6 YEARS AGO

A few years have past since Lonnie and his mother had made a pact to work hard and have a healthy relationship with his father. In that time, Lonnie had stopped playing video games and started playing sports like football and basketball. On the field and court, he was a force to be reckoned with. As he grew, his figure became large. His chest was beefy, his shoulders broad, and his hands like vice-grips. In his time on the football field, he caused two opposing quarterback concussions. In basketball, he played power forward and center, mostly because of how strong he was in the post and how aggressive he was on defense. Nonetheless, he played with sportsmanship and a fun personality.

His home life was better too. The beatings from his father were less common than they were before, but he didn't know that it was because he was much larger. His father still could beat the living crap out of him if he wanted to, but Lonnie and his mother didn't give him much of a reason to recently. This gave Lonnie the motivation to work on his school work more often. His grades were slowly on the incline and he was much more attentive in class.

One day, he came home from school after basketball tryouts. The house was filled with urgent shouting, his parents calling out to each other from different rooms. From the sound of things, it didn't seem extreme, just a bit of frantic panicking. It seemed to Lonnie that they had lost something and were in the process of searching for it. He made his way into the kitchen to find his mother shuffling through a large pile of papers on the table. She found nothing and shifted her attention to the kitchen counter as Lonnie opened the fridge for a snack.

"GOT IT" his mother shouted behind him. Lonnie turned back to find his mother looking down at another pile of papers while holding a collection of paper bags.

"Where was it?" he heard his father ask as he came from the other room.

"Underneath all these food bags you keep leaving out" she sassed him. Lonnie's father couldn't bother to strike her or insult her here, time was tight, and he just waved away her reply. "Forget that, when's the deadline?"

"Tomorrow"

"Thank God!" he exclaimed, smashing a celebratory fist onto the countertop. The sound of the impact almost made the house completely silent, making Lonnie question what was so important. "What deadline?" he asked calmly.

"Our monthly payment for the house" his mother answered. Lonnie raised his eye brows in response, he knew that his parents weren't always the most punctual people when it came to things like this. He had even seen his father having sit downs with people from the bank. So he knew this wasn't the first time that they were scrambling to get the mortgage paid.

There was a bit of silence for a while. His father was reading the bill over to make sure he wrote an appropriate amount in his checkbook. His mother rummaged around the kitchen cleaning up any piece of trash that would be covering up anything of importance, and Lonnie had pulled out some pizza bites too warm up. Finally, his father noticed Lonnie and spoke, "where'd you just come from?"

Lonnie felt that his eyes were piercing straight through him. He turned around with his eyes wide to find that they were in fact still looking at the checkbook as he wrote down the payment. "Uh... basketball tryouts" Lonnie let out.

His father looked up from his checkbook, giving a half smile and a chuckle. "You on the team?"

"I'll find out tomorrow"

His father hummed a bit, considering the possibility of his son's chances and what being on the team meant for him. "Are you keepin' up with school?"

Lonnie smiled a little bit, hoping that his father would be happy. "I have a 2.89 GPA, and I have an exam tomorrow that will maybe bump it up more." His father's response was a little less than what he was hoping for, but it certainly showed some confidence. He nodded his head with a hidden smile on his face, one that possibly said, "that's sounds good." His mother on the other hand, was a bit more vocal about the whole thing.

"Well I'm glad to hear that Lonnie, why don't you start studying" she said.

"Can't I have some food first?" Lonnie said against her request. His mother gave a bit of a scornful face, almost as if she needed him to not be doing anything other than homework.

"Myra," his father interrupted, "let the boy eat. I'm sure he'll get to his homework at some point." He gave a brief smile to his son, before looking at the digital clock on the oven. "Shit," he exclaimed, "I'm gonna be late." He went about the house collecting his keys, work clothes, and anything else he needed for the night. "I work first shift tomorrow and the bank is closed now" he said to his wife as he slipped on his jacket. "Can you take the check to the bank when it opens in the morning?"

"Yeah sure" his wife replied, not really giving her full attention. "Be sure to do it before noon," he added, "that's when the bill is due."

"Tomorrow before noon, got it" she confirmed still not making eye contact with him, and with that, he assumed she got the message and he could go to work.

"Good luck son" Lonnie heard him say going down the hall, and it made him smile some. "Thanks dad."

Within seconds, Lonnie's father was out the door and, on his way, to work. Lonnie and his mother, Myra, resumed what they were doing without any further words. Lonnie quickly cooked up his pizza bites and brought them up to his room when they were done. He thought it would be best to have a snack near him while he studied, that way he didn't have to stop his progress whenever he needed something to eat. He chomped down on about two or three before opening his textbook and notes for review.

The subject he was studying was Math, particularly Algebra 2. In 8th grade, he was able to get the basics of Algebra 1 quite moderately, but this was a brand-new way of learning it as a freshman. His teacher, Mr. Christensen had made him a top priority student, mostly because of how much potential he had in class, but could fall back at any moment. Lonnie didn't want to lose his chances of making the basketball team and for his teacher to see him as a struggling student either, so he was determined to study hard.

Down stairs, his mother had finished clearing the house up and decided to call up her work friends to discuss some things over a glass of wine. Within an hour, her colleagues had all assembled in the Lincoln's living room. Myra made up some appetizers for everyone to snack on while they talked, and somehow, they were able to be productive for the first 45 minutes. As soon as everyone was about to start packing up, somebody mentioned a little rumor from work that caught everyone's attention. They all shared their opinions on the subject, and the discussion diverted into other topics.

Lonnie could hear the laughing and conversing through the floor as he studied his homework. It was fine when they first came in, but an hour and a half later, it was starting to become a bit distracting. At one point he left his room to grab a can of soda from the fridge, and he was forced to pass by the noisy room. As he passed, he noticed that more than half of the people that came were all sitting back in a carefree like way. His eyes shifted to the center table, where he saw at least two empty wine bottles and a half empty bottle of Vodka sitting out with no caps. He gazed one last look to everyone in the room before bolting back to his room to study some more, not any second thought about any of it.

*** *** *** ***

Early next morning, Lonnie was in the middle of taking his Algebra test. Every question he took was challenging in its own way, but Lonnie was convinced that every step he took to answer them was the right way. He ended up finishing the test with two minutes left in class, feeling incredibly nervous from the time he set his paper down on Mr. Christensen's desk to when he sat back down.

Later at lunch, his nerves about the test seemed to have left his body and he was back to talking with his friends. Some of them wondered whether he would make the school's varsity team as a freshman, but Lonnie was quick to shoot those chances down.

ATTENTION STUDENTS... the school's P.A. system echoed throughout the cafeteria, ... IF YOU ARE TRYING OUT FOR THE BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM, THE FINAL ROSTER HAS BEEN POSTED AT THE FRONT OF THE CAFETERIA.

As soon as the P.A. system had gone silent, many boys in the large hall leapt from their seats and scurried to the front hoping to see their name on a sole piece of paper. To any boy in high school, this could be their one chance to achieving at a higher level than their peers would ever imagine them. Some walked away celebrating, some walking away with a bit of fire in their eyes, and some just making no expression at all and being plain chameleons.

By the time Lonnie had reached the list, most of the boys had already gone back to their seats. He could start to see the outlining of each of the names, and he feared that he had missed his. He started to slow down to gain focus, when suddenly he heard a teacher calling his name a few tables down. He looked to where the call came from, and saw Mr. Christensen standing with one arm tucked behind his back while the other was waving for him to come over. Lonnie sighed, wondering what he was going to say.

"Did I do something, Mr. Christensen?" he nervously mumbled.

"You did Mr. Lincoln," he said in a firm but reassuring tone, "and I wanted to congratulate you for it."

Lonnie scrunched his eyes a bit, confused about what he meant. Then he started thinking about it, and his heart lit up a bit, blossoming into a small smile. "Wait, wait," he excitedly hyperventilated, "what do you mean by that?" He already knew what his answer was, and the hidden smile on Mr. Christensen's face was enough to confirm it as well. "Does, does this mean I p..."

"Passed? Yes Lonnie, you passed the exam this morning" his teacher finally said out loud. Lonnie couldn't contain how excited he was, as if all the time and effort he had spent were worth it. "And...," the math teacher added, "I talked with your coach, and we've agreed to let you play varsity as long as you keep up in my class."

You could almost imagine the look on Lonnie's face after hearing those words. His emotions, maybe a sense, but to Lonnie, this entire moment was something he had been wanting his entire life. A chance to be a part of something, a chance to succeed, the ability to know that he could do anything. He never wanted this feeling to stop, and he wondered what good things his parents would have to say to him when he got home later. It was nice to know that he might be met at home without some verbal or physical assault from his father, or to deal with the daily pressures of living in a hostile family environment. In a way, this day made him feel like he was being liberated of the hardships he had in his own home.

**** **** **** ****

NOW

The feeling of getting an A plus on an Algebra exam while making the varsity basketball team is one feeling that can only be experienced a few times in life. Today, we can't necessarily say that Lonnie was close to feeling that way, but he certainly felt that he was on his way to feeling it again.

Lonnie winded his way in-between chairs, dancing party-goers, and countless other obstacles that stood before him at the house party. The smell of alcohol, drugs, and sweat corroded the house like the way a car passes by a dead skunk, there was no denying it. Groups of bodies were pressed against each other, either because the space was limited, or because the girls were making sure the guys were feeling pleasured. Lonnie slunk his way next to the DJ in the corner, noticing how everyone was enjoying his choice of music and how much energy he put into his character.

"Mind if I take the mic?" Lonnie asked him quickly.

"All yours, homie!"

Lonnie gripped the mic moderately as he looked before the sea of people in front of him, hesitating before he spoke. He didn't really know how to start up a monologue, but the DJ noticed and shouted into his spare mic, 'YO YO YO MY DAWGS AND GURLS, WE'RE GONNA TAKE IT DOWN A BIT TO LET OUR FINEST HOST SAY A FEW WORDS. PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR MY MAN, LONNIE T. LINCOLN!!!" The crowd cheered in "yeah's" and "wooh's," and Lonnie felt a bit more confident for the support.

He rose the mic to his lips, breathed a bit, and spoke...

"First, I want to thank y'all for comin'. Second, I know this aint the best time to say this, but I strongly believe that this holiday is best celebrated with the one's we love the most. Whether that's your family, your friends, your lovers, whoever. Which brings me to my third point, me and my boys are setting up a little thing later tonight during the fireworks, so that everyone can be with their loved ones. So, I hope you all can come. Thank you."

His speech was met with a couple cheers, but mostly a halfhearted applause that lacked energy. Everyone didn't think his speech was much of anything, just a bunch of words all thrown in together and organized enough to sound like a message. However, they got the message and they were ready for the fireworks tonight.

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A/N- Hey everyone, glad you could make it through another chapter. Things are starting to move forward and I hope I can continue as school starts up again next week.

This is just another piece of Tombstone's origins. I wanted to show his interests, and possibly a more positive side of his life, before we see his true colors in later chapters.

Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope enjoyed. Leave a vote if you did, and don't forget to express your thoughts in the comments.

New chapter next week. Until next time, BYE!!!