A/N: Hello everyone! I'm so very excited to share this story with you - I first wrote it 5 years ago when I was 17/18. Now I'm 23 and I'm ready to continue it, and therefore (hopefully) do it justice. This is just the very beginning of Ella's story, so stay tuned! Please do review and let me know what you think, it helps out a lot as well.
Without further ado, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT.
The Beginning: Part 1
I have always believed that there are stories within us.
Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever your age—you were born for your story. Whether it is a small pool in an endless ocean, or the catalyst for the storm, your story is yours, and yours alone. No one, and I repeat, no one else in the whole entire Universe can take that away from you.
Which leads me to wonder if that's a blessing or a curse.
Sometimes your story starts out small, but then it grows, and grows, and grows into something bigger than you have ever imagined. And then that is when you start to ask yourself if it something you can continue with.
We are all made for a story, we all have something within us that speaks of more, much more.
And so this is mine, the prologue of my story.
The story within me.
Ella tugged her beanie on, sliding her headphones over her ears as she waved goodbye to her mom and older sister, bounding down the steps of their apartment.
It was early in the morning, just a quarter past seven, and already there were crowds of people crossing the streets on their way to work or school. Everyone looked mostly tired and, since this was New York City and they were New Yorkers, as though they wanted nothing more than to fling themselves onto the oncoming traffic.
Ah, New York. Ella thought happily as two cab drivers get into a fight across the street from her. The people around her were watching the scene with apathy, all seemingly used to these kinds of things happening every day. She blinked when one of them raised a fist at the other, body tensing at the prospect of violence, before a woman promptly came up and firmly pushed down his arm, talking to both of them sternly. Soon they were apologising to each other, and Ella shook her head as the two men nodded at each other, all traces of hostility gone from them both.
The people in this city pretend to not care, when I know that there are those who do. Ella found herself smiling at the woman who'd stopped their fight, and she smiled back, nodding at the younger.
With lighter steps, she continued her walk to school, humming along to the song she was listening to. Florence Welch's voice rose higher and higher as she hopped up the school steps, nodding at some of her classmates who were mingling outside the entrance. Her boots echoed along the hallway floor as her head bopped to the beat of the song, lips beginning to silently mouth the lyrics. She manoeuvred through the crowd of students, some milling around the corners in groups while others had their eyes glued to their phone screens and fingers tapping incessantly on it.
Eventually she reached her locker just as the song ended. Slipping off her headphones and letting it rest around her neck, she wrestled with the lock on her locker. Ella sighed, deciding that first thing tomorrow she'd go to the office to get a new lock. This one was obviously busted.
She swung her bag to one shoulder so that she could pull out the books she didn't need and stuff her headphones inside of it. Jamming her math and science books inside, Ella blew a stray strand of black hair out of her face as she slammed her locker door shut, thinking of what would happen later—
"Morning, Ella!"
Ella shrieked and whirled around, one fist flying in the air before she could see who the voice came from. Luckily, the person had been quick enough to avoid her punch, instead moving swiftly to the side and staring down at her with one red eyebrow quirked up.
"Damn it, April. Give a girl a warning next time, would ya?" Ella snapped, left hand coming up to clutch at her chest.
April rolled her eyes, smirking at the other. "Not my fault you're such a scaredy cat."
Ella scowled, sticking her tongue out at the taller girl, who laughed and said, "Real mature, Isabella, real mature."
She grinned in response, moving to toss her unruly black hair over her shoulder. "So where's your barbarian of a boyfriend? Don't you two usually come to school together?"
Ella watched in satisfaction as April's cheeks turned pink, chuckling at her. She leaned against the locker, tugging at the sleeves of her purple sweater, waggling her eyebrows at the redhead.
"He's on his way, he just had to settle something with a couple of... friends."
Ella raised an eyebrow at that, shrugging in response. "Meh, what Casey does in his spare time isn't any of my business." She pushed off the lockers, starting towards class with April at her side. "Guess I'll be seeing him in class, then."
April snorted. "That's if you don't lunge at him and claw his face off the moment he enters."
Ella gasped dramatically, hand coming up to rest over her heart. "I would never do that!"
"Says the girl who kicked Casey Jones into the school pool for getting her English report wet." April muttered, then paused in thought when Ella gave her a poker face. "Well," she continued, "I guess he kind of had it coming."
Ella huffed, throwing her hands in the air. "Thank you! Besides I don't hate him, I like him," she suddenly paused and turned to April with a wide-eyed look, hands hovering in the air between them. "Not that kind of like like, okay? It's just fun to mess with him."
April shook her head in amusement as they slipped into class and took their seats, the bell ringing right on time. Ella bid her friend goodbye as she approached the back of the class, pulling off her headphones and sliding into her seat just as Mrs. Vandom strode in. She was a force of nature; slightly plump, stern and eyes reminiscent to that of a hawk's as she surveyed the room.
"Where's Casey Jones?" She barked, eyes coming to rest on April. Most of their class already knew about their relationship, and so it only made sense that Mrs. Vandom would grill April for her boyfriend's attendance – or lack thereof.
Ella flinched in sympathy as April floundered, unable to come up with a reason under Mrs. Vandom's harsh glare.
If looks could kill, April would be buried six feet under.
She opened her mouth, ready to invent some tale about Casey currently busy helping some old man off the streets, when said boy appeared, battered and bruised and cradling his left arm. The class and Mrs. Vandom gaped at him, and Ella blinked, unimpressed.
Speak of the devil, and the devil shall come.
"Casey Jo—!" Mrs. Vandom thundered, but her incoming lecture was cut off by April, who'd stood up the moment Casey had appeared in the doorway.
"I'll take him to the infirmary, Mrs. Vandom! Don't you worry about a thing!" She said, pushing Casey out of the class so fast that the teacher could only stare after them in shock and confusion.
Ella's eyebrows rose as her friends left the class, confused and slightly worried at the state Casey was in. But before April disappeared around the corner, she turned and glanced at Ella, giving her a small smile and a nod to let her know that everything was alright.
Well, Ella thought as she sank back into her seat, attention shifting to the still stunned Mrs. Vandom. They've got some explaining to do later.
"What." Ella deadpanned, crossing her arms as she braced herself against the tabletop.
Casey was scratching his head nervously with his right hand, his left arm currently in a cast that the school nurse had placed it in. April sat to his right, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"So you expect me to believe—" Ella began, placing her feet onto the cafeteria bench as she leaned down, grey eyes meeting Casey's square on. It was, after all, the only way she'd ever actually be able to stare him down. Being only five foot tall, she wasn't exactly able to stare anyone in the eye unless they were shorter than her, or she was standing on a chair.
"—that the reason you got those bruises, and that sprained arm, was because you fell off a swing?"
She broke off, staring at him in disbelief, and then turning to April and gesturing with her hand as if to say, Is he serious?
April grimaced, turning to stare at her boyfriend with a steely look in her blue eyes. Casey gulped, looking like he might actually be afraid for his life at the sight of two girls both staring him down; one angry, and one very, very annoyed.
"Look, Case, I don't know what goes on in that thick skull of yours, but you don't sprain your arm falling off a swing." Ella leaned back, raising one dark eyebrow as Casey's mouth opened and closed, eyes flitting between April and Ella as he struggled to find an answer.
The silence dragged on, until finally Ella sighed and uncrossed her arms, leaning back against her hands. "You know what, never mind."
April turned to look at her incredulously, as though she couldn't believe what Ella had just said. "You believe him?!"
The brunette snorted. "Nah, man! You've got to be either really weak or really stupid to sprain your arm falling off a swing. Both of which you are," she added to Casey, who just gave her a mocking smile. "But it's none of my business. After all, I can't make you tell me something you clearly don't want to."
Her friends visibly sagged in relief at her words, as though they had been afraid she would continue grilling them for an explanation. Huh.
"Just don't end up dead one day, Jones," she continued, starting to swing her legs as she sat perched on the edge of the cafeteria table. "I don't appreciate my one verbal punching bag dying off and leaving me alone."
Casey sneered as April snickered, giving her boyfriend an innocent look as he turned to glare at her.
"I'll keep that in mind, Grace."
After that the rest of the day passed by quickly, and Ella found herself looking forward to going home and having the house alone to herself. Her sister, Lia, was still at her college, probably working on her latest film project while her mother was busy overseeing a new art exhibition at the Met, which meant that both wouldn't be back until really late at night.
She said goodbye to April and Casey after school, the two heading off to meet with their mysterious friends. Ella had heard a bit about them, that there were four and they were brothers, but she'd never heard anything more than that. She'd asked to meet them once, too, but April had immediately said no, and seeing Ella's hurt look, stated that they were "pretty much loners who didn't really like other people."
Ella had dropped the issue after that, never asking or prying too much about who they were. She respected her friends' privacy, and kind of understood the dislike of other people that the brothers' supposedly had. She never really liked people, either. Although she could be sociable if she wanted to, she preferred spending time with her closest friends than mingling too much with strangers.
Of course, despite the bravado she showed at school and around her family and friends, there were times when Ella got lonely. But it didn't bother her as much anymore, she'd kind of gotten used to it, and so usually she buried her face in a book or spent her time writing in her journal. Jade, her best friend, was always too busy with college work as well, and so Ella was pretty much all on her own nowadays.
As she trudged back home, the blue sky beginning to turn a gorgeous mix of pink and orange, Ella breathed in the cool evening air. Ingrid Michaelson was playing her in headphones now, and she let her soothing voice was over her, quieting her thoughts and anxieties until it was just her and the music.
The moment was perfect, Ella realised, and she couldn't wait to get home and put to words the beauty of the feeling that she felt.
For nearly her entire life, Ella had always depended on words for survival. When she was angry, she wrote. When she was sad, she wrote. When she was hurting, she wrote. Writing was a way to ease her pain, and throughout her life, the one thing other than music that she relied on to keep her stable. She first fell in love with words when she started reading at the tender age of eight, picking up her copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with her dad at the bookstore.
Since then she kept on reading all sorts of books that piqued her interest. Fantasy, mystery, horror, romance—it didn't matter; if she liked the story, she'd read it. Overtime, she'd amassed quite the collection of books, the walls of her room surrounded on all sides with bookshelves. She didn't mind though, she felt happier around them, knowing that if she needed to, she had hundreds of worlds she could throw herself into.
And as Ella unlocked her front door and swung it open, she felt as though a weight on her chest had been lifted, like she'd just broken through the surface of the ocean and breathed in a huge lungful of fresh air.
Leaving her combat boots at the shoe rack, she headed straight to her room, flinging her bag along with her headphones onto her bed. She changed immediately out of her sweater, jeans and socks, donning on an oversized black shirt and denim shorts for comfort. Tugging her hair back into a ponytail, she left the mess of clothes on her bedroom floor.
She went to the kitchen after that, ready to start on her dinner, and then after that she could spend the rest of her night writing. Ella was quite a good cook, as she liked to think, considering her father had loved to cook in his free time. He taught her how to cook a couple of his specialties—and right now, she was trying to recreate his famous Shepherd's Pie.
Ella was peering around the fridge, brows furrowed and a spatula clenched between her teeth as she tried to look for the ingredients that she needed when she heard a loud thud. She froze, hand coming up to slowly pry out the spatula from her mouth and grip its handle tightly. Another thud, this time followed by hushed whispering.
Someone was trying to break into the apartment.
Her heart began to race. Slowly, carefully, she shut the fridge door before turning around and trying to locate where the sounds were coming from.
Thud. More whispering. A loud yelp, and then a crash.
The balcony.
She crept towards their living room as carefully as she could, doing her best not to make any noise. Her grip on the spatula tightened when she peered around the wall separating the kitchen and the living room—and saw four silhouettes on the balcony. Now, if this were any other normal robbers, Ella would've slinked away to call the police.
However, these definitely weren't normal robbers.
Their shapes were... odd, to say the least. They looked like the outline of any normal human being, except that... they had... shells on their backs? And were those weapons?!
Ella could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she tiptoed towards the sliding doors of the balcony, gripping its edge. Her palms were clammy, her hold on the metal frame slipping a bit before she steadied herself again. Okay, Ella, on the count of three...
One, two...
Three! She grasped the edge of the door and yanked it open so hard that it rattled against its frame. The four intruders startled and whirled around, and Ella came face to face with—
Her jaw dropped. Dimly, she heard the clatter of plastic against ceramic as she felt the spatula slip from her grasp.
Four, giant turtles were standing on her balcony, staring at her in stunned silence.