Here it is! Had to put A LOT of thought into this chapter.
Father George, Sister Elizabeth, and Lincoln eventually arrived at the Orphanage of St. Linda. The orphanage was a big five-story rectangular building with fifteen windows across each story. Lincoln was shocked to see that this place was ten-times bigger than his family's house.
"Don't be afraid, child," Sister Elizabeth comforted the nervous boy. "This is home to many children. You won't be alone here."
"Sounds a lot like my old home," Lincoln remarked.
They all walked up the steps and through the huge front doors. Inside was a big spiral staircase and long hallways filled with doors and windows on both sides of it. Lincoln gazed around in amazement at the big spacious interior, and this was only part of the first floor.
"Wow!" the sick surprised boy softly exclaimed.
"Welcome to your new home, my boy," Father George said.
"I know it will take some time for you to adjust, but I hope that in a few days you will be able to see yourself as a member of our family," Sister Elizabeth said heartfully.
"Come now, let's have you meet the other kids who live here," the Father suggested.
They led Lincoln to a room where another nun was teaching a class of at least fourteen kids all wearing black uniforms, most of them looked to be around his age.
"Greetings Father and Sister Elizabeth," the nun greeted her superiors. "We were just going to talk about…" Then she interrupted herself when she noticed the sick-looking white-haired child standing beside them. "Oh dear lord! Is this a new addition to our family?"
"Indeed he is," Sister Elizabeth confirmed.
"His name is Lincoln," the Father introduced the boy.
"Welcome to your new home and family, Lincoln," the nun welcomed the white-haired adolescent.
"Hi Lincoln!" one of the other kids said.
"Nice to meet you," another kid said.
"Welcome to St. Linda's," a third kid greeted.
Soon all the kids in the room started giving Lincoln friendly greetings.
"Nice to meet all of –" but before Lincoln could finish, he suffered a short but very harsh sounding coughing fit.
"Are you alright?" the nun teaching the class asked with concern.
"He's very ill," Sister Elizabeth informed.
"Oh dear. Where did you find him?" the concerned nun asked.
"That's a… sensitive question," the Father replied noticing the boy looked very sad at hearing that question. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to make Lincoln feel at home."
"I already told Caroline to meet us and give him the tour," Sister Elizabeth informed introducing a slender fifteen year old girl with red hair and a ponytail.
"You called for me, Father?" Caroline asked.
"Caroline, this is Lincoln, the boy we told you about," Father George introduced the boy.
"Nice to meet you, Lincoln," the teenager greeted him.
"Nice to meet you too," Lincoln replied.
"Are you okay? You don't look so good," Caroline asked noticing the boy's unhealthy appearance.
"He's been really sick," Sister Elizabeth informed her. "But we'll take good care of him and nurse him back to health in no time. For now, we would like you to give him the grand tour of our home."
"You can count on me, Sister," Caroline happily replied.
"Can I help show him around too?" a girl from the class asked.
"I want to go along too," a boy said.
"Now children," Father George said in a gentle authoritative tone. "You're in the middle of class right now."
"Oh come on, Father," Sister Elizabeth pleaded. "This child has been through so much. Why don't we let him have this opportunity to start forming relationships with the other children?"
The Father looked over to the nun conducting the class. She gave him a smile and a shrug which told him that she didn't mind. After a brief exhale, he finally gave in.
"Alright," the Father agreed much to the delight of the kids. "But remember to study extra hard after this."
The two excited kids got up from their seats and quickly joined Caroline in giving the tour to the new boy they were eager to eventually call their brother.
"This way please," Caroline said leading the group down the hall. Sister Elizabeth and Father George watched as the group left.
"I'm Jim," the boy introduced himself.
"And I'm Katelyn," the girl introduced herself. "You are going to love it here."
"It always makes me so happy to have more of these little lost youngsters come to our wonderful home," the Sister said with a smile. The Father on the other hand didn't look like he shared her sentiment. He had a look of sadness and guilt on his face.
As the group of youngsters walked down a hall, Lincoln took the opportunity to tell them the revolting story of how he got here.
"So they blamed you for everything, ruined your life, and didn't even care?!" Katelyn asked very disturbed.
"Mm-hmm," Lincoln sadly responded.
"And the rest of your family just went along with this as if it was something completely acceptable and normal?" an appalled Jim asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's a good thing the police found out when they did," a very livid Caroline said. "From what you've told us, it sounds like there's something seriously wrong with those people."
"I guess so."
"Lincoln, what's the matter?" Katelyn asked noticing the white-haired boy's sorrowful expression.
"It's just, I know what they did was wrong," the sad sick boy explained. "But I just can't help but feel a great portion of this is my fault. If I hadn't lied about being bad luck, they never would've taken things too far."
"But they did take things too far," Caroline said undoubtedly. "Lincoln, let me make a few things clear. Wanting some time to yourself is understandable, lying to get what you want is not okay, but blaming someone else for your mistakes, turning them into a pariah, and then kicking them completely out of your life over a superstition is absolutely inexcusable."
"Anyone who thinks what you did is worse than what your family did needs to get their head examined," Jim added.
"Lincoln, you've done so much for those people and have received very little in return," Caroline continued. "And while I like how you try to see the good inside them, the Lord would be proud, I'm sorry to say that you're overlooking an undeniable fact. Your parents' and your sisters' behavior was just plain selfish."
"It's not fair that you have to attend all of their events every time when they hardly attend yours," Katelyn added.
"To be fair, there's hardly any events I have that are worth supporting," Lincoln said.
"Is that coming from you or your sisters?" Caroline asked suspiciously.
This question made Lincoln think for a moment. Then he found himself hit with some sort of realization. Maybe he developed this mindset after years of trying to hang out with his sisters doing things he wanted to do but they hardly showed any interest. Whenever he tried to do something spectacular they would not care believing it was doomed to failure. Sure some of the things he tried to do did end in failure, but maybe if he had more support from his family some of them might have been successful and noteworthy. He followed their rules and wishes as obediently as he could and hoped that everything would turn out for the better in the end. There were multiple times where Lincoln thought he wasn't treated fairly by his family, but he rarely stood up for himself afraid that he might get into trouble or he might be wrong and thinking selfishly. But now, he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Are you alright, Lincoln?" Katelyn asked.
"Did I say anything that offended you?" a concerned Caroline asked.
"No," the white-haired boy warmly assured them. "It's just… (cough)… now that I think about it, it actually makes me feel a lot better. All this time I've felt I had to accept the bulk of responsibility for any problems that befell my family. I always felt that I was the one who wasn't doing my part for my family. But now I think that wasn't always the case. Maybe my family wasn't doing their part for me."
"That's great," Caroline said with a proud smile. Then she and the other kids noticed some tears forming in his eyes.
"Lincoln, what's the matter?" Katelyn asked.
"Sorry about that," Lincoln apologized and wiped the tears away. "I'm just relieved that for once in my life I don't have to take full responsibility for the trouble that has befallen my family. I can finally say with a clear conscience that they brought this upon themselves."
"Now you're getting it," Jim congratulated.
"I still feel pity for them, something I can't help, and I wish there was something I could do to help them. But I can't, not anymore. Now it's too late. They're on their own now. I've done all I can do. The rest is up to them." Lincoln's new friends started rubbing his shoulders and patting him on the back in congratulations for his epiphany.
"And this will be your room where you will sleep," Caroline said opening a door to reveal a nice clean bedroom.
The white-haired boy stared in amazement at his new room. Not because he finally had a bedroom again, but because it was twice the size of the one he had at his old home.
"If there is a God, then he really does love me," Lincoln remarked to the readers. Then he started coughing again.
"Here lie down," Caroline said as she and the other kids lead Lincoln to his new bed. "Stay here for a moment while I deliver a message to the nurse." With that, the kind teen left the room.
"Don't worry, Lincoln," Katelyn assured him. "The people here are very good about keeping the kids here happy and healthy."
"They'll make you feel better in no time," Jim said. "They're way better than those people you used to live with."
"Right," Lincoln replied with a happy-looking face but uneasy-sounding tone. The sickly boy stared up at the ceiling of his new bedroom. Many stressful thoughts started flooding his mind. How was Clyde doing? How was Ronnie Anne doing? How was his family doing? Were they okay? Were they feeling any regret for their actions? Or were some of them still blaming him for the recent events that had transpired? Most likely Lynn was doing the last thing. Whatever it was, Lincoln wished he could've had at least one last moment to talk with them. He lay in his new bed, in his new room, accompanied by new friends, waiting for another friend to return with the orphanage nurse.
I originally had more things to write for this chapter, but it was getting long and I still had a lot of thinking to do before I could finish it. So I decided to split it into two separate chapters. Here's the first part, expect the next part soon.