Silicon Tears
Chapter 1 The Guilt
April sank deeper into her armchair, a delicate finger lightly tracing the moist rim of the beer bottle in her hands. She sighed deeply through her nose, staring blankly at the TV in front of her. What the hell had she been thinking? She raised a hand to her brow, rubbing harshly at her temples before leaning forward, elbows on her knees as she let the nearly empty bottle dangle between her fingers. She'd lost her cool, that's what had happened.
April replayed the scene in her mind, biting down hard on her bottom lip. It could have of been any of them, Leo, Raph, Mikey but no it had to be Donnie. The one who was always there to catch her. She had lost her temper and Donatello had paid the price. Damn it, she could still see his face. He'd saved her from another fall… again. It was a silly trip that had almost cost her her life. Instead of showing her gratitude she'd snapped. Snapped? No, She had erupted. April took a long swig from the bottle. Donnie had only been trying to help, just like he always did ever since they'd first met when she was sixteen years old.
The young woman's eyes drifted across to the side table next to the door where an official look letter lay, already opened and read. That, that freaking letter had been the catalyst to her impotent fury. For once she had wanted to do something entirely on her own, without any help from anyone. And April had tried, she had tried so damn hard but as it turned out her hardest this time round wasn't good enough.
April swiftly drained the remainder of the bottle and stared at it morosely. The most tragic part of this happening was that she was trying to do something for them, her friends. To return in kind all the things that they had done for her over the years. Life it seemed wasn't without a sense of irony. Instead of returning her untold thanks she had pushed, no, shoved the most dearest of those friends away and in the worst way possible. She had crushed him, broken him.
April could still see the anguish on his face, the glassy quality that overtook his bright chestnut red eyes as he tried to hold back the hurt. That was how she had left him, storming off like an untameable whirlwind. She never waited to see what Donnie did next. All April remembered was the door to the roof slamming shut behind her, leaving him alone. She'd been in her apartment ever since. A few hours to cool down and several beers later, a whole new perspective was presented to her. Mellowed out by the alcohol in her system was when the reflection and guilt began to set in.
Oh god. How was she ever going to apologise to Donnie? To all of them? Because no doubt they would probably all know by now. April dropped the beer bottle and groaned, bringing both hands to her face. She didn't know what to do. The dull clunk of the bottle, as it rolled into the leg of the nearby coffee table made the young woman glance up. She stared accusingly at it. If she could only go back and retract what she had said. This night could have turned out so differently if that letter had never shown up.
Donatello's face suddenly reared unrelentingly in her mind again and with a frustrated shout April bolted to her feet. That was it. The girl didn't want to think about it any more. To hell with it. She snatched her coat from the back of the door and left the T.V. chattering behind her.
The front door slammed as she strode out with the intention of erasing every memory of this night from her mind. April's local bar was calling her name and she was damn well going to answer it.