Chapter Ten:
Down the Rabbit Hole
The rung of the ladder slipped from his grasping fingers as his full weight pulled him down. It all sort of happened in slow motion. The green light above becoming dimmer as he fell downwards. The ice cold air rushed past his ears for what was probably nothing more than a second. He barely registered the echo of pieces of the metal ladder clattering onto the ground below him. A gasped escaped as he felt his shell crack on the stone floor. Landing heavily his shell bounced slightly before his neck snapped back, smacking the back of his head on the cement. The impact to his head should have been worse had it not been for his arched shell taking the brunt of the force first, but it was enough for his mind to blank out for a moment before a surge of pain shot through his skull.
Moments later Donnie came back to himself. Judging from how bad the pain was still vibrating through his occipital bone, he estimated that he couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds as the dim green emergency light started to come back into view… Only it seemed to be spinning.
With a grunt Donnie rolled onto his side trying to catch his breath, while at the same time trying not to vomit. Deep breaths, deep breaths he told himself. After a few moments the turtle managed to push himself up into a sitting position.
The chamber still spinning but he could see the large caged off door…. There it was. Just like how he remembered. The only entrance to his hell. Years ago that had been the last thing standing between him and his freedom. Donnie then looked up to see what was left of the ladder. It had broken right where his feet had been before the fall. At least about 8 feet up or so. To high up to reach, and here he was without any climbing equipment or even a rope…. He had left the lair without his emergency bag. Idiot! Maybe he could jump, but even if he could reach what was left it would likely just brake, which meant…. Oh crap! Donnie sighed rubbing the back of his head as the reality hit him as hard as the cement. He was trapped!
Bloody marvellous!
Now all he could do was go forward. Thanks to the racket he had just made danger was soon to be on its way, he was sure of it. So much for stealth mode. Donnie reached out for his bo-staff, knowing that at this point he might as well face it head on…. But as he listened, he was only met with an eerie silence.
But, he had heard something, just before he fell, he was sure of it. It sounded like a… W-whimper… A child's whimper.
Quickly Donnie tried to get up, but soon regretted it as the room continued to spin. He probably had a mild concussion, but he didn't care. Using his stick to steady himself Don made short work of the caged door. The lock gave out with just one heavy shove, as did some of the stone wall with it. This place wasn't just structurally unsound, it was crumbling around him. With his heart pounding and his fear reaching dangerous levels Donnie forced himself forward as he shielded his thoughts with his moral code wrapped up nicely with a layer of guilt. Although it was dark more small dimly green electric lights were fitted all the way down the tunnel. They were attached to thin rotten wooden beams that appeared to be the only support to the chamber. Shocked that they hadn't already given out, Donnie estimated that just a few of these knocked out would likely bring the entire chamber down.
As he made his way deeper he soon came upon what he was seeking. Posted down on his left side heavy caged maintenance doors ran along the crumbling stone wall. At the sight of them Donnie couldn't repress a shudder. Though he couldn't remember which door he was held behind, this is where he had been kept.
Still praying that he was wrong, the turtle wasted no time checking them for life… However he was sorry he did after just the first one.
He was instantly knocked back by the smell. In the pitch darkness Donnie could only make out the outline of something. It wasn't moving. No life. Not anymore. He gasped as he realised what it was. The stale stench was enough to tell him that he was long… No, years too late. Overcome with a wave of dizziness as he looked into the tiny prison, he had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from screaming.
He knew what was in there… Oh god! This wasn't a prison… It was… It was a grave! As was the next one, and the next. The bravery that had brought him down here… That he had been clinging to, instantly fell away. Leaving behind the vulnerable scared child he had once been. The turtle yelped, backing away too quickly, his feet sliding on the rocky debris causing him to trip and fall hard landing on his carapace. Donnie felt panic rip and tear through him, almost too painful to try to get up. He felt tears of horror prick his eyes as he gritted his teeth. He rolled onto his side and pulled himself into a quivering ball of misery, his hands protecting his head from more falling debris.
"Am sorry. Am so sorry. I should have done more. I should have stopped him!" That vile man, he had done this to them! He was responsible. The passive turtle was visibly shaking as he felt his horror become saturated with hate. He couldn't make this right…. But… He would end it. Right there he vowed that this was to never happen again! He would avenge these children.
Apart from his shaky breathing a thick silence filled the chamber. After his Momentary distraction by the horrific crime around him, Donnie suddenly heard the sound of rocks being shifted. He looked up, the green light hurting his eyes. Who was making that noise?
"Hello?" He called out in a small shaking voice that contained every last bit of terror crammed into one plaintive word. More sounds of moving debris, and some fast shallow breathing that was not his own.
"Hello? Is someone there?" He called out a little louder, fear welling hard in his chest sending everything logical swimming out of his head so all that was left was rushing adrenaline demanding that he moved.
Scrambling to his hands and knees as he desperately ventured further into the tunnel. His searching hands brushed across the rough surface of a wall and he stood on shaky legs as he tried to get his bearings. "Please, I'm not going to hurt you. Are you there? Please answer me-"
"Be quiet. He'll hear you!" A tiny terrified voice came out of the dark.
Donnie froze not quite believing it. "Bobby? Are you Bobby James?" He whispered getting to his feet and sliding his hands along the wall until it scraped across another caged door. Donnie gasped when he suddenly felt a cold little hand reach out through the bars, grasping desperately at his leg.
"I'm Bobby. I want my Mommy!" he cried. Instantly the turtle kneeled down so he was face to face with the little boy. It was him! The same face he had seen on the news report. The missing child was here…. They all were. How had he known? He asked himself, but there was no time for that now. They had to get out of here.
"Bobby, my name is Donatello. My friends call me Donnie. Don't be afraid of me ok. I'm…I'm a man in a costume." He quickly smiled reassuringly while repressing the urge to wince. The smell in this cage was even worse than the others.
"You're a super hero!?" Bobby said with a tiny glimmer of excitement.
This made Donnie inwardly cringe. Mikey would have loved that, but he didn't feel like a hero, not with the amount of fear he was feeling.
"Don't worry Bobby I'm going to get you out of here." He promised in a voice he hoped sounded a lot braver than he felt. But the child looked right into his eyes. There was no trace of fear as he looked over the green mutant's face.
"I knew you would come." The child said with a knowing smile that Don felt was a little out of place.
"Did you?" Donnie asked examining the lock. It was just a normal pad lock. It looked rusted over but he would have it open in a second.
Bobby nodded. "I've been calling you. I knew you could hear me, but I was scared you'd be too afraid to come back here." Bobby James said reaching out to touch the turtles face almost affectionately. Donatello stopped what he was doing and looked at the child through the bars a little taken aback.
"What do you mean?" he started but the kid suddenly ducked away from the cage retreating into the shadow of his cell.
"He's coming. Don't let him see you."
With his bo-staff at the ready Donnie quickly checked down either end of the tunnel. It seemed to be void of life, despite the creepy feeling making its way up his neck or the throbbing of his head. But he didn't fancy waiting around. He had to get the boy out of here first. The lock was very stiff. It took some effort but using only his own strength he managed to pry it backwards till it snapped. He yanked open the door and made his way into the tiny stone room. The door was so heavy that it closed again behind him.
"Bobby?" again he kneeled down so he would be on eye level with the boy. The smell in here was making his eyes water. If he hadn't just heard the child talking to him, he would be sure something had died in here. Maybe it was better he couldn't see. Blindly reaching forward expecting to find him chained up, but again Donnie was surprised as he felt two free little arms reach around his neck, clinging to him for dear life. Donnie gasped. He was like ice.
"You were kept in here too." The child whispered in his ear slit. It wasn't a question. Donnie froze, already taken aback by the boy's closeness. But how could he have known that?
"How did you-" he started but both fell silent as he caught the boy's face in the green light. He was white. Not the usual human version of 'white'. No. Dead white which only made the black eye stand out on his right side… the same side he had. He also had a cut lip just like he did. Donnie blinked as he quickly checked out the child's arms. Not only did Bobby have bruises there, he had the exact same bruises, even the shape of them on the skin… Donatello had found himself shaking when his brain caught up to what he was looking at. This was impossible… Completely impossible, so much so that Donnie didn't know what to say, so he settled on not saying anything about it, instead "Did… did he do this to you?" He said in utter appal and accepting along with it every bit of weirdness that had occurred in the few days. Bobby nodded, but the current phenomenon was cut short as they heard in the distance footsteps making their way towards them.
Donnie pressed a finger to his lips as he and Bobby moved out of the line of sight of the caged door. He could feel himself shaking as the boy clung tighter in his arms. He had failed the others, but by god! He had to save this one.
The two couldn't repress another shudder as the footsteps stopped directly outside their cell. A green light was now casting a shadow through the bars onto the floor beside them. The large figure made no attempt to enter the cage, but he did appear to be doing something. Donnie's heart was beating so fast, but the throbbing of his head was making it hard for him to focus on what the shadow was doing…. A long straight thick stick like thing appeared in the shadow's hands. Donnie's brow creased as he curiously watched the shadow, but his head was still spinning from the fall. The figure brought the stick up to his mouth and then a burst of… Music echoed through the tunnel. A flute? A …. a pipe? No! No freaking way! He remembered now. The long silver pipe, half the length of his bo-staff. That was what had kept him here. That was why the prisons weren't too strong. They didn't need to be… The music kept you here….
Was this why he had always been drawn to sticks??
As the notes floated through the air, reaching his ears, Donatello was once again hit with that feeling, that wonderful feeling that every troubling thought, or even every thought he had ever had, just wanted to float away with the notes. It felt like pressure was building in the back of his head, and it wasn't just his head injure causing it.
"Don't listen to him." Bobby whispered. "He's drawing out your soul, trying to steal it! You're still alive, you can fight him…" The child pleaded.
Donnie shook his head as though trying to wake himself up. "Steal the soul?" He repeated but then his blood ran cold as he then heard what sounded like many heavy doors opening and then many little feet running towards them. The ghostly sounds of the children cry's echoed louder than the pipe music…. But Donnie had seen… The children were… dead!
"He steals their souls and then turns them into monsters." Bobby whispered.
"Monster's in nightmares. He'll send them after you."
"Who?"
"Your nightmares." He answered in a quivering voice. "Don't let him turn me into a monster!" The moment the words had left Bobbies mouth the music and the sound of the children instantly stopped and the green lights went out!
In the complete black the turtle stood up, still holding the child in his arms. What was happening? He stood there trying to ignore the blood pounding in his ears and the hopeless feeling that was festering in his gut, consuming him… A strange sound broke through their despair. He lifted his head and listened intently. It was a strange moan. Donnie's breathing caught as a foreign sound cut through the silence of the cell like a well-honed blade. His heart clenched in fearful panic as more noise interrupted him. He twisted his head towards the sound, but saw nothing in the darkness. "What is that?" Donnie whispered clinging the ice cold child to him tighter. One way or another he was walking out of here with Bobby before dealing with Robert, and he would deal with him. He wasn't a defenceless child anymore.
Choking back his grief but with fearful determination, Donnie scoot the boy up in his arms and made his way out of the cell. Pushing his shell against the heavy door and stumbled into the open to find his way blindly back towards the ladder, ignoring the strange moans and groaning that seemed to fill the air around him. Bobbie's hot breath on his neck sent shivers down his spine and goose-bumps along his skin as he walked.
"Donnie they're here." Bobby whispered terrified at the many moans and growling around them.
Donnie choked on his fear and panic and took a frightened silent step in the direction of the exit. If he couldn't see them, they couldn't see him, he told himself. But the smell of waste that drifted up and assaulted his nostrils. He knew that smell…. Oh god! He thought as a low growl alerted him to someone, or something, standing just behind him.
Not releasing the child, Donnie slowly turned, his whole body became numb with horrified terror as he stared directly into the massive furious black eyes of the man who had attacked and imprisoned him as a child. The man who had haunted his nightmares, only now his hair was longer and it was silvery white. Resembling nothing less than a monster, the hair draped over a white dead face. Even in the darkness he could see his bright yellow coat.
His heart coming to a grinding halt, whereas his feet suddenly got the burst of energy they needed. Donnie ran for his and the child's life.
Ignoring whatever was making the moaning sounds surrounding him, he ran straight through them until he saw the little green light acting as a beacon for the way back up at the other end of the first caged door. No need to prying the lock and sneaking out this time. The last door was almost throne off its hinges as the ninja turtle burst through. The force caused the door to bounce off the side wall and close back into place.
Without thinking Donnie pulled out his phone and shoved it in Bobbie's hand. The terrified child looked at him confused.
"Listen to me." Donnie said quickly. "I am going to lift you up. You grab hold of that ladder up there and climb. Whatever you do, don't look back. When you get to the top run forward until you're out of the passage. Once you're out, turn left, that will take you back to the main sewer tunnel. Hide there and keep pushing this red button until three men who look just like me….in…in green turtle costumes. They will find you with this phone. Go with them Bobby. Trust them and they will take you home."
"But what about you?" Bobby asked but Donnie had already lifted him up onto his shoulders, making the very light boy stand on him.
"Reach Bobby! Climb now!" He yelled hearing the terrifying sound of the pipe music coming up behind them. Seconds later the little feet and the weight vanished.
"Thank you for setting me free Donatello." Was the last the turtle heard before the door was once again violently blown open and Donnie felt the familiar presence creeping up behind him.
"Hello Donnie! It's been a long time." The cold voice cut into the back of his neck like razor blades.
To be continued...End notes: Great! Another cliffhanger! Okay I hope I can update the new chapter sooner. So please stay on with me and don't go anywhere :DP.S: If you guys have tips or advices for writing story or critics for my english-because english is not my first language-, please PM me. Okay?! ;) I'd love to hear any of your words. And I'm sorry if I didn't reply all of your reviews. I'm kinda busy sometimes ;(Sorry if I had make mistakes for writing this storyPlease take your time for read/ reviewing/favourite/follow this storyBye bye for nowWith Love and hugs,Hyuna ;)