"True Story"

The TMNT are © Mirage studios.

A lot of authors write about meeting the TMNT and interacting with them. I grew up with these guys. Literally.

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One upon a time, there was a little girl named Jessica. She had a mommy, a daddy and a big brother and big sister. But her brother and sister were much, much older than she was. By the time Jessica started pre-school, her big brother had moved out and her big sister was going to have a baby.

Jessica went to preschool and had friends, but none of them lived close enough to come over to play. When Jessica's nephew was born, she was jealous of all the attention the new baby was getting. Her best friend also moved away at this time. She was lonely.

She started playing by herself a lot. Her mommy and daddy played with her too, but mostly they let her play with her dolls, her toys and Ninja Turtle action figures. They knew Jessica was ok because they could hear her talking while she played and she sounded happy.

When Jessica started saying the Ninja Turtles were really playing with her, they thought it was good that she had imaginary friends. She didn't seem as lonely with pretend friends.

But what her parents didn't know was that Jessica really was playing games with the Ninja Turtles and they were really talking to her. She couldn't really see them, but she could sense their presence. They lived in her room with her most of the time, but sometimes they moved into the sewer under her house.

As Jessica grew up and went to grade school and middle school, the Ninja Turtles were still with her, but she mostly talked to them in her head. Though they never said so, Jessica got the impression that her parents thought she was a little too old to be having imaginary friends. She had a few friends in school, and sometimes they came over, but she considered the Turtles her best-best friends.

When Jessica, now calling herself Jessi, went to high school, she made a lot of new friends and spent a lot of time with them. She was growing up and finding her place in life. She forgot all about the Ninja turtles. She stopped talking to them, stopped reading her comics and playing with her toys. She didn't feel bad about them not being there, she felt that they stuck around as long as they were needed. Now she had a lot of friends and was happy she didn't need them to be her only friends.

Then all hell broke loose.

People Jessi considered her best friends suddenly turned on her and started hating her. They didn't talk to her anymore, moved to another table at lunch and were always whispering and looking over at her. She tried to get a straight answer out of them, but they acted like she wasn't there. She discovered that they were plotting to hurt her and wanted to make her so miserable that she would leave school.

While the entire ordeal went on, Jessi discovered that she had REAL friends who stood by her and still loved her. But she still missed her other "friends". They were people she had trusted and told her secrets to, and now they were using her secrets against her. She felt totally alone.

For a long time, Jessi would cry herself to sleep. She brought her Mikey plushy to school for several months. She tried to talk to the Ninja Turtles again, but she just couldn't seem to find them. She felt even more alone. Eventually, she made more friends and was more careful about trusting people. Jessi now has a boyfriend and is planning on getting married someday. She has a lot of friends, people who have proven themselves worthy, but she still misses her first friends; the Ninja Turtles.

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Author's afterword:

It's true; I had the TMNT as imaginary friends. But the weird part was, the longer they stayed with me, the more real they became. A few years ago, I met someone who was really into the occult and metaphysical stuff. She taught me how to sense energies and spirits and it all seemed very familiar to me, like déjà vu. I'd read in a Terry Pratchett book an idea that gods and deities existed because people believed in them. The stronger the belief, the more powerful the deity. Well, the TMNT aren't deities, but they do have a lot of people believing in them. They were very real to me. I think that my belief in them made then metaphysically real. They really were with me, protecting me and being there when I needed them, especially Mikey.

When the new carton began, I was suddenly inspired to draw the Turtles again, to read all of my comics, and watch the movies. I've been on a "Turtle Kick" for a few weeks now. The other day, I finally managed to track down downloads of the "Coming Out of Our Shells" Tour and made it into a CD. I'd lost my copy of that tape years ago and it was one of my favorites when I was little.

That night I played the CD when I went to bed. As I started dozing off, my favorite song began playing. I felt a little lonely, wishing for the companionship I'd had when I was little. Then, suddenly, my vision was filled with different colors. Red, blue, purple and orange. I felt like powerful arms were hugging me. I bolted up and looked around my room. Nothing out of the ordinary in the room.

I've had enough experience with the metaphysical realms to realize what happened.

My friends have come back to me.

They now accompany me just about everywhere: to the mall, to College, to my favorite Goth clubs. I haven't been this happy in ages. Granted, the guys aren't always with me, they come and go as they please, but I always know when someone is near.

They were, are and always will be my best friends.  I love you guys.