Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT.

2

Dad turned and walked to his bedroom where Camille could be heard sobbing hysterically. I watched him go inside and close the door behind him, my mind still processing everything that happened. My mother...?

I got to my feet silently, crossed the living room, and left the loft. Camille was not my mother and she never would be, no matter what happened.

Outside, the storm continued to rage. The streets were flooded with rain water and the storm drains were clogged with the fallen leaves. There weren't very many people outside and even fewer cars. Thunder sounded and I watched silently, as the wind blew a garbage can into what little oncoming traffic there was, spewing garbage into the street as it went.

At the end of the street there was a small crowd of people piling into the waiting bus. I ran down the street and joined the queue silently. As I stood in line, a thought entered my mind: They were engaged. That meant they were getting married.

I climbed up the steps of the bus just as the door was starting to close. I reached out and wrenched it open as lightning flashed overhead. I stepped inside the bus and handed over whatever change was in my pocket to the driver. He smiled at me without counting the change. "Welcome aboard."

I nodded my thanks as I turned away from him. The bus was unusually crowded for a day like today – stormy, dark, and miserable, that is. Didn't people usually stay inside on days like this?

Maybe they were just like me – trying to get out of the rain. And away from everything else.

I set my sights on an empty seat in the very back of the bus, away from all the other passengers. I walked over to it, ignoring the crazed looks I got from a couple of homeless people who looked like they'd been struck by lightning and collapsed in the seat silently. I pressed my face against the cool glass of the window with a sigh.

They were getting married, but why now? Why so soon?

Just when it seemed like the bus had finally started moving, it stopped again. A lot of people got off. A few got on. A giant bald man decorated in tattoos sat down beside me. He seemed to have a million tattoos, but the one that stood out the most was one of a dragon that curled up and around his arm.

Not only were they getting married, but Camille had hit me. She had actually hit me – and after all that garbage about not believing in violence and how bad corporal punishment was for children. Mom would freak if she knew. Mom...

Suddenly, I felt exhausted and not just because of what had happened tonight. Because of the stress of changing schools and towns. Because of trying to maintain a good relationship with Camille when it was obvious neither of us actually wanted one, not that that was new or anything. I had hated her ever since I had met her when I was seven years old. I was fifteen now.

It was also because I had to adjust now to my life with Dad and we had never exactly been close, so it wasn't easy. And now I had everything tonight to worry about. What if Camille kept hitting me?

What if they got married and it worse?

Mom would kill Dad if she knew. Then she'd kill Camille, too. Why did I have to be here with them?

Why couldn't I be there with her – with Mom?

Lightning flashed again and this time, I caught sight of my reflection in the window. I had long, billowy black hair, a heart-shaped face with big round brown eyes, and olive-colored skin. People were always telling me how I looked just like my mother – thank God I didn't look a thing like my father.

"Hey, where are you going?" the tattoo man sitting next to me asked.

"Huh?" I looked up at him, surprised. Where was I going – where did this bus even go? I had never been on it before. I had no idea where I was going.

"You don't where you going, do you?" the man said, laughing.

Was it that obvious I had only been in New York for a month? Whatever. I was too exhausted to care.

I shrugged and pressed my face against the window, listening to the soothing pitter-patter of rain against the glass. "I'm going wherever I want," I said, allowing the rhythmic starting and stopping of the bus to rock me back and forth.

And it was true, too. I would go wherever felt right, but right now, that was nowhere in New York. It was with my mother.

Too bad I couldn't be with her anymore.

"Hey – hey, girl, wake up!"

I woke up to see the elderly bus driver and the tattooed man standing over me. I yawned and rubbed sleep out of my eyes. "What time is it?" I asked. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep," the bus driver told me. "This is the last stop, so it's time for you get off. Do you know where you're going?" He looked worried now.

"It's alright, old man," the tattooed guy said. "She's with me. Come on, I'll help you find your way." He looked at the bus driver. "She's new in town."

The bus driver nodded and went back to the front of the bus.

I sat for a moment, watching the tattooed guy turn to leave. Then I stood up and followed him. It's not like I had anything better to do.

Not that I could think of anyway.

The storm had finally ended, but the wind was bitingly cold now and the neighborhood seemed questionable. There was nothing but a bunch of rundown shops, some warehouses, and a lot of people who seemed to be mostly adults and teenagers. There weren't any families or children anywhere. I decided to stay close to the tattooed stranger. I may not have known him, but he said he'd help me and what other choice did I have?

It's not like I knew my way home or anything.

"You got a name?" the guy asked me, causing me to jump.

"Oh, um, yeah," I said, trying my best to smile at him, but my mind was cloudy with sleep and I still wasn't in a very good mood. "My name is Dani – er Daniella."

"Nice," the guy said as I followed him across the street and down a dirty, garbage-strewn alley. "You can call me Luke – Luke Skywalker."

I raised my eyebrows at him as we rounded a corner to another street. Luke Skywalker – wasn't that a character in a movie or something?

Whatever. He was already helping me. I wasn't about to press him for info.

"So you look like you could use a drink," Luke said as we passed a run-down warehouse with a group teenagers outside, getting high.

I tore my eyes away from the teenagers and looked up at Luke. "Um, yeah," I said, trying to be polite. "Maybe just some water if that's okay." I wondered vaguely if he could tell that I was underage.

"Alright," Luke said, laughing. "Water it is."

We turned another corner and came face to face with a small shack of a bar with neon sign flashing in the window. The sign read Bar None and the parking lot was filled with motorcycles and broken down cars. I looked at Luke uncertainly. "I don't think I'm allowed in there."

"For a drink of water?" Luke said, smiling at me. "Of course you are. Come on."

"Okay," I said, following him, "but only water."

Once I was inside the bar, I felt completely awake. Loud rock music blasted from the stereo and it was filled with people covered in tattoos and piercings. The bartender didn't even card me when I walked in.

"Go sit over there," Luke said, pointing to an empty booth in the corner of the bar beneath a Budweiser sign.

I nodded and went to sit down.

It was then that it occurred to me that I should check my cell phone. I tapped my pockets quickly, checking to see if I even still had my phone – and everything else. I pulled out my keys, my wallet, and last, my cell phone. I sighed, relieved, as I tapped the touch screen. It was a little past nine and I had zero missed calls.

Looks like Dad wasn't worried about me.

"What're you doing with that thing?"

I looked up to see Luke standing over me, holding two mugs – one filled with beer and one filled with the water I'd asked for. "Nothing," I said, putting the phone away. "Just checking the time. I was afraid it might have gotten lifted on the bus." I laughed nervously as he sat down. "Is that my water?"

"Yep," Luke said, setting the cup in front of me.

"Thanks." I brought the cup to my lips, tuck a sip, and nearly spit it all out. The water was warm and burned the back of my throat as I swallowed. I looked up at Luke, coughing loudly. "What kind of water is this?"

He took a sip of his beer. "The only kind of water they've got here – tap water. If it tastes funny, it's because of the chemicals the city uses to purify it."

"Chemicals?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Yeah." Luke nodded and took another sip of his drink. "It keeps all the bacteria and shit out of the water to keep people from getting sick."

"Oh," I said, nodding.

When I had lived with my mother, I never drank tap water. She always bought fancy bottled water instead because it was cleaner. This must have been what she meant by that.

I took another sip of the water as the thought of my mother flooded my mind. Sometimes I wished I could forget her.

"You okay?" Luke asked, breaking my train of thought.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, trying to smile at him.

Luke nodded and I drank more of my water silently.

I wasn't sure if hours or minutes had passed by the time our booth was filled with Luke's rowdy friends. Most of them were men, but there were a couple women there, too, and a girl who looked to be about my age or maybe a little older. I didn't care who they were, though – they were all hilarious and really nice, too.

I had drank five or six cups of water and I had lost count of how many beers Luke had drank. The music was blasting now and everyone in the bar seemed to be in a better mood. I even felt better. I definitely felt happier. I could laugh about anything now.

I didn't even care about my dad or Camille anymore. They were assholes. Who needed them?

As we were all laughing at a joke one of Luke's friends had just finished, a thin blond boy appeared beside me. He was a lot younger than everyone else in the bar – except for me – and was dressed in a polo and blue jeans. He looked like a lost college student, honestly. He smiled at me and opened his mouth to speak, but it was at that exact moment that Luke got to his feet and said, "Hey, come one, we've gotta get Dani home."

I shrugged at the blond boy and followed Luke out of the bar with a few of his guy friends, following close behind us. "Who was that guy?" I asked as we left. The words felt funny as they fell out of my mouth – like my tongue was tripping over them.

"Nobody," Luke said as we walked down a long, deserted street I didn't recognize. "He's nobody, Dani."

"Nobody important, anyway," I joked, following after him and his friends.

We turned down a thin, long alley I didn't remember from before and then another. And another. Were we in a different neighborhood?

How many minutes had passed – how long had we been walking?

I pulled my cell phone out to check, but as I did so, Luke reached out and snatched the phone out of my hand. I looked up at him confused.

"You know," Luke said, examining the phone before he tossed to one of his friends. "You owe me for all those drinks I bought you."

"Oh, my god," I said, laughing. "You're totally right." I reached in my pocket and took out my wallet.

Luke took it from me before I could even get it open. "Thanks," he said, pocketing it, "but that's not what I meant."

I stopped laughing as he leaned in close to me. "Not what you –?" I was beginning to feel scared now.

Without thinking, I reached out and hit him hard in the face. I turned to run down the alley, knowing I hadn't done any damage, but one of his friends had me in an instant. He slammed my head against the wall of the alley and I fell to the ground as I felt a thin trickle of blood run down my forehead. I tried to get up, but my vision was blurry and the guy kicked me hard in the stomach and I fell again.

"Stupid slut!" Luke screamed, walking over a dumpster at the end of the alley and grabbing something that looked like a two-by-four. "After everything I did for you tonight, this is how you treat me?"

I dug my keys out of my pocket with shaking hands and found the silver attack whistle that hung next to my house keys. I brought it to my lips and blew hard, grateful to hear the high, ringing sound that escaped from it, but as I did so, the guy who had attacked me before knocked it out of my hand. He and another guy grabbed me by my arms and dragged me to the end of the alley where Luke was.

There were three other guys there other than the two who were holding me and Luke. I was down for. I was doomed and I knew it. I had walked right it into a trap not once but twice tonight – once with my father and Camille, then again with Luke.

I didn't care, though. I felt tired all over again – from the pain in my skull and the mystery water Luke had given me earlier. I wanted to be dead. I deserved to be dead. I had walked right into this, after all.

Luke brought the two-by-four down hard on my head and I felt more blood running down the back of my neck. The sound of his friends laughter rang in my ears as he raised it again and brought it down on my back and I fell to the ground. But there was something else.

Something I couldn't see because my vision was too blurry now and there was blood in my eyes, but it sounded like a dull thud – like something falling or landing. Then I heard the sound of running footsteps on the concrete as Luke raised the two-by-four again, but this time, it never made contact.

There was a lot of screaming and yelling and it took me a minute to realize I was listening to the sounds of a fight. But I couldn't tell who was fighting or who was winning.

I fell to the ground as the guys had been holding me released me and I heard Luke yelling at them. Then they were gone along with the others and their voices were replaced by four new ones. Standing over me were four boys – at least, I thought they were boys, they looked strange to me even with my blurred vision. Was their skin green or were they just dressed in all green?

The thing that stood out the most about them was that they were all wearing masks that stood out vibrantly because of how bright the colors were – red, blue, orange, and purple. The one in the red stood over me now on his own, his face swimming in and out of my vision – was he even human? He looked so strange he could have been an alien.

"Hey," he said. "We heard your attack whistle. What are you doing here – don't you know it's dangerous?"

"Danger–?" I repeated, trying to get the word out of my mouth, but I kept fumbling over it. Was I in a dangerous place? "Dangerous." I said the word at last. "Where am I?"

He shook his head and turned back to the one in the blue. I blinked as the one in the purple mask moved over to me now. He reached out and touched the wounds on my head with his strange hands – did he only have three fingers? Why was that?

"She's doesn't even realize she's right in the middle of gang territory, Leo," I heard the one in the red mask say. "It seems like those thugs must have tricked her."

"She's hurt bad, too," the one in purple said as he continued to examine my wounds. I wanted to tell him to go away, but I was too tired – my head hurt so much. He looked down at me with brown eyes. "Do you know your name?"

"D-Dani," I said, not even bothering to tell him my full name. I doubted I could even pronounce it right because I was such a mess.

"Why are you asking her questions, Donnie?" I heard the one in the orange ask.

"I checking to see if she has a concussion," the purple one told him in an undertone. Then he turned back to me. "Do you know the date?"

"Date?" I repeated. I never kept track of the date. That's what school was for. I thought hard, trying to remember. "October 2013." The words sounded funny as they left my mouth and I laughed at that.

I don't know why, but I was glad I could still laugh, even though I was on the ground, bleeding and surrounded by strangers. The purple one asked me another question, but I couldn't understand what he said. It sounded like gibberish as it left his mouth and I laughed at that, too.

Then I heard what I thought was arguing as the orange one moved into my line of vision and it was then I decided: I didn't care if these guys were human. They had saved me.

Or had they?