Don't know if I mentioned this, but Mikayla looks young for her age. And I guess I've officially decided thay Mikey is nineteen? XD Also, this is set during the 2003 series/2007 movie. Partly because I don't quite know how I feel about the new series, but mostly because I've only seen about 10 min of one of the newer episodes XD

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. :D

Edited April 2020

I tensed up the moment I lifted up the phone. It was kind of like that feeling that runs up and down your back when you feel like something's behind you. The feeling that something going to happen, and try as you might, you just can't ignore it.

The sudden flash blinded me. I would have jumped, but somehow I felt like I couldn't move for a moment.

I dropped the pen I had been fiddling with as all the light came on at once. Even accounting for the sudden switch from blackness to bright each light seemed much brighter than it should have been. The lights flashed off after this brief intensity, and then turned on again at a normal level of light. The elevator shuddered and then started moving downward like normal.

I glanced over at Michelangelo my eyebrows raised. I'm sure I looked at least a little freaked out. The look didn't really connect as well as I intended it to. Duh, mask. Why was that throwing me off so much today? At least the power was back on. A nervous sounding giggle escaped from me. This is feeling more and more awkward.

"Yay…" I said, smiling weakly in an attempt to cover up exactly how awkward I was feeling. I was prayed that I wasn't blushing, something my fair skin seemed to find rather enjoyable given how often it happened. It was something that Christina and I often joked about. Make me happy, I flush, when I'm embarrassed or flustered I blush, when I'm upset I get red. My own special reaction to just about everything that happens in life.

God, how had I ever managed to have a normal conversation with anyone?

The elevator slowed to a stop as it reached the ground floor, slowly and normally this time compared to the jolting fall from before. I was a little relieved once the doors actually opened. I stepped out quickly, glad to be in the spacious entryway. "It was nice seeing you again," I said, turning back towards my fellow elevator survivor.

"You too," Michelangelo replied. "Maybe I'll see you around."

I couldn't suppress a smile. "Maybe," I said quietly as I waved goodbye.

The hospital entrance was a little frantic, but not too much more than usual. No one seemed to be too affected by the power outage. I idly wondered how much time had passed. Hopefully I had enough time to take a shower before heading out to an early dinner.

As of this morning, I had intended to not pay all that much attention to my birthday. This year just felt average, all I had planned on doing was spending time with friends at some point during the week.

Despite my intentions the day felt electrified. I was in this strange sort of place when I was honing in on details and noticing everything, while at the same time feeling like I was floating and detached.

I made it home quickly, glad to at least have sometime to relax. I like in a pretty decent apartment, not too far from the college I go to. Actually it's pretty nice. It's fairly large, with three decent sized bedrooms, and a small kitchen next to the sitting room. It's an odd layout, but it's a big upgrade from the small, shared room I had in on campus housing last year.

My stepfather insisted on paying for my housing this year. He's very firmly situated in the high end of "middle class", maybe even a bit above it. He had helped to arrange everything and I was afraid to even ask how much everything had cost. It was kind of strange at first (It's hard for me to accept something this generous), but it's kind of hard for me not to enjoy my room. There's even a tiny little balcony that just barely fits the miniature potted herb garden my mother gave me.

My roommates are nice. Anna is often out and about. She likes to study in coffee shops during the day when she's not at school, but we'll hang out at night when she's around. Our other roommate, Kelsey, is almost never home. Really, she practically lives at her boyfriend's place. I haven't seen her in a month, and Anna and I are seriously considering turning her room into extra storage.

The rest of the day flew by. Dinner was nice, although a bit embarrassing. The place that my stepfather chose for us to eat at was much fancier than I had been expecting and I kept feeling woefully underdressed. My mom kept giving me these long looks and I was dearly hoping that she wasn't still obsessing about the reading she had done for me earlier in the day. Still, I needed to put aside my complaints; it was nice. Mom and Dennis surprised me some unexpected jewelry and the food was amazing. I was looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I was getting ready for bed when I heard a crash outside. I opening the door to my balcony cautiously and peeked out. Hmmm…one of the street lamps had gone out. I was about to turn away when a movement caught my eye.

It was hard to tell…but, yep, those were definitely people jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Mostly wearing black, but every so often I would catch a flash of red. Well that was certainly shady. I froze, pressing myself as close to the wall as I could when I saw a group of them leap to a balcony a mere single building away. My breath caught in my throat. I didn't know why I was feeling the way I did, but I definitely knew what every instinct in me was screaming out to me. Danger…

I tried to breath as infrequently and as quietly as I could as I watched the figures clad in black. I caught some distant murmuring, but I couldn't make out any words. Another sudden burst of movement made me shut my eyes reflexively, and when I looked again all the figures were gone.

I had never worried too much before because my apartment was pretty high off the ground. What had just happened put me on edge though. That's probably why I jumped when I heard a thud from within the apartment.

I froze. I remained as quiet as possible while trying to think of any rational reason for the noise. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. The faint noises from what little traffic there was made me think of quiet whispers, but I brushed it off as a product of my overactive imagination.

I strained to hear any other noises. It must have been just a few minutes, but it felt like much was no more noise coming from the room though it seemed like it could be a bad idea, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleeptonight until I checked it out.

I grabbed my cell, dialing 911 and hovering my thumb over the call button, just in case. Maybe I was being paranoid, but it made me feel a little bit better about investigating the noise. It sounded like it had come from Kelsey's room, and in all honesty she could have just snuck back home. Doubtful, but still a possibility. I winced as the floor creaked under my feet.

I crept towards her room cautiously, fumbling along the wall for the hallway light switch. When I got to Kelsey's room I knocked, and then turned the handle slowly, opening the door suddenly after that.

Nothing.

The box where we had been placing all of Kelsey's mail, messages, and packages had just fallen off her bed. I chided myself mentally, exiting out of the call menu on my phone. The window was open too, I noticed. Kelsey's room had the biggest window in the house, and while it wasn't unusual for it to be open to improve airflow through the house, I thought it had been closed for the night.

I went to close it now. There was a noticeable dent on the edge, something that I couldn't remember seeing before. I traced the slightly bent edge absentmindedly, there was a small shiny patch of new metal when the old had worn away. It really wasn't anything big, but I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before. The window also seemed to be stuck. I pulled on it as hard as I could and it finally started to move with a loud creak and a pop.

Still, things didn't go quite as planned.

The window was still partially open, and that was because somehow I had plowed the window right off the tracks and halfway into the wall.

Aaaaand, now we're getting somewhere. Wow, I really have to stop with these cliffhangers. XP It really wasn't my intention, it kind of just happened. Oops.