Family Bond

3

Lincoln woke up in a hospital room.

"Where am I?" he wondered.

His sisters appeared, all of them sobbing.

"Lincoln!" They wailed in unison. "She's gone!"

He had no idea where he was, or what was going on.  

"Luna attacked you, and bashed your head with her guitar. She thought you were going to die, and she killed herself!" Lori sobbed hysterically.

Lincoln paled. "I-I didn't mean it!"

Lola stood up. "Now, we think that if we get rid of you, we'll get her back."

Each of the girls stood up, grinning evilly as they moved close to Lincoln. 

"No! I didn't mean it!" He cried. Nobody listened as the first hit came.

Lynn Jr. was silent as she cruised the hospital halls with her mother. Neither of them said a word as they went to the vending machines; she was too busy pondering what she'd seen.

Lynn didn't want to go in the ambulance with Lincoln, to be honest. The thought of her baby brother being so badly injured petrified her. 

Then she remembered the time that she'd broken her leg playing football, and Lincoln-even though it was bloody and disgusting-rode with her, holding her hand the entire time.

The paramedic had asked a few simple questions-how old is he, what's his name, what was he allergic to, stuff like that. She'd answered them all the best she could through her tears. 

There was one question, however, that echoed through her head-

How did it happen?
Lynn had been in the backyard, lazily bouncing a ball around, when she heard Luna yelling angily. A few moments later, she heard a door slam and pained screaming. Lincoln's screaming.
Living in a house with 12 other people, shouting was normal. But this was different. It sounded really bad.
She dropped her ball and rushed upstairs, easily beating everyone else with her speed. When she got there, she stopped in the doorway at the sight before her.
Lincoln's bruised, bloody body lay on the ground. Luna was panicking, holding her blood-stained, broken guitar as Luan called 911, crying.
Lynn knew that Luan had been at a birthday party, and Lincoln was taking guitar lessons with Luna. Did Luna do it?
Lynn quickly shook the thought out of her mind, and wished she hadn't.

Lincoln had so much blood. Being an athlete and sharing a room with Lucy, she was used lots of blood. But Lincoln...it was different somehow.
Lincoln was barely breathing in the ambulance, and that petrified Lynn. What if he'd stopped altogether? What if he was d-

"Lynn, sweetie? What would you like to get?" 

Lynn shook her head as her mother interrupted her thoughts. 

"A Milky Way and a Pepsi," she replied. This shocked Rita, since Lynn would've normally gotten a granola bar and energy drink, since sweets made her lethargic, and that was a big no-no in sports.

She made the purchases and handed her daughter the snacks. Lynn muttered a thank you as she popped the top off the Pepsi and guzzled half of it, followed by a huge bite of Milky Way. Rita gave her a look, but the girl shrugged it off and took another bite.

Rita sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night. 

"Honey, I'm sure your brother will be ok. It was probably just a fight that got too out of hand, okay?" Rita reassured, giving the 13 year-old a hug. Lynn just flinched and kept walking, her soda almost gone.

As they walked towards the elevator, they heard a familiar yell. Jumping, they turned to see Luna charging for them, waving her arms.

"MOVE!" She cried. 

There seemed to be people chasing her as she barreled past them and shut the doors. To their immense shock, there was a police officer, a doctor, and the rest of the Louds-minus Lincoln, of course.
"Security!" The doctor shouted, running off. Lynn Sr. followed him, pleading against it.

"What happened?!" Lynn Jr. shouted. 

"S-she hurt Lincoln!" Lana wailed, falling to the ground.

There, in the thick air of the hospital hallways, was where Lynn learned that her sister had assaulted her brother, and that she would be arrested.

Rita started to sob, but Lynn didn't let a single tear fall. The doctor and Lynn Sr. returned, telling everyone to come see Lincoln. Everyone started walking to wait outside his room, except Lynn.  She turned and ran right out of the hospital, after Luna. 

She was climbing into a taxi when she saw Lynn. She quickly got in, and the car immediately drove off once the door shut.

Lynn was not one to back down from a challenge. Not even bothering to stretch, she instantly chased her big sister, the taxi driver speeding up. Luna had probably told them to hurry up, Lynn realized with a disgusted scowl. 

They were headed for the highway, and Lynn was about to follow until a small person tackled her. Any other time, Lynn would've quickly reacted, but she had absolutely no warning, and the mystery individual seemed to be small, but strong.
"Are you insane, Lynn?!" The person snapped. Lynn groaned as she rolled over, now on top of her attacker, ignoring her blurry vision and pounding head. She was used to being tackled in sports, so she recovered fairly quickly.

"Lana? What was that for?" She growled angrily, glaring at her little sister. 

"Didn't you hear Mom and Dad? They said if we chase Luna, she's gonna go farther. She'll probably just go home or hide at a friends," Lana explained, getting off of her older sister and dusting herself off.
"I don't care! She attacked my brother!" Lynn snarled, preparing to run again.
Lana stopped her. "I know you're upset, Lynn, we all are. Luna's still our sister, though, and if you fight her, that'll just make things worse!" She snapped back.

"Fine," Lynn hissed, standing up. As they reentered the hospital together, reality hit her like a bus. One of her sisters was gone, and her brother could've died. She hastily wiped away a few tears as they entered the elevator. 

"Are you crying, Lynn?" Lana questioned, baffled. Lynn never cried. Never ever.

"N-no!" She lied. "There's something in my eye."

The elevator reached Lincoln's floor, and Lana gave Lynn's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"There's something in our eyes too, Lynn."

***

"Right here's good," Luna told her taxi driver.

"Okay. That'll be-" The man looked up to see her running.

"Hey!" He shouted, getting out his car to chase her. "That costs $60!"

Luna ran the two blocks to where she really lived. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open, thanking God that nobody had remembered to lock it.

Charles ran over to her, barking furiously. She shushed him, scratching behind his ears. She walked up the steps and into her room, fighting back tears at the sight of blood on the floor.

She went into the closet and pulled out her purple suitcase, shoving some of her clothes and toiletries inside. She couldn't take her guitar, of course, and all her other instruments were too heavy to carry, so she just took her notebook, pen, phone, MP3 player, and headphones. She shoved all her money in her pocketbook. 

Finally, she looked in her nightstand and took out the picture of her with her whole family. She walked out, avoiding the other pictures lined neatly on the wall. She sat on the couch for about an hour, writing a letter for each member of the family, and a letter for the whole family to read. 

As Luna went to the door, she rubbed Charles one last time, before she left, shutting the door behind her.