It was two AM. Normal people, sane people, were asleep by then. Cassie had never been normal she was usually awake at two AM typing away at her lap top.
Jamie was sane and tended to sleep through her sister's mad bouts of typing, plot bunny attacks she called them. But tonight, without Cassie's mad typing, Jamie found she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, but could not sleep.
Frustrated with her sudden onset of insomnia, Jamie sat up and glared at the silent computer. Much to her surprise she saw that the little green light was on meaning that the laptop was in sleep mode. Cassie never left the laptop in sleep mode. She was perfectly willing to let perfect strangers read what she posted on the internet, but her family? Not even an option!
Jamie slid out of bed and walked over to her sister's desk. She opened the laptop and was nearly blinded by the light from the sign-in screen. After a moment's thought Jamie typed in 'Mathew Diego'. The screen switched to Cassie's desktop image, Jamie always knew her sister had a thing for Mat.
At the bottom of the screen on the start menu was a minimized file. Jamie clicked on it and an internet web page opened up.
Jamie settled down in her sister's computer chair and started reading.
I do not nor have I ever owned the teenage mutant ninja turtles nor any of their friends...
…or their enemies for that matter.
Chapter one; Old, getting older.
The moment Raphael and Michelangelo walked through the door of their home they stopped laughing and hid their hands behind their shells. It was useless however; their sensei had already seen the split knuckles.
Instead of lecturing them, punishing them or even giving them some bit of advice they didn't fully understand at the time Master Splinter merely sighed, shook his head, and went to his room.
Mikey and Raph exchanged confused glances; they had just been caught going against Master Splinter's direct and painfully explicit orders, why hadn't he waxed their shells for it?...
Jamie sat up and popped her back, wiping away a stray tear. She had never been a big fan of the same cartoons Cassie went for, but by the end of that first chapter Jamie wanted to grab four certain mutant ninja's and bang their heads together. She felt another tear threaten to fall and quickly rubbed it away. It was ridiculous for her to feel so much sympathy for an extremely unlikely fictional character, but the mutant rat's feelings of separation from his growing sons had somehow struck a chord with Jamie.
She had no idea that her sister was such a talented author. Now sleep was beginning to tug at Jamie's eyes and she figured that she could sleep now.
Instead she clicked on the arrow button and started chapter two.
…The woman he had rescued looked at him with fear in her eyes. It was a reaction his sons were more than familiar with after rescuing humans, but there was a deeper fear in her eyes than even her fear of this strange creature who had rescued her.
One moment this spunky, vital woman was swinging her fists trying to scare off her attackers, the next she was on the ground, helpless to defend herself and completely reliant on Splinter to protect her…
Jamie didn't realize she was leaning forward in the chair until it tipped and dumped her painfully onto the floor, but only after she had soundly injured her chin and front on the desk. She held her breath and listened to make sure she hadn't woken anybody up as she glanced at her alarm clock.
Three eleven, a.m.. If Jamie didn't get to bed she would be unable to function tomorrow. Jamie had to get to bed.
…her laugh was warm and rich, it brought Splinter great pleasure to hear it, and to see the way her eyes sparkled behind her creased eyelids. Upon reflection there was very little about Ruth that did not bring Splinter pleasure just to observe.
Although, not everybody present drew such pleasure from Ruth's company.
"You notice how he's leaving out the part about learning to use the toilet himself?" Don mumbled into his coffee, his face was as red as his hot-headed brother's mask.
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Leo mumbled, the heat of his own face was threatening to set his blue mask ablaze…
A casual observer might have thought that Jamie was trying to smother herself and in a way she was. Her squeaks and giggles were forcibly muffled by her pillow as she tried not to wake the entire house up with her laughter. The clock was steadily ticking closer to five but Jamie wasn't ready to turn in just yet.
…Stop fighting me Leonardo! You are staying in this bed until I say you are well, and not a moment sooner; understood?" Her Russian accent made the rather petite woman seem a little scary, or maybe it was the fever. Either way Leo stopped fighting her and slowly settled down. Eventually he drifted completely off to sleep.
Ruth sighed and returned to cleaning the turtle's wounds. As she worked to gently scrub the many cuts and abrasions clean a soft melody gently wove itself into the air and wafted out into the rest of the lair. The melody wove in and out of the various rooms of the mutant's home, only breaking when Ruth paused to take a breath before she continued humming the soothing melody. Pleasant and welcome as this gentle melody may have been it was also very alien to the turtles, for never before had they heard the unique tune of a mother's voice…
Jamie was curled up in the computer chair with a soft smile on her face and a couple gentle tears in her eyes. She cuddled the pillow close to her chest with one arm as she reached out and pulled up the next chapter with her other hand.
…April literally ran through the lair waving the envelope in her hand. "Ruth! Ruth!" She called.
"What is it child? I'm old, not deaf." Ruth paused to consider her words, a light smile crinkled her face slightly. "Yet." She amended before slowly walking out of her room.
April's smile was huge, "I received a letter today! It's in reply to an ad I put in the paper! A Nicolas Grennvich wants to know if you're alright!"
Tears sprung to the older woman's eyes, "Nicolas! It is not possible!" She covered her mouth as though to physically hold back the hope.
"It's true! Your son is alive! And he's in New York!" April exclaimed. "He wants to see you!"…
In the kitchen something crashed. Jamie jolted out of her focus and tried to stop her heart from beating so hard. Minutes later she heard her father moving around and shooing the cat out of the kitchen.
After Jamie was sure that her father had gone back to bed she returned to the story.
…When they saw the silhouette of a man in a thick coat Ruth hesitated. "What is the matter?" Splinter asked.
"I am not sure. My mind is filled with many thoughts. My son, my past, my homeland, and my present. I fear that something is about to change that will not be for the best." She closed her eyes against her worries for but a moment. Then she lifted her hand from her own cane and placed it over Master Splinter's hand, she gave it a gentle but affectionate squeeze. "Whatever happens today, I am glad to have met you my friend." Her eyes twinkled merrily. "Splinter-san."
Master Splinter smiled slightly at his friend's use of the Japanese title.
"And I am most fortunate to have met you, Mrs-" He stopped when she smiled at him with a slightly chastising expression. "Ruth." He amended. She smiled at him and leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. Then she turned and straightened her back before going to speak with her long lost son.
A strange feeling that had been warming Splinter from the inside for the past several weeks suddenly tightened like a noose as he watched Ruth move to speak with the tall dark figure…
Jamie glanced at the clock again and flinched, it was nearly eight o'clock…but there were just a few chapters left…
…Something was wrong. Ruth was backing away from her son now. Splinter couldn't make out what the man was holding until the sun caught on the blade. "No!" Splinter gasped. He didn't think as he ran forward…
Voices in the kitchen, Jamie was running out of time, she quickly pulled up the next chapter.
… "Nicolas, my Nicolas…" Ruth sobbed. The man's Russian military knife still protruded painfully from his chest. The old woman's skirt was stained with the blood of her only child.
The man looked up at his mother and whispered something in his native tongue as his eyes clouded over and death claimed him as her own.
Nearby, in the shadow of an old fir tree the old rat watched with tears in his own eyes and feeling older than he had ever felt before.
Slowly, her face stained with tears, Ruth looked up into the shadow in which her son's killer stood. Splinter held his breath, how would she see him now?
Ruth took a breath, released it and took another breath before opening her mouth to speak…
Jamie blinked. She quickly rubbed tears from her eyes as she re-read the last chapter and tried to see what came next. Did Ruth blame Splinter, or forgive him? What about the man Splinter had chased into the trees? There were not more arrow buttons indicating further chapters.
"Aw come on Cassie! What happens next?!" Jamie growled. She searched frantically for the next chapter, even searching through her sister's hard drive and storage devices but couldn't find it. The fact that this chapter in itself was incomplete barely began to enter her awareness before a quiet knocking jolted Jamie out of her search.
The door of the bedroom opened and Jamie's mom stood in the entrance holding a hanger from which an ugly black dress hung. "You're awake." Jamie's mom noted. She glanced uncomfortably at the laptop Jamie had been reading from. "Please, change quickly and… and shut that thing down." The woman placed the dress on the bed and quickly left.
Jamie sighed and changed out of her pajamas into the ugly dress. She turned to turn the computer off, but changed her mind and left it on as she hurried out of the room.
The car ride to the church was short, but painfully quiet. Jamie's mother quickly ushered her to the front row and they sat down closer to the pastor than Jamie liked. She and Cassie had always been 'back row Christians'.
The pastor nodded at Jamie and her mother and father before opening his noted and clearing his throat.
"Cassandra Kindle was a wonderful girl of whom it was my great pleasure to have known…"
Jamie ignored the scripted speech of the pastor, but she watched him, the stained glass windows, the grain of the wood on the pews, the large wooden cross behind the pastor…
Anything to avoid the polished wood of the long box with her sister's picture nestled amid a nest of flowers.