An O'Neil and a Master
Donny and I reach the lair, as he calls it, just before the sun rises. I know enough about the demented orphanage I was forced to stay in that soon they will be back up and running, probably with something to gain a little money for repairs, most likely a freak show of sorts. Until then I know to wait my time out with the guys, I have nowhere else to go to. My other friends can stay in Maria's cave she found, but it's small to house five teens, let alone the six I would make, so I opted to stay out of the group. I've blocked my understanding of why temporarily, but my subconscious doesn't want to be near my friends right around now. Once at the entrance, Donny pulls a lever and opens the door to the inside, but immediately seems embarrassed. I look to the entrance from behind him to see that a mutated, human sized, rat is in the room, wearing a kimono. He immediately spies me, and the barely-contained fury terrifies me to the core. Had I not frozen myself in place, I'd be shaking like a leaf in the wind as Donny speaks. "Master Splinter, this is my friend Amelia. She is not a normal human, and my brothers and I met her earlier today. She was attacked by two stray foot members and held her own, but got taken down. She needs a place to stay." The one who Donny calls Master Splinter looks me in the eye, and though I want to duck from the gaze, I keep my head level so he can see into my eyes, but do not seem like I'm being rude.
"You say she is not human, but it seems as though she is completely normal. How can we trust her to keep our secret?" Master Splinter asks, and I respond instead of Don.
"I will trade you. I don't tell humans about you, and you don't tattle on me and say experiment 77 is free." I unfurl my wings only a little, enough to prove they are there; then crush them against my back again. I look into his eyes again, and I send a message past language, past words and sound and thought, a message that says that I mean no harm. He nods slightly, silently saying he recieved. Before an awkward moment of silence could occur Donny asks a pointed question.
"When you first met us you asked if we knew an O'Neil. Why would you want to find one?" I turn to him and feel the joy I had back away from me.
"An old promise I made to a dead man I hardly knew. He wanted me to send a message to 'A female O'Neil'. Do you know any? Please, the message is something that is not sprung of anger, but of family."
Donny eyes me quizzically, then asks to master splinter, "Where are my brothers? I need to talk to them about something." Splinter points into a room and I am left alone with him for a moment before Donny comes out of the room with his brothers in tow. "We know the girl you might be looking for," he states. "We'll ask her to come down here to talk about this."
A call and fifteen minutes later a red haired woman entered the lair. Immediately the resemblance to the man I knew struck me, but still I was tentative as I asked, "So you are April O'Neil?"
"Yes. And you are Amelia?"
"Correct. I hate to beat around the bush, so… have you ever had a brother?"
Her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Yes, his name was Jack. How did you know?" She's on edge and wary as I hesitantly answer.
"I met him just before he died. He wanted me to give you a message; he wanted me to tell you that he loved you. Also, I wanted to tell you the answers to any questions you might've had about his passing."
The boys stare wide-eyed at the two of us, and Leo says, "Why didn't we know about this brother?"
April's response is immediate. "He was dead before you met me, no point in raising the dead. I wanted to know," She looks to me, "exactly what happened? No one ever found his body, and if you were there…" her face is expressionless, and I inherently know she is trying to hold back tears.
"That night was dark. Six people stood in an old warehouse, and I was among them along with your brother. Everyone stood in a circle in order of entrance, and your brother was last. We were all there to protect our families. Every one of us knew the rules; there was one bullet in a revolver gun with six spots, and only five of us would come out of the warehouse. It started, and one to another the gun was passed and people shot, but no one went down. By the time it got to me I was positive I was the one not coming out, and I told him to tell my family I loved them. My heart stopped and I shot, but the bullet didn't leave the barrel, and I passed the gun to him. He was terrified, but he stayed strong through a few tears. He told me to tell a girl O'Neil that he loved her and shot right afterwards. I helped bury him in the beach where no one was at the time, but I still bring flowers to him. I could take you to him if you'd like." She's silent, but Raph speaks up and almost makes me punch him in the gut.
"Why'd you tell 'er all that? Can't you just leave it at 'he's dead' and be done?"
Rather than beating him to a pulp anger rises in me and I yell, "If your littlest brother died and you couldn't save him, weren't there, weren't enough to protect him, and you go through a long time not even knowing what happened but only he was dead, then lo and behold someone comes who can tell you the real story of how he died, would you want to know? That's exactly what happened to her." He's shocked at my outburst, and immediately I look down and it's clear that any rage has quickly passed.
"How'd you know he was younger than me?" April's question is quiet, and a little scared.
"I know the feeling. I lost someone who was a little sister to me, and because I'm not absolutely positive she's dead people use her against me, knowing that no matter how obvious a trap may be, I will fall for it. So I understand the unique feeling of a younger sibling's death." She's silent for a moment, and the turtles seem to piece together that who I speak of is Rosa. I see her pained expression and open my arms slightly, inviting a hug. The takes the invitation and holds me tight, letting go of a flood of tears. I join her in crying, but my tears are less, if only because I've nearly cried myself out over Rosa. Through the tears, I whisper over and over in her ear, "It's all right, it's all right. It's all gonna be all right."
I am, contrary to popular belief, alive, and have kept writing. I felt that a little emotion needed to be drained in the form of tears for Amelia and April, so a sob session was arranged for the two. How do you like it? I promise that in the next chapter there will be much more action for those who are bored to tears by teary-eyed moments.