"Donnie! Come play with me," Sophie, one of the seven-year-old twins said storming into our room.
"I can't, I'm busy right now," I told her not looking at her. I was too focused on the flowchart I was making.
"But I wanna play 'Sorry'! Stella and Max want to play 'Trouble'but I wanna play Sorry," she whined.
"Oh, that's nice," I said grabbing a red marker and drawing another line on the big poster board.
"Then let's go tell them that we're playing 'Sorry'!" she said.
"Mikey…uh I mean Sophie, go play somewhere else. I'm in the middle of something," I said still not looking at her.
"You're mean! I'm not your friend anymore!" she said and she stomped away from me, but I didn't care. All that mattered to me was the large flowchart I'd spent all day working on. The very top of the flowchart said 'Why he saved me,' and I had different lines and different colors going in all different directions leading to little sketches I had drawn. I wasn't as good a drawer as Mikey, but you could still tell what I was trying to say; at least I could. Raph on the other hand or any of my brothers for that matter would probably not understand but as long as I could read it, it was good enough for me.
"One of these has to be the one," I muttered looking at all the different scenarios I had drawn. Maybe he had a grudge with one of the men, but then why would he follow me from the park? Perhaps he didn't even know he was following me. Yeah, and the way back to his house happened to be the same way I was taking when I was attacked. But then why would he risk his safety to save me? Suddenly I was brought out of my thinking by a quick knock on my door.
"Sophie, I already told you…!" I snapped turning around and saw not Sophie, but Ms. Adams staring back at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Ms. Adams," I said feeling my cheeks go red after the tone I used with her. Ms. Adams was leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed, but her face wasn't angry.
"It's fine Don. What are you still doing up here? You've been up here since you got back and that was hours ago," Ms. Adams said.
"Huh? Oh right. Well, you know how I am once my brain starts working," I responded.
"I certainly do. But I don't think I've ever seen you this committed to a project that isn't related to your schoolwork; especially with something like this," she said coming over and looking over my work.
"I just can't figure it out. That man saved me from those thugs and then just walked away without asking for anything in return," I told her.
"Did you ask him why?" she asked me.
"Yeah, but all he said was 'why not.' There has to be something more going on with him. I know there's more to him than just doing a good deed," I said and continued drawing more lines and sketches.
"You know Don, there are good people in the world no matter how bad and dangerous it may seem out there. You were in trouble and maybe he really did feel obligated to help someone in need; especially if he was capable of saving you. How much guilt would you have if you saw one of your brothers under attack and just walked away from them?"
"That's different though. We're brothers. That man doesn't even know me and then just happened to see me getting mugged on the streets. Those people had knives on them and he could have gotten seriously injured ordering those goons to let me go," I explained. Then I stopped and slammed the cap back onto the marker. "You should have seen his face when I first saw him, Ms. Adams. He looked so…broken. Even when I saw him today, he still looked so torn about something, but he seemed more curious about me than whatever he was going through. Most humans don't want to worry about other people's problems when they are going through a personal crisis themselves."
"Maybe he sensed something was wrong with you too and wanted to make sure you made it back home alright," she answered coming closer to me.
"Yeah, I already wrote that down, see?" I said pointing to the little sketch of the man looking at me, and then ran my finger down the line where he followed me to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. "UGH! Why does this bother me so bad?" I moaned putting my hands on my forehead.
"Donnie, if it bothers you that bad, why don't you head to Central Park tomorrow and see if you run into him again. Then really ask him why he saved you," Ms. Adams suggested.
"Are you kidding me? Running into a stranger twice in two days at different times is one thing, but actually running into him again? That's almost a near impossibility! If you multiply the total number of people in New York City on a good day, with the total hours in a day and….." I said grabbing my marker and writing my equation on the very bottom of my flowchart but Ms. Adams grabbed my arm in the middle of my explanation.
"You said a near impossibility, Donatello. That still means that there's still a chance that you'll run into him again; especially if he finds the peacefulness of the park helpful with whatever he's going through. You know, they say two people who are both going through the same kinds of negative emotions can help each other overcome them," she explained.
"Yeah, otherwise you'll end up completely like Raph," I said chuckling but my face immediately dropped. "I…I'm going outside to read," I said and walked out of the door without another word wiping my eyes.
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Michelangelo
4:00 pm
The first night in Ms. Mary's house wasn't bad, but to be honest there was a part of me that really missed the bunk beds. Nothing really exciting happened the day after. Ms. Mary said she had to go out because she had to meet up with some friends of hers for the majority of the day. So it was mainly just Raph and me. Raph was in the workout area upstairs, while I sat out in the hallway bouncing a little bouncy ball against the wall. All of a sudden, the ball over bounced, and ended up rolling towards the 'forbidden room.' I got up and picked up the ball when I saw something colorful from the crack of the door.
"Wow," I said dropping my ball and went into the room. Inside was what looked like someone's bedroom with a little toddler bed and trunk sitting against the end of the bed frame. There were also two easels set up with unfinished paintings with paint and different size brushes everywhere. There were also stacks of paintings in nearly every corner, but I was more concerned with what was in the trunk. I ran over there and took off all the blankets and photos of some guy, a baby, and Ms. Mary covered in dust. When that was done, I opened the trunk and it was filled with some toys; even if most of them were baby toys like rattles and chew toys.
'Whose toys are these?' I asked myself. Then I closed the bin back up and lifted the frames and stuff back on the trunk. All of a sudden, I lost my grip and two frames fell to the ground shattering the glass making a loud 'screeching' noise. I held up my shoulders while scrunching my face up while gently putting the rest of the frames that weren't broken away. I looked down at the shattered glass and that's when I noticed a folded piece of paper. By habit, I picked up the paper and unfolded it.
Mary,
I'm sorry it had to be this way, but I can't do this anymore. I've taken Carter and we'll be out of the state by the time you read this. I really can't explain why, but something just isn't quite clicking between the two of us anymore. When we first met, you were so enthusiastic and always cheerful no matter what situation. I would work on my masterpieces in the studio and even try to teach you a few techniques about painting; I'd be lying if I said those weren't some of the best moments of my life. Then we had Carter and it was the best thing to ever happen to me.
It wasn't until after you started hanging out with those Purple Dragon people that I noticed a change in you. Your temper rose and you got very aggressive in situations that didn't need to be. I tried so hard to reason with you but you always brushed off whatever I tried to say. The last straw for me was that day I walked in on you shaking Carter violently with that handprint on his arm. I was up all night after that, trying to process everything and I knew I had to do the best possible thing not only for myself but for baby Carter. I got a lawyer and we've been working on divorce papers for weeks now. They're currently located in Carter's little toy trunk. I'm sorry it didn't work out between us.
I hope you're happy with whatever you decide to do with your life.
Goodbye Mary,
Reed
I reread the note again as I couldn't find the strength to look away. That's why she took us in! She was so upset about losing her husband and son, that she thought that we could help her move past that pain. That way she wouldn't be so lonely anymore.
'I gotta tell Raph!' I thought but suddenly the door opened and there stood Mary looking not too pleased.
"Why are you here? I told you never to come in here!" she shouted.
"I…" I stuttered and then she grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
"I take you into my home and you disobey me on day one?!" she continued shouting while still squeezing me. I felt a sharp pain in the area she squeezed me.
"I didn't mean to," I whimpered.
"You didn't mean to?! Is that suppose to make it all better because you didn't mean to walk in the only room I told you not to go in?!"
"OW! You're hurting me!" I said feeling the tears already but she somehow managed to squeeze harder.
"If I ever catch you in here again you won't be able to get back up!"
"Y-yes ma'am! OW!" I said and she threw me on the ground hard. I started to cry and she kicked me.
"Get out of here before you mess up my floor. Now I see why no one wanted to take you and your brother in," she said. Before she could kick me again, I got up and ran to my bedroom slamming the door, and diving onto my pillow sobbing. Luckily my bear was right there, so I grabbed him and squeezed the life out of him sniffling. I don't know how long exactly I had laid there, but by the time I was all out of tears, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
I opened my eyes and saw that the sky outside was growing dimmer. I sat up and saw Raph was now sitting on his bed reading some of his comic books. He gave me a quick glance before returning to his comic and repositioning himself on the bed. That's when I became aware of a prickling pain on my upper arms. I pulled up one of my sleeves and saw a faint, red handprint indented on my arm.
'Whoa,' I thought and lightly ran my finger over the area where it really hurt. I looked back over at Raph who wasn't paying any attention to me.
"Raph?" I said.
"What?" he said not taking his eyes off of his comic.
"I…uh….." I said shifting my gaze between the handprint on my arm and Raph. "I'm going to the bathroom," I said and ran to our closet.
"That's not the bathroom genius," Raph said still not looking up at me.
"Whoops. Thanks, bro," I said grabbing one of my long-sleeved shirts and ran out of the room to the bathroom. After closing the door, I took off my short-sleeved shirt and starred at my reflection with those two hand marks on my arms. I've got three older brothers, of course, I'm going to get marks and bruises on my body; especially when Raph keeps hitting me for whatever reason he can think of. But most of those don't bother me as much as these two did. Then I remembered the letter I had found.
'…shaking Carter violently and that handprint on his arms.'
Did she do the same thing to baby Carter that she did to me? If she did, then that's just wrong; hurting a little baby like that. Then, I put my grey longed-sleeved shirt on not wanting to keep seeing myself like that.
A little shorter then I wanted, but this took me forever to write for some reason. I was going to put an important event that is happening in the next chapter with this one, but I really didn't want anything to be rushed. So I'll save that for next time and post what I have so you guys don't have to wait.
I hope you enjoyed and I really appreciate all those who are still sticking with me. Don't be shy to leave a review of any kind.
Until next time,
LaurenHardy13