36. Facing a Fear

Two Days have passed and Lincoln was still sick as a dog with the rhinovirus. Still, his sisters were there for him if he needed them. His parents were at work, and Lori is, once again, in charge. The younger siblings were prepared to face her usual bossiness and arrogance about her saying she would get things first before the others because she was the oldest sibling and all that. Despite that prideful and bossy attitude, Lori too would help Lincoln if needed.

Lisa suddenly came in the room with a couple of chapter books for Lincoln to read. "Here you go, big brother." she said, gently placing them next to him. "How might you be feeling at the moment?"

Lincoln made a small cough that sounded a little hoarse. He covered his mouth nonetheless, and said "Doing a little better than before. It's not as bad at least." and he made yet another hack out of his mouth. "My throat is starting to clear up a little, and my nose doesn't feel as stuffy as before, either. But still, I think it's best If I stay here in bed just in case."

The child prodigy smiled at her big brother. "That would definitely be best." she replied. "That's exactly what I brought you these just in case. I know you have Ace Savvy, but just... try and put your eyes into these legendary novels."

He took the three books to look at them. "Hmm, Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell?" Lincoln said, regarding the first two. "I've heard about them. Kinda. well, I've seen the Animal Farm movie. I didn't know it was a book."

"Of course it was. There were two movies of it actually." Lisa said. "There was an animated one that came out in 1954, and a live action one that came out in 1999, but of course, both of them are not really closely related to the book."

"Huh."

"Both that and 1984 are one of the greatest novels of all time, and the third one is from Lucy's regards." and Lincoln looked at the third one. It was titled "At the Mountains of Madness" by HP Lovecraft.

At first, Lincoln didn't really know what to think of this, but he finally said. "I've read the Call of Cthulhu by him before, is it good?"

"Personally, Lincoln." Lisa said. "I never really read this novel myself. For I am more into these two and autobiographies of many famous people and blah blah blah."

"I understand."

"You should give it a read, Lincoln." Lucy said, who as usual, unexpectedly came in his room through teleportation like a ghost would do, although everyone in the house was still unsure how she would even do that in the first place, and it scared both Lincoln and Lisa. "Sorry i scared you."

"As usual." Lisa sighed. "Lincoln here says he is getting a little bit better, but he should still stay in bed for good measure."

It made Lucy smile on her face hearing the good news, well, mildly good news anyway. "That's good. I was going to worry that it would last for weeks." and she looked at her older brother. "Do you still have a fever, Lincoln?"

"I... can't tell." then the goth girl came up to him on the bed, and gently put her warm hand over his forehead to check. "Well? How am I?"

"Hmmmm... Well, you don't feel as warm as before. And you're not burning up like the last time." Lucy said. "But still, Lisa's right." and she took her hand off of his head. "More bed rest is a good idea."

"Just as I thought." Lincoln muttered.

"I promise you might like this book, Lincoln." Lucy stated. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

"Maybe some tomato soup would be nice."

"Okay, I'll go tell Luna to make it for you." and the Goth girl went out of his bedroom.

"Well, I need to go and tinkle, just let me know if you need anything else, Lincoln." Lisa stated before exiting the room herself. Lincoln was left alone for a little while, and went on his laptop again. Out of curiosity, he looked up that very demon he had that nightmare about before: the Onoskelis from the upcoming game: Agony.

That demon was certainly something created outside of the box from the people of Madmind Studios, the masterminds before the upcoming game. Lincoln wondered how such a demon or an inspiration of hell like this one can come to these people's minds. At first, he thought about playing this game, even when his parents told him not to, but now that he had that horrible nigthmare about being in that nightmare world, he didn't even know if he would be able to play this game ever again. To him Outlast was only like a walk in the park, but this game? He didn't even know what to describe it next.

Lincoln decided to just ignore it, and forget about it, because it was like that old saying: "Out of sight, out of mind." and decided to just look up something else for the time being. Besides, it was only a video game after all, nothing more.

The least Lincoln can do now was just praise Madmind Studios for creating something so amazing and unworldly. So right now, he was just having a little video chat with Clyde at the moment. "Hey buddy, how are you?"

"Still feel sick right now and- Achoo!" Lincoln sneezed "Just laying in bed, as usual." then he blew his nose and put it in his trash can.

"Ah, sorry Lincoln. I'm just trying to learn how to be normal around Lori."

"Any progress?" Lincoln asked with a raised eyebrow.

Clyde made a small sigh and confessed by saying flatly "No. Still working on trying to hold back the blood in my nose every time I get one good look at a picture of Lori."

"Keep working on it, buddy." Lincoln said. "I'm sure it will turn out."

His best friend made a smile of hope. "I know. So whatcha been up to sinc you got sick?"

"Well, me and my sisters have just been hanging out. All my sisters are helping me try to get better if needed. Luna and Lucy would be the ones that help me the most."

"Oh, that's nice." Clyde remarked. "Hey, I heard you had an encounter with the Michigan Dogman the other day."

"Yep, it was so scary, yet so cool to see that monster in person."

"Wait, How did you know it wasn't a hoaxer dressing up to scare People?" Clyde asked skeptically.

"We cut his body and took a couple of his organs home for Lisa to experiment."

"Eww, that sounds a bit crude." Clyde said. "Well, if you put it that way, then I guess I believe you about the Dogman being real." And he made a gasp as he thought of something else "What if Bigfoot is real too?"

"I know, right? I guess anything's possible considering what just happened."

"Totally!"

"Clyde, can you please help us with the garden?" Harold called out from off-screen.

"Coming dad!" And he turned back to Lincoln. "Sorry, Linc. Gotta Help my dad's with the chrysanthemums in the backyard. You just heal and get better."

"Okay Clyde. I will, see you soon."

"Bye."

Then Clyde exited out of his video chat, and Lincoln was alone again. He went on the internet again, and looked up funny videos such as goats screaming like humans, and play some games on there.

Feeling curious, he wondered what "Animal Farm" was like, and grabbed hold of the book so he can read that first. It was just then Luna and Lucy came to check on him again.

"Hey Lincoln. Got that tomato soup for you." And she gently put the tray with the soup on Lincoln's lap, and put his laptop aside. "Nothing like this to heal ya faster. Nothing else can heal those wounds."

"But i'm Not injured."

"Yeah, I know, but I mean inside of you." Luna clarified. "It ain't a sweeeeeeet emotion, you know what i'm Saying?"

"Hey, you can say that again." Lincoln agreed. And he took a sip of the soup with his spoon. He thought it was absolutely delicious. "Yummy, Thanks Guys."

"No problem." Lucy said with her small smile. "We knew you would love it."

"It's dad's special recipe." Luna said. "An appetite for destruction for your little sickness."

"Perfect." And he continued eating his soup and the two kind sisters exited the room, somthey can give him some peace.

After ten minutes, Lincoln was already done with the meal Luna and Lucy gave him, and suddenly felt tired. He was just reading a number of chapters from Animal Farm, but he realized he couldn't really fight this tiredness and decided to put the book beside him.

Taking a nap, Lincoln went to his dreamland quite swiftly, and he was in a very dark place. He hoped it wasn't a nightmare. Just then, a red light flashed above him, and he was back in that... awful world in that Nightmare he had before.

Lincoln never believed he would be back in this nightmare again after he decided not to play Agony anymore. And then, a screech. That horrible, terrifying, ear-piercing screech erupted in front of him.

Lincoln's heart sunk down to his feet as if it just turned into stone, and his eyes were wide in great was that demon again, the one with the sideways mouth with sharp teeth, no eyes, and legs of a mule. It was the Onoskelis from Lincoln's nightmare before.

Oh how he wanted to run and get away from her, but he saw there was nowhere to run to, for he was trapped. The monster then walked in front of him with a "Clop! Clop! Clop!" Being heard from it's hooves,mane she stopped in front of him. It made a few screeching noises, and Lincoln was just petrified with fear, and stumbled backwards while shaking.

Realizing that running wouldn't really help him now, he decided to do something he should have done in the nightmare similar to this one. He immediately stood up, trying to look as brave as possible against the Onoskelis.

The Demon tilted her head in confusion, wondering what he was trying to do. "I'm not afraid of you." Lincoln said flatly, looking quite bold and proud.

All of a sudden, the demon made a big, ear-piercing scream at him like wind. However, Lincoln was still looking brave and strong,mane kept his cool, and took one step in front of the Onoskelis.

Weirdly, the beast took one step back from him in surprise. "You are not scaring me anymore." And Lincoln's voice began to raise a tone.

Roaring at him again, Lincoln was still being brave.

"Do you hear me, ugly!?" Lincoln shouted. "You will not try and scare me anymore! You are nothing but a figment of my imagination, nothing more! You aren't real!"

And the demon made a small screech while slightly cowering.

"You leave me alone! I'm not afraid of you!" Lincoln shouted. "I am not afraid of you!"

Then the demon screamed at the sky and faded into golden dust, and it was gone. Lincoln realized he did it, he conquered his fear against that Onoskelis by being brave.

"I... I did it!" Lincoln shouted with joy. He laughed triumphantly at how he told that demon off like no problem. Now that Onoskelis won't be bothering him in his dreams ever again, even if this was only the second nightmare about it.

"Lincoln." Said a voice. He awoke and found himself still in bed. He knew it was a nightmare, but it still felt nice and real to him. Luna, Lucy, and Leni were with him. "Ah, you're awake."

"We kinda heard your screaming in your sleep." Leni said. "Are you Okay?"

"I'm fine. Remember that demon from that nightmare before?"

"Oh not another one." Luna said. "Don't worry, we're here for you." Luna hugged him lovingly.

"Thanks Guys, But I already conquered my fear and told that demon off."

"You did?" Luna asked him. "That's amazing, bro. I'm proud of you!" Then she hugged him tighter.

Lincoln was pleased to hear that, and hugged her back. Just then, Leni and Lucy joined in, and the second oldest sister said "That's our Linky. Now that mean demon won't bother you anymore. I should give you a medal."

"I never thought you would get rid of a demon like that." Lucy said. "I've never been more happier."

"Guys, guys." Lincoln chuckled. "It's no big deal, really. It was only a dream."

"We know, but still." Then Luna gently rubbed his white hair in proudness. "So here. Let me take that back to the kitchen."

"Thanks. Oh, and do you think you can please give me more tunes from your guitar?"

"Yeah, little bro. I'll be more than happy to shred for you again." Then Luna got rid of the tray and bowl, and came back with her guitar. Luna's soothing acoustic notes never eased to make Lincoln unwind in relaxation and rested his head on the pillow while listening.

Not long after, he already fell back to sleep, and Luna continued playing until he was fully asleep, and decided to stay with him and give him some company, plus to make sure he wouldn't have an Agony nightmare again.

She laid next to him, and began to gently rub his white head repeatedly. Yes, now Lincoln would never have to worry about any nightmares since Luna is there to comfort and give him her sisterly love.