Thanks again to everyone for all the support on this story. This chapter is not going to be as exciting as the previous ones, but I still hope y'all will like it anyway. Please leave a review for it and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4

"Where's Leni?" Lincoln asked as he looked behind him. His gaze turned from his video-game to the scene unfolding before him. A while van was parked on the side of the road and there were two men getting out of it. They looked right at Lincoln and started walking briskly towards him. Lincoln's eyes went wide and he tried to run, but found himself unable to move. As the two men got closer, Lincoln's heart started beating faster and faster until they walked right by him, as if they were phasing through him. He could suddenly move again and turned himself around to see his older sister on the ground, blood spilling from the cut on her forehead.

"Stop it!" Lincoln yelled as he tried to rush forward, but once again, was unable to. He was frozen in place, just watching his sister get beaten by two unknown faces. His eyes started watering up as he couldn't help but just stand by and watch as Leni was being pounded, blood spraying from her mouth with every punch thrown. Again, he tried with all of his strength to move forward to just try and help, but couldn't. His feet were glued to their spot and his eyes were filled with tears as he watched those two men wail on Leni mercilessly.

"Lincoln, help me!"

"I can't. I can't move.

"Please Lincoln, do something!"

Both of their gazes met. The eyes that he always looked to when he needed comforting, the eyes that never displayed any sadness or hatred, the eyes that were only ever loving, were now full of fear and pain. Her stare pierced into his heart and he felt himself start to break down. Lincoln tried closing his eyes, but with his body not in his control, he was forced to look on as the situation played itself out. He was forced to see the look of betrayal in his sister's eyes. The two men paused for a moment and looked back at Lincoln with an evil grin on their faces, as if they were in control of his mind, forcing him to stay planted on the ground where he was. One of them began striding up to him and stopped right in front of him. Then, kneeling in front of the boy, told him in a vicious whisper, "You're not going to do a thing... You can't."

"Lincoln, please..." Leni was barely able to squeak those words out and was now on the verge of passing out. Lincoln could only look on as the man kneeling down in front of him kept taunting him, torturing him.

"Leni..."

"Let's get outta here!"

The man who was in front of Lincoln stood up and They both started dragging Leni across the ground, gradually making their way around to the back of the van. They opened the white door and tossed her like a rag-doll. Lincoln could only watch in horror. He was completely broken by now, falling apart on the inside, yet unable to move on the outside. His tears had been falling down like rain while he watched, yet, he was unable to do a thing about it.

As the van drove off, everything around him turned completely black. In a wave like motion, the sky went dark all the way to the horizon, then the blackness spread it's way to the ground, rushing towards him like a Tsunami. The massive wave reached where the boy was standing and he was totally consumed by it, seeing nothing at all.

"Lincoln..."

The voice penetrated through the darkness. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from. There was nothing there, but could hear the echoes of it around him. He called out to it. "Leni!?"

"It's your fault..."

"I know it is!"

"You could have stopped it."

"I know... please... forgive me..."

Another voice pierced the shadowy vale. This one was different. It was much lower and much more menacing.

"Too late, the damage has been done."

"No, please. I didn't mean to. If I had known, I would have done something!."

"What would you have done?! Would you have been there? Or would you have just stood there, just watching like the coward you are?!"

"I... I would..." The hesitancy in Lincoln's voice scared even him. Was he really that brave? Would he really have risked his life to try and save his sister? Or would he have just stood there, frozen in fear?

"It doesn't matter anymore. You weren't there, and now, she's not coming back Lincoln."

"No... she has to..."

"She's never coming back."

"She... she will..."

"And it's all... because... of YOU!"

"AUGH!" Lincoln jumped awake and sat up in his bed. Sweat covered his brow and his heart was racing. It was just a dream. He had never had a nightmare like that one. A nightmare so terrible, so maniacal only seemed possible in movies. Still trying to catch his breath, he looked over at his clock. It was barely after six in the morning, earlier than he thought it was, so he laid back down on his bed to try and get those extra thirty minutes of sleep. He couldn't of course. His mind was wandering too much. That nightmare made him realize his own doubts. Obviously because he wasn't there he couldn't have done anything, but even if he was there, would he have helped? Would he have been able to overcome his selfishness and fear and be able to help her? Or would he have just stood there like a deer in headlights, staring in shock?

The sight of the two men falling to the ground dead eased Leni in no way. She was a gentle soul and would never hurt anyone on purpose, even if they deserved it. She even softened up to Frank, the spider that Lincoln brought home. That was her whole way of thinking and it had never been challenged before meeting those two monsters. Seeing them fall to the ground, completely lifeless, made her quiver with fear. Watching someone die, whether or not they deserved it, whether or not you did it, has a certain effect on people, and for Leni, because of her naturally kind-hearted spirit, this feeling was amplified ten or twenty-fold.

"How could someone be so mean as to take another person's life?"

"But, it was just self defense, so it's okay, right?"

"But how is killing someone necessary, even in self-defense?"

"But if they didn't, then you would just be right back where you were."

"Back in that house?"

"With the evil men, Yes."

"Not them..."

Her mind was suddenly filled with nothing but memories of the eyes of the two men. Those wicked, evil eyes penetrated her very being and forced her to start believing things that she didn't want to believe. It bothered her that the officers were forced to kill those men, but when she remembered what happened and how they made her feel, how much fear that they forced into her heart, combined with the fresh sight of watching two humans die, she began losing it. Her heart-rate increased dramatically and she started shivering. Everything was suddenly extremely noticable. She was aware of the fact that she couldn't move and she noticed every little change that happened in her body. She could feel every little shiver and every movement she made on accident. The quivering was still there, but she couldn't force herself to move. Not even a small nod could be made. Meanwhile the police officers had stopped trying to get her to react to anything and started getting worried.

"What's going on?" Jenson remarked.

"I've seen this before, it's an anxiety attack, and it looks bad."

"What do you mean?"

"When someone gets an anxiety attack, it means that..."

"I know what an anxiety attack is, but why does it look bad? It's not like this can kill her, right?"

Cal looked over at his coworker and gave a worried look. Jenson was not amused at this and asked again, suddenly getting the same sullen look on his face. "Right?"

Just the sight of someone dying had already made her brain kick into high gear, but when she remembered what happened to her, the stress became too much to handle. She was breathing hard, her heart was racing, and the shaking became more vigorous. The panic she was feeling was so intense that it gave her chest pains and made her start hyperventilating. Then, she started getting lightheaded, her vision and hearing started to give out, as her mind slowly slipped away. She suddenly lost consciousness and fell backwards on the concrete, making a dull thud as her head hit the ground. The last thing she remembered was seeing the worried faces of the officers before finally slipping away into a deep slumber.

"C'mon kids, you're gonna be late for school!"

After the events of the previous night, none of them were too ecstatic about doing anything, especially going to school. Even their parents didn't want to go to work, but these were things that they had to do whether Leni was there or not. Sure, their teachers might cut them some slack and Rita and Lynn Sr's bosses may take it easy on them, but they were still necessities. If it was the case that they would have to move on without their sister, they would need to be prepared to do so. None of them even considered the thought at this point and were just trying to establish a temporary routine while they waited for Leni to come back to them.

Nine kids piled into the family car they call, "vanzilla" and their mother did a head count. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine..." Rita put her hand to her chin and recounted the heads in the car. "Who's missing?" she finally asked. Everyone looked around for a moment, then looked at their mother with somber faces. There was a moment of awkward silence as they all sulked. Even Lucy was visibly more bothered than usual.

"Umm, mom?" Lori began. "It's Leni who's missing..."

She mentally cursed herself for forgetting such an important piece of information and gritted her teeth as she smacked her head. She looked at her oldest daughter and then back at the rest of the kids who were sitting quietly in the car, a rare event. "Sorry..."

It didn't mean that much to them. After all, their minds were on other things, especially Lincoln, who was still recovering from his nightmare. He couldn't get that horrible image out of his mind, no matter how hard he pushed. It just kept coming back to him, making him feel worse and worse. To him, there wasn't any doubting that it was his fault, but even if he could have helped, would he?

The school day had started without a hitch. All of the kids' teachers had been told what happened before he got to school that day so that they would know what to expect. Lincoln's teacher was just as surprised to hear this news as all the others were, but she had an idea as to how he would be acting to a certain degree, but she didn't expect him to be as down as he was. Once he got to school, he didn't do anything and just kept his arm up with his hand supporting his head. Tapping the desk was all that she saw him do. She understood that his sister had been kidnapped the night before and expected him to be down about it, but to her, this didn't look like sorrow, it looked like guilt. Guilt that didn't look like it was going to go away anytime soon. She wanted to ask him about it, to see what she could do to help him. Teachers are supposed to do that kind of thing. But she never did. She left him alone about it, fearing that confronting him would only make matters worse.

Lincoln wasn't paying attention at all in class. Despite having that nightmare to momentarily take his mind off of it, he was still too bothered by the events that transpired the previous night. He had a firm belief that it was his fault Leni got kidnapped, despite Luna and Lynn trying to convince him otherwise. Luna was convinced that she was able to do it, but it ended up not working. While Lincoln had to admit that she did make some good points, it still didn't cover up the fact that if Lincoln hadn't blatantly disobeyed his mother, Leni would at least be in a better situation than she was now.

He disobeyed his mother. She and his dad still had no idea that he went against their will. He was so distraught over losing his sister that he forgot to fess up. But did he really forget? Or was he once again just trying to make sure he didn't get into trouble? What was once a mere feeling of guilt turned into dread as he realized that he had to accept the punishment for what he did. Would they take the same route his sisters did and try to make him feel better, or would they openly blame him for it? Despite his sisters' actions, he had a feeling deep inside himself that made him think they would put all the blame on him.

His thought process behind his reasoning was actually really interesting. Every time something small happened, like a broken mirror, a hole in the wall, or even the toilet backing up, his sisters would be quick to point the blame to him, even if he didn't do it. His parents on the other hand, recognizing this, would try to find the source of the problem and eventually it would be settled. So when he tried to accept responsibility for his actions and his sisters tried to convince him it wasn't his fault, he thought that his parents would have the opposite reaction. He didn't think it would actually work like that, but his mind kept trying to tell him otherwise.

"Lincoln!"

"Hmm... Oh, sorry!"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last thirty seconds now. Your parents are here to pick you up."

"What? Really?"

"Yes, really. They're waiting for you at the front office with a few of your other sisters."

"Oh... okay," Lincoln said as he started gathering his things then finally leaving the classroom.

"Have a nice day Lincoln!"

The white haired boy walked down the hallway and made a right turn into the main hallway where all the offices were. The main front office was less than a thirty second walk away from Lincoln's classroom. There were windows in the front of it to where everyone could easily see into it; not like the classrooms which had a tiny window in the door of each one. Anyone who was walking by the front office could easily see the desk in the middle of it and the person sitting at it. Today, it happened to be a woman by the name of Ms Smith, and she was sitting there, typing away at the computer. Off to the side, sitting on a bench were both of his parents and his five younger sisters. They all seemed excited enough to see him. Lana and Lola didn't seem to care about anything else but being able to get out of school early and Lisa looked like she was anxious to test something, as she always was when she wasn't, either in the car or already testing something. Lucy was just being her normal gloomy self and Lily was reaching towards her only brother, wanting to jump arms from her mother to his. Lincoln gladly accepted his little sister in his arms, all without saying a word. He noticed that his mom's eyes were a little red. Had she been crying?

"Well champ, ready to go?"

Lincoln was snapped out of his thoughts and jerked his head towards his father. He nodded and then followed the rest of his family out the door. All the while he wondered why he was being pulled out of school so early. There were so many things that it could have been, but the only reason that made sense seemed to go right over his head. He was so upset with himself that he wasn't even thinking straight. In fact, he was too busy feeling guilty for what he did, that he didn't even think that much about why he was pulled out of school. He was a little curious however.

"Why did you take us out of school?" he asked, getting into the back seat of the car.

"You're joking right?" Lola squealed, turning around to face her brother.

"Seriously? You don't know?" Lana started, making the same motion. "We're going to see Leni! They found her!"

"They did?"

"Uh-huh!"

Lincoln's face brightened up for the first time in what seemed like days. Knowing that his sister was safe was so relieving. But at the same time, he couldn't help but call himself an idiot. Of course they found Leni and they were taking them to go see her. That would be the only reason for taking them out of school. But where was she? Was she in the hospital? How badly hurt was she? Was she even conscious? All of these questions and more raced through Lincoln's mind. But there was one that was haunting him and would until he saw her. Did she blame him for it? The excited look on his face disappeared in just a few seconds as he remembered the state his sister could be in and he went back to sulking.

"Whassup bro?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Lynn." Lincoln didn't notice that Lynn had gotten in the car and sat right next to him. He didn't even notice that they stopped. His mind was on other things. Lynn gave her brother a puzzled look for a moment, wondering what was on his mind. He didn't even look up at her when she came in. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks and she sighed, scratching the back of her head trying to think of something to say.

"Okay dude," she started in a softer voice. After she made sure their parents weren't listening, she started back up. "I know you're kind of down because you feel like it was your fault that Leni got hurt, but you gotta stop worrying bro! Get excited! We're gonna go see our big sis! She's gonna be so happy to see us!"

"She's not gonna be happy to see me," Lincoln thought, but he just sat there in silence, acting like he wasn't listening. He heard all of it, there was no doubt about it, but responding to her would only make him feel worse about the situation. It would only force him to think about it more, which in turn, would make his mood that much worse, so he didn't. He kept quiet and stared down towards the floorboards of the van. Lynn wouldn't take it though. She knew her brother and she knew that he was trying to avoid responding. So she slapped him in the face. It was just hard enough to take him by surprise, but not hard enough to actually cause any pain. He jumped when her hand made contact with his cheek and then stared her down.

"I know you heard me. Say something!"

Lincoln sighed and rolled his eyes then looked back down. He looked over at his sister for a moment before looking back down at the ground. When he looked back up at her after a few seconds, he finally replied, "You're not gonna let this go until I say something, are you?"

"Heck no."

"Fine," Lincoln took a deep breath in and prepared himself to speak. "What if Leni blames me for it and won't forgive me?"

"That was easy..." Lynn muttered to herself. "Dude, do you even know Leni? She's not gonna blame you for it. And even if she did, of course she'll forgive you. You gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself bro, even you think it was your fault."

Lynn was never the best at comforting her siblings. That title belonged to Leni, with Lincoln being the runner up. But she had a few good moments. If Lincoln wasn't totally convinced that it was his fault, if he hadn't been so blinded by his own rage at himself, then this would have been one of them, but his stubbornness made it otherwise. He didn't feel any better.

Lynn could tell she wasn't getting anywhere and just stopped trying, "You're at least going to join us, right? You're not gonna make us go in without you, are you?"

"No... I'll go in," he lied. "I'll go see her."

"Hmm, I don't believe you. That's why I'm gonna drag you in with me. Heh heh."

"Dang it..." Lincoln groaned. He didn't count on Lynn forcing him to go in. He thought that if he stayed quiet he wouldn't have to lie to them. But Lynn just had to insist on butting in again. He couldn't believe how nosy his sisters were. All of them were like this. Not just Lynn, but Lola, Lana, Lisa, Lori, Lucy, Luan, Luna, and even Leni.

Even Leni...

The one thing that he hoped wouldn't get the better of him, especially in a situation like this, ended up rearing its ugly head. It was true what he was thinking, it was true that his sisters were nosy, but not only was he just as nosy as they were, but he was only thinking about himself. He wasn't thinking about how they were just trying to make him feel better, he was only ever annoyed when they butted in. He wouldn't have cared normally, but the fact that he dared to blame Leni for something at a time like this made him feel even worse. Once again, his selfishness got the better of him.

Lincoln was so troubled that he, once again, didn't notice that they stopped, and also didn't notice that Lori, Luna, and Luan got into the car. Naturally, they all tried talking to him about it, despite being several rows away, but to no avail. He didn't want to hear any of it. He just wanted to keep to himself, and hope that nobody noticed him, or his mood.

"Okay gang, we're here. Let's go see your sister!"

"Come on Lincoln, you're not gonna weasel your way out of this."

"Fine..." Lincoln reluctantly got up and jumped out of the car, slowly walking towards the entrance to the Royal Woods Hospital along with the rest of his family. Anticipation mounted for all of them as they approached the front entrance. As great as it was that they were gonna get to see their sister, they almost didn't want to. They didn't want to see the bruises covering her body. None of them wanted to hear about the terrible things that might have happened to her. Lori and Luna were the most anxious, as they were the ones who fully understood what could happen in a situation like this. Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln knew about what could happen in a hostage situation, but only expected it from the worst of the worst, not from your average criminal that could be caught in less than a day. Everyone under Lincoln's age, with the exception of Lisa, only knew that being kidnapped was bad and that you could get hurt from it. Lisa had to do studies of kidnapping for her Ph D, so she knew all about the different circumstances that Leni could be in, but at the same time, being only four, couldn't fully grasp the concept of those things. She only saw it as another chance to study.

"Hi miss!" Lana chirped at the lady behind the front counter.

"Well hello there! Who are you here to see?"

"We wanna see our sister Leni!"

"Yes," Rita started. "We would like to know where Leni Loud is."

"Okay gang, now remember, Leni isn't in great shape. She's probably very tired from all that has happened, so don't crowd her immediately, okay?"

"Got it dad. We won't!"

"Okay good. Now, we're going to let you guys see her. We're going to have a quick talk with the doctor about how Leni is doing and then we'll join you, okay? Lori, make sure they all behave!"

"I will! Okay guys, lets go see Leni."

Rita handed Lily to Lori and she opened the door to the hospital room and let everyone else in before following the rest of them while their parents walked off to the side to chat with the doctor who was standing just to the left of the room. Their minds all raced as they went in, wondering what kind of story Leni had to tell. It definitely wouldn't be the nicest story by any means, but still one to tell nonetheless. Even the older ones were hesitant to think that anything serious happened to her. Leni was their sister, nothing too bad could ever happen to her, right?

Before you write any reviews, I know that this chapter was kind of slow. Things will heat up some more in the next one. I do still appreciate your reviews, (as long as they are constructive) and would love to get more insight as to how I'm doing as a writer. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd also like to know how to make the more caring scenes have a bigger impact, because I know that that's one of the reasons this chapter is kind of slow.

Thanks again to everyone who read it and please leave a review, even if this new chapter didn't strike you as amazing like some of the previous chapters might have.