2 weeks in.
(Mikey's POV)
I didn't have a lot of stuff.
I glance down at my backpack, which barely filled but containing all the items and belongings that were currently mine. I look around the room. It was a nice room, not big but with a lot of windows. It felt cosy, like a home, a place to call my own. But that was just the whole problem right there.
This room wasn't mine, this place wasn't mine.
I sigh, hanging my head. This was probably the last night here, no point in denying it. Even if I had no idea how foster care worked just yet, I knew that Shen and Yoshi would always put their kids in front of me, no question asked.
So when Raph would tell them he didn't want to live with someone who had almost been on death row, they would probably call Tyler the first thing tomorrow, or even this night already. It was probably happening right now. Raph had come home 15 minutes ago, Don would sleep over at a friend's house.
But I had heard them talking, and I knew they were talking about me. I could hear them, my name, words that can only be about me.
And I actually liked it here.
"What are ya doing?" A voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts. I stifle a yell, whirling around. My eyes were big, staring at Raph in the doorway of my, temporary, room.
"Packing." I mutter, and Raph and I simultaneously glance at the backpack. A weird expression crosses his face before he shakes his head.
"Well don't," He responds, walking into the room. "Yer not going anywhere, not yet." He continues, reaching for the backpack and handing it to me.
"I thought you would want me gone." I whisper, but I take the backpack, holding it close to my chest. Raph sighs deeply, sitting down on the bed and glancing down. I frown at that, he seemed sad almost, conflicted. Raph glances at me, but I'm frozen on the spot, and I can't seem to move.
I would've understood if he would yell at me, if he would ignore me out of hate, out of fear for his brothers' lives.
"My biological dad is on death row." He suddenly mutters. I almost reel back at the revelation. His dad was on what now? His biological dad had done something so bad to deserve the death penalty?
"What happened?" I find myself asking, carefully sitting down next to him on the bed. He glances at me, nervously rubbing his hands together.
"I freaked out when they said the guards wished you had been given the death penalty, and then you confirmed it.. I just, I guess I just froze," Raph instead says. "My biological dad is an asshole, more than that. He's evil and deserves to die, even if I don't agree with the death penalty."
"I reminded you of him." I finish softly, and Raph actually nods at the sentence.
"I mean what the hell did you even do Mike? My dad did a horrible thing and all judges agreed on his sentence," He looks at me, but at my silence he sighs. "I thought you had to be a horrible person when I heard that, but you have been nothing but kind these last 3 weeks."
He laughs. "Shit, yer the first foster kid to constantly insist on helping out. And I… I believe mom when she says you didn't deserve to be on death row. Ya don't have one bad bone in your tiny body" I frown at the comment, and Raph grins slightly, nudging my shoulder carefully.
I can feel some tension draining from my body and Raph seems to notice, eyes lightening up slightly.
"You know how I ended up here?" Raph suddenly asks, and I look at him, Is he really going to open up?. "My mom was 16 when she got pregnant, while my dad was 25. They weren't the best people.. shit, I mean they were fucking junkies." Raph mutters, not looking at me.
"Dad was a drugs dealer, a big one, and my mom couldn't bother to take care of a fucking baby" Raph continues, shuddering slightly. "When I was four my dad fucked up a deal, took hostages or some shit in his panic and shot two of them. One of them was a kid, just 13 years old"
"And that got him the death penalty?" I ask softly, and Raph nods.
"Death penalty" Raph confirms with a slow nod. "When that happened police inspected the house and found me. They arrested mom for neglect but couldn't tie her to dad's drug operation. Last time I saw both of them" He shrugs, but I can see the sadness that was in his eyes.
Of course he wouldn't be cool about it. Shit, and here I thought Don had the shitty life, but Raph was way worse. He knew who his parents were, he knew that his mom was a junkie who didn't care for him, he knew his dad was a horrible person who killed someone for his own gain without hesitance.
That had to be horrible.
And yet, I would rather have his parents.
"My parents were on death row as well" I whisper softly, and I can feel Raph looking at me.
"Why are you here then? If they were taken off-"
"That's not what happened" I cut him off softly, looking up. It took him 4 seconds, 4 seconds to realise what that meant. His eyes go wide, a look of panic crossing his eyes.
"Mike.. Shit, I'm so sorry." He apologises but I shake my head. I didn't want to hear it, my parents deserved to die. And I was glad they were gone. They were horrible people, and they ruined my life.
"They deserved to die" I mutter, anger coursing through my body but for some reason tears jumped in my eyes. Raph looks at me. "No, I'm not crying, I'm just.. I hate them so much. I-" I really wasn't sad… I wasn't sad. I was angry at them, angry for fucking up my life, and angry at them for leaving me with their mess.
I wasn't sad.
But my body betrayed me.
I burst into tears. "I hate them" I whimper, and before I knew it I felt arms wrap around me. Raph scoots closer, and before I can even stop myself I bury my face in his shoulder, wailing. "They ruined my life.. I hate them" I wish I had never been born.
Raph never let go, holding me tight while I just cried.
I wish my mom never had me.
TMNT
"I don't want to die" I state, causing everyone in the room to look at me. Leo and Raph were at the table, eating breakfast. Shen was gone as she had to go to work early, but Yoshi was standing in the kitchen, making coffee.
"That's.. good" Leo says softly, and I would've laughed at his awkwardness if it wasn't for the situation. I look at Raph, but I can't get myself to glare. How could I be mad at him even if he stayed with me until I was done crying? Even if he stayed with me until I was tired enough to close my eyes and fall asleep?
"I know you told them Raph" I say, and a guilty look crosses Raph's face. I shake my head. "I don't blame you" I mutter, walking over to the table.
"I couldn't just not tell 'em Mike" Raph says softly. "Ya told me you wish you had never been born, I had to tell mom and dad you were suicidal"
"But I'm not Raph" I counter. "I wish I had never been born, my parents suck.. sucked, just my whole life is fucked up, but I don't want to die"
"What does that mean?" Leo asks softly, and I shrug.
"It means I don't want to die, but I wouldn't mind if I was erased from existence right now, and I wish mom hadn't given birth to me." I say softly, but the worried looks on their faces doesn't falter even one bit.
"Mikey, you realise how that sounds don't you?" Leo says hesitantly, and I sigh.
"I know Leo, but I'm okay, really. You can even tell my next family…. or the foster home I'm going to" Again, I shrug. I didn't really mind. It's not like they would care much in the foster home, or like the parents would care all that much. Who would care about my feelings? After all I had done.
I mean, I hadn't actually done anything, but I had allowed it to happen, and sometimes that was worse.
"We're just worried about you Mikey" Leo says softly. "I know it's none of our business but we know you don't want us to know about your past even though you're innocent, and now you're saying you don't care if you'd die?"
"You would hate me if you knew Leo" I counter softly. "And you would understand if you knew my story"
"Then tell us" Leo whispers softly, but I shake my head. Raph elbows him harshly, for which I'm glad actually. I didn't want to tell them, but right now I didn't really have an excuse except for the fact that I didn't need to tell them. I knew Don's story, I knew Raph's story, even Shen had told me her story.
And Leo and Yoshi had told their story the very first day already.
"He is not obliged to tell his story Leonardo" Yoshi cut in softly. "But I do feel the need to inform someone" He adds, and I shrug.
"Call Tyler, he'll put it in my folder for my next family" Or, y'know, the foster home. Leo and Raph stared at each other, but their worried looks didn't disappear, and even Yoshi seemed unhappy with leaving it alone.
Did they actually care?
TMNT
5 weeks in.
(Don's POV)
"Oh no you definitely cheated!" I laugh, shoving Leo away from him. Leo snickers, allowing himself to fall to the side and onto the couch.
"How would I even cheat?" He asks, and I pout. "Just admit defeat little bro, come ooon" Leo continues, wrapping one arm around my form. I sigh, turning to Raph but knowing better than to try and get out of Leo's bearhug.
"He's never going to let this down, is he?" I mutter as Leo wraps the second arm around my body as well. He looks at me, and he shakes his head.
"Not a chance" Raph confirms, and I roll my eyes. Then after a few moments Leo lets me go, and I immediately shove my oldest brother away. "Hand over the controller Don, it's my turn" Raph suddenly says, holding out his hand. I hand him the controller without any complaints, letting him take my spot.
I get off the couch, sitting down on the ground at the corner of the couch. We were currently in the family room, playing video games and basically celebrating that it was finally weekend. The couch in the family room wasn't the best or best-looking couch but that did mean we were allowed to walk and play on the couch.
Unlike the expensive one that was in the living room.
It was also a corner sofa, filling up most of the family room. In the open space was a TV, with playstation. It was basically a room for the three, or rather, four of us.
"You want to play?" Leo suddenly asks, holding out the controller to the boy sitting in the other corner of the couch. Mikey looks up from his book, glancing at Leo before shaking his head.
"C'mon Mike" Raph tries to encourage him. And I'm almost ready to stop my older brother, we knew better than to force him after all, but Mikey frowns slightly before glancing at the controller.
"I've never actually played" He admits after a while.
"Don't worry, Raph's really bad" Leo snickers, throwing the controller over to Mikey, who catches it with ease.
"Says the cheater" Raph jokes, throwing one of the pillows towards Leo. The latter laughs, allowing Mikey to sit down between him and Raph. I smile absently as Leo explained the basics of the game, actually quite surprised that Mikey suddenly agreed to join in on the fun.
It had been 2 weeks since we found out he had almost been on death row, two weeks since he talked about him wishing he had never been born. And it was as if that was the last push he needed to really open up. He started hanging out with us some more, engaged a bit more in conversations and was more present.
He started sitting in the family room when we were playing games, but he mostly kept to himself, either reading some book or drawing. It was a tad awkward at first, playing video games while Mikey sat in the same room, too shy to say something. But it became normal after a few days.
This was the first time we had managed to coax Mikey into playing with us.
And it only took us 5 weeks.
I glance at Mikey again, a confused yet determined expression on his face as he glances at the screen. But before they could even begin the game, the door suddenly opened behind me. I glance to the right, seeing mom and dad enter the room. I frown, heaving myself up just slightly.
"What's wrong?" I ask, and dad glances at me with a reassuring smile. And then I realise what this was about, and I can feel a little bit of tension draining. Mom and dad had already talked about us, to me, Raph and Leo. We knew what was coming.
"Raph can you please shut down the game?" Mom asks softly, and Raph hesitantly does so, watching warily as Mom and dad sat down on the empty side of the couch. I guess he hadn't figured it out yet. "We have some good news, and some bad news" She continues, glancing at Mikey. So this was about Mikey's situation.
At the mention of his name, Mikey shudders, and he seemed to shrink slightly on the spot, trying to make himself smaller than he actually was. But understanding dawned down Raph and Leo's faces.
"The bad news is that Tyler hasn't been able to find a family that wants to take you in" Mom says softly, and I can't help but to whirl my head around, looking at Mikey with worried eyes. Mikey doesn't look at anyone in the room, staring down at his lap with tears burning in his eyes.
But there was no surprise in the bright blue orbs, disappointment, sadness, but no surprise. He knew they weren't going to find a family.
"The… well hopefully good news is-" Mom continues softly, and dad takes mom's hand, squeezing it softly before looking at Mikey.
"We would like to continue fostering you Mikey" Yoshi concludes, and this time, Mikey's head snaps up, looking at mom and dad with wide and confused eyes.
"You… y-you would?" He stammers, and Shen smiles brightly, and nods. I can't help but smile slightly. Tears were now falling from Mikey's eyes, but he didn't move, eyes wide and filled with disbelief.
"We talked about it, everyone is okay with letting you stay" Shen says. "If you're okay with that, that is"
"I-I.. I don't know what to say" Mikey mutters, shaking his head afterwards. "No.. No I would love to stay.. I just.. why would you want me?"
"I cannot say I was not sceptical of you at first, but you have shown all of us that you have a kind heart. You are no danger to our family, Shen was right to say you were wrongfully convicted. And you deserve a home" Yoshi says in a calm voice.
"Whadaya say?" Raph grins softly, nudging Mikey's side. The latter glances at Raph.
"I would love to stay" He whispers, and both Leo and I smile at the sentence. 5 weeks, 5 weeks was all it took for Mikey to worm his way into our lives. Mikey suddenly goes rigid, turning to mom and dad. "Does this mean I have to tell them?" He whispers softly, and I can feel tension filling the air.
Mikey's backstory was still a sore spot, a forbidden topic so to speak. Mikey kept his past to himself, and both mom and dad didn't want to tell either if Mikey didn't want to. Not like we had asked much, we respected mom's judgement, and Mikey's wishes to keep it a secret. But still..
"Ya don't have to tell us Mike" Surprisingly it was Raph who spoke up. Mikey glances at Raph with panic in his eyes before turning to mom.
"It's your choice honey, but Raph is right, you don't have to" She whispers softly, but I knew that even she wasn't too happy with keeping such a huge secret about Mikey. We knew so little, but the way he was now was probably primarily because of how he got into the foster system, and juvie.
The only thing we knew right now is that he got into Juvie a year ago, he was almost on death row, but still sent to juvie. They discovered he was innocent after a year. Then he got out of juvie. But since his parents had been executed, rightfully so according to Mikey, he had to go into foster care.
And then there was this mystery girl. I heard mom talking about it once, a girl Mikey knew, from juvie or before he got into juvie. And he didn't want to see her, because he was protecting her.
I mean I can't say I didn't want to know.
"I don't wanna tell" Mikey suddenly whispers. "But you can"
TMNT
Next chapter, reveal time!
So apparently there aren't that many people on death row (Thank God), but in my story I already have 3, 2 of whom are already executed (Mikey's parents). Please accept this flaw in the story because I didn't want to change a whole chapter, and rewrite the majority of chapter 4…. whoops.
As always, 10 reviews for an extra chapter! :D See ya!