Lacy

>Lori was driving through the eternal highways of New Mexico.
>She was feeling tired but Luna was sleeping on the passenger's seat, after driving for the past three hours.
>The 27-year-old woman, noticing that they were going through a small town, decided to take a detour, to rest for a little bit.
>"hey, Luna," she said "Let's rest for a bit, alright? Why don't we go to that market over there? We can go and eat something."
>"Wha-what? I mean, sure." Luna said, yawning the sleepiness away.
>They walked out of the car, stretched their legs and decided to walk for a bit.
>"So what do you think people eat in New Mexico?" Lori asked.
>"Beats me. Hey, let's go to that Mexican food stand. Maybe it's more authentic because it's a bit more south?"
>"Hah, and I thought Leni was the one asking the dumb questions." Lori laughed.
>"Bite me. But seriously, thanks for helping me with this trip, I wouldn't have been able to do it myself."
>"Don't worry sis, now, let's go and eat something, alright?"
>After sitting down and ordering some tacos for each other, they ate them enjoying the scene.
>Even if it was in the middle of nowhere looking at the yellow, brown and blue horizon was an amazing spectacle.
>"There's a convenience store over there." Lori said. "Want me to buy something for the rest of the trip?"
>"Yeah, bring a couple of cokes, we're going to need the sugar to not fall asleep."
>Lori left her part of the bill on the table and walked into the store.
>After a couple of mins walking around the aisles, she looked at a small cereal box in the shape of a small grave.
>She looked at it with nostalgia, wondering what happened to her lost siblings.
>She sighed and as she walked away, she walked with someone and heard a small "ouch".
>"Oh I'm sorry, honey, I didn't mean to..." her words were cut when she saw the girl rubbing her head.
>"I'm so sorry, Mrs.! I just wanted this cereal because it's my favorite cereal and I can never find it except for now, I didn't want to hit you! I'm so sorry!" The girl said, quickly grabbing a box and walking away.
>Lori stood there, looking at the void for several seconds when she finally mumbles some words "L-Lynn?"
>She shook the shock as fast as she could and she jogged to where the girl ran.
>After looking through the aisles she found the girl again, begging something to a couple while showing them the cereal box.
>They were a seemingly normal couple, smiling at their daughter while they held each other's hands.
>But what captured the attention of Lori, was the white hair of the man and how similar the woman was to both Luna and Luan.
>"Please please, can we buy this? Please, mommy, daddy?"
>"Mommy? Daddy?" Lori said.
>When the couple noticed the woman behind their daughter, the color left their faces.
>They began to shake, grabbing their daughter and pulling we behind them.
>"H-hi." The man said. "C-can we help you?"
>Lori, shocked at what she found, slowly walked towards them, which made them flinch.
>"I-it is you, Lincoln... Lynn..."
>"Please, Lori." Lynn said. "Leave us alone."
>That comment angered Lori.
>"Leave you alone?! After not knowing about you for ten years?!"
>"Lori!" Lincoln said. "Please, don't scare Lacy!"
>This time, it was Lori who lost all the color in her face.
>"You mean, t-that?" She said as she pointed at the scared girl.
>"Whoa, dude!" Luna suddenly said, appearing behind her carrying two giant bottles of coke "Why are you screaming? They're going to kick us... out..."
>Luna dropped the bottles, spilling their contents all across the floor.
>"Oh my god..."
>Lynn and Lincoln's worst nightmare finally came true.

>"Hey, what's going on? Are these people bothering you, Whists?" The owner of the shop said, slowly walking towards the group.
>"Whists?" Lori thought to herself.
>Lynn and Lincoln looked at each other, unable to think of an answer.
>Before the man could say that he was going to call the cops, Luna intervened.
>"No! I mean, we are their relatives, their sisters! We've been looking for them all over the place!"
That statement made the man confused.
>"Wait, siblings? To them?"
"Y-YES, SIBLINGS!" Lincoln quickly screamed "Siblings of Lynn! C-can you see the resemblance? I'm just their brother in law, that's all! A-and they were just lost, you know? New Mexico is v-very big..."
>The man slowly examined the two older women and then turned to see Lynn.
>"Ah! I see. You ladies are very similar to both Lynn and little Lacy. I'm sorry about everything and don't worry about the mess, I'll clean it up." He said with a smile on his face.
>While the man was talking, Luna looked at the little girl and processing Lincoln's words, the weight of reality hit her like a truck.
>"Lincoln... Lynn... you... you..."
>The couple quickly stood in front of Lacy and, looking at each other, they tighten their grip.
>"I guess we need to talk." Lynn said.

>The trip to their home was a quiet one.
>Lincoln was driving, tightening the steering wheel as hard as he could.
>Lynn, on the other hand, was biting her nails, nervously looking at the window and at Lacy.
>Their daughter, on the other hand, was both scared and excited.
>Was she finally going to meet her relatives? She heard her mommy talk so much about her family before and how fun it was to be with them.
>She really wanted to meet those fun aunts she always talked about on.
>The car that was following them had a different atmosphere.
>Lori was trembling, while Luna wasn't able to shut up.
>"T-this... we found them, Lori! We finally found them but... that kid, this can't be right?! come on, answer me..."
>Lori took a deep breath and answered.
>"I think it's obvious, Luna."
>"Bloody hell, what the fuck did they do."
>After a couple of minutes driving, they finally arrived at a very small and old-looking house.
>Instead of grass, the yard was nothing but dirt with a soccer ball on it and the main door looked pretty busted.
>Lori took a better look at their car and it was pretty old. Almost looked like it would break at any minute.
>Lincoln and Lynn walked out of the car, helping Lacy, while the two older siblings looked from afar.
>They saw how Lynn hugged the kid, kissing her on the cheek, while Lincoln did the same for both of them.
>They were revolted.
>The young man walked towards the door and opened it.
>"Come on in." He shouted.
>The two women looked at each other and slowly walked towards the entrance.

>The inside of the house made it look even smaller.
>The main room was a small kitchen/living/dining room. There was a small table in the middle of the place with three chairs, an old sofa on the right with a CRT TV and the kitchen on the left.
>There were three doors all around the room, two taking to the bedrooms and one to the bathroom.
>"Please, sit." Lincoln said, offering them the couch.
>"Hey Lacy, why don't you go and play outside? It's a bit late so the sun won't be as strong now."
>At first, the girl didn't notice the words of her mother, she was staring at the two women, who were looking back.
>"Lacy!" Lynn said again, capturing the attention of her daughter.
>"Wha? Oh, ok, sure."
>"Remember, don't cross the street and if you see a stranger-"
>"Run back to the house!"
>Lynn and Lincoln smiled. "That's a good girl." The mother said, hugging her one last time.
>When the child left the house, the atmosphere got unbearable.
>No one was able to start the conversation.
>Luna, who was so chatty before, wasn't able to open her mouth.
>Lori noticed this and, taking in charge once again like she always did, quickly looked for the right words in her mind.
>So many scenarios, so many ideas popped in her head and were thrown into the trash in a matter of a few seconds.
>Nothing was good enough until, finally, the right words hit her.
>"We... we missed you..."
>Tears began to run down Luna's eyes.
>"Y-yes... we missed you so much..."
>If Lori's intention was to soften the blow, it actually made it twice as hard.
>The couple would've preferred if they screamed on their faces.
>Show how angry and hurt they were.
>To  finally cut any ties they had with their family and finally forget about them once and for all.
>Lynn began to cry too. At first, some small sniffs appeared, but it became a strong weep.
>"I... we missed you too!" She said, jumping in Lori's arms.
>This was surprising to the older woman, but being able to touch her little sister once again, made her hug Lynn with all of her strength.
>She wasn't a ghost, she was real.
>Luna jumped too, hugging Lynn just as strong as Lori.
>After a couple of seconds, they looked at Lincoln who was holding himself against the wall, trying to contain the tears while covering his eyes.
>"I... I'm sorry... I'm so... sorry..." he said.
>Just before the trio could say anything, he kneeled on the floor holding his face.
>"It was all my fault... everything... I'm so sorry..."
>Lynn jump away from her sisters and hugged her lover.
>"No Lincoln, it's ok... it wasn't your fault... it wasn't your fault..."
>Lori and Luna, seeing their brother in such a state, decided to join Lynn and hugged the man, just like they did so many years ago.
>For a second, both Lynn and Lincoln felt like they were back at the Loud house like nothing changed and they were still those innocent kids from 10 years ago.
>"What happened to you two?" Lori finally said.

>Everybody calmed down, Luna and Lori were sitting on some chairs while Lincoln and Lynn were on the couch.
>The couple were holding each other's hand, while looking down on the floor, like children who were getting scold.
>"Please, stop holding your hands, that's creepy." Luna pleaded.
>But Lynn shook his head.
>"No. We love each other."
>They tighten their grip after those words were spoken.
>"Why? Just tell us what happened!" Lori said, getting more emotional by the second.
>Lincoln sighed and looked at them in the eye.
>"It's difficult to point out, I don't know when it happened but I loved Lynn since I can remember."
>That made the two women cringe.
>"I also loved him. It was hard for me to understand those feelings but when he came to tell me how he felt, I... I wasn't able to say no." Lynn continued.
>"For how long did you do it?" Lori asked.
>"Months. It was hard to hide it but we managed to do it."
>For a moment, their minds went back to those days, when an 11-year-old Lincoln and a 13-year-old Lynn played soccer in the backyard.
>As always, Lynn beat Lincoln, but once the game was over, when they were able to hide behind the tree to rest, they held each other's hand and kissed on the lips.
>For them, it was the sweetest sensation they ever felt, being with the one they loved with all their heart.
>"So that's why you ran away?" Lori said with a harsh voice, breaking up their trance.
>Lincoln sighed. It was now that he had to say it.
>"No. We ran away because... we were careless."
>"Careless? What do you-" But Luna stopped dead in her tracks.
>"You don't mean... no, you didn't..." She continued while Lori covered her face with her palm.
>"We didn't know how to put it on correctly..." Lynn said, hiding her face in shame.
>"You... you idiots! You godamn idiots!" Luna exploded "You didn't know how to put on a bloody condom?! Why did you even do it! You're fucking siblings!"
>"Luna, calm down." Lori said.
>"No! I'm not calming down! These morons decided to fuck when they were children! What did you expect! And then, these incest loving  idiots, instead of letting us help them, decided to flee!"
>She was mere cms away from the couple's face. They looked away from her.
>"And now they live in this dumpster. They ruined their lives." She looked at them one last time and, before storming out of the main door she said: "you disgust me."

>Luna walked out of the house, sat in front of the door, took out a cigarette and, with a very trembling hand, she put it in her mouth.
>She was extremely angry, scared and worried about her siblings. She knew that they've ruined their lives.
>If only they told her, told the family what was going on.
>Everything could've been fixed in the long run.
>She tried to turn on her cigarette, but her hand was too shaky.
>"Fuck!"
>She spat the cigarette and held her face in her hands.
>"Idiots, fucking idiots." She repeated.
>When she finally looked up, she saw that girl standing a couple of meters away, staring at her.
>That mutant, that monster.
>She was the one that ruined both Lynn and Lincoln's life.
>What a disgusting sight, that-
>"Uhm, e-excuse me... is it alright if I sit here with you, l-lady?"
>How dare she, asking her to sit down with her?
>Disgusting, Luna should just tell her to fuck off.
>"... sure..."
>The girl, who was holding both an inhaler and a relatively big rock, quickly sat alongside Luna.
>At first Luna looked at the fidgeting girl with disgust.
>Why did she even let her sit down?
>But... she does look at lot like her.
>Almost to a tee.
>The girl sat there, for several seconds, shifting her gaze from Luna to her hands.
>"Uhm... t-this is Rocky..." Lacy nervously said.
>"Huh?" Luna said, looking at the little girl.
>"M-my pet rock. His name is Rocky. Wanna h-hold him?" Lacy offered the rock to Luna.
>The woman glared at the kid and then at the "pet".
>It was a circular rock, with some eyes and a smile painted on it.
>Luna slowly grabbed the pet and took a good look at it.
>It was actually adorable, almost like an oyster with googly eyes.
>"...cute..." she said giving it back.
>Lacy grabbed it back, petted it and put it on her lap.
>"Rocky likes to be pet, it relaxes him. He also likes to take s-sand showers..."
>When she noticed that she wasn't getting much attention, she stared at Rocky and her shoes.
>Luna turned around to face her again.
>"She may look like Lynn, but she's the complete opposite." She thought.
>"Don't you... have friends in the neighborhood?"
>"Eh? Oh... no. They take my inhaler away and push me around, so I prefer playing with myself and Rocky." She said, petting the rock again.
>"Oh..." Luna said.
>"Uhm... c-can I ask you something? Are you my, uh... my..."
>"Your aunt?" Luna said.
>The girl shyly nodded.
>"... yeah, I suppose I am..."
>She could see a small smile draw on Lacy's face, but then it quickly disappeared.
>"Did mommy do something wrong? I heard you were screaming at her."
>"Yes... I mean, yes but it's complicated."
>"Oh, ok."
>They sat there for a couple of minutes in silence.
>Luna wanted to hate her, but deep down, she knew that it wasn't her fault.
>It was all Lynn and Lincoln's, she was only the product of it.
>She was just a girl after all, a delicate one at that.
>"Can I ask you something else?" Lacy said once more.
>Luna sighed and nodded.
>"Can you tell me more about you and mommy's sisters?"
>That took the older woman by surprise.
>"She always tells me stories of when she was growing up with all of her sisters and she always smiles and laughs at the stories."
>That broke Luna's heart. After all these years, Lynn never stopped thinking about them.
>"Sure... sure I can do that."

>"You disgust me", Luna said before storming out of the main door.
>The living room was quiet after that for a couple of minutes.
>Finally, Lori spoke.
>"She, she didn't mean that. She just said it because she loves you-"
>"No, she's right." Lynn said.
>"We ruined our lives by doing this." Lincoln continued.
>Lori was surprised by those harsh words.
>"For years, I regretted it. I even got to hate Lincoln. I had such a brilliant career ahead of me as an athlete. But when I got pregnant, not only did that opportunity got lost, but we had to survive in the worst possible conditions."
>"For months, we survived on the street, living from the scraps we could find and on many shelters. It got a lot harder when Lacy was born."
>The older sister was listening, having a hard time grasping their words.
>"We didn't have anything except each other and our hands, so I was very lucky a couple of cents a day by helping in a car workshop while Lynn stayed in the shelter with Lacy. The only way I convinced them was by lying to them, saying that my sister and I were living on the street because we got kicked out after our drunk parent did... something to Lynn."
>Lincoln looked at Lynn once more, tears forming in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking, how he regrets what he did, everything. But she heard him many times before and he knows him better than anyone else, there was no need for more words anymore.
>"Lincoln was able to bring me some books so that I could at least continue my studies, but with Lacy around, it was almost impossible. Those first years I was depressed and I hated everything. More than once I..." she looked at Lincoln, tighten her gripped, and continued her story "I ran away in the darkness of the night, trying to find a way to go back home, leaving both of them alone. But something made me come back again and again. At first, I thought it was because I was scared, not knowing where I was and not wanting to get lost in such an ugly part of the town."
>She sighed.
>"I barely stood up after Lacy was born. I just laid down on the bed in the shelter while Lincoln tried to make me happy but I couldn't care about him.I thought I hated him and Lacy for everything."
>"But then, when Lacy was around three years old and I was laying on my bed like I usually did, she came walking towards me."
>Lynn's eyes also got teary.
>"She walked towards me and she was holding a rock. I barely looked at her in my depression, but she pulled me from my sleeve. And, and she said, "look, mommy, a pet."
>Lynn laughed.
>"Can you believe it? How could a rock be a pet? I barely moved, but she sat on the bed and she began petting it and caressing it like it was a small kitten and... and for the first time in years, I laughed. I laughed at such an innocent creature."
>By that point, Lynn was whipping out her tears.
>"I sat with her and I took a good look at Lacy for the first time in my life. She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. I slowly began to caress her head and as I did that, she looked at me with those precious eyes and smiled. That's when I realized why I didn't run away. Because I loved Lacy so much and because I loved Lincoln so much."
>The couple looked at each other again and, not caring Lori was there, they put their foreheads together, closing their eyes. Just as they did that, Lincoln continued.
>"Yes, Lori. We ruined what we were meant to be long ago, we ruined those lives. But today, we're more than that, more than brothers, more than lovers."
>Lori looked at them.
>She didn't know what to think after this horrible experience they were telling.
>She was only able to bit her tongue and continue listening.
>"After that, I was able to stand up again. When Lincoln came back, I received him with a hug, the strongest one I gave him since before we ran away, and I told him "we'll make this through." That was the first time I saw him cry so hard before." Lynn teased, which made Lincoln chuckle.
>"Days later, we were able to take turns taking care of Lacy. I would work in the workshop in the mornings and Lynn would work in a cafe in the evenings. Eventually, we were able to gather enough money to buy some bus tickets and we decided to move as far as we could from Michigan and... well, the chance that we could meet up with you. That's why we chose New Mexico."
>"When we got here, Lacy was almost old enough to go to school, so we had to find jobs as fast as possible. Thanks to Lincoln's skills at fixing cars, he was able to get into a much better paying car workshop and I also found a better-paying restaurant here. We were also very lucky to find a Mrs. Johnson, who let us live here for months before we could pay rent consistently."
>"But things are better now, Lori. Lacy was able to go to school and Lynn is also studying to finish both middle-school and high-school in her free time. Things are, just better now..."
>Silence.
>There was nothing but silence for the next couple of minutes, while Lori tried to process all of their words, but when she finally did, the most bitter tears came out of her eyes.
>"You really are a couple of idiots..." she said, standing up, and hugging them.
>"But we are also idiots. You lived all of that for so long and we weren't able to find you. But I won't be leaving you anymore. I will never leave you alone again. I'll always protect you from now on..."
>"L-Lori?"
>"Because I'm taking you back home..."