"So you'll be home late tonight? Okay. No, I understand. I'll put a plate in the fridge for you. Yes, sir. Bye."
*CLICK*
Ariel Sawyer put the phone back on the receiver. She hated whenever he called to say he would be home late. He was a coward.
"Was that him?" Ariel's younger sister Charlotte asked walking into the kitchen. As soon as she saw her sister's face she knew the answer. She sighed. "He's gonna be late again, isn't he?"
"He's being a selfish asshole!" she said angrily, clenching her hands into fists. "It's like we don't even matter to him!"
Charlotte looked away. She always got uncomfortable whenever this subject came up. She didn't like talking about it, and Ariel's short temper never helped.
"I mean, I swear, ever since mom—" Ariel stopped herself short, noticing how upset her sister was getting. "Sorry, I know you don't like to talk about it."
Neither of the girls spoke for a while after that. Ariel began to cook dinner and Charlotte started setting the table.
"Ariel, have you seen Mr. Turtle?" Charlotte and Ariel's younger sister Lulu asked as she bounced into the kitchen.
"Lulu, how many times do I have to tell you to keep track of your things?" Ariel told her sternly while she put dinner on the table. "Dinner's ready, so go wash your hands."
Lulu folded her arms and pouted. "But Lulu's gotta find Mr. Turtle!" she said childishly, referring to herself in the third person as she always did. "Lulu wants Mr. Turtle!"
"I think I saw Mr. Turtle on the sofa in the living room." Charlotte told her little sister.
"Thanks Lottie!" Lulu said before dashing off towards the living room to retrieve her stuffed animal.
"I swear, all Lulu ever thinks about is turtles." Ariel laughed as she and Charlotte sat at the table and waited for their sister to return.
Charlotte looked sadly over at her older sister. "Do you think things will ever go back to the way they used to be?" she asked, her voice reflecting the uncertainty in her blue eyes. "Y'know… before mom got sick?"
Ariel wanted to look away, but she forced herself to smile warmly at her younger sister. She put her hand over Charlotte's. "I don't know, Char. We just have to do what we can and hope for the best." She gave Charlotte's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I talked with mom's doctor today and he says she's getting better."
Charlotte smiled at the good news just as Lulu bounded into the kitchen, Mr. Turtle held securely in her arms. Lulu walked over to the two empty chairs beside Charlotte and sat Mr. Turtle in one of them before plopping herself in the chair next to her sister.
The sisters sat through dinner without saying a word. Typical family dinner. Except for two crucial members of the family.
As soon as they finished dinner, Charlotte began clearing the table. Lulu bounced upstairs to take her bath, Mr. Turtle in her arms. Normally Ariel would have helped Charlotte clean up, but tonight there was something she had to do. Alone.
Ariel walked outside of the beautiful three-story townhouse she and her sisters called home and began walking down the street. She went to a park that was only a few blocks away and saw the person she needed to meet with. It was a guy she knew from the neighborhood who helped her deal with her family situation.
"I didn't expect to see you here tonight." The guy said as Ariel walked over to him. He pulled out the cigarette he was smoking and smiled at her. "Guess it's gotten worse?"
Ariel sighed angrily. "Got that right. Bastard hasn't even come near the house in two weeks. He calls to say he's going to be late but never shows up." She sat on the bench he was standing next to and he handed her a joint. "Where's Heather?"
The guy put his cigarette back in his mouth and shrugged. "No idea, she texted me saying she was gonna be here. She might be with that kid brother of hers."
Ariel smoked her joint and waited for their friend to show up. After about five minutes, two people on a motorcycle rolled into the park.
"Sorry I'm late guys, Casey here thought it would be funny to throw eggs at some punks and almost got his ass handed to him." Heather said rushing over to her friends. "Anyway, thanks to me his ass is fine, but I had to bring him along tonight."
"I could've taken those punks on my own, sis." Casey said sourly as he sat on a swing in front of the group. "Casey Jones isn't afraid of anything!"
Ariel laughed. "You still think you're invincible, don't you?"
Heather rolled her eyes and took a joint from her friend before sitting down beside Ariel. "So Drake, how's it feel being nineteen and finally having your own apartment?"
Drake simply shrugged. "Not bad, kinda quiet." He tossed his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. "Can't complain, seeing as I got a decent job and friends like you guys."
This was exactly what Ariel had needed. To be around her friends. No responsibility. No pressure to be someone she wasn't. No stress. Just hanging out with the friends she'd known for years. Friends who knew how screwed up her life was and just let her be herself.
Drake, Heather and Ariel used to go to school together up until last year. Drake graduated and moved out of his foster home into his own apartment. Heather stayed in school but hardly showed up anymore. Ariel kept getting into fights with guys at school so the school told her to either clean up her act or they would expel her. Ariel never went back to school after that.
Casey was pretty cool to hang out with, even if he was Heather's annoying little brother. He and Ariel were about the same age, so they got along pretty well. The two didn't talk much, but whenever they did they had a good time.
After an hour or so, Heather and Casey left. Not long after Ariel knew she should start heading back home herself. It was well past midnight and she knew her sisters would start to get worried if she didn't show up soon.
"I'll walk you back," Drake said as the two left the park. "How's your mom doing? Getting any better?"
Ariel sighed. "Not sure, the doctor says she's improving, but they always say that… right before it gets worse."
Drake patted Ariel's shoulder. "It'll be alright little mermaid, I'm sure she'll be back home in no time."
Ariel grumbled at the use of her old childhood nickname. "Would you stop calling me 'little mermaid' already? We're not in grade school anymore."
Drake chuckled and messed up Ariel's hair. "It suits you though, little miss perfect." As they came up to Ariel's home, Drake knew something was still weighing heavily on Ariel's mind. "You know you can tell me or Heather anything, Ariel. We know how you bottle stuff up until you explode and we're here for you. Don't forget you can always come to me if you need help with anything. And I mean anything, alright?"
"I know Drake," Ariel said as she quickly attempted to fix her hair. "You both are the most amazing best friends I could've ever hoped for." he kissed her forehead before walking back down the street towards his apartment.
Ariel took a deep breath before she walked into her house. She knew that Lulu would be in bed already, she always went to bed early and woke up late. It would just be her and Charlotte. The way it always was whenever Ariel had to take a break and hang with her friends.
"Ah, that must be you Ariel, welcome home!" Charlotte called over her shoulder, after briefly looking up from the magazine she was reading. "Good night, then?" She swung her legs down off the sofa she was stretched out on and sat up, looking at the doorway.
Ariel collapsed in one of the cushy chairs in the living room, "Not like it matters." She sighed with irritation. "At least I know my friends are there for me when I need them. Not like our sorry excuse for a step-father."
She pulled out a bottle of pills and popped a few in her mouth before stuffing the bottle back into her pocket.
Charlotte looked a little taken aback at her sister's words. "Surely he's not all bad, though?" She watched as Ariel took the pills. "You know he's had a lot on his plate and so have we. He just... hasn't known how to deal with it all."
Ariel could not believe her sister was so naive. "Face it Char, ever since mom got sick he could care less about us. Hell, he hasn't even come home for two whole weeks!" she shouted, not bothering to hide her anger. "He's abandoned us, plain and simple. We are on our own now. He's nothing but a glorified meal ticket as far as I'm concerned."
"That's NOT true! He'll be back, he'd never just abandon us out of the blue like that!" Charlotte shouted back at Ariel, not wanting to have to consider that what she was saying could have some truth in it. "Mom getting sick has affected us all and we have our own ways of getting through it."
"If he really cared about us how come he's never there for us when we need him?" Ariel jumped to her feet, her bottle of pills slipping out of her pocket and falling to the floor. "He doesn't even bother to visit mom in the hospital for god's sake! Not even once! Oh, and let's not forget when Lulu got sick with pneumonia last month, he was nowhere to be found! He doesn't care that I was practically expelled from school or that I've been doing drugs with my friends to cope with this whole mess!"
Ariel was fuming now, her hands clenched in tight fists as she tried to control her rage. Her pills had made her pain go away but that only made it easier for her to feel all the anger and hate she had towards her step-father.
"Ariel, you've got to calm down!" Charlotte stood up to face her enraged sister. Ariel's painful emotions now more obvious than ever. "Did you ever stop to consider that it might, just MIGHT be too painful for him to visit mom?" she paused for a second, trying to keep her own feelings contained. "Maybe you've been so wrapped up in how YOU'RE feeling, you haven't taken a second to stop and think about what anyone else is going through right now!"
Ariel's eyes burned with anger as she turned and headed upstairs to her room. She slammed her door and Charlotte sunk back onto the couch, her heart full of conflicting emotions.
"Lottie?"
Charlotte jumped at the sudden appearance of her younger sister in the room. "Oh Lulu, you scared me. I thought you went to bed already?"
Lulu hugged her stuffed turtle tighter as she shook her head. "Lulu couldn't sleep because she feels like something bad is going to happen." That's when Charlotte noticed that Lulu was shaking.
"Come here sweetie," Charlotte opened her arms and wrapped them lovingly around her little sister. "Sorry we were fighting, Ariel and I have just been having trouble dealing with our emotions lately."
"That wasn't the something bad Lulu feels is gonna happen." Lulu looked up at Charlotte, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "Lulu feels like something bad is gonna happen to mommy. Or maybe it's near where mommy is. Lulu isn't sure."
"Well we're going to see mom tomorrow, so don't worry." Charlotte reassured her as she brushed back some of Lulu's stray hair. "Nothing's gonna happen, mom is safe in the hospital. The doctors are taking good care of her."
"Lulu knows that, but Lulu still feels like something's going to happen. Lulu's scared something might happen to mommy. What if someone takes mommy away? Lulu doesn't want mommy to go away!"
"Calm down Lulu, nothing is gonna happen to mom. C'mon let's go to bed so we can be on time to see mom tomorrow. You don't want to be late to see mom now, do you?"
"Lulu won't be late tomorrow, Lulu's never late to see mommy."
The next morning the sisters ate breakfast and talked about their plans for the day as if the events of last night never happened. When they were heading out to go to the hospital, Charlotte noticed Ariel popping a few more of her pills into her mouth.
"What exactly are those pills you keep taking?" Charlotte finally managed to ask her sister as the taxi pulled up to the hospital. "Those aren't mom's old pain killers are they?"
"It's nothing Char, they're just small pain relievers. Nothing strong. I promise." Ariel told her as she paid the fare and they got out of the cab. "C'mon, mom's waiting for us."
"Lulu brought mommy a picture she did in art class this week. Do you think mommy will like Lulu's drawing?" Lulu asked her sisters.
"I'm sure mom will love it Lulu," Charlotte smiled as she and her sisters headed into the hospital lobby.
As they walked down the hall to the front desk, Ariel suddenly started to feel uneasy. She looked around but didn't see anything too unusual. There was a man standing near the nurse's station with a blank expression on his face. He seemed to be staring at Ariel and her sisters. His gaze gave Ariel the sudden urge to throw up.
"I've gotta go to the bathroom, tell mom I'll be right there." Ariel said as she raced off to the bathroom.
Charlotte began to get concerned about Ariel. She knew Ariel was lying about the pills. She saw the label on the bottle last night when she picked it up off the floor. They weren't regular pain relievers. What the hell was Ariel thinking?
"May I help you ladies?" a nurse asked as Charlotte and Lulu walked past the nurse's station. "Oh, hey there girls. You here to see your mother?"
"Hey Chloe, yes, we're running a little late today." Charlotte told the nurse.
"Don't you worry, I'm sure your mother will understand. Let me just check to make sure she knows you're here. I think she is still in with the doctor."
"Thank you Chloe, we appreciate it." Charlotte said as Chloe went to go find their mother.
Charlotte felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she felt like she was being watched. She glanced around but didn't notice anyone staring at her. That's when she noticed the man standing next to her at the nurse's station. His face was expressionless and his cold black eyes were staring right at Charlotte.
A cold shiver ran down Charlotte's spine, as if someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over her. Her grip on her younger sister's hand tighten.
"Lottie?" Lulu asked, but Charlotte didn't seem to hear her. "Charlotte? You're hurting Lulu's hand."
Charlotte blinked and quickly released her sister's hand. "I'm sorry Lulu, I didn't mean to. I guess I'm just a little nervous."
Lulu blinked at her sister in confusion. They always go to see their mother on Saturdays. What was there to be nervous about?
Chloe returned. "I'm sorry, it looks like Dr. Mahoney was running late today and your mom just went in to see him."
"O-Oh? Th-That's okay, we'll wait." Charlotte's heart began racing when Ariel hadn't returned yet. Something wasn't right. The man standing beside Charlotte hadn't moved at all in the past five minutes. Not a single muscle. Not even to blink! Charlotte took a deep breath and took back her sister's hand. "Actually, I think we'll just come back later. Tell mother we'll come by for dinner."
"Are you sure?" the nurse asked surprised. "Okay then, if that's what you wanna do. I'll tell her."
"Thanks Chloe, c'mon Lulu, we've gotta go."
"Lulu hasn't seen mommy yet Lottie! Lulu wants to see mommy!" Lulu whined as Charlotte dragged her down the hall. Lulu fighting Charlotte every step of the way.
Charlotte stopped and grabbed Lulu's shoulders, staring into her red eyes with a serious and stern expression in her blue ones. Lulu suddenly began to feel scared.
"Listen to me, Lulu, I have a very bad feeling. We need to find Ariel and get out of here, now. I know you wanted to show mom your picture but it's gonna have to wait, okay? We need to go." Charlotte's voice was rough as she tried to force herself to stay calm and not frighten her younger sister any more than she already had.
Lulu simply nodded in response to her sister. Too afraid to speak. Charlotte looked up and saw the man from the nurse's station walking towards them.
"Let's go." Charlotte and Lulu quickly walked back down the hall, each step making Charlotte's heart beat faster and faster. Where was Ariel?
"LET GO OF ME!"
Right in front of the hospital entrance Charlotte and Lulu saw Ariel struggling against two men pulling her into a white van. Both men looked identical to the man following Charlotte and Lulu.
"Ariel!" Charlotte shouted as she and Lulu ran outside.
"Dammit, get out of here Char! You and Lulu need to run! Go!" Ariel shouted back at her sisters as the men pulled her into the van and a third slammed the doors shut.
"ARIEL!" Lulu and Charlotte shouted in unison.
Charlotte and Lulu turned to run but were surrounded by more of the look-alike men. At least five of them were standing around them. There was no escape.
"Lottie… Lulu's scared…" Lulu clung to her sister's arm, shaking with fear.
Charlotte gave her sister's hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay Lulu… it's okay… we can figure this out…"
"Kraang wishes for you to come with Kraang." One of the men said in a robotic voice.
"I don't know who Kraang is or who you creeps are, but we're not going anywhere!" Charlotte shouted.
Suddenly, there was a bright light and the van doors shot off their hinges, crashing into the wall of the hospital. Ariel was surrounded by a bright aura and two piles of what seemed to be robot parts. She leapt out of the van and knocked out two of the men around her sisters.
"Get away from my sisters!" she shouted as she went for the others.
"Ariel, what are you doing!?" Charlotte screamed as her sister fought.
"Grab Lulu and get out of here! I'll hold them off!"
"No! We won't leave you!"
"Go now Char!"
"Ariel—"
"NOW!"
Charlotte took a step back. She turned to grab Lulu when she realized that Lulu was nowhere to be seen.
"CHARLOTTE! ARIEL!"
Both girls turned at the sound of their sister's screams. Three of the men were dragging a struggling Lulu towards the white van. One of them had pulled out a gun and began shooting at the two sisters.
"No… Lulu!" Ariel dropped the man she was attacking and her aura began to grow brighter.
Charlotte stood there, frozen in fear. Her feet rooted to the spot. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Suddenly there was a flash of green and the robot shooting at them fell to the ground. The aura around Ariel began to fade until it disappeared completely. Charlotte rushed over as Ariel collapsed. The sound of tires screeching made Charlotte turn to see her baby sister being driven off.
"Man, that was easy, they didn't put up much of a fight."
Charlotte blinked and quickly wiped her tears away. She looked to see who just spoke. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came from her throat. Standing before her were four giant mutant turtles with weapons in their hands.
"I wonder what were they doing here anyway." One of them said before realizing that Charlotte was staring at them. "Uh-oh…"
"It was your fault…" Ariel mumbled as she began to stand up. She didn't seem to be afraid of these mutants and the bright aura began to return around her. A small wind blew through the street and circled around Ariel as the aura grew brighter. She glared up at the four mutants. "Lulu's gone because you interfered!"
"That's impossible…" the tallest one of them said as the wind picked up around Ariel.
"It's your fault our baby sister was kidnapped!" Ariel shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Bring her back! Bring her back right now!"
"Hey—that wasn't our fault!" the shortest one shouted at her.
"Raph, that's not helping!" the one with a blue cloth on his face said. He walked over to Ariel, who took a step back and he stopped. "Listen, we're sorry about your sister, but we can get her back."
"Leo!" two of the mutants snapped at him.
"Look, it's our fault because we didn't know what the Kraang were doing, it's the least we can do for them." The one named Leo told them.
The wind began to die down and the aura around Ariel began to fade once more.
"You'll… bring her back?" she asked as Charlotte took a step forward. "I don't trust you. She's our baby sister… we can get her back ourselves."
"Ariel," Charlotte put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "I don't think they mean us any harm… they didn't attack us before, they attacked the ones who kidnapped Lulu. Remember that old saying, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I think we can trust them."
Ariel looked up at the four mutant turtles. She knew her sister had a point, but deep down inside Ariel couldn't help but feel suspicious of these strange mutants. She looked back at Charlotte and gave a heavy sigh.
"Alright, fine, you can help us get our sister back, but that's it. Once we find her you better stay out of our way."