What Have I Done

Chapter 13

Lincoln laid in his bed and tried to go back to sleep, but his body wasn't cooperating with what he wanted. His body felt terrible. He tried to bury under the covers, but by doing that his body would feel even hotter than it already was. The main thing he wanted at this moment was to make this torture end, but most importantly he didn't want to transfer anything to any of his siblings. He knew from many experiences that it would cause the apocalypse in the house if he did.

As a couple of minutes pass he decided it would just be best to just stay still and look up at his ceiling. It was so boring, but he didn't want to do anything too extreme because he didn't want to risk his erupting in pain, good thing his body felt like it didn't have any energy to move. Every once and awhile he would sneeze and cough, but it wasn't anything too serious. He could the ambiance of his family outside of his room, to honest it was kinda getting annoying.

He then heard a thump at his door, and he heard a voice, "Can I come in?"

He couldn't detect who it was but he answered sickly, "Come in."

He then saw his door creak open as Lucy enter his room. Interesting enough she was wearing a surgical mask over her mouth. She then stood beside his bed and they looked at one another for a quick second.

"Hey, how you doing Lucy, nice mask," Lincoln said with a slight laugh in his words.

"Lisa wanted to take extra precaution this time around so that nobody else would get sick," Lucy explained is her usual monotone voice.

"Understandable. Is there anything you wanted Lucy?" Lincoln questioned while coughing into his arm.

Lucy peered at her brother but then faced away from her brother. Lincoln then took notice of this. It was strange how his sister was starting to act shy when he asked her this question.

She then made her classic audible sigh, "Lincoln I just want to say that I'm sorry for not helping you as much as I could've had back when you talking with Ronnie Anne. All I did was just sit there and watch it happen, and I feel like I should've done more."

Lincoln then looked at Lucy with a smile on his face and then said, "Lucy it's not your fault that this happened. Besides, I think that Ronnie Anne would've reacted the same way that either way even with your help. Even if you think that you didn't do much I really do appreciate you coming with me because I didn't want to be alone at that place and time."

Lucy then looked at Lincoln and he had a smile on his face, and that alone made her feel way better. After they had arrived back home she felt like she was useless during the entire encounter with Ronnie and Lincoln especially when Lori and Lincoln had their argument. She then heard their mother call her name from downstairs and that was her cue that she needed to leave.

"Well I guess it's time for me to go," Lucy said as she started walking towards the door, "I hope you get better, dear brother."

Lincoln then watched his sister leave his room closing the door behind her. As the seconds passed the house decreased in decibels until he barely heard a sound. He couldn't believe what he was thinking, but we were kinda weirded him out. All these years with dealing with the noise and roundness of his family, that peace and quiet were very rare in the household.

All Lincoln could do at the moment was just stare at the ceiling. He just felt his blood pulse throughout his head as he just lays there in his bed longing for something to happen. In his trance, he then realized that Lori was the one who would be the one looking after him. Just as he recalled that he heard footsteps coming from downstairs and going up the stairs until they were right next to the door.

He then heard a gentle knock at the door, "Come in."

Lori Lori then came in wearing the mask that Lucy had. Once she opened the door tension filled the room. No one said anything as tension then faded into awkwardness as silence still collected in the room.

"So, uh, how are you feeling?" Lori then asked breaking the silence.

Lincoln then looked at her, "I could be better, but this headache, sneezing, and coughing is annoying though."

Lori then ran her fingers through her head while exhaling. Obviously, she didn't know what to say next, but she wasn't playing it off very well.

"Is there anything you need?" Lori questioned.

Lincoln then put a finger to his chin while he thought about what he needed while humming a tone, " Do we have any more cough medicine."

"I don't know I can go check." Lori then left the door frame of his room and went down the bathroom.

As Lori walked to the only bathroom in the house she was thinking about she should do. What she was doing before was just awkward and tense she needed to find a way to diffuse the awkwardness and tension, but she hasn't found a way to do that just yet. She wanted to clear things up with Lincoln and apologize to what she did to Lincoln. I was her fault, not his why they in this situation.

She then looked through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. She saw hairsprays, shampoos, combs, and brushes, but all the way in the back was half a bottle of cough medicine. She then grabbed the bottle with purple liquid and headed towards Lincoln's room, while thinking that she needed to find a way to talk to him.

She then came back in the room with the bottle in hand, "I found the medicine."

She then took the cap of the bottle and poured the medicine into the cap of the medicine bottle.

"Here this should at least help a little bit," Lori stated while handing him the cap of medicine.

Lincoln then grabbed the medicine out of the teen's hand and then gulped it down. Because of the taste, he struggled to swallow it as his faced squirmed. He then eventually swallowed the gross "grape flavored" medicine.

"Are you hungry?" Lori then asked.

"Y-yeah, I can eat," Lincoln responded while still recovering from the medicine he drunk.

Lori then left the room as she went downstairs to go make Lincoln something to eat, while Lincoln followed with a blanket concealing his body. They then entered the kitchen as they both scanned for what they could eat and there wasn't really a lot to deal with, which is mostly because they haven't gone grocery shopping yet. With nothing else to choose from, they poured themselves some cereal and called it a day.

They then sat across from each other, then a newfound silence as they ate their cereal. The way they ate and didn't say anything to one another didn't sit right with both of them. They wanted to say something to each other, but they couldn't discover the correct words to say. Lori out of frustration and annoyance then said enough is enough

She then took a deep breathe, "Lincoln we need to talk."

Lincoln who had his spoon in his mouth dropped the spoon in his milk, which worried Lori a little bit. He didn't automatically reply to her which only worried her more. JUst when Lincoln thought that the whole day was going to fill with silence and tension.

With a slight cough, he then responded, "Yeah we do need to talk Lori, and I want to say something to you that I've been wanting to say and explain."

Lori then gave him a slight smile before he continued with what he wanted to say to her.

"Lori I first what to say sorry for not being able to convince Ronnie and carrying on with the plan that we had. Lucy and I tried, but unfortunately, she didn't want to hear what I had to say. She just didn't understand what I was trying to convey to her, but it isn't out of her character to act like that and explode as she did," Lincoln Continued.

Lori then looked at him and felt a brick of guilt hit her in the head. She basically set her brother up for failure. She didn't want her brother to feel like this. He didn't need to apologize because he did nothing wrong in the first place. It was her who should apologize and feel bad, not him.

Lincoln now had his down looking at a half-empty bowl of cereal that was starting to get soggy.

"Lincoln, there is nothing that you need to be sorry for. If anybody that should be sorry it should be me. I was the one who forced you to do this, but what selfish enough to ignore how you were feeling. I was so sad about Bobby that I never understood who you felt." Lori explained.

Lori then got up from her seat and then walked over to her brother and gently put her hand on his shoulder. Lincoln looked at Lori and her face spelled guilt and sadness.

"If there is anything I can do to make up to you I will do it," She continued, "I will give you free rides, do your chores, anything you need I will be there to help you. Just say the word."

Lincoln's face erected a slight smile at his sister how was right in front of him while trying to resist the urge to cough in her face as well.

"Lori you don't need you do any of that make it to me. Plus you know I'm not the type of person that holds grudges. The only thing I want to know is if this won't happen and if you are truly sorry for what you did. I don't want to put I this predicament again Lori." Lincoln stated.

"I promise."

They embraced one another which is something Lincoln hadn't done in quite in a while. In his sister's arms he felt gratitude, he felt safe. He felt all the stress, tension, and sadness wisp away from his back. They stayed embracing one another until Lincoln sneezed causing the hug to come to an abrupt end. Although they had made amends there was still some awkwardness lingering above their heads in the room.

"Well, I know for a fact that my cereal is soggy so I'm just gonna head back into my room," Lincoln said while rubbing his nose.

"Wait for one second Lincoln. Why don't you just sit down here and watch TV? I don't want you to be up there by yourself all day." Lori said with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Lincoln's face brightened as he nodded his head with joy. To be honest it was extremely boring being in his room by himself and it wasn't even noon yet. Besides he had nothing else to do. He then took a seat on the couch while Lori went into the kitchen to fetch something out the refrigerator for them both. She then came with two juice boxes for them to drink.

They were then sitting on the couch watching reruns of The Dream Boat while sneezed from time to time. The little trash can was getting filled at turtle's pace as he blew his nose and sneezed into countless tissues. Lori Made sure to at least keep a certain distance away with her surgical mask on while making sure to wash her hands from time to time.

They had just finished another episode of The Dream Boat when Lincoln exhaled a large sigh, which snatched up Lori attention.

"You tired it's only eleven O'clock?" She asked through her muffled voice.

"No I just get my head around Ronnie Anne actually moving away," Lincoln started, "I try to think positive about everything happening about them moving, but it's not going to be the same here without her."

"Well I mean you guys were close. You guys kissed twice, and when you guys kissed the last time I thought you guys made it official." Lori responded.

"For a little bit I thought that too, but we both mutually decided to stay friends, which I wasn't sad about. It's just the fact that she is leaving does something to me that I can't describe."

Lori smirked because she knew what her brother was feeling, "Lincoln don't you understand, you obviously still like Ronnie."

Lincoln could hear the ambient noise of the TV. playing in the background as he stayed quiet, "I guess I do feel a little sad that I wasn't able to score with Ronnie, but for the longest time I didn't feel like this, so why am I feeling this now."

"Lincoln your mind is starting to process that Ronnie Anne is leaving, which means you won't see her for a while. Those time you had with Ronnie made you feel better because you would at least be to see her, but now who knows when you will be able to."

"A-CHOO, I guess that sounds about right." Lincoln sneezed.

Lori then handed Lincoln a tissue, "Take it from me Lincoln. After what happened that whole night after our fight, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could've done differently. I could've handled the situation better, but instead, I exploded in a fit of anger and sadness that I was blinded by my own emotions. When I started thinking I realized that I was mainly sad because my Boo-Boo Bear was leaving. I still wanted to hug and kiss him, but now all that stuff would be gone."

"How did get you to get over it?" Lincoln asked

"I realized that even though we would be far apart from one another doesn't mean I can't stop loving him. He even said that the video chat me when he moved, but I didn't listen."

Lincoln then sniffed as some mucus came out of his nose and tear fell from his eye, "I'm gonna miss both of them, Lori. Bobby was like an older brother to me, and Ronnie Anne was the closest thing I had to girlfriend. It's gonna be hard to know that they are hundreds of miles away."

Lori then gazed at her sick and sad little brother who sniffled right next to her as he poured his feeling to her. This only made her feel more guilty about what she did to him. She then embraced her brother as he cried in her shirt. She didn't mind that she might get sick because the only thing she was focused on was trying to comfort her hurting brother like she was supposed to be doing in the first place. They stayed in each other arms as they both shared tears of sadness about the parting of the departing Santigo family.

Lincoln's grip loosened after a minute of their arms being wrapped around one another, "Thank you."

"Anything for you twerp." they both shared a small chuckle as both enjoyed one another presence on the couch.

They both felt hope and happiness for the future.

So, it's been a while. The only thing I can say is that I was being lazy. It was a long hiatus, but I hope I can continue making chapters for this story. I kept making up excuses to why I haven't been writing, but then I realized that I needed to finish because we are so close to the end of this story. We should've been here way sooner, but because of me being lazy this story has been going on for far too long. I will finish this story. Well, with nothing else to say I hoped you enjoyed and have a good day.