Four Hours Later
The mutant turtle slowly stirred wake. He opened his bleary eyes and stretched with a yawn. When he finished, he looked around in curiosity. The terrapin was not used to being in such a place, but he was certain that the person who picked him up so nice. She even let him play with those white, fluffy looking things in the the water!
"Are you awake, little one?" He heard a familiar voice question. The freckled turtle sat up and turned around to see the person from before standing with a gentle smile on her face. She came towards him slowly and knelt down so she was at eye level with him, "Are you hungry?"
The babe tilted his head to the left with blue eyes shining as he looked at this new person. She seemed really nice and she was pretty.
Grooowwwl!
Chantée laughed melodiously and scooped the blushing toddler into her arms. The two made their way to the kitchen where the blue-eyed terrapin smelled something delicious. He was seated into a chair with pillows that helped him see over the table. What he saw was a white circle thing that had wet, mushy stuff in it. There was a shiny thing with a round top next to it. A container with some orange liquid was on the other side of the white circle.
The nice lady sat to his left and lifted the shiny thing. She dipped it in the mushy stuff and brought it to his beak. The babe looked at it warily.
Chantée noticed and gave him an encouraging smile, "It's okay, young one. This is oatmeal. It's very delicious and healthy, too. Besides, you're too thin and small. I want you to grow up big and strong, okay?"
The terrapin looked at the food on the spoon again and opened his mouth. Chantée brought the oatmeal to his mouth and let him clamp down on the metal. When it was extracted, the freckled toddler's eyes widened. He hummed in joy before trying to take the spoon from the blonde. Chantée quickly pulled it from his reach.
"Calm down. I will give you more." She told him and scooped up more oatmeal. She spent a few minutes feeding and cleaning the terrapin. When he finished she gave him the baby bottle that contained apple juice. Chantée walked over to some bags that she sat on the kitchen counter and opened one of them. Inside was some toys and coloring books. Another bag had wooden building blocks and a mat. In the third bag was many toys resembling people, cars, buses, etc. There was some dinosaurs thrown in there as well.
Chantée looked back to the turtle inquisitively.
"Just what am I going to name you? I can't just keep calling you 'little one' though I think that will just be out of habit. Hmm..." She thought aloud. That's when she spotted a book that said "Rinascimento Italiano". She recalled reading about some of the Italian artists and there was that caught her attention: Michelangelo. The reason for that is because her parents used to call her Angel when she was young and Michelangelo has "angel" in his name.
Watching the adorable terrapin roam around the floor of the kitchen, Chantée decided that he deserves the name.
"Michelangelo. Come here, sweetie," she called out to him. He turned around and crawled to her. She picked him up and held him close, "I got some toys for you to play with."
Chantée pulled out a red car from one of the bags and gave it to the curious Michelangelo. He wrapped his three-fingered hand around the small object and turned it every which way. He smiled brightly and laughed merrily. He was happy he got a toy to play with!
The sight of the turtle smiling and laughing gleefully sparked an intense feeling in the blonde. She had never felt the way she currently felt. It was new to her. It made her heart swell and caused her eyes to mist. So this was what she's been missing for 22 years. A child that made her want it, nurture it, and love it. Michelangelo is that child. Her new purpose to keep living. Her new reason to move on...
Three Days Later
It's been three days since Chantée adopted Michelangelo, and she's having a problem.
Michelangelo was not acting himself.
It had started yesterday. She had noticed that the small turtle would sit at the window in the living room and stare outside with a longing look on his face. She tried to cheer him up by trying to play some games with the melancholy child. Though whenever she tried, he would just curl up on the white and black couch and cry his eyes out. She was stumped at what to do, so she went onto her laptop and researched on behaviors of turtles. What she got back,was a list of things that could cause a terrapin to become upset and withdrawn. And there was this one reason that got her thinking: absence of family.
Chantée thought this could be the reason since the other ones were ruled out because she already attempted to do the solutions. At this, she could understand how it feels to miss someone or people close to you. The fact that she found him swept away in the sewers could mean that he may have been separated from his family. He is more intelligent than the average turtle, so he could possibly have family that were just like him.
With that thought in mind, the grey-blue eyed girl decided that they would be taking a trip back to the sewers. She gave two short whistles and the two mice appeared at her side.
"Préparez-vous. Nous allons à voyager les égouts. J'ai le sentiment que Michel-ange a de la famille là-bas." (Get ready. We are going to travel the sewers. I have a feeling that Michelangelo has family down there.) She told them. The twins nodded and disappeared. Chantée looked back at her sad little toddler and sighed. She slowly walked up to him sat down beside him. She stayed silent before speaking softly.
"Piccolo (Little one)... You're missing your family, aren't you..." She spoke quietly. Michelangelo looked up at her with watery eyes. She smiled comfortingly and wrapped her son in her arms, "We'll be going to the sewers today to look for your family. If they are anything like you, maybe we could get them to live with us here. But if you don't want to come back, I understand. Just know that I'll always love you. My little Michelangelo."
Said terrapin looked into her eyes closely and snuggled into her chest. Chantée held him tightly while rubbing his head. She didn't want to let him go for fear that if she does, he will disappear from her life. She feared that she will lose herself if the one little light in her life was taken away forever.
