Edited April 2020

I stepped back from the window, grabbing on to the first thing I could find to support myself and reassure myself with something solid. I thought I had reached toward one of the metal supports on Kelsey's bed, but I must have misjudged my placement in her room.

I jerked my hand back when my hand landed on something soft and moldable, kind of like clay. When I looked over to see what it had been, I saw that it actually was one of the metal poles that were on all four corners of the bed. Was being the key word. What had previously been a smooth round ball was now misshapen and crushed.

I felt sick.

It had already been late when…whatever that was had happened. I had fixed up the window as best and as quickly as I could. (Plastic wrap and duck tape ended up being a fast, if unattractive solution). At least I didn't need to worry about Kelsey discovering her ransacked room. And so I tried to go to sleep.

The constant churning in my stomach made this impossible. It wasn't even that it was surprising because part of me wasn't all that surprised. It felt like something that I had long suspected had come true, and that made this even more concerning. I tossed and turned all night. The few hours of sleep I had didn't make me feel rested at all.

At 4:06 I finally got up to take a shower and start the day. I peaked into the room for the twentieth time this morning and by this point the disappointment that the broken window and crushed metal were still there barely even registered.

I was rummaging through the kitchen looking for something to nibble on, if only to distract myself. I looked doubtfully at a box of crackers, but set it back down as I heard a knock at the door.

"Mom?" I asked blearily. Why was she standing outside my door?

"I brought a couple more things," she said with a wink. "Just a couple extra things. Surprise!" She walked in with several bags, the smallest was shoved at me immediately.

I looked inside. Yum. Breakfast. While usually welcome, I still wasn't ready to eat anything.

"I'll put them in Kelsey's room and you can look at them later." Even my mother had caught on to our tendency to use Kelsey's room for storage. "I have to get going, Jake called in sick so I have to open…the store...today…"

Mind working slower than usual, I had remembered that I should probably not let my mom into Kelsey's room just as she started her second sentence. I was much to far away to stop her at that point, so I could only rush into the room after her and brace myself.

"Kay… what happened here?" She turned towards me slowly after scanning both the window and bedframe. She didn't look surprised or worried. She just looked…older than usual, eyes weary and resigned.

I couldn't think of anything to say. There was no excuse I could use that sounded even close to being plausible.

I wasn't expecting her to smile, sad though her smile might have been. "I suppose its time I told you some things. About you, about me, and about your father," she said, eyes clouded with long buried memories.

Today was certainly one for revelations.

It had been a long night for Michelangelo Hamato. The Foot had been relentless, and there had been way more of them then they could handle. Running into them right after an ambush by the Purple Dragons was just plain old bad luck.

Donnie's arm had been cut pretty early in the run in with the Foot, so Leo had made a Decision to look for cover. Even Raph had realized the danger and had gone along without as much of an argument as usual.

So it was, of course, up to the Battle Nexus Champion to find an empty apartment window that was not only partially open, but also big enough to fit through(the faint creaking from the window frame as Raph's shell went through didn't count).

But now the lair was all tense and moody.

Leo was mad at Raph for rushing into fight, Mikey for being too casual about the whole thing, and himself for not preventing this whole mess (Donnie's wound had gotten him off scot-free). This was in addition to being all silently moody about the Foot
in general.

Raph was mad at…ok, Raph was just mad. Mostly at Leo, but it was best to stay away from him when he was like that, even if it did make him more fun and easier to provoke. Actually Raph had probably gone topside once again, which was sure to be super fun once Leo found out.

Don was staying out of things, and he was also preoccupied with stitching up his own arm.

So this was the perfect time for pizza. If you thought about it, it solved everything! It was the best thing to have for…lunch…or dinner, or whatever meal actually corresponded to 5:30 in the morning based upon the backwards sleep schedule that they lived
by. It was also great for breakfast. People were irritated on an empty stomach (at least, Raph was…but he was kind of a hard one to judge irritation off of), so obviously being full made people not-angry.

Leo being mad at him for going topside wasn't a problem, 'cause how could anyone be mad at something that resulted in pizza? And Mikey's favorite pizza place was open 24/7, made awesome pizza, and wasn't phased by shady looking pizza hungry visitors.

At this time, even though it was still dark out, his Cowabunga Carl costume was safest. Daylight could sneak up you, and his work uniform actually stood out less than the usual trench coat, hat, and gloves.

"Here to pick up a Meat Lover's, a Maui Rumble, and a Pesto Veggie." Mikey said with a flourish once he arrived at the store. The sleepy looking brunette at the register must have been the girl he talked to on the phone. She definitely didn't muster up
as much enthusiasm as he had.

"I have a…Meat Lover's….Pesto Veggie….and a Chicken Florentine?" She seemed to wake up a little. "This order is for a…Mike, right?"

Mikey nodded, it was close enough, and the mistake wasn't all that unusual.

The brunette looked at the order a little more urgently. "I think…I must have written down the wrong order number. They're right next to each other. Let me go talk to my manager." She returned quickly, biting her lip. "I'm sorry, but it's going to take another 20 minutes. I screwed up the order numbers…but we can throw in the Chicken Florentine at no extra charge!"

Mikey shrugged. "Sure." The girl looked a little more relieved. And really it wasn't too difficult to make the decision. Thing 1: Pizza was pizza. Thing 2: At this point the best strategy for dealing with Leo was avoidance. Thing 3: More pizza was always
better than less pizza. Okay, maybe that last one was pretty much the same as the first, but everything still pointed to the same thing. And 20 minutes? Pshhaw, Mikey had long been a master at the fine art of entertaining, and that included entertaining himself. Now he just needed to find something to do.

He scanned the small dinning area. There weren't too many other people in the building. A group of guys, an older couple, and a lone auburn haired girl who distractedly drew shapes on the tablecloth with her fingers.

"Mikayla?"

So this story does have elements of fantasy in it….although nothing that isn't already in TMNT XD. I've always been in love with fantasy, and I want to explore a whole array of different strengths to give my characters. So….just let me know what you think?
I'll see you next Friday!