The Failure of a Father
Ch 4: In a Search of Redemption
Lincoln and the Afton family went out together to look for Michael, who was much of a sissy to stay in the house. They checked Elijah's house, Freddy's, and anywhere Michael can be seen often, but they didn't see him there.
Minutes turned to hours, but they still didn't find him. It was past curfew, but Lincoln just didn't care right now, as his goal became the center of his thoughts right now. The 11-year-old Loud would never rest, at least until he found Michael.
"I'm coming to find you, Michael…" Lincoln thought.
William called out to Michael. "Michael! Michael!? Come on, son, this isn't funny!"
"Michael! Where are you?!" Lincoln called out.
"Mikey! Come home, please!" CC cried, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "Come home, please…"
Olivia called out. "Michael! Honey! Come home, please!" Hot tears ran down her face.
Elizabeth called out to her brother. "Mikey, where are you!?"
Eleven at night struck, and even though Lincoln knew he had school tomorrow, he just decided to ignore it, and focus on finding Michael.
"Michael!" Lincoln called out. "Your father needs to talk to you!"
Twelve midnight…
"It's midnight...Lincoln, are you sure you still want to look for Michael?"
"I would never put myself to rest until I find Michael." Lincoln said, as he turned and lifted the two siblings on his back. "You guys go."
The Afton parents then went out to look for Michael.
In the Afton residence…
Lincoln puts Elizabeth and CC to bed in CC's room, and smiles at the sight of them sleeping peacefully with each other.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was having a bad dream, she tried to chase after Michael but she just wouldn't move.
"MIKEY, NO, PLEASE!" But it's too late, Michael already left the door. "D-Don't leave…" The ice cream fanatic fell on her butt, and she tugged her knees to her chest, and started crying inconsolably.
The scenery fades to black, and two voices speak to her. "BAD SISTER!" The voice of Roberto replied. "YOU SHOULD HAVE STOOD UP FOR HIM." Lori's voice said out of the black.
The voices kept talking to Elizabeth, until she heard Lincoln's voice. "Elizabeth? ELIZABETH!"
Elizabeth woke up from her dream, and saw Lincoln with a worried and shocked look on his face.
"Are you OK, honey?" Lincoln said, his voice mixed with worry.
"I h-had a b-bad dream." Elizabeth said, her voice broken from all of that sobbing.
Lincoln pulled Elizabeth close to him. "It's OK, baby, if you don't want to open up about it, it's fine, I don't want to put any more pressure on you, losing a family member must be painful."
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Lincoln, while crying into his shirt.
Lincoln then patted Elizabeth's head, making her fall asleep. Lincoln followed suit a few seconds later.
The next day…
Lincoln, who was dressed in his day clothes, tapped Elizabeth's shoulder, waking her up. "Elizabeth, rise and shine."
Elizabeth yawned and wiped the dead skin off her eyes. "Morning, Linky."
"Pobrecita niñita…" Roberto said in Spanish, sitting on CC's bed. "…Are you OK?" The Hispanic teen stroke Elizabeth's hair.
"What happened the previous night?" Lori said, sitting near her younger brother.
"Michael told off Mr. Afton yesterday, and ran away." Lincoln explained.
"Poor Michael, I really hope he reconciles with his papá." Roberto said.
Later at school…
The kids got off the car, and went into the halls of the school, the sound of kids chattering welcomed them.
Lincoln then went to the lockers to get some of the books he will need for class.
Michael came into the scene. "Miguel?" Roberto said.
"H-Hey guys…" Michael said, nervous. "…what are you doing here?"
"M-Mikey?" Elizabeth said, her tears falling out of her eyes.
"Liz? CC?" Michael asked, confused.
Elizabeth and CC went up to their brother, and hugged him. "Mikey, you don't know how much Daddy regretted his actions…"
Michael rolled his eyes. "Father again? I'm happy that he changed." The oldest Afton said, in a bitter tone.
"Mikey please…you need to come home…" CC said, tightening his hug with Michael.
Michael knelt down to CC's height and said. "I will come home when Father really regrets his mistakes, and don't force me." He left and went to his classroom.
CC turned to Lincoln, with tears in his eyes. "Mikey doesn't want to come home with us."
Lincoln's eyes turned orange, as he knelt down to CC's height. "It's OK, CC, he just needs some time to think."
The 5-minute warning bell rang, and the kids rushed to their classrooms.
The students in Michael's classroom, were annoyed upon being burdened with notes to copy and homework to do at home, but for Michael, since he lives in Stephanie's house, he will do his homework there.
Lunch came, and the students barged in the door, much to the maintenance worker's annoyance upon his hard work being thrown down the drain. The maintenance worker yelled. "DON'T BARGE IN THE DOOR NEXT TIME!" He said as he took his toolbox, and started fixing the broken hinges.
Michael took his tray and sat on a table with Stephanie.
"Why were you in the streets last night? What happened?" Stephanie asked.
"I told off my father, and ran away." Michael replied.
Stephanie covered her mouth in sadness. "Oh Michael…" She hugged him tight. "I can never tolerate those things happening to you."
"Hey, thanks."
After lunch…
Everyone went back to their classrooms, and got ready to face the burdens of homework and school notes.
The students groaned in annoyance, as the teacher explained today's homework and that one upcoming test on every Friday. For Michael, he was lost in his thoughts, thinking of what happened yesterday. Sure, he wasn't goiing to forgive William until the father of the Afton family truly shows regret for his mistakes as a father.
Home time arrived, and the students stampeded to the bus, with joy on their faces. However, knowing that they will have homework to do when they get home, annoyance got the best of them.
At Stephanie's house…
Michael and Stephanie opened the door and put their backpacks in the couch.
"Hey, Mom, just got home from school." Stephanie said as she went into the kitchen.
"Hey, honey." Abigail greeted her daughter.
"Where's Jamie?" Stephanie asked, looking for her brother.
"He's in his room, being gloomy, this time about THQ getting bankrupt this year." Julius replied.
"Yeah…and anyways, me and Michael got some homework to do." Stephanie said as she and Michael went upstairs to her room.
Later, after Abigail finished working on tonight's dinner, everyone except for Jamie, came downstairs to eat, and Stephanie and Michael just finished doing their homework.
"Stephanie, can you please call your brother and tell him to eat dinner?" Julius ordered. "He has been in his room for the past hour."
In Jamie's room…
"Jamie, are you there?" Stephanie knocked on her brother's door.
"Come in, Steph." Jamie replied, his face buried in his pillow.
Stephanie opened the door to Jamie's room and sat on his bed, and consoled him. "Jamie, don't be sad…the last time you were like this is when you saw your crush Harper going out with another boy."
Jamie took his face from his pillow, and threw it at his ex-crush's picture. "I hate Harper, big sis…she's just another cheater, and I don't want to find love ever again."
"I understand your love for THQ, Jamie…you loved its games, and you played it on your console since when you were 11." Stephanie said.
"Yeah…maybe you're right…" Jamie said as he got up from his bed, and went downstairs to eat.
In the dining room…
Jamie took his seat on the table, with a neutral look on his face.
"Jamie, son, are you OK?" Julius asked, worried.
"I'm fine, Dad..." Jamie said, as he munched on to his first bite of roasted chicken. "Wow, I didn't know Mom would cook my favorite last time." The 13-year-old smiled.
Abigail giggled. "Thanks, hon…"
"Looks like Jamie is back to his happy state again."
The next day at school…
Things carried on like usual, and Michael was called 'Daddy Issues Kid', much to his annoyance, some kids from Lincoln's class even developed a new alias for him, and it was 'Chocolate Head'. Yes, that alias was due to the reason his hair smelled like real chocolate, and his hair color for a for a few.
There is a difference between Michael's hair and chocolate, to be precise, Michael's hair takes a light shade of brown, making it look like chocolate. As for the confectionery, it is considered a popular type of candy and ingredient around the globe and a way to get your crush to go out wih you. It contains cocoa (though white chocolate doesn't).
Michael saw Lincoln near the lockers. "Hey, lil'bro." He smiled.
"Hey." Lincoln said as he got his textbooks from his locker and closed it with his foot. The 11-year-old Loud looked at the time. "Crap, I got to go to Science class now!"
"Who's your Science teacher?"
"Mr. Johnson, a.k.a, the most boring teacher in this school, hearing his voice in class makes me just drift off to sleep."
And they proceeded with class, lunch came in the house, and the students stampeded to the cafeteria like a group of wildebeests. They finally have the desired break they must have from all of those school lessons, and homework.
Later, they went back to their classrooms and things rolled on like usual. Same homework, same school notes.
Friday…
That one day everyone was hoping for to arrive, and a pain in the ass for a few due to the tests that occur on said day of the week. Everyone got up from their beds, their classy smile replacing their usual frown, as they knew what day tomorrow is.
Lincoln was dressed in his usual orange polo, blue jeans, and his trademark white shoes with orange stripes. He went downstairs to eat some breakfast for the day, and chill in the living room for a bit.
Looking at the clock, Lynn Sr., who was dressed in his usual, went to the dining room to eat some breakfast for today.
And as the Loud family piled into the van, Lynn Sr. put the key into the ignition, he turns the car on, but it wouldn't start. Much to his irritation, he does it again, and it still wouldn't start. "Darn it, I hope this is worth getting us and the kids late for work and school."
He does it again for the third time, and the sound of the engine revving up was heard. Happy, he finally drives the van out of the driveway, hoping that his boss wouldn't chew his ass off for tardiness. Sure, that old geezer was a pain in his neck since his first week there.
Meanwhile, William only went to work on a certain day of the week, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or any other day. Ever since Michael yelled his tongue out at him, he…wasn't being the same recently. The father of the Afton family had been gloomy, and mumbled to himself on some nights, including him hugging Michael's hoodie, reminding him of the happy times he had with him before all of this bullcrap started.
With Michael…
He was at the school's library, reading an encyclopedia, and as he gently flipped the pages, he found the term for child abuse, the precise jail time, which is, ten to twenty years in prison.
Michael looked at his phone, which had the caller ID, 911, the dial tone stopped ringing and the person on the line asked. "Hello, this is Royal Woods Police Department, how can we help you?"
Michael didn't answer, and the police officer on the line called out. "Hello? Sir?"
"S-Sorry, I dialed the wrong number…" Michael said as he hung up on the phone.
At Royal Woods Police Department…
The police officer was very annoyed. "Stupid people making prank calls…"
"Who was that on the line?" The other officer said, confused.
"Nothing…" He replied.
Back at Royal Woods Multi-Grade…
As soon as the eldest of the Afton kids thought of his father going to prison, he silently sobbed into his hands. There is one thing about Michael, even though he hates William, he still couldn't bear the thought of his own father going to jail for a decade or two.
"Mikey?" A familiar voice asked.
Michael turned to see Elizabeth, as he quickly wiped his tears. "What are you doing here? Forcing me to come home?"
To be continued in Ch 5…
A/N: Hey guys, sorry if I took too long updating my story. However, when I checked my story, I saw that it had 2 favorites and 2 followers. When I checked its properties, it was right! My story was on the list of favorites of one user o . As for the other, my story was also on his list of favorites. When I checked his 'Favorite Authors' list, I saw my name there! Thanks so much, and you may type in your review for my story, I'll get to work on chapter five straight away, and I hope the promise I made to you was worth it. ^-^