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TMNT

"Finally decided ta show up?" Raph asks the moment I walk into the room, and I roll my eyes at his impatient behaviour.

"Some of us go to class" I retort, but instead of continuing, I walk over to the table where Don and Raph were already sitting on, taking a seat as well. Me and Raph in front of each other and Don was sitting at the end of the table. His laptop was standing in front of him, pushed far away from him so all three of us could see it.

"What did you find?" I ask instead, looking at the screen. I look around for a second, but the room was completely sealed, no windows that would allow anyone to sneak up on us. Someone like dad or Mikey. And while dad coming to the library was unlikely, Mikey coming here wasn't.

And we didn't want him figuring out what we knew just yet.

"I found a couple of websites, but the symptoms are pretty much always the same" Don says, sighing in frustration.

"Should we just go past every one of them? See if they match and then-" I stop myself after the sentence, an uneasy feeling spreading through my body.

"And then what? What the fuck are we going to do if dad really hit Mikey? We'd be taken away.. separated"

"I don't know Raph!" I hiss, causing him to shut his mouth immediately. "I don't want us to get separated… but if dad is really hurting Mikey, I'd rather for him to be safe" I tell him, glaring slightly so Raph would understand to drop it. Unlike any other day, I wasn't feeling up to our normal fights.

Not like I was ever looking forward to them, but right now I was just too mentally exhausted and confused. Just the thought of dad hurting our little brother was horrifying.

"So withdrawal?" Don frowns, shaking his head. "Not so much I'd say. Change in behaviour?"

"Definitely" Raph mutters and Don nods, writing both symptoms down but making sure to put a cross through the first one, to show Mikey wasn't having that particular symptom. So we went through 5 different websites, comparing every new symptom to Mikey's behaviour, both before the trip, and afterwards.

Most of the symptoms, as Don already said, were pretty much the same, but none us were even suggesting that we'd stop, or just give up. We all wanted to be as thorough as possible. So we continued browsing through the internet until no more symptom could be added to the list.

Change in behaviour

Anxiety

Absences from school

Doesn't want to go home. (Even if he was being subtle about it)

Rebellious behaviour.

Unexplained headaches.

But the most disturbing part wasn't the ever growing list, every symptom we could add after the unexplained headaches, which were a lot. No, that wasn't the most disturbing part. The most disturbing thing was the other list, a website listing another category that would either confirm or deny our theory. Parental behaviour.

Show little concern for the child

Blames child for problems at school

Demands an inappropriate level of physical or academic performance

That one wasn't as straightforward as the others, it wasn't like dad put ridiculous expectations on Mikey. He expected him to do as well as Don and I did in school. But somehow, just like Raph, Mikey didn't seem to be understanding school and its concepts as well as we did.

Raph was another story, he excelled at football, so getting a scholarship was basically a guarantee. Dad didn't put pressure on Raph because of that, he had a scholarship in his pocket no matter what. At least, if his grades stayed well enough for him to pass, and he continued showing his talents.

Mikey, however, didn't have that safety-net. He had to, just like Don and me, rely fully on getting good grades.

But the behaviour symptoms wasn't the end of the list. It continued with the next logical thing, risk factors. And it only supported our previous suspicions.

History of neglect. According to dad, his dad had always paid more attention to his brother before the death of his father. He never got the attention he wanted from his 'idiotic' brother as dad had put it.

Family crisis or stress. Mom dying when giving birth. Single parenting. Which was definitely a yes.

Social or extended family isolation. He had, after the family sided with our Uncle instead of dad, not seen his family in years. Only our grandma had visited sometimes before her death, but just for us. She hadn't spoken much to dad as well, so he was, pretty much, isolated from family.

And all of these contributed to our theory.

Dad was abusing Mikey.

TMNT

2 weeks ago

"Hey guys" I cheer, trying to put as much happiness behind my call as I could.

"Otouto!" Leo grins, shoving Don to the side so he could sit on the couch as well. Don cries out with a smile, pushing his oldest brother back, but Leo wouldn't budge.

"Everything okay there?" I ask, grinning as Raph approached as well, and ignoring the stab of pain in my heart. The fact that I was still here in our home, while they were on a skiing trip with school. Leo frowns slightly.

"Are you okay?" He stresses, and I feel a jolt of fear spread through me. I grin, the smile seemingly splitting open my cheeks. The smile felt fake.

"I'm cool dudes" I cheer, leaning forwards. "But how is the snow?" I divert the attention to them. Raph grins now.

"It's awesome, Leo fell flat on his face on the first slope"

"Twice" Don adds. I snort, looking at Leo with cruel pleasure. A red colour spread across his face and he looked away, muttering something under his breath.

"Black belt but fashion disaster on the pistes?" I snicker, and both Raph and Don nod eagerly while Leo shakes his head.

"I wasn't that bad" He says, and Raph snorts.

"You raced into a class of children" He arguments. "Who were, by the way, doing a far better job than you fearless" I grin, watching them interact with each other. It was weird seeing them on this side of the screen, lonely even.

"Well they've been training for longer than I have" Leo tries to defend his honour, but even he knew that it was futile, Don and Raph would never let this go, and I should probably start expecting videos or photos of some sorts in the near future, preferably of Leo falling flat on his face.

"Whateva fearless, ya just can't admit you're bad at something" Raph snickers, throwing a piece of paper at Leo's head. "So how's it going over there?"

"It's quiet" I shrug, hoping they'd take my lack of enthusiasm as a result of me not being able to go on an awesome skiing trip.

"Don't worry squirt, we'll be back before you know it" Raph responds, looking down when his phone beeped. "Shit, we gotta go. Case says they already started eating dinner downstairs. Catchya later" Raph announces, waving at me.

"Bye Mikey"

"Later" Don waves as well, standing up and following Raph. Leo smiles one last time before he disconnects the call.

"Help me" I whisper, words that had been stuck in my throat for the whole conversation, my whole life. So why couldn't I say it? Just 2 words.

But I couldn't afford to be selfish.

TMNT

"Hello, you're speaking with Denise, childhelp" A warm voice entered the room, I glance at my two younger brothers, but they nod at the same time.

"Hello Denise" I answer.

"With whom am I speaking?" She asks, and I swallow slightly.

"I'd rather not tell" I hesitantly say, but neither Don nor Raph made any movement to stop me, or correct my potential mistake. They stayed perfectly still, both glancing at the phone sitting in the middle of the table.

"Why don't you want to tell honey? Are you being threatened?" Denise asks, but I shake my head, forgetting that she couldn't see me for a second.

"I'm not, we just don't know if our concerns are valid, and we'd rather not cause unnecessary problems" I spoke up. Denise was silent for a few seconds. There was some noise on the other end of the line before she scraped her throat.

"You said 'we', are more people present right now?" She asks, and I glance around, earning a nod from Don.

"Yes, two of my little brothers are here"

"Okay, are you in a safe location, or are you in any danger?" She asks but I shake my head again.

"No, we're in a room in the library." I explain, glancing around for a quick second to confirm we were really save here. But as always, the library rooms were soundproof, and could be locked, so we could make the call without anyone interrupting us.

"Why are you calling, do you think someone in your class is being abused?" She asks, and there was a rustling sound from the other line before I continued.

"No, our little brother. We think our little brother is abused" There was, again, a short silence on the other end of the line.

"Do you suspect he is being abused by your father?" She asks softly, and I give a sound of approval. "Okay, why don't you tell me why you think that, we can go over it together. Does that sound good?" She asks, as if I was a 10 year old. But again, I was glad, my heart was racing too much as it was.

I was glad she was keeping it simple, and organised.

"We searched some websites, and my little brother matches a lot of symptoms that would hint at child abuse" I tell her, looking at Don. "My other brother will list them, is that okay?"

"That would be great" She acknowledge, and I gesture to Don. He nods, auburn eyes focused on the paper and the phone. I turn to Raph as Don starts to list all the symptoms, my heart breaking bit by bit as tears were lingering in his eyes. He looked at me with a bewildered face.

I reach out, grasping his hand and squeezing it. He scowls slightly, wiping them away with one hand, while squeezing back with the other.

"Okay, I wrote them all down, but I promise you this will stay confidential." Denise told us. "Will it be okay if I ask a coworker into this conversation, she had more experience with singling out" She asks, and Don looks up to me with a questioning look. I nod, the more the merrier right? I thought grimly.

"That's okay, we just want to help our little brother" Don responds. There was a moment of silence, before more sound could be heard from the other side.

"Hello guys, my name is Elise" Another voice came through the phone. "I know this is unusual but I, unfortunately enough, have had some cases with singling out"

"Singlin' out?" Raph speaks up for the first time. I don't look at him, too focused on the phone.

"When only one sibling is targeted by the parent or parents. I am assuming your father has never hit you, if that's true and he is hurting your younger brother, that's called singling out"

"No he never hit us" Raph whispers, and I could almost hear the nod coming from Elise.

"When did he start showing these symptoms?" Elise asks, and Don looks at me, pushing the phone at bit in my direction.

"We went on a holiday trip with the three of us for 10 days, and when we got home he was acting out and showing more of those symptoms"

"Is there no mother figure present?" Denise asks, but I shake my head again.

"No, she died giving birth to us" There was a silence again from the other side, only a low whispering was heard. But the words were too silent for us to hear it, so we couldn't make out what they were saying.

"I know you don't want to tell your information, but we are really concerned" Elise spoke softly, and I could feel both Raph and Don stare at me with horrified eyes. "You mentioned it was your youngest brother, which could be because your father blame him for your mother's death."

There was a silence, but nobody commented.

"You also mentioned he has been isolated from his family, and that he had a fight with his brother, these are all risk factors." Elise spoke, trying to keep her voice soft. "Your little brother's attitude has changed dramatically after your trip, which could mean that your father has been emotionally abusing him before, but turned physical during the trip"

"Wait why?" Raph frowns, interrupted Elise.

"Because for some reason, he doesn't want you three to know. Having you away for an extended period gave him the perfect opportunity to physically assault your brother"

"But now we're back, he wouldn't.. right?" Don asks softly, but uncertainty lingered in his eyes.

"Child abuse .. develops, for the lack of better word. It is very plausible he can't stop once he started"

"What can we do?" Don whispers, and I look at him. Neither of my little brothers seemed calm, both disturbed by the advice the lady was giving us. It still felt so surreal, and yet so real at the same time. We were having this conversation, in a library, while we were actually supposed to be at school.

Talking to Denise and Elise from childhelp because we suspected dad was abusing Mikey.

And neither of them ever denied the statement. Only believing in it more and more.

"You said you don't want to report it without being certain, but I would suggest you do. And if you still stand by that statement, ask your little brother, get him to conform him, and look out for injuries or odd behaviour" Denise spoke.

"We will, thank you for the advice" Don whispers, lingering for a moment before disconnecting the call. A single tear rolled down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away.

"What now?" Raph asks.

"I want to go home" Don answers honestly.

"Ya've school still" Raph remarks but Don shakes his head.

"I don't care… I could get away with missing classes. I just want to check on Mikey, he's alone with dad"

"I'm coming with" I state sternly, arms crossed. Raph nods, and we all stand up. It was a tense ride home, nobody saying anything, or feeling up to saying anything, or think about the consequences our paranoia could be causing. All three of us still had classes, dad would be furious if he realised we were skipping.

Or even disappointed if we accused him of child abuse when that wasn't the case.

But it was worth the risk.

I quickly parked the car next to the house, turning it off before getting out. Raph and I locked eyes for a moment, before walking over to the door. There was a weird pressure in my chest, something telling me that the situation wasn't right.

"Dad will kill us for being so paranoid" Don remarks dryly, standing beside me as I opened the door. "He will-"

Then I opened the door, and everyone fell silent.

Mikey coughed, blood spilling onto the floor he was laying on, stomach down. Dad was sitting on the table, a bottle of whiskey next to him and one in his hand. A bloody belt was laying next to him, discarded like it was trash. Not caring about anything else other than the bottle of whiskey.

Not even caring about the bloody gashes on Mikey's back.

"YOU… you SON OF A BITCH" Raph cried out. Dad whipped his head around in fear, eyes going wide. But before he could react, either from the alcohol or his surprise, Raph was already running at him.

"Don call 911" I order. "And get the kitchen knife"

Don obeys without question, darting towards the kitchen and simultaneously taking out his phone. I snap my head to the side, running before I could even spot Mikey. I immediately fell to my knees, hands ghosting over Mikey's body.

The gashes on his bare back were all too clear.

We were right, and we were too late.