Me: well, here is the real first chapter. Um…hope you enjoy! ;)

Loss is another hard lesson

Chapter 1

The gift

One year has passed since he got his medicine. He doesn't really notice anything different. Things are the same for him; actually to him, they seem even duller than normal.

Raph sat up in his bed and stretched his arms high in the air. He yawned and scratched his bald green head. Raph reached out his three fingered hand to his bedside table and grabbed onto a small cup filled with a brownish red liquid. He gulped it down fast and stood up. He tied on his headband, and then walked over to the door. As he passed the calendar he remembered something. He ran over to it and looked at the date.

'Ah shell, I forgot about that.' He thought, smacking himself on the forehead. He walked back to his bed, knelt on the ground and began to dig around for something under his bed.

"Hey Raph, you up yet?" Leo called from outside the locked doorway.

"Yeah, I'm up. Give me a few minutes!" he called back. He pulled out two boxes, both filled to the rim with loose pieces of paper and journals. He dug around in the box, finally ending up pulling out a red leather journal. He then went to his door and walked out.

"here." Raph said simply, shoving the journal into Leo's hands as he passed. Leo looked at it curiously and then glanced into Raph's room. He saw the boxes on the floor. He was too curious not to look but before he was able to set a foot in the doorway Raph ran up behind him and pulled him away, back into the living room.

"Don't look in that box. If you ever get the urge, read the letter on the top of it. Do as it says and maybe you can look, but never do it when you know I'm around." He said. He went back to his room to hide the box again, only this time in a better hiding spot. Leo stared after him, then sat down on the couch, looking at every inch of the cover of the journal. When Raph walked back in Leo got up and walked over to him.

"Where did you get this? it looks like it was just bought." Leo asked. Raph smirked a little and kept walking to the kitchen.

"That's cuz it is." Raph said. Leo stopped in his tracks, his jaw hanging open.

"You actually went into a store and bought this?" he asked.

"Yeah I really did." Raph said, stopping to look back at him. When he saw the expression on Leo's face he added, "not really Leo. Don't you recognize sarcasm when ya here it? I got April to get it."

Leo raised his invisible eyebrows and opened the journal. All the pages were empty but the final page. Raph wrote something on it.

Yo Leo, if you're reading this page it must mean that I finally gave this journal to you. I have a blue journal just like this one but you can't ever look at it unless I give you my permission. It holds some secrets I don't want you to know just yet. Fill this one with anything you would like. Just don't go over board like I did. If you're wondering why I gave this to you, don't ask cuz I really don't know.

'Wow, Raphael…' Leo thought in bewilderment. He went back to his own room and put it away.

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Me: the next chapter is where some good stuff happens. I bet you're curious as to what's in his real secret obsession boxes. I'll explain that later.

Raph: hey, how long is this story anyway?
Me: longer than the last one, I think. I have a lot of plans for it.