Shattered Mind - Part 3 – (Month 1)

Month 1

Tapping the pen against her lips April contemplated on the decision she had to make, what groceries she needed to order, what would Donnie like to eat today?

List in hand she had to make sure to write everything down she would need to get to restock her cupboards and to make that nights supper.

Taking care of Donnie was a 24hr job, she had no time to leave the apartment, still being very ill she feared he wouldn't be able to cope with it and there was no one she could trusted to watch him until she returned.

Still not sure in how to find the other turtles she started to take the role of his caretaker, feeding him, bathing him, and trying to help him as much as she can.

The past four weeks weren't easy, at times she wanted to cry from the stress, seeing him in his condition was not for the faint at heart, with little response and not knowing how he would respond to things, it was a gamble at times.

When the burden of watching him came to much to bare, she found herself sitting in her living room with the window open letting the summer air in to clear her mind, it was the only thing that worked, the hardest part was not to let Donnie see her distraught, fearing that it would affect him in some negative way.

Yet by some miracle she managed and although Donnie's response wasn't much better he was improving a bit in other areas, which alone made her continue on without losing total hope, no matter how hard it was, burned in her mind was one saying that pushed her, "One day at a time, tomorrow is anew."

Closing her eyes, she knew things could be a lot worse, with a silent sigh she smiled as she picked up the phone, "Yes, can I order the following for delivery…," April started to instruct the nearby grocery store that did delivery, on what she needed.

When she was done she entered her bedroom where Donnie was laying, sitting on her bed which at the moment had became Donnie's, she tucked him in, "Donnie why don't you take a nap, if you want I can read a story to you if you'd like?" she noticed reading soothed his lost soul.

Picking up the hobbit, it seemed like Donnie enjoyed the story so far, she took out her bookmark continuing to read where she left off as a knock came from the door.

"Well that was fast, normally the grocers take longer, must be a slow day. Donnie I will be right back I have to answer the door, just stay here. If you want, why don't you rest your eyes I will be a bit putting away the groceries. I am making rice for supper tonight does that sound good for you?"

Placing the book down she left the room keeping the door open, she made a rule to herself, no doors can be shut for any circumstances, fearing a closed door will symbolize a cage to him she couldn't afford it even though she lost all privacy, it was a sacrifice she had to make.

One time while showering Donnie walked into the bathroom, he scared her so much she almost jump out of her skin, of course not thinking about it she never considered to have the towel in arms reach, multiple times she asked him to turn around, yet of course he didn't understand.

After that ordeal she did two things, made sure to have the towel beside the shower and she bought non see through curtains, it was the only thing she could do, she didn't want to break her no door closed policy, regardless how inconvenient it was at times.

Grabbing her debit card she made her way to the front door, not bothering to look through the peeking hole to see who it was she opened it, to her horror it wasn't the delivery boy, it was the thugs that locked her up in Donnie's cage.

Quickly she attempted to shut the door, only to have one of the men burst it open forcing her to fall back as she slammed into the floor hard.

"Well we found the bitch, where is he?" the tall thug pointed a gun at her, her eyes widened in complete fear.

(How did they find me? When did these two use guns! What am I going to do I can't let them near Donnie!)

Panicking she didn't say a word as sweat ran down her face, she was at a loss, stuck in a hard place, she could never give Donnie up to these idiots…

"Did you hear me bitch hand him over, or I will see how much you bleed if I shot you in that pretty face of yours," the thug pulled the hammer back on the gun.

"He…he is not here! I left him in some alleyway weeks back, when I escaped," she lied hoping they would buy it and just leave.

"Yeah right if so why are his brother freaks looking for him?"

(Brothers?! The other turtles are his siblings?)

"You think we are the freaks!" a turtle in a red bandana suddenly appeared, attacking the thug with the gun from the side, did he come from her window, which was now wide open, she swore she had it shut.

The man slammed into the wall as his gun slid across the floor, his other buddy too surprised on the fact that the red clad turtle was there and the fact he was accompanied by two other turtles, he grabbed his buddies arm .

"Shit man, why are they here, lets go we don't get paid enough for this!" the man helped his partner up as they fled out of the apartment, leaving April on the ground with the three turtles she never officially met before, she didn't even know their names, she was only lucky to find out Donnie's.

(Now what?) Not sure what to say or do April slowly got up contemplating what course of action she should take, did they know of their brothers condition or that the fact he was in her care.

"Raph I told you not to just rush in!" the blue clad turtle crossed his arms eyeing April waiting for her react to them, yet she didn't give any which baffled the blue clad turtle, she figured he was expecting her to freak out or something.

All this time she had been watching her windows in the hopes to catch them roof jumping near by so she could tell them she had their brother, but of course they never passed by, when they use to all the time, well more like Donnie did most of the times as she recalled.

After a month, not once had she spotted them, now out of the blue they are in her apartment, why and to top it off, they showed up when those thugs finally gave her a visit, did the turtles follow those two men by chance?

"Donnie!" Raph gasped in surprise with a mix of excitement as he just noticed Donnie in the bedroom lying on April's bed; ignoring April he rushed into her room.

"Wait I don't think that is a wise idea," she tried to warn him as she followed him, who knows how Donnie would react to a new face, or would he recognize Raph at all.

"Donnie? Hey bro what's wrong with you? Why don't you say something," Raph desperately tried to get Donnie to respond to him, yet Donnie just stared at him uncertain or did he even notice Raph presence at all, April couldn't tell.

"Please you can't force him," April said entering the room, if Raph kept it up who knows what kind of reaction would come from Donnie, he might lose the miniscule progress he's made.

Snapping his head over towards her, a flash of anger filled Raph's eyes as he charged at her, surprised by his actions and the fact Raph moved way to fast for her to even react, he pinned her hard against the door, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM!"

Pain shot throughout April's body as she couldn't help but scream as her body slammed against the door, Raph strength was unimaginable as she gasped for air, "I…I…didn't…"

"Raphael stop!" the blue clad turtle yelled from the living room trying to reach this brother to stop him from furthering hurting April or accidently killing her.

Suddenly like a flash Raph was thrown across the room as he smashed against the wall on the other side of April's room, the impact of his shell made an impression into her once nice light yellow walls, as pieces of it crumbled down with Raph when he fell to the ground.

To April's surprise it wasn't the blue clad or the orange clad turtle that stopped Raph rampage, it was Donnie, he stood in front of her placing a hand towards her, to protect her from anyone that would dare to attack her again.

Only seeing the corner of his eyes April could see the anger in them as he huffed for air, the hand that was not shielding her was in a fist, Donnie stared down Raph with a low growl not breaking contact.

Confused Raph just stared back, uncertain what just happened, the blue clad turtle now at the door seemed to be assessing situation, for he too wasn't sure what was going on.

"Everyone calm down, Donnie it's us, your brothers, you know you just threw your brother Raph? Do you remember Raph, or me Leo, what about Mikey do those names ring a bell?" Leo desperately tried to make contact with Donnie, only to realize Donnie just backed up more to shield April from him.

(I need to do something fast, he had never shown such a response on anything on this level before. Sure it great that he's showing such a emotional reaction, but I wish it was more of a peaceful one… I can't let this continue for who knows what he will do.)

Gently April put her hand on Donnie's arm that was shielding her, "Donnie its ok, they didn't mean to hurt me. They are just confused and worried about you. Please why don't you calm down, no one is going to hurt me or you, we are just going to talk is that ok?" slowly April lowered Donnie's arm his breathing started to settle.

"What the shell…," Raph was going to start until Leo flashed him a look that shut him up right away.

Donnie eased up becoming dossal again as April directed him back to the bed while Raph slowly walk away out of the room by Leo's orders.

Settling down Donnie laid on the bed, yet he wouldn't let go of her hand, not wanting her to leave him or was it he didn't want her to go into a room alone with his brother in fear they might hurt her when he wasn't around.

Brushing his forehead softly she smiled, "Don't worry Donnie I just going to talk to them, I promise to be in viewing distance ok."

"Donnie I'm sorry that Raph lost his temper like that. He was just worried about you; he didn't mean to hurt her. I promise you we are not here to hurt her, like she said we are all going to talk nothing more," Leo assured Donnie, hoping it would help.

Donnie looked at Leo then slowly let go of April's hand, she followed Leo to the living room, but she made sure Donnie could see her from her bedroom door.

She stood on one side of her kitchen's island, as the turtle brothers stood on the other side; she figured that putting that much distance between her and them would keep Donnie calm.

Raph still frustrated sat down in a chair in the living room as Mikey and Leo sat on the stools at the island.

"Umm… well…," Leo looked lost not sure where to start.

"My name is April and no I didn't do anything to your brothers other then care for him," April started off.

"Sure you didn't!" Raph huffed.

With a sigh Leo glared at Raph then refocused his attention back to April, "Well as you can tell my name is Leo, the huffy brute is Raph and the not really so quiet yet currently silent one is Mikey."

"Hi," Mikey smiled.

"Hi… I guess you have questions and to tell the truth I probably won't be able to help much. I mean when I found Donnie he was worse then what you have seen," April held her sides.

"Please tell us what you can," Leo looked over towards Donnie, with sadness and worry in his eyes; it must be hard for him to see his brother in such a condition.

All three listened to April as she told her tale on how she found Donnie and what condition he was truly in.

"I see… so he been like this for four weeks…," Leo sat back, uneasy on the current news of his brother.

"Leo how long has Donnie been missing may I ask?" April wondered, it would give her a better understanding on his situation.

"Three months…," Raph said quietly.

"Then we heard a rumour that these thugs knew where Donnie was and we ended up here," Mikey added.

"We have to bring him home, if those thugs get him…," Leo started off then April stopped him.

"That may be a problem," she tried to find a solution; the problem was he wasn't safe at her apartment, but would it be a wise idea to move him, could he handle it?

"What's the problem huh," Raph got up then sat at the island beside Leo, an uneasy tension was surrounding Raph, it seemed he didn't like April or trust her at the moment.

"Donnie is dependent on her, he might not want to leave without her," Leo understood all to well what was going on, for being the first person to help Donnie, April was someone Donnie trusted and by his actions earlier it was obvious, she meant much to him.

"So then let's bring her home with us? What's the big deal, she knows how to handle Donnie maybe she can help us to get back the old Donnie," Mikey pointed out not seeing what the issue was; he just wanted Donnie to come home.

"That would work wouldn't it? I mean we can't ask you to do this or make you feel obligated to do so but…," Leo looked at April for her opinion; he seemed stuck like he didn't know how to deal with this.

April sighed, "I don't know...," she was hesitant, part of her wanted to help Donnie but the other half wanted her life to go back to normal, she was scared and started to doubt herself, her capability to take care of him.

If she said yes she was in the long haul, it wasn't a light decision to make, its one thing to be in her own home alone with him, another to be in a home with three other turtles.

Not that she had a problem with them being turtles it was more on the fact she didn't know them and they didn't know her, as far she could tell Leo and Mikey had no problems with her, but as for Raph that was another matter.

Should she put her life on the side and continue helping Donnie, which could take months or years as far as she could tell, but on the other hand having their help it might happen quicker…

A strong yet gentle arm went around her from behind, like Donnie knew of her dilemma it seemed like he was trying to comfort her and ease her mind, a behaviour she hadn't seen him express yet.

He placed his head on her shoulder then just stood there, he didn't squeeze her, like he was being careful with her showing he was aware of his own strength, no doubt he was stronger or equal to Raph's.

Three major behavioural responses out of him in a matter of minutes was a break which she never thought to see so early, could it be because of his brothers being around and a mix of her in the equation as well?

"Ok, Donnie why don't you go to the washroom, don't forget to flush and wash your hands. I am going to pack, we are going on a trip with your brothers back to your home. Where we can be safe, does that sound ok to you?" she sweetly smiled at him, letting go of her, he headed towards the bathroom.

"Do you really have to tell him to go to the bathroom?" Raph still wasn't sure about the situation that was unfolding around him.

"Yes I do, I just got him familiar with what a toilet is only a couple of days ago. He still forgets to do some steps, that said can one of you make sure to remind him. But when you do, make sure to be soft spoken and don't make him feel awful for not remembering, in his condition positivity is the best course."

"Wait if you just taught him to use the toilet then what did he do before…oh…," Mikey stopped in mid speech then jumped to his feet to go assist Donnie.

"Yeah let's put it this way, I did a lot of laundry and cleaning," April went to her room to pack up her clothes.

(I hope I am making the right decision, should I really put myself in this more then I have. Maybe it's best I don't get involved… But I can't turn my back on him, not for what he has done for me in the past.)

"Thanks, I know this isn't an easy decision, to be truthful it's not for us either, but I can tell without your help I don't think we can provide the right care for him. There are not many humans that would have done what you have done, so thanks again," Leo leaned against the doorway of April's bedroom.

"I did it because it was the right thing to do and if it wasn't for Donnie I would have died last winter…"

Looking at her Leo seemed like he just realized something, "Wait you're the girl Donnie caught when you almost slipped off the roof, aren't you and the one that takes pictures around town?"

"Yeah, and no I never took pictures of you or your brothers, I refused to have such proof."

Leo nodded, "That's good to hear, although Donnie did keep an eye online to make sure you didn't post any."

April smiled, "So I take it Donnie is a computer type of guy, nice to know."

"I guess you don't really know how Donnie was like… that is something I might have to fill in."

"That would help me a great deal, in helping him," if she got to know the old Donnie she would be able to assess him better and arrange ways to help him with picking up the shatter pieces of his formal self.

April finished packing, Donnie at the time was now at the doorway, Leo moved letting him in.

Zipping her suitcase Donnie passed something to April, the book she'd been reading to him, "Oh thank you Donnie, I almost forgot, are we ready to go now?"