Psychosis
Chapter 2:Are you okay?
Disclaimer: I do not own those four fantastic mutated heroes…all I own is the love I have for them in my heart!
Thank You Alex Hamato for being my beta reader for this rewrite. Your help has been amazing.
So here is chapter two of the rewrite! I hope you all enjoy it :D! Its a little different from what I originally posted so I hope that it doesnt disappoint! Authors note is at the end.
As the hours rolled on, as much as it pains me to admit, it became very obvious that I was not going to be able to keep up with my other three brothers. It seemed as if they had long forgotten my painful circumstance, and opted instead to compete against each other. As they twisted, leaped, and galloped over the darkened rooftops, I stared wide-eyed in awe, captivated by their grace. They made everything look effortless, which made me realize just how hard all the feats we execute are. Their agile movements contrasted greatly with my sloppy and heavy ones as I trudged on. It literally took every ounce of my energy to stay at a marginally reasonable distance, and as they ran on, laughing, joking, and trying to one up each other, all I could do was scowl. Every now again, one of them would look back to see where I was and then give me one of their sly brotherly smiles which seem to read, 'well now thy brother, the tables have turned.' Now I can see why they didn't seem to enjoy my amusement. So yeah, you guys, suck it all up like a sponge, remember, that used to be me up there.
As I stomped on, enjoying my invitation only pity party, I almost missed my oldest brother yelling as I came to a slow stop. "Mikey hurry up you're falling behind" Leonardo shouted while looking over his shoulder and jumping to the next building. Instead of trying to execute a normal jump, he opted to try to show everyone up and do a double front flip. With this headache, I just hope he doesn't expect me to try and do the same.
"Hey, does it look like I am not trying" I shouted, not even hiding my irritation, "maybe you guys are just falling ahead. Did you ever think about that?" Looking to my left, I head Don scoff and quickly shake his head. Rolling my eyes, I dramatically threw my hands up in the air because I knew what that meant. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps, I heard Don pointedly make a statement about how it is impossible for one to 'fall ahead', but I ignored it.
"Mikey, I know you have a headache, but you are not even trying. Look at you, you're walking now, and we are almost done, come on just fight it a little more to the end, I know you can do it."
"Yeah cheese ball" Raph shouted back mimicking Leo's moves perfectly, "even slow poke brainiac over here is beating you"!
"No one asked you loudmouth!" I growled through clenched teeth.
"Hey, you try running while carrying a duffle bag," Donatello voice called out as he prepared to make the same jump that the elder two brothers had just completed, "between the medical supplies, camera, lock pick, and various others supplies, I am at least working with thirty extra pounds." When he made it over to the other rooftop, he was met with a rain of high fives and compliments as they all applauded themselves for their jobs well done. Shortly, they began talking amongst themselves, arguing who had the better form, and each voting for themselves.
Oh yeah, you try running with a head that feels like its two thousand pounds and then we can talk about pain! Bitterly, I turned away, and I could not help but to feel hostile. So this is what is must feel like to be in last place.
"And then there was one," Don spoke, turning to face me, his smug voice filling the air. That little quip sent my other two brothers into fits of giggles and jeers, while I just tightened my fist in annoyance. We all knew that was something I would say. Man, I just wanted to smack the smarts out of him. The one day where he is not in last place, and he is already dissing out burns, and people seem to think that I have a big ego.
"You know what they say," I shouted at my brothers through the darkness, "the best is always saved for last."
"If that was the case dear brother," Leo quickly shouted back through fits of laughter, "then why am I over here and not standing where you are right now."
That jerk, that conceded jerk. I guess the whole big brother being concerned for the pined little brother routine has completely worn off at this point. He was having too much fun showing off with the other three. I guess Leo is only human after all, well as human as a big green turtles gets I guess.
"Well har-dee-har-har" I shouted back at them shocked by how hurt my voice sounded, "Even Leo likes to take part in making me look like a loser every now and again, and here I thought that spot was on reserve for Raph".
"Aw Mike quite your gripping , we are just pulling your shell," Raph shouted back suppressing his small giggles, "just jump already okay so we can get moving, I want to go check out the those thugs hotspot so we can go home already."
Raph actually wants to continue on a patrol run, and I am the one that is sick something is not right here.
"Stop rushing me guys, you can't rush perfection" I shouted back while getting in position for a running start, "I mean don't forget that you're dealing with hmm,I dunno, The Battle Nexus Champion"!
The joint growls that I heard from my three older brothers were enough to make a smile appear on my face. Taking a deep breath of the cities cool air I closed my eyes, trying to ease the pulsing in my brain before I made the jump. Needless to say, I had no such luck.
It is now or never, I groggily thought as I took off in a medium but steady pace towards the other building. When my foot touched the cold damp ledge that I was planning to kick off of, a loud blast erupted a few buildings behind my brothers, followed by a succession of emergency buildings heading to the source. The noise startled me, and I fell back to the roof with a graceless thud. Shaking my head clear, I moved to my knees and peeked over the ledge to my brothers, hoping they didn't see my flooring.
To my relief, they had all turned around, facing the loud activities a few buildings away. I could tell that they were talking to each other, but I could no longer hear them. Straining, I tried hard to focus in on their lips, I tried to hear their words, but my attempt what just that.
A stinging sensation of gravel digging into my knees caused me to slowly stand up and brush off my legs. Looking up, and seeing that my brothers were still occupied with
whatever was happening on the other side of the building gave my hope that I could join them by using the fire escapes, the normal and less strenuous way. As I searched around the rooftop for a ladder that led down to the silent street below me, I couldn't help but to feel as if something wasn't right.
Stopping my search, I began looking around at the sea of rooftops that surrounded my own. They were all empty, which was to be expected. Rubbing the back of my neck and shrugging I continued gave the rooftops a slow sweep one last time. Maybe my brothers were right, maybe I should cut back on the video games, comics, and late nights for a little while, I am starting to become a little paranoid.
As my eyes feel on the last rooftop, which was adjacent to the building with all of the commotion, I had to squint my eyes. I saw what appeared to be a shadowed figure standing on the ledge, very dangerously close to the edge. Even though I couldn't get a good look at the figure from where I was standing, I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach and in the back of my head and I knew that whomever that was, was not just standing there star gazing.
A tiny feeling of dread started to course its way through my body. I have seen this situation before. It always started with someone down on their luck, standing on a rooftop sucking in one last scene of the city before they take a twelve-story drop to their bone shattering death. I'm surprised the other three didn't notice this person. They should have a very clear view. They are probably more interested in the loud noises and flashing lights to even take notices of the silent forlorn figure. It's tragic, extremely tragic, and I didn't want to witness that tonight.
I opened my mouth to shout at my brothers in order to gain their attention and tell them about an impending death. Before words could pour out and be sent on a windy current to the other rooftop, I quickly shut my mouth changing my mind. They were already annoyed with my slow green ass to begin with; I doubt they would even believe me, especially after the fluke in the alleyway.
I bet they were keeping an eye on whatever was going on in case they felt the need to help whoever was involved, and that was good for them. I on the other hand ultimately decided to help the gloomy individual. I had my shell cell and I could contact my brothers when I was done to let them know my location. I might get an earful from mother Leo though. He doesn't like it when any of us run off, even though Raph and him seem to do it quite a bit. Taking one last look at the building that my brothers were now rooted to, I quickly made my way to the fire escape, and began on my silent descent. On the ground, I felt a rush of relief. The streets were, its inhabitants drawn to the noise like rats to cheese, or tea like in Splinters case.
Stealthy, I kept to the shadows, just in case I ran into a few stragglers. After what seemed like hours but in reality was a few minutes, I made it to the alleyway of other building. Looking around at the old run down structure, I couldn't help but to feel familiarity. It was clearly a squatter house, the boarded up windows said that much. I wonder if my brothers and I used this building for hide and seek when we were younger; abandon buildings were always our favorites. Blindly, I groped in the darkness for the ladder and heaved a satisfied sigh as my fingers curled around the worn cool metal. Pulling myself up one slow step at a time, I groaned, I never realized how heavy I felt. As I inched my way to the top, I felt adrenaline warm my blood as the severity of the situation set in. I was going to try to convince some random guy or gal not to kill themselves.
Peeking over the ridge, I swiftly jumped to the concrete top and rolled into the shadows, keeping out of their sight. I didn't want him or her to see me until I was right behind them, I didn't want to prompt them to put their decision on fast forward, or risk them fainting and falling off at the sight of me. Quietly, I inched my way to the person who hadn't moved an inch as if I were approaching a frightened animal. Swallowing and licking my dried lips, I soft spoke, "Hey. Pretty good scenery up here, right? Just sightseeing? It looks even better when you're not standing over a ledge. Gotta love the safety of actual ground under your feet, you know?"
From where I was standing, I could see the figure look up slowly as if they were thinking about something. From where I was standing, I could finally make out some basic shapes of the figure, and from the boxy hips and short blonde hair, my best guess that this individual was a guy probably in his late teens.
"The scenery is perfect," the teen, never turning around, "how are you?"
Shaking my head as I felt a lightning bolt of pain strike, I snapped my eyes shut. "I guess I'm fine, but how are you, not many people stand on the edge of a roof just because they think the scenery is pretty."
He was silent again, and I began getting nervous. I prepped my body, just in case I needed to quickly spring into action in order to save him. Finally he spoke, "is your head hurting you?"
Snapping my eyes open, I stared back at him in confusion. How could he possibly know my head was killing me. Thinking it over for a few seconds, I came to the conclusion that he was just asking me a trick question to throw me off his trail or something.
"Come on dude, just step off that ledge okay, we both know that you are, not just looking at the scenery. Look, whatever is going on in your life, it's not going to get fixed by you taking your life, nothing is worth that much maybe I can help?"
The teen went silent again and I knew that things were not going to end well. Wordlessly, I started to make my way towards the ledge on which the teen was standing. Still looking down at his mental graveyard he eerily spoke, "light ticks away from this world leaving darkness in its wake. The realm that laid dormant has now been awakened," pausing, he rapidly peeked over his shoulder at me and then turned away, "can you keep up?"
Just as I was about to open my mouth and question what the boy said, he bravely dove off the roof. Before I even registered what was going on, I broke off into a dead run, following suite.
(A/N) So here is chapter two of the rewrite. I hope you all like it :) Its a bit different but I feel as if it is more interesting. Please review, constructive criticism and advice are always welcomed.
