Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of its
affiliates. I do, however, own Sasha, so you can't have her.
III
Sasha awoke to a dull throb in the back of her head and the sound of a TV playing in a near by room. Groaning, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, fighting back a sudden urge to vomit.
She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a room that contained four beds covered in white sheets. She herself was occupying one of the beds. Various medical instruments and monitors were scattered through out the room in a some-what organized chaos.
"Where am I now?" she mumbled, swinging her legs over the side of her bed and slowly trying to stand on wobbly legs. "At least I remember something of what happened before I got knocked out this time." Her legs were shaky, and every movement she made brought the idea of loosing her lunch, but Sasha slowly made her way to the circular doorway of the room and peered out into the next room.
She found herself looking into some sort of family room. At the far side were a television and a couch with its back facing Sasha. On the couch were four creatures that looked to be very large turtles wearing different colored masks around their heads. Curious, Sasha wobbled over to investigate the creatures further.
A commercial came on the television as Sasha made her way across the room. The turtle in the orange mask stood up. "I'm getting a soda," he announced. "Any of you dudes want one?" He turned to go to retrieve the soda and his eyes landed on Sasha standing in the middle of the room. "Woah! You're up! You feeling okay?"
The other turtles turned to see who he was talking to, and all eyed Sasha with a little bit of surprise and relief.
"I'm feeling fine," Sasha said, uneasy with having four sets of eyes staring at her.
"You probably shouldn't be up," said another turtle, this one with a purple mask. "You still had a little bit of a fever an hour or so ago, and your concussion won't be helped by your walking. Here, let's get you back into bed."
He came forward and reached out to put a hand on Sasha's arm, but she pulled away. It wasn't that she was scared of him, even though she knew that giant talking turtles were not an everyday thing. She just didn't want to be touched.
"Thank you for wanting to help me," she said politely. "But I can take care of myself." Sasha looked around the room and eyed a simple wooden door over one of the circular tunnel openings. "That's the way out, I presume?" She headed for the door, her mind set on leaving this strange place and its strange inhabitants so that she could get back onto the city streets and look for clues about her forgotten past.
"Hold on there, you're not going anywhere." The turtle with the blue mask stepped in front of the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're sick and you have a concussion. Besides, it's below zero out. Now, if you need to get home to your parents, we can take you, but we're not letting you go out on your own. Do you want us to take you home?"
"I don't know," Sasha answered, swishing her tail around behind her nervously.
"You don't know? You don't know if you want us to take you home?"
Sasha shook her head. "No. I don't know where home is."
"You mean you're homeless?" The blue-masked turtle looked at her in confusion. The other three watched with similar expressions on their faces.
"No," Sasha said, scrunching her eyebrows together in concentration. "I'm not homeless. At least, I don't think I am. I just don't remember where I live."
"You don't remember where you live?" The purple-masked turtle repeated.
"I don't remember a lot of things," Sasha said with a sigh. She looked up at the blue-masked turtle. He seemed friendly enough. They all seemed friendly enough. After all, they had rescued her from her attackers, and they had bandaged her head. Below zero, the blue one had said. Below zero outside, and she didn't have anywhere to go. If she went back to the streets, she would probably get sicker, or maybe even die of hypothermia. But if she stayed here, like the turtles wanted her too, then she would be warm and be safe. Something from within her told her to trust these turtles. She looked around the room at each of the turtles, ending with the blue one. "My name's Sasha," she said slowly. "If your offer for me to stay here until I'm well is still open, I would like to accept it."
The blue turtle nodded. "My name is Leonardo. You are welcome to stay as long as you need to. These are my brothers: Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. You would meet our sensei, Master Splinter, but he is meditating right now."
Sasha nodded, and when Donatello came forward a second time to take her back to the infirmary, she let him help her, for her head was starting to hurt more.
Once she was back in bed, the four turtles gathered around her. Michelangelo had brought in some tea for her to drink and Donatello gave her some painkillers for her headache.
"All right Sasha, I want to take this slow, but we do need some more information about you," Leonardo said, sitting down in a chair beside the bed. Donatello and Michelangelo pulled up chairs as well, but Raphael simply leaned back against the wall near the door.
"I'm not sure if there's much I can tell you," Sasha said. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two days," Don answered.
Sasha nodded and took a sip of her tea. "Then I guess that makes it four days since I woke up..."
"Woke up where?" Leo asked
"On a barge, in the harbor."
The turtles blinked in surprise. "What happened after that?"
Sasha shrugged and stared down hard into her teacup for a moment before answering. "I got off the barge when it docked. I had no clue where I was, how I had gotten there, where I belonged, or who I was. All I knew was that my name is Sasha. I was wearing the pants, boots, and shirt that you found me in, but my pants were tucked into the tops of my boots, and I was wearing a belt around my waist over my shirt. People gave me funny looks for what I was wearing, so I threw the belt away—it was just a real simple leather thing, no value to it at all—and I untucked my pants from my boots...not that that matters. People were really scared of my tail, though, so when I saw that trench coat hanging up in a food shop, I went in and took it. I know I shouldn't have stolen it, but I didn't want to get caught or attacked for having a tail. From the time I got off the barge to the time you found me, I walked the streets. I couldn't find a single place that I recognized..." she trailed off and took another sip of her tea. The turtles sat quietly, waiting for her to continue. "So that's my story. I don't have any memory of anything that happened before I woke up on that barge."
"Do you have any idea why those men attacked you?" Leonardo asked.
Sasha shook her head. "I don't know of any reason why they would want to. I don't remember doing anything to encourage such an attack, but then that doesn't mean much coming from a person with amnesia."
She smiled a small smile, and the turtles all silently noted how pretty she looked when she did.
"This might seem off topic a little," Don said after a moment. "But do you remember anything about your necklace? Like who gave it to you or anything?"
Sasha grasped the cylinder in her hand. "My Token? I don't know who gave it to me. But it seems to me that I've had it for a very long time."
"Do you know what the symbols mean?"
"No. I don't remember."
Donatello nodded and leaned back in his chair, thinking.
"So let me get this straight. You just woke up on a barge out in the middle of the Long Island sound, and you don't remember anything?" Raphael asked incredulously.
"Nothing." Sasha twirled the Token around between her fingers, rubbing the jeweled symbols. They held a sort of comfort and sense of strength that she didn't quite understand.
"So, uh, how do we get Sasha's memory back?" Michelangelo asked. "I mean, if she lost her memory, she should be able to find it again."
Donatello smiled at his younger brother. "It's not quite that simple, Mikey. Her memory loss could be caused by a lot of things. If it's brain trauma, like she got hit in the head, then she might never get it back. But if she's suppressing it because of trauma, then it's possible she could work it out of her mind." He shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Mike frowned. He didn't like the idea that this girl might never remember who she was. "But what if she has a family? How will she be able to find them?"
"We can ask April to check any police reports for missing teenagers," Leo replied.
"Don't bother. I don't have a family."
Leo looked up at Sasha sharply. She was staring off into space and playing absent-mindedly with her Token. "How do you know?" he asked.
Sasha blinked and focused her eyes on Leo. They were a piercing blue color. "I just remembered. I don't have a family."
"You mean you're an orphan?"
She shrugged and yawned. "I don't know. I just know I don't have a family." She yawned again. "I also know I'm dead tired. Do you guys mind if I sleep?"
"Go ahead," Don said. "It's getting late, and we should be getting to bed anyway." He stood up, and the other turtles followed suit.
"If you need anything, just holler," Mike added.
"Okay." The turtles left the room, and Sasha slid down beneath her covers. She closed her eyes, and was asleep in moments.
III
Sasha awoke to a dull throb in the back of her head and the sound of a TV playing in a near by room. Groaning, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, fighting back a sudden urge to vomit.
She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a room that contained four beds covered in white sheets. She herself was occupying one of the beds. Various medical instruments and monitors were scattered through out the room in a some-what organized chaos.
"Where am I now?" she mumbled, swinging her legs over the side of her bed and slowly trying to stand on wobbly legs. "At least I remember something of what happened before I got knocked out this time." Her legs were shaky, and every movement she made brought the idea of loosing her lunch, but Sasha slowly made her way to the circular doorway of the room and peered out into the next room.
She found herself looking into some sort of family room. At the far side were a television and a couch with its back facing Sasha. On the couch were four creatures that looked to be very large turtles wearing different colored masks around their heads. Curious, Sasha wobbled over to investigate the creatures further.
A commercial came on the television as Sasha made her way across the room. The turtle in the orange mask stood up. "I'm getting a soda," he announced. "Any of you dudes want one?" He turned to go to retrieve the soda and his eyes landed on Sasha standing in the middle of the room. "Woah! You're up! You feeling okay?"
The other turtles turned to see who he was talking to, and all eyed Sasha with a little bit of surprise and relief.
"I'm feeling fine," Sasha said, uneasy with having four sets of eyes staring at her.
"You probably shouldn't be up," said another turtle, this one with a purple mask. "You still had a little bit of a fever an hour or so ago, and your concussion won't be helped by your walking. Here, let's get you back into bed."
He came forward and reached out to put a hand on Sasha's arm, but she pulled away. It wasn't that she was scared of him, even though she knew that giant talking turtles were not an everyday thing. She just didn't want to be touched.
"Thank you for wanting to help me," she said politely. "But I can take care of myself." Sasha looked around the room and eyed a simple wooden door over one of the circular tunnel openings. "That's the way out, I presume?" She headed for the door, her mind set on leaving this strange place and its strange inhabitants so that she could get back onto the city streets and look for clues about her forgotten past.
"Hold on there, you're not going anywhere." The turtle with the blue mask stepped in front of the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're sick and you have a concussion. Besides, it's below zero out. Now, if you need to get home to your parents, we can take you, but we're not letting you go out on your own. Do you want us to take you home?"
"I don't know," Sasha answered, swishing her tail around behind her nervously.
"You don't know? You don't know if you want us to take you home?"
Sasha shook her head. "No. I don't know where home is."
"You mean you're homeless?" The blue-masked turtle looked at her in confusion. The other three watched with similar expressions on their faces.
"No," Sasha said, scrunching her eyebrows together in concentration. "I'm not homeless. At least, I don't think I am. I just don't remember where I live."
"You don't remember where you live?" The purple-masked turtle repeated.
"I don't remember a lot of things," Sasha said with a sigh. She looked up at the blue-masked turtle. He seemed friendly enough. They all seemed friendly enough. After all, they had rescued her from her attackers, and they had bandaged her head. Below zero, the blue one had said. Below zero outside, and she didn't have anywhere to go. If she went back to the streets, she would probably get sicker, or maybe even die of hypothermia. But if she stayed here, like the turtles wanted her too, then she would be warm and be safe. Something from within her told her to trust these turtles. She looked around the room at each of the turtles, ending with the blue one. "My name's Sasha," she said slowly. "If your offer for me to stay here until I'm well is still open, I would like to accept it."
The blue turtle nodded. "My name is Leonardo. You are welcome to stay as long as you need to. These are my brothers: Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. You would meet our sensei, Master Splinter, but he is meditating right now."
Sasha nodded, and when Donatello came forward a second time to take her back to the infirmary, she let him help her, for her head was starting to hurt more.
Once she was back in bed, the four turtles gathered around her. Michelangelo had brought in some tea for her to drink and Donatello gave her some painkillers for her headache.
"All right Sasha, I want to take this slow, but we do need some more information about you," Leonardo said, sitting down in a chair beside the bed. Donatello and Michelangelo pulled up chairs as well, but Raphael simply leaned back against the wall near the door.
"I'm not sure if there's much I can tell you," Sasha said. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two days," Don answered.
Sasha nodded and took a sip of her tea. "Then I guess that makes it four days since I woke up..."
"Woke up where?" Leo asked
"On a barge, in the harbor."
The turtles blinked in surprise. "What happened after that?"
Sasha shrugged and stared down hard into her teacup for a moment before answering. "I got off the barge when it docked. I had no clue where I was, how I had gotten there, where I belonged, or who I was. All I knew was that my name is Sasha. I was wearing the pants, boots, and shirt that you found me in, but my pants were tucked into the tops of my boots, and I was wearing a belt around my waist over my shirt. People gave me funny looks for what I was wearing, so I threw the belt away—it was just a real simple leather thing, no value to it at all—and I untucked my pants from my boots...not that that matters. People were really scared of my tail, though, so when I saw that trench coat hanging up in a food shop, I went in and took it. I know I shouldn't have stolen it, but I didn't want to get caught or attacked for having a tail. From the time I got off the barge to the time you found me, I walked the streets. I couldn't find a single place that I recognized..." she trailed off and took another sip of her tea. The turtles sat quietly, waiting for her to continue. "So that's my story. I don't have any memory of anything that happened before I woke up on that barge."
"Do you have any idea why those men attacked you?" Leonardo asked.
Sasha shook her head. "I don't know of any reason why they would want to. I don't remember doing anything to encourage such an attack, but then that doesn't mean much coming from a person with amnesia."
She smiled a small smile, and the turtles all silently noted how pretty she looked when she did.
"This might seem off topic a little," Don said after a moment. "But do you remember anything about your necklace? Like who gave it to you or anything?"
Sasha grasped the cylinder in her hand. "My Token? I don't know who gave it to me. But it seems to me that I've had it for a very long time."
"Do you know what the symbols mean?"
"No. I don't remember."
Donatello nodded and leaned back in his chair, thinking.
"So let me get this straight. You just woke up on a barge out in the middle of the Long Island sound, and you don't remember anything?" Raphael asked incredulously.
"Nothing." Sasha twirled the Token around between her fingers, rubbing the jeweled symbols. They held a sort of comfort and sense of strength that she didn't quite understand.
"So, uh, how do we get Sasha's memory back?" Michelangelo asked. "I mean, if she lost her memory, she should be able to find it again."
Donatello smiled at his younger brother. "It's not quite that simple, Mikey. Her memory loss could be caused by a lot of things. If it's brain trauma, like she got hit in the head, then she might never get it back. But if she's suppressing it because of trauma, then it's possible she could work it out of her mind." He shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Mike frowned. He didn't like the idea that this girl might never remember who she was. "But what if she has a family? How will she be able to find them?"
"We can ask April to check any police reports for missing teenagers," Leo replied.
"Don't bother. I don't have a family."
Leo looked up at Sasha sharply. She was staring off into space and playing absent-mindedly with her Token. "How do you know?" he asked.
Sasha blinked and focused her eyes on Leo. They were a piercing blue color. "I just remembered. I don't have a family."
"You mean you're an orphan?"
She shrugged and yawned. "I don't know. I just know I don't have a family." She yawned again. "I also know I'm dead tired. Do you guys mind if I sleep?"
"Go ahead," Don said. "It's getting late, and we should be getting to bed anyway." He stood up, and the other turtles followed suit.
"If you need anything, just holler," Mike added.
"Okay." The turtles left the room, and Sasha slid down beneath her covers. She closed her eyes, and was asleep in moments.