Chapter three: I spy with my little eye
Mikey ran out of the kitchen at top speed, needing to find his brothers. It didn't take long considering they were right outside the door.
He skidded to a halt and did a 180 to face them again.
"What's wrong with you?" Asked Raph grumpily. He and Leo were on one side of the doorframe leaning against the wall while Don was against the other, coffee still in hand. "Why ain't you in there makin' breakfast?"
Mikey looked at him and crossed his arms. "Actually Raphael, I was just about to start making a big, lovely meal for my favourite bros in the world, when I noticed the lights in the kitchen weren't working."
Raph scoffed and crossed his arms, getting ready for what he knew would be a long and somewhat aimless story.
"So I thought, 'hey that's weird, why would the lights not be working?' So I put my hand on the counter to guide me to the other end of the room when it ran through something wet and sticky. I was shocked when I realised what it was, but then thought better because there was no way one of my dear brothers could be so careless." He took a deep breath and continued. "So I quickly made my way over to the stove where I knew there was a decent working light and flipped it on. Looking over at the counter I was horrified to see that my suspicion had been right! Somebody had knocked over my bottle of cooking oil and never bothered to clean it up! And I know it was one of you!" He pointed an accusing finger at the three of them and glared.
The three older brothers exchanged amused glances and without any words, simply walked away.
Mikey blinked a few times, his finger now pointing at the air, and spun around. "Hey, wait! One of you needs to help me clean up the mess!"
A scoff was heard from the next room over and Raph called out, "Yeah, right! Yer perfectly capable of doin' it yerself! Just hurry up and make food, I'm starving!"
Mikey huffed and stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. Why did Raph have to be so harsh all the time? He was about to turn around when a smile crept across his face at an idea. "That's all right Raph, if you don't want to help me I'll just have to make your breakfast extra special, since you're being so kind to me this morning." He snickered at the angry growl he got and smiled triumphantly when his hot headed brother came into view.
"Fine, ya little brat." He muttered, trudging into the dark kitchen. "But so help me god if you do anything to my food I'll wring yer neck!"
April stood outside the entrance to her friends' home, tapping her foot against the cement as she waited. So much for getting ahead start. They were already half an hour late! And Casey said she took a long time to get ready.
"Hey, babe! You think we should go down and tell 'em to hurry up?"
"I'll go." Said the red head; walking away from the van. "They had better be ready or-"
"APRIL!"
The woman shrieked as a green blur tackled her and almost made her fall over. She laughed as she hugged her young friend and pulled away from him. "Nice to see you too Mikey."
"I missed you!" Cried the orange clad, grinning wildly.
"Um, Mike? You just saw us the other day man." Said Casey, jumping out of the vehicle.
The turtle shrugged. "I know, still missed ya though!"
April smiled and rolled her eyes as the ninja jumped into the back of the van. "I'll never understand him." She grinned as the others threw their stuff in the back and hopped in the driver seat. "You guys didn't forget anything, right?"
Everyone in the vehicle turned to look at Mikey and the ninja frowned. "What!? Why do you assume that I would forget something? Why can't you assume that Leo would forget something huh? He's not so perfect, I bet he forgot something really important and is going to be freaking out about it as soon as we get there and-"
"Mikey?" Asked Don, resting his head in his hands.
The younger looked at him in a questioning matter and Don sighed in exasperation. "Where's klunk?"
Mikey blinked a few times and let out a girlish scream. "MY BABY!" He pushed past the others and hightailed out the side door.
"This is going to be a long journey." April muttered.
Usually, the long trip up to the old farm house was relaxing and enjoyable. Nothing but empty fields that went on for miles and miles to look at, and the clouds were always so pretty against the bright blue sky. Everything was usually so nice when you could listen to the quiet radio and hum along if you liked. Nothing to bother you…
That was how it usually went. Not this time though.
"Are we theeeeeeeere yeeeet?"
Not if you had an extremely annoying little brother who was constantly whining about how hungry he was, how bored he was, how sore his butt was or how the radio station April picked was crappy.
Leo groaned as he rubbed his temples in frustration. Was this trip ever going to end? He didn't know how much longer he would last before he opened the door and threw his younger sibling onto the hard pavement.
"Mikey will ya shaddup for 5 minutes!?" Raph growled, clenching his fists as he tried to keep his anger at bay. "If you're bored, why don't ya just do somethin' ta occupy yourself!"
"Like what?"
"I dunno."
"Oooh! How about we play I spy?"
"I'm not playin' that damn game with ya."
"Fine, Doooonnniiieeee? Will you play with me please?"
The purple banded groaned shot Raph an annoyed glare. "Yeah sure, you go first okay Mikey?"
The youngest grinned like an idiot as he turned around to look out of the window. "Ok, I spy with my little eye, something that is…blue!" He turned and smirked at his older brother crossing his arms. "You'll never ever guess in a millions years! I picked something really hard!"
"The sky." The other replied monotonously.
Mikey blinked a few times and then leaned back in his seat with a 'humph'. "That was a lucky guess." He mumbled, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. "You're turn."
"I spy with my little eye something that is red."
Mikey swivelled around to face the window again and pressed his palms against the glass. "Something red, something red…" The young ninja gazed out at the empty fields before him, searching for anything that looked red. He looked up at the sky and raised an eye ridge in confusion as he was met with abnormally pink clouds. He knew that the clouds turned pink when the sun was setting, but that wouldn't happen for a couple hours yet…so why were they turning so dark? Before he knew it, they had gone from a cotton candy tone, to a dark crimson. "What the…?"
He lowered his hands from the glass but continued to stare, awe-struck as the sky went black. The wind outside began to pick up considerably and made the grass go wild as it lost it's green coloring, slowly dying down to a lifeless grey. It was like looking into a nightmare.
He wasn't even aware of his name being called until a hand on his shoulder brought his back to reality.
He jumped and gasped, fear etched onto his face as he felt onto the floor in an attempt to get away from whatever had touched him.
Leo looked down at his baby brother in confusion and slight worry. "What's wrong?" He asked, making sure to keep his distance this time.
Mikey took a few deep calming breaths to try and slow his heart rate and then looked up at the window. Everything seemed to have gone back to its original picture. He looked back at Leo and noticed everyone in the vehicle was looking at him with the same expression. Whoops, I think I'm taking too long to answer. He thought, as he carefully climbed back into his seat.
"Nothing, you just startled me is all." He said, plastering on his trade mark grin for reassurance. "Day dreaming ya know?"
"No, ya think?" raps said sarcastically.
"You look like you saw a ghost or something." Don said; concern still in his eyes.
The youngest shook his head, still smiling. "Nope, not me, must have been seeing things Donnie boy. Anyways I give up, what did you see that was…um, red?"
"What? Oh, uh, the pliers that are under the drivers seat."
"Good, one. I would have never got that, you know, considering I was looking out the window. How dumb am I?"
Raph snorted. "Don't even get me started."
As Leo went to sit back down Don leaned over to Mikey and asked quietly, "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"
"I'm sure, just a little tired is all. Driving makes me sleepy." He slouched down in the seat making himself comfortable and rested his head against the window. "I'm gonna take a nap so wake me when we get there ok?"
"Sure." Purple murmured, not taking his eyes off the smaller turtle. His brother couldn't fool him; he had seen the fear in Mikey's eyes and was deeply disturbed by it. He rarely saw that look of utter horror on the youngest and he knew that he shouldn't just brush it off as nothing. But he would worry about that later.
Mikey awoke with a start as his head hit the glass window with a hard thunk. "OW!" He cried, sitting up strait and rubbing the throbbing spot. "What's going on?"
"I think I hit a pot hole." Said April from the driver's seat. She was squinting at the road trying to see through the rain that was pouring onto the wind shield. "I can barely see through this weather!'
Mikey blinked and looked out his window and was surprised to see how dark it was outside and couldn't make out anything past the rain and fog.
"No worries babe," Casey said, holding onto the back of his seat for dear life. "The road to turn onto is just up ahead. It's the one with the-HOLY SHIT WATCH OUT!"
April gasped and slammed her foot on the brakes, her eyes wide with shock as she watched a huge tree come down and land right in front of the van; blocking the road completely.
Mikey didn't even have time to register what was happening before he flew forwards and smacked into Leo; who was still buckled in. "What's with the abrupt halt?" The orange clad moaned, picking himself of the floor for the second time.
Leo rolled his eyes and undid the seat belt so he could turn around. "What happened?"
April was still hanging onto the steering wheel with white knuckled hands and was too shaken to say anything yet. "A tree came down and almost hit us." Casey announced, rolling down his window and sticking his head out to get a better look.
"Is everyone alright?" Splinter asked calmly looking back at his sons.
"Just plain peachy." Mikey mumbled as he sat down. He shot a nasty glare at Raph who was chuckling lightly.
"Can we still get through?" Asked Don leaning to the side to get a glimpse of the wreck.
"I don't think so," April croaked, loosening her hold on the wheel slightly. "There's no way around it, we have to go a different way." She shifted her gaze to her boyfriend who's head was now wet from being in the rain. "Is there another road that leads to the farmhouse?"
The man shrugged. "Dunno, but we might as well find out. Just back up and turn around, there was another driveway back there."
April grabbed the gear shift and pulled it into reverse. She placed her arm on the back of her seat so she could turn around and look out the back window. Not that she could see anything. She frowned and turned back around. "Casey, I can't see a damned thing. Would you mind getting out and directing me so I don't hit another tree?"
"But babe!" He whined, sounding like a five year-old. "I'll get wet!"
The red head rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You're head is already soaked and besides, do you really want me to take a chance of winding up in a ditch?"
He looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. "No…but…I"
"Oh fer cryin' out loud Case!" Raph growled standing up. "I'll go and do it. I ain't afraid of a little rain." He yanked open the side door and jumped out, slipping on the mud as he did so.
It took a while, but April finally got turned around and Raph got back in the dark, soaking wet and muddy. "You owe me big time Casey." The mutant grumbled, sitting back in his seat
"Hey," Said the man, handing his friend a towel. "I would have gotten out, but you offered to before I could say anything."
"Yeah, uh huh, sure."
"I was!"
"Will you both please stop!?" April snapped, not taking her eyes off the road. "I'm trying to concentrate! Casey, keep your eyes open for any more falling trees."
They didn't have to drive for very long before they came to the driveway Casey had been talking about. It was narrow and bumpy and had trees hanging over it from either side with fog seeping through the branches.
"Well that's pretty creepy." Mikey stated, walking up behind April to peer past her. "You sure you wanna drive down there?"
"We don't have much choice, do we?" She said, taking her foot off the brakes and starting to drive.
Not expecting the sudden movement, the jade ninja lost his balance and landed on his rump. Again.
"Michelangelo, please get in your seat and do your seat belt up." Said Splinter with un-opened eyes. How he was able to meditate at a time like this was beyond any of them.
Mikey scowled but did as he was told. Might as well prevent himself from falling again. He was just about to pull the leather strap across his torso when they stopped.
"Why'd you stop?" Leo asked, rotating his upper half to look.
April muttered something but no one was able to hear it. "What?" Blue prodded.
The red head sighed and looked up at the roof, avoiding everyone's eyes. "We are stuck in the mud."
"Oh well that's just great!" Raph yelled, throwing his hands up in the air and slouching back down. "Now what are we gonna do!?"
Mikey was just about to suggest they get out and push when something caught his eye. He looked out his window and gaped at the huge building before them. "Um…we could always ask whoever lives there for some assistance…"
Disclaimer: Me no own ninjas!
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