The morning dragged on, and Mikey slept most of it away, well into the afternoon. After watching him sleep for a while just to make sure he was all right for the moment, the brothers decided to move on to other activities to occupy themselves with.
Leo and Raph went to the dojo to practice and spar. Donnie migrated back to his lab, but kept the doors open so he could hear if he was called. The only sounds though were the occasional clash of steel from the dojo, and various instruments beeping in the lab.
So when April entered the lair in the late afternoon she went completely unnoticed. Donnie had texted her during the morning to let her know Michelangelo was sick. While she couldn't visit sooner because of school, she made it a point to come down directly afterwards.
She trotted back to the bedrooms, and quietly made her way into Mikey's room. He was still asleep, but blankets were strewn across the bed, half of them draped down onto the floor. April reached down to pick them up, and covered Mikey again. Her hands brushed against his skin briefly, but she could feel that he was pretty warm. The fever was still present.
As April let go of the blanket, Mikey must have sensed the motion because he started to stir. He shifted slightly, and opened his eyes, obviously still groggy from sleeping for so long. His eyes roamed up to April standing next to the bed, and then suddenly he flinched. He gasped, but it sounded like he wanted to scream.
"Whoa, Mikey," April said to him softly. "I'm sorry. You're okay."
Realization crossed his face. He sighed, "April, geez you scared me."
"Again, sorry. I was just checking in on you. Donnie told me you weren't feeling too good," she held up her backpack. "So I brought you something."
He perked up a little at that promise of gifts. "What'd you bring?"
April placed the backpack on the edge of the bed and unzipped it. Reaching inside she pulled out a stack of comics. "Some new comics for starters. Figured if you have to stay in bed, you might like these. But I also brought some crackers and ginger-ale, which I'm sure you're not as interested in."
"Yes to the comics, and no to the rest," the thought of even having a bite to eat made his stomach swirl. "Thanks for all this stuff though, April."
Mikey moved to sit more upright in bed, but stopped mid-movement. He quickly closed his eyes, and April could see the distress across his face.
"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. Moving closer, she placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.
He took a deep breath. "Dizzy," he murmured.
April waited for Mikey to settle, knowing dizzy spells took a few minutes to subside. She debated on calling Donnie into the room to help out, but decided to wait a bit to see how Mikey felt. He sunk back down into the bed, all the color drained from his face, but he seemed calm enough to move his body again.
"That was one major head rush," he said to April. She removed her hand from his shoulder, but as she did Mikey yelped.
"Oh my gosh, sorry!" She said hastily and somewhat alarmed. April didn't do anything that should have harmed him. "What's wrong?"
He shrugged, "Your hand brushed against a nick I got last night. It's just sensitive, I guess. Didn't mean to scare you."
That sent up some definite red flags, and April moved closer. "Let me see it," she demanded. Serious concern started to buzz through her mind.
"It's not a big deal," Mikey said, trying to get her back down. "It was a small cut from a shuriken, and I cleaned it after we got home. It barely even bled."
April stared him down not letting him get off so easy. "If you want to keep those comics, you have to let me see that cut."
"That's playing dirty," Mikey whined, but he complied. Slowly, so he didn't bring back the dizziness, he rolled onto his left side so April could see the small wound.
Carefully, April put some weight on the mattress with her knee so she could move closer to Mikey. The cut was on the back of his right shoulder, and she instantly became worried. Though it was small, less than an inch long, and shallow, there was something obviously wrong. The skin around it had spider-web like marks spreading out in dark purple lines. It was a striking contrast to Mikey's green skin.
The mark was obviously tender to the touch since April had caused Mikey to cry out before. It startled her, because that was no ordinary cut. She pulled back, and stood up off the bed. April didn't want to frighten Mikey, but it looked extremely serious.
"What's the verdict, doc?" Mikey asked, trying to joke.
April tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make Mikey panic. "Um, it doesn't look deep or anything. You know, I'm not the best judge for this kind of stuff though. Let me go ask Don for an opinion, okay?"
"Why? If it's not so bad, then don't worry about," he said, stifling a yawn at the same time.
"Just to be extra sure. I'll pour you some ginger-ale, it can help with nausea sometimes," she was trying to distract him a bit, but it also gave her a reason to leave the room and go speak with Donnie.
"Okay," Mikey replied. "If it will make you feel better." He smiled at her, and burrowed a little deeper into the covers.
April snatched the two-liter bottle of soda from her backpack, and walked out of the room. She took a few steps, and then as quietly as possible picked up the pace. She ran into the lab, coming up behind Donnie who was measuring out some kind of liquid into the beakers on his table.
"Donnie," April called to him. He jumped, not expecting her voice, and almost dropped the beaker.
"April!" Donnie exclaimed. "You scared me."
"Seems I'm doing a good job of that today."
Donnie looked at her confused, but then noticed the ginger-ale in her hands. "You were with Mikey?"
"Yeah, I accidentally scared him too," she explained. "I think there's something wrong. You really need to check it out."
Donnie almost dropped his beaker a second time at the nervousness edging its way into April's voice. He placed the glass down carefully, and turned to face her completely. "What's the matter?"
She explained about touching him, the mark she found on the back of his shoulder, and how it was from a shuriken. Donnie's expression darkened as she spoke. April could practically see his mind working out the different scenarios and what could cause such a reaction.
"Sounds like poison," Donnie murmured. He began to move about the lab collecting various items into the red tool kit he used for medical situations. "I can't believe I didn't see anything sooner," he grumbled.
"It's not your fault. It's hard to see if you're not looking for it," April said. She didn't want Donnie blaming himself for something that wasn't even his fault to begin with.
Donnie finished collecting everything he needed, and quickly moved back to Mikey's room. April was right on his heels. When they walked through the doorway, they were greeted by the sight of Mikey sitting on the edge of the bed. Mikey was bent over, his head resting on his knees, and breathing oddly.
"Mikey!" Donnie almost shouted. He dropped his medical kit on the floor and ran over to his brother. "What's wrong?"
Mikey shook his head slightly, and after a few moments started to speak. "S-sorry, I'm okay. It felt like my heart was beating really fast all of a sudden, and then I felt like I couldn't breathe right," he took a deep shaky breath. "Still feels that way. I thought sitting up would help…or down, I guess."
Donnie bent down on one knee next to Mikey on the floor, and took his pulse. He counted out the beats he could feel thrumming underneath his fingers, and could feel that's Mikey's pulse was a little quicker than normal. Fortunately it was nothing to be concerned about yet, but it did worry Donnie some. Especially since he could still feel the feverish heat of Mikey's skin.
After a few seconds, Donnie stood back up. He looked over at April, both exchanging worried glances. As Donnie stood, he caught a glimpse of the mark April told him about. It was certainly alarming, and not a simple bruise from being knocked around. He had to do something before things escalated further.
"You feeling any better?" Donnie asked Mikey quietly.
"I think so," Mikey said, but he still sounded out of breath. "Stomach doesn't feel like it's doing back flips anymore. I just can't shake this feeling, bro. My heart feels like it wants to jump right out of my shell."
"Just take deep breaths, I'm sure it will pass," Donnie told him. "Now, do you think you can sit up against the headboard? I need to check that cut April saw."
Mikey hummed a response, and pushed himself slowly back onto the bed. Donnie went back over to April to grab his medical kit that he dropped. As he crouched down, April stopped him.
"Donnie, I think Mikey could be experiencing early stages of an anxiety attack," April kept her voice low.
"What makes you think that?"
"I used to get them from time to time. And when I did I felt like I couldn't breathe and my heart was racing. All I'm saying is be careful, and be gentle."
Donnie retrieved his kit, "I'll do my best," he gave her a small smile. And shifted back over to Mikey to examine the wound on his shoulder.
"Dude," Mikey moaned. "Feels like I got sucked into a whirlpool."
"You're that dizzy?" Donnie questioned. He placed the red box on the small nightstand next to the bed and opened it up.
"Mm-hm," Mikey mumbled. "I want off this ride."
"I'm working on it," Donnie told him. "I just want to take a quick look at the mark on your shoulder."
Donnie gently put his hand on Mikey's arm. Mikey had kept his eyes shut the whole time in attempt to stave off the vertigo that was currently plaguing him. Gently, Donnie moved him forward just a bit, so that there was enough light to see the mark. Donatello had seen it once briefly, but now that he could see it without interruption, it troubled him deeply.
The cut he could see was shallow, and small. But the skin around it was inflamed, looked raw and sensitive to the touch. The spider web-like marks April described were dark purple bordering on black, and appeared to be spreading out from the cut. It certainly was not a normal infection, but discerning the type of poison that was used, if it was poison at all, was going to be difficult. He would need to analyze a blood sample in order to do anything more to help.
Donnie leaned Mikey back against the headboard once more. And turned to April with a frown, but signaled for her to come closer.
She came up beside him, and he leaned in to whisper. "I need to draw some blood, but that's probably gonna lose it. Do you think you could hold onto him, or try to distract him somehow?"
"I'll try," April replied. "But you could just tell him; he's out of it anyway."
Donnie reached into his kit to get a syringe. He didn't want to have to take blood, but it was going to be the only way to fully determine what was ailing his little brother.
Donnie took a cotton ball and wet it with rubbing alcohol. He swiped it along the crook of Mikey's arm. The cool feeling roused Mikey's attention, and he opened his eyes to look at Donnie.
Immediately he saw the needle. His eyes went wide, and he paled considerably. Both Donatello and April could see his distress.
"Mikey, don't freak out," Donnie started.
"What are you going to do with that?" Mikey's voice trembled with panic.
April stepped in, hoping to calm him down. Taking his other hand to reassure him. "You're sick, and Donnie just wants to do what's best for you. If he takes a small sample, he can look at it and find out why you're ill."
"Small sample?" Mikey squeaked. He looked like he was ready to jump from the bed. "Of..of blood?"
Donnie nodded, and tried to smile encouragingly. "That's right. I promise I won't hurt you. It's just a small pinch, all right?"
Mikey could only shake his head. April tried to draw his attention as Donnie moved to draw blood. But Mikey's eyes were fixated to the small syringe, and to him in that moment it could have been as large as a dagger.
The moment slowed. He could feel his heartbeat pound harder. Just as the point of the needle's cold tip touched his skin, he shrieked. A sound so high and loud, it seemed like it came from somewhere else.
Mikey bolted from the room as fast as his legs would carry him, leaving both April and Donnie dumbfounded in his wake. The echo of his scream still reverberating off the walls.
Okay, so just one thing about the mention of anxiety attacks. I just used descriptions of my own experiences, and applied it to the story. I always feel short of breath when I'm experiencing anxiety. Also with this illness, some of it is based off of a stomach bug I got over Christmas. Not fun, but I guess it helps with story writing.
Anyway, thanks so much for all the follows/favorites/reviews so far. Keep 'em coming, and enjoy this chapter!