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The rest of the day seemed to pass ungodly slow, as it always had recently. Because of Splinter's restrictions, the turtles, April, and Casey could only go out for a few hours at a time during the night. This left for a lot of down time, and again and again Raphael found himself just sitting on the couch, groaning out of boredom. Even the once entertaining punching bag had lost its glamour after the one millionth punch several days ago. He envied Mikey's ability to ride a skateboard, a skill he had tried to pick up, but soon became frustrated with after immediate failure. Hell, right now, he even envied Donnie's unfaltering interest in his machines.
He groaned and lay his head against the back of the couch. He must be really bored to envy Donnie.
Just as he started to consider (shiver) reading a book, April walked in, looking just as good as she did the first time they crossed paths. Casey followed closely behind.
It was true, Raph had felt for April the first time they had met. He had struggle to maintain his composure when they first saw her walking down the street that New York city night long ago. He often wondered if his fondness could be attributed to the fact that he had never seen another girl before; to him, April was perfect.
But this feeling had to be brutally pushed aside as Donnie confessed his interest and then, a while after, Casey, his best friend, started to like her as well. Raphael didn't want to seem clingy so he ended up just trying to forget the whole ordeal and focus on his fighting. That was the secret behind his vicious passion. Raph had taught himself to control his emotions, or rather, the ones that would make him seem weak, and for him, love was one of them. Every punch that made contact with a Foot Soldier, the Kraag, or even the punching bag feel like one less pent up feeling, breaking its way out. His brothers just assumed he was angry because that was just who he was, to the point where Raph started to believe it about himself.
He sat up as April and Casey found a spot on the couch. He was so distracted by the fact that Casey had his arm around the back of the couch (over April) that he wasn't paying attention to what Casey was saying.
"Isn't that right, Raph?" Casey asked.
Raph was jolted into focus. "What? Oh...yeah."
Casey cocked an eyebrow. "You have no idea what I was saying."
"Most of the time I have no idea what you're saying," Raph countered. April giggled. Casey scoffed.
"Whatever man," he shrugged. "I'm just so bored. Splinter should've never pent up the uncontainable spirit of Casey Jones!"
"It's for our own protection," defended April. "I'm sure whatever Master Splinter's reasoning was for keeping us here is perfectly valid."
The three nodded in agreement, and were left with an uncomfortable silence. At least, Raph felt that it was uncomfortable. He had to avert his eyes as he saw Casey move closer to the redhead, as she picked up a magazine and started lazily flipping through it. Her perfect orange bangs flipped to the side slowly in a way that made Raph feel dizzy inside. Her blue eyes danced around the magazine, and her slim figure slumped against the back of the couch but looked perfect all the same. Yet there Casey was; he had her, yet he didn't even seem to appreciate it. Raph figured he had better remove himself from the situation before he said something he regretted.
"Guys!" screeched Mikey, racing into the room. Everyone jolted to attention.
"What is it, Mikey?" asked April, alarmed.
Mikey quickly sat in front of the TV. "We almost missed the newest episode of Crognard the Barbarian!"
Everyone groaned and sat back in their chairs as Mikey flipped on the TV to the poorly animated "adventure" show. Raph figured watching the garbage of a show was better than watching Casey put the moves on April, so he turned to the television and let his mind wander.
The episode was painfully simple. Crognard made some dumb mistake, his friends cleaned it up, yet Crognard got all the credit. Raphael scoffed, that was never how it worked in real life.
Suddenly, April cried out and curled into a ball. Raph, Mikey and Casey all ran to her side as she sat writhing in pain, with her hands on her temples.
"What's wrong, Red?" asked Casey.
April didn't unclench from the fetal position; she groaned as if someone was physically abusing her. It reminded Raph of about a week ago when they found her screaming in her bed from a nightmare. Well, Sensei had told them all that it was a nightmare. Right now, Raph was having second thoughts.
"April, are you okay?" asked Raph.
Suddenly, April stood up and let out a ear-piercing scream. Raph, Mikey, and Casey were thrown back by a wave of April's telekinesis. She continued standing, almost as if she was fine, except for the fact that her eyes were completely white and she seemed to be in a daze.
"April?" Mikey asked timidly.
April flashed a sly smile, "not quite."
Raph's jaw dropped. Instead of the smooth perky voice that one inhabited April, a brutal, raspy voice took its place. Leonardo, Donatello, and Master Splinter burst through the door into the room.
"We heard a scream," said Leo.
Donnie gasped. "What happened to April?"
Casey gulped. "Dude, that's not April."
Demon April smiled again. "Right you are Casey Jones. I am not your friend. But don't worry, no harm will come to her," Raph could've swore she looked straight at him, "for now."
Master Splinter took a step forward. "Who are you?"
The demon turned towards him. "I'm exactly who you feared I was, Hamato Yoshi. And I'm coming to take everyone that you care about away from you." Splinter's eyes widened. Raphael kept waiting for his sensei to do something, but instead, he just stood there, almost as if he was afraid. He couldn't really tell, mainly because he'd never seen Splinter afraid before.
"Leave April alone, you freak," shouted Casey. He stood up and Raphael followed, standing behind him for support.
Demon April scoffed. "You're lucky, Hamato Yoshi. The time is not yet right to ruin your pathetic life." Suddenly, April began to glow and she stood tall with her arms outstretched. "But don't worry, I'll be keeping a very close eye on you."
As quickly as it came, the spirit left April's body, and she collapsed to the ground. Both Donnie and Casey rushed to her side, so Raph thought it was best not to overwhelm her.
"What the heck was that?" he asked, storming towards Splinter.
The boys looked to the rat for an answer, but received nothing more than a frightened glance. He quickly retreated to his room, leaving everyone to draw their own conclusions.