Chapter 2
The Well-Meaning Traveller
His life was with purpose because he was brought up to believe that way. His existence was a body of questions waiting to be answered and his mind, a glass tank brimming with knowledge of all kinds. Donatello was the Genius everyone believed him to be; a brother and a son, too bright for a family living in shadows. His innate talent, his precocity, he credited all not to the mutagen in his blood but to a father's compassion.
For one to experience love from a parent, be it foster or biological, is a fortunate thing. To be nurtured, corrected from wrong, disciplined, sheltered, to love, and be loved. Although he knew a life of unimaginable freedom existed on the surface and beyond, he seemed content with the one he had been living for thirteen years. And not being able to see that contentment in his human friend Dale was something of a sad mystery to him.
She was just a child, seven years as he was told, and the first human he had ever been in contact with. Freckled face, dark-haired, chubby cheeks, brown-eyed and very lost.
The only thing he could offer her was his friendship, since she didn't seem to need anything else. For the past three weeks since she arrived, Dale never ate, never slept, and for some reason, Don was the only one who could see her. But her Time Machine stood visible in the middle of the tracks. His brothers had seen it and they were unconvinced that it was anything out of the ordinary.
"This...is a time machine?" Raph knocked on the hard exterior of the cube covered in a white, stretchy fabric. He was skeptical, like everyone else. "Doesn't look like one to me."
"Yep. Dale invented it," said Don.
Leo was crouching on the edge of the subway platform, with that usual look of concern etched on his face. "I can't believe you're still talking about that imaginary friend of yours."
"Hey you guys remember that imaginary friend I had when we were eight?" Mike interrupted as he settled beside Leo. "Well...actually, she was more like an imaginary pet."
Raph snorted in amusement and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. A unicorn named Sara."
"No, smart ass," Mike replied with a sarcastic smile. "It was a Triceratops."
Raph sneered at him. "Get a life."
"She is not a figment of my imagination!" Don insisted. "She's been standing beside Raph since we got here. Try talking to her. Maybe you can hear her voice."
Mike and Leo exchanged glances before turning to Raph who looked just as confused.
"Right," said Raph. "Now if you excuse me, I'd like to get the hell out of here."
"Sorry, Donnie. But you're really starting to creep me out too." Mike stood up and followed behind him.
"It's almost time for our training anyway," said Leo as he rose to his feet. He turned to look at Don who was still standing beside the broken Time Machine on the tracks. "Splinter's going to be very upset when he finds out that we've been out here."
"So that means you'll keep your mouth shut." Raph elbowed his brother. "Right, Leonardo?"
Leo glared at him, turned on his heels and walked away.
After making sure that his brothers were gone, Raph then whispered to Don, "Hey I know this really cool place top-side. Thought we could check it out later tonight."
"No." Don dropped his haversack to the ground and began unpacking a few things he brought from home. "I've got things to do."
"Come on! They've got televisions and radios and motorcycles and lots of really cool stuff. I'm telling you, Don. It's like Treasure Island out there."
"Maybe next time," suggested Don, with a half-hearted smile.
Raph dropped his shoulders in disappointment, staring contemplatively while Don took pictures of the Time Machine with an old polaroid camera. "What's happened to you? We used to have so much fun together. Now you're just—" Raph hesitated for a moment before admitting, "You're just weird."
Maybe he was a little eccentric. The more he pondered, the more he kept forgetting how late it was. Dale had been fussing over mathematical diagrams and scientific theories, tearing page after page after page, writing as much as she could remember about the Time Machine. Then the silence grew too much to bear.
"Don?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"Where are you?"
He blinked rapidly and reached for his haversack. "I'm right here, Dale."
"No, your mind was someplace else. Where did you go?"
Don smiled. He began arranging the photos he had taken earlier, slipping them in between the pages of his notebook. "Not too far away."
"Are you still upset about what happened just now?"
"No." The young mutant shook his head before changing his mind. "Yes." He nodded. "I thought they'd be a little more...I don't know, supportive?"
Dale edged closer to Don, placing her little hand over his three-fingered one. "I don't think Raph meant what he said."
"Yeah I know." He sighed, averted his gaze and slipped his hand away from Dale's gentle grip. "He says stuff like that all the time."
"I've met his older self," said Dale, hoping to lift his spirits up. "He was very nice to me. And he cares about you and your brothers very much. You just gotta give them a little time."
"I really should get going," Don said suddenly and slung the bag over his shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help to you today."
Dale smiled and closed her eyes. "No, Don you've been very—" The moment she opened them, Don was already gone. It was the first time he'd left without saying goodbye.
"You've been a great friend," she wanted to say.
Maybe he was the imaginary friend and this had all been one big illusion.
Tears ran down her cheeks. She then covered her face with both hands and recited, "My name is Dale Evans McGillicutty. I'm seven years old and I am the inventor of the Time Machine."
She repeated it, despite knowing that it was no longer true. "My name is..." Unable to contain herself any longer, the little girl burst out sobbing.
My name is Dale Evans McGillicutty.
I am a drifter.
A Drifter.
Drifting. Drifter. Drifted.
Someone please wake me up? I've been asleep for far too long.
