Raph had combed the area again and again trying to figure out where they
could've gone. He checked the fire escape behind where Kelen's father had
been standing, and an empty alley just off the side from where she had been
standing. But everything he did turned into a dead end with nowhere to go
in between. He was frustrated. There were absolutely no clues. It was like
they had just disappeared into a never ending oblivion. This wouldn't have
bothered him so much except that Kelen had disappeared with them. And a
while back, he had promised her he would protect her.
Kelen opened her eyes, revealing a blurry world. Her head was throbbing, but she couldn't figure out why. After a few seconds, the room around her slowly came into focus. She sat up cautiously and looked around. 'Where am I?' she thought. This definitely wasn't the sewers. The sewers did not have big, steel doors or square room's where you were thrown on cold floors. She tried to recollect what had just happened, but she was drawing a blank. The pain in her head also served some part in that she couldn't think straight. The floor she had been thrown on was stone and damp from the cold that seeped through it. 'That's weird,' she thought, 'who has stone---' she stopped herself as she came to realization with where she was. Her insides were immediately flooded with anxiety. How the hell would she get out? She stood up and leaned against the wall for support. She made her way to the other wall and got her legs used to walking. Then she turned around and examined the very large steel door holding her captive. It also had no handle so she had no idea how to open it. She walked up to it and pressed a few different spots. Then she pushed her weight against it, hoping to shove it open. After many tries, she came to the sad reality that she wasn't going to get this door open. She could, however, hear someone's snoring on the other side. 'So it can't be that thick,' she thought to herself. She also figured that the snoring belonged to a guard sent there to watch her. She sighed, utterly exhausted. "Shit." she muttered. What she really wanted to do was kick the door down and kill whoever was behind it. But she knew the longer she could fake being unconscious, the better chance she had of getting out of here. She turned around and leaned back against the door. She was surprised by a vent on the other side of the room. She smiled and walked over to it. It could easily be taken out of place. When she peered through the tiny slits, she could see it led directly to an alley. "Perfect," she whispered. She reached out to knock it out of place. As soon as she touched it, she received an electric jolt. She almost screamed, but she stopped herself. Instead she let silent tears roll down her face and brought her fingers to her mouth. There was no way out. She looked out of the vent. It was like it was there to remind her she wasn't leaving. All of a sudden she saw something that cheered her up. A pair of green feet. She bent down and looked up at who they belonged to. It was Raph. She smiled to herself. He was looking for her.
"Where the hell is she?" he muttered. The vent caught his eye. He bent down to look through it. All he could see was darkness. But Kelen could see his deep chocolate brown eyes perfectly. She opened her mouth to shout out to him. Instantly she felt the cold steel of a sword drawn up against her neck.
"Do you really want to do that?" a familiar voice asked in a harsh whisper. But it wasn't the one she had expected to hear.
She turned to face a person she had always trusted. "Trent?" she whispered.
Raph groaned. There was nothing behind that vent. He tried to think back and remember every detail of what had happened. They had fought, she ran, he ran after her. That part was clear. They had run into her father. He had to have known they would be there, otherwise no one could have found as a secluded spot as that. But how had he known? It got confusing when Kelen screamed. He turned around to see what had happened out of instinct. She was gone and he didn't know what had made her scream. When he turned back around, her father was also gone. For all he knew, she could have screamed because they had shoved a knife in her. 'No,' he thought quickly, 'That didn't happen.' He got up to re-trace his steps for the hundredth time that night. He was surprised by a sudden noise from his belt. He picked up his turtle-com.
"What?!" he said into it.
"Raph?" Lauren asked. "What's wrong?"
He looked down into the com. "Lauren! Look, I can't explain, but Kelen's gone."
"She's gone?" Lauren asked. "Like she ran away?"
"No! Her father got her."
"How?!"
"I don't have time to explain!"
"Where are you? We'll come help you look," Lauren said, she sounded desperate.
He gave her a rough idea of where he was. "I don't know! In an alley." he groaned, "that's really hard to find. Look, there's a hotel, and there's an alley next to it. A bunch of different alleys come off of it. I'm in those alleys somewhere, I just dunno which one."
"Alright, we'll be there as soon as possible!"
Raph switched off his turtle-com and shoved it back in his belt. He wasn't getting anywhere with finding Kelen. He started to look on the ground instead, searching for anything anyone had dropped. He slowly made his way away from the vent and around a corner.
Kelen couldn't do anything as she heard him walk away. She was too stunned by seeing her brother. He looked just as stunned to see her.
"Kelen?! You're the one everyone's been after?"
"It looks that way, doesn't it?!"
"What did you do?" Trent asked skeptically.
"I don't know!" she shouted, then glared at the Foot symbol displayed across his forehead, "What did you do?"
"Kel, this is where we belong! Our dad's here, and they want us here, too!" he said.
"Look, your dad might be here.but mine isn't!"
"What are you talking about, Kelen?"
"He rapes me, Trent! You know that! He is not my father!"
"Kelen, he only does that because he loves you," Trent said wisely, "and he is your father."
"He loves me?! He hurts me because he loves me?! What have they done to you?"
"Look, I'm sure you'll understand later. Hey! I bet they just want to know where those mutants are! All you have to do is tell them.that's not so hard. Those beasts do nothing but fill your mind with useless thoughts and unattainable dreams. You don't need that."
"I don't need you!" she shouted. Instantly, she was taken back with her own words. That was exactly what Raph had said to her a few hours ago.
"I've seen that look before. It's hurt. They hurt you more than you know. But I know. Don't worry little sister, I'll make sure they don't ever hurt you again."
"No! They don't hurt me! I love them!"
"You do no such thing!" He said, pinning her backwards against a wall, holding her wrists above her head. "This is your home now, and you will love the people here."
He released her and threw her to the ground, leaving the room. But before he closed the door, he said, "Don't shout out to that.that thing. Otherwise I'll be forced to kill you."
Kelen didn't make a move. Instead, she feigned unconsciousness.
As soon as everyone arrived, they split up and began searching for anything at all that would tell them where Kelen was. Lauren looked terrified, but was trying to keep it under control. Mikey was definitely worried, but determined. Donnie was carrying a tracker, to keep tabs on everyone and make sure no one got lost in the tangle of alleys or was captured. He also hoped to find Kelen on it, but was having very little luck. Leo was acting very much like their leader. More so than usual. He gave everyone specific instructions about where they would go and when they would meet back. He paired Raph and Lauren together since they knew Kelen the best and would have the most luck finding anything simply from intuition. Then they were all off in different directions.
After an hour, Lauren and Raph hadn't found anything. They were each equally frustrated. Raph had taken a few minutes to explain what had happened just before she disappeared. He had left out the part that had been fighting. Man, he felt guilty about that. If he hadn't yelled at her, she wouldn't have walked off like that. Lauren could see how uptight he was. She reached out and touched his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Raph. Kelen's a big girl. She knows how to take care of herself. Even if you don't believe it.you have to remember that Kelen could've been killed on numerous occasions and somehow or another she got out of it. We'll find her," she said, reassuring him along with herself.
"I hope so," he said. He paused for a minute. "Hey, could I ask you something?"
"Sure," she said.
"Do you have any idea what Kelen's reaction would be if someone told her they didn't need her?"
"You told her you didn't need her?!"
"Along with a few other things."
"Raph, Kelen has gone her entire life having people leave her. Her mom, her brother.and it's really not a good feeling to lose someone so close to you. Or to feel like it's your fault that they're gone. And after a while, she just stopped caring. She stopped telling people how she was feeling. And in the words of most people, she just became too difficult to love. And Kelen just sort of watched them faze out of her life. She figured if they *needed* her, they would've stayed."
"One day she came to the conclusion that she needed everyone else a lot more than they needed her. So whenever she feels like someone doesn't need her, she just lets them go. And sometimes it's really hard. And it's stupid of her to lose people to her emotions, but she doesn't see it like that. I've known Kelen her whole life, and the thing she hates the most is opening up to people because they don't understand. Well, all she's ever been towards you is open. You're the first one she's ever really trusted besides her family. And if she ever felt like you didn't need her, she'd die. Because she really needs you."
Raph cringed. His guilt had doubled. "If I'm the first one she's trusted, then what about you?" he asked, trying to relieve himself.
"I said besides her family, Raph. I am her family. Her mom died when she was eight and ever since then she's become a part of my family and lived with me. I told you we tried to adopt her and Trent once. We just couldn't do it without her dad's signature. And when people ask my parents how man kids they have, they say seven. Me, my brother's Jeff, Josh, and Gabe, my sister Lindsey, and Kelen and Trent."
Raph groaned. He had said she didn't have a family. "Strike two," he murmured.
"You're just lucky she's so forgiving," Lauren said sarcastically.
Raph groaned again. Getting Kelen to forgive you was like pulling teeth.
"Maybe you guys should just call it even. You know, after keeping the thing about her father a secret," he started to feel a little better after she mentioned that, "for two days."
"She only knew for two days?!" he yelled.
"She'll explain when we find her," Lauren said, and then she lowered her voice considerably, "if we find her."
"We'll find her. We have to."
In the darkness of the alley, something gleamed from a corner. "What's that?" Lauren asked, pointing in the direction of the shimmer.
Raph looked over to where it was. "Let's go see."
Kelen waited until the door was shut behind her before opening her eyes. Everyone she had ever trusted had betrayed her. A very distinct feeling of aloneness captured her. It swirled around her body and sunk into her skin. It swam through her blood and caught the tips of breath. But with this feeling came another. Persistence. If she was alone, than no one was going to rescue her. She would have to get out on her own.
But not now. Right now, her head throbbed and her entire body was aching and screaming out in pain. She looked down at her blood stained clothes. She hadn't noticed she was bleeding. When she pulled her shirt up to search for the source of the blood, she found no scratches. Instead, she found a wide trail of blood which she traced with her finger. Blood covered her stomach, chest and neck. Reaching up, she discovered a large, open gash wound on her forehead. As soon as she touched it, the blood bit her fingers and started to run freely again. She drew her hand back slowly and examined the contents that had spilled over fingers. She had to stop it. She ripped the bottom of her t-shirt off and folded it into a thick square. Then she ripped off more of her shirt in a long line. She held the square to the wound and wrapped the make shift bandage around it, tying the ends together tightly. She had no idea how long it would last or if it would even help, but she had to do something.
After she got the wound bandaged up, she was left with nothing to do. All she could do was wait and see what would happen to her. That wasn't particularly what she wanted to do, but she wasn't left with a choice. Deep in her heart, she hoped Raph would come and get her out. But the rest of her was saying that he wasn't coming. He had already given up looking for her. His words rang through her ears. 'I don't need you.' That hurt so much. She could feel herself choking up, but refused to let anyone know she was crying. She didn't want anyone to know how much pain she was in. The weaker she seemed, the easier of a target she made.
Lauren and Raph made their way over to the object. Lauren recognized it first.
"That's Kelen's!" Lauren exclaimed.
"It is?" Raph asked, picking it up. It was silver chain. Six or seven rings hung on the chain. Each ring, except for a small gold one, had stones on it. "I've never seen her wear this."
"She keeps it in her pocket," Lauren said, taking it out of his hand, "always."
"Are those all real?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah. They were all gifts. Long story," she said.
Raph looked at where he was. The vent he had seen was just around the corner. It was the only place to disappear to from here.
Raph grabbed Lauren's arm. "This way," he said.
Kelen was hunched up against the wall trying to hear what was going on outside the door. She could make out her brother's voice and her dad's voice. The other voices she didn't recognize. She was getting worried. She could only make out a few phrases, but it didn't sound good.
"She has to...then kill her..doesn't matter..I will to."
"..maybe she will..means nothing..force her."
Two things happened at once. She saw Raph and Lauren from the vent, and her father, Trent, and two other men entered the room.
"Oh, look, it's your friends. Should we invite them to stay for dinner?" her father asked mockingly.
The other men snickered. Then her father came and sat beside her. "Let's just eavesdrop a little, shall we?"
"This is the only place to go from here," they heard Raph say.
"You really think she's down there?" Lauren asked humoring him. "Okay, then."
'Yes! I'm down here!' she wanted to scream, 'Right in front of you!' She focused all her energy behind her eyes, giving herself a massive headache, and then looked straight towards Lauren. She tried to envision herself saying the statement out loud. Tried to imagine Lauren hearing it. Splinter had tried to teach her to do this once while the guys were sparring. It hadn't worked then, but she prayed it would work now.
Lauren gave Raph a weak smile. She didn't think that Kelen was down there. She opened her mouth to try and calm him down. He was furious that she didn't believe him. She closed her mouth and took a step backwards from the small opening. A jolt had filled her body. It was weak, but strong enough that she wasn't going to ignore it. She couldn't describe it. It wasn't really a feeling, more like a memory. It made no noise, yet sounded like Kelen. It had her smile, but she couldn't see it. It had the overall presence of her. An image popped into her head that she had seen so many times before. It was just Kelen's eyes, but they were burning into her soul. It was this sort of glazed over look, like she was somewhere else completely. But then she caught you looking at her, and snapped her head towards you. Her eyes would glow for just a moment. Just enough to let you know she needed help. And then they'd cover up the pain she was feeling with that same glaze, and she'd smile at you wildly. The entire thing was haunting. She had no doubt that Kelen was down there.
"Raph, get your brothers." she said weakly.
"What the-? Lauren, you okay?"
"She's down there, and she's hurt!" she yelled at him, "I can see it! Go get your brothers!"
Raph knew better than to argue with Lauren's visions. He started a sprint back to where he and Lauren should have met up with everyone else fifteen minutes ago.
Inside the small prison where Kelen was being kept and where four men had piled in, chaos ensued.
"You little bitch!" her father said harshly, slapping her across the face. Then he turned towards Trent, and two other Foot members. "Get her the hell out of my sight!"
They complied with the orders and quickly had Kelen within their strong grasp.
"Let me go!" she yelled at them, kicking wildly. She managed to turn around and bit the hand that was holding her. She didn't let go, until he dropped his hand from her wrist. Then she delivered a swift right hook across his jaw, and tripped out his feet. Everyone else was still in shock. They had greatly under estimated her strength. Just because she was scared of her father, didn't mean she was scared of them. Trent reached out and grabbed her shoulder, searching for a pressure point. He assumed that because they were blood relatives, she would trust him. She didn't. She turned towards him and kneed him in the groin. She brought her arm up and used her elbow to knock the side of his head, sending him to the ground. The last Foot Soldier stared in disbelief as she unsheathed Trent's katanas. She held them in front of her and threatened to attack. She didn't have to though.
"You crazy bitch, what the hell's wrong with you?"
"Mental imbalance," she stated, smiling insanely at him.
He fled the room. She turned around, pleased with the way that conversation had gone. She stood looking at her father. Sickness wrapped itself tighter and tighter around her stomach until it was all she could do not to scream.
"Go ahead. Kill me," he said, as the sickness she felt was displayed in a crooked smile across his face.
She gripped the katana tight to her chest and waited for him to approach her. The strength she felt bubbling just a moment ago slowed quickly to a simmer. She felt helpless. And as he raised a fist and brought it towards her face, she screamed.
Outside, Lauren had heard the entire fight, but the darkness overtook the sound. She didn't know who was throwing the punches and who was receiving them. She had heard someone call Kelen a "crazy bitch" and had linked it to at least one good hit. But the scream was too much to take. She reached out and tried to pull the vent from its place in the wall. She received the same electric jolt that Kelen had felt earlier. She gave off a scream that matched Kelen's. She felt an immediate connection to her just in knowing they were both in pain, even if one outweighed the other. And she knew Kelen wouldn't give up without a fight.
Raph reached his brothers breathing hard.
"Where were you?" Leo asked.
"Where's Lauren?" Donny questioned, immediately noticing her absence.
"Back there," Raph said, gesturing with his hand. "We found Kelen."
"Where is she?" Leo asked, looking around.
Raph glared at him, "Getting her hair done. Where d'ya think?!"
"Raph, calm down. Just bring us to her," Donnie said.
He shot a cold look at him and turned on his heel. Then he shot off through an alley heading right back to where he came from.
Kelen opened her eyes, revealing a blurry world. Her head was throbbing, but she couldn't figure out why. After a few seconds, the room around her slowly came into focus. She sat up cautiously and looked around. 'Where am I?' she thought. This definitely wasn't the sewers. The sewers did not have big, steel doors or square room's where you were thrown on cold floors. She tried to recollect what had just happened, but she was drawing a blank. The pain in her head also served some part in that she couldn't think straight. The floor she had been thrown on was stone and damp from the cold that seeped through it. 'That's weird,' she thought, 'who has stone---' she stopped herself as she came to realization with where she was. Her insides were immediately flooded with anxiety. How the hell would she get out? She stood up and leaned against the wall for support. She made her way to the other wall and got her legs used to walking. Then she turned around and examined the very large steel door holding her captive. It also had no handle so she had no idea how to open it. She walked up to it and pressed a few different spots. Then she pushed her weight against it, hoping to shove it open. After many tries, she came to the sad reality that she wasn't going to get this door open. She could, however, hear someone's snoring on the other side. 'So it can't be that thick,' she thought to herself. She also figured that the snoring belonged to a guard sent there to watch her. She sighed, utterly exhausted. "Shit." she muttered. What she really wanted to do was kick the door down and kill whoever was behind it. But she knew the longer she could fake being unconscious, the better chance she had of getting out of here. She turned around and leaned back against the door. She was surprised by a vent on the other side of the room. She smiled and walked over to it. It could easily be taken out of place. When she peered through the tiny slits, she could see it led directly to an alley. "Perfect," she whispered. She reached out to knock it out of place. As soon as she touched it, she received an electric jolt. She almost screamed, but she stopped herself. Instead she let silent tears roll down her face and brought her fingers to her mouth. There was no way out. She looked out of the vent. It was like it was there to remind her she wasn't leaving. All of a sudden she saw something that cheered her up. A pair of green feet. She bent down and looked up at who they belonged to. It was Raph. She smiled to herself. He was looking for her.
"Where the hell is she?" he muttered. The vent caught his eye. He bent down to look through it. All he could see was darkness. But Kelen could see his deep chocolate brown eyes perfectly. She opened her mouth to shout out to him. Instantly she felt the cold steel of a sword drawn up against her neck.
"Do you really want to do that?" a familiar voice asked in a harsh whisper. But it wasn't the one she had expected to hear.
She turned to face a person she had always trusted. "Trent?" she whispered.
Raph groaned. There was nothing behind that vent. He tried to think back and remember every detail of what had happened. They had fought, she ran, he ran after her. That part was clear. They had run into her father. He had to have known they would be there, otherwise no one could have found as a secluded spot as that. But how had he known? It got confusing when Kelen screamed. He turned around to see what had happened out of instinct. She was gone and he didn't know what had made her scream. When he turned back around, her father was also gone. For all he knew, she could have screamed because they had shoved a knife in her. 'No,' he thought quickly, 'That didn't happen.' He got up to re-trace his steps for the hundredth time that night. He was surprised by a sudden noise from his belt. He picked up his turtle-com.
"What?!" he said into it.
"Raph?" Lauren asked. "What's wrong?"
He looked down into the com. "Lauren! Look, I can't explain, but Kelen's gone."
"She's gone?" Lauren asked. "Like she ran away?"
"No! Her father got her."
"How?!"
"I don't have time to explain!"
"Where are you? We'll come help you look," Lauren said, she sounded desperate.
He gave her a rough idea of where he was. "I don't know! In an alley." he groaned, "that's really hard to find. Look, there's a hotel, and there's an alley next to it. A bunch of different alleys come off of it. I'm in those alleys somewhere, I just dunno which one."
"Alright, we'll be there as soon as possible!"
Raph switched off his turtle-com and shoved it back in his belt. He wasn't getting anywhere with finding Kelen. He started to look on the ground instead, searching for anything anyone had dropped. He slowly made his way away from the vent and around a corner.
Kelen couldn't do anything as she heard him walk away. She was too stunned by seeing her brother. He looked just as stunned to see her.
"Kelen?! You're the one everyone's been after?"
"It looks that way, doesn't it?!"
"What did you do?" Trent asked skeptically.
"I don't know!" she shouted, then glared at the Foot symbol displayed across his forehead, "What did you do?"
"Kel, this is where we belong! Our dad's here, and they want us here, too!" he said.
"Look, your dad might be here.but mine isn't!"
"What are you talking about, Kelen?"
"He rapes me, Trent! You know that! He is not my father!"
"Kelen, he only does that because he loves you," Trent said wisely, "and he is your father."
"He loves me?! He hurts me because he loves me?! What have they done to you?"
"Look, I'm sure you'll understand later. Hey! I bet they just want to know where those mutants are! All you have to do is tell them.that's not so hard. Those beasts do nothing but fill your mind with useless thoughts and unattainable dreams. You don't need that."
"I don't need you!" she shouted. Instantly, she was taken back with her own words. That was exactly what Raph had said to her a few hours ago.
"I've seen that look before. It's hurt. They hurt you more than you know. But I know. Don't worry little sister, I'll make sure they don't ever hurt you again."
"No! They don't hurt me! I love them!"
"You do no such thing!" He said, pinning her backwards against a wall, holding her wrists above her head. "This is your home now, and you will love the people here."
He released her and threw her to the ground, leaving the room. But before he closed the door, he said, "Don't shout out to that.that thing. Otherwise I'll be forced to kill you."
Kelen didn't make a move. Instead, she feigned unconsciousness.
As soon as everyone arrived, they split up and began searching for anything at all that would tell them where Kelen was. Lauren looked terrified, but was trying to keep it under control. Mikey was definitely worried, but determined. Donnie was carrying a tracker, to keep tabs on everyone and make sure no one got lost in the tangle of alleys or was captured. He also hoped to find Kelen on it, but was having very little luck. Leo was acting very much like their leader. More so than usual. He gave everyone specific instructions about where they would go and when they would meet back. He paired Raph and Lauren together since they knew Kelen the best and would have the most luck finding anything simply from intuition. Then they were all off in different directions.
After an hour, Lauren and Raph hadn't found anything. They were each equally frustrated. Raph had taken a few minutes to explain what had happened just before she disappeared. He had left out the part that had been fighting. Man, he felt guilty about that. If he hadn't yelled at her, she wouldn't have walked off like that. Lauren could see how uptight he was. She reached out and touched his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Raph. Kelen's a big girl. She knows how to take care of herself. Even if you don't believe it.you have to remember that Kelen could've been killed on numerous occasions and somehow or another she got out of it. We'll find her," she said, reassuring him along with herself.
"I hope so," he said. He paused for a minute. "Hey, could I ask you something?"
"Sure," she said.
"Do you have any idea what Kelen's reaction would be if someone told her they didn't need her?"
"You told her you didn't need her?!"
"Along with a few other things."
"Raph, Kelen has gone her entire life having people leave her. Her mom, her brother.and it's really not a good feeling to lose someone so close to you. Or to feel like it's your fault that they're gone. And after a while, she just stopped caring. She stopped telling people how she was feeling. And in the words of most people, she just became too difficult to love. And Kelen just sort of watched them faze out of her life. She figured if they *needed* her, they would've stayed."
"One day she came to the conclusion that she needed everyone else a lot more than they needed her. So whenever she feels like someone doesn't need her, she just lets them go. And sometimes it's really hard. And it's stupid of her to lose people to her emotions, but she doesn't see it like that. I've known Kelen her whole life, and the thing she hates the most is opening up to people because they don't understand. Well, all she's ever been towards you is open. You're the first one she's ever really trusted besides her family. And if she ever felt like you didn't need her, she'd die. Because she really needs you."
Raph cringed. His guilt had doubled. "If I'm the first one she's trusted, then what about you?" he asked, trying to relieve himself.
"I said besides her family, Raph. I am her family. Her mom died when she was eight and ever since then she's become a part of my family and lived with me. I told you we tried to adopt her and Trent once. We just couldn't do it without her dad's signature. And when people ask my parents how man kids they have, they say seven. Me, my brother's Jeff, Josh, and Gabe, my sister Lindsey, and Kelen and Trent."
Raph groaned. He had said she didn't have a family. "Strike two," he murmured.
"You're just lucky she's so forgiving," Lauren said sarcastically.
Raph groaned again. Getting Kelen to forgive you was like pulling teeth.
"Maybe you guys should just call it even. You know, after keeping the thing about her father a secret," he started to feel a little better after she mentioned that, "for two days."
"She only knew for two days?!" he yelled.
"She'll explain when we find her," Lauren said, and then she lowered her voice considerably, "if we find her."
"We'll find her. We have to."
In the darkness of the alley, something gleamed from a corner. "What's that?" Lauren asked, pointing in the direction of the shimmer.
Raph looked over to where it was. "Let's go see."
Kelen waited until the door was shut behind her before opening her eyes. Everyone she had ever trusted had betrayed her. A very distinct feeling of aloneness captured her. It swirled around her body and sunk into her skin. It swam through her blood and caught the tips of breath. But with this feeling came another. Persistence. If she was alone, than no one was going to rescue her. She would have to get out on her own.
But not now. Right now, her head throbbed and her entire body was aching and screaming out in pain. She looked down at her blood stained clothes. She hadn't noticed she was bleeding. When she pulled her shirt up to search for the source of the blood, she found no scratches. Instead, she found a wide trail of blood which she traced with her finger. Blood covered her stomach, chest and neck. Reaching up, she discovered a large, open gash wound on her forehead. As soon as she touched it, the blood bit her fingers and started to run freely again. She drew her hand back slowly and examined the contents that had spilled over fingers. She had to stop it. She ripped the bottom of her t-shirt off and folded it into a thick square. Then she ripped off more of her shirt in a long line. She held the square to the wound and wrapped the make shift bandage around it, tying the ends together tightly. She had no idea how long it would last or if it would even help, but she had to do something.
After she got the wound bandaged up, she was left with nothing to do. All she could do was wait and see what would happen to her. That wasn't particularly what she wanted to do, but she wasn't left with a choice. Deep in her heart, she hoped Raph would come and get her out. But the rest of her was saying that he wasn't coming. He had already given up looking for her. His words rang through her ears. 'I don't need you.' That hurt so much. She could feel herself choking up, but refused to let anyone know she was crying. She didn't want anyone to know how much pain she was in. The weaker she seemed, the easier of a target she made.
Lauren and Raph made their way over to the object. Lauren recognized it first.
"That's Kelen's!" Lauren exclaimed.
"It is?" Raph asked, picking it up. It was silver chain. Six or seven rings hung on the chain. Each ring, except for a small gold one, had stones on it. "I've never seen her wear this."
"She keeps it in her pocket," Lauren said, taking it out of his hand, "always."
"Are those all real?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah. They were all gifts. Long story," she said.
Raph looked at where he was. The vent he had seen was just around the corner. It was the only place to disappear to from here.
Raph grabbed Lauren's arm. "This way," he said.
Kelen was hunched up against the wall trying to hear what was going on outside the door. She could make out her brother's voice and her dad's voice. The other voices she didn't recognize. She was getting worried. She could only make out a few phrases, but it didn't sound good.
"She has to...then kill her..doesn't matter..I will to."
"..maybe she will..means nothing..force her."
Two things happened at once. She saw Raph and Lauren from the vent, and her father, Trent, and two other men entered the room.
"Oh, look, it's your friends. Should we invite them to stay for dinner?" her father asked mockingly.
The other men snickered. Then her father came and sat beside her. "Let's just eavesdrop a little, shall we?"
"This is the only place to go from here," they heard Raph say.
"You really think she's down there?" Lauren asked humoring him. "Okay, then."
'Yes! I'm down here!' she wanted to scream, 'Right in front of you!' She focused all her energy behind her eyes, giving herself a massive headache, and then looked straight towards Lauren. She tried to envision herself saying the statement out loud. Tried to imagine Lauren hearing it. Splinter had tried to teach her to do this once while the guys were sparring. It hadn't worked then, but she prayed it would work now.
Lauren gave Raph a weak smile. She didn't think that Kelen was down there. She opened her mouth to try and calm him down. He was furious that she didn't believe him. She closed her mouth and took a step backwards from the small opening. A jolt had filled her body. It was weak, but strong enough that she wasn't going to ignore it. She couldn't describe it. It wasn't really a feeling, more like a memory. It made no noise, yet sounded like Kelen. It had her smile, but she couldn't see it. It had the overall presence of her. An image popped into her head that she had seen so many times before. It was just Kelen's eyes, but they were burning into her soul. It was this sort of glazed over look, like she was somewhere else completely. But then she caught you looking at her, and snapped her head towards you. Her eyes would glow for just a moment. Just enough to let you know she needed help. And then they'd cover up the pain she was feeling with that same glaze, and she'd smile at you wildly. The entire thing was haunting. She had no doubt that Kelen was down there.
"Raph, get your brothers." she said weakly.
"What the-? Lauren, you okay?"
"She's down there, and she's hurt!" she yelled at him, "I can see it! Go get your brothers!"
Raph knew better than to argue with Lauren's visions. He started a sprint back to where he and Lauren should have met up with everyone else fifteen minutes ago.
Inside the small prison where Kelen was being kept and where four men had piled in, chaos ensued.
"You little bitch!" her father said harshly, slapping her across the face. Then he turned towards Trent, and two other Foot members. "Get her the hell out of my sight!"
They complied with the orders and quickly had Kelen within their strong grasp.
"Let me go!" she yelled at them, kicking wildly. She managed to turn around and bit the hand that was holding her. She didn't let go, until he dropped his hand from her wrist. Then she delivered a swift right hook across his jaw, and tripped out his feet. Everyone else was still in shock. They had greatly under estimated her strength. Just because she was scared of her father, didn't mean she was scared of them. Trent reached out and grabbed her shoulder, searching for a pressure point. He assumed that because they were blood relatives, she would trust him. She didn't. She turned towards him and kneed him in the groin. She brought her arm up and used her elbow to knock the side of his head, sending him to the ground. The last Foot Soldier stared in disbelief as she unsheathed Trent's katanas. She held them in front of her and threatened to attack. She didn't have to though.
"You crazy bitch, what the hell's wrong with you?"
"Mental imbalance," she stated, smiling insanely at him.
He fled the room. She turned around, pleased with the way that conversation had gone. She stood looking at her father. Sickness wrapped itself tighter and tighter around her stomach until it was all she could do not to scream.
"Go ahead. Kill me," he said, as the sickness she felt was displayed in a crooked smile across his face.
She gripped the katana tight to her chest and waited for him to approach her. The strength she felt bubbling just a moment ago slowed quickly to a simmer. She felt helpless. And as he raised a fist and brought it towards her face, she screamed.
Outside, Lauren had heard the entire fight, but the darkness overtook the sound. She didn't know who was throwing the punches and who was receiving them. She had heard someone call Kelen a "crazy bitch" and had linked it to at least one good hit. But the scream was too much to take. She reached out and tried to pull the vent from its place in the wall. She received the same electric jolt that Kelen had felt earlier. She gave off a scream that matched Kelen's. She felt an immediate connection to her just in knowing they were both in pain, even if one outweighed the other. And she knew Kelen wouldn't give up without a fight.
Raph reached his brothers breathing hard.
"Where were you?" Leo asked.
"Where's Lauren?" Donny questioned, immediately noticing her absence.
"Back there," Raph said, gesturing with his hand. "We found Kelen."
"Where is she?" Leo asked, looking around.
Raph glared at him, "Getting her hair done. Where d'ya think?!"
"Raph, calm down. Just bring us to her," Donnie said.
He shot a cold look at him and turned on his heel. Then he shot off through an alley heading right back to where he came from.