Chapter 2 -
I wasn't entirely sure what happened after that, all I knew was that I was crying hysterically as my brother attempted to calm me down. Shell... Now I was quiet and curled up on my bed, my head hidden in my arms, trying not to think about the images which continued to run vividly throughout my mind. Leo was still there, his arm around me, a comforting presence while Raph paced agitated and Don stood nearby and even without seeing him I knew he was probably twitching- a nervous and worried reaction he had whenever he wasn't sure what to do.
"Mikey, are you okay?" Leo's voice softly asked, his hand squeezing my should slightly. I grimaced at the question.
"Fine," My voice automatically said, muffled by my knees. I heard Raph scoff. Thanks Raph, for that vote of confidence. Nice to know my word means nothing. Then again, I couldn't exactly blame him. Me curling into a ball, hiding my face didn't exactly express 'okay'.
"What did you dream about?" Don's voice came closer, his voice equally soft. Instantly, my mind flashed back to that dream- that murder and I froze, breath speeding up, mind conjured back to the blood and gory image.
She was dead! Blood! There was blood everywhere! Killed! I killed her!
"Mikey!" Raph's voice of rage and complete hopelessness brought me back and my head darted up, eyes wide only to stare at Don who was now standing crouched right in front of me, his face only centimetres from mine. I let out a shaky breath breath. Dude, personal space.
"Yeah?" I croaked out, startled to hear just how bad my voice sounded. Don began doing that doctor Donnie thing he had going on – in other words he began to search my face with his eyes. I could almost see the genius work within his head as he mentally ticked off a mental list.
"Mikey," His voice was low and calm- forcefully calm, which meant he really wasn't calm at all. "You were almost hyperventilating. You need to calm yourself. Just breath slow and steady." I gave him a look but his gaze was stern causing me to give a shaky sigh and attempted to follow his instructions.
After a minute or two, I gave another sigh, this time as I glanced around at Leo, Raph and Don. Poor dudes, getting woken up only to have to comfort their brother.
"Sorry dudes. I'm all good now!" I told them soothingly, in an attempt to show them it was okay for them to go back to bed, regardless of this little voice screaming in the back of my head 'No! Don't go!" and the dread forming.
Raph gave me an unimpressed look. Whoops.
"Are you okay Mikey?" Leo's voice was questioning.
Nope, no way. I could still feel the woman's eyes tearing into me. "Yes," I said out loud. My three brothers exchanged glances before Leo sighed. Somehow, within that exchange, Leo had become the spokesman. He gave my shoulder another small comforting squeeze.
"Mikey, we're not going to force you to tell us about your..." Here he hesitated. I could see he was hesitant from my first response to being asked about my dream. ..About what happened," He concluded. Dude, nice save, but I wasn't going to hyperventilate again. Hopefully. "I just want you to know that we're here for you. We're a team Mikey, but more than that, we're brothers and a family. Your problems are our problems and ours are yours. So just... don't block us out, okay?" I stared, completely floored. That was probably one of the most heartfelt things Leo has ever said to me. Dude, if I knew that it would only take a nightmare, I would have done it sooner I thought sarcastically, but it did little to erase the warm feeling in my chest. Leo was still staring at me seriously, his eyes studying my own.
"What he said," Raph gruffly commented. Don gave a definite nod as well. I breathed out before smiling.
"I know, thank you guys," At my response, all three turtles relaxed. Then it was silent. I had a feeling no one quite knew where to go from here.
"Sooo... about that dream...?" Raph had a face that knew he was about to get a lash back.
"Raph!" Leo shot out in exasperation, though he was eyeing me still worriedly. I laughed, knowing that Raph had done that on purpose in an attempt to get a rise out of me.
"I have a feeling we won't get any more sleep for now," Don interrupted. "Who's up for breakfast?" I glanced over at my t-phone which read 4:30. Shell, it was early.
"You sure you don't want more sleep?" I asked in general. I would've thought Raph would have definitely wandered back to bed. Surprisingly enough, none of my brothers had to think about the question at all, all giving immediate no's or shakes of the head.
"Are you sure..?" I asked hesitantly, persistently.
"Mikey," I turned to Don at his voice. "None of us will get any more sleep," The way he said that struck me. It was so certain... but I let it slide, his look telling me to leave it.
"Breakfast!" I jumped up from my bed and towards the kitchen. "Who's hungry? We could have scrambled eggs! Or, or we could have boiled eggs! Or poached eggs!" My mind went into the possibilities of what could be made with egg. Mmmmm.
"More eggs," Came Leo's resigned voice from behind.
"Hey! You try make something else when we only have eggs, eggs and more eggs because someone decided to forget to go shopping!" I protested as I reached the kitchen and expertly pulling out some eggs, milk and a saucepan.
"Oh gee! I wonder who that was..." Raph's voice came sarcastically. I opened my mouth before pausing. Oh yeah, it had been my turn to do the shopping. Oops. I turned on the heat and poured the eggs into the saucepan along with the milk.
"I was... busy..." I replied intelligently. Raph's scoff gave me exactly what he thought about my response.
"Busy playing the play-station?" Don's amused voice entered the conversation. I turned betrayed eyes at him.
"Dude, who's side are you on?" I asked him, folding my arms stubbornly.
"The one where I get more then eggs for breakfast," Don responded as he worked to set the table. I worked to scramble the eggs in the saucepan.
"Dude, eggs are a dudes best friend!" I replied as I emptied the eggs into a container before walking to the table and set it down.
"I don't think that's how the expression is..." Leo wryly commented. I stuck out my tongue before grabbing a handful of eggs with the spatula and put it on my plate as my brother came and sat down.
"Mmmm eggs," I breathed in the smell before taking a big mouthful, a bliss expression overcoming my face.
"How can he be so excited at eggs after a week of 'em?" Raph dead-panned. I intentionally ignored him as I shovelled some more down my throat. I gave him a look.
"Dude, remember when we lived off of algae?" I told him pointedly. In unison, all three brother shuddered, obviously remembering that nasty nasty taste. Yeah it was gross... what was even worse is when you realise that algae is starting to grow on you. Then you realise you have a problem.
After our breakfast, Leo ordered us into the dojo. Looks like we were going to have an extra early practice today. Yay.
As we entered the Dojo, Leo gave out a stern look, fully into his leader roll.
"Katas first," Leo instructed and we each got into position. This was going to be boring...
Turned out, I was right, that had been boring, but now we were up to the more exciting stuff.
"We're going to pair up now for a fight," Leo stated, coming to stand in front of them all. "Raph and Mikey, you two together while Don, your against me," Leo decided. I glanced warily at Raph who was cracking his knuckles menacingly. I gulped. Good thing Leo and Don were going to fight first, I thought as both me and Raph came and rested on opposite sides of where the fight would take place. We never fought at the same time. There were many many things that can go wrong in a fight and while usually the fighters were able to stop their attack or defend in time, there were occasions where intervention was necessary. But this was Leo and Don.. they had like the best restraint out of all of us. When it got to me and Raph, I'm sure they would take their duties a little more serious. Me and Raph fighting is just asking for disaster.
Both Leo and Don faced one another, their weapons out, hard looks on their faces. Then Don struck forward, his bo coming out in a swing to knock Leo's feet off the ground. Leo countered this by using his sword to swing the bo away before kicking towards Don's face who then ducked and did a back flip backwards.
My short attention span was quickly taken over by Raph who was tapping his foot again and again. Either he was impatient, bored, or excited... I decided impatient as he glanced over at me before giving me a smirk and twirled one of his sais. I gave a impish before pointing at him and gestured to my neck as though I had just slit it. Raph gave a roll of his eyes before focusing again on the fight causing me to frown.
Dang, I was hoping for more reaction than that.
I looked over the fight again, only to realise that Leo was definitely winning, as he caused Don to back up slowly as he continuously worked to defend himself. Leo was then able to get the winning shot as he swung his sword at Don who blocked by using his bo but unfortunately didn't see Leo's foot in time as he kicked Don who gave an 'oof' noise as he was knocked onto his back. Before Don was able to get his bearings back, a sword was pointed at his neck. Both were tense.
Then Don groaned.
"Damn! Again," Don grumbled, taking Leo's offered hand.
"You need to attack me more," Leo offered his advice. "You allowed me to get too close to you," Don frowned before sighing and nodded. Both brothers bowed to one another before looking at both Raph and I.
"Your turn," Leo stated. I looked over at Raph who raised an eye before pointing at me, then made a slash with his hand near his neck.
I swallowed before smiling sheepishly. Why could I see this ending badly?
Both Raph and I took our places while Leo and Don stood where we were originally. From their stances, I could tell they were much more ready than we had been in case they needed to intervene. I took out my nunchucks and began to twirl them while Raph held his sais.
"What do you get when you cross Raph and his salad tongs?" I mocked him enthusiastically. Raph narrowed his eyes.
"A porcupine!" I egged him. I faintly heard Don groan and Leo Sigh before I eeped and dodged Raph who came charging at me angrily. I swung a nunchuck at him as I bounced around the room, enthusiastically dodging his blows. When he went for another hit, I swerved to the left and kicked his left leg. Laughing, I spun backwards before he could reach me.
"Gosh! I never knew turtles were so slow!" I taunted before I could stop myself. Raph let out a angry noise and... was that genuine hurt I could see? Dang, I didn't mean to go that far. I made another eep noise as Raph rushed at me and all of a sudden, my attention was captured by his sais, the way they pointed... and my mind went back to the knife that was plunged into that woman. Gasping, I jerked back, my concentration broken before looking up at Raph who was coming at me. He seemed to realise something was wrong by the sudden wide eyes and just as he was about to hit me, a shuriken hit his sai, knocking it out of his hand just as he crashed into me causing us to hit the ground in a roll.
"Owww..." I groaned while Raph unhappily got off me. I noticed Leo and Don already next to us. One of them must have been the one to use the shuriken to knock the sai off course.
"What the shell was that?" Raph turned on me angrily. "I could have hurt you!"
"Sorry," I puffed out. "I got..." My mind flashed to the girl. "...Distracted."
"No kidding!" Raph gave a frustrated grunt before stalking out of the room. I winced as the door slammed shut and looked to the floor depressed.
"Hey, don't worry about it. You know that's just how Raph is," Don comforted. I gave a depressed sigh.
"Yeah... I know..." I softly said.
"What I would like to know..." Shell. "Is why you got distracted?" Leo sternly asked. I winced. Uh oh.
I made a non-committal noise as I half shrugged my shoulders.
"Mikey, does this having anything to do with earlier?" Leo persisted. "I need to know if this will affect your fighting abilities," I stretched out my arms and legs, attempting to be casual.
"Sorry, Leo. Won't happen again!" I cheerfully stated before bouncing out of the Dojo.
"Wait Mikey!" I heard Leo call out after me with frustration. I ignored him, wondering what I should do now. I suppose I could play playstation, but that would risk Leo confronting me and I really couldn't be bothered to handle that right now.
Right, bedroom it was, I decided and began making my way to my room. Once there, I picked up my comic and began flicking through it which is what I did for the next couple of hours.
When I decided it was safe to come out of my room, I glanced at my alarm clock. 9:30 am.
Making my way out of the room, I noticed my Leo flicking through the channels while Don sat next to him on the couch, fiddling with some techno mumbo jumbo he had.
I went into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of water before making my way out. I noticed Raph in the corner of my eye before focusing on the tv.
"Hey dudes, what are you watch..." I came to a stop, freezing as I stared at the screen, completely shocked and startled. That soon turned to fear and horror as I realised what I was looking at.
My cup numbly slipped to the ground, crashing and splintering into many many pieces. I took in a wobbly breath, giving no mention to my brothers who had all turned to me in alarm.
"Mikey! What's wrong!?" I ignored Leo, my eyes staring at a picture of a woman on the tv, only about 20 years old, a cheerful smile on her face. Below the photo stated her name, Mikaela Evans. It was her... the girl from my dreams.
"Mikaela Evans's was discovered murdered in the early morning in an alleyway. Discovered by a elderly man on his way to work, he had immediately called the police. An ongoing investigating is occurring as to find the person responsible. Any information..." It was at that point that I tuned out.
"Mikelangelo!" Raph's frustrated shout brought me back. I blinked, faintly realising that I was shaking, my breaths coming in short gasps. Her body came up in my mind, eyes blank, a forever scared look on her face and I turned away, gripping my mouth with both hands before leaning over to the side and throwing up.
"Wha' the..!" Raph swore while there was a hand at my shell, rubbing soothingly. Sobs continuously tore out of my throat.
"Calm down Mikey," Don's voice was close by. "Your going to hyperventilate again,"
I gave no acknowledgement to Don or Leo or Raph.
As I finally stopped puking, I gasped for much needed breath before grabbing the closest turtle to me, Don by the shoulders and stared at him desperately.
"I killed her..." I sobbed out. It was true! She was dead! I could feel her blood on my hands!
"...I killed her..."
&*&*&*&*&TMNT&*&*&*&*
So, that was the second chapter :) Hope it captured some of your interest.