"Freak!"
"It's all your fault!"
"You hurt us!"
"I hate you!"
"You did this!"
Words like these rang through Donatello, Leonardo, and Emiliah's nightmares.
Emily was the first to awaken. She shot up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. After she grasped reality, tears began to stream down her cheeks and she covered her eyes with her hands. Only thinking about today's gruesome experience made her shake.
After she was sprayed with the fungus substance, her world fell apart. Her family and friends were bloodied, just barely grasping on to their own lives. The sewer tunnel was battered and set aflame.
And it was all her fault.
And she didn't know what to do.
So she ran. She ran and left her family to die. And she hated herself for it, once she broke the trance. She remembered crying in Raph's arms afterwards, repeating "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…" over and over again.
Emily gripped the sheets and clenched her teeth. "My God, calm down!" She hissed at herself.
She got up from bed and walked to the door. Maybe she could find comfort from one of her brothers. As she opened the door, she was greeted by Donnie. His eyes were puffy and red, and his hand was raised and ready to open the door himself.
Emily tightly hugged him and buried her face in the crook of his neck. A sob escaped Donnie's throat as he wrapped his large arms around his vulnerable sister. He noticed that she was shaking.
After a while, Emily pulled away. Her cheeks were tearstained, which scared Donnie. She looked up at him. "You okay?"
Donnie bit his knuckle and shook his head no. Emily looked down. "N-neither am I."
They walked into Emily's room and sat down on the bed. Donnie hesitated. "C-can sleep in here tonight…?"
Emily looked up at him and weakly smiled. "Of course." She paused. "Hey, Don?" Donnie looked at her. "What did you see?"
"I-I… I saw…" He choked. "I saw April. She was saying that she'd never love me, a-and that I was a freak. She hated me." He started to cry. Emily leaned into him. "What did you see?"
She hesitated. "You guys… I-I hurt you guys, I set the place on fire, and… and I ran away." She wiped her eyes. Donnie was quite surprised, expecting to hear "bees". He put his arm around her.
Leo walked into the room. You couldn't see right away, but his eyes were puffy and red and he was shaking. Emily got up from where she was sitting and put a hand on his shoulder. "Leo…?"
Leo broke down and quietly sobbed into his sister's shoulder. Emily slowly rocked from side to side with her arms around his neck. Donnie got up and put a comforting hand on his shell. "I fa-ailed," he choked.
"You didn't fail!" Emily said. "If it wasn't for you, we'd all probably be dead because of our own insanity." She looked into his watery blue eyes and kissed his forehead. "You saved everyone today."
His lip quivered and he buried his head back into Emily's shoulder. "I was so scared." He admitted. "C-can I stay here tonight…?"
Emily smiled. "'Course."
They all got in bed, limbs overlapping one another. Donnie sighed. "Today was a living horror."