Chapter 3

"WHAT!"

"DONNIE! WHAT THE SHELL …"

"CAN YOU GUYS STOP YELLING FOR ONE MINUTE?!" Leo shouted, instantly silencing the room. He sighed, before giving Don a questioning look.

"Donnie! What is wrong with you?"

"Yeah, and why were you SO desperate to use the computer?!" I interrogated, really tempted to get his side lamp and shine it in his face and … oh man, I am turning into Mikey!

"Like I told Raph, I don't believe … he … is gone! And what I was doing was going to hack into my phone to find the location of the last phone call!" He growled, causing me and Leo to step back and cringe. We (and by that, I mean Leo) tried to prevent Donnie getting angry, because that usually ended with a broken arm or (possibly, though it never happened) a broken neck!

"And …?" Leo asked.

"And, I found out that the call was not made in Brazil like the 'policeman' claimed. It was made in Russia!" He admitted.

"So?" I snapped impatiently.

He looked at me dangerously.

"So, if he lied about the location … then he must of lied about Mikeys death!" He exclaimed, clearly irritated. Both Leo and I could tell that he had basically scraped what little hope he had left up from the bottom of his emotions.

He had hope that Mikey was alive.

We all wanted it, but we knew it was too good to be true.

"Donatello, maybe you are overthinking this." Sensei suggested, he didn't want Donnie's hope to come crashing down if he was proved wrong.

"No Sensei, I know Mikey isn't gone. If he was then … we would have felt it and … I don't know how to explain it but …"

"Donnie, please. Don't make it any harder on yourself, the police officer might have just been in another country at the time and received the news from where he worked from and …"

"Leo! Don't you have ANY sense?! Why would the officers who were originally on the scene call another policeman shell knows how many miles away to inform us about Mikeys death when they could have done it themselves and …"

"DONNIE! CALM DOWN! Your gonna give yourself a panic attack!" I exclaimed, grabbing Donnie by the shoulders and 'gently' shaking him.

"You don't get it Raph!" Don whined, picking my hands from his shoulders.

"Mikey was my ONLY little brother! I had one job and that was to protect him (as well as making sure you all were healthy) but I failed at it! If there is a chance that he is alive, then I will stop at nothing to make sure that he is safe!"

"Donatello, do not EVER say that you have failed to protect him! You ALL have made sure that Michelangelo had lived a happy and safe life, do NOT blame yourSELVES!" At that point, we knew that he wasn't JUST talking to Donnie, but to all of us.

It was true. We all blamed ourselves for not trying hard enough to keep Mikey safe and … wait … WAIT?!

"He's onto something Leo." I began.

"What are you talking about Raph?!"

"Think about it. Mikey would never do anything to hurt ANYONE! It has to be false! If they lied about the location then who knows what else they lied about. I know it seems a bit farfetched, but I honestly don't think the kid is gone! It just seems … very unlikely!"

He stood there for a moment, before sighing and rubbing his temples.

"First of all, Donnie, Mikey was our little brother too! Just because he was the only one younger than you, does not mean we didn't care about him as well! We all miss him, and we all feel guilty for what has happened! We are all thinking that we should have never let him take a job abroad, but that isn't going to change anything! Secondly, I get where you two are coming from, but there simply ISN'T enough proof! You need to get more evidence to make accusations or something like that …"

"You NEED to make accusations otherwise you won't really get ANYWHERE! If you juts say nothing then you aren't going to get any answers! Leo, you can't just say …!" Donnie began, raising his voice … but then Leo (mistakenly) interrupted.

'Bad choice Leo, you should have let him finished'

"Let me finish! You need more evidence to make accusations, BUT that does not mean I don't agree with you."

Me and Donnie stared at him. He was AGREEING WITH US!

"Who are you, and what have you done with my overly disciplined brother!" I demanded. This wasn't Leo, he NEVER assumes, he always gets to the bottom of the situation first! Saying this, Donnie ALWAYS trust the facts given, if he doesn't believe in it then this whole world is messed up at the moment!

"Look! Mikey went over a waterfall with several others who we have never heard of before! Number one, it takes Mikey a while to trust some strangers! Sure, he has known to show kindness to wandering pedestrians, but that is just because they would need his help! He must have trusted those strangers and because Mikey has a habit of eavesdropping, nothing would go past him! This means that Mikey went with them willingly; he knew what he was doing! We all know Mikey has a heart of gold; he would never do anything that would hurt anyone! So that MUST mean that we are not getting the whole story of what he did!" He explained.

We looked at him, processing what he had just said.

"Sensei … what do you think …?" I broke the silence. I needed to know if Sensei agreed as well.

He closed his eyes, slipping into thought; sighing and he towered over us. Even though we are all adults, Sensei is still a significant amount taller than us; it doesn't matter if he is growing older, he is definitely not shrinking any time soon!

"I believe there is a reason why his body has not been found yet. Maybe I should meditate on this?" He mumbled the last sentence to himself, before turning and walking out of the door. Just before he did though, he glanced over his shoulder and flashed a weak smile.

We three brothers then turned to each other, all mirroring the same blank expression.

"If we are going to find out 'more' then we better do it before we get back to work. You do remember we aren't fifteen anymore … so, you need to get ready?" Leo crossed his arms.

Me and Don sighed.

"If we have to?" I groaned, before stomping out of the room, budging Leos arm in the process.

As I walked to my room, I heard my brothers discussing my attitude, but to be honest, I didn't care.

…

Leo's P.O.V

Two weeks had passed since Donnie's 'little outburst' or 'discovery' and nothing had changed.

Well, I shouldn't really say that. A lot has happened, by none of our emotions have changed. We might have allowed hope to slip out of our hands, but we are still grieving … so nothing has really changed technically.

We received a phone call a few days after Donnie hacked into his mobile; it was the same Brazilian police-man. He declared that they found the body, decapitated by some man-eating fish that I cannot even remember the name of.

We weren't given more time to grieve, our bosses had demanded us to get back to work … if I was Raph, I would say to my boss 'you bloody'? %~!' … but I am not, so I have to bite my tongue.

I got up early this morning, earlier than usual. I figured if I got on with my work, then I could get let out early this afternoon, then I could get extra sleep.

It feels strange, every time the whole family gets together in the same house, Mikey is usually the first one up to make us breakfast … like, his famous piz-omlet. It wasn't my cup-of-tea, but Mikey made it especially for us to try and now … I really miss them.

I miss the musky smell of them as I entered the kitchen.

I miss being greeted with a cheery smile as I flashed him a 'zombie-frown'.

I miss Mikey!

I have always been a 'sci-fi geek' because, I used to watch Space Heroes; an apparently crummy show (by Raph) which basically got me into space. I became fascinated with it; later I became an astronomer and became well known.

It's a fun job, it pays well and … well, that's all anyone should look for a job … right?

Before I left, I noticed that a photograph was placed on my wallet.

I picked it up.

My eyes widened.

It was a picture of when us four were younger, when Mikey was turning three! I remember the occasion.

We were adopted by Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen after Mikey was born; they were the only people who were willing to take up four more kids.

Me, Raph and Donnie first spoke when we were over half-a-year old, but Mikey … he wouldn't speak.

We had tried everything we could think of (as young kids) to get him to talk, we spent most of our free time with him trying to get him to say his first word!

I would try getting him to sing nursery rhymes (Don's suggestion, not mine!), Raph would try to trick him to speak and Donnie would try to teach him other languages to see if that worked best.

Apparently not.

But, then, he finally did it, before his third birthday. I remembered it …

"Mikey, come on! Please, just say something! Anything!" Don whined, sounding more desperate by the hour.

The young geek was kneeling in front of our younger brother, holding his shoulders so he wouldn't look away.

Mikey's eyes were baby blue; his blonde hair-style had made him look like one of The Beatles and he was as small as one-year-old cat!

He stared at Donnie blankly.

I sighed and Raph growled before slamming his fist on the table.

Don sighed placed Mikey into his arms and carried him to the couch.

"Come on Mikey, at least talk before we leave." I told him. It was our school trip, we were going to a museum so far away from home that we wouldn't be back until late at night! Don was excited to go to learn more, Raph was excited to go because he wanted to see old Japanese weapons and the samurai armours and the old stories about epic war and heroes and vigilante's, whilst I just wanted to keep an eye on them.

It seemed that it would be hard to leave Mikey though.

We were trying to get him to talk before we left, but we were failing … miserably.

"Boys, please get ready so we can leave immediately after we said goodbye to Michelangelo, we are already running late." Sensei called from the other room.

We all looked at each other and sighed. It was hopeless; we couldn't get him to speak in two minutes so we decided to get ready.

Donnie put his shoes on the couch and told Mikey we were going away for a bit, he obviously understood.

He began shaking his head and tugging at Donnie's sleeve.

His eyes began welling up with tears and he began to whimper.

We all cringed!

"I'm sorry Mikey, but we have to go. We will see you tonight or tomorrow morning, ok?" Raph told him, but he turned around quickly to avoid seeing the crocodile tears.

When Father and Mother came in, we all got our bags, said goodbye to Mikey and walked towards the door.

Mother sat with him on her lap, just a precaution just in case … well, just in case he decides to follow.

Sensei brushed his fringe back and kissed him on the forehead.

"Don't worry my son, they will be back soon, you just have to be patient." He told him soothingly, before turning towards the door.

We heard Mikey wriggle and squirm in Mothers arms, whilst she tried humming a soft tune to calm him down … but it didn't really work.

We only just managed to get out the door, but as we walked a few yards down the corridor, we heard it …

"BIGBWOTHERS!" We all stopped in our tracks. That … that was Mikey! He was saying 'big brothers', the words were slurred together but he STILL spoke! Bigbwothers! They were his first words … and we missed it!

I smiled at the memory. We had missed the trip, but we didn't care. Mikey had finally spoken! We were celebrating what Mikey did we refused to leave him, no matter how much Mother and Father tried to persuade us.

Donnie must have done this, this picture was on the computer and sadly never got printed, and only Donnie was allowed access to the computer.

I carefully slid the picture inside my wallet and walked out the door, quietly closing it.

…

I was walking down the street with my bag hooked over my shoulder. I always walked to work; there is really no point of getting into a car if it is only a couple of miles away.

Suddenly, I heard a loud BANG in an alley way.

You think I would have learnt from my past mistakes about entering alleyways when I was younger, as there was always a group of thugs lurking there … but (obviously) I have not learnt.

Curiosity swept over me, and before I knew it I began walking cautiously down the dark alleyway.

Moments later, after I had silently crept further and further into the darkness, I stopped.

I looked around and … nothing, just a spooked cat that knocked over a trash can which, by the way, scared the living day out of me!

I was just about to leave, but then I felt a sharp pain dig into the back of my head and before I could react, I found myself lying flat on the ground, sliding in and out of consciousness.

The last thing I remembered before being snatched by darkness was a black figure striding towards me …

Might be a smidge rushed, but you get the idea, took me a while to write this chapter.

If it wasn't clear, the ITALLIC text was a flash back. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think.

Sorry if Grammar is a bit ... weird and sorry for everything that you find wrong with my writing. I'M SO SORRY (XD)

MarshMelllowMania Out! :-D