AWAKENINGS

August 29, 1995

48 Minutes

SPLINTER:

They fell asleep in the living room, none of them wanting to leave the places where they had fallen. I took the blood-soaked rags into the bathroom and rinsed them as well as I could, then hung them over the bathtub. I did not need to ask what had happened. My intuition had awoken me, and the news media had provided me with details. I could only imagine the horrors that they had witnessed, and the desperation they would feel later, when the shock was gone and they began to ask themselves if they could have possibly done more.

I walked past them again, and looked over each one, making sure that all of their wounds were tended to. The smell of blood hung heavy in the air, and I forced myself to ignore it. I had done all I could.

CLARISSE:

I held a five-year-old girl to my side as we stumbled into the hospital. Time passed like it would in a dream: sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes not at all. Bloody, half-conscious, still in a state of shock, I cooperated with doctors as much as I was able. I could still hear the voice echoing in my mind. Girls, this is Miss Anna. I want everybody to move single file down the stairs and out the front door... Those words were going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I wondered if she knew that. Or if she could see how much her direction impacted the frantic children. We probably wouldn't have gotten half of those kids out if they hadn't known exactly what to do.

The press was here. I could hear them. I coughed deeply, trying to rid my lungs of dust and smoke. They gave me a breathing treatment that made my pulse race, then gave me a sedative to put me to sleep. I didn't know what was wrong with me, or if anything was. I didn't feel much pain. Cuts and bruises, but I'd been on the other side of the street when the building collapsed. I'd looked back just in time to see one of Them race down the steps with children in his arms.

Did he make it? Did the children make it? My mind swam in the dark sea whatever drug they gave me had created. I closed my eyes and didn't fight it.

MICHAELANGELO:

My eyes opened and I stared up at a dark ceiling. I didn't move. I could feel the figures around me, my brothers, and I could tell that they were asleep. Something had woken me up, though I wasn't entirely sure what it was. I guess it didn't really matter now. Whatever it was, it had done the job well.

Silent tears were forming on their own. Not even fully awake yet, I was already faced with memories more threatening than the dreams that plagued my sleep. I wished I could go back to sleep, but I knew it wasn't going to happen.

My body hurt, I realized. I tried to move, but muscles rebelled, and I fell back onto the floor, giving up easily. I didn't feel like fighting. There was nothing worth fighting for. There was pain... where was it coming from? My arms. Both forearms, but the left was worse. It felt like it was a burn, maybe. I wondered how severe it was. My right arm was cut. It felt like it was also sitiched. Thank god for Master Splinter.

My feet hurt. They were wrapped in ace bandages. I remembered why. The street had been littered with glass and metal, and it hadn't even occured to me to try and dodge it. If not for the kneepads, my knees would be cut up, too. I hadn't felt a thing. In all my life, I don't think I'd ever felt adrenaline like that.

I wondered if they'd felt it too. Could children feel the effects of adrenaline? Could it block out physical pain for them, like it had done for us? Was there any way they could've died without pain? I had to think of one. Just one possibility to take my mind off of the aching grief in my chest.

"Mikey? You awake?"

Donatello.

"Yeah," I whispered back.

"You okay?"

"I think so," I sniffed, wiping the tears out of my eyes. "Are you?"

"I've been better."

"You hurt bad?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I hurt all over, but I don't know how bad it is."

There was a long silence. My mind drifted over things I didn't really want to think about. The young, agonized faces were more than I could bear. How many children had died in that explosion? And why?

"How could he do it, Donny?" I finally whispered. I didn't expect an answer. I knew he couldn't give me one.

"I don't know," Don replied quietly. "I really don't understand it."

"How could anyone just end so many lives like that with no...?"

My voice trailed off as anger and pain choked me. "It... doesn't fit," Donny mumbled.

"Whaddaya mean?"

He sighed loudly. "It just... doesn't sound like something he would do. It's too... hands-off, you know? Shredder wouldn't use a bomb."

I pushed myself up on my arms and stared at the outline of my brother. "You are so totally missing the point," I choked in disbelief.

He sighed. "No, I'm just... trying not to think about it." He raised himself and looked at me. "I'm trying to keep a clear head, you know?"

I felt anger surge through me. "Clear head? Donny, he fucking killed dozens of children tonight!"

He said nothing. I watched him for a moment before turning my back on him roughly and burying my face in the back of the couch. I cried hard, soaking the cushions with tears that did nothing to ease the pain inside of me.

ANNA:

I stood at the window and stared out at the city, crying silently. Behind me, a child slept. She would continue to sleep until she remembered that she still possessed life. "Anna?"

I closed my eyes, dropping my head. It was nearly dawn, but I had not slept. They had provided me with a cot, and with every comfort they could. It was amazing what people would do when faced with tragedy. "Please go away," I whispered. "I don't want to talk right now."

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder. "You should sleep, Anna."

My stomach churned. "I don't want to sleep."

Tears burned my eyes, and I tried to control them. The woman beside me breathed deep. "Perhaps if you ate something?"

I bowed my head. "No. Please. Just leave me."

I felt her fingers in my hair, brushing it away from my face in an attempt to soothe me. "What you did was very brave, Anna," she whispered after a long silence. "You were the calming voice in the middle of the storm. You don't know how much good you did."

Tears streamed from my eyes. What was it like for them, those last few seconds before the bomb went off? When even he familiar voice was gone, and they were left all alone and afraid. They must have been so scared... "I should have stayed," I whispered. "I should've stayed and talked to them until..." My voice caught. "Until it was over."

"No," she protested. "No, Miss Anna, they need you now."

She turned my face to her. Her usually bright eyes were dimmed with pain. Her hurt deepened as she studied me. "Oh, Anna."

She pulled me to her, and I wrapped my arms around her neck, sobbing quietly. She allowed me to cry until I pulled away. "You look a mess, child," she smiled, brushing my stubborn hair back again. I couldn't help but laugh at the simplicity of the statement. I imagined I was quite a sight. Covered with my blood and everyone else's, scraped and muddy from head to toe. My skin felt like plastic.

"Take a shower, dear."

"No, I..." I protested, looking back toward the bed. "I want to be here if Samantha wakes up."

"I will stay. And you can shower right there," she pointed toward an open door that could've led to a closet. Instead, it was a bathroom. "You don't even have to leave the room."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, and for the first time began to think clearly. "I have no clothes."

"Oh, dear, the Red Cross will take care of that," she smiled. "They will give you clean clothes. Just ask for directions at the nurse's station."

I studied her for a moment, and forced a smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Collins," I whispered.

Her gentle fingers brushed the side of my face. "Take heart, child."

I nodded, and closed my eyes, choking back tears.

LEONARDO:

I awoke slowly and looked around at my surroundings. I looked for a clock. It was only quarter to five. God, this was the longest night of my life. I had been up a few times since we'd been home. I wasn't totally sure what was waking me up. This time, I hadn't even been fully asleep yet. It was so hard to sleep, with my mind racing like it was. I wasn't even tired. It was useless to try anymore.

I watched the seconds tick by on the clock and realized that time passed just as slowly when I was awake as it did when I was trying to sleep. This was rediculous. I had to get up. I had to do something. I couldn't just lay here. It would drive me insane.

I swung my legs to the floor. Pain screamed at me as blood rushed to the wounds on my feet. I hesitated. I should probably stay off of them, to give them a chance to heal. But how long was that going to take? That wasn't a matter of a few hours of bedrest. I would be laid up for the next three weeks. No chance that was going to work. I would likely go insane.

I reached my arms above my head and stretched, nearly recoiling in pain. I was sore. Falling asleep sprawled over this chair last night had not helped. I got up slowly and walked to the kitchen. I reached for a glass and got a drink. I felt like hell. I had no energy, but I couldn't sleep. I had to do something.

I walked back into the living room and grabbed my weapons off the floor. "Where ya goin'?"

The slurred voice surprised me. "Raph," I realized. "I didn't know you were awake."

He didn't answer for a moment. "Can't sleep."

I sat down on the arm of the chair and studied him for a minute. He was laying on the couch, and he didn't move. Finally, he breathed deep. "You goin' somewhere?" he whispered.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Somewhere."

"Don't know where?"

"No."

"Didn't think so."

"Why'd you ask?"

In the faint light, I thought I saw him smile faintly. "It's my job to harrass you and give you migranes, Leo."

I considered that for a moment. Any other time, it might have seemed like a humorous irony. I was the one who was always harrassing him, and I knew that as well as he did. Though the migrane comment was right on the money. I pushed the comment aside. It required too much thinking.

"I'm just going out," I mumbled. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"That what you want me to tell Splinter?"

He almost sounded like he was taunting me. But I couldn't be sure. "Tell him whatever you want," I answered. "I'll probably be back before he gets up anyhow."

"Be careful, Leo," he warned, breathing deeply.

I didn't answer.

ANNA:

"Excuse me?"

The man turned around. His face was streaked with dirt and sweat, and for a moment I reconsidered my interruption. He looked exhausted. I felt bad about asking him to do more than he already was doing. But he smiled warmly at me. "You must be Miss Anna," he greeted with a thick southern accent

I stared at him, a little shocked. "I..." I stammered as he set a paper cup filled with water on the table. Volunteers for the Red Cross and the fire department swarmed around us. "Uh, yes."

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am. I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little dirty."

"How do you know my name?"

He laughed quietly. "Why don't tell me I seen more of the news coverage than you have!" he laughed. "Seems they're callin' you a heroine, gettin' all them kids outta there."

My jaw dropped. "Well, they... I mean, I didn't really..."

"Word has it, if not for you and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, nobody would've survived that explosion," he informed me. "What you did was very smart, and very brave."

For the first time since the world had fallen apart, I thought of the creature that had suggested the PA system, and broken the door down to get there. I remembered another one pulling me out of the building and holding me back as I tried to return. They had tripped me when I broke away. They had saved my life. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Funny, I had thought them only urban legend until now.

"All the girls from the orphanage mention your name when they talk about gettin' outta that building," he continued when I couldn't find words. "The press been tryin' to talk to ya. Surprised you don't know about it!"

I shook my head. "I had no idea."

"Well, maybe they just havin' a hard time tryin' to track you down. Anyhow, what can I do for ya?"

I tried to clear my thoughts and remember what I'd wanted to ask him. "Um... I'm looking for a metal box in the wreckage," I stammered. "I don't know if it could've possibly survived, but if you find it... It's about the size of a piece of paper and maybe two inches deep."

He nodded. "I will certainly keep my eye out for it, ma'am."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"My pleasure."

LEONARDO:

The shades on the window were drawn back. The artificial lighting inside made everything glow with a sort of surreal look against the near-dawn background. Miss Anna spoke to an older woman, then smiled faintly at a sleeping child on the bed. The older woman left.

I leaned back on my arms, balancing carefully on the ledge of the building. I watched with some interest as Miss Anna stood over the child, brushing her hair away from her face. Finally, she walked to the window and sat on the ledge, looking out into the darkness. I raised one knee and rested my wrist on it, absently drumming my fingers. Miss Anna seemed as if she were in a deep trance, running her fingers through her damp hair every so often as if to assure herself that her body still had feeling. Her eyes slid closed and she leaned her forehead against the pane of glass, sighing deeply.

There was something about her. Something I could not put my finger on. I had hardly spoken to her, but I knew that I would forever be able to pick her out of a crowd of people. It was more than a visual familiarity; she didn't look like anyone I knew. I knew I had never seen her before. How could I have? We didn't have many outside contacts. But still, something about her...

Down at the hospital entrance, the news media clamored to get more information. One of the children had thrown the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the mix and a big story turned giant. And much more controversial. Those who didn't cheer us blamed us. Some of them even speculated we made have placed the bomb, for a chance to put on a show and pretend to be heroes. It made me furious, so I left them to their work and went on with mine. I couldn't change people, no matter how much I wanted to. We couldn't possibly win every heart in New York City.

Miss Anna left the window and returned again, braiding her hair. I watched her carefully. She was pretty. I wanted to talk to her, but I knew that wasn't wise. At least not at this point. Maybe never.

The sky rumbled low. I looked up and saw that the clouds had moved from the horizon to directly overhead. I sighed and stood up. The sun would rise soon and I needed to get back.