Echoes of the Past

Chapter 1: The Cold

Hello, everyone! Originally, I published this story in September as part of a challenge on another fanfiction website, but forgot to translate and publish it here. Now that I remembered, I will post "new" chapters every few days. Enjoy!

"Echoes of the Past"

Chapter 1: "The Cold"

It had been quite some time since Lincoln's family made a decision to leave Royal Woods, a town with which both the children and the Louds' parents associated much. Of course, children immediately opposed it. However, for the head of the family, Lynn Senior, and his wife, Rita, it was very hard to make this choice.

First of all, this little town was where they had spent their entire lives, from childhood to youth, and where they had first met each other, married, and many, many years later had beautiful children, becoming perhaps the only large family in Royal Woods.

For their children, this place was also very important: it was here that they spent their unforgettable childhoods in places that were already painfully familiar to them, places that they visited repeatedly, and some of them constantly, daily.

One of these places was, of course, the school. One day, on the bus ride to his university, where he was in his third year, Lincoln decided to remember his days in the Royal Woods High School. That morning, even though Lincoln was dressed warmly, he was still cold, and a particularly interesting incident that had happened at the school came to his mind.

January. Christmas vacation was over and Lincoln, along with Clyde and his other classmates and friends, went back to class. He didn't really want to, but there was no other choice. It was very cold at school that day. He remembered how he had felt the cold with his whole body, and he could hardly stand it. It was because that day he had left his house without a jacket wearing only a sweatshirt, probably to test himself. Lincoln's sisters, especially Lori, didn't like it and warned him: «Lincoln! Put your jacket on, you're gonna freeze yourself!»

He, of course, ignored this remark (in this case, more of an admonition) and in such a «risky» way went to school on his own as Lori refused to drive him unless he would put his jacket on.

It was on the way to school when Lincoln realized his mistake and berated himself for it.

— What a fool! Why did I go out in a sweatshirt? — He thought, but it was already too late to correct the situation, because it was quite far away from home, and only then did he realize that he was cold. The first class was about to start any minute.

He came to school. There was a notice on the wall, «Don't put your jackets off, there's no heating today!», that Lincoln noticed and again regretted not wearing his jacket that day.

As he approached the classroom, he noticed his friends, with whom he was in the same class together. They didn't appreciate his appearance in such cold weather, reminding him that the heating had been turned off for today, but they didn't know how long it would last. Barely entering the classroom with them, Mrs. Johnson, the teacher, carefully asked him:

— Aren't you cold, Lincoln?

— Not at all! — he replied to her without revealing his true condition. Of course he was cold! But would he admit it to her, thus exposing his «weakness»? Certainly not. He'd rather keep silent, thus exposing his stupidity.

— Surely not, he feels so hot, open the window! — said someone in class, and everyone laughed. Lincoln sat down with annoyance at his desk next to Clyde.

— Wow, — his best friend remarked, — Lincoln, did you forget to put on your jacket?

— Never mind that, — he replied, taking the textbook out of his backpack. The first subject he was about to study was English.