A Turtle's Journey Beyond
Chapter 4: Restless Hosts
Down from the staircase and hanging a right from the hall, Leonardo, Shadow and Donatello found the rest of the group in what appeared to be the living room quarters. Leonardo and Splinter made instant eye contact and a silent phrase of 'we're okay' both went through their inner thoughts. Michaelangelo, meanwhile, quietly read a book he found on the coffee table. The contents must have been very intriguing; he didn't look up when his brothers and Shadow entered the room. Raphael was also there, staring quizzically at an unusual machine in the corner of the room.
"Thought you guys got lost up there." He said as he turned to them. "Find any more geek toys?"
"Shadow did, this time." Don looked annoyed with him referring to the gadgets as geek toys, but still held up the PeeK for them to see. "This device plays the tonal residue of spirits as well as gather visual signs of their haunting spots." Raphael nodded, even though the idea of ghost hunting didn't concern him. "The cameras are off-line for now, so it won't do us any good to test their capabilities."
"Well, while you guys were playin' around upstairs, I came across this weird hunk of junk." Raph gestured to the machine. "I turned it on, but so far, nothin' happened. All it says is Level, Gain and Frequency Mode."
"Oh, that's the BAR!" Shadow gasped as she walked over, staring down at it.
"Greeeeeat." Raph droned with little excitement. "What is it?"
"It's a machine that picks up paranormal activity. Yet another useful invention, I might add." Don said as he also walked over to them. "You turned it on Raph, but you didn't enter the correct settings."
"Duuuuh, like I'd know what they are!" Raph said hotly. Straight from the BAR's user manual, Donatello read and mumbled out the numbers for the Level and Frequency Mode. He stared at the Gain, glancing to Shadow. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"
Don tapped a finger on the manual. "This book doesn't give the direct number for the Gain."
"We could guess it." Shadow shrugged, trying a random number and pressing 'Run' to start it. The letters ERR appeared on the screen. "Oops."
"What are you guys doing?" Mike asked, looking up from the book.
"Trying to get this thing to work." Don said over his shoulder.
Raph looked shocked. "Whoa, if it's even tough for you, we're really in deep crap!"
Don glared at him angrily. "Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence, you jerk!"
"Anytime, geek!"
"Stop it, you guys!" Shadow stepped in the middle of them. "Uncle Raph, this was my assignment, not his. I should have been the one to remember the proper settings, so I'm the one who should get it to work."
"So, then, how long will it take you?" Leo approached closer, probably prepared to get in-between his argumentative brothers.
"Hopefully, not long at all." Shadow muttered, suddenly feeling the heat of being put under the spotlight.
"Well, then Miss Know-It-All," Raph backed away to give her space, "get it to work."
"Use this if you need to," Don passed her the BAR manual, briefly cupping his hand under her chin, "and don't stress over it." Shadow forced a smile. Now she felt they were all counting on her to succeed, and that added more pressure to her. While she flipped through different numbers on the Gain setting, the others could do nothing but stare around the room.
Now, with the lights turned on, the interior of the house sure looked a lot different. The current room they were in looked like a cozy living room, beautifully furnished in African decor. The fire place on the west wall was a simple one with an ancient-looking time piece on the mantle. Whether Roxanne furnished these rooms herself or not, the entire house was a mixture of a modern and old-fashioned atmosphere.
For some reason, Leonardo felt a strong vibe and started using his photographic memory for this particular room. He began to take note of pointless things such as counting a total of five identical windows. Two were on either side of the fire place and the other three bunched together on the far south wall behind a glass table. Hanging above were beautiful burgundy valances while the windows themselves held up typical venetian blinds. Only the center window on the south wall had its blinds flipped upward and the stressed turtle found himself staring out at the front yard grounds in deep thought. Someone from a long time ago had been in this room; he could feel their lingering presence.
"So, did you find anything else down here?" Don asked Raphael.
"Uh-huh." Raph nodded, making a noticeable twitch to follow him. "Hey, kid, we're gonna do some house exploring." Without looking, Shadow shrugged and kept fumbling with the BAR settings. "Then, we're gonna throw gasoline on our bodies and set ourselves on fire so that any planes flying overhead can spot us."
"Okay." She nodded.
Raph looked to Donatello, thumbing at her. "I love how she listens."
"I'm gonna go look upstairs!" Mike, sounding like a hyper-active kid, took off running for the stairs. Donatello shook his head while Raphael watched him go. A smile widened on his face.
"Looks like Mike really did use all ten of those sugar packets we gave him for his coffee."
"I just hope we didn't let a bull loose in a china shop." With a tiresome gaze, Leo stepped away from the window and approached Donatello. "We've already been upstairs, Don. I guess we'll stay down here and check out the other rooms with Raph." Donatello nodded with a shrug as Leo inched near the entryway. "Master, we're going to go look around. Will you stay here with Shadow?"
"Of course." Splinter sighed, almost wanting to take a nap from all the excitement.
While the four took off in separate directions, the house became very still and quiet. Shadow looked up to see Splinter was the only one left in the living room. He sat on the sofa and meditated to himself. It finally dawned on her. Other than Donatello when he's working, Splinter was the quietest one of the whole bunch. He was also the cleanest, even more so than Leonardo who tends to be not as perfect as he seems.
Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael didn't get too far. Each crossed the front door and hallway and entered the parlor room where they found a small table in the center, supporting one of the most unusual objects they had ever seen.
"I saw this thing earlier when the lights came on." Raph explained as Donatello circled it like a hawk. "It's not your typical headset, is it?"
"No, it isn't." He whispered with wide eyes.
"So, what is it?"
"It's what Roxanne's been working on. It's her dream project."
"Oookay, so how does it work?" Raph asked as he tried to pick it up.
"Well, you know how Roxanne's equipment was designed to track ghosts and to learn about why they're still lingering on this earth, right? This headset was designed to do more then just track them, in fact, the wires and tubes within the set create remarkable wave lengths throughout its inner section and--"
"You're staaaaalling." Raph droned with growing irritation. "Will you just get the damn thing to work?"
"I can't. It's missing a piece. Look." Don pointed to a small oblong depression at the top of the headset's base unit. A fancy triangular-shaped decoration stood above it. "As I recall from an early design, there are many different objects used for this headset. This particular one is missing an oscillator."
"An osci..." Raph pulled back. "What the hell is that?"
Don gestured with his fingers. "It's an object used for producing alternating current. You know, like for a radio frequency generator?"
"Yeah, like I'd know that crap." Raph rolled his eyes. "Look, if you're not gonna get it to work, I'll just ask Shadow!"
"She couldn't help you, Raph." Don stared at the thing, getting a sudden chill. "This device is far more advanced then what she's been introduced to. Of all the inventions she's learned about, this one never surfaced except in harmless sketches and notes." Don noticed his brother's struggles to lift it up and placed a hand on top of his. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Why not?" Raph sounded annoyed.
"For one thing, it's not ours, and second..." He glanced down at it. "It's not going to budge with the oscillator missing."
"Come on, let's see what's in here." Leo said with a twitch to his neck.
The three passed through a new entryway and found themselves staring at a beautiful crystal chandelier. Gazing around, they knew right away they had entered the dining room quarters. Strange yet spacious, the words to describe its decorations were hard to say. First was the color of the walls, a very odd shade of blue with two bright paintings of jesters to clash. What was more odd, there were three chairs at the dining table, but only a setting of plates and wine glasses for two. Leonardo noticed the fourth chair resting in a far corner all by itself. He looked back to the settings with a frown.
"Roxanne must have been expecting Shadow if she set the table for two. I wonder where she could be."
"I'm wondering where she got these paintings." Don stared at the first painting of three jesters riding on three horses. "Unless they were already here when she bought the house." He glanced to the other one on the opposite wall, a single jester dancing and juggling with delight. "They're very amusing to look at."
"Looks like whoever painted them was drunk at the time." Raph chuckled, then paused at a wooden sideboard. On the floor stood a small wire rack with three wine bottles wedged in it. Raph hunched down to examine them, noting they were very old and probably worth a fortune. "Speaking of alcohol, anyone want a quick buzz?" He tried to pull out one of the bottles but had some difficulty.
"Don't touch that!" Leo hissed behind him.
"Why not?" Raph looked confused. "That's what they're there for!"
"They're not yours, so leave them alone..." Leo's voice trailed as he looked up to scan the contents on top of the sideboard. A pair of potted plants on either side, two tea kettles, and on the far right, a small video camera. "Hey, look over here. I think I found something." Donatello's eyes widened a little while Raphael looked even less amused than before.
"So, what? There's no film in it." Raph told them after pressing the eject button.
"Wait." Don reached into his pocket and pulled out the 8mm tape he got from upstairs. "Try this."
Once inserted and on play, the three stood and watched self-recorded video clips of Roxanne when she first moved into the house. The first clip showed her sitting at her computer desk, dressed in a bathrobe and towel-drying her hair.
"Let's see, it's Day 12..." She told the video camera. "I just had the rest of the equipment moved over and even settled in a bit. Starting to look like home, hmm, feels like it, too. Like to think I would have bought this place even without its reputation. Anyway, I still have to set up the cameras and then I'll get back to the research. In a nutshell, nothing going on. Unpacking, catching up on reading. I'll use this log if anything interesting comes up. Out for now."
The clip ended and moved on to a new one. Roxanne grinned at the camera.
"Day 15. I've decided to name the new device AMBER. That's an acronym for Astral Mobility By Electromagnetic Resonance. Unfortunately, other than naming the device, not much progress. No doubt about it, the psionic flow around here is strong enough. I can't blame the house, but, something just isn't clicking. I can read the amplitude, but I can't get the AMBER device to synch with my pheta waves." Roxanne paused, getting an idea. "Maybe if I link the BAR into the network, I'll get a more stable signal. Heh, I don't know."
The third clip appeared with Roxanne's expression changing from happy to disappointment.
"Day 20," She uttered in a low tone, "and this place is just not prepared for my electrical needs. Not surprising, given the drain I've imposed on it. Yesterday, when I was feeding the BAR signal to the AMBER device, the BT equipment went down. To make matters worse, the lights have been flickering on and off. It started when I restored the spare bedroom to wartime decor. Must have been right about one of the spirits being from the forties because all hell broke loose after I finished! That bedroom appears to be locked from the inside now, and, I haven't found a way in yet." Low chimes from a clock rang in the background. Roxanne looked around as the video picture started to bend out of focus.
"Anyway, I called an electrician about getting a second breaker and a back-up generator installed...so I can be damn sure this equipment doesn't go down while I'm astral!" Sighing, she looked into the camera. "While he's here, I'll see if he can root the property and some of the house lights to the new breaker. Hopefully, that'll solve some of my problems."
"Whoa, wait, pause the tape, Raph." Don looked down, seeing the PeeK start to flash. He pressed the middle button and his eyes lit up to the words that flashed across its little screen. "This is saying the BT cams are online."
"Online?" Raph frowned.
"I mean the BT cams have been turned on to a working status." Don said more accurately as he watched the PeeK show a series of images. Each of the corner cameras displayed the living room, dining room, kitchen, Roxy's bedroom, the spare bedroom behind the locked door, and lastly, Roxy's office. "So far, it says no activity detected."
"But, how did they come on by themselves?" Leo asked.
"They didn't." Don lifted his head. "Someone turned them on." At that point, there was sudden scream coming from the living room quarters. "Shadow?" The three took off running for the living room to find her standing by the BAR with a big smile on her face.
"Hey, guys! Look, it's working!" Shadow was nearly bouncing up and down with glee when the three turtles all paused in the living room entryway, panting heavily. The word 'happy' wasn't enough to describe how she was when she declared: "The BAR is on and running. I fixed it!"
"Yeah, but does that give you the right to scream like you're being murdered?" Raph put his weapons away, not looking pleased.
Donatello stepped closer to get a better look. The BAR was on and working to pick up those silent and invisible psionic waves. It seemed like a simple device with its three settings. People in her company with higher experience would have gotten it with no trouble. So, why didn't he or Shadow know the settings? He may have been the smartest of the bunch, but even he didn't know everything, especially when it came to prestigious paranormal equipment.
Splinter sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes. Glancing around the room, he noticed Shadow beaming with delight and his three sons looking a little peeved from her shriek of excitement. All he did was nap for a few minutes and it seems as though he missed a lot!
"What has happened?" He asked while gathering himself off the couch.
"I'm a genius!" Shadow crossed her arms, now looking pompous. Splinter frowned to her, then looked to the others who were rolling their eyes.
"She got the BAR to work, sensei. This machine here in the corner." Don looked to the machine again, then turned to her. "Um, good job, Shadow. I'm proud of you." He tried to match her happiness but still had a not-sure-what-to-expect fear hidden on the inside.
"And guess what else I found?" Shadow bounced over to Donatello and flipped the BAR manual to the last page, the chapter title reading BT AMBER. Paul didn't type any information but Roxanne wrote many notes in red pencil, along with an interesting sketch of a man wearing a headset. Donatello peered at the drawing, then did a quick glance out into the hallway. "Look at the chapter title. A device worn on your head! That's what AMBER is!"
"Yes, that's it, all right." Don swallowed. The only time she had been in the parlor room was when they first arrived to a dark house. Her hip must have rammed into the table supporting the headset. Dare he tell her the dream project itself was in the house? She would find out sooner or later. "With you turning on the BAR, the PeeK is now online to the BT cams I told you about."
"So, what'll happen now, Boy Genius?" Raph asked, glancing to him.
"Um, well, with it being online, it'll start to pick up things in these selected rooms." Don clicked the button to look over the rooms again. Raphael, standing over his shoulder, happened to catch all of this.
"What's it doing?"
"A test run." Don started to look in each corner of the ceiling, resting his eyes on a camera staring back at them. "Look up there." The others backed away and looked up to where he pointed above the BAR and a three-panel screen. "This device is connected with those BT cameras in each room. They're picking up everything and anything that goes on in this house and the film footage appears on this little hand-held device."
"Guess you couldn't do anything...you know..." Shadow gestured freely. "...without it being caught on tape."
"Sha, like instant replay over and over." Raph huffed, staring at the camera. "That Roxanne. What a kinky girl!"
"I'd say clever." Don smiled, enjoying this even more.
"But video cameras can't pick up signs of ghosts." Leo said reasonably.
"No, but they can pick up signs of ghost...activity." Don replied back. "Roxanne wants to capture on film anything out of the norm. It would be impossible for her to catch everything at once, so she put up cameras to capture the activities for her instead. Now, with the equipment turned on, anything is bound to happen."
Wandering around in Roxanne's bedroom, Michaelangelo found a large armoire by the bed with a television set inside. He knew his main job was to look for Roxanne, but it didn't seem too wrong of him to take a short break. He'd channel surf for a few minutes and find a program to watch. Maybe a sitcom would help take his mind off this spooky place.
Sitting on the bed, he reached over and turned it on, hoping there'd be something worth watching out in the middle of Hickland. With his luck, Roxanne probably didn't have cable. The television briefly flickered and flashed white static but that's not all what emerged. Odd, what was wrong with it? Michaelangelo went to click the channels but ended up getting the shock of his life. The walls started to rumble, making the others downstairs pause and listen intently.
"What's going on?" Shadow asked, feeling someone push her under the living room's entryway.
"Feels like an earthquake!" Leo said as they piled together. It wasn't an earthquake. Harsh moaning, almost like an animal in pain, started very low, then gradually grew as it got closer to them.
"Since when do earthquakes moan?" Raph turned around to hear the dining room door swing open and a quick breeze blow past them. "Whoa!" Soon, the moaning ceased and the rumbling stopped.
"What was that?" Shadow asked with her eyes closed and her arms squeezing like a boa constrictor around Raphael's middle.
"I dunno, but...Mike!" Raph whispered as he looked to Shadow. "He's upstairs!" Again the house rumbled as they all trampled loudly up the staircase, finding Michaelangelo passed out on the floor in Roxy's bedroom. The TV was on but only had flickering static. Raph and Donatello helped him up onto the bed as the others stared in the doorway. "Mike? Wake up, bro. Come on, Mike, wake up!" Michaelangelo rolled his eyes up, staring at a blurry ceiling fan twirling around.
"What happened?"
"That's what we'd like to know!" Leo said as he stepped in and sat at the edge of the bed. "One minute we were downstairs and then all of a sudden, the house started to shake, voices moaning, an invisible thing flew by us, and then we found you unconscious!"
"I never saw it..." He mumbled, "...something came in here and knocked me out."
"Probably the same thing that was in the bathroom with me." Shadow said, noting Michaelangelo was giving her an odd look. "I'll tell you later."
"All I did was turn on the TV." He said weakly. "The screen showed various scenes of the house like something was moving around in it. By the time I noticed the thing entering this room, I blacked out."
"Various scenes of the house?" Leo asked, dropping his brow and turning to Donatello. "I thought that PeeK thing only picked up footage from the house. How did Mikey see all that on the television?"
"Yeah, explain that one, Mr. Genius!" Raph actually sided with Leonardo with arms crossed. Even Shadow and Splinter waited to hear what he had to say. Michaelangelo, calmly sitting up, also wanted to hear.
"Hmm." Don looked down to the PeeK. "My only guess is a spirit became attracted to the television and Mike saw what it saw. When he turned on the television, he sent a vast wave of frequencies throughout the house, summoning a very disturbed presence to give him a piece of its mind."
"You really don't know, do you?" Raph raised an eye ridge.
Don shrugged back. "Hey, sounded good to me."
"I'm convinced!" Mike nodded to him. "How do you know all this, Don?"
"I read it in Realms of the Paranormal, a handbook Shadow was recommended to read when she first got the job at Bio-Psi Technologies. Plus," Don lifted up the 8mm video tape, "Roxanne left us some valid information on both the equipment and the background of this house."
"Really?"
Donatello went to continue but Raph took over for him. "Not only that, it's got clips of herself in the shower! Real hot and sexy footage!"
"Whooooa!" Mike jumped up and tried to snag the tape. "I gotta see that!"
"Stop it!" Don backed away, glaring to Raphael. "That's not what's on there!"
"How do you know? We didn't watch the whole thing!" Raph crossed his arms. " 'Sides, these people can get very bored out in the middle of nowhere!"
"Come on, Mike." Don started to head back downstairs. "We have something else better to show you."
"Better than seeing Roxanne in the--" Splinter bapped him on the head with his walking stick. "Ow! Okay, okay, I'm coming."
Much arguing and chatter went on amongst them as they shuffled down the stairs towards the left of the hall this time, to the parlor room. Shadow paused in the entryway and saw the AMBER headset along with the enormous power generator standing next to it.
"Hey! It's--"
"Roxanne's head-banging invention, we know." Raph said, looking over to Donatello.
"Whoa." Mike gave a sudden chill. "It looks like a head piece used for the electric chair."
"Shadow, meet AMBER." Don gestured between her and the table.
"I can't believe it's here! I..." Shadow suddenly was at a loss for words as she circled the table, staring as if it were a large diamond sitting on an ancient pedestal. The months of research, the never-ending lectures, the constant phone calls to get her (and Donatello's) opinion on making the proper adjustments, and here it was now, in all its complete and beautiful glory. The temptation to finally try it out was strong. Yet, at the same time, the very sight of it frightened her to death. Finding her voice again, she frowned and looked to them in deep question. "Is it on?"
"It's on, but it won't work without the oscillator." Don pointed to the same depression spot. "See where it should be--"
"OHMYGOSH!" Shadow screamed, making everyone jump. Michaelangelo clutched his chest as the others stared with both questioning and slightly angry faces. "Uh, sorry about that. I just remembered I found something in Roxanne's mailbox. Here." Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the oscillator. "Is this it?"
Don's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes! That's it!"
"Knew I shoulda asked you first, kid." Raph looked pleased as well. "Good job, and I'll forgive you for screaming like that."
Mike scratched his head. "But, what was it doing in the mailbox?"
"According to the attached letter, Roxanne had to contact the guys back at the lab to send her a new one." Shadow glanced down to the little oscillator in her hand, feeling a radiant power from within it. "Apparently, the old one stopped working for her."
"Well, let's put it in and see what it does for us." Don told her. Shadow inserted it into the depression and pulled her fingers back, watching a series of electricity seer through the oscillator into the machine. The piece worked as promised, but it still wasn't lifting up the headset for them to retrieve and use it.
"Did it work?" Leo watched with interest.
"Yeah. AMBER is now online." Don noted after the PeeK flashed at him.
"Which means what?" Raph asked next.
Don lifted his gaze and growled out like how Beetlejuice said it: "It's show time."
Raph rolled his eyes. "Oh, knock it off and just explain already!"
"No, I'm serious." Don grinned, catching Shadow bite her lip. "Both this and the BAR are activated. They can start gathering things within this house. The BAR controls the psionic waves flowing not only through the house, but also through AMBER. All we've got to do now is wait for something to happen."
The six glanced around for a few seconds, getting silence in return. Finally, Mike patted his stomach. "Guys, I'm starving!"
"The poor, begging forest creature hath spoken." Raph winked to Shadow.
"Actually, I'm a little famished myself. Let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat." Shadow continued forward through the entryway into the dining room. Turning around to see if they were following, she suddenly froze with her eyes locking up at the wall. Above their heads near a window was a silhouette of a man, peering in at them. With their backs turned, The turtles nor Splinter saw it. "Oh, my God! Look, up there! Behind you!" The silhouette faded into the wall just as they turned to look. Drat! It happened to her again.
"What was it?" Leo looked to the wall, then back to her petrified face.
Shadow's jaw trembled as if she were trying to speak, but she appeared stuck. Why did ghosts always appear to one person and then vanish? Like the bathroom incident, she would look like a damn fool if she tried to explain the shadow formation on the wall.
"Nothing." She mumbled, shaking her head. "It was nothing."
Once in the kitchen, Michaelangelo felt right where he belonged. As the others wandered around to find food in the pantry or the refrigerator, he stood at the counter and whipped up some delicious deli-style sandwiches. Living in New York long enough has shown him the basics to creating a most tasty hoagie. Every so often, he'd look at Shadow leaning over the counter island, staring blankly at the far wall. Strange things were happening to her and it worried him into thinking she would crack from the pressure at any moment.
"Come on, kid. You haven't eaten since lunch." Mike passed her the plate with his sandwich. She stared down to it as if it was going to start rising into thin air. "Hey, I believe the nothing you saw in the dining room was a something. We just missed it. You gotta be quick if you want to catch an odd occurrence."
"I saw a man staring in at us." Shadow said, her voice cracking on her words. This made the others look over at her. "I couldn't see his face, but as soon as you all turned around, he was gone! I swear, ghosts have a thing about teasing one person and disappearing from the rest!" Feeling her stomach growl, she reached over and took a bite. "Really, Uncle Mike," She said through small chews, "I wish this night would end soon. All this waiting is making me even more crazy."
"I know. Hate waiting." Raph grumbled as he leaned against the cupboards with arms crossed. "I can't believe we have to wait for something to happen!"
"We don't have a choice." Don shrugged, looking down to the quiet PeeK. "Roxanne and her company invented this stuff, only time will tell when it decides it wants to work for us." Hearing a groan, he looked up to see Raphael push away from the cupboards and head over to the back door. "Where are you going?"
"To look around outside. Be back in a few." Raph went to open the door but paused, seeing the PeeK light up. "Um, Don?"
"Hmm?" Don broke out of the trance of watching Michaelangelo eat his hoagie when he also caught the PeeK blinking. "Whoa! That didn't seem to take long!" Don clicked the button to read, 'activity detected.' "Ut, oh." The others gathered around to watch a BT camera pick up something twist the back door knob of the kitchen, followed by banging on the door frame. Shadow screamed and backed away as Raphael edged closer, watching this strange phenomenon.
"Who's doing that?" Mike asked with fright. Raphael grabbed for the handle and threw it open, finding the patio area completely empty. A blast of cold air made its way in, blowing his bandana strands back. "Raph!"
Raph whipped his head around. "What?!"
"Why'd you open the door?" Mike asked, still sounding terrified.
"Something's here." Raph whispered, making Michaelangelo and Shadow plow into each other. He glanced to the door knob, recognizing the patio area from when they first arrived at the house. "Hey, Don, you know how you said the PeeK is connected to the door knob thing for tonal whatever?"
"Residue. Yeah." Don nodded, turning to pull out the knob device. "What about it?"
"Well, we haven't attached it to any other doors, so the sound clip from this door knob would still be the same, right?"
"Right." Don looked down, glancing to the knob, then at the device.
Shadow looked painfully to him. "Don't tell me you're going to play that awful clip again with the man yelling?"
"What man?" Raph asked with surprised interest.
Don sighed and looked between her and Raphael. "We know how it sounds, but the others haven't heard it yet."
"You're not missing much, really!" Shadow said to them, again looking to Donatello as if begging not to play it.
"I'd like to hear it." Raph finally said, reaching for the PeeK. "Here, let me see that thing."
"Fine, it's the left-most button to hear sounds. Just press play when ready." Don passed him the PeeK, mouthing a quick 'sorry!' to Shadow who started to cover her ears. What emerged sent chills down everyone's spine. The same man's voice, still sounding frantic, came through the miniature speaker:
"Open the door! They're coming! They're coming! O--*bang*--PEN THE--*bang* DOOR!!!"
"What was that all about you wonder?" Raph asked, looking to them as they all stared blankly.
"Hmm." Splinter said, watching the PeeK shut itself off. "I wonder who he was referring to as 'they'."
"Is it over?" Shadow asked, lifting her hands off her ears.
"Yeah, it's done." Raph said, smirking to her reaction. "At least we know of one spirit so far--"
"Two, actually." Leo corrected. "On her tape, Roxanne mentioned a spirit trapped in that locked bedroom upstairs."
"I don't even want to know why it's trapped in there." Shadow said with a shaky voice. "It was probably some psycho who killed himself and is wallowing in his own mysteries of why he's stuck in there. I'm not going in there at all. I don't care."
Leo shook his head. "Psycho or not, I still think we should check it out. Don, let's go scan the door knob and see what we get." Donatello, not looking too thrilled about going, nodded as he and Leo turned and headed up for the locked room. "We'll be right back."
"Yeah, sure, and we'll be hiding under the floorboards!" Mike moaned, afraid to move anywhere. Noting Raphael leaving again for the back door, he grabbed for his arm. "Wait, where are you going? You can't leave us alone!"
"Hey, you've got Splinter and Shadow here to protect your yellow hide." Raph said, pulling his grasp away. "I still wanna look around the outer grounds. Maybe I'll find something in the garage, such as a car I can hot-wire and we can get the hell out of here. You can tell Leo the Leader where I went if ya want."
Mike went to stop him again but Raphael was already out the door. "Wonderful." He looked to Shadow and Splinter. "So, what do we do now?"
"I suppose we could continue to look around," Splinter said quietly, "but, do remain cautious at all times."
Michaelangelo couldn't touch his food anymore after losing his appetite. He gave his sandwich to Shadow who attempted to eat as much as she could. She knew she was hungry, but her mind worried about other things, such as what would happen next?!
Donatello set the scanning device on the locked room. The PeeK flashed and told them it will take approximately 5 minutes for an accurate reading. Leonardo noted another closed door down the upstairs hallway and opened it, entering a balcony area.
"What'd you find?" Don asked, following him.
"This just leads out to a balcony." Leo said, stepping out to look at the front part of the house. He saw a figure walk across the cement path. It was Raphael. "Hey, where is Raph going?"
"Well, he said he wanted to look around outside. Can't stay cooped up indoors for long, I guess." Don shrugged as he rested against one of the balcony's beams. "Can you believe all this stuff going on? I mean, I've always been a believer of ghosts, but I never thought I'd be experiencing it for real."
"I know what you mean." Leo said, staring out at the front lawn. "This house is full of angry and confused spirits. They don't know they've died and they need help in crossing to the other side. I never thought it'd be us doing the helping but, since Shadow is involved, I'm going to do what I can to get this mystery solved."
"Man, you really do sound like Freddie Jones." Don grinned. "So, about that dream journal?"
"What about it?" Leo looked to him from the corner of his eye.
"What did it say? What did she write about?"
Leo gave him a stern look. "Gee, after you getting on my case about looking through a girl's private journal, you sure are being inquisitive!"
"Curiosity nipped me in the rear." Don blushed a little. "So, go ahead and spill it!"
"Better yet..." Leo turned and went back inside, heading for Roxy's bedroom. "Why not just read it for yourself?"
"Well, I don't think I really should..." Leonardo pulled out the notepad and passed it to him. Don stared down at the cover of the notepad, squinting a little. "Hey, I've seen this naked lady sketch before, but from where?"
"Just read, Don." Leo rolled his eyes as Donatello took a seat on the bed, skimming through the book rather quickly. He knew he was a fast reader but, then again, there wasn't much for him to indulge. Roxanne's writing seemed quirky, hastily written, and above all, bizarre. "What do you think?"
"These are considered normal dreams." Don shrugged as he flipped another page. "Well, normal, as being typically strange. I can't think of anyone's dreams making an ounce of sense. The only thing one can do is write them down, like Roxanne did here, and try to analyze them piece by piece."
"Don?" Leo stared down at the bed.
Don ignored him. "Like who's this man on the ladder that frightened Roxanne? Could it be parallel to the man that frightened Shadow in the dining room?"
"Don?"
"Or this other dream. Who's this boy that gave her a glass of water at a party? That could also be some connection to the apparition at the lake..."
"Don!"
Don jolted. "What?"
"It's flashing again."
"It is?" Don looked over and picked up the PeeK. "Seems a little early for the scan device to be done reading." Don clicked the on switch and read the following, 'activity detected.' A view of the dining room appeared on the little screen, giving them a display of ghostly goings-on. A fork levitated off the dining table and started twirling in the air, followed by the chairs rearranging themselves in weird movements. Shadow, being the victim, slid away into the parlor room and started a dead-run into the hallway where she met up with Michaelangelo and Splinter.
"Shadow? What happened, sweetie?" Mike turned to her bug-eyed expression.
"Ohhhhh, not much! I just watched a dancing fork and some moving chairs..." She babbled like it was a normal thing.
"Shadow, are you all right?" Leo asked as he and Donatello trampled down the stairs. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"No, no." She laughed with fright. "They just want me to have an early heart attack!"
Mike clutched his chest. "Now, that would hurt."
"I'm only guessing on this, but I'm pretty sure these spirits are only playing with us and wouldn't do any intentional harm." Don tried to make light of it, but from the look on Shadow's face, it didn't work. He glanced down to the PeeK. "We've still got two minutes."
"Till when?" Shadow squeaked. "The next weird thing to happen?"
"No," He looked to Leonardo, "till we find out what's behind door number two." As they all stood there, Raphael came barging through the front door, almost ramming into them. Shadow screamed as the others backed away to look at him questionably.
"Where have you been?" Leo demanded.
"We've got a problem. I...I found Roxanne." He told them, half out of breath from running. "She's in the garage."
"What? Oh, my God! Is she okay?" Shadow asked, staring with concern.
"That's the problem." Raph looked to her and shook his head. "I think she's dead."