Hanami – Chapter 7
Leonardo paused at his end of the crate. Looking across to Raphael, he braced himself to lift. "Ok Raph, I've got a good grip. You take the feet, we'll walk him over to the tub together."
"Her." Leonardo stared blankly at Splinter. "They are sisters, my son."
"Oh. Well, then we walk her to the tub. Ready? Lift!" Splinter watched in horror as his sons raised the body. A series of large wet splashes parted company from the base of the shell.
Raph turned his head in disgust. "Oh, man figures you'd pick the shitter, Leo."
Leo's eyes were huge. He hadn't moved. "That ain't shit, Raph, it's bloody."
Splinter gestured for his sons to come to the tub and put the girl down. Once the body was resting in the porcelin, Splinter walked over to the crate. Feeling his sons' presence beside him, Splinter turned from the box and steered them away from it.
Raph whispered, "I thought you said that they were all alive. How does anybody live after losing that many internal organs?" He knelt by the motionless form in the tub, trying to see if she was still breathing.
Splinter looked sadly at his sons, wanting desperately to protect them from any further revelations. Shaking his head slowly, he heard himself say, "She lives because those were not organs, rather they were her children."
Leonardo could not draw breath. The world crystallized around him, but his heart kept beating. The sleet hammered on the roof. The weather radio was still on downstairs. The eaves settled under the wind's buffeting.
It wasn't right. It should be quiet. THIS MATTERED! All these noises just seemed to say, "The world outside this room doesn't know. Or care. The rest of us will just keep going, ok?" Just like it wasn't important at all.
Leonardo's screams brought his brothers running. He'd punched a hole in the wall clear through into the hallway. Walking wide around their brother's embedded fist, they entered the bathroom. Raphael was sitting on the floor near the tub not moving. The girl's head lolled along the tub rim while their sensei washed her down, crying silent tears. Red blood clots flowed on pink water over the edge of the drain.