I shivered. Pulling a face, I went on. It wasn't the first time that I wished to be down in the sewers, at the turtles' lair. I sighed when I thought about Michelangelo, playing video games and eating pizza. My stomach growled. O man.
I left the lair a week ago. Not like I wanted. Or that somebody even made the slightest thought in that direction.
I woke up, and then I had this feeling. Like home. I knew that I could stay and feel comfortable and secure. But the same morning, I left. I didn't want to give up my freedom, nor did I want to become a pest for the turtles.
So there I was. Back on the streets, and I felt a strange mixture of regret and happiness. Regret because I was sure to never see the turtles again, happiness because I was back in my freedom. A harsh, dirty and dangerous freedom, but freedom.
"Damn brat! Get lost!" I ran. The angry voice sounded like 'I'm gonna call the police!'. And no, I didn't do anything. I just dared to visit a shopping centre. I spat on the ground. An old woman stared angrily at me. I stared back. She moved on, saying something that sounded like 'lazy street brat'. I snorted.
Humans were strange beings. Telling us to go and look for work, but not letting us to the places where we could find work.
However. It was late afternoon, and the sun was about to set. I was hungry, had no money and some damn bastard stole my lighter. The only stuff I had left was the knife and the clothes on my body. Not the most comfortable situation, but complaining wouldn't help.
I went on, hoping to find somebody I could steal from. Then, I heard them. Purple dragons. It was easy to recognize them, they're not the smartest and pretty noisy, and so I heard them long before they could see me. I hurried through the streets – the Purple Dragons were almost famous for mugging little girls in groups of at least five, heck it, I heard they attacked a blind guy in a group. So, I was naturally not in the mood to meet them. Who'd want to end up like that girl I met months ago, all beaten up, nothing with her than some rags; shocked by the things they did to her? And I wasn't only talking about mugging and beating up.
I turned into a street, and – damnit, who the heck is pulling the strings in this damn situation?! –of course it was a dead end. I tried to hide behind some trash bins, hoping the Purple Dragons hadn't seen me before.
"Hey, cutie! Wanna play?" My heart stopped for a second. I prepared to scream as loud as I could, hoping somebody would hear it. I already opened my mouth, when I heard somebody cry.
The Dragons weren't after me.
I felt relieved. I was safe, from what it seemed they hadn't seen me, and met someone else instead. I would wait here until they were done with that girl, after that I would get lost and never ever set foot in this area.
"NO! Please, I'm begging you, leave me alone!" It was a girl. Screaming, begging. Nothing new. I could clearly remember the first days on the street – I was shocked by the violence. But you get used to it, at least if you want to survive.
I felt nervous. I didn't know why. I wasn't in a situation like this the first time, but still…
The girl screamed again. I knew how she felt.
The turtles would've helped her.
Raphael would.
I stood up, my whole body shaking, and moved towards the screaming of the girl. Taking out my knife, I fought for a confident and strong attitude.
I could see them now. Four men, every single of them with the tattoo of a dragon, and a little girl. I supposed that she was younger than me. Maybe thirteen. Her big brown eyes were full of tears, and she was pale. She was kneeling on the ground; one of the men had grabbed her hair and pulled it. The others laughed.
"Stop it." My heart was beating fast, and my hands felt sweaty and cold. So cold. The men looked up, but they didn't move even a finger. The girl was still crying. "I already called the police, so let go of her or you will get damn trouble." My mouth was dry, and my voice sounded higher than usually. The men started laughing. "Ohh, really?", one of them said. I swallowed when I saw the knife in his hand. Please don't use it! I cried inside.
The Purple Dragons let off the girl. She stayed on the ground, still crying. I could hear her sobs. Four men. Four men against me. I started to wish that I never started this whole, stupid action, but it was too late. Problems were already on the way.
I backed off. But I knew that I couldn't run away. The girl was still there, if I'd run away, they would get back to her. The men knew too that I hadn't a single place to go. I swallowed. I had hoped that this wouldn't turn out like that. But, like I mentioned long ago, luck didn't come often down here to the street kids.
"I got the feeling you wanna play, girl. How does dancing sound to you?" He laughed dirty, then he made a move with his hand towards one of his friends, and that guy – that guy showed an iron staff to me. I swallowed again.
This would be so not fun.
The staff started to fly towards me. I tripled back, almost losing my balance. I moved back, avoiding the staff. Fortunately, they were just playing. I was sure that they would've already broken my legs if they would be serious.
Again, I avoided the staff, but this time, one of those guys changed his position and pushed me. They're pushing me into the dead end!, I thought, and panic started to overwhelm my mind. I didn't pay enough attention, and the staff hit me hard. I fell on the ground, crawling back so the staff wouldn't hit me again.
The men laughed. "Where's your police, darling?", one of them asked. I got back on my feet, but I got pushed back to the ground. Again, I crawled back and afterwards got back on my feet. The men laughed harder. I backed off, when I suddenly felt the wall behind me.
I was caught.
The fear I felt inside me made me shake. My breath got even faster, and I could hear my heart beat fast. I felt cold, colder than usual, and yet, I was sweating.
The men came closer. "Well, that was enough dancing, right? How about some fun now?" The one who said that was the one with the knife. He let the blade snap out. That reminded me of my own knife. I just wanted to use it, when he grabbed my wrist and pressed it hardly. I winced and let my knife fall. I felt tears in my eyes and kept them back with all my might.
He grinned. I could see his eyes – they were small and dark. They seemed to burn with greed. I swallowed, for the maybe hundredth time that day. The man whispered: "How about I take a look on your underwear, or even better, what's beneath it." I stopped breathing for a second. I couldn't move in terror.
This guy, he was going to…going to –
"Get away from her, you asshole!" The man turned his head to look who was disturbing him, and what he saw scared him enough to let of me. I fell on my knees. The relief I felt when I heard the voice was almost overwhelming, and tears poured out of my eyes.
"Raphael!", I said. The turtle bashed towards me and the Purple Dragons. He took them out in less than two minutes – they weren't even trying to fight back, he was simply too good. They ran, and the one with the knife shouted: "Freak!" But when he saw Raphael glaring at him, he ran.
Raphael kneeled down to me. "You okay?", he asked. I realized I was crying and wiped my tears embarrassed away, then I nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." Raphael sighed, stood up and gave me his hand. "How did you get the attention of four Purple Dragons, huh?", he asked me. I took his hand and stayed silent. He stepped back. "Ok, then not. " He sounded angry. "Thanks for saving me. And great timing by the way, though it would've been cooler if you'd shown up like ten minutes earlier.", I said. He laughed.
"Where's the girl by the way?", I asked. Raphael looked at me. "What girl?" I shrugged. "Never mind." So the girl left. Smart chick. She must've realized that once the Dragons would be done with me, she would be the next. In that situation, I would've left too.
"Hey, Rose." I looked up. "Yeah?" Raphael had opened a gully cover to the sewers. "It's getting late. Let's go home." I stared at him. Was he kidding?
He saw my hesitation and sighed. "What's the matter? Now, that you know about us, you can live with us as well, right? After all, you have no place to go."