Chapter 4: The Silent Treatment

A few weeks had passed since the dance, and Lincoln was slowly becoming more involved in family activities. The layers of trauma were beginning to peel away, and his family could see that they were slowly gaining back his trust.

One afternoon, Lincoln sat in Lucy's room, which she no longer shared with Lynn Jr. Lucy had invited him to listen to a new poem she had written. The room was dimly lit, with candles casting soft shadows on the walls. Lucy sat on her bed, holding her notebook.

"I wrote this for you, Lincoln," she said softly. "It's called 'Unmasked'."

She began to read:

Unmasked

In shadows deep, where silence reigns,
A mask concealed the hidden pains.
But now the veil is lifted high,
And I can see your face, oh my.

The days I counted, one by one,
For you to shine, like morning sun.
Your eyes, your smile, now free to show,
The strength within, the heart aglow.

No longer bound by fear or shame,
Your spirit soars, no one to blame.
In time, your voice will find its way,
And we will hear what you will say.

Lucy finished reading and looked up at Lincoln. "What do you think?" she asked, her eyes searching his face.

Lincoln picked up his whiteboard and wrote, "It's beautiful, Lucy. Thank you. I admire your feelings."

Lucy smiled, a rare sight. "I'm going to write another poem about you when you finally speak," she said, and Lincoln nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, Lola burst into the room, her face lit up with excitement. "Lincoln! You promised you'd take me to the mall today!" she exclaimed, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and dragging him out of Lucy's bedroom. Lincoln waved goodbye to Lucy as he was pulled away.

At the mall, Lincoln and Lola went through a montage of changing clothes. Lola would switch outfits and show them to Lincoln, asking, "Which one looks better on me?" Lincoln would nod or shake his head, giving his approval or disapproval.

Their next stop was a store filled with supplies for Lola's beauty pageant career. Tiaras, ribbon wands, and ballet tights filled their shopping cart. Lola, always the frivolous spender, carried more than she could handle. Lincoln, acting as the baggage boy, struggled under the weight of the bags but didn't mind. It felt great to spend time with Lola again.

Noticing Lincoln's struggle, Lola's face filled with guilt. She went over to him and grabbed as many bags as she could to ease his load. "I don't like it when you suffer in silence," she said, her voice soft but firm.

Those words struck a chord with Lincoln, making him stand still for a moment. As Lola walked off, she turned around and called, "Hurry up, or we're going to miss the bus!"

Lincoln smiled and followed her instructions.

Back at home, Lana was in Lincoln's room, rearranging and converting his bed frame to elevate higher so she could place a desk underneath it. She was also organizing his clothes and small dresser, removing old furniture to adjust to his needs. As Lincoln walked in to check, she greeted him.

"Just making a few finishing touches," she said, tightening a screw.

Lincoln, now a teenager, had grown, making Lana ponder why he still lived in the walkway closet. "Ya know, Lincoln, ever since Luan moved out, the other sisters and I are willing to make adjustments to give you a bigger room. Lucy is willing to bunk back with Lynn, or Lola and I are willing to become roommates just to give you a real room of your own."

Lincoln appreciated Lana's kind offer but wrote on his whiteboard, "I'd rather stay where I am."

For him, his closet room was his sanctuary, shielding him not just from the world but from his family too. He remembered the early days before Christina confessed the truth, when he was treated like a total outcast in his own home. At the time, he still had a voice. He remembered seeing his sisters waiting in line for the bathroom as he got out of his room.

"Oh, look who finally shows up," Lynn said sarcastically.

Luan added, "Lincoln's so freaky, even the mirror can't handle his reflection!

Luna chimed in, "Yeah, dude, watch out."

Frustrated, Lincoln tried to convince them of his innocence. "You have to believe me," he pleaded.

"Save it, twerp," Lori said, her voice cold. "You've done enough damage as it is."

Lori, the most disappointed out of the sisters, really wanted to believe Lincoln but found it hard to imagine her own brother doing such a thing. She felt it was her duty as the oldest to guide Lincoln, especially when it came to girls.

Day by day, Lincoln tried to do kind favors to regain his sisters' trust and make them listen to reason, but they saw it as a ruse. Not wanting their brother around, they excluded him from their activities, finding it to work.

They would go to the park without him, have movie nights in Lori's room, and even bake cookies together, leaving Lincoln out. In time, Lincoln tried less and less to convince his sisters, seeing no point in doing so.

One day, he walked around the house, seeing no sister in sight—a common occurrence now. With nothing better to do, he went back to his room. As he walked up the stairs, he heard some chatter coming from Lori and Leni's room. They were having a sister meeting. Lincoln listened closely behind the door.

"I told you excluding him would stop him from following us," Lana said, as all the sisters chatted in agreement.

"It was bad enough he was trying to butter us up," Lola added.

Leni, feeling self-doubt about her actions, asked, "Is this a good idea? What if Lincoln is actually telling the truth?"

The girls fell silent for a moment, wishing it to be true. Lori began to express her feelings to Leni. "Leni, trust me, I don't want to be doing this to Lincoln either. I want to believe he didn't do any of that. We all do. But the rumors about Lincoln liking Christina a little too much, and how he was willing to go far to slander her if he couldn't be with her… it's hard to ignore."

Hearing it from Lori's friends' little sisters made it even harder for Lori to dismiss the rumors. With a crestfallen look in her eye, Luna asked, "So, how should we move forward about Lincoln?"

Lori answered, "The next step is to give him the 'Silent Treatment'. We ignore him completely, to the point he doesn't exist. All in favor, say 'I'."

"I," the rest of the sisters said in unison.

Lincoln, behind the closed door, couldn't believe what he heard. They were going to ignore him completely. "The Silent Treatment" echoed in his mind. He was so hurt by how far his sisters were willing to go for not believing him that he felt defeated. His sisters were a lost cause. After hearing this, he knew his sisters didn't hate him, but they couldn't love him either. He thought about what they said—if it was best to give him the silent treatment, he would do the same.

As days went by, the sisters began to enact the silent treatment. They didn't know it at first, but giving him complete silence by not talking to him made them think their plan was working. When he walked into a room, instant chatter stopped, not even looking in his direction. Other times, chatter continued, but no one seemed to acknowledge his presence. Little did they know, Lincoln was doing the same.

A pivotal point was during dinner. Lincoln wanted some parmesan cheese for his spaghetti. He stood up, walked across to the other side of the table, grabbed the parmesan shaker, and poured it on top of his food. Confused, both Rita and Lynn Sr. looked at each other.

"Lincoln, why didn't you ask your sisters to pass the shaker?" Lynn Sr. asked.

Lincoln just sat in silence, eating his food.

Rita, filled with worry, asked, "Are you okay?"

Again, silence. The sisters began to look at each other until Luan spoke. "Lincoln, I was willing to pass the shaker."

But yet again, silence.

Rita asked, "Lincoln, do you need to talk about something?"

Lincoln, knowing he couldn't ignore all questions, looked at his mother and simply shook his head no. He finished his food and walked away.

"Lincoln, it's rude not to ask to be excused from the table," Lynn Sr. said.

Lincoln turned around, nodded at him, and walked away. Left more confused than angry, Lynn Sr. looked at his daughters. "Care to explain?"

All the sisters responded at random, not knowing what was going on, but they knew they were lying and began to second-guess their silent treatment protocol.

Lincoln's silence was affecting his schoolwork too. His teachers called his parents, discussing his silent demeanor, saying it was affecting his participation points.

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, Lincoln's lack of participation is becoming a concern," Mrs. Johnson, his English teacher, explained during a parent-teacher conference. "He hasn't spoken in class for weeks, and it's impacting his grades."

Rita and Lynn Sr. exchanged worried glances. "We understand, Mrs. Johnson. We'll talk to him," Rita said, her voice filled with concern.

As Lincoln walked through the school halls, students and classmates heckled behind his back.

"Hey, mute boy, got nothing to say?" one student sneered.

"Look at him, thinks he's too good to talk to us," another added.

"Maybe he's just scared we'll find out more about what he did," a third chimed in.

Lincoln, unfazed by the snickering and disgust, walked by with a cold, blank expression. One day, he saw his locker spray-painted with the words "You Pig." Lincoln just stood there, sinking in the gravity of the situation.

Christina and her friend group, including Molly, Cookie, Girl Jordan, and Rachel, were nearby. Molly, with her hands on her hips, sneered, "Serves you right."

Lincoln turned around to face them.

"It's bad enough we share the same class with you, let alone seeing your disgusting face," Molly continued.

"I don't even know what we saw in him," Cookie added.

Rachel stepped forward. "I can't believe you invited him to your party, Jordan. Imagine if one of us was alone with him. What do you think he'd do to us?"

Girl Jordan, with little confidence in her voice, said, "Uh, yeah, you think after all these years we've known him, it's hard to see him in a different light." She couldn't look Lincoln in the eyes, as if she didn't want to join the "I hate Lincoln" bandwagon.

Lincoln stoically stood there, taking the insults at full force. On the outside, it looked like he didn't care, but deep down, those words cut deep.

"Got nothing to say? You traumatized Christina! At least show something to let her know you're sorry!" Molly yelled, the most vocal of the group.

"No, he ain't gonna say a single word," a voice interrupted. All heads turned to see Chandler approaching. "Haven't you girls heard? Lincoln's gone silent. For the past week or so, he hasn't made a single peep. But don't feel bad for the guy; he's probably doing it for sympathy points."

Christina, with confusion on her face, asked, "What do you mean he's gone silent?"

"C'mon, we share the same classes with him. Haven't y'all noticed Lincoln's gone mute?" Chandler responded. "I overheard Principal Huggins talking to his parents, suggesting Lincoln's muteness is becoming more prevalent. They were talking about seeking professional help or something like that."

Christina and Jordan, surprised by the news, said, "What?" in unison.

"Don't worry about it," Chandler said, waving it off. "He's doing it for sympathy. I'll take it from here; he gets the message."

Christina, holding her binder tight to her chest, crestfallen, told the group, "Let's just go and leave him alone."

As Lincoln saw them walk away, he noticed Christina looking back at him, making him wonder what was that about. It was as if she felt wrong about what she did.

Now alone with Chandler, Chandler wrapped his arm around Lincoln's shoulder. "You were a fool to let a girl like Christina get away like that. There's no need to ruin your own reputation with how good-looking you are," Chandler said with a smug look. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Christina from now on." He patted Lincoln on the shoulder and walked away.

Lincoln smelled the aroma of fresh spray paint and noticed the smell was coming from where Chandler had patted him. He saw stains of black on his shoulder. It didn't take much to put two and two together about who vandalized his locker. For now, Lincoln processed what happened and focused on what Molly and Chandler said about his looks, telling himself maybe it's best to hide his face; all it did was get him into trouble.

Back to the current day, as Lincoln finished reminiscing, Lana noticed a tinge of redness in his eyes as a waterfall of tears began to pour. Worried, Lana asked, "Lincoln, is something the matter? Should I get help?"

Snapping out of his trance, Lincoln quickly smiled, cupped his sister's face with both hands, and nuzzled her forehead. Then he wrote on his whiteboard to reassure her he was fine and would like to be alone now.

Lana intervened, "But I'm not finished yet—"

Lincoln gently but firmly shut her out of his room. Lana, outside his door, took a minute to process what had just happened. Seeing the look Lincoln had, the stoic demeanor as tears fell easily without him blinking, was different from the way he expressed himself the past few weeks. The facial expression he had was bright and warm, a radiant glow in his smile. But this one was different—stoic and expressionless, yet somehow speaking volumes of sadness. Lana, now empathetic, said to herself, "This is what he must have felt all these years," as a couple of tear droplets fell to the floor.