this could have been avoided, he didn't know what to think or feel. Had he just died for nothing? It was all felt like someone was playing a sick joke on him.
'This can't be happening!'
"Though...mother, if I were to be honest with you, I'm not completely confident on the durability of the reinforcement. Since Lincoln has now informed us about how there was noise leaking through, I'm beginning to doubt the credibility of the instillation. However, fear not, there is very low chance my portal would just explode, it is built to handle extreme situations, and before we left earlier today, I added some automated safeguards for it to shutdown during calibrations if were to get anywhere near the critical point. It would do it without the need of the manual shutdown button."
'...what? wait...so maybe me trying to stop it helped? *sighh* I don't know what to think at this point...'
"Well...uhhm...if that's the case then, you are off the hook, for now; but be careful down there Lisa." Rita replied relieved and thankful for her daughters foresight.
"Roger that, mother...I'll be in the basement if you need me." Lisa replied as he made her way downstairs.
"Now, sweetie, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Rita asked,
"Huh? What was that mom?" Lincoln asked, being broken out of his thoughts;
"I was asking if you had plans for today; I know you got stuck house sitting, I hope it didn't interfere with any plans you might have had. I didn't expect that convention or conference or whatever to take so long."
"Uhh it's all good mom, didn't really have any plans for today-"
'Not like I got anything going on nowadays...' He thought
"I-I think I'm just going to head upstairs for now..." Lincoln said.
"Well make sure to come down for dinner Lincoln." She said as Lincoln made his way to the stairs
"Got it." He said as he made his way back up.
With Lisa
As Lisa made her way down to the basement, nothing could prepare her for what she was about to see.
Finally stepping off the stairs, Lisa face changed as complete and utter shock over took her usual calm persona.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF EINSTEIN HAS HAPPENED?!" Yelled Lisa, looking at the complete mess, the basement was in.
"MY MACHINE?! THE BASEMENT?!"
'I KNEW LINCOLN SAID HE HEARD LOUD NOISES BUT THIS...THIS IS INSANITY!' Lisa loudly thought in her head
"T-T-THE PORTAL ITS IN RUINS! EVERYTHING IS!" She yelled as her head franticly observed the destroyed state of the basement.
Lisa quickly rushed to the console of for the portal to see if it was still working. To her surprise, it was still somehow running. She quickly loaded up the logs from after she left.
The logs she read, showed that the portal was doing it's usual calibrations, until a foreign substance was introduced, and it also showed that the portals shut down button was requested but it was rejected by the system.
"What?! This isn't making any sense! What's this about a foreign substance?! Why did the manual shut down button even go off? It's not supposed to activate unless someone pressed the button?" She said out loud.
Lisa was a super genius, but she was completely stumped at the moment. She just didn't understand any of this; she decided too look further into the logs. The calibrations were going fine but there were some irregularities; 'Crap...I forgot to carry the one! but the new automated shutdown should have gone off...not the manual one! It's not adding up at all!' The thing that stumped her the most was;
'...A foreign substance...' She thought to herself, as she began scouring around the machine, until her eyes laid on small bits of green goo leaking out of the bottom part of the console.
'T-This is the ecto-I mean slime lucy put down here. It must have fallen on the console, causing it to malfunction...' She thought, slowly picking some of it up with her finger.
'But...my portal was much too durable to malfunction due to some slime...unless-!' She said slowly looking closer at the slime.
'What do we have here...' As Lucy looked closer, the green goo she assumed to be slime had small very tiny amount of electricity moving through it, and it glowed much more then fake slime should.
'It can't be.' she thought to herself.
'I should do some tests on this substance, though I doubt there is much too it.' She thought.
'But first...I should clean the basement up, and fix everything before the parents are aware. Avoiding any punishment for this comes first.' Thinking to herself.
"Let's just put this in a safe container for later," She said out loud as she put the green goo into a airtight flask.
Right away, she began cleaning up the basement and fixing everything that was destroyed. Lisa was able to this quickly thanks to the help of her robots, FixBot and CleanBot;
She was completely unaware of the real truth behind the explosion...
With Lincoln
After reaching the 2nd floor, Lincoln was washed over with a sense of relief
'That was nerve racking' He thought to himself. 'Any second something could have happened; my head could have disappeared, I could have fallen through the floor, my pants could have disappeared or fallen...'
Walking towards his room, Lincoln had only one thing in his mind...sleep! Opening his door, he quickly went inside and tore a piece of paper out of his note book, and wrote down [Too Tired. Skipping Dinner] before hanging it outside his door.
'Too tired to eat, and I want to avoid everyone; can't risk something happening...' He said to himself. 'I'll try and figure out what to do, see if I can control these...changes...tomorrow...'
Plopping himself onto the bed, he slowly closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep.
As Lincoln slept, a dark shadowy figure once again appeared above his bed, hovering in the air, with an eerie voice, it whispered;
"And so it shall begin..."
End Chapter