Chapter 8: To Hear

Casey's P.O.V.

Time: - 5 days…

I lost two of my best friends and was able to gain one that was not on my list to get. Donnie is the most accepting of me now. Raph hates me. And the others…

April looks sick. She won't commune with the guys or me. She pretends like I'm not there. She doesn't answer Donnie's calls. She just…doesn't care.

"Casey," Don whispers," how's April?"

I shrug, sitting up from my slouch on Don's table. "Don't really know, Don. She won't talk to me."

"Why?"

I shrug again," Don't know." I'm the third wheel now. Not in a couple way. In a kinda dead living thing. Sounds stupid but that's how I see it.

"Casey," Don continues, frowning at this anti-mutagen stuff he's using," Why did you tell me to listen? For Leo, I mean."

I shrug. It's a personal thing. Some trick I learned when I was younger. I never told anyone about it. Not my sister or Dad. Maybe…I could tell Donnie. He'd understand, wouldn't he?

"My mom died when I was eight, Don," I start slowly," To cope with it, I talked. I ranted. It made my Dad mad, but I did. It made me feel better. Sometimes, when days were bad, I'd try to hear her. She'd whisper to me in my mind, and say she loves me and how proud she is. I still do it sometimes."

"…Thank you, Casey. For telling me that. If you hadn't, I'd probably be worse off…thinking he's completely gone and all."

"How's Raph?" I ask.

Don sits up and sighs, "Terrible. If he's not crying, he's sleeping. If he's not eating he's lying on the floor, just…dead. He's broken, Casey. I've never seen anything like it."

I shake my head," Me either." Then, after a moment, I say, "And you?"

Don shakes his head. His voice cracks and I can tell he's lying," I'm fine." He's not. Don is broken, too.

Leo…this was a bad time to go, man. If you can hear me…. Help my friends.