Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, I don't own "Shark in the Water", "Wasting all These Tears", "Secondhand", "Not Over You", "White Houses", or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (because if I did, my life would be complete). Any companies mentioned are not affiliated with me. It is entirely coincidence.
Chapter 1
- At River's house
River woke up with a start. Glaring at her alarm clock, she slammed the snooze button. She located her way to her phone and checked her texts. She had dreamed about her ex boyfriend, as she had ever since the separation. She tried to push the thought of his face out of her head. Stumbling to the bathroom, she turned the shower on.
"God, I miss him" she thought. Everyone told her that he was only a band-aid for all of her other breakups. But he was different. He started as a friend. The relationship blossomed from there. He was her everything. But he always had eyes for other girls. God, his eyes. He was much shorter than her but it was hard to find anyone five foot eight these days that was in her grade.
River turned off the shower and got dressed, brushed her teeth and curled her hair. She hated everything that she saw. So many imperfections. Her teeth were white, but it took everything she had to try and only smile with her lips. Her nose was too long, and her hair was blonde, but not shiny or perfectly straight. It was oily and River had to wash it twice a day. Her face had so many freckles, she had to pack on the foundation to hide them. Worse, she had ADHD, dyslexia, and a lot of anxiety. Boyfriends helped with that. It was all physiological, the doctors and consolers said. But she knew that no one wanted her. She was too hard. Thats what everyone said. The populars picked on her, so she started starving herself. She got really bad grades, but her step father didn't care. The only reason that she was still alive was her father and mother committed suicide after their divorce. She found a note that said "Don't make our mistake".
It was 8:02. "Crap, I should get going" thought River. She walked to her bus stop and waited.
- At the Lair
"BOOYAKASHA!" Mikey screamed as he attacked Raph from behind. Raph simply held up his hand and Mikey's face smacked into it. Leo chuckled as Donnie sighed heavily.
"Calm yourself, children." Splinter announced. Everyone respectfully nodded towards the rat.
Mikey's stomach growled and he crawled over to the kitchen to eat leftover cold pizza. But just as he reached for a piece, Donnie yelled for everyone to some over to where he was.
"Guys, we need to move. Now."
The only other sounds were pattering of turtle feet, and Leo barking orders.
- At Cheyenne High School
River shuffled to homeroom and avoided any cheerleaders hugging their football player boyfriends goodbye.
Seated in her chair, she tried to ignore her ex next to her. "Curse these desks" she thought to herself. It was like the teachers could read minds. "Let's seat River to all of her exes in any class we can." She imagined the teachers thinking this way every school year.
Mrs. Yancey came into the room, but no one noticed.
"Class... Class... CLASS!" Mrs. Yancey yelled. Finally, the class settled down. "Today, we are discovering integers! Open your textbooks to page 165 and do numbers 1-19." River hated regular math. She was good at it when her dyslexia wasn't acting up, or when her ADHD didn't have her make silly mistakes. It's just that no teacher wanted to take the time with her. No one did, for that matter. Luckily, she had learned the trick to school teachers. Shut up, sit down, so work, and never talk to counselors.
The bell finally rung, and she took her sweet time going to second period.
- Time skip to 11:00 at night
River walked through the shadows of the alleys in Manhattan. She knew these streets well. She often walked them after she finished her homework. But tonight was considerably colder. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her. "I'll be fine" she told herself. After all, a little cold wasn't anything considering her whole life story. Something stopped her, though. River thought she heard footsteps. She walked a tad faster, telling herself that she was fine. The footsteps got closer. Then closer. River started running. So did the footsteps, but there were more now. She screamed as something tackled her. The last thing she saw was a huge dog and a fish with mechanic legs.
-On top of a Building
Donnie scanned the area as his brothers gathered around him. "I knew that I heard a scream. I knew it."
Mikey nudged Donnie. "You are so hung up over April, now you're hallucinating".
Raph and Leo laughed as the reddened purple-clad turtle lunged at him. After pressure-pointing Mikey, Donnie scanned the area and this time saw an oversized mutt and a slimy eel that was familiar.
"Hey guys, I figured out where our problem is." Donnie ran towards the villains as the team followed.
-Dogpound and Fishface
"I hear something." The wolf said as he hurled the body at Fishface.
"BOOYAKASHA SUCKAAAAA!" Screamed a familiar voice.
"Welp, we're screwed" announced Dogpound as he ran.
Fishface gave Raph a final stare with a hiss.
Leo collected the body of the now badly bruised girl. Donnie rushed over and switched into doctor mode "Kneel down and put her head on your thighs so the blood returns to her head, then let me check her pulse... Oh dear, we need to" he was cut off by Mikey. "Hey duuuuuudes, chill! She'll be fiiiine."
Raph smacked him. "DOES IT LOOK LIKE SHE'S OK?! SHE FREAKING BLEEDING ALL OVER!"
-Several hours later, back at the sewer (sorry that I switch the POVs all the time :3 this is River's POV)
River heard voices. One was childish, one with an East Side accent, one with a slight lisp, and one confident one. I opened my eyes. And saw turtles...
"Oh, thank goodness! This means that the whole thing is a dream! People beating me up, and human turtles! And I'll wake up and go to school! Great!" I was going on and on and laughing creepily. "And then you guys will fly unicorns or something! Hahahaha!" She went on.
The muscular one sighed, the childish one just stood there, and the confident one nervously put his hand behind his head. The one with the lisp put a needle in my arm. And I winced. He then put a cold washcloth on my head. I finally settled down a bit.
"I wonder why I'm not waking up yet..." I questioned. The turtle put another needle in my arm. I blacked out and knew I would wake up. Soon, I comforted myself.
- Later that night (regular 3rd person view)
"She's more bonkers than me" Mikey said.
"For once, I think that everyone agrees with you" Raph said.
"I disagree" Donnie announced. "There is 20 mg of Strattera in her bloodstream, as well as 40 mg of Risperdal."
"Is that Mexican you're speaking? Woah bro! I never knew you were Mexican!" Mikey rambled.
"No, sewer brain. Strattera helps ADHD and depression. Risperdal is a treatment for severe anxiety. The poor kid." Sighed Donnie. "I'm going to have to make medicine for her before she wakes up if she's staying here."
"Who said anyone was staying here?" Splinter questioned.
"Uhmmmmmmmmm" Mikey said.
"Well..." Donnie replied.
"We found a girl on the streets, and Donnie brought her back." Raph pointed at Donnie. "HEY! YOU carried her back!" Donnie reprimanded.
"CHILDREN! She may stay, but one of you will have to share rooms with her." Splinter chuckled under his breath as he went back to his dojo.
"No way!" All four started arguing over who slept with who, and teasing if someone liked her.
- 9:00 AM (River POV)
I woke up to bacon.
"That's funny. Brad never fixes bacon. He doesn't get up off the couch, for that matter" I thought to myself, chuckling, while I moved to the left side of the bed.
The light switch that was always on my left side of my bed was not there. My nightstand wasn't there. The bed wasn't across from the door. It was to its right. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I searched for the light switch and started freaking out. I cried and started screaming more. I shivered. "Where am I?"
I could hear loud footsteps. I screamed louder. "Who are these people?" Someone opened the door. I curled up like an armadillo and begged for them not to hurt me. "Please don't hurt me! Please! I am still young! Please don't hurt me!" I sobbed loudly. Rough arms picked me up and laid me on the bed. The light was on, but everything was blurry from tears. I felt a tissue on my hand and wiped my eyes. I looked up and saw four turtles. "Oh my God. I'm crazy. Please tell me this is a dream. Why won't I wake up? Oh God." I started shivering and crying. "Just let me wake up. I'm scared!" The turtles didn't move until two of them were to told to leave. The two remaining ones kept moving closer. I screamed and whimpered. "Please, don't hurt me" I managed to say through my tears.
"We aren't here to hurt you" said the one masked in purple. "You aren't dreaming either" the one in blue said.
The purple one held out a pill bottle. "Here's your anxiety medicine. This should help you digest all of this easier. Oh, and here's your depression and ADHD medicine."
I stared at him. "No."
The blue one looked taken aback. "You need to take your medicine or else you are going to feel really bad. The side effects include cramps, throwing up, and migraines. And that doesn't help anyone."
I chuckled. "We'll since this is a dream, I might as well take it. But I need water."
The blue one rolled his eyes. "I'll get a glass of water."
The purple one sat down on the bed at the end, as if not to spook me. We sat there for a few seconds, just quietly. "So... I'm Donnie, and that's Leo. And in case you want to know how I knew you had disorders, I took a blood sample if you didn't mind"
I said I didn't mind. "So why do you think that this is a dream" he looked at me. "We'll, for one thing I have ADHD which means that I am sleeping in school, or sleeping at home. I also have dyslexia and schizophrenia which means I'm likely just reading a story and imagining myself in it."
Leo returned with the water. I swallowed the pills and drank the rest of the water. Handing the glass back, I pointed at Leo. "What's up with the headband things?"
"It's just what we stand for. Basically, Leo's and Raph's are primary colors. They are more leader types. Me and Mikey are secondary colors. We can get along with leaders without quarreling." Donnie explained.
"Who are Raph and Mikey? Are they turtles too?" I could feel my medicine help me relax. Both Leo and Donnie nodded. "You'll meet them later. First we need to talk." I shook my head. "I can only explain my life story once without crying, so I might as well meet anyone else who lives here if you don't want to have me go crazy" I chuckled. The door shot open and a flash of green came at me.
"BOOYAKASHA, SISTER!"
I screamed and curled up against a pillow. "Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me." I whimpered. I could hear a deep growl and a soft smack.
"Woah, what's up with her?" I started crying. Great, now my dream thinks I'm a creep. Thank you, dreams.
"Settle down." Someone said with an East Side accent."Ya need to settle down". He was right. I did need to settle down. "It's all physiological. Ya need ta settle down."
"RAPH! HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO HELP HER?" Donnie hissed under his breath.
"He's right" I said. "No one likes me because they think that I'm all drama. Now I learned my lesson, let me wake up now."
Raph glared at me. "Listen. This ain't a dream, and I'm real, and he's real. We are mutants, and like ya, we can't help it that we were are like this. So calm ya-self down and git over ta whole dream'n thing."
All the rest of the turtles were wide-eyed.
"Whatever. I'm hungry." I pushed past them, opened the door and there was a rat. "Great. Can someone explain the giant walking rat?"
"He's our father, and he can pack a punch, so don't disrespect him like that." Donnie answered." I spun around and said my apologies. "May I stay here?" I asked humbly.
"Only if you keep this a secret. My sons fight the evil that appears at night. Don't trust anyone with the secret of us, or we would be ruined and hunted out by the Foot or the Kraang." He answered sternly.
"Hai, sensei." I answered. For once, I felt like everything was going to be alright.
- 3:00 pm (3rd person)
"Finally, school is out!" April thought as she rushed to her locker. High school was such a pain, and she couldn't stand the separation between her and Donnie. As she put her books in h backpack, she heard the clack of high heels behind her. "Great, the Baka are here." She muttered to herself.
"Hey, leprechaun! Speak some Irish!" The head Baka hissed into her left ear. It was followed by loud laughter by her Ōkami no mure. "Whatever, Baka." April said. Every popular was confused about the phrase. By the time they came to the wrong conclusion, April O'Neil had escaped the premise of the school.
- 3:09 (River's POV)
"Yo, I'm home everyone!" Called a familiar voice from the door. Too familiar, in fact. I crept around the corner to see who it was.
"Hi April!" Called a very cheerful Mikey as he hugged no other than April O'Neil. We both just stared at each other for a few seconds until Donnie came around the corner and bashfully said hello to April. "I'm River. I think I'm in your history class." I looked down at my feet. She was one of the smartest people in our school and I admired her so much. She has it so easy. Pretty, smart, and no disorders.
"Hi, if my memory serves me right, you sit next to Alex Berkley." She held out her hand and I shakily took it. "What if I freak out. What if she doesn't like me. She seems like a nice type. But she could call me stupid. What if she calls me stupid? I can't take that kind of pressure." I kept on thinking. I could feel my heart rate skyrocket. Donnie was trying to find why I was having an anxiety attack even with my medicine. Then I felt a TWACK on my head.
I looked up and saw Raph. "We can work on dis. Ya need ta bring yaself back ta reality." There was a sternness to his voice, but comfort as well.
I smiled up at him. "I can work on that."
- Dinner that night (regular POV)
"Dinner is served." Mikey announced. "Great." Everyone sighed. Mikey pouted and River petted his head. "Let's go see what you made, buddy." River said. "Aw yeah!" Mikey sang as he raced to the kitchen. "Guys, it really isn't that bad if you get past the sliminess of it. And the fact that there's pizza, ice cream and milk in it." River said as she sat down beside April. Everyone groaned in disgust.
"Tell me about yourself, child" Splinter asked. Everyone raced of to the table. Even Leo paused his TV show. River gulped the last of her "Mikeyshake" and sighed. "Fine, but you better not slap me unless needed, Raph."
Raph said he couldn't ensure it.
"So I was born with autism, so I never really got along socially. I just don't know how to properly react to stressful situations, or if someone wants to be left alone, they have to be really direct about it. I don't respond to body language well. It wore off, but I still have problems with logicality. People find that annoying or weird, so I only have one friend. In first grade, I was diagnosed with extreme anxiety. I was afraid of everything. Large crowds especially. My parents homeschooled me until they left to a better place. I used to hate thunderstorms so much that I would just shake and cry and scream until my voice left me and I cried myself to sleep. I was afraid of being alone when I was little because once at a Walmart, I was looking for kid stuff and my mom said she would be right back. After a few minutes, she didn't come back. I ended up being picked up by this man who went to the checkout and gave me to my mom. I passed out because I got myself so hyped up that I couldn't breathe. That wore off, too. I still have severe anxiety, but I've never passed out since third grade because of it, which is great. Now for my ADHD. I have a form of ADHD that is ADD. So I am not hyper, it's just hard for me to focus or remember things. I have medicine for it, but it makes me a different person so I dislike it, and only take it when I have school. Then I found out I had schizophrenia and dyslexia, which branched from the ADHD, making it even harder to focus or read. The depression is just from the bullying, and I was anorexic because people called me ugly and fat. My parents divorced because my mom cheated on my dad. They both committed suicide two days after they divorced. I hate my teachers because they don't want to take the time to help kids like me. The only reason I'm still living is because my parents left me a note saying 'Don't mess up like us'. I'm trying to figure out who I am, on the inside. But I really do hate myself. And that's all. Now I'm here."
River looked around, expecting laughter from her "sob story" as her teachers called it. But instead, she got a big mutant turtle hug from everyone but Raph, who simply patted her head. Splinter was sniffling as he hugged her. "You are cared for here, child. You are safe here."
"Thank you" as a puffy-eyed River smiled at her Sensei.
"I think we should all get some rest" said Donnie. "And she's not sleeping with me."
"Right, that's reserved for April." Mikey announced. Donnie tackled him.
"Oh dear" River and April said. "Looks like you're sleeping with Donnie" River winked to April. "Fine." April said.
Splinter excused himself from the conversation and went to bed.
"Alright boys, which one of your floors am I sleeping on?" River questioned. The brothers looked at each other sheepishly. "I'm with April already" Donnie said as he darted toward the room. Leo said he had to meditate anyways, and he had to focus. "Well, I'm stuck with a goofball or a grouchy pants." River stated. "Ugh. This is harder than I thought."