So this is a kind of story that I've always wanted to write. I've always wanted to toy with the idea that someone have a potentially life altering experience and decided to do a Loud House story on it.

The inspiration for this story actually comes from an episode of my favorite TV show of all time, MASH. In the episode Out of Sight, Out of Mind one of the main characters, Hawkeye, is temporarily left blind after an accident. The episode is really moving as it's not just about Hawkeye dealing with blindness, but also him seeing the world without actually looking at it. That will play into the story later on. But for now we need to set it up.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House

Winter had come to the town of Royal Woods, Michigan. There was already a light coating of snow on the frozen ground and there was a massive chill in the air that could freeze ones skin quickly if it was left exposed. Several pipes in the sewer system had already frozen over and icicles clung to rooftops, power lines, and trees all over the town. The nearby lakes and ponds had all frozen over as the chill air swept in from the Great Lakes. For many homes, the walls and insulation weren't sufficient in keeping the cold temperatures out. So many heaters were left running in overtime to keep the houses and their occupants warm.

On Franklin Avenue, one large house's furnace was running in overtime as well as it had many people to keep warm inside. A family of thirteen lived inside this dwelling with two parents and eleven children consisting of ten daughters and one son. The furnace had the job of keeping them and the entire house warm as long as it's pilot light remained lit. It'd be a real shame if it were to suddenly go out.

On one far end of the upstairs hallway was the room of the family's only boy which at one time had been just a linen closet. He currently lay snug in his bed and was sleeping quite comfortably through the icy night. That was until he suddenly felt a desperate need. The need to pee.

Lincoln's eyes popped open and he said, "Aw man. I hate going in the middle of the night."

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and as his feet hit the ground, he recoiled from the sudden shock of the cold ground.

"YOW! COLD! Why is it cold?!" Lincoln shouted out loud from the feeling of the cold floor.

As he exhaled, he could see the cold cloud of his breath wafting through the air. He then realized that he was beginning to rub his arms subconsiously as he began to feel the cold air on his skin. His room was freezing which didn't surprise him too much due to the cold night, but even then the furnace should have at least kept the room at a far more comfortable temperature. But now it felt like that his room was packed with ice.

It didn't take him long to realize that his sudden shouts had roused the rest of the household from their slumber. The walls in the closet weren't exactly the thickest, so he could hear the grumbling coming from his sisters in the other rooms.

"Who just shouted? I NEED MY BEAUTY SLEEP!" came Lola's voice.

"It's literally the middle of the night," said the eldest sister, Lori.

"Ahh! It's so dark," shouted Leni.

Lori groaned and say, "Open your eyes Leni."

He could hear Leni squee as his closet neighbors began to stir.

"Sigh. I was having a pleasant nightmare and now it's over. Thanks a lot," said Lucy.

"Dang it Lincoln. Why did you have to disturb us this time?" Lynn shouted.

"Hey is anyone else feeling a bit chilly? I woke up angry and hot, but now I'm feeling ice cold," came Luan's voice as she laughed at her failed pun.

"Ugh! It's freezing dudes," Luna added.

"Seem's that the frigid climate typical for this time of year has advanced upon us and overtaken our abode. In layman's term, IT'S FREEZING IN HERE!" shouted the second youngest, Lisa in her usual lisp.

The youngest, baby Lily, merely slept through the whole exchange.

Lincoln groaned and pulled on his robe and slipped into his slippers before entering the hall. He quickly dashed past the other doors to the bathroom before everyone else came out into the hall. He reached the bathroom and quickly did his business. By the time he had finished, pretty much all of the sisters had gathered outside and they were already complaining. Some of them complained about being woken and, naturally, blamed Lincoln for it. The rest complained about how cold the house was. The hallway became so clustered that Lincoln wouldn't even be able to navigate around the girls.

The bickering continued until they heard the sound of someone clapping their hands as they flipped on the hallway light.

"Okay that is enough everyone. What is this about?," came their father's voice.

With that, everyone finished their petty squabbles and stood at their father's attention. Lincoln took the oppurtunity to try to slink back to his room, but Lori spotted what he was trying to do and grabbed him by the collar of his robe and pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going twerp? If we're being scolded, you are too," she said to him with a glare in her eyes.

"Well? Is someone going to answer?" their father, Lynn Sr. continued.

It was here that each of the girls began speaking at once, complaining about the cold and Lincoln having woken them up with his sudden outburst. Lynn Sr. was overwhelmed by the amount of badgering the girls were giving him all at once and this combined with how cold the house was too much for him to handle all at once. He normally had plenty of patience with the girls when they all spoke at once, but he was far too cold for this and needed some normalcy right now.

"GIRLS! One at a time please. Now I heard something about the cold and Lincoln. Can just one of you-" He started, but when each of the girls opened their mouths to explain, he quickly stopped them. "JUST ONE, please explain what you're all bickering about this time."

Lori stepped in, dragging Lincoln with her and said, "Lincoln shouted and woke us all up. And then we realized how cold it's gotten in here."

"We'd still be asleep in our beds if it weren't for Lincoln," Lola added.

Lynn shivered and growled out, "Way to go genius."

"Don't undermine me," Lisa quipped to Lynn.

The girls were beginning to bicker again but before Lynn Sr. could intervene, his wife, Rita, called out to him from downstairs.

"Honey I just tried the furnace. I think the pilot light is out," Rita called up to her husband.

Lynn Sr. sighed quite audibly. It figures that the pilot light would go out in the middle of the night. The middle of a FRIGID night to add to the misery. It didn't help that pretty much everyone in the house was now awake and arguing like a bunch of little kids, which some of them were of course.

"That explains the problem. Okay so I'm going to need someone to come help me relight the pilot. Any volunteers?" Lynn Sr. asked the kids.

None of the kids raised their hands, just as Lynn Sr. had expected them to do. He asked again, raising his voice this time.

"I repeat. Any volunteers or do I need to pick one?"

Lola frowned and said, "Why should one of us do it? Lincoln was the one who woke us all up."

"I agree. It should be Lincoln," Lori added.

Pretty much all of the sisters that were present agreed with the two of them and voted for Lincoln. The only ones who abstained were Leni and Luna, neither of whom cared who went. They just wanted to get back to sleep without the cold stinging their skin. Lincoln wanted to protest, but given how he was vastly outnumbered, it would be a futile effort to do so.

"That settles it then. Lincoln come with me to fix the furnace," Lynn Sr. ordered his son.

"But-," he tried to argue, but was stopped.

"Now young man. The sooner we relight the furnace, the sooner we all get back to sleep," Lynn Sr. told his son.

With a sigh, Lincoln knew that he had been defeated. Instead of trying to argue his case any further, he followed his father downstairs to the kitchen where the basement door was located. On the way there he saw his mother was trying desperatly to fiddle with the thermostat, trying to get at least a little heat in the house. Didn't help that she was breathing into her hands and rubbing them together to keep her hands warm. Lincoln could already feel the cold starting to bleed through his robe and decided that he really should help if it meant turning the heat back on.

They soon reached the basement door and braced themselves. The upstairs alone was unbearably cold and heat rises. They weren't even looking forward to finding out just how cold the basement was first hand. His father opened the door and as he tried to flip the light on, the bulb in the basement flashed and with a pop it died.

"Well crap," Lynn Sr. said as he reached into his pajama pocket, pulling out a flashlight. "Good thing I came prepared."

Flipping on the flashlight, the father and son duo descended the stairs into the dark and creepy basement. Lincoln and his sisters had always thought their basement to be a bit creepy, especially in the dark. The sounds that eminated from it would always give them chills whenever they had to come down here. Lincoln could still remember the time that he and his sisters had to come down to turn the lights back on after he had accidentally caused them to go out. He had tried really hard to be brave for them that time, but still ended up being scared by a pile of laundry. He still felt embarrassed every time it was brought up.

In short order, the two of them stepped out onto the basement floor and they approached the furnace. Lincoln began to shiver a bit more due to the lower temperatures in the basement. He was just glad he was at least wearing his slippers. His father did the same, but looked like he was handling it a bit easier than the young boy. Lynn Sr. picked up a small tool box he always kept stored near the furnace and took out a long lighter from it. He lit it once, just to make sure that the lighter was in good working condition.

"Alright here's what we're going to do. I'll turn on the gas and you're going to light the flame," Lynn Sr. told Lincoln and pointed out where Lincoln was supposed to light the flame.

Lynn Sr. handed Lincoln the lighter and searched around for the gas regulator valve.

"Dad, I'm not sure about this," Lincoln told his dad.

Lincoln actually felt pretty nervous about having to light the flame, let alone that he had to use a lighter over gas.

Lynn Sr. looked back at his son and said, "It'll be okay Lincoln. Just do as I tell you and things will alright."

Lynn Sr. found the regulator valve and told Lincoln to light the lighter. Lincoln did as his father instructed as his father looked away him and turned the valve. He heard the click of the lighter and for a moment things seemed right. The pilot light lit and Lincoln felt a sense of relief. But the joy was short lived as the light suddenly went out again.

"It's okay Lincoln. One more time," Lynn Sr. said and tried the valve again.

This time as Lincoln tried to light the pilot, nothing happened. The flame from the lighter just stayed in place and flickered from the cold air. Lincoln told his dad about the flame not lighting, and Lynn Sr. could feel his frustration rising.

"Dammit. Hold on, I'm going to try something," Lynn Sr. said and shook the side of the furnace a bit.

"Dad?" Lincoln tried, but his father ignored him.

Lynn Sr. tried to shake the valve again, not even realizing that he had accidentally turned the gas up quite a bit in the process. Lincoln however had seen it and tried to warn his dad about it, but once again his father ignored him and focused on trying to get the gas flowing again. This time he became so desperate that he began to bang the side of the furnace with his fist. A rumble came from the furnace and subsequently became silent.

"DAD!" Lincoln yelled out, but it was too late.

Lynn Sr. gave the furnace a good hard kick and finally the gas was released. This resulted in a bright flash from the furnace and a small blast of heat. The sudden blast startled him so bad that he stumbled and fell to the floor. Though it wasn't the blast, the flash or even the cold air that chilled him the most.

It was the sound of his son screaming.

Back upstairs, the rest of the family had gathered down in the living room since their mother had just gotten a small fire going in the fireplace. It didn't help much, but it was warmer down here than it was upstairs so it would have to do until they could get the heat back on. They were just settling in when they felt a small rumble and heard the small blast coming from the basement.

Then they could hear Lincoln screaming.

"Oh great. What did the twerp do this time?" Lori said in annoyance.

"Ugh! Did he hurt himself again?" Lana added.

"Can he do anything without breaking something?" Lynn said as well.

While most of the girls expressed annoyance, it was only Leni, Luna, and Luan who showed actual concern. In fact as soon as she had heard Lincoln screaming, Leni dashed from the room and towards the basement door. As soon as she opened the door, her father practically burst through the door and was dragging Lincoln with him. Lincoln had stopped screaming, but was letting out pained gasps as he kept his eyes covered.

Lynn Sr. turned to his second eldest daughter and said, "Leni, help me get Lincoln to the couch. He won't move his hands."

Leni wasted no time and quickly grasped Lincoln's shoulder and quickly, yet carefully, helped her father guide Lincoln to the living room. As soon as they entered, the rest of the family looked to see what they hadn't expected. They made room on the couch as Leni and their father pulled Lincoln to the couch. Lynn Sr. turned to his wife and told her to call a doctor. Rita did just that as the girls began to gather around Lincoln, who still refused to pull his hands away from his eyes. At the very least, he wasn't thrashing around so they could approach him as Leni wrapped an arm around him and held him close to her.

"Lincoln, I need you to move your hands from your eyes so I can take a look," his father said, but Lincoln wouldn't budge.

His father felt he had no choice, so he gently grasped Lincoln's wrists and carefully pulled them away from Lincoln's face. What he saw was alarming to say the least. The pupils of Lincoln's eyes were dilated and were practically bloodshot. Tears endlessly streamed from his eyes as the area directly around his eyes were slightly burned from the heat of the blast.

"Oh my God. Lincoln I'm so sorry," his father said as he wrapped his arms around his son and hugged him.

Pretty soon the rest of the girls got a good look at Lincoln's eyes and saw the damage themselves. Some of them gasped while the rest felt sick at the sight. As for Lincoln though, he could hear them but wouldn't look right at them. He held his hand out and tightly grasped his father's arm without making eye contact or even looking at him.

"Dad! I can't see," was all Lincoln could get out.

So I'm just going to point this out real quick, I'm not an expert when it comes Ophthalmology and everything I've written and will likely write comes from the medical journals I read to prepared for this story and some of them contradict each other so if I make any mistakes I do apologize. Feel free to point them out to me.

I really do wonder why many of us actually like to put this poor kid through hell. Doesn't his family do that to him enough? Yes, but sometimes I do like seeing it go just one step further. Not out of spite, but I think it can make for good story telling when done right.