Chapter 8: Prelude to a nightmare

Donatello checked over their visitor for any signs that her condition was more than stress related. It wasn't. It appeared that her body had simply had enough and therefore shut up shop before she exploded. Professor Brainiac then went on to explain - to anyone who was listening - that it was a natural defense mechanism. Raphael groaned and shook his head.

"She ain't much good all unconscious though is she? You won't get your answers then"

"Her health comes first brother, answers can wait" Leonardo stood over Rosie as her eyelids fluttered and she took a reluctant peep "How you feeling?"

She squealed and whimpered, visibly backing away from him.

"We aren't going to hurt you, it's okay, we're the good guys. I'm Leo, leader of these bunch of retrebates, this is my brother Donnie who's the resident doctor, Mikey, the resident prankster and Raphael, the resident muscle"

She was looking around the room - taking each one in turn and attempting to process the information before speaking: "So you're not going to eat me?"

The one called Raphael let out an almighty laugh: "Eat you? You seriously thought that we were going to eat you?" Now he laughed so much he fell off the chair. Leonardo smirked but soon let it drop when he saw her blushing.

"Ignore him, he finds everything funny" he announced, giving Raphael one of 'those' looks.

"Aww c'mon bro, it is rather funny, you have to admit" added Michelangelo grinning "No? you don't see that? Okay..." He squirmed back into the sofa looking a little awkward.

"It might be a good idea to keep her in the larder" began Raphael, folding his arms "She'd last us a good week easily, we could keep her for emergency use only"

"Knock it off" snapped Leo, he then turned back to Rosie and proceeded to crouch down next to her "He's teasing of course"

She still looked a little wary but her eyes weren't quite as wide.

Was he implying that I was fat? so not only were they feeling that it was okay to laugh at my misjudgement but they were poking fun at my size too. This was not a situation that I wanted to be in so I moved my legs forward off the sofa and went to get up.

"I think you should take it easy - your blood pressure is still a little off" the one in the glasses was looking at me with concern - this was the one that had been referred to as the 'doctor'. Well I don't know which medical school he qualified at but I felt damn sure that it wasn't a recognised one.

"I'm fine, honest, I just want to get back to the hotel"

"And you can, Raphael will take you back to where he found you, I just want to know what you were doing at TCRI" They were all staring at her now; apart from the one in question who had turned away and was flicking through a comic book.

"As I told your brother I have no idea - I don't know why they took me; I've never even heard of the place"

Leonardo was frowning "Strange, they don't normally just take without reason...Donnie, do you think you can do some research into Rosie and I'll see what Karai can find out"

A huffing sound came from Raphael which the others chose to ignore.

"Why would you research me? I'm just ordinary. Doubt you'll find anything interesting"

"You never know, I'll see what I can come up with"

Raphael tossed down the comic "You heard the girl, she's ordinary, I told you guys, she won a competition; that is probably the only thing you'll pull out"

"Hey! You need to remember your manners; she's our guest so stop being so rude, what would Splinter say" Leonardo was looking angrily at his brother and pointing a finger.

"Oh and there it is - the finger of doom! I was waiting for that to make an appearance" mocked Raphael getting to his feet, pushing past Leonardo and going to the exit "You know what bro, Splinter would say nothing because he's dead so you need to stop bringing him up!"

The door was slammed shut with such a force that it made a booming sound.

"Mikey, go after him will you?"

"Uh-uh, no way Leo, you know what he's like when he's in a mood, I'm keeping out of it"

I found myself wondering who would be taking me out of here now that my guide had left. Leonardo seemed to read my mind.

"Don't worry, I'll take you back up"

And true to his word he did. After they'd asked me several more questions about my non-interesting life back in England and my less interesting job; they appeared to be happy that I wasn't a space alien, werewolf or international spy. Leading me out of the lair; blindfolded of course, we were soon up back up in the land of humans and once he uncovered my eyes he gave me my bearings and went to leave; telling me to 'stay safe'.

"What is TCRI?" The question was out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about it.

"You say you don't know then you're best not knowing...it's a bad place and I would just keep away - ignorance is bliss trust me"

"Oh...okay"

"I'd just keep to the hotel, and keep a low profile. If they picked you up once they may try again"

"I suppose..." Turning away I glanced back to say thank you but he had gone and I began to wonder whether I had imagined the entire encounter. Four giant reptiles living in a sewer sounded more like an urban myth than reality.

I checked my clothes were okay by taking a big sniff I satisfied myself that they weren't too bad - well, I didn't want to go back to that lovely hotel smelling like crap did I? I had no idea what I looked like - a mess probably. I visualised myself soaking in a huge bubble bath. Heaven.

Entering the hotel I marched up to the desk. The woman behind the counter gave me a strange look. Obviously I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards and then some. I flashed her a smile and began to explain my predicament. As the details of my story drew to a close I waited for her to respond. She tapped away at the keyboard and then re-met my eyes her face expressionless.

"I'm sorry Miss Taylor but you checked out well over 2 hours ago"

I what? I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing.

"Pardon me...you are kidding right? I mean, I couldn't have checked out because I'm here, I'll show you, my stuff is in the room"

The woman shook her head "The room is now re-occupied, it was cleaned and trust me there is nothing in there" She turned away and went to a filing cabinet "I'll show you...S...T, Taylor; here" She placed a piece of paper in front of me. The paper was a check out form and there at the bottom was my signature.

"This is ridiculous! I told you, I didn't check out, why would I do that, my holiday isn't over"

I was panicking now and obviously coming across as a little fraught as she indicated to security personnel with a brief nod.

"Your flight was changed upon request"

"Request from whom! I'm here! How could I have changed it; I've been locked up, at that TCRI place, there were these dodgy men and a..."

"Miss I'm going to have to ask you to leave" The security man had joined the receptionist at the front desk and now both of them were staring at me with a mixture of pity and disgust.

"But I have no-where to go!" I exclaimed "You have my things, my passport"

"You took your passport when you checked out Miss Taylor, look, I can show you the footage if you like" She faced the security guard "Rob, would you?"

The next few minutes passed in some sort of hazy blur; the security man took me to what I presumed was his office and he fiddled about with one of the computers.

"There.." he announced "You. Checking out"

Oh my God, I strained my eyes to look closer, but there she was; well, there I was, at the front desk with all my things doing what appeared to be checking out.

"This is madness" I breathed.

"The only madness is you; now are you going to leave quietly or am I going to have to call the cops"

I shook my head "No, I'll go"

Taking hold of my arm he lead me from the office and out to the front of the building before unleashing his grip and heading back inside. I just stood there. Frozen to the spot. I could see them laughing at me and felt more than a little humiliated at this whole thing - I couldn't understand why this was happening? Who was the individual who had checked out in my place? Were they now on their way back to my home? to my family? and for what purpose? I was just ordinary; why would someone want to do this to me?

Without realising it; I had began to walk away from the hotel and down the street. My mind was still whirring with questions; and there were no answers that I could offer.

I looked up to the Heavens, I don't really know what I was looking for, I doubt I would get any answers from the Lord Almighty himself.

But perhaps I would find some help up there; on the rooftops; my strange reptilian rescuers could be around; maybe they could help me. After all, I knew no-one else! the Hotel would never let me back in there again. So I found a fire-escape and began to climb. Once up top I felt so much safer. The streets at night were a dangerous place; I hadn't forgotten my last encounter with the locals.

I scanned the area but there was no sign so I found a corner and settled myself down into it; allowing the concrete to wrap itself around me and offer some shelter.

"Rosie Taylor...are you stalking me?"

My eyes fell upon the huge figure of Raphael as he loomed over me, arms folded and looking more than a little put out. I scrambled to my feet.

"I checked out...well, I didn't because it wasn't me...someone posing of me checked out...so now I'm more than a little stuck...I wondered, could you help? I don't know anyone else, and I've no-where to go..." I gave him my pleading look; even though he'd jibed about my weight and mocked me I really did have no-where else to go and no-one else whom I knew. I was lost.

He took a deep breath "Damsel in distress doesn't really suit you you know? But, can't leave you out here cluttering up the roof top can we? Follow me" He turned and walked away. I stumbled forward and followed. Choosing yet again to ignore the obvious dig he'd just made. Answering back would only leave me on the streets and I much as I loved New York I did not want to die out here.