Here's the next chapter. Not much happening in it...but hopefully it moves the story along. Thanks to Leo112 :)
I don't own them...'nuff said.
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Chapter 4: Misery Love Company
When Leo was finished emptying his stomach, he leaned back and wiped his mouth. His chest felt painfully tight and it hurt to pull a full breath in. His eyes were heavy and he fought to keep them open. But he didn't want the darkness to close in on him again.
The darkness of the coffin.
The earth that had piled around him. Suffocating him.
He pulled in a strangled breath and managed to drag himself to the sink. He leaned heavily on the counter as he turned the water on. Even though chills were running through his body, he twisted the cold water full blast and pushed both hands under the rushing water. He let the water pool into his hands and then splashed it onto his face. He repeated this several times and then he plunged his head under the cold tap and drank in some of the water. When he was finished he turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the linen closet. He opened the door to the bathroom and wasn't surprised to see Donatello waiting for him.
"Are you alright?" Don asked as Leo walked up to him.
"Yeah," Leo rasped. His throat felt raw. "I'm fine. Just, uh, probably too much pizza at April's."
Don's eyes narrowed. "That wasn't indigestion, Leo! You were turning blue."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Leo's face paled, images of the dream started to flash in his mind.
"You couldn't breath. You was thrashing around."
"It was a nightmare, alright. Are you satisfied?" Leo's cheeks flared. "Drop it."
"A nightmare?" Don winced when shots rang out in his ears...angry shouts. He shook his head.
"Yeah, I get those too, you know." Leo swayed a bit before he pushed himself past his brother and down the hall.
Don shivered from the cold that swept across his legs. The lights in the hall dimmed and flickered before going out. Don put it in his mental checklist to change the bulbs and check the heating system as he hurried to catch up with Leo.
Leo joined Raph and Mikey in the kitchen. Mikey had continued with breakfast and Raph sat at the table with a can of soda.
"Ya OK, Leo?" Raph asked as Leo walked into the room.
Leo nodded as he moved to the sink and filled the tea kettle with water, he place it on one of the burners that Mikey wasn't using and turned the heat on.
Leo raised an eye ridge when Raph shivered and smacked his arm. He was still feeling little legs skritch across his skin.
"You OK?" Leo asked, his voice was a hoarse whisper.
"Huh...yeah m'fine," Raph grunted. "Um, practice after breakfast?"
"M-maybe later today," Leo stammered. He rubbed his chest, it still felt painfully tight.
The tea kettle whistled. Leo poured a cup of hot water and dropped in a tea bag.
"I'm going to meditate for a little while," he said as he walked out of the kitchen.
The evil shade was pleased with how much raw energy these creatures had given. It lingered just outside the doorway as the brothers ate their breakfast, soaking in the frustration, fear and anger that still was thick in the air.
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Over the next few days the nightmares got worse. Each brother only getting a couple hours of sleep a night. Even during the day they could not escape the torment of their dreams.
The lack of sleep and the constant feeling of frustration and anger that seemed to follow them around, like and itch that you couldn't reach, drained them.
Mikey withdrew from the family. He would lose himself in a comic or a t.v. show.
Don stayed in his lab, starting various projects, but not being able to finish one before starting another.
Raph would go topside. Casey joined him sometimes, but for the most part, he went alone.
Leo tried to keep his family together. But the constant fights with Raph, and Mike and Don's withdrawn attitudes, he was becoming exhausted. Weighted down with an intense feeling of failure and helplessness.
The shadow demon thrived on all of it...the frustration, anger, depression, fear...all of it.
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Leo sat at the kitchen table, a cup of cooling tea in his hands. He didn't even look up when Don sat across from him.
"I checked the heating system," Don broke the silence. "I can't find anything wrong, but it keeps getting colder in here."
"Just in certain spots," Leo said, still not looking up.
"It shouldn't be though."
Leo nodded.
"You know Leo, maybe the nightmares we've been having, and all of this..." Don started
Leo's head snapped up. "What?"
Don sighed. "I know that you have been having them, we all are."
Anger pricked at the base of Leo's neck. He shook his head...he wasn't mad. He hadn't said a full sentence to Don in days, why would he be mad?
"Splinter being gone, maybe.." Don continued, but Leo cut him off.
"We aren't children," Leo snapped. But that's not what he wanted to say. His mouth blurted that out and now he couldn't take it back. His tongue felt like lead in his mouth.
The hurt look on Don's face was quickly replaced by anger.
Leo wanted to apologize, his mind wanted to. But his body was frozen. He couldn't speak, couldn't move.
"Fine, whatever," Don muttered and stormed out of the room.
Leo heard bits of the conversation that he was having with Mikey in the living room.
"...do something useful."
"...going to the junkyard with me."
Two sets of retreating footsteps and the slam of the front door, Leo was able to move again.
He gasped for breath. The air felt thick. The anger that pricked at his body before, was replaced by guilt and sadness. It was overwhelming...suffocating.
He stood and walked to the sink and poured the cold contents of his teacup down the drain.
He decided that meditation might help so he made his way to the dojo. It had been days since they had came in here to practice. Guilt crept back up his spine. Some leader he was turning out to be. The dojo seemed to darken. He situated the candles around the mediation mat and struck a match.
Nothing.
He struck again and the match stick broke in half. He sighed and struck another. The flame instantly lit up the room. But before he could light the candle the flame flashed brightly and burned down the entire length of the stick in less than a second, burning his fingers.
"Oww!" Leo yelped.
Ignoring his red fingers he struck another and quickly lit a candle. He blew the match out and used that candle to light the rest. He rolled his head around to relieve some of the tension in his neck. He really needed to calm down and meditate for awhile.
"Then, maybe I can pull this family back together, before Master Splinter comes home," he thought, a horrible sense of failure washing over him.
He didn't notice when the extra shadow that was cast on the wall behind him darkened a shade....
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Cue the scary music...