Echoes of the Past

Chapter 2: Hey, Loser!

"Echoes of the Past"

Chapter 2: "Hey, Loser!"

When the last class was over, the professor ensured his students to send their home assignments by email. Lincoln gathered his textbooks and put them in his backpack and headed out of the classroom. Today was a particularly frosty day, the cold would not decrease, and according to the forecast it was supposed to be minus fifty degrees, which was a rare occasion even in the Yukon. Fortunately, apart from the cold, Lincoln had no other problems that day.

He went down to the first floor and decided to go to the cafeteria, which was right next to the exit of the university building. He was lucky: the cafeteria was still open and there were still 15 minutes left. He wanted to warm up before going out, so he chose a hot chocolate just right for his mood. Linc wasn't a big fan of coffee ever since the first time he'd tasted it. He remembered the time when he wanted to start acting «like an adult» so that he could have the right to have a family dinner at the same table with his older sisters and parents and not his younger siblings.

When the drink he chose was ready and served, he took it and then sat down at a table near the large, almost full-wall window. From that window Lincoln could see all the other buildings of his university, which was located in Whitehorse, or rather, in its suburbs.

His family had been living in Canada for the last five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, and during that time they had become citizens of that country. They were happy about this, however, they were still remembering Royal Woods in their hearts. They couldn't come back there and after such a long time they finally put up with the things as they were at this point and therefore had no plans to move back to the United States. For now.

While thinking about his current plans and going over various thoughts in his head, Lincoln remembered about Ronnie-Anne one more time. Even at the time when the Louds were still living in Royal Woods and Lincoln and Ronnie-Ann had finished elementary school together, the Casagrande family had moved to Great Lake City. It was the first time that the distance separated them and replaced live communication with virtual one. Sometimes, of course, Lori would drive to Great Lake City with Linc to see Bobby, but, after 2020, the distance between them only increased and it became much more problematic than before.

Lori was married to Bobby just a year before the pandemic and after 2020 they moved to his relatives in Mexico, but as for Lincoln and Ronnie-Anne... I guess they wouldn't be seeing each other for a while, both of them being so busy with their own things and schooling and all that. But there was nothing to be done, Lincoln thought, and sighed. Last time he called Ronnie-Anne was about a month ago.

After finishing his hot chocolate, Lincoln walked out of the university and went straight to the bus stop. The last bus of that day was due any minute, and Lincoln waited until he finally saw the bright light from the headlights coming closer and closer. When it stopped and Lincoln stepped inside, he noticed that the bus was almost completely empty, which was atypical on busy days like this, but not strange, because it could still happen from time to time.

Lincoln looked in his pockets. He didn't find any change for the ticket and almost started to panic, but suddenly he found his monthly bus pass he had quite forgotten about. He looked at the date and at that moment realized how lucky he was, because it was valid for only a couple more days. Showing it to the driver, he took a seat and dived into his thoughts again, because he had nothing else to do, and the road ahead of him was long. I'll renew the pass tomorrow, Lincoln thought, put it in his pocket and forgot about it again.

The story that came to his mind the moment he looked at the moon was once again connected to his school years, or rather, to the very beginning of them, when he had just moved from kindergarten to elementary school.