Beginning: Part Five
Day Three II
"What was that all about?" L asked as they walked with slightly more hurried pace than they normally would have. "I mean I know the guy was creepy but you got totally intense in there. Did I miss something?"
"I-I'm sorry." Alisa's voice shook as the adrenaline in her system faded. Her heart was still pounding against her chest. "I didn't mean to scare you, but he was Foot, L." She took a deep breath. "He had the three flame fire emblem on his arm."
"The Foot? I always pictured them looking... I don't know... different." She shivered. "Do you think he was after you?"
L didn't know much about the Foot besides what Alisa had told her. She knew they were deadly, they had killed Alisa's parents, and they were ninjas, the best of the best generally. Beyond that she knew nothing.
"They usually wear the traditional black ninja dogi with the symbol on the front of the garment, but look like ordinary people when they aren't at work," Alisa explained, "You can only tell if you look for the symbol that they have religiously tattooed somewhere on their arms." She looked down at the wet concrete as they walked towards home. "I made that mistake once, and nearly paid for it." She looked up again. "I don't know if he was after me or not, but I wasn't going to hang around to find out."
L nodded. "Guess it's time to head back home then. I swear, it seems like we can't leave the house without running into something... much more of this and I'm going to start to get REALLY paranoid and I don't need that." She looked at her friend who still looked deeply worried. "Neither of us do."
Alisa shook her head. "No."
The rest of the way home was spent in silence. Both girls were grateful when they finally reached the apartment building, and entered the relative safety of their apartment.
Immediately upon entering the apartment L's first thought was to check every measly inch for intruders. Things had gotten scary fast in their lives and she didn't want to take any chances no matter how stupid she looked. Cautiously she eyed the sparse living room until she was certain there was no one hiding in the shadows, then she slowly moved on into the kitchen.
Alisa decided L had the right idea, and continued the inspection to the bathroom, looking in the hall closet along the way, and then to her darkened bedroom. She stepped in cautiously, her eyes darting to every nook and cranny of the room before entering further. She felt a light breeze against her face, and swiftly turned around. She was about to scream when a rough hand gently covered her mouth from behind.
"It's okay," a male voice soothed her, "Don't scream. I'm not going to hurt you."
Alisa recognized the voice, and relaxed. The man felt satisfied she wasn't going to cry out, and took his hand away. She turned around to see him, but the shadows hid him well.
"Leonardo?" she asked.
She sensed him nod. "Yes."
"How... how did you get in here?"
"The window," he answered, "You should really get that lock fixed."
Alisa flushed with embarrassment, and irritation at being scared like that. "I've been trying to get the landlord to since I moved in," she stated, "He still hasn't done anything about it." She wasn't truly upset with him, but she was still jumpy, and he had kicked her senses into overdrive.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, quietly, "I didn't mean to frighten you. I just wanted to make sure you girls were okay."
Alisa was charmed by his sincerity, and genuine concern. It was a ray of light in what had been a horrible past two days.
"We are, thank you," she replied, softly.
She felt him smile, and then move swiftly to the window to leave. Alisa sensed him turn to her slightly just before he disappeared.
"Perhaps tonight," he said, simply. Then he was gone.
L came out of the kitchen twirling one of her knives in her hand feeling a little silly for having been so cautious. "Well we're all clear here captain, I-" She stopped when she saw Alisa in the bedroom. "Okay you have a look, what just happened?"
Alisa turned away from the window when she heard L's voice, and found her standing in the doorway. "I came in to look around, and Leonardo was here. He wanted to check up on us." She gazed back at the window. "He just left, but he said something about perhaps tonight."
"Okay yeah, that's weird. How honorable and gentlemanly is breaking and entering? I know he was trying to help and all but damn..." She shivered. "If he can get in here who else can?"
She left the bedroom and settled back on the couch in her normal spot.
"He said he was sorry," Alisa called back after her.
She studied the window for another moment. She walked to a corner of the room where a broken broom handle was propped against the wall. She had this to use as a possible weapon, like a bo staff. She picked up the piece of wood, and jammed it in the window where it couldn't be opened from either side. Satisfied, she walked out of the room, and to the living room. L was sitting on the couch.
"I fixed the window," she told her.
"Who knew you were so handy?" L joked. "Hey guess what, the news is on. People died... go figure." L rolled her eyes but then got at least mildly serious. "Actually this is kinda creepy. They're talking about some new crime wave that's happening. They're not sure if robbery is a motive or not but murder is definitely the end result."
Alisa sat down beside her friend, and looked to the television where the early evening news program was playing. "Did they say who it was? Or do they not know yet?"
"Nope, no clue as per usual. I seriously wonder what's going on over at the police station. Either the police are real idiots, the criminals are really smart or someone is being paid to not do a damn thing. I can't say which I'd prefer."
Alisa sighed. "I don't know either." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "In a little while when we get hungry, what do you say we order a pizza for dinner?"
"Hey works for me! It means we don't have to cook." She leaned her head against the back of the couch and stared at nothing in particular. "When did shit start going so downhill Alisa? I mean as messed up as it sounds quitting the diner is probably the one good thing that's happened to us in ages."
"It's been bad before," Alisa answered, "But lately it seems worse because everything is coming at us at once." She looked down at her hands. "The only way to go from here is up. Or at least, that's how the saying goes." She lifted her head again at a sudden thought. "Leonardo told me possibly tonight. Do you think Casey might have gotten to talk to them already?"
"No clue. If Casey's talked to them today then he's mentioned it I'm sure. He's not exactly one to beat around the bush either." She chuckled. "He doesn't really do tact. It'd probably be something along the lines of 'Hey those chicks you saved want to meet you guys. They won't freak out, they promise.'" The last bit was said in as manly of a voice she could muster, which instantly sent her into a giggling fit.
Alisa laughed. "Well, however he put it, I hope they considered the invitation." She grew serious again. "Honestly, right now they're probably the only ones who give a damn about us."
"Probably. It seems everyone either wants us dead or doesn't give a damn if we are. If it makes you feel any better, I don't want us dead. I rather prefer us alive actually."
Alisa nodded. "I do too." She stood up, and headed to the phone. "I'm going to order that pizza now. What do you want on it?"
She thought a second and smiled. "Pineapple and ham! My mom would NEVER let me get pineapple on my pizza so now I feel the need to do it whenever I can. What can I say, I'm a rebel."
Alisa chuckled. "All right. You can have that on your half. I'm just going for the plain cheese on the other." She picked up the phone, dialed the number for Pizza Hut, and ordered a large half cheese, half pineapple and ham for delivery.
"Y'know what's great about having pizza? Having cold pizza for breakfast the next morning. I mean if we're going to do job hunting we need proper fuel and what better than pizza? Look at mine! You've got dairy, fruit and meat... um... grain... is grain a food group?"
As she babbled she flipped through their few channels and found that there really was nothing on, so it was back to the news.
Alisa blanched, and then hung up the phone upon the completing the call. "Okay, they'll be out here in what they say would be twenty minutes." She smiled. "Of course, if it's not delivered in thirty minutes, it's half price."
"Oh we are SO timing this guy!"
L hopped off the couch and disappeared into Alisa's room, coming out a minute later dressed in pajama pants and big fuzzy slippers with giant bumblebee heads on them.
"If we're in for the night I might as well be comfortable, and no offense but I just don't see us meeting any mysterious ninjas tonight. Not that I was even invited!"
Alisa shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not, but I'm going to be at least prepared." She briefly entered the kitchen to set the timer on the stove. "Okay, we can begin pizza countdown."
L snickered. "So... gonna freshen up, put on a little makeup, maybe some perfume..." She was aware all this was ridiculous, neither girl bothered with makeup but it was funny anyway. "'Cause if they come I'm going the way I am, ninja love be damned!"
Alisa shook her head, but smiled. "Real funny, L." She sat down on the couch again beside her. "I only want to know who these people are."
"Yeah yeah I know, and if one of them just happens to be your dream man then- Okay I'll stop!" She giggled. "And yes I know you just want to know who they are. I want to know too but above all I want to know why the hell they won't even show us their faces. I mean this Leo guy has been within spitting distance of you twice! If Casey says they have a reason to hide I believe him but... it better be a damned good reason."
"I'm sure it is," Alisa defended. She glanced over to the phone again. "Do you think we should call Casey to verify anything?"
Alisa's persistence wasn't surprising, but it was a constant source of amusement for L. "I can, yes."
She stood and grabbed the phone; dialing the number she'd taped to the fridge for safe keeping. The phone rang... and rang... and rang some more... when it was done it rang again...
"Yeah I don't think he's home. I'll try again in a bit, he could be out vigilante-ing or something."
"Okay." Alisa turned her attention to the television. A sitcom had replaced the news.
Time passed quickly as they watched TV and the next time L looked at the clock her face lit up. "Five minutes left! Y'think they'll make it?"
Alisa smiled. "We'll see." There came a stabbing pain in her face suddenly, and she winced. "I'm going to get aspirin. I'm getting tired of hurting." She got to her feet, and headed for the bathroom to retrieve the medication. "Keep an eye on the clock."
"Got it! Hey, maybe we can get jobs at that place that sells yummy candy! 'Course then we'd get fat... or I would... and I realize the odds of us getting jobs at the same place are rather slim... but you never know. I really don't want to wash dishes again but I'll do it if necessary. Menial jobs like that require little in the way of background checks and for some reason if people look into my background they don't want to hire me. I pass the drug tests!"
"We may have to work at places like Pizza Hut," Alisa replied as she came out of the bathroom. She had taken the aspirin, and was now hoping it'd kick in quickly. The timer suddenly went off then with still no sign of the delivery boy. "I guess we get our pizza half-price."
"Woo!" L cheered. "Do you realize how sad it is that this is like the highlight of our day? Well the highlight of my day anyway. What do you think this Leonardo guy would have done if I'd checked the bedroom and not you? He seemed to anticipate you coming."
Alisa shrugged. "Intuition, maybe? Besides, even it where you, I don't think he would have done differently." The girls heard on a knock on the door then, and a voice came through telling them it was the pizza delivery. Alisa unlocked the door, and cautiously opened it. It was indeed the pizza boy. He asked for the full price, but she corrected him, and paid him the money for half-price. She thanked him, took the pizza box, and closed the door, locking it again. "Dinner is here."
"Yay food! Food is good!"
As Alisa set the pizza box on the kitchen table L got a couple plates and grabbed some sodas from the fridge. When she got back to the table the aroma of pineapple and ham met her and she wiggled with glee. It really didn't take much to make her happy.
"Tomorrow will be better," she said when they'd sat down and taken possession of their pizza slices. "I'm sure of it."
Alisa nodded. "It will, or it could even get better tonight."
"Ever the optimist, and that's why I love you. I just hope you aren't setting yourself up for some kind of disappointment."
Alisa shook her head. "I'm hopeful, but not that much. I know they probably more than likely won't come, but I'm trying to be positive about it too." She picked up her slice of pizza, and was about to take a bite, when there was another knock on the door. "Now who could that be?"
L sat rigid, once again reaching for the knife now in her pajama pocket before she even realized it. A knock on the door when one was expecting pizza was a good thing. A knock on the door for no reason the day after you'd been nearly killed was another thing entirely. "Don't answer it," she hissed.
"L, you're being paranoid." Alisa stood up, and carefully walked across the living room to the door. She unlocked the door except for the chain lock at the top, and slowly opened it. She sighed with relief when she saw the person on the other side.
"L, it's just Casey," she called back.
She undid the chain clasp, and opened the door fully to let the man in.
"Damnit Casey don't you have a phone? Call first!" She emphasized her statement by pointing at him with the knife in her hand. "Besides, one of these days I'm going to cut the shit out of myself with these things and I don't want it to be for a stupid reason."
"You keep knives in your pants?"
"No, they're normally in my boots. Besides, you run around in a hockey mask beating people with sports equipment."
Alisa closed the door securely for the second time. "You'll have to excuse us, Casey. We had quite a fright this afternoon."
"What the hell happened this time? Are you two going to start needing a bodyguard?"
"Depends on the bodyguard," L said with a smirk. She of course was all talk; she'd never had a boyfriend in her life and had serious issues with people getting too close to her unless she was very comfortable around them.
"Really though, what happened?"
"We went to the mall down the street," Alisa explained, "We were in the nickel and dime store getting candy when L noticed someone was watching us." She looked distraught for a moment at the memory before continuing. "I looked him over, and recognized a symbol he had on his arm. He followed us when we came out of the store, but we lost him in the crowd, and then hightailed it back home." Alisa chewed on her lip, and decided to tell to him. "Have you heard of the Foot?"
Casey was clearly caught off guard by the question. "How do you know about the Foot?"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Yeah, I definitely know about them."
Alisa sighed, and sat down on the couch. "Until two years ago, I didn't know them. That night, they crashed into the house where I lived with my parents, and killed them. I saw it all. I was hiding in the hall closet. They didn't know I was there. My entire life was shattered in minutes." She hid her face in her hands. "And I am to spend the rest of it hiding because when they found out I was still alive, they hunted me down like a pack of wolves. They still are, but they don't know now where I am."
Casey rubbed the back of his head with a gloved hand. "Damn Alisa... I um... I don't know what to say."
For once even L had no jokes. She patted Casey on the back before sitting next to her friend on the couch.
"I'll do whatever I can to help you y'know. I've had to deal with the Foot a few times and they're tough but they aren't invincible."
Alisa wiped her eyes, and sniffled, smiling a little. "Thank you, Casey." She looked at him curiously then. "What brings you here anyway?"
"Oh yeah. I went to the diner and... talked to your ex-boss. You won't have to worry about coming down there ever again he'll be sending you your check as soon as you get it. If you don't get it right around payday let me know."
"Do I even want to know?"
"I didn't do anything illegal."
"Oh that's refreshing." L looked at Alisa and then back at Casey. "She wants to know if you've talked to your friends yet."
"Uh, yeah, about that..." He glanced back to the closed door. "You could maybe open the door for them?"
L looked at Casey and then back at Alisa. "Yeah... yeah okay... why not..."
L got off the couch and shuffled over to the door.
"I told you they're a little... different. And you guys said you wouldn't freak out."
"Casey, we won't freak! Jesus!"
Unfortunately, L did. She opened the door and saw nothing at first and then from the shadows stepped four... well she could only consider them monsters. That was the point where she screamed. It wasn't however the scream that these "monsters" were used to.
L screamed and leapt back with enough force that she slammed into the wall behind her. Amidst her screams were words but they were intelligible only to herself, and became even less so when she slumped down onto the floor and buried her face in her knees.
"Calm down, we won't hurt you," one of them said, advancing slightly towards her.
Her head bolted up and she pulled the knife from her pocket, though as soon as she removed it she took one look at the weapon in her hand and dropped it onto the ground. By now tears were streaming down her red face and her breath was growing more and more rapid.
What no one but Alisa knew was that it had been almost a year since she had suffered any actual hallucinations and she was very convinced she was having one now. Her reaction was more to the fact that she was having the hallucination than the hallucination itself.
Alisa was in shock, but she was more concerned about her friend to half-way register what she was seeing. She knelt down beside L, and rubbed her back in a soothing motion trying to snap her out of it. "L, it's okay," she talked to her, quietly. "It's not a dream. I'm seeing it too."
"Maybe we should go..." Another one of the creatures said.
"Shit... I should have... shit!" Casey scolded himself incoherently. "No guys, she'll be okay."
L looked at Alisa with wide eyes. "You... too? Four of them? Green?"
"Sorry L, I sorta forgot about the whole... y'know... thing." Having visited L in the hospital Casey knew of her illness but didn't know it's extent. He certainly hadn't anticipated this.
"You mean it?" She was still staring at Alisa. "You see them too?"
Alisa nodded. "I do. They're not a dream. They're real." She patted her friend on the shoulder, and then stood up, reaching down a hand towards her. "Come on. Let's meet them."
L stood on shakey legs and stared at the creatures in front of her.
"Uh... guys, this is L and Alisa."
"I want to sit down."
Alisa helped L back to the couch and was relieved to see her friend seemed to be calming down a little.
When Casey thought it was safe he continued the introductions. "This is Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo. Raph and Leo are the ones who've been following you two."
"H-hi. Sorry... about all that..."
"We're used to it... sorta... not like that though," Raphael said.
Leonardo looked at his brother sternly. "Raph be nice!"
"Yeah I'd scream too if I saw your face coming out of nowhere," Michelangelo joked.
Donatello sighed. "Nice to meet you two."
Alisa smiled, and bowed low to the visitors. "I am honored to meet you."
"Dude, she's totally like you, Leo." Michelangelo grinned at the one with a blue bandana around his head. A strap crossed his chest holding the twin swords he carried to his back.
Alisa glanced at him, and her smile grew wider. "So you're the mysterious Leonardo."
"You're adjusting well," L mumbled, not yet ready to move from the couch.
"Dude, what's wrong with her?" Raph asked Casey quietly.
"What, you've never had a girl scream when they saw you before?"
"Not like that."
"I can hear you y'know, I'm not deaf."
The two looked over at her.
"You'll have to excuse Raph he doesn't exactly excel in people skills," Donatello said with an apologetic smile.
L snorted. "I can't imagine why."