Mikey
Somehow, I managed to use my super awesome ninja skills to hide those fading marks on my wrists from Raph; and totally not at all because I've been wearing sweatshirts for the past two days. Raph wouldn't care if I told him anyway. He would just tell me it was my own stupid fault for making her mad, but it's not all her fault she's mad. She's just really upset that her husband left without saying goodbye and that's why she hasn't been the nicest. I just need to find out what will make her happy. I was bored so I decided to sit in the attic where all the exercise stuff was. I really don't know why Raph spends all his time up here when it's really small and the only thing up here is a punching dummy that wobbled around and a few ten-pound weights. I brought my sketchbook with me and some pencils and started to sketch. Raph meanwhile was doing push-ups on the floor.
"I wonder what Donnie and Leo are doing right now," I said out loud.
"Who cares?! Fearless is probably having the time of his life with his new family right now. And you know what? I really couldn't care less. We can get along fine with just the three of us," Raph said.
"You always say that. But it won't be just the three of us…or two of us for long. Mr. Saki's gonna come back and get us," I said.
"Look, don't get your hopes up too high about this kid. Anything can still happen," Raph said.
"But Leo said-"
"FORGET WHAT HE SAID!" Raph shouted and stopped at the top of a push up to look at me. "Face it Mikey, nothing ever works out exactly as we want it. You're better off just accepting that before you get hurt, cause I'm not gonna be the one holding you while you cry and get snot all over my shirt!" Then he went back to doing his pushups. I sighed and looked at the sketch I had been working on. It was short portraits of Me, Raph, and Ms. Mary together on the same page. Afterward, I turned to the very first page of my journal and lightly touched the photo I taped of all four of us at the park smiling; even Raph who had his arm around Leo.
"You'll see Raph. Mr. Saki really does want all of us! I know it!" I said.
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Later that same day,
"Raphael, Michelangelo, come in here please," Mary called from the living room. I got up, but Raph kept eating his apple.
"Come on Raph, she wants us in the kitchen," I said.
"So?" he said with a mouthful of apple.
"Well, we wanna make her happy right?" I asked.
"Not really," he said.
"But she took us in and…..she's probably been under a lot of stress lately with her paintings and...… I really don't think we should make her mad," I said while pulling the sleeve of my jacket down. Thankfully Raph didn't notice.
"Yeah, is that why she makes us do everything around here and keeps talkin' about us being nothing but extra mouths; all because she's just a little bit stressed out?!" Raph snapped with his voice rising.
"Uh….maybe?" I said and gave off a big smile.
"Raphael! Michelangelo! Get in here now!" Ms. Mary screamed again and I got goosebumps. Oh man, she sounded really mad! Quickly, I ran into the living room leaving Raph behind and noticed Ms. Mary straightening up the living room a little.
'See Raph, we don't do everything,' I thought.
"There you are. Quick, fix those pillows," she said while she threw away some cans that were on the table in a trash bag.
"Aw, man! I hate cleaning," I whined.
"You seemed pretty eager to clean up that soda the other day that she spilled," Raph said coming in and glaring at her.
"Didn't mean that I liked it," I said.
"Nevermind that. I'm having some friends over tonight for a quick meeting and then we're all going out afterward. We'll be talking about serious stuff and you two need to stay upstairs. Don't come down for any reason at all, understand me?" she asked.
"But what if I get hungry?" I asked.
"You'll be fine Michelangelo. I'm sure you can go a few hours without eating food. That's all you ever seem to do around here," she told me.
"I know but I'm a growing boy," I answered back.
"Maybe while you're upstairs, you can think of other helpful things you're useful at," she continued.
"Great idea!" I said.
"Who exactly are these people and why do we have to be so secretive?" Raph asked.
"Let's just say they're important business partners of mine and we've got to make some important plans for something happening tonight. They can't know you're here or something….bad might happen. I don't care what you do, but you can't make any noise."
"No problemo Ms. Mary. I can totally rock the ninja quiet thing," I said.
"Yeah right," Raph said.
"Good boy. And if you're really good, then the next time we're at the store, I'll pick up a pizza kit for you to make for us," she said and my eyes got wide.
"Yes! Did you hear that Raph? Someone actually wants to try my cooking!" I cheered.
"Congrats, you want a metal or somthin'?" Raph asked.
"Yeah," I mumbled and daydreamed about a bright shiny metal that said 'Someone tried my cooking and liked it!' Ms. Mary was hugging me tightly while holding a slice of pepperoni. Raph meanwhile was in the background trying to get a slice of his own for himself. Fireworks were going off in the background as Ms. Mary kissed my cheek and I smiled.
"Yo! Earth to Mikey!" Raph said bringing me back.
"Huh?" I said.
"I told you to go wash the dishes for me," Ms. Mary asked.
"Oh yeah! I can do that easy!" I said running into the kitchen.
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Raph
"Raphael, you can start sweeping up the area around the door," she told me.
"Why? Why should I start cleaning your house because someone's comin' over here that we're not allowed to see?" I asked.
"These people are very important to me and could lead us down a better path; which could mean more money for our family in the future," Mary explained.
"Oh, so we're a family now? Funny thing is that Mikey's been tryin' to figure out exactly what that word means for a long time, and I can tell ya that you don't cut it," I snapped. Mary dropped the trash bag to the floor and slowly turned her 'evil' gaze at me.
"I don't have time for your attitude Raphael," she said.
"Oh, am I'm givin' ya an attitude on somthin' that's true?! Ya know, based on the past few days, all we seem to be to you is just two extra mouths to feed who just so happen to give you a quick five-hundred bucks for keepin' a roof over our heads."
"I'm trying alright?! I'm sorry it's not the perfect lifestyle, but what do you expect?! We live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where most of the poor people or non-Americans live! These people are the key to how we can get some extra cash and get out of this dump! I'm tired of being stuck here barely making ends meet and all our money comes from your stupid paintings Reed! Maybe things would go a lot smoother if you'd actually help out around here instead of…!"
"Hold it! First off, the name's Raphael, not Reed! And second, 'my' paintings?! What the hell are you talkin' about?! Mikey's the creative one, not me! And I'm done with all this paint talk! 'Don't go into the paint room,' 'don't disturb me when I'm working,' my paintings are the only way we can get food for two extra mouths.' So quit blaming all this on me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs almost as loud as my fights with Leo. Suddenly, she held up a hand getting ready to smack me.
"Go 'head. I dare ya!" I said, but she just closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put her hand down.
"I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night!" she growled.
"Yeah? Well, feelings mutual!" I screamed and stormed off towards the kitchen and past Mikey who had been eavesdropping. I'm not sure if he said anything to me or if I lashed out on him, but I didn't care. I just kept walking towards the stairs and up to the attic where the equipment was, just about ready to explode any second now. I walked right up to the punching dummy and started hitting it with everything I had. This is why I always loved the punching bag; because I could hit it as hard as I could to get my anger under control without doing serious harm to anyone; especially to Mikey who seemed to always be there I was angry or after a fight with Leo.
'Dammit, Mikey! I'm not going to last here much longer.'
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Hours later after I was cooled off, I came downstairs and peeked into our bedroom to check on Mikey. There he was sketching in his book again. I often had arguments with myself whether or not I should throw that damn book in the trash. It does more harm than good, but it also gives him something to hope for. The problem is that it almost does too good of a job. He ends up letting his guard down and sooner or later, it comes back to bite him. I just wish his head wasn't always in the clouds, but it's not his fault that he's so hyper and impulsive; that's just his ADHD. I squeezed my lips together before walking past the bedroom and was now standing at the top of the stairs.
'Screw it!' I tell myself and as quiet as a mouse, snuck down the first flight of steps. There was a wall instead of a railing on the steps so I could get a closer look from the little platform in between the two flights. I crouched down like a crab and leaned in as far so I could partly see the entrance to the kitchen. There were a bunch of mostly guys and teens hanging around carrying various objects like pipes and knives. Almost all the ones I saw had some kind of purple tattoo somewhere on their body.
"…I can't believe you three got your butts kicked by some old man," I heard Mary say and a few guys chuckled.
"We were mugging a kid, not the old man. How were we supposed to know he had a friend nearby who knew Kung Fu?" another answered.
"It was ninjutsu you idiot!" another said. Suddenly, I heard the front door slam open and everyone got quiet and turned to whoever just came in.
"Alright, what's so important that you had to drag me all the way out here Mary? I've got things to do so make it quick," a deep voice said. I tried to see if I could get a glimpse of him, but whoever he was just stayed by the door in the living room where I couldn't see.
"I managed to 'dig up a little info' while I was selling some of my paintings that I thought you'd been interested in Dragon Face; especially since the Fourth of July is coming up next week and all and everyone is having these huge electronic sales," she said.
"I'm all ears Doll. Just remember that we Purple Dragons don't like to have our time wasted or getting caught by the cops," the deep voice said.
"You won't be disappointed, I promise," Mary said. Purple Dragons? Never heard of them. I rolled my eyes and then slowly crept back upstairs to the bedroom. Mikey was still drawing in his bed and I leaned against the wall sighing in boredom.
"You know what Mikey? Mary told us that we're supposed to stay up here all night and play the 'we don't exist' game right?" I asked and Mikey nodded not taking his eyes off his sketch. "Well how about we take what she said one step further." I walked over to the window that led to the fire escape and opened the window. "You up for a little game of 'rooftop follow the leader'; and since I'm the oldest, I'm it first," I said and jumped out the window. Mikey's face lit up like a light bulb and he followed me outside leaving the book behind. Then I ran up to the roof of the apartment with Mikey right behind me.
"Alright kid. Make sure you keep up," I said and ran off the apartment building and landing on the house next door with Mikey close behind. Every once in awhile, I did a flip or went up a really high wall making it as challenging as possible for Mikey. The sun had just recently set and the city lights were starting to turn on. I always preferred our nightly runs over the daytime runs anyway. I kept going for about a half-hour or so jumping off buildings or running through some alleyways.
"When is it my turn?" Mikey asked.
"When I say it is," I said and kept running. I did a long jump over a building and then waited for Mikey to catch up. He jumped after me and I grabbed his hand to help him up on the roof.
"Okay, is it my turn yet?" he asked.
"Nope. Game's over," I said smiling.
"What?! No fair!" Mikey whined.
"Relax, ya dork. Haven't you even figured out where exactly we are yet?" I asked. Mikey stopped and looked around. It didn't take long for him to look around at the familiar surroundings. Then he gasped.
"We're back at Ms. Adams! Donnie!" Mikey said and was about to jump down on the fire escape when I grabbed the hoodie he was wearing and pulled him back.
"Hold it genius! You wanna let all of Jersey know we're here?"
"Yes! Then everyone can know that 'The Mikester' has returned!" he said.
"That'll have to be another time bro. We're here to see Donnie," I said and jumped down to the fire escape platform. When we got to Donnie's window, the blinds were closed as per usual, but there was a light on inside. I softly tapped the glass and waited for the blinds to open.
Nothing happened.
This time, I knocked on the window still softly, but a little louder. After a minute, the blinds started to move and were suddenly rolled up. Standing there wearing an old Yankees shirt was Don. As soon as we made eye contact, Donnie jumped backward and I could hear his little gasp all the way from outside. Then he smiled at us with the biggest grin I'd ever seen.
"DONNIE!" Mikey shouted at the top of his lungs and I covered his mouth while Donnie froze. Meanwhile, I looked around to make sure no one was staring at a couple of kids hanging out on the fire escape. When I turned back to Donnie, he breathed a sigh in relief and slowly opened the window just after I smacked Mikey's cheek still covering his mouth. He pointed up to the roof and then started to climb up the roof as did Mikey and I. When we all finally got up there, I wrapped my arm around Donnie's shoulders.
"How's it goin' kid?" I asked.
"As well as it can be. Man, I've really missed you guys," Donnie said.
"Me too D," Mikey said. "How's the DS doing? Are you keeping her warm at night and charged up? Is she lonely without someone constantly playing on her or has someone tried to beat the Mikester in how long they can possibly stay on it? Has Mr. Saki come back yet? Did he say when he was gonna adopt us? How's Ms. Scott doing?"
"Whoa whoa, slow down Mikey, geez!" Donnie said and then took a big inhale. "The DS is doing fine, yes I have kept it charged, no one's beat your record yet, and no on Mr. Saki. I was actually thinking about sending a letter to Leo but just never got the chance to. So now it's my turn, how the new foster home?"
"Great! We live in the Lower East Side with a lady named Ms. Mary. She's super nice and she loves to paint and even lets us go to Market Street by ourselves!" Mikey said but the entire time, Donnie was looking at me instead of Mikey.
"It's not the best, but it'll do for right now. Just hang in there for a little while okay Don? I'm workin' on a plan," I said.
"I'll be fine. I've got a project I'm working on right now to keep me busy until Mr. Saki comes," he said.
"Oooo! What is it, what is it?" Mikey asked.
"Uh…..top secret," Donnie said.
"Awww, come on D. Is it a pizza gun that shoots out free pizza?"
"No."
Before we even knew it, we had talked and played 'catch up' for a good forty-five minutes on the roof; just the three of us.
"I wish Leo was here too," Don said.
"Me too," Mikey said but I didn't say anything back. "When you send him a letter, can you tell him I said hi? And don't forget to ask him when Mr. Saki will come back for us."
"I will. I'm sorry guys, but I better get back before 'lights out,' and someone finds me missing" Don said.
"Awww," Mikey whined.
"You know where I live right now," he said standing back up. "I'm sure Raph will let you come back to visit again."
"Yes!" Mikey cheered. Then all three of us embraced real quick before Donnie waved goodbye and went down the fire escape back into his room.
"Guess we should head back," I said.
"And I'm it this time!"
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
1:00 AM
"WAHOO!" someone screamed and I jumped out of bed startled. I got into a fighting position and waited for someone to start throwing punches.
Nothing happened and my eyes focused on the scene before me. I was back in the room with the light off and a cool breeze blowing from outside. Then everything came back to me. After we came back from our little visit, I guess I must have fallen asleep from boredom. Then I looked over at Mikey's bed which was empty except for his bear.
Wait…empty?! Where the hell did he go?!
Now I was wide awake and speed-walked out of the room to check the bathroom; empty. Then I went upstairs to the attic but he wasn't there either.
'Okay, Mike. Seriously, where are you?'
I ignored the 'don't exist' rule and ran downstairs right into the kitchen. Mary was there holding a bunch of dollar bills and letting off the biggest smile I'd ever seen from her.
"Oh, hi Raphael. I thought you would be sleeping. I just got home and everything went great tonight! Look at how much cash I got from them!" she said showing the bills she had but I wasn't paying attention. I was looking around the kitchen for any sign a certain twelve-year-old. "I can't believe I'm finally a dragon now! This is going to be a new start for all of us," she said looking at some tattoo on her arm.
'Fan-frickin'-tastic' I thought not paying any mind to the tattoo and then ran into the living room. The whole living room was a disaster with a few bags and jewelry sitting on the table, but no Mikey.
"Mikey?!" I called out but was rewarded back with silence again. Now I felt my heart start to race and began to breathe heavily. Quickly, I ran back upstairs to our bedroom and squeezed my head with my hands.
'Kid, I swear!' I thought as I ran to the closet and still saw our bags that I had packed still there. 'Okay, he didn't run away! Why would he run away?!' I thought and then felt a cold shiver on my neck. I turned around and for the first time noticed that the window was opened.
"You have got to be kidding," I mumbled and then climbed out the window and up the fire escape again. There, lying down on the roof fast asleep was Mikey. "I'm an idiot," I whispered and then walked over to Mikey. He would always go up to the roof when he was deep in thought about something; most of the time about the whole family thing.
"Mikey, wake up," I said shaking him but he just kept snoring. "Come on kid, I wanna go back to bed."
"…yes please mom," he mumbled in his sleep.
"Wake up!" I screamed but Mikey still wouldn't move. I growled and then just picked him up and carried him back into the room myself.
"You are so gonna get it later kid-" I said tossing him on his bed and then suddenly saw something on his wrist. Part of his sweatshirt sleeve had rolled up a little and I saw something brown on his skin. I walked over and started to roll up his sleeve when Mikey's eyes shot open and he yanked his arm away from me.
"Ah! What are you doing Raph?!" he asked when he was fully awake.
"Mikey, take off your sweatshirt," I ordered glaring at him.
Oh crap! Raph found out! How is Raph going to react seeing those marks on Mikey's arm?
Tune in next time and don't forget to review please!
Happy Holidays!
LaurenHardy13