Michealangelo
"…anything you say will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney which if you didn't know means lawyer. I doubt you can afford one so the court, DSS, or whatever will provide a crappy one for you. Do you understand? Good, so start walking!" the cop ordered. Quietly, I peeked out from the building at the top of the stairs I climbed up. The cop had pushed Raph against the police car and was searching him and his backpack. As I continued to watch, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out Celia before stroking her for a little comfort. "Alright, so where's Michealangelo?"
"No idea," Raph said.
"You're telling me that you not only kidnapped your brother from your foster mother's, but you don't even know where he is?!" The cop yelled.
"He ran away from me days ago. Look, can we get a move on?" Raph said.
"Somebody's in a hurry. He really just ran off? Where were you two trying to go?"
"To a special place called none-ya. Now take me to jail or wherever we're goin'!" Raph yelled.
"Would you like for me to call an ambulance for…"
"No! I don't want any ambulance or anything! I want to go!" Raph continued.
"Alright, but I'm still going to call an ambulance to take a look at you," the cop said.
"Then what was the point in asking me?!" Raph demanded. "Never mind. I'll see an ambulance, but I'll do it at the station," he said in a calmer tone.
"Is there something here that you don't want me to find? You seem timid like you're really in a hurry to leave this area," the cop said. I gasped in fear and squeezed Celia against my chest as my heart pounded.
"No. I was just attacked by some Purple Dragon people and I don't want them to come back and hurt me again," he said.
"Well, my partner and I can protect you if that happens," the cop said.
"I'll take my chances at the station. Now I'm not saying anything else!" Raph said. The cops put Raph inside the police car, and then got in themselves before driving off. As soon as they drove off, I quickly ran back down to the street level where we had just been talking and stared off at the direction that the car had driven. My chest was so tight and I already felt tears rolling down my cheek.
"R-Raph?" I called, but no one answered me. "Raphie," I whined and looked down at Celia. That's when I fell to my knees and started sobbing holding on tight to Raph's beloved pocket knife and bear. I was alone.
"Meow," a voice called.
"Huh?" I opened my eyes and saw a white and orange kitty walking towards me with big wide eyes. She walked over and instantly jumped onto my lap rubbing against me.
"Klunk!" I screamed. I put down my bear and Celia before I grabbed the cat, and started hugging her tight and began to purr. I cried harder with her in arms and she jumped up so her front paws were on my shoulder and nudging her head against mine.
I wasn't sure how much time passed, but we just stayed like that. I finally managed to turn my sobs into nothing but soft hiccups. Klunk didn't leave my side or try to get out of my hold. After two final breaths, I put my stuff away, and picked up Klunk before sitting against the wall while still petting her.
"Raph's gone, Klunk," I told her. "Why is everyone I care about always taken away from me; first Leo, then Ms. Adams and Donnie, and now Raph?!" I asked getting worked up again. "Why can't the state just leave us alone?!" Klunk purred at me as she nuzzled my arm as I felt more tears form in my eyes. "Why can't we just have a home?"
With that, I set Klunk down as I reached into my bag to open my book. The photograph of the four of us made the tears come down as I stroked each of my brother's faces. Klunk meanwhile snuck her way into my lap again, and together went through some of my drawings that hadn't been torn out. Some of them had been of random stuff around the house, three of them were some I did of Klunk including her little kitty palace adventure I came up with days ago, and then there were various pictures of…her.
The woman with black hair.
Mom.
Every single one of the portraits I made of her all looked the same, but there was a small imperfection that only I noticed when she came to me; all because of my stupid dream memory. All I know is that besides Ms. Adams, she was the most beautiful and kindest woman I'd ever seen. I only wish she was real.
Real.
Real life stinks!
Maybe that's why I love comic books and fantasy so much. It helps me to not think about all the crap that we have to deal with. But…now what? Raph's in jail, I don't know where Leo is, and Donnie…why did Raph say that he can't come with us anymore? Unless…
No!
It couldn't be!
"Donnie was put in another home!" I realized. I started sobbing again and this time felt myself shaking. I looked down at Mom again as all my tears had gotten her page wet.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, Mom," I whimpered. I sniffled one more time before I suddenly remembered what Raph had said.
"Just remember the plan, Mike; head upstate and find a home for us!"
That's right! I had to be the leader this time! I can't just sit here and cry! The others are counting on me! Raph will go to the jail and be all sad, sing a random uplifting song, and then magically break out and meet me at the new house where everything will be alright again! But I have to get out of the city first and claim our home quick. So how the heck am I supposed to do that again? With that, I pulled out the map that Raph had been working on. I never really was paying attention when he talked about getting Donnie, but according to his notes, he was thinking about either getting Donnie and then running across the George Washington Bridge, or hitch a ride with someone so we could make it past the Lincoln Tunnel. If the cops are looking for me, then the GWB might be out of the question since you can walk across it to get to New Jersey; which they'll be expecting! I think I should take the Lincoln Tunnel, and I can even throw them off my trail! If I erase the current plans, and lead it to the GWB, then they'll be so focused on that, that I'll be long gone before they realize it was fake. I penciled in my current plan and circled the GWB on the map. Perfect! But I'll have to leave it out in the open for someone to find.
'My backpack!' I thought. 'And just so they know it's me…I'll…have to leave all my stuff.' My heart sunk at this realization and hugged my bear and sketchbook hard. How could I possibly leave two of my most valued possessions? I've had my bear for my entire life, and Ms. Adams gave me my sketchbook so I could draw. But…my bear also is what caused Raph to really hurt Ms. Mary. He didn't mean to but, it just happened. And all the pictures I've drawn or the fake families I've created, made Leo and Raph work extra hard to try and get us a home; a real home. All of us have forgotten our number one rule:
'No brother left behind.'
With a final sniffle, I opened up my book to the very last page of mom again. "I'm sorry, Mom," I said letting a lone tear roll down my face and onto the page. "It's time to face reality. I don't think anyone is going to adopt us. I know you really want to take us, but we can't wait anymore. I have to do what's best for me and my brothers right now, and I think that means doing what Raph said and claiming our home upstate. I hope that you aren't mad at us for leaving. If you still decide that you want to adopt, I hope the one or ones that you get are good ones," I said. I hugged the page one last time until I heard nearby sirens. It was time to go.
"Goodbye, mom," I whimpered. With that, I closed my book and kissed it's cover before doing the same with my bear.
"Stay here, Klunk. You really can't follow me this time," I said giving her a final pet. With that, I pulled up my hood, went up to the fire escape next door, and quickly climbed up as fast as I could. By the time I was almost at the top, the cop car pulled up. When they got out, I froze only for a moment, and went into what Leo likes to call 'ninja mode.' I only had a few steps to get to the top of the building, but one wrong move and it was game over.
"Did Sarge say if we were looking for anything specific?" one of them asked when they entered the alleyway.
"No, but this is where Raphael was found. He doesn't believe his story about Michaelangelo for one second; especially from his previous foster mother's testimony about how close those two are. He thinks he acts all tough and a 'city kid', but he really ain't all that," the other answered.
'Come on. Almost,' I told myself
"What's that?" I heard one of them say and I heard them running closer towards me. I instantly froze and then started shaking. Hesitantly, I looked down and saw the cops walk right past me over to my backpack.
"What have we got here?" the first one asked. He lifted my bag and it moved which caused the cop to drop it and pull out his gun. I instantly got butterflies that crawled all the way up to my head.
'Don't shoot! Please, don't shoot!' I begged. Just then, Klunk jumped out of the bag with eating what little food I had in my bag.
"Was not expecting a cat to be in there," he said and his partner laughed. With that, they put their guns away and picked up my bag again. I smiled at this and continued to climb up until I reached the top. With that, I got into a jogger's position and took a huge breathe. After that, I was off into the night alone for the first time in my entire life.
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Donatello
My alarm went off and after only two cycles, my eyes popped open and I jumped up so excited. I gathered my clothes and went to the bathroom to change. With that, I threw my dirty clothes into the basket and quickly began on my daily chores including making breakfast since I had skipped a few days while working at the restaurant. I was about halfway done when Ms. Adams walked in.
"Morning Don. I guess someone is excited," she said.
"Are you kidding?! I'm ecstatic! That's why I got an early start. It opens at 11:00, but Mr. Yoshi and I are going early to make sure everything is extra clean and ready. We don't need two hiccups to ruin Mr. Murakami's grand opening.
"Alright. Well, you're free to go as soon as you're finished. I'll bring the crew down at around noon, but we can't stay too long. Are you going to hang out there until then or are you coming back?" she asked.
"Mr. Yoshi and I are going to have lunch there, and then he and I were planning on working on my Japanese more. To be honest, it's gonna feel weird not going to Murakami-san's place with him. I mean we did start out meeting at the park together, but what else are we going to do together? He's been such a great friend; they both have," I explained.
"Yes, they are both wonderful. You could always talk with him about what he's doing. Don't forget, that he just arrived from Japan," she said.
"I know. I guess we'll see," I said.
As soon as breakfast was finished, I grabbed my bag with my books, and ran as fast as I could to the subway station. I must have said excuse me or sorry at least a hundred times. There was no way I was going to let him beat me this time. As soon as I got down the stairs, I didn't see him anywhere.
'Yes!' I silently cheered. I quickly got out my money and was about to touch the screen when all of a sudden, someone grabbed my wrist. I turned around and saw Mr. Yoshi there smiling at me.
"There is no need for that, Donatello," he said.
"Come on! You can't pay for me every single time we do this!" I whined.
"Why not? Murakami-san and I are inviting you to the Lower East Side. And since I won't let you travel there alone, then it makes sense for me to pay for your ticket," he said and held out the already purchased tickets.
"Ugh!" I grunted while rolling my eyes. With that, we scanned our tickets and went further underground to the train.
After we had arrived, I saw that there was a grand opening banner, a red ribbon across the entryway, and some snack machine-looking thing near the door.
"What's that?" I asked pointing to it.
"Remember the machine that Murakami-san was talking about that was coming from Japan? It came during the little week you weren't with us. They had these everywhere in Tokyo. You put your money in the slot, and then you pick whatever it is that you want. It will spit out of token that you'll give to Murakami-san so he can make your order," Mr. Yoshi said.
"Really? That's kinda cool. It's like a snack machine that gives you real food instead of well…snacks," I said.
An hour later
10:59 am
After an hour of us scrubbing all the tables and polishing up everything regardless if it was brand new or not, it was time. While it did feel a little sad that we were the only ones who were there for the ribbon cutting, it almost felt right as we were the ones who had helped make this place possible. "This is it Murakami-san. Your dream finally came true," I said.
"And I couldn't have done this without the both of you. I am truly honored to have such wonderful friends," he said and bowed to us which we returned.
"Are you ready?" I asked holding a pair of scissors. He nodded. Just then, my watch beeped as it turned 11:00. I gave the scissors to Mr. Murakami, and together with Mr. Yoshi, all three of us cut the ribbon right.
"Woooo!" I cheered and Mr. Yoshi and I clapped. Mr. Murakami wouldn't stop smiling. "Hey, can I be your first official customer?" I asked.
"Donatello, you've helped me so much, I couldn't possible…" he said.
"Sorry, what's that? I couldn't hear you," I said as I ran over to the machine, put in my money, and ordered some Pizza gyoza and a soda. "Here you go," I said handing him both my tokens. He just shook his head.
"I suppose I should get cooking for my very first customer." With that, we followed him both inside and sat at the counter as he began to cook.
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As soon as the kids got there, there were a few other customers in the restaurant eating. "Mr. Murakami!" Sophie said.
"Hello again, children! Welcome to my restaurant!" he said.
"Can you make that dessert thing again that you made at the picnic?" Stella asked.
"How about we focus on lunch first. You can even see how amazing he is," I said.
"Mr. Hamato! Good to see you again!" Ms. Adams said shaking his hand.
"And you as well Ms. Adams," Mr. Yoshi said.
"Who's ready for to see Mr. Murakami cook?" I asked the kids.
"Me!" they all said raising their hands high.
"Mr. Murakami has a different way that we order food. So, we have to go outside and I'll show you what to do," I said. All the kids and Ms. Adams followed me outside and we got everyone ordered. We came back in with their tokens and sat down.
"Ok, everyone. Now I need you to place your token right in front of you like this," I said showing them with Jake's token. They all did as they were told and Mr. Murakami felt each one while also asking for their names.
"Oh! Before I forget! I brought some papers for you Mr. Hamato," Ms. Adams said and reached into her purse pulling out a manilla file.
"Thank you so much. I very much appreciate it," he said accepting a pile of papers.
"Papers?" I asked.
"I mentioned that I was working on finding a job yesterday, did I not?" he said. I nodded. "Ms. Adams has gotten a list of some places for me as well as other things that I need."
"Oh, right!" I said. From there I watched as all of the kid's mouths dropped to the floor as they watched Mr. Murakami work on their meals.
"How do you do that?!" Sophie asked.
"I'm just making a meal. It is not too difficult if you know the recipe," Mr. Murakami said.
"But you can't see," Stella said.
"Lots of practice and routine. I may not have my sight, but I still can form a mental picture of everything in my kitchen. I also have my four other senses to help me," Mr. Murakami explained.
"And I don't want to ever hear from any of you that you can't do something," Ms. Adams said. All of a sudden, her pocket began to vibrate. She reached in and pulled out her cellphone.
"Hello?" she said. She listened for a moment before she got a puzzled look on her face. "No, the kids and I have been busy all morning. What's…" suddenly her eyes got wide. Ms. Adams looked at me and mouthed 'I'll be right back.' I nodded, and she exited the restaurant and continued to talk to whoever was on the phone. Mr. Murakami finished up all the ordered, and placed them in front of where each token had been. He was even kind enough to give all the kids forks along with the usual chopsticks.
"Donnie, can you teach me how to do this?" Hannah asked holding up the chopsticks.
"Me too!" the twins said.
"Allow me to help," Mr. Yoshi said. He got up, and helped the twins with it, while I worked with Hannah. As I did that, I peeked back outside and saw Ms. Adams was now yelling at the person on the phone.
"Darn it!" Hannah said bringing me back to her.
"You're doing fine, Hannah. Remember, try not to tense up your hand," I said. Hannah tried again and she managed to get the gyoza in her mouth.
"Mmmm!" Stella said. "This is so good!" Jake then started to whine. The toddler couldn't reach his food from his seat.
"Whoops! Sorry, kiddo. Here, I'll help," I said to the poor two-year-old. I asked Mr. Murakami for a knife, and I cut up Jake's food and sat him on my lap so he could reach better. As he ate, I looked over and saw Ms. Adams hang up on someone still looking mad. With that, she disappeared from the window for a bit.
Eventually she came back in with a big smile on her face and apologized for being so long.
"Is everything okay?" I asked. She hesitated before nodding her head.
'Not now,' she said. I shook my head, and she ate her food too.
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After dessert, the kids said their goodbyes to Mr. Yoshi and Murakami-san before I helped Ms. Adams and I got everyone loaded in the car with a promise that I would be right back. When everyone was loaded in, she shut the door and looked away from me for a minute.
"What's wrong?" I asked. She then looked at me with a sad expression.
"I didn't want to tell you until after you got home, but you have a right to know before you find out elsewhere," she said.
"Ms. Adams?" I said now feeling scared.
"Kevin was the one who was on the phone with me. Early this morning, the police found Raph and arrested him," she said.
"WHAT?!" I shouted. "Are they alright?!"
"As far as we know, Raph is alright except for a few bumps, dehydration and lack of food, and a healing black eye. They're holding him at the juvenile hall," she explained.
"And Mikey?" I said. Her expression then dropped.
"Mikey wasn't with Raph when he was arrested. Nobody knows where he is. All they found was his backpack with his bear and that sketchbook of his," she explained. My heart dropped at this. Mikey was out there? Alone?! No! Mikey hates to be by himself!
"Raph would never leave Mikey by himself in the city!" I finally said.
"Whether he would or wouldn't doesn't matter at this point," she said.
"Maybe we can talk to Raph! Can we go see him?!" I asked and she shook her head.
"They're not letting anyone see him since he's still being investigated with the battery charge and with Mikey still missing. Kevin is working overtime to fight it, but so far, they're not budging," she explained. With that, I covered my face with my hands.
"This isn't happening! This is not happening!" I said.
"I'm so sorry honey," she said putting her hand on my shoulder.
"I don't know which was worse; them missing together, or Raph found but Mikey missing," I muttered. "I'm going to look for him!"
"What exactly are you going to do differently that the police can't?" she asked.
"Because I'm his brother! I can talk to him!" I vowed looking straight into her eyes.
"So, you know exactly where he is, or where he is going?" she asked. I didn't answer that. "I didn't tell you this so you could go on a hunting spree of the entire island. I wanted you to hear it from me and not on T.V. Let Kevin work on Raph and then maybe the police will show up. You're right, Mikey doesn't like being by himself so hopefully he'll be found very soon. Let's just take this one step at a time. Raph hasn't even been caught for 24-hours. All we can do is just wait and see. Think logically like you always do," she said. I closed my eyes again. All I could think of was that I would magically run into Mikey who currently was hiding, convince him to come home, and everything would be alright. But I knew deep down that that would be as likely as all of us getting adopted. At last, my shoulders sagged in defeat.
"Do you still want to hang out with Mr. Hamato?" Ms. Adams asked. I turned towards the restaurant where he was waiting for me.
"I guess so," I said. "I'll just be sitting at home miserable or alone working on Metalhead some more."
"Just try to enjoy yourself the best you can. Call me if you need anything," she said and kissed my head.
"Thanks Ms. Adams," I said.
"I'll call if anything changes. I still expect check-ins!"
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Dear Leo,
A lot's been happening over the past few weeks that I really wish I could tell you in person. I just threw away the third letter I've written to you because something new came up that I had to add. I'm assuming you heard about Raph at this point. They're not even letting us talk to him. And that doesn't even begin to describe how worried I am about Mikey out there by himself. I don't know, Leo. I feel like I'm starting to go crazy without any of you. I know that I'm usually the quiet one, but you especially always had time to spare when I needed to talk. I can still talk to Ms. Adams, but I guess it's a sibling thing where I feel like I can share more with you guys. You know what I mean?
Why haven't we heard from you? I miss you so much and the past week or so has made it even worse. Can you please at least just let me know you're alright? You have Ms. Adams's number memorized so just call us. We don't even have to talk much, but just let us know how you are. Or you could email me. Remember, it's RenaissanceGenius84.
Well, I really don't have anything else to say. I would rather tell you everything else I'm feeling in person. Please, just get in contact with us somehow. I love you.
Donnie
There you go! I hope you enjoyed and I think the next few chapters are going to be interesting for you. Stay tuned and find out!
Until next time,
LaurenHardy13