25

Lincoln raised his hand to stop what Rita was going to tell him. "Are you telling me that for about three years you allowed my sisters to treat one of your daughters in this way?"

"Lincoln, your father, and I tried to make them understand, but they wouldn't listen. They blamed her for what happened to you."

"You know that sometimes when there are problems between them, they use sister-fight protocol."

Lincoln stops Rita again. "Mom, this wasn't sister-fight protocol; all these years, did you allow Lisa to be isolated?"

Rita started crying when she remembered how the girl always had to go next to the family van when they went to school, and she had to eat alone in her room because the girls would never let her sit with them and throw her food on the floor. "No, your father and I still love her; we thought if we gave your sisters time, they would calm down."

"Really? Were you at her side when that happened?" Lincoln asked, now looking a little more annoyed.

Rita recalled in her mind all the time that Lisa had been alone in her room, where she had spent most of her day, but she did not remember being with her. "We were not."

"Remember when I was accused of bad luck and had to put on that squirrel suit?"

Rita went through a chill, still feeling like rubbish because she was part of that unfair treatment her son was given just out of superstition. "Yes," she replied, with a voice broken from the tears she contained.

"Do you know how much it hurts me that people I trust treat me this way?"

Rita, clutching her pants with her hands, which were wet from her tears, said, "No. I didn't think about that. I didn't think at the time how much we hurt you."

"I never thought you'd make the same mistake twice." Lincoln's words were enough to make Rita burst into tears. The boy got up and walked out into the yard where Lily was playing, but this conversation made him think about what he had talked about with Clyde that day. Why was he so upset about that when Lisa was the reason he went blind and had to leave? Why did he get to this point just for her sake?

"Yes, part of it was Lisa's fault, but she didn't mean to hurt me."

And it is true that she was very foolish in trying to pollute the water, but their family has always been known as the most problematic in Royale Woods, and no matter what, they always supported each other. No matter what the city said, in the eyes of everyone in the family, it was innocent. He remembers what Clyde said to him: "You're just here to help them when things go wrong and serve them when things go right."

Lincoln repeated those words in his head: {You're just here to help them when things go wrong and serve them when things go right}

When the rest of the family arrived, they saw Rita crying on the sofa, but no one knew why, and she didn't want to say the reason. That night's dinner is rather awkward, in addition to the fact that she still feels hostility from the other sisters for having Lisa at the table and also because Lynn still can't see Lincoln or Luna because of what happened the previous night in the bathroom.

After dinner, Rita stayed to wash the dishes again, with Lincoln's help. Everything he had said to his mother was still reverberating in his mind. He felt terrible because he had made her cry.

Lincoln walked over to his mother, and Rita saw the guilt on Lincoln's face.

"What's up, son?"

Lincoln ran to his mother and hugged her. "Forgive me, Mom." Lincoln said while crying on her shoulder. "Forgive me. You are the best mother in the world, and I have been a lousy brother and son." He kept crying as he patted Rita's shoulder. "If I had been honest just that day, I wouldn't have been afraid, and you wouldn't have made that decision."

"And if I were smarter, I'd stop Lisa myself."

"It was my fault that you had to carry that memory of having done those things to me; it was my fault that Lisa had gone into a coma and that I had been blinded; had it not been for my weakness at that time, you would not have had money problems, and my sisters would not have hated Lisa. It was my fault; I am sorry."

Rita hugged her son as she comforted him. "No, son, don't say that. Nothing's your fault. It's time we also take responsibility for our own actions."

-Lisa's room-

Lisa was reviewing on her computer an image of the area of Lincoln's brain, more specifically the part that allows for the sense of sight, and next to the machine were some test tubes of blue liquid.

"My last experiment was a failure, but I am sure that with this experience I will be able to fix my mistake from many years ago." She takes a syringe, and some of the fluid comes out. She then walks over to her table, where she had the brain from an animal that had the same injury as Lincoln. Lisa drops a few drops on this part of the brain and watches it slowly heal. Lisa's celebration is interrupted when she sees the whole brain dissolve into gray jelly. "I knew it was too good to be true, but with every failure, I get closer to my ultimate goal. Don't worry, brother, I will heal your eyes soon."

-Here, what was not narrated in the previous chapter will be narrated-.

-the next day-

"Lincoln got up early and went downstairs, careful not to wake his grandfather, who was sleeping on the couch. He made himself some coffee and some toast with jelly, and while he was pouring his cup, a memory of Lynn the previous night flashed through his mind.

When he sat down to eat, he heard someone enter the house; it was Lynn, who got up before everyone else to run in the snow, and when she entered the house, she was greeted by the smell of coffee and toast coming from the kitchen. There she saw Lincoln sitting, and she found him here. He brought back that feeling on her lips, and she still feels Lincoln's mouth collide with hers. Lynn poured herself some coffee and sat across from Lincoln.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" she asks while taking a bite of toast.

"I slept well, but I have to be away from Luna and Luan; I feel like I'm taking away Luna's space by sleeping in her bed."

Hearing that name made Lynn feel a little jealous as she remembered what she saw her doing that night to her brother's shirt. "If you want, you can sleep with me."

Lincoln choked on the coffee he was drinking. "What did you say?"

Lynn covered her mouth to suppress her laughter. Her brother might have changed, but he was still lovable. "We sleep together, in the same bed, as we used to do before."