Loud Visions

Chapter 8

The four missed the bus back home but were okay walking home since they wanted to talk more. The sky was bright with an orange sunset that shined bright yellow, orange, and red colors all over the clouds. The sunlight made their shadows long on the sidewalk.

"Lincoln, can I ask something?" Stella requested.

"You may," Lincoln answered.

"Actually, I want to ask two questions. First question; is there really no way to avoid Lynn calling you bad luck? Would it make a difference if you told your parents?" Stella asked.

Lincoln sighed, "At first, I saw visions where I lie to take advantage of the situation to get some time to myself and away from all my family's activities that I'm dragged into. They believe the lie so much that when it gets out of hand, and I tell the truth, they don't believe me. Then I saw visions where I didn't lie about it, but Lynn pushes harder to make everyone else believe it behind my back. I even see visions where I try to warn the others about this, but none of them believe me. They think I'm crazy. So, it makes no difference. They believe Lynn and I get kicked out. I try to convince them I'm not bad luck by showing up to Lynn's game, where she wins, and the only way I get in undetected is to be in that stupid squirrel costume. As you saw in one of the light orbs, that backfires, and they think it's good luck, so I'm forced to wear it all the time . . . even in the blazing sun where I get heat rashes. Their superstitions take over like a virus, and my words don't bring them back to reality."

"So, it's inevitable? There's no other way to convince them?" Clyde asked.

"There is one way . . . I show them my powers. That avoids the bad luck incident, but it paves a bad path arguably worse than the bad luck one," Lincoln said.

"What do you mean? What happens if you show them your future vision powers?" Stella asked.

Lincoln looked down as they walked with a look filled with dread.

"They use me for my powers to benefit them. I saw visions where they buy lottery tickets, then make me use my powers to see all the slots scratched out so I can tell them which ones to scratch to win, which is cheating—their greed skyrockets. Then my sisters use me to tell them the answers to their tests, how to win sports and beauty pageants, etc. . . . and what's worse is I'm the blame for every bad or unfortunate thing that happens. They assume that I see everything and anything bad that happens to them; they think I could have warned them. So, they treat me like a jerk. Basically, I go from being their luck trinket to being their crystal ball and golden payday," Lincoln explained.

"Oh man," Ronnie Anne groaned while rubbing her eyes.

"Eventually, we get caught with the lottery ticket scandals, and I end up in juvie as well. I see visions where I show them that and how they treat me, but they blow it off like, 'Oh, now we know what happens, so we can avoid it,' but it still does happen. There's no outcome where we don't get locked up, and I don't get treated like a jerk."

"Sounds like showing them your powers is worse. At least in the bad luck path, you don't go to juvie," Ronnie Anne stated.

Clyde shook his head, "So, it's either bad luck or being used as a crystal ball? Either way, they treat you like an object and not a person?"

"If there was a third option, I didn't see it in my future visions. Besides, even if we could prevent this, who's to say it won't happen again in some other way? The point is, if my family is capable of abandoning me or using me, then maybe I should question whether or not they're the kind of people I'd want to be with. Would you want to live with your parents if they were capable of being cruel enough to kick you out? No, you'd rethink and do some soul-searching," Lincoln replied.