Hurt - Chapter 5
Rated: T
Loss
Chapter Summary: Casey finds out about the loss of his best friend.
I actually did not plan to do a Casey part in this story whatsoever, but after reading one of my awesome review's, Lagerthasheildmaiden's, idea I thought, why not? It's probably only going to be one chapter though. I kinda already wrote out some of the end ones and it would be too hard to write him in, but I wanted to dedicate this chapter to her. :-) Hope you enjoy.
Also, when writing this, I was looping "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth...not the best idea... Makes writing this a lot worse since it's about losing a best/close friend.
Foot tapping anxiously as Casey Jones listened to the other line; the tense moments between dull rings as he awaited for a familiar voice. This was at least the twenty-fifth time he'd called his number in the past couple hours. After only a couple rings, he jumped slightly upon hearing a familiar voice, but not in the way he'd hoped.
"Hey, it's Raph. Leave a message."
Beep
"Hey dude, you're really freaking me the fuck out! If ya know what's good for ya, ya better call me back the second you get this message, asshole! ...but, seriously, Raph...J-Just call me back. I need to know if yer okay." Casey pulled the phone away from his face - a sense of anxiety burrowed deep inside his chest.
The vigilante didn't panic at first because it wasn't completely out of the ordinary that Raphael hadn't been answering his phone in over 24 hours, he'd lost his phone or forgot to charge it many times before; but the worry he was currently experiencing stemmed from the fact that no one else was either.
Mikey, April, Leo...he even called Donnie...
...but no one answered...
Casey took a deep breath before gathering a couple items into his backpack; muttering a quick farewell to his dad and sister on his way out the door before he headed out into the blinding daylight of the city. Wheels on his skateboard swiftly skidding over the asphalt as he maneuvered through traffic and pedestrians on his way to the lair. Casey's mind was flooded with different scenarios during his journey through the streets, the worst being they'd all been kidnapped, but he kept hope thinking perhaps their electricity ran out and their phones died, but logically, he knew if Donnie was around, that wouldn't happen; the genius terrapin would have fixed it within twenty minutes on a bad day.
With that thought, he skated faster.
Twenty minutes later, he was running through the turnstiles, heart hammering against his sternum as he took in the lair. He expected chaos and signs of a struggle if his kidnap theory held up; but instead, he was met with silence. Brown eyes scanning the surroundings and it seemed as if nothing was amiss; the lair was clean, quiet, and there was no one in sight. Dumping his items into the floor, Casey was tempted to call out but his tongue wouldn't cooperate; instead, he began slowly walking through the lair, making a beeline toward Raphael's room. The door was ajar, and he'd gingerly pushed it just enough to peer inside.
The sudden relief at seeing a turtle shape on the bed shattered upon realizing that it wasn't Raph in the bed - rather Mikey was curled up loosely in the sheets. Shuddering breaths were heard and Casey concluded he was asleep. It was a strange sight indeed but not enough to incite utter panic in his chest; he questioned why the youngest brother would be asleep in Raphael's bed but he knew disturbing Mikey was out of the question since waking up the youngest turtle was typically as successful as trying to raise the dead.
He closed the door behind him and noticed Leo's door cracked open, but there was no sign of the leader anywhere to be seen. One glance down the hall to the dojo and its closed door gave him an indication that Leo and Splinter may just be training or meditating. Moving on, Casey was immediately stopped in his tracks when his eyes fell on Donatello's room - the door was wide open and there was Donnie fast asleep on his bed.
A shock went through his spine at the sight. Donnie barely slept at all, but it was a stone cold fact that he never slept during the day - a glance of his face in the light gave away more than he ever wanted to know. It appeared as if the genius terrapin had aged five years since he last saw him. The dark purple bags under his eyes and tracks of dried tears clung to his cheeks.
"The hell's going on?" Casey grumbled, stumbling away from the door and back out into the living room. He froze upon seeing April for the first time; he was shocked he didn't notice her before.
The redhead was sitting on the couch, arms hugging her knees and face partially buried into her arms. Only thing that was visible were her eyes; they were haunted and the dullest shade of blue he'd ever seen. Without even realizing it, he was walking toward her; not noticing what had happened until he was sitting down beside her. The clothes she wore weren't her usual outfit; instead, they were gray, baggy and dull. Her hair was unkempt; wet and loose around her shoulders, the burnt, rust orange color nothing compared to the bright lit sunshine orange with yellow highlights it normally had. April O'Neil appeared to have been through a war.
If April noticed him there, she didn't say anything. All she did was stare at some fixed point across the room; her eyes showcasing more pain and agony than Casey could comprehend. None of this made sense to him. April was a mess and quieter than he'd ever seen her, Mikey asleep in his brother's room, Leo AWOL, Splinter locked in his room, and Donnie sleeping during the day...
And just where was Raphael?
"Red?" Casey finally spoke, her nickname the only semblance of some normality in the present moment.
April didn't respond, the light in her eyes igniting for just a fraction of a second before flickering out again.
"April, what's going on here? No one had been answering their phone."
"..."
"Mikey and Donnie are sleepin' and I can't find Leo and Splinter."
"..."
"Just what's going on?..."
"..."
"and...w-where's Raph?"
The sheer mention of his name caused a domino effect. The vigilante jumped when April suddenly plunged her face into her folded arms with a whimpering sob that didn't have any intention of letting up.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong? What the hell is going on?" Casey asked, choking on the words as they came out; a horrendous burning starting to form in the back of his eyes.
Casey remained patient as April's sobs quietly slowed and her face re-emerged. Her eyes were bloodshot, tears were still dripping and her nose was running, but it seemed as if she couldn't care less at this point.
"...he's gone..." a whisper he barely heard broke through the silence and felt like a lightening strike upon his heart. Words he didn't want to believe or could even comprehend.
"W-What?" Casey asked again, hands trembling where they were fisted into the fabric of the couch.
Big, tear-filled blue eyes finally met his and it was a bullet to the heart.
"...Raph's dead..."
It was as if he'd been thrown into a rabbit hole; this separate reality grasping on his soul with no intention to let go. Pain at those words scraping and plunging into his body like hot nails as they left her lips. His lungs itched and heart was searing inside of his chest; not even realized he'd been holding his breath until it let out in loud, shaky sobs.
"Y-Y-You're lying! ...YOU'RE LYING!" was the first thing that came screeching from his mouth as hot tears began falling. His legs were shaking with the sudden weight as he threw himself off the couch. There was no way this was happening; no indication or previous warning sign that his best friend in the world was gone.
It just couldn't be...
Brown eyes pleading as he stared straight into her dull blue. He waited for her to smile and say 'gotcha' as Raph jumped out from behind the couch only to put him into a choke-hold. He waited in vain for Raphael to walk through those turnstiles and apologize for not answering his phone or returning his calls; for his phone to ring and to hear Raphael's familiar voice asking him if he wanted to join him for dinner and to go beat up some Purple Dragon punks.
...that didn't happen...
"P-Please, April... Please tell me you're lying..." he finally sobbed out as April's face refused to change. Instead, her eyes fell and she shook her head in utter defeat before her hands enveloped her face.
"No...No. No!... NO!" Casey screamed, stumbling over furniture as he ran back through the turnstiles without retrieving his bag or skateboard. His eyes were blurry with tears as he fell multiple times in an attempt to climb the ladder; hands and arms were bruised by the time he'd gasped into the fresh air above the manhole cover, yanking himself through the hole before continuing to blindly run through the mass of people, ignoring their exclamations of "Hey!", "Watch where you're going!", and various profanities as he'd bumped into them. Before long, he found himself in a quiet, all too familiar part of town.
His chest heaved and lungs burned as he caught his breath, the blur of tears was wiped away with a quick swipe of his sleeve. Casey stood motionless; absorbing his surroundings as the place he first met the hotheaded terrapin. He recalled the moment he first glanced at the mutant turtle; couldn't help but chuckle when they first fought each other; the expression on Raphael's face when his wired hockey glove shocked him.
It was an odd meeting to say the least, but he couldn't have fathomed just how close they'd become. Best friends didn't cover their relationship; Casey long considered Raphael his brother; someone with common interests and similar morals, protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. A similar hatred toward bullies and a strong desire to stop crime in a city they both adored. It was only natural to cling to that friendship; his own family small and broken, Casey found comfort in Raphael and his family.
It was like he finally found where he belonged.
Casey's chest ached as he collapsed onto the sidewalk near the alley; digging his phone out of his pocket, he stalled. Fingers shaking and vision blurring as he stared at the brightly lit screen. Subconsciously, he began to dial a familiar number he'd punched in hundreds of times before; placing the receiver to his ear, he listened to the rings. Eyes sliding closed and tears dripping when he listened to the short voicemail; a rough voice he'd never hear again. A playful punch to the arm or painful noogie he'd never experience. Sitting atop a roof in the middle of the night; whether they just talked about mundane things or just staying silent.
Beep.
Angrily hurling the plastic device to the cement underneath his feet with a primal cry, Casey shoved his face in his hands, a broken whimper leaving his lips; effectively shattering the quietness that surrounded him. He'd lost so much in his life; whether it be his mom abandoning him and his sister when he was only five or his dad beating him whenever he came home drunk. Hell, even his sister began growing distant in recent years...and Casey found himself alone in a world he never fully understood. Than out of nowhere, this ray of light he'd found after so many years of torment was this unbelievable, if unorthodox friend...a brother...
...and now he'd lost him too...
"Dammit, Raph..." he sobbed brokenly, shoulders shaking with grief as he further collapsed on himself - the bright daylight and sun's rays not comforting in the least. A set of blue eyes from atop a nearby building watched silently as the young man fell apart.
