Do I own TMNT? Let me check *two seconds later* nope. Sorry folks. I do have some tea, M&M's and tees though. I also don't own Wheaties or Baskin Robbins
Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I promise the next one will be longer. I just couldn't add more without it sounding weird. And the next update will be a LOT sooner than this one was (for those of you who get impatient). I hope I got Splinter's voice right...
A humongous thank you to my reviewers. THANK YOU! YOU GUYS ROCK! : )
As always, constructive criticism is welcome via review or PM and if you ask and ye shall recieve (answers to questions that is. As long as they don't involve spoilers).
Now, on with the chapter!
Dear Journal,
Steph asked me what I was doing for my birthday. I'm not doing anything. I wish people would leave me alone about it. I don't really want to do anything. Can't we just forget about it and pretend that it's just another day? Who says that we have to celebrate all of our birthdays anyways?
Dear Journal,
April called because she wanted to know what kind of cake I wanted and Mikey wants to know what to make me for 'the most awesomest birthday dinner ever'. I told them that I don't really want them to make a big deal out my birthday and do we really have to have cake? Then Don put it on speakerphone and everybody started talking at once about what I wanted for my birthday and what kind of plans I did I want to make?
I'm just tired of hearing about it. I told them that I don't want to do anything. I don't want cake. I don't want presents. I just want to be left alone. That sort of ended the phone conversation.
The only plans I have are to go to the storage locker where we put all of Max's stuff when his landlord evicted 'him', and find that box that was in his sock drawer, the one he talked about on the phone. Then I'll go to Baskin Robbins and get a scoop of pumpkin pie ice cream in a waffle cone. The same flavor I've had every year since I was ten. Unless a miracle happens in the next week I'll be eating it alone.
Dear Journal,
The guys showed up at my apartment. They wanted to know what's up with me. I'm fine. Really I am. Is it really that hard to conceive that someone wants to be alone on their birthday? Twenty is kind of a year for reflection.
Yeah. Right. Who am I kidding? I just don't want to talk about this anymore. I have to go to work now. Those pizzas won't deliver themselves (that'd be something to see).
Dear Journal,
I may proceed with feeling like a total jerk for making my friends worry now.
Tonight there was a knock at my window. I ignored it for a second because I was in the middle of taking my frozen pizza out of the oven. I figured that if it was one of the guys they would just let themselves in. It's scary how I've come to view breaking and entering as a normal occurrence. Then the knock came again. 'Okaaaay' I thought 'what the shell is going on?' I grabbed a pan from the cupboard and headed stealthily towards the window, okay maybe not 'stealthily' but I'm not a ninja. I take what I can get. Imagine my surprise when I opened the window to find, not a turtle, but Master Splinter waiting outside on the fire escape. Of course, I invited him in out of the rain and the open. I was shocked to see him here. He doesn't usually go out in the open at all. Not even at night. My first thought was that something was wrong. I asked who was hurt and what was wrong. He just shook his head.
"I apologize, Miss Pennington. There is no emergency. I am simply here for a visit. Perhaps I should have called ahead, I do not want to intrude." he said. He always calls me Miss Pennington no matter how many times I've told him that 'just Kate' is fine.
I assured him that he wasn't intruding, and invited him to sit down and have some of the pizza that I'd just pulled out of the oven. Oven pizza is way too much for one person. I'd planned on eating some of the leftovers cold for breakfast tomorrow (Mikey calls cold pizza the 'breakfast of champions' don't let Wheaties get wind of it), but an unexpected guest just saved me from feeling like a fatty all day.
Well, I finally stopped stalling and asked,
"So, what brings you all the way out here?" He hadn't touched his pizza, just sat there, watching me make any excuse not to talk.
"My sons and Miss O'Neil are worried about you, as am I. There is something troubling you Miss Pennington. Why do you not wish to speak of it?" He's really good. It's just a theory, but I think he may be telepathic. (I'm not sharing that one with Mikey. He's already tormenting Raph enough about the accent thing. Again, if you ever read this Raph, I'm sorry!)
I just sat there stunned for a second before I found the right words to answer.
"This is my problem. I can handle it on my own. I'll be fine in a week or so. Then everything can go back to normal." He just looked at me with those eyes that seem to see right through you.
"Will it be 'normal'? Something tells me that you are running from your problems, just as you are running from your friends. Nothing will ever be 'normal' until you face what is troubling you." How did he see so much? Suddenly I found myself just confessing everything to him.
"I didn't want anything to do with my birthday. The day just reminds me of all of the traditions that Max and I had- have. It just reminds me of who isn't here to celebrate with me. I never meant to make you all worry. I'm sorry."
Splinter nodded. He understood. I could see it, I just knew. It's strange, as much as he can sense from another person, he also has a way of letting you see him. You've got to know somebody like that to really get it.
"None of us would ever ask you to disregard the traditions you hold dear. But just as there is room in your life for new friends, perhaps there can also be room for new traditions—traditions that blend the old and the new.
It is time for me to go. My sons will be returning from their training run soon. You know where to find us. What happens next is up to you."
He never did eat his pizza.
Dear Journal,
Well, the birthday's back on. I just got off the phone with everybody. They're relieved to hear that I'm back to normal, or at least getting there. And even more relieved to hear that I'm finally acting sane about the whole birthday thing. What was I thinking? Birthday celebrations are just as much for the friends throwing them as they are for the people receiving them. I'm not going to cheat my friends out of an excuse to throw a party. Besides, I might just surprise myself and have a good time.
Mikey's making that pasta with the pesto and April's making a cake. Leo asked what kind of ice cream I wanted and it was no contest: pumpkin pie.
Tomorrow we're all going down to the storage locker. It's going to be okay. I don't have to face any of this alone.
Please R&R.
Did anyone find her last name familiar? If you don't then do a little 'research'.
It's my own personal tip of the hat to the first Ninja Turtles Movie.
Yes, there actually is a flavor of ice-cream at Baskin Robbins called pumpkin pie. It's a holiday flavor that they get in November. I've tried it. It's actually pretty good.
Once again, sorry for the shortness. I'll have a longer chapter up ASAP.