The Lost Boy
part 8
"Wow, where to start?" Mikey asked himself thoughtfully as he placed careful stitches in Leo's shoulder, drawing the bullet wound closed. "I suppose the beginning is always the best, that way I won't forget anything or have to jump around in my story."
"Your earliest memory," Leo murmured to encourage him.
Mikey laughed. "My first memory is waking up inside a kid's backpack. It was about the point where I had started changing and I got too big for the thing. When I finally managed to crawl out of it I found myself in a large, colorful room. There were a couple of brightly colored rugs on the floor, tables with colorful plastic bins on them, multi-colored tubs in the corners, and well, pretty much everywhere I looked there was color. I figured out later it was a school, but of course right then I didn't know a darn thing.
"I take that back; I did know I was hungry. Something inside the backpack had smelled pretty good, so I dug around inside and found a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I bit into the plastic wrap before I realized I had to take it off; I don't recommend eating plastic by the way, it was nasty."
Leo chuckled softly, so enamored of the young turtle's voice he barely felt the needle piercing his skin.
"Of course after I ate the peanut butter I got so thirsty I almost panicked. There was a potted plant in one corner and fortunately someone had overwatered it. The catch basin underneath was full and believe me, even filled with dirt that water tasted good.
"I was pretty tired then and really confused. I found a crate full of clothes; costumes that the kids used for playing dress up, so I crawled in and burrowed down until I felt warm. The sound of voices woke me up and when I peeked through the holes in the side of the crate I saw that my colorful room was full of giants," Mikey said in a suitably dramatic tone.
"The school kids?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. I didn't know what they were 'cause they sure didn't look like me, so I stayed in that crate all day. I was too scared to move and I'm lucky I guess, 'cause they didn't need anything out of my crate.
"I finally came out after everything had been dark and quiet for a really long time. I had grown a little more during the day and that crate wasn't gonna cut it as a hiding spot anymore. Finding a place to hide was my first priority and then locating some food was a close second, 'cause I was starving.
"Since I didn't know if I could find another soft spot to sleep in, I took a big, thick jacket out of a chair where some kid had left it. It had deep pockets so I grabbed a couple of other things I thought I could use and stuffed them in the jacket, but I couldn't find any food. Thankfully, someone in that classroom was intent on drowning that plant 'cause they'd overwatered it again and I could at least quench my thirst," Mikey said.
"Your instincts are very good," Leo said.
Mikey clicked his teeth with his tongue and said, "If you mean I have a will to survive then yeah, I guess so. All I remember is thinking I needed a place that was too small for the giants to get into. I dragged the jacket with me as I searched for a way out of that room and I got lucky again 'cause the heating vent in the floor had a loose grate.
"I pushed it aside and almost didn't go in 'cause it was really dark down there. Fortunately the heat was off and when I yelled the sound echoed back to me, so I knew that big opening went somewhere.
"I shoved the jacket in first so I'd have something soft to land on. That worked out to be a good idea, cause the heating shaft was pretty steep and without the jacket slowing me down, I would have built up too much momentum for a safe landing."
"That was still quite a chance to take," Leo observed.
"I figured staying in that room was worse," Mikey said honestly. "Anyway, I wound up in the boiler room. It was a lot warmer in there than in the classroom and behind some pipes I found a nice dark corner to hide in. That was enough adventure for one night, so I crawled onto my jacket and went to sleep.
"I'm not sure if it was my grumbling stomach or the janitor coming in to work that woke me up. Maybe I could sense that he had food. He left his lunch pail sitting under a bench so he could grab some supplies. Before he left he got his thermos out and drank some coffee and when he put it back in to the pail, he didn't close it properly and I could smell the food.
"After he went upstairs, I snuck out and snagged everything I could get my hands on; I even drank the rest of the coffee, although it tasted yucky. Dude, I was seriously bouncing off the walls later."
His light laughter made Leo join in, the older turtle's imagination supplying a picture of a young Michelangelo made hyper by caffeine.
"What happened when the janitor came back and found that his lunch was missing?" Leo asked.
"He said some words that I have since learned not to repeat," Mikey said humorously, "and then he started looking around. I was fortunate 'cause he didn't look all that hard; I guess he figured some kid took it and they were all obviously upstairs. After that I figured out that even though the boiler room was a nice warm place to stay, the humans liked it too.
"I started exploring again and found a blocked off maintenance panel that was behind some old school equipment. It didn't seem like anyone had been near there in like, forever. I was pretty small still, but to my mind that panel looked like a door so I pried it open. There was a metal ladder behind the panel and when I climbed down I was in a sub-basement. It was super dirty and full of cobwebs, but to me that just meant no humans ever came down there.
"The sub-basement was huge and I picked out a section that was far from my access ladder so if anyone did come down, they wouldn't see my home. Little by little I brought things down and barricaded my area so no random visitor would find me."
"That had to have been very difficult," Leo said, remembering his early years and their hardships. He had gone through them with a father to guide and protect him; Michelangelo had no one.
"Yeah, but it wasn't like I had a choice," Mikey said. "I knew from that first couple of days that I didn't look like anybody else and my instincts took care of the rest. I explored the school every night after everyone left and believe me, it didn't take long for me to find the cafeteria. That was the mother lode, dude! There was always food there and so much of it that no one ever missed what I took. I didn't even have to worry about starving when school was out for the summer 'cause they had a breakfast and lunch program year round."
Mikey had finished sewing Leo's wound at this point and he carefully bandaged the patch job. He came around the bench and sat next to Leo, extracting an antibiotic hand wipe from his kit and thoroughly cleaning his hands.
Leo rotated his shoulder slowly, noting that the stitches didn't pull at the wound. The only other individual who did such a good job at stitching was his brother Donatello, and he'd had years of practice.
"This feels good," Leo said. "I can't feel the stitches at all."
Mikey smiled his pleasure at the compliment. "Just don't forget about them. Try not to get them wet or do anything strenuous until it has a chance to heal. But I guess you already knew that."
Leo nodded his acknowledgement. "I've been hurt a few times."
"No duh," Mikey said. "So, are you bored yet?"
"Far from it," Leo told him, settling back against the bench.
Mikey's eyes followed the soda bottle as Leo lifted it to his mouth. After taking a swig, Leo held it out to the young turtle. Grinning, Mikey accepted the bottle and took a long pull from it before handing it back.
"I've got more," Mikey said, "I'm just being lazy."
Leo returned the smile, his head swimming from Mikey's nearness. When the younger turtle had tilted his head back to drink, Leo had an almost irresistible urge to launch himself at Mikey's long, muscular throat. To stop himself, he had lifted his eyes to Mikey's mouth, which had been pressed against the lip of the bottle. That sight had caused a familiar tightness below Leo's beltline.
"How long did you live in the school? How did you survive?" Leo asked, his curiosity piqued by Mikey's story.
"Aren't you tired of listening to me?" Mikey asked without guile.
"Not even close," Leo said truthfully.
Mikey shifted on the bench. "Well, get comfortable then."
Taking a deep breath, Mikey started into his story once more. Leo stretched an arm across the back of the bench as he relaxed, his eyes fixed on Mikey's face. Lifting the bottle to his mouth once more, Leo discreetly ran his tongue around the lip, imaging that he could taste Mikey there.
The young turtle didn't appear to notice that Leo was gently tracing the grooves in his carapace as Mikey talked. For Leo, it was almost as if he had his arms around Mikey.
TBC…
