Lana was sitting on her bed, with her back against the wall, her right hand running the length of El Diablo's body while using the left one to scratch Bitey's back. Her other pets were resting around Lana, just lazily waiting for their turn to be petted by their owner.
Lana breathed deeply, then let the air out slowly. She mover her gaze from izzy, who was resting on her legs, to the window. It was rainy day, the best kind of day that any child could hope for… or just for Lana. It was common knowledge that Lana loved rainy days, as they always meant that there would be a lot of mud to play with. The girl should be shaking with excitement, but instead, Lana just looked back at Izzy with a downcast expression. She just wasn't in the mood for that.
Lana hadn't been her usual cheery self for a few days now. She just stayed on her room most of the time in the company of her pets, the only living things that still seemed to enjoy spending time with her.
Most of the other siblings just kept doing their own stuff, but when they interacted with Lana, they usually wore an expression of pity on her face, and she hated it. Lola… It was better not to think of Lola… It just hurt so much to do so.
Lana spend most of her time alone, just waiting. Waiting for her sister Lisa to fix her, because, according to all the other siblings, she needed to be fixed… and maybe they were right. It didn't matter that Lana thought that what she was feeling wasn't a mistake, what mattered was that she could interact with the others as she used to… to be able to spend time with Lola again. So she just stayed in her room for most of the day, only going out for school or to eat with the family.
The creaking of the door caught Lana's attention. The little genius of the house entered the room and walked to the foot of the bed, adjusting her glasses before looking at her sister's eyes.
"Greetings, Lana."
Lana just answered with a dull "Hi".
"I have need you to follow me back to my room. I have some–"
"You found a cure?" Lana asked with a bit of hope in her words as she leaned forward.
"Umm, no."
"Oh…" Lana slumped back against the wall.
"Don't lose hope, Lana. I'm still trying my hardest to fix this conundrum. I actually came here to move to the next step of my research for a solution."
Lana looked at Lisa, but remained silent, so the genius continued.
"As you know, I have done an extensive amount of research on the experiment that went hiwire, but there's still an important part that I require data from." She paused, waiting for Lana to say something, but the blond girl didn't say anything again. "I need you to come with me to my room. I have to run a few tests on you. Know exactly how this is affecting you."
Lana sighed before moving her animal friends off of her. "Alright," she said as she stood next to Lisa.
The little scientist nodded before turning around and exiting the room, with Lana sluggishly following behind.
As they reached Lisa's bedroom, the younger girl turned to look at Lana as she signaled towards the opposite side of the room. "Please, lay down on the bed."
Lana moved to the bed and did as told without saying anything.
"And I'll require you to remove your head wear."
Lana grabbed her red cap and placed it at the bottom of the bed, then waited for any other indication from Lisa. The genius moved close to Lana and began to attach the end of various cables to Lana's head.
"What are these things?" Lana asked.
"These, dear sibling," Lisa started, signaling at a fw cables still on her hand, "are sensors that will allow me to measure your brain-waves."
"My brain-waves?"
"You see, Lana, at the root of all our thoughts, emotions and behaviours is the communication between neurons within our brains. Brain-waves are produced by synchronised electrical pulses from masses of neurons communicating with each other. Do you understand so far?"
"Uhmm, no."
Lisa sighed and shook her head. "Well, nevermind that, you just need to know that all of this will help me understand more about this problem."
"Alright," Lana said, staying still as Lisa finished to attach the last few sensors to her head.
Lisa then moved to her computer and started to work on it. "This shouldn't take long. I'll start with asking a few questions. Depending on the results, I might need you to stay a little longer so I can recollect a bit more information using a different method."
"As long as it isn't some weird machine like the last time."
"I assure you that it will be nothing like that."
"Okay… I guess you can start questioning me."
"Alright, that will be all for the moment," Lisa said as she opened the door of her room for Lana.
Lana hesitated a moment in place, finally deciding to ask Lisa something. "Did you… did you find what's wrong with me?"
Lisa remained silent for a moment, her expression neutral as she ran her eyes over Lana's form. "I need time to process this new information. I'll inform you when I find something."
Lana just nodded as she made her way out of Lisa's room. Because the girl was looking down at the floor, she didn't notice the oldest of the sisters standing out in the hallway, causing Lana to bump into her.
"Careful, Lana," Lori said as she helped her little sister to stand up.
"Sorry, Lori," Lana said as she shook her head and looked up, instantly regretting it. There it was, the look of pity that all the older sisters and Lincoln wore when they looked at her… She really hated it, it made her feel so– "See you later," Lana hastily said as she moved to her room and closed the door behind her."
Lana breathed deeply before walking to her bed. As she moved, something on the reflection of the mirror on Lol– Leni's side of the room caught her attention. She turned to look directly at the mirror and lifted her hands to her head. She was missing her red cap.
"Agh… I think I left it in Lisa's room." Lana sighed and walked back to the door, hoping not to stumble into any of her sisters.
She slightly opened the door and looked down the hall. 'All clear, perfect,' Lana thought as she got out and moved quickly to Lisa's room. She was about to knock on the door, but a loud voice from inside stopped her.
"What!"
Lana pressed her ear against the wood of the door to listen.
"Lori, I… There might not be a way to fix Lana's predicament."
Lana backed from the door, her eyes were as wide as saucers and her hands wouldn't stop trembling. In a second, Lana turned around, went back to her room and hid below her bedsheets.
"You… are you serious?"
"Lori, when have I ever not been serious in my life?"
Lori let her body fall on Lisa's bed. "I can't believe this," She said as she looked up at the roof. "Then Lana is stuck like that forever?"
"Most likely. While I was able to figure out exactly how the original experiment affected her, I just… The answer to revert the effects of it keeps eluding me. I might have been able to do something to fix this if I had noticed the effects earlier, possibly a day or two after the experiment."
Lori sat up and looked at Lisa. "How? Why could you have fixed this back then but not now."
"In the original experiment I used a few chemical that alter the hormones present in the brain that are directly related to the emotions of a human being. I might have been able to… detox, remove those chemicals from her body, but it's too late now… It's been a month since then." Lisa lifted a finger and pointed at her head. "The chemicals have already taken root in her brain."
"So there's literally nothing to do now?"
Lisa turned back to her computer. "... At the moment, it seems to be impossible to do anything. I might be able to find a cure in the future."
"In the future?"
"I'm not giving up yet. I caused this problem and I intend to fix it."
Lori smiled, standing up from the bed and walking towards Lisa. "That's very mature of you, Lisa."
"I also have to admit that this puzzle has caught my interest. I can't let it beat me."
Lori chuckled as she shook her head. "So what are you planning to do now?"
"Well, I actually thought of measuring the brain-waves of other members of the family and see how different they are to Lana's. I might find something useful with that. Lola's brain-waves should be a good start."
"Alright then… I'll leave you alone so you can keep working."
"Okay. Bye, Lori."
"Bye, Lisa."
There's no way to fix me… I… I will always stay this way…
*sob* *sob*
I don't want that… I don't want this… I don't want my sisters and Lincoln to look at me like that… Like I have a disease…
I… I don't want Lola to keep avoiding me… I don't want her to hate me…
*sob* *sob*
There's no way to fix this… because there's nothing to fix…
Maybe I have always been like this… Lisa can't cure me because it wasn't her fault…
I'm disgusting…
*sob* *sob*
I… I can't take it… I don't want things to be like this for the rest of my life…
I can't stay here… I can't take it… the pity… the hate...
… I… I want to leave… get out of here...
*sob*
Finally an update! I hope this chapter was good.