Little Lynch

I Hope

"Goodnight, Zanni," Rydel said as we layed in our beds.

"Night," I whispered, clinging to my blankie. The day hadn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked; hitting more bumps in the road in one day than most people hit in a few weeks. My medicine made my belly hurt and gave me headaches. Along with the physical pains of it, it also made me feel sad and scared. I knew it would get better eventually, I was just upset it wasn't now. That all the things I had anticipated had to wait.

Tears silently fell onto my pillow. I will be okay. It only makes you feel like this for a little bit. That's what RyRy said and he's always right. Right? The only hope I held onto was that in a few weeks time, I would feel better than my old self. But that, for some reason, wasn't enough. I hated where my life was going. How now that I thought I would get better, I only got worse. How can anything change now that we've gotten this far being awful?

"Hey," someone whispered, a hand brushing the hair out of your eyes. "Why are you crying?" I shrugged at Rydel's figure kneeling at my bedside. "You know you can tell me. It'll make you feel better."

I sighed. "I don't know. I don't feel well. Both in my head and in my body. My belly hurts and I'm so sad. Does everyone else feel like this, too?"

"I wish I could say you are like everyone else. But you aren't. Being unique is good, but not in this way and I would trade places with you in a heartbeat if it made you feel any better. 10 year olds aren't supposed to go through as much as you. They aren't supposed to have Panic disorder. I don't want you to have what you have. But you do. So we are going to do our best to fix it and live. Okay?" I whimpered a small okay before closing my eyes. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Delly. When will we be okay again?"

"I want to be okay now. It's too much, shows being booked all the time and us always being away from you. It's stressful on me and I can only imagine what it must be like for you. Now that you've been taken out of school and Mom and Dad are back home, we're getting places. We'll be alright again, soon. Promise."

"Okay."

"Go to sleep and quit worrying so much. It scares me." I chuckled a little bit. "Goodnight, Zee," Rydel said as she placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Night."

•○•

I groaned and looked at my clock. It was already 11:00 and no one had woken me up. Didn't they have somewhere to be today? Was I home alone? What if something went wrong? I could get hurt and I knew that there was a kidnapping about 3 hours away. Oh no! I was going to get kidnapped!

But I was brought back to reality by Ross walking in.

"Hey, Zannah. What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost," he laughed. I laughed a bit too, but I was still shaken up. "You want breakfast?" I nodded and Ross motioned for me to follow him.

Pancakes were cooking in the kitchen. It made me feel a lot better, yet I'm not sure why. Maybe the hominess of it all.

"Morning, girlie," Rydel greeted as she hugged me. I smiled.

"Good morning!" I was still sad, but I suddenly had enough energy to actually make an effort to at least look happy. At least there was progress being made. Enough to give me hope to hold on for just a little longer. Because something was waiting for me; and even though I knew this the whole time, now a thought crossed my mind. That maybe the thing waiting was positive.

"Butter, syrup..." Ryland called as he grabbed the toppings. "Anything else?"

"Sugar!" I called. To eat with a spoon, I added to myself.

"Okay, sugar!" Ryland grabbed it and I grabbed a spoon. "Hey! I saw that!" Ryland told me, laughing. i giggled as he came and wrestled me down. He started to tickle me and I screamed, still laughing.

•○•

Riker's POV

She had changed overnight. It was like she wasn't even the same person. After a day of TV and staying on the couch, it came time for me to put her to bed.

"C'mon, Zanni," I whispered, softly shaking her. She was barely awake. I smiled to myself as I saw her small face, her perfect smile that I had missed so much.

I lifted her up and she leaned her head on my shoulder.

"Night, Ro," everybody said as I made my way upstairs with her in my arms.

"Night," I heard her mumble. I chuckled softly.

"You're so cute," I whispered, kissing her small head. I layed her in her bed and pulled the blankets up. She turned over and opened her eyes a bit.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Hi."

"Go to sleep, it's late." She closed her eyes and I stood up, turning off the light and walking out the door.

"No, leave it on," she muttered.

"Okay," I said, turning it back on. "Night-night." But she was already asleep.

I walked downstairs to join everyone else. Ross was sitting on the edge of his seat, talking to the TV.

"Seriously, Ross? Again?" I asked.

"Yeah! No, don't do that. C'mon, Juliet. We all know how this is gonna end!" he begged. I rolled my eyes and sat down.

"We keeping Rosannah on that medication?" I asked.

"I don't know. She seems happier but... I don't know. It just seems fake. Like a front so we don't see how she really feels. I'm not sure though," Rydel explained. "She was really upset last night."

"About what?" I asked.

"She was crying silently so I didn't hear. When I noticed and asked what was wrong, she told me that the medicine made her head and stomach hurt and made her feel really sad. But she seemed really happy today. Maybe it wasn't the medicine last night or maybe it changed her overnight. I think we have to wait and see."

"I think so, too. She really did seem happy today but I got sort of a weird vibe from it. It did seem like a front. I hope she's good, though. Now Violet and Spencer are here, too. I don't want her behavior and any of that to rub off on them, and I also hope that they help her overcome it. There's so much going on right now. There are so many pros and cons for each. I don't know what to do," Ryland said.

"Yeah," I muttered. "I hope she'll be okay."

"She will be," Rocky sighed. "I really hope so."

A/N

Bum-ba-bum

I'm really bored today. My brother's girlfriend is pregnant with their first kid and they haven't told us yet (so I snoop a lot in his room, yeah yeah) and I'm excited but nervous. Felix (my oldest brother who just had a baby) doesn't live with me so it was exciting, but not really as exciting as when my brothers and sisters were born because they weren't going to be close to me. Henry (who's girlfriend is pregnant) does live with me so having another baby in the house is kinda scary. But it'll be good. I'm happy.

Sorry about the wait for the update (which I don't know if there is one but yeah) and thanks for reading. ILYSM

~Zanni