*Warning: Major alcohol usage and some cussing sprinkled around as well.*
Mikey ran desperately through the streets of New York and to his usual meeting place at the usual time he showed up, one am on the dot.
He leaned against the graffiti filled back alley wall until a sketchy looking car rolled up completely blocking the alleys exit.
Mikey walked casually up to the car where the tinted window rolled down to reveal a man with greased back hair who looked to be in his mid fifties but sounded as if he was thirty. He had done every type of drug on the market and was a man that had long ago given up on the simple delirium that alcohol had to offer.
Mikey remembered he had taken the chance on talking to the guy in the same alley he was in one night, the guy was so high on whatever he was smoking that he didn't seem to mind Mikeys appearance. Which, in Mikes case, was just perfect so he came back every night where the same man eventually showed up at the same time.
It was then that Mikey had found his official alcohol seller, sure the guy was untrustable and was constantly on a different kind of drug and come to think of it Mikey found that he never got the name of the guy but the orange clad turtle had gotten over those little facts and bought from the man alot.
Mikey quickly gave him the twenty and requested the Smirnoff with the strongest alcoholic content. The man laughed as the small turtle grabbed the bottle greedily, "you know there are better things then just drinking, I can give ya a sample for ten bucks more kid." Mikey shook his head, "that's all I got tonight, I'm all out of money at this point."
The man coughed and snickered, "I was wonderin' when you would crack, guess you will have to find some family funds eh?"
Mikeys eyes widened at this, steal my own family's money?
"Unless...you're going to quit all this and go back to whatever you did to cope before?" The man tempted. "I can always quit going this route just to sell to you personally."
Mikey shook his head quickly, "no! No. I'll get the money somehow. I'll be back in two days."
The guy nodded and rolled up his window then drove off quickly. Mikey put a hand to his head, "jeez...I'll get the money. For now it's my time."
The young turtle jumped up onto the hidden fire escape knowing that when in the East side of town one usually didn't have to worry about any civilians on the streets, just the sounds of the occasional gun shots and police sirens.
Thankfully this didn't seem to bother Mikey as he opened the bottle and took a huge gulp of pure vodka, he didn't even cough as he downed several gulps. Soon enough the usual wave of dizziness overcame him carrying the same fuzzy comfort that came with it, he felt unstoppable.
About half of the bottle later Mikey heard foot steps nearing where he sat, he looked up through the cracks of the platform of the fire escape above him to find a red masked ninja staring back at him. The golden orbs behind the mask carried disappointment, Mikey tried to hide the bottle the best he could as the figure climbed down to were he was sitting.
Despite the lame fight Mikey tried to pursue the figure ended up grabbing the bottle and throwing it to the alley below where it shattered.
Raph grabbed onto Mikeys arm and tugged him up to where he stood. "Mike the next time ya do this I ain't ganna be there. Ya got that?! I'm not doing this ever again because you're not ganna do this ever again. You can't have alot of money left to fund this little addiction of yours so stop. You will eventually hit rock bottom if you can't straighten up, I don't wanna tell the others Mikey...I don't. But if I catch you trying to sneak out to do this...bullshit again I can assure you, you won't have the chance to get wasted, I will drag you back to the lair and force you to confess then and there."
Mikey laughed in response, "Raphie c'mon man, ya never mean anything you say! So shhhh!"
Raph pushed Mikeys hand away in annoyance, "I mean it Mike. This is just ridiculous, your freakin sixteen years old go play a video game or somethin it's pathetic that I have to babysit you!"
Mikeys eyes widened as his delayed reaction came into effect. "...Did you throw my bottle?! I payed for that myself ya had no right!" Raph held Mikey firmly as the turtle started to fight to get away from him.
"Stop...Mikey...stop! Grr...I really don't have the patience tonight! Gah, let's just get home."
Raph quickly helped Mikey down from the fire escape and carefully guided him around all the broken glass somehow dodging all of the pieces. Once down in the sewer Raph waited in the tunnel awhile before Mikey started his usual puking episode. After the episode he and Mikey set off slowly towards the lair, once there the usual late night protocol was done for the billionth time it seemed to Raph.
Enter quietly, get Mikey to bed safely, watch over him over short periods of time then sneak him pain killers the following morning.
The next morning though Mikey was not in the bed, he was up and cooking breakfast having already taken his painkillers and actually looked decent for what happened the night before. To say Raph was surprised would be an understatement.
"Mike? You...alright?"
Mikey simply nodded, "is this enough proof?"
Raph cocked his head to the side at this, "whataya talkin about?"
"Is this enough to prove that I can go out and have a little fun to myself but still take care of myself?"
Raph sighed angrily, "no! No Mikey. Ya don't get it. Have you just once thought that this was destroying you mentally? It's eating up your personality. The Mikey I used to know would not dare touch what you have been chugging down. Or attack Leo! Or me! This ain't funny anymore Mike! Never was!"
Leo and Don choose this moment to enter the kitchen, Mikey froze and gave Raph a death glare. Raph surprisingly shut up, in fact he kept his mouth shut all through breakfast and through the uneventful meditation practice after it.
It was about three in the afternoon when he closed in on an oblivious Michelangelo exiting the bathroom, Raph slammed Mikey back into the bathroom and against the nearest tiled wall. Mikey glared at Raph as he struggled against him, "go away Raph there's nothing to say."
"Ya know why I didn't tell em right then and there Mike? Cuz I want you to be the one to confess your problem, I want you to take the step to better yourself. I don't wanna drag you through this Mike because in the end you getting better is ganna be up to you. Do ya understand?"
Mikey frowned, "I would if I actually had a problem, but I don't! What I do in my free time is up to me! Why don't you get that?!"
Raph gritted his teeth, "I wouldn't give you such a hard time if ya didn't pick your free time so horribly then maybe I wouldn't have to do this!"
"Whatever Raph just get out of my way."
"No!" Raph slammed Mikey against the wall once more, "I swear on mah shell I will beat some sense into you if that's what it takes!"
Mikey shoved Raph more, "get out of my way! Last warning."
"Nah, I don't think so Mike!"
SLAM
Meanwhile...
Leo sat crisscrossed on the living room floor as the movie they had paused to give Mikey time to use the bathroom continued to stay unmoving. Don picked at his latest creation as he tightened bolts and pushed random buttons on the device. Leo looked around suspiciously and saw that Raph was missing as well, "where the shell are those two? It's been almost ten minutes now!"
Don took off his huge goggle magnifying glasses and rubbed at his chin, "I'm not sure! Should we go make sure they haven't killed each other?"
"Nah, I'm sure there just getting food or something-"
SLAM
"Nevermind."
Leo sighed as he and Don ran to the sight of the crash, Mikey ran past them in a hurry, they both attempted to stop him but hearing Raphs groans from the bathroom drew them to see what happened there first.
Don opened the bathroom door quickly, there in front of him lay Raph in the bathtub with a pained expression on his face as he rubbed the back of his head which was resting on the faucet of the bath. "Raph?! Are you ok?!"
"Gah...no...hit mah head on the stupid tub faucet thing."
Leo crossed his arms already knowing exactly what happened, "how did this happen?! Don't cover for him either Raph!"
"...We had an argument and he pushed me, that's all."
For now that was all Leo needed to hear, he turned on his heel quickly and stalked after Mikey. What he found though was an empty lair with Mikey no where in sight. He charged through every room with no luck, he peeked into Master Splinters room but only saw his father who was currently deep in meditation.
"Where is he?!" Leo said outraged as he helped Don guide Raph to the lab. Don shut the lab door as they entered.
"He prolly ran off Leo, he was pretty upset he wouldn't dare go topside this time of day."
"I don't care how upset he is Raph! He tried to hurt you! Again!"
Don carefully cleaned the small cut on the back of Raphs head, after this he shined a light in Raphs eyes and did several other small simple tests. "You have a minor to moderate concussion Raph...doesn't sound like he just pushed you."
Leo folded his arms, "Raph tell us what happened truthfully or I will have to inform Mater Splinter about all this. Now I'm willing to keep this secret if you tell me right now. Just tell- Raph? Don why is he swaying?"
Don shined the light in Raphs eyes once more, "his eyes aren't reacting correctly with the light, definatly a moderate concussion." Don caught Raph as he leaned too far forward and layed him safely on his side to find that the short tempered turtle was out cold. Leo gave Don an readable look as he helped to lay Raph on his side.
"When will he wake up?!"
"I give him two to three hours." As Leo was about to turn and charge after the little orange clad maniac Don caught his arm. "There's no point in trying to talk to him right now, I don't care how much Mikey has changed you know how he is when he is upset."
This seemed to keep Leo anchored a little longer. "Don...what the shell is going on? Don't tell me you haven't noticed anything."
"Oh trust me I have, the slight changes in weight, how Mikey carries himself, the short temper. Something is definitely up, what I don't understand is that you and me have asked questions. Heck, even Splinter has had his questionable gazes set on Mikey but Raph, the one person that would not tolerate this little attitude change, has not said a thing."
Leo nodded, "yea I believe Raph knows something we don't. I don't know if it's major or not but it seems to really be affecting Mikey so it matters to me regardless."
"Definitely, I just dunno Leo...these past few weeks have been hectic for all of us because of Mikeys change. I thought for sure Master Splinter was going to punish Mikey for yesterday but he just made him stay an extra hour for meditation then prohibited everyone from going topside! I just don't get his motive...I wish I knew what he was suspecting because I have nothing."
"I dunno Don...Master Splinter has no doubt seen the change but I think he's just as confused. He's been asking me if I knew anything going on but I really have no clue. I do know Raph is hiding something, so when he wakes up and gets better he's going to tell us, if Mikey isn't back by then we will hunt for him."
Meanwhile...
Mikey punched the foreign concrete wall furiously until his knuckles started bleeding badly, his hands then unconsciously drifted to his money filled pocket, he had just enough time to run into Raphs room and take his money along with Leo's as well. He knew exactly where the two hid their money, Leo's was under his pillow in an envelope where as Raphs was in a homemade vase the four of them made when they were kids that he had kept.
The vase in which Mikey smashed desperately to get to the hidden money. He had stuffed all he could into his belt pocket and made a quick run for it.
He had felt paranoid about how long it would be till the search party was after him, so he went to where no one would think to find him. He went topside in broad daylight risking just about everything he stood for and made a stealthy run towards a deserted bridge in his new favorite part of his little chunk of city, East Side.
He found his little hole in the concrete wall under the grafittied bridge and sat with his head buried in his knees. After a while Mikey found himself drifting to sleep, sure enough a few hours later he awoke to see the golden sunset taking place in front of his bridge.
Almost night time...thank shell...I gatta think tonight through. They will all be looking for me, they don't know about this place though if I could call my dealer and have him meet me earlier some where else then I could pull the ultimate night off. Gah, I just need alcohol, I'm going crazy!
Mikey pulled the money out of his pocket, his heart hurting as he saw all the bills his brothers had rightfully earned throughout their years. He stole fifty five dollars from Leo and seventy from Raph, the guilt ate at him but at this point there was no going back in his mind. There ganna notice what you did so you might as well get what you came for.
Mikey didn't know how many hours later he had sat before he finally commenced his plan. It was only seven but he would have to ditch his phone soon so he would not be able to be tracked. With that he called his dealer in which he had hidden as a locked contact in his shell cell. The response was immediate, "hey kid. Whatcha need?"
"New place tonight. You know East main street?"
"Yea. Sketchy part of town but I can make it work, you wanna meet there? There's an old pizza place called Tonys Place, if you can make it to the alley just right of it I'll be there. Name your time."
Mikey thought a moment and saw that the sun was already down leaving behind a grand bit of light in its wake. "How early can you be there?"
"Around nine thirty."
"Perfect. Bring everything alcohol, I got real money now."
A dark chuckle was heard, "that's what I like to hear. I'll bring all the merchandise tonight then. Seems like a special night."
Mikey snapped his phone shut and looked at the time, only eight thirty.
Well while I'm waiting I guess I should destroy this thing.
Mikey smashed the phone into the gritty concrete wall and let the small stream of what was left of the water underneath the bridge carry its pieces away. He smiled, despite betraying his family's trust and basically running away after he hit Raph, Mikey felt good.
It's my night. He thought as he sat happily against the sewer tunnel, he saw an old clock tower from where he sat and could tell the time perfectly, only eight thirty three. Time was killing Michelangelo, time and his thoughts that were now drifting to what had happened earlier.
Shell...I shoved Raph. I wonder if he's even ok. What if he hit something on the way down? Nah...Raphs a ninja and even in those small moments he can defend himself. He was asking for it anyways, who traps someone in a bathroom just to get some kind of confession? Yeah, it's his fault. There's nothing wrong with me...
Suddenly Mikeys stomach growled sending a wave of nausea over him, I bet they hate me even more now...why wouldn't they?! I deserve it.
Mikeys stomach growled once more, he rolled his eyes as he set his hands behind his head and leaned back. He yet again drifted off to sleep once more. Mikey didn't understand why he was constantly tired anymore, he blamed it on the amount of extra training he was put through but then again it never had this kind of effect on him before. In reality Mikey was unknowingly starving himself, the lack of vital basic nutrients was eating away at his energy. Not that he would care though, as far as he was concerned Mike's new nutrients were just alcohol.
The next time he woke up it was nine forty, Mikey opened his eyes in a haze and realized this immediately as his eyes focused in on the massive clock tower.
"Shell!" He gathered his things quickly and charged towards the old pizza place which he found within minutes of running. Mikey entered the hazy but widened alley beside the nearly broken down pizza place and saw a familiar car parked at the very end of it. When he neared the window rolled down to reveal the same greasy creep of a guy, his smug smile never changing as he gave Mikey the run up about all the different alcohol beverages he had.
Mikey ended up purchasing three bottles of the finest and strongest liquor the man had to offer, each bottle was a grand total of forty bucks which resulted in Mikey spending every cent of his own brothers money.
As he grabbed the bottles from the man and saluted him off Mikey ran as fast as he could back to where the old abandoned bridge was, as soon as he got there he cracked the first bottle open not even reading the alcohol content. The liquor was strong and had the taste he had been craving for, the same buzz came very soon into the first bottle making Mikey hiccup. This did not stop the orange clad ninja as he kept downing the oversized bottle.
He lazily smashed the bottle against the wall as he continued on to the next. He chuckled as he cracked the bottle open, "hah! My brothers...this drink is to you three, f-for aaalll the times you made fun of my stupid ass! For makin' m-me realize how worthless I am! Couldn't have gottin' this low without ya!"
Mikey tipped the bottle back as tears began to swell up in his tired and hazy blue eyes. "It's not fair...not fair...I work jus as hard as them and what do I get?! This bottle. That's jus fine though...I-I don't need them, this right here is all I need!"
He was finally on his last bottle around eleven thirty and going strong on shouting every insult and problem he had ever held in from his brothers, the world and most of all himself. He had never been this far gone, even in his heavily drunken state he understood that he had gone too far.
There was no going back now though and that fact alone urged Mikey to take more and more gulps of his last bottle. He had gotten so dizzy in the middle of all his drinking that Mikey hadn't noticed that he was now leaned completely against the concrete wall, the bottle in his hand barely being gripped as he brought it loosely to his side.
As Mikey slowly lost consciousness he didn't seem to notice how cold he had gotten or how the heavy rain had began to pour down as soon as he had started drinking. Or how the water was starting to slowly puddle around him.
No, Mikey wasn't aware of any of this as he drifted to the land he knew best, his drunken paradise of a dreamless dizzy sleep.
So hope you enjoyed this chapter, despite the fact that Mikey is completely gone. Please read and review and I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it unravels! Love you guys~ ^-^