Dreams Reality
Disclaimer: I do not own the ninja turtles. I just have fun with them.
Rating: PG-13 due to some minor violence.
Author's note: Mike's dreams are based on the realities of turtle's lives both past and, present. Check out longer author's note at end of story for further details if interested otherwise ignore it.
He woke to his own screams and, his brother's angry pounding on the wall between the two bedrooms " Mikey, if you don't shut up so help me I'll come in and, shut you up".
Mike gulped gasping for air his chest heaving under his plastron as he huddled back under the blankets. He was not afraid of his brother's threats he was use to them by now.
It was these recurring dreams that terrified him robbing him of much needed sleep.
He lay there awake knowing he would not be going back to sleep tonight.
Next morning Raph entered the kitchen and, greeted Mike with a grunt " So mind telling me what I have to do to get some sleep tonight? Killing you works for me."
Mike shrugged rubbing at his eyes with one hand " I don't know. I wish I knew how to get some sleep myself," he muttered through a yawn.
" I'll give you a nice long nap courtesy of my fist if you don't cut it out soon" Raph warned.
" Lay off of him Raph" Leo ordered.
Raph turned glowering eyes on his brother " Easy for you to say Leo. Your bedroom isn't near his, for the last two weeks now he's been waking me up screaming in the middle of the night. I'm running out of patience Leo."
" What's bugging you Mike? Why can't you sleep?" Leo asked gently he knew the last few weeks Mike had not been his usual happy go lucky self and, now this, meant it was past time for a talk.
" I've been having dreams Leo. Really bad dreams, There so real it's scary and, every night they keep coming back. Playing over and, over. It's a whole bunch of dreams but they are all connected to each other." Mike explained simply pushing his cereal bowl away.
"What are they about?" Don asked curiously.
" Turtles. Not us, well there are a couple with us in them. I mean other types of turtles. Sea turtles and, pet shop turtles mostly" Mike replied.
"Oh yeah, turtles are really scary Mike" Raph snarled at him as he sat down at the table.
" Well you're a turtle and you can be pretty scary Raph. It isn't the turtles that scare me it is what happens to them in my dreams that wakes me up screaming. I feel what they are going through and, I know things that I wouldn't normally know and…"
"HA! Nothing can be that bad" Raph snorted in disbelief.
Leo gave Raph a sharp look wishing that he would just go away for the moment " Want to talk about it Mike?" Leo suggested, " Maybe, once you have talked it out it won't bother you so much."
Don decided to sit down the recurring dreams intrigued him on the scientific level of course. In fact he was already trying to decide how natural it was to have the same dreams recurring over such an extended period of time.
" I guess it won't hurt to try," Mike heaved a sigh and, began " It starts the same way every night.
I am deep in the ocean or sea somewhere and, I know I'm so old that I have outlived other members of the scaly race. I have gone on while they have vanished. I know these deep waters are my home. It is nice and, comforting almost, it is the only real good part of all these crazy dreams of mine.
The dream changes just a little I'm still a sea turtle and, I and, other sea turtles have become entangled in nets and, we are hauled up onto boats. The sailors on the boats flip the turtles onto their backs and, haul out large sharp knives, which they use to cut the nets and, the turtle's throats.
The turtles begin to thrash, kicking, and struggling to right themselves all the while their blood is coming out of their slashed throats and, the sailors start to hack off their flippers. They are alive while they are being butchered!" Mike moaned gulping and, shaking " the blood and, the pain it's awful.
I hear a human say that killing us doesn't hurt. We don't feel anything. Besides there are a lot of turtles out there killing a few won't make a difference.
As they come toward me with their knives ready to strike I shut my eyes as the knife descends but when I open my eyes I'm back in the water.
I am clinging to the back of a female letting her take me where she pleases and, when I'm done I watch her heading towards a beach with other female turtles and, I follow them.
I watch as they labor to dig a nest and, lay their eggs. When they leave I stay behind and, I see people coming though they don't seem to notice me guarding the nest.
Some humans I get the strangest feeling from like they want to help us turtles and, I like them. Then there are other humans who come alone and, dig up the eggs for their own use and, those ones I don't like at all because I know they want to sell the eggs on the black market or eat them.
Predatory animals come by and, they destroy entire nest and, nothing I can do stops them.
The ones who do hatch they have to manage to get to the waters edge without being caught by the crabs and, birds that have gathered there to feast on the hatchlings. Of the few who do make it to the water I know most won't survive to maturity.
I cry for the ones who had no life, no chance.
I return to the water and swim to an island, the people who live on the island are poor, poverty stricken and, they manage to survive more off the water then what is on land which means they eat turtles. I guess I can't really begrudge them that except they kill turtles for more then just food.
I know in my ancient soul that we are a vanishing race, and I wonder what sort of toll these humans will have on us in the end. It is hard to find a balance when one race exist at the expense of another and, when we are gone what will happen to them then?
I return to the waters and, go far from any humans diving deep into the murky depth and, there I feel a burning on my face and, in my eyes.
I look around and, see other turtles like myself only they have these strange growths over their mouths and, flippers. I know as I know other things that these things are catching and, deadly.
I watch a turtle with these growths over its mouth die of starvation it couldn't catch food or eat it.
I feel things growing dark and, cold around me and, I know I am dying of this disease."
Mike stopped to catch his breath how could he begin to explain the feelings the emotions of each image of his dream, there was no way to explain the full impact of the dreams he could only hope that his brothers would understand He took a sip of his coffee and, made a face.
None of his brother's not even Raph said a word as they waited for Mike to continue his tale.
"Next thing I know I'm a pet shop turtle no bigger than a quarter smaller actually I think. I live in a small bowl and, the people who are supposed to care for me don't and, I die of neglect.
Then if I am still asleep or have managed to go back to sleep again the dreams will pick up where they left off very considerate of them don't miss a thing.
I am again a pet shop turtle only larger and, my owners release me in a pond or lake where there are other abandoned turtles. This is not my native home but I know I can flourish here. I also know that because we aren't supposed to be there that we can damage local habitat by being there.
It reminds me of the sea turtle and, islanders something must die for another to live and, what will be the true cost in the end?
Finally I'm a mutant turtle, I'm me. I'm all alone in the world because somehow somewhere you guys have died. I see emptiness ahead of me, death and, blood behind me. I feel so alone, so desperately alone in the world.
Then the dream changes for the last time I am still a mutant turtle. I exist but I don't exist. None of us are real or alive but we do exist nonetheless…"
" That's impossible" Raph interrupted.
" No it isn't it is a dream Raph and, anything can happen in a dream.
We exist as movies, cartoons, and comic books and, a lot more besides. We are big and, popular.
I hear people saying Kevin Eastman and, Peter Laird created us and, we have grown from their imaginations. They dreamed us up and, brought us to life.
When I'm awake I often have to wonder are we really real, or just something two guys dreamed up?
Remember the story Splinter use to read us as kids the velveteen rabbit that wanted to be real?
He was told a toy only becomes real when someone loves it very much. Sometimes especially after the dreams I have to wonder if we are real only because we were loved into existence."
The remaining three brothers stared at one another shifting uneasily each wondering in their own way about Mike's strange dreams and, what they could mean if anything.
" It is all so real that it is hard to figure out if all of it is real, some of it is real or none of it is real. I think that is what bugs me the most about it all is not knowing the answer to that."
His brothers had no answer and no solutions and, each had to wonder if tonight they too might end up dreaming turtle dreams.
Author's note: In the old days shrimp boats often caught sea turtles in the nets. The sailors considered the sea turtles to be a nuisance and, would often kill them; this was long before the sea turtles became endangered. They were more numerous and, some sailors may have believed that killing a few wouldn't hurt matters. Now days it is a far different story.
The sea turtle disease is also real. Green sea turtles in their adolescents or juvenile stage are most susceptible to the highly contagious and deadly disease. Once called the mutant turtle disease- see mutant turtles are REAL it just isn't good to be one- Fibriopapilloma or FB is killing sea turtles even today and, scientist aren't sure what causes it or how to prevent it.
The pet turtle bit is also true to some extent. The common pet shop turtle is the red-eared slider. They don't make good pets for many reasons two of which is they are bad tempered aggressive creatures (now you know where Raph gets his attitude from he obviously maintained more of his turtle heritage then his brothers did) numerous pet shop turtles have died due to neglect or been abandoned in habitats not meant for them to be in.
My interest in turtles has allowed me to write this story on dreams.